Re: Poultry in the Parlor

Jesse,
I mail-order day-old chicks from Ideal or Murray McMurray, or I'll ask the feed store to order some pullets along with the Easter chicks and ducks. Ideal often has specials, and will ship less than 25 at a time, unlike McMurray, though McMurray has more rare breeds and they're fun to fool with sometimes.
I gave up hatching because of the surplus roosters. I couldn't eat them, and they were hard to get rid of except to creepy men with no teeth who would grab them by the legs and stuff them in a crate. I couldn't do that to any of the boys again.
I tried something new this year. I bought my chicks in August, so they were in a box on the screened porch instead of in the dining room. 

d
----- Original Message ----- From: "Jesse Bell" <justjess01@gmail.com> 
To: <gardenchat@hort.net>
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 9:12 PM
Subject: Re: [CHAT] Poultry in the Parlor



OMG...I can SO relate.  Last year I raised TWO batches of chicks in my
laundry room.  And now - somebody stop me - I'm ready to do another batch
this spring because I need more egg layers.  I have 8 hens and I have so
many orders for eggs that I can't keep up with it all.  People want farm,
fresh eggs and word got around at my job that I have them.  I can barely
keep enough for myself! (I have become the "Egg Pimp")  The problem with
this is that I have no idea how many hens will hatch, and how many roosters. 
I don't NEED anymore roosters.  "Mr. Mojo" is a handful and I have to put
him in his place on a weekly basis.  He doesn't like anybody in there with
his "women" and he'll come running at me.  I bop him on the head and go on
about my business of feeding - but he tries it again a week later.  Goofy
rooster.  It's expensive to drive to a hatchery to buy pullets - and not
sure it's really worth it. One of my young hens is turning into a "brooder" 
so I know she'll sit on some eggs if I let her.  To hatch, or not to
hatch...that is the question of the day.


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