Wisconsin "Cheeseheads"

[irishrovr]

Another customer at work that wants up to 5 dozen chicken eggs each week!!!! That makes two customers up to 5 dozen each per week at $3 a dozen.....kinda excited. And they come to us to pick up the eggs, and return the cartons even!

Think I need more chickens now LOL Im getting 7-9 doen right now (Have 4 chickes coming up though)

YAY!! That's great! Do they own a restaurant or a B&B??

 

[Angiebubs]

LOL no-I work for a large international medial device company. Both are highly skilled (one is an engineer, the other is a principal research scientist) both from China, and I know that eating healthy/natural is a high priority. One buys them to share with 3 families....not sure with the new customer. Possibly ethnic diet? I know I had someone else at my company that wanted as many duck eggs as I could get (From BBP) as they made a "specialty" of "salty eggs" a delicacy from China. People have been really excited about getting fresh eggs. I have 3 other customers that want 1-2 dozen every couple weeks when I have them.....however, I would much rather keep two that will take whatever we get. I still say this is a perfect arguement for more chickens. Speaking of which-I have been pleasantly surprised with my easter eggers-they are laying almost every day and decent size eggs. Also absolutely love these girls for personality!

 

[irishrovr]

LOL no-I work for a large international medial device company. Both are highly skilled (one is an engineer, the other is a principal research scientist) both from China, and I know that eating healthy/natural is a high priority. One buys them to share with 3 families....not sure with the new customer. Possibly ethnic diet? I know I had someone else at my company that wanted as many duck eggs as I could get (From BBP) as they made a "specialty" of "salty eggs" a delicacy from China. People have been really excited about getting fresh eggs. I have 3 other customers that want 1-2 dozen every couple weeks when I have them.....however, I would much rather keep two that will take whatever we get. I still say this is a perfect arguement for more chickens. Speaking of which-I have been pleasantly surprised with my easter eggers-they are laying almost every day and decent size eggs. Also absolutely love these girls for personality!

Do you wash your eggs or do you let them take care of it? I see different opinions on that.

 

[Angiebubs]

I do nto wash mine-if they have anything on them i will try to wipe jsut the spot off. I also put the date with pencil on each when collected. I include a letter from "The girls" with each first order that tells that i do not wsh them and why (the bloom) and to expect they may find pine shavings on them. ALso explain the mother news article about how much healthier these eggs are compared to store bought, explain there is no differnece with egg color nutritionally,and that the money from their eggs goes toward the treat their owner buys for them (with examples). I "sigh" the letter with all the girls names and have pictures of some free ranging, some chicks, and the nestboxes with eggs in them. This has kind been a hit...corny but cute and informational.

 

[Angiebubs]

By the way-kind of worried-has anyone heard from Jim?

 

[199787]

Thanks, Lisa! I started using a spreadsheet to track and I wanted to see if anyone else tracked them, if it was helpful, and if it gave them good data on the number of eggs produced. How long have you been tracking them? What is your production %??

I don't have enough data yet to be very accurate but for the YTD (since last month) I have 51%. For this month only 44% so far.

It's only been 15 days I've had the hens so I can't tell yet, so far it has 44%. If it continues as it has it should be around 90% for this month even missing the first 5 days of the month. My net income for the year is -$263.00, LOL! That's about to get a whole lot worse buying siding and more building materials for the main coop. I don't think I will share the spread sheet with DH right now.

 

[Angiebubs]

I would love to start tracking with my chickens, eggs costs, but how skewed would it be to start now with coop and accessories, hens etc already in place? Guess I could at least track goign forward. Also, I wish there was a way to track what each hen is doing in order to watch for any problems. Other than my bantys and blue/green layers it would be impossible.

Any white egg layers that are friendly and cold hardy?

 

[irishrovr]

I would love to start tracking with my chickens, eggs costs, but how skewed would it be to start now with coop and accessories, hens etc already in place? Guess I could at least track goign forward. Also, I wish there was a way to track what each hen is doing in order to watch for any problems. Other than my bantys and blue/green layers it would be impossible.

Any white egg layers that are friendly and cold hardy?

I was thinking about just tracking the cost of feed vs eggs without any building or accessory costs. The building and supply costs would be spread over the lifetime of the flock and the building itself would be a property asset. Tracking by the hen would be a plus - I just try to observe which ones sit on the nest and I can recognize a few by the egg color.

They're funny - they all lay in the same nest now, whereas before they each had their own special place. One starts the process and they all take turns. One of them pecks at the one before her if she stays on the eggs too long.

 

[Angiebubs]

LOL I have the exact same problem....they all want the same nestbox! There will literally be lines for one or two boxes. ALso, I have 3 broody hens now (2 of which are bantys) so there is often 2 hens in 1 box.

Has anyone ever had a roo go into a nestbox? I was out observing them one day and when they forgot I was there, I saw the weirdest thing,....one of the Roos did the lil noise calling the hens over...then ended up climbing into the box and stayed there for a few minutes! WEIRD!

 

[babylady4]

Ang, you are a great egg supplier! How cute! I love that you send all that info!

Speaking of poopy eggs, my DH picked some up from a guy at work and they had poop all over them! I know that it happens occasionally, but this was just plain gross. Like the nest boxes were never cleaned out.( I have collected eggs from my in-laws before so I know what to expect when collecting eggs.) Since my MIL is so wise in the ways of chickens, I asked my DH what she would do when she had an egg that dirty, he told me she would soak it briefly in cold water to soften the stuff up and then gently wipe it off. Worked for me. I used them right away too when I did that.

No big news today, just stiff and sore from my class.