We can still remember the excitement of waiting for the delivery of our new chickens- our first question was: I wonder how long it will be until they lay their first eggs!
Are you wondering what you need to do when they first arrive and how you can get them off to the best possible start in life?
Lose one, maybe two, in shipment. Lose one, maybe two, waiting for them to grow up. After they start laying snakes and raccoons find their way in and feast on the eggs. Forget to latch the door properly and they all escape and are eaten by eagles, vultures, dogs and foxes. Learn your lesson and go to the store for eggs and chicken meat.
ReplyDeleteEvil Franklin
I buy my birds as very young pullets. I've lost none after getting them home. In 7 years, none of mine have been killed by other animals and I let my two oldest hens wander around the property from dawn to dusk. Also I get a healthy supply of eggs every day, so snakes aren't an issue.
DeleteAnd sorry, but my fresh eggs taste much much better than storebought eggs.
Wow. It almost sounds as if you actually have to work and pay attention. Sucks to be you.
DeleteWhere do you buy your pullets?
DeletePoultry Hollow just on the other side of Carthage TN, Home of Al Gore Nobel Peace Prize Winner.
DeleteThey're a bit pricey but the birds are healthy and correctly sexed.
https://www.poultryhollow.org/
Thank you sir I will check them out.
DeleteI have years worth of data, in spreadsheets. It costs me about $10 per month per chick to get a very small chick from purchase to production. About $60 per chick to make a laying hen. The ongoing food costs (I use Du-Mor) for the flock are between $1.25 and $1.75 per day, depending on the season. I get between $1.85 and $2.75 per day in egg sales. The hens are free range and eat a lot of bugs, we have almost no ticks around the house.
DeleteThese numbers the most current but are relatively consistent over the last three years. I eat free eggs and they are damned tasty. I report the income and expenses on my annual tax returns (I use an accountant for a lot of other reasons). I have lost 3 hens to predation over the last two years. I have to go to town occasionally anyways, so there is no real cost to obtaining the food; I just have to remember to buy the food.
I just bring my chickens home in buckets, no worries at all!
ReplyDelete@Luis-KFC Rules!
A bit off topic, but now I'm wondering: Does that cull Al Gore get Secret Service protection for the rest of his oxygen-sucking life?
ReplyDelete