Phooey just lost my message! I swear this machine is possessed.
I was saying, I have several projects in mind, the first is to finish construction on Chicken City. I won't have pictures until the end of Nov. when my main order of chicks are ready to go outside. I get them (32) first week in Oct. In the meantime I have 6 NN chicks, and I must say they are mellow little creatures. They are in their second week and don't go crazy when picked up and cuddled. Found them at Attwoods after reading elsewhere that Attwoods had chicks. I wasn't able to get any for my big order.
Once the construction is complete I will work on these goals over the next couple of years before making anymore changes.
1/ I want my flocks to be self replacing. No more buying chicks unless disease takes a major toll. I have limited the flocks to these breeds, Speckled Sussex, New Hampshire Reds, Easter Eggers (I have all these breeds now), Delawares, Naked Necks and Blue Andalusian. I also invested in Silkies, the reputed walking incubators. I selected these breeds because other than the BA, they are friendly and easy going birds; most of them were meat birds before the introduction of the Cornish X and they all have good laying potential.
2/ I want to see how the Del/NHR crossing works for the sex links, should be able to sell them.
3/ I did some research into the "Poulet Rouge" and now I am going to attempt to improve my NN stock (typical hatchery first generation crosses), to come closer to the standards for Forez-Naked Neck. Naked Neck meat is supposed to have a distinctive flavor when raised free range. Might be an exercise in futility but I won't know until I try.
4/ Develop a customer base not only for eggs, but for sale of chicks and POL pullets. Should work, particularly if I have a Rooster Return policy. I read this elsewhere, the flock manager sells her chicks straight run with the policy of accepting unwanted roosters back and refunding the price of the chick. She said most folks are just glad to get rid of the rooster and don't worry about the couple of dollars. She went on to say that her freezer is filled with the returned roosters, usually around 12-14 weeks, that she simply finishes off then butchers without the cost of feeding the roos for 3-4 months. Thought that was a smart idea. Won't make enough money for the chickens to be self supporting if I rely on egg sales.
This should keep my busy for a couple of years at least.