03/26/2019
šWe don't sell HENS only...
-All chicks are sold Straight Run(unknown s*x)
This is WHY... small breeders don't sell normal have just hens to saleā¦. it's the math.
Like a lot of small breeders, I have very limited space to cage and raise out my birds. And on certain breeds, I may only keep 10 of the breed so there are limited amount of birds in that flock.
Note:šOur fertility is noramlly close to 90%!
However fertility is WAY different from actually hatch rate!
Fertility on eggs is great, but the old saying of "Don't count your chickens before the hatch" well that is true! Anything can go wrong in that 21 days.....wrong humidity/dirty environment/something being wrong with the chick as it develops/etc.
CAN kill that baby in the egg before it hatches!
So most of the time, don't expect high hatch rates, (especially on shipped eggs they go through a lot of shaking)
šHereās how the math works-
In theory, I'll start by setting 3 dozen eggs in my incubator. ... for 21 days. Letās say, 30 of 36 eggs actually hatch. (Thatās actually a very high hatch rate).
šNow, of the 30 babies, maybe 4 are pet quality, Iām now down to 26 birdsā¦ Of the 26, 10 are all of a color that I am not wanting to improve on or add to, so those babies are up for sale to the public. Now I have 16 birds. Over time, maybe I lose 4 of them to illness, accident, predators etcā¦ I now have 12 birdsā¦ I have to feed them, medicate them, clean up their pens, treat for coccidiosis, treat for mites, and use a ton of $$ expensive feed and pine shavingsā¦ for 5 - 9 months on some breeds before I personally can tell who is a rooster vs. hen!
šYou see, some of my breeds are tricky little birds that conceal their s*x until they begin to reach s*xual maturity. Sexual maturity usually doesnāt even start until 6 - 9 months of age. So for half of an entire year, I get to feed and tend to a dozen birds, that statically will be at least 50 - 60% boys. *or worse. I've raised out 80% boys before.
šBack to the-mathā¦ after 6 months, of the 1 dozen juveniles that I spent a half a year growing out, maybe, just maybe 4 or 5 will end up to be pullets. So, out of 36 hatching eggs, a breeder can end up with hardly any mature femalesā¦ Since we lose birds to old age, or illness, or predatorsā¦. I usually hold back my best daughters to add back into my flockā¦. That leaves absolutely NO girls to sell to the public.
šItās not that I donāt want to, itās just not feasible. Oh, and please do not ask for me to sale you my breeding stockā¦ Thatās like asking me to go out of business. Hope everyone understands. Best bet to get girls is to purchase a batch of quality babies and raise them out, just like every other breeder will have to do, knowing youāll be stuck having to get rid of a lot of unwanted boysā¦.
