We've had a lot going on the past couple weeks. As you know we got meat chickens last week (
see here) well 3 of them died on Saturday. My husband went out to go check on them and they were already dead so now we are down to only 4 meat birds. I guess I will ordering some this week. We aren't sure of the cause of death but some of the birds we get from our local farm auction aren't always the healthiest but that's just a risk you take. Most of the birds we get from the auction are fine but we've had our share of unexplained deaths but that's part of homesteading, right?
The other week we picked up some layer chicks at the local feed mill. We got 15 Isa Browns, 2 Buff Orphington's, 1 Americana, 5 Blue Cochin's. We've had these for about 2 weeks and haven't had any problems. Though we have may layers right now our thoughts are to keep some of the new ones and either sell the current layers we have and/or raise the chicks until their pullets and sell we're not super sure. These chicks are doing great!!!
Sorry to hear your meat birds didn't make it. We always buy from a hatchery though and have good luck with both layers and broilers. Do you have a batch of old layers that you're trying to replace?
ReplyDeleteThanks BoPeep. We are kinda trying to replace a batch of layers since the ones we have don't lay everyday. However we might to try to sell them too. Clear as mud, right? Also I want to try and start a side farm business and this might be a good way to get my feet wet.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if there is much of a market for old layers. We usually let ours live out their lives (we have one 8 yr old hen!) and put the new layers in the same coop. Good luck with the farm business, too. You'll make your money selling chicks rather than eggs. :)
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear about your chickens- I'm raising my first batch of Buff Orpingtons, and have been having so much fun with them! Never thought I would enjoy chickens so much!
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Thanks Michelle! I never thought I would like raising chickens as much as I do either.
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