I hope so.....
That's terrible - sorry to hear that. Property losses are tough enough to deal with. Losing animals takes it to a whole other level.The new test has started. Turned out the birds this morning. Stupid thing didnt want outside. couldnt run them out the door. A hand full of feed cured that. Today 9 hens and a rooster, hopefully I dont lose any and hopefully they will go back in the coop tonite. Anyways, I have done all I can think off to get them to laying, if this dont work they are headed for freezer camp.
On a sad note, my sisters barn burnt down the other night. Loss 3 horses, and a beef cow they just bought. Also lost all her chickens, some of her tractor implements, tack for the horses. Melted the glass out of horse trailer and and the seat off the tractor, these where parked outside. Cause of fire was a new china brooder that short circuited. First time being used.
Proper feed is extremely essential. A meat bird will reach market maturity in 6 weeks or less on proper feed. If they are not fed properly they will not. Folks cannot expect a hen to lay properly while being fed improperly. They will stay alive but lay irregularly on poor feed. I have a son that works at a feed research farm. They do some weird tests to try things. They generally have multiple feed trials running on meat chickens. I always get a chuckle when he says they have to weigh chickens. You ever tried to weigh a live chicken? It is harder than washing them.Stopped by the mill to grab 200lbs this morning and asked the girl behind the counter if she knew anything about the tsc feed thing. She said she didn't know, but a lot more people have been eating feed from the mill lately and commenting about the chickens not laying with the precious feed amd doing much better on the mills feed. I'm just assuming there must have been some truth to the feed thing with her feedback.
Yes, if you recall we had a discussion about chicken weight a fee pages back. Yeah. Pretty much gave that idea up. Think I'd have better luck pulling teeth from a tiger then weighing the darn chickens.Proper feed is extremely essential. A meat bird will reach market maturity in 6 weeks or less on proper feed. If they are not fed properly they will not. Folks cannot expect a hen to lay properly while being fed improperly. They will stay alive but lay irregularly on poor feed. I have a son that works at a feed research farm. They do some weird tests to try things. They generally have multiple feed trials running on meat chickens. I always get a chuckle when he says they have to weigh chickens. You ever tried to weigh a live chicken? It is harder than washing them.
Nope never even gave it a thought to weigh an egg.How many folks weigh their eggs?
Well we had chickens for years. We had an empty chicken house one spring and I got a wild idea I wanted to put turkeys in it. Well my wife and kids wanted no part of it. I ordered Bronze Breasted and commenced to feeding. Well I underestimated their growth and by the time it was time to harvest to sell for Thanksgiving they were huge. I am not a cook and will never claim to be. I thought folks wanted big birds. Apparently a 22lb bird is not real desirable. I had some at 27lbs dressed. It was an epic failure but I am not one to give up. The next year I bought Eastern Reds (Wild Turkeys). It was the opposite as they grew poorly and man can they fly. The Amish gentleman could not understand why we could not just walk them down the alley of the shop. They dressed out a 8-13Lbs
There is no real reason to weigh a laying hen. They are for a entire different purpose. I got a chuckle from my wife years ago when she order some meat breeds for the boys to show at the fair. She grew up raising chickens but never meat breeds. When she told me she had ordered them I gave her a puzzled look. I told her she ordered them way too early as they would be prime weight in 40-44 days. I think she got them in May and the show was not until mid July. She did not believe me. We had to keep fans running on the fat boys the entire time. By the time came for the show their breasts were raw and they could barely move. The still won Grand Champion Poultry. The next year she said....."I don't think I will order quite so early"Yes, if you recall we had a discussion about chicken weight a fee pages back. Yeah. Pretty much gave that idea up. Think I'd have better luck pulling teeth from a tiger then weighing the darn chickens.
Do they ship ? I would buy some ready to lay .
Well in reality unless you are showing or selling eggs there is no reason to weigh them either. If you are selling eggs you generally want them to be as uniform as possible but many folks do not care either. If you are showing it is essential. Here they are shown as a dozen. I remember a year when a young boy had a dozen eggs he was so very proud of. He rightfully should have been proud as I am certain he put the work into raising the hens unlike other kids. The problem was he had "rainbow" or "easter eggs" they were multi-colored and not uniform in size. It was a nice display of eggs but not what is commercially desirable. The judge is a great man and he took great care to explain to the boy what was desired and how to select his eggs for the next show.Nope never even gave it a thought to weigh an egg.
Yep as low as $125 if you buy 4 Only $30 plus shipping, no pick-up orders.You might try these guys: https://www.cacklehatchery.com/
Lebanon, Mo. they sell zillions of chicks. We get ducks from them in a number of varieties.
I cannot comment on the chickens they sell, though.
They have a pretty cool store to visit, too. We often visit when the family goes to the dentist there. It's a long drive to the dentist from KC, but he's a great dentist.
Heck we have a hard time giving them away let alone selling them before they get too old. Wife just took about 18 dozen to work for the girls to take home. Didn't weigh the eggs or even bother to make sure they were all the same color. She came back home with 5 dozen, I'm taking them to work Monday. My crew alone has 32 guys on it, but only 3 of them will take eggs. Never seen such a wimpy bunch of men. We don't washe them for obvious reasons, but we do keep the dirty one for our selves and let the nice clean ones go out the door.Well in reality unless you are showing or selling eggs there is no reason to weigh them either. If you are selling eggs you generally want them to be as uniform as possible but many folks do not care either. If you are showing it is essential. Here they are shown as a dozen. I remember a year when a young boy had a dozen eggs he was so very proud of. He rightfully should have been proud as I am certain he put the work into raising the hens unlike other kids. The problem was he had "rainbow" or "easter eggs" they were multi-colored and not uniform in size. It was a nice display of eggs but not what is commercially desirable. The judge is a great man and he took great care to explain to the boy what was desired and how to select his eggs for the next show.
Here is a scale and what is graded as a large egg.
View attachment 1065299View attachment 1065300
Well when Wal-Mart was getting $6-7/doz folks wanted them.Heck we have a hard time giving them away let alone selling them before they get too old. Wife just took about 18 dozen to work for the girls to take home. Didn't weigh the eggs or even bother to make sure they were all the same color. She came back home with 5 dozen, I'm taking them to work Monday. My crew alone has 32 guys on it, but only 3 of them will take eggs. Never seen such a wimpy bunch of men. We don't washe them for obvious reasons, but we do keep the dirty one for our selves and let the nice clean ones go out the door.
Shocking. I've never had a problem giving them away. There are people I work with that have offered to pay more, just to ensure they continue to get them.Heck we have a hard time giving them away let alone selling them before they get too old. Wife just took about 18 dozen to work for the girls to take home. Didn't weigh the eggs or even bother to make sure they were all the same color. She came back home with 5 dozen, I'm taking them to work Monday. My crew alone has 32 guys on it, but only 3 of them will take eggs. Never seen such a wimpy bunch of men. We don't washe them for obvious reasons, but we do keep the dirty one for our selves and let the nice clean ones go out the door.
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