oh, the horror! ;)

[bibliophile birds]

i sat down to make my purchase list for the spring... well, the bird list anyway. i felt like i was being sooooo good, not buying birds just cause they were pretty (aka bantams) and not buying more than i actually needed.

yeah, right.

how do 36 chicks, 7 ducks and 15 turkeys end up costing $300? ok, turkeys are expensive... but seriously! i know my problem is ideological- i want well-bred, heritage and rare birds so i end up ordering from fancy places/breeders and it gets expensive fast. must suck it up and a) shell out the dough OR b) stop being so idealistic.

wonder how much my car is worth in the current economy? wish those d*mn chickens would hurry up and start laying....

 

[dacjohns]

That's a lot of eggs.

 

[pioneergirl]

I hear ya! I want to order heritage breeds when the time comes, but I have a hard time swallowing the cost. I know the ends will justify the means, but dang!!!

 

[bibliophile birds]

i buy mostly straight run so i can process the spare cockerels. i'm about to process 7 of the 10 cockerels that i've got now, leaving only 15 birds in my coop... that needs remedying.

and the duck and turkey pens are ready and empty... that's just not right.

 

[bibliophile birds]

I have a hard time swallowing the cost.

yeah, it's especially hard when you look at the break downs.

for $300 i'm getting 58 birds.

for $300 i could get 165 buff Orps from Ideal.

it's hard...

 

[big brown horse]

Hopefully you can justify it by breeding the chicks when they grow up. Maybe you can even sell their offspring and the extra eggs etc.

I bought two French Black Copper Maran chicks for $7 each. Quite high, but I will be breeding them and selling their chicks and eating all of the yummy chocolate brown eggs too. I'm trying to ONLY buy heritage breeds that are also dual purpose too. Starting next year, I won't have to buy chicks anymore. I'll just raise my own.

 

[Blackbird]

You might want to look into the Hatchery Surprise at Cackle too. I got 2 ducks, 2 turkeys, and 30+ chicks for about $40. A lot of fancy breeds, some heritage, some common.

 

[meriruka]

Spending more $ for quality almost always pays off and how much happier you'll be raising interesting birds as opposed to a pile of hatchery lookalikes. So, you have the official green light as long as you post pics for us all to admire!

 

[Hattie the Hen]

Hi bbh & bib. birds !

Have you tried Dorkings! Three years ago I bought in some eggs to put under my broody white Plymouth hen because even over here they are expensive. I now am breeding my own. They are great producers of eggs (6 per week), they start producing young. They make great devoted mothers although the advice is not to let them sit in their fist year. Mine did & were totally dedicated to the task. I now have too many chaps so will process them. I know they will make great eating as I remember them from my youth. In Victorian times they were the favoured table bird as they have long backs with plump breasts plus the meat is very white. Mine are Silver Dorkings & they are so beautiful to have around. Oh! & they are very friendly & well behaved. They free range my garden & I love 'em.....!! They are an ideal dual purpose bird.

Hattie

 

[Wifezilla]

the duck and turkey pens are ready and empty... that's just not right.

Nope! Not one bit!

What kind of ducks? If I had room I would be getting some dutch hook bills from Holderreads...or geese... like sebbies...or shetland geese....or more runner ducks.....or

Damn

I need more land! Too many different cool breeds of water fowl!!!!