fuzzi's "Gardens and Chickens...and Goats? Oh My!" Journal and More Thread

[fuzzi]

$5 and $3 for the roosters, take out cost of the laundry baskets and auction fees, is it even worth taking them to auction? Since the auction insists on the laundry baskets, do they insist on the buyer paying for the laundry basket or does the seller keep it and it's buyer bring their own?

I haven't been able to find another way to rehome unneeded cockerels. I don't have it in me to kill and bury them just because they're male. They're not worth butchering, either. So once a year I spend the time to rehome them in this manner.

How much do I spend on feed, and straw, compared to what I save on buying eggs? I know I'm in the red, I don't make a profit. I suspect many of us poultry hobbyists are in the same situation.

I do have the benefits of interacting with them, and being able to eat truly organic eggs. I am content.

 

[fuzzi]

P.S. The laundry baskets are $1.50 each. Others make cages with chicken wire, whatever is laying around.

 

[fuzzi]

I went out to feed and water my flocks after church. While I was checking the second coop the skies opened.

So I sat on the coop chair for about 15 minutes of downpour, all while being observed...

Then as the rain slowed the hens went back into the main area to eat, discovering the feed had gotten wet, ooh! It's mash!

 

[drstratton]

I went out to feed and water my flocks after church. While I was checking the second coop the skies opened.
View attachment 120445

So I sat on the coop chair for about 15 minutes of downpour, all while being observed...
View attachment 120447
View attachment 120449


Then as the rain slowed the hens went back into the main area to eat, discovering the feed had gotten wet, ooh! It's mash!
View attachment 120450

Glad you're finally getting some rain. I guess it rained pretty hard here, while we were gone of course...lol
My girls love mash too. I give them a little, most mornings. Some days I just give them grapes off the vine near their pen. Trying to keep my fingers in the process...lol

Just love baby's with their mama's.

 

[fuzzi]

Glad you're finally getting some rain. I guess it rained pretty hard here, while we were gone of course...lol
My girls love mash too. I give them a little, most mornings. Some days I just give them grapes off the vine near their pen. Trying to keep my fingers in the process...lol

Just love baby's with their mama's.

That 15 minutes put an inch of rain in the gauge!

I was going to plant vegetable seeds, but now intermittent showers and thunderstorms are expected for the rest of the day.

I might take a nap.

 

[SageHill]

For me it's canning season and the girls LOVE canning season because they get all the scraps! It's their personal thanksgiving.

 

[drstratton]

That 15 minutes put an inch of rain in the gauge!

I was going to plant vegetable seeds, but now intermittent showers and thunderstorms are expected for the rest of the day.

I might take a nap.

That's a lot of rain...we rarely get rain like that here.

A nap sounds good and well deserved!

 

[Mini Horses]

@fuzzi I dislike the butchering, too. It's why I still feed some old hens...a couple reward me by going broody. Makes up for the eggs, which I rarely eat anyway. But mine free range, so a lot of bug control going on, plus they clean up any goat feed dropped, as well as being avid food scrap eaters (my garbage cans). I keep full size birds, so the roos get big enough for butcher. But I sometimes sell them if I'm not ready for the meat.

I've been fortunate to give a few away to people who needed a roo on occasion, for their own hens. That was nice.

 

[Baymule]

I know the enjoyment you get from your chickens is well worth the money spent. Look on the bright side, it keeps you happy!

 

[canesisters]

I think the auction is a great way to handle the sometimes touchy problem of extra roos.
I'm going to have to construct entire seperate living arraignments because I'm not willing to butcher Christopher Owen, but I don't want him to have breeding access to the Bresse.