Adding new chickens to our flock

[MoonShadows]

Moon, sure they DID enjoy a break. I hope you served them drinks by the pool.

LOL...the pool was frozen.

 

[MoonShadows]

I do keep allot of chickens and have about 60 customers. I do not allow them to come to my home so I text them every Wednesday and deliver every Thursday. It is a wonderful thing and they think I am doing such a wonderful thing to take them to them...This way I can sell all my eggs and not have to hang around the house all week. Use the phone one day and drive a few hours another day and I am done with getting rid of the eggs. It is all on the way to pick up my chicken food so I would have been using the gas anyway. Just recently I have been buying 2 pallets worth of food so I haven't had to go every week but my bank is there also and have to stop in that area anyway.

By the way, I watch for discounts on feed from Tractor Supply. They are 10 and 15 percent discounts. When you buy as much as I do it is quite a bit of savings.

I have a customer who has an egg delivery service. He lives in Greeley, PA and has about 60 chickens. At Christmas, he offered his customer home baked goods, and now he is offering them a selection of our products that I private label for him. He is doing well, and his customers like the expanded items he has to offer. (I don't think you can read the "brand" from these pics, so I'll post them.)

 

[MoonShadows]

Today, after the new hens decided to "invade" the main coop, I decided to clean the main coop out so they all start with a "fresh" coop. I cleaned the poop board and put new Sweet PDZ in. I hauled out 9 large garbage cans of old pine shavings, vacuumed, and put in a few new bales. The new 8 hens rewarded me with 8 beautiful brown eggs. Not as many as you, @waretrop, but we only use them ourselves and give them to a few neighbors and friends.

 

[waretrop]

@MoonShadows I always clean the hen house just before adding new people....It keeps the old ones delightfully happy till the new ones can get their bearings.....

If I do anything I would like to make a business of "specialized" gingerbread houses for the individual and for the holiday. Hand delivered, of course. I can't handle anymore than I am doing right now. The gingerbread house has been on the back burner for years...

 

[MoonShadows]

Gingerbread houses sound great!

 

[Mini Horses]

Private labeling does sell your product. I think many customers would like "added" product if offered. Even specialty items at hoidays only, etc. I've sold pies, cakes, candies, soaps, etc. seasonally thru a friends beauty salon orders in the past. She'd love me to do fresh eggs once a week and I am considering it.

 

[Mini Horses]

It often "takes a village" to make our little at home jobs work. The specialty items are often seasonal & since they are generally "ordered" it helps to limit losses. Just sayin.......

My friend gets some product for her offering to "handle" the sales at her shop. She has a list of orders, I fill & drop there on designated schedule. She collects $$ from them. What a deal!! But her customers are thrilled and it works well for her & me. Not huge amounts but, a little extra. Kinda fun, too.

I like the "keep the older ones busy" idea of the hen house as it would sure help. Generally it takes a couple days, then settled.
Gingerbread houses could be sold, like special cake decorating.

Nice display, Moon. Looks like you would WANT to buy.

 

[MoonShadows]

Well, I've had the 8 new hens for a week now, and so far I have picked up 56 eggs from them....7 eggs from each of them in a week! My older gals have produced 5 between the 3 of them in the same 7 days.

These hens are so much more active than my previous heritage chickens ever were. When I collect eggs, they all run into the nests, pop their heads up, and I have all I can do to collect the eggs without them trying to jump up to me. When I go in and out the human door, I have to crouch low trying to keep them from running out. And, they have learned who "mamma" is; the second they see me, they all come running over to the fence line...hoping for some goodies. I have been giving them all a lot of food and treats this first week thinking if they are all well fed, there might be less picking on them from the older hens. The older hens are still giving the teenagers reminder pecks here and there. Once this snow we are getting to day melts (first time they are ever seeing snow!)...maybe by Monday, I am going to give them their first taste of free ranging. I know my older hens have been dying to go out, but I wanted them all to stay in the coop and run for the first week, so the younger ones get imprinted on them that this is their home base. Let's see what happens when I let them all out. Since getting them, I have read that Red Sex Links are not all that predator savvy.

 

[lcertuche]

My black sex links (RIR rooster/BR hen) was predator savey. I let them free range from about 8 weeks on. The only thing that ever got them was our son's dogs that someone had dumped out on our road.

 

[MoonShadows]

When our Rosie was still alive she used to bark at the chickens and run after them, but I don't think she wanted to attack, just play.

I would think these Red Sex Links would be good with predators. They can move like lightening and fly much better than my heritage chickens. I'm hoping what I read was just someone's opinion and not a trait "in general".