Okay, I am done with hatching and selling baby birds. Why? I live on a farm and am a farmer. Here people do not value that lifestyle and many have stopped farming themselves. Although there is plenty of money in the area, and the costs for raising animals are sky high, folks still want to pay 1940's prices for farm raised animals. And they want them delivered.
I sell eggs, or try to, to offset the cost of raising the birds. But, people only want to pay $2 per dozen eggs from the farm and they want them delivered too. As a matter of point, I recently advertised eggs FOR FREE and no one came, but two people asked if I could deliver them. Oy!
The chicks are mixed barnyard chicks from White Chantecler, Partridge Chantecler and Ameraucanas primarily with a few odd singles and bantams thrown in. I state that, yet people ask if they can get just Ameraucanas. I kindly explain they are barnyard mixed, running together and there is no guarantee which rooster was with which hen. Still they ask if I could try to choose just Ameraucanas. I can't. They want to buy mature birds for $5 dollars, the price of a chick and they want to buy a chick for $2. The electricity to hatch the chicks and keep the heat lamps on ends up costing more than what $2 can cover. True Ameraucanas are $12 dollars a chick, not $5 and $25 or more for an adult bird. Also, the people do not show up when they say they will and are upset when they finally decide to show up, that there are no chicks left, even though my ad clearly says that a deposit is required to hold the chicks.
The same story goes for the ducklings. They only want this breed or that breed and the explanation goes forth that they are all running together and no particular breed can be selected. Oy! And those who wanted ducklings have still not shown up for them, even though they were hatched two weeks ago. The Fat Ewe Farm is not a boarding facility either.
The eggs that the birds lay daily are wasted. Some are cooked and fed to the animals, but there are three dozen or slightly more every day. I refuse to sell them for $2 a dozen. I tried to give them away instead and still no luck. The eggs are 'clean' in that they are not fed wheat and the feed they get in addition to being able to feed themselves by foraging anywhere they wish to go, does not matter much to people around here either. The idea of
So, the only answer to the problem is to have a few chickens, just enough to supply the needs of the farm and a few ducks and geese as well. At the end of the season, I will select about 15 chickens for keeping and sell the rest if they sell at all, and if they do not, they will be sent to the processors for chicken soup. The ducks and geese too will suffer that fate if not sold. I will keep only 5 geese, 3 hens and 2 ganders, 2 roosters and 15 hens and about a dozen ducks. As much as I do enjoy the birds now, it does not make sense to keep them under these circumstances.
Bye bye birdies!
I sell eggs, or try to, to offset the cost of raising the birds. But, people only want to pay $2 per dozen eggs from the farm and they want them delivered too. As a matter of point, I recently advertised eggs FOR FREE and no one came, but two people asked if I could deliver them. Oy!
The chicks are mixed barnyard chicks from White Chantecler, Partridge Chantecler and Ameraucanas primarily with a few odd singles and bantams thrown in. I state that, yet people ask if they can get just Ameraucanas. I kindly explain they are barnyard mixed, running together and there is no guarantee which rooster was with which hen. Still they ask if I could try to choose just Ameraucanas. I can't. They want to buy mature birds for $5 dollars, the price of a chick and they want to buy a chick for $2. The electricity to hatch the chicks and keep the heat lamps on ends up costing more than what $2 can cover. True Ameraucanas are $12 dollars a chick, not $5 and $25 or more for an adult bird. Also, the people do not show up when they say they will and are upset when they finally decide to show up, that there are no chicks left, even though my ad clearly says that a deposit is required to hold the chicks.
The same story goes for the ducklings. They only want this breed or that breed and the explanation goes forth that they are all running together and no particular breed can be selected. Oy! And those who wanted ducklings have still not shown up for them, even though they were hatched two weeks ago. The Fat Ewe Farm is not a boarding facility either.
The eggs that the birds lay daily are wasted. Some are cooked and fed to the animals, but there are three dozen or slightly more every day. I refuse to sell them for $2 a dozen. I tried to give them away instead and still no luck. The eggs are 'clean' in that they are not fed wheat and the feed they get in addition to being able to feed themselves by foraging anywhere they wish to go, does not matter much to people around here either. The idea of
So, the only answer to the problem is to have a few chickens, just enough to supply the needs of the farm and a few ducks and geese as well. At the end of the season, I will select about 15 chickens for keeping and sell the rest if they sell at all, and if they do not, they will be sent to the processors for chicken soup. The ducks and geese too will suffer that fate if not sold. I will keep only 5 geese, 3 hens and 2 ganders, 2 roosters and 15 hens and about a dozen ducks. As much as I do enjoy the birds now, it does not make sense to keep them under these circumstances.
Bye bye birdies!
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