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Post by Woodpecker on Oct 1, 2016 18:56:22 GMT
Wow shellymay, those little fluffy chicks, just make my heart sing. Although they must be a lot of work, you seem to get more joy from them than anything!
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Post by farmchix on Oct 2, 2016 14:38:13 GMT
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Post by shellymay on Nov 6, 2016 3:25:29 GMT
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Post by Woodpecker on Nov 6, 2016 21:22:29 GMT
Wow wee Shelly, what a flock of beautiful chicks. I can't even imagine how much work they are. To you I bet it's total joy. You gotta love them! Great pics.
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Post by aoconnor on Nov 8, 2016 0:33:30 GMT
Now that's a lots of babies! Yikes! I love seeing them grown a bit, you have some very pretty little ones there:-)
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Post by farmchix on Nov 22, 2016 10:52:16 GMT
So, how old do they get before you start selling them? shellymay, |
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Post by shellymay on Nov 22, 2016 12:44:27 GMT
farmchix, 4 months of age and no sooner, the Golden Comets will start laying first and they will start at about 4 1/2 months of age. Easier on the buyers to train them to lay in buyers nest boxes or specific area they want their chickens to lay in, so getting them to their new homes before they start is best. Some of the breeds take longer though usually 5-6 months of age the balance of breeds will be laying. Also by the age of 4 months there is no doubt who is a hen and who is a roo and I don't have any upset customers because I sold them the wrong sex  FYI as of right now they are 2 months of age and I know I have two Barred Rock roo's.... They are growing so fast, this past weekend I had to open up even more space for them, they are now in double the amount of space the last pictures showed, they are completely feathered out and the heat brooder was removed, we seen lows of 24-27 the past couple of days and they survived without the heater, I still have a couple of heat lamps on just in case, heaters are also in for their water containers! During the holidays when I have some extra time off I will get some new pictures and post 
Oh need to back up and add, there is 664 chickens alive in this current order, NO WAY I can have that many nest boxes available for them to use, another reason for selling at the age I do sell them at, that won't all be sold by the time they start laying and their will be DOZENS of eggs in the nest boxes I have but there will be DOZENS on the coop floor in the straw I use for bedding also, the old saying walking on egg shells hits home here  |
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Post by farmchix on Nov 23, 2016 11:17:56 GMT
shellymay, a couple of my girls that just started laying have decided to be lazy and stay down on the floor. The worst sound ever....crunch! LOL
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Post by Mari-in-IN on Nov 27, 2016 0:08:43 GMT
shellymay, Your pics are beautiful and mind-boggling at the same time! It just blows me away how your hatchery of choice does such a good job in regards to sexing.. I do indeed wish we lived in close proximity to each other... I would just love to buy 2 month old pullets from you... Take care girl... Mari
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Post by shellymay on Nov 29, 2016 1:12:50 GMT
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Post by farmchix on Nov 29, 2016 10:01:39 GMT
They are getting so big!
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Post by countrymom22 on Nov 29, 2016 23:06:28 GMT
What a group of happy, healthy chickens. I want to come back as one of your chickens shellymay! Hope you sell them all quickly when the time comes. Do you keep any for your own use? |
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Post by shellymay on Jan 9, 2017 14:16:12 GMT
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Post by shellymay on Jan 9, 2017 14:29:40 GMT
This past weekend we got the water system done...
Okay this is hard to explain but will try, wanted to eliminate hauling many buckets of water, wanted to eliminate many many water heaters, wanted to eliminate all the poop on all those multiple water containers, but needed heated water so everything wont freeze up.
So we used a 55 gallon plastic drum and ordered a drum belt heater, it has thermostat adjustment low of 50 degree or as high as 175 degree....this will keep the bulk water heated YEAH, now we need to get water out of barrel and into drinking dishes for chickens, so we used all the right fittings (ask if you want to know) and assembled to bottom of barrel, they have SHUT OFF knobs on them....DH added straight pipe the right length to fill the water trays and when they get to a certain height they stop filling by them selves, think of it as if you filled the sink half full of water, then took a FULL 2 liter bottle of water and with lid off turned it upside down (straight up and down) into sink water NOTHING comes out right, but if you lift it up out of water it starts pouring out of bottle, same theory here. When chickens start drink the water in the pans and that water level gets low water will come out of barrel and replace until the pan water is above the pipe coming from the fitting setup...Hope that makes sence, OF course this only works if you have a barrel with solid lid and make sure your screw caps are in and sealed tight, this set up is all done on vacuum pressure
I still needed the round heaters under the pans of water as the water in pans is exposed to the outside air temp, so pans sit on those round heaters, PANS are oil drain pans you would put under your car to drain you oil into  Anyhow still another issue, the shut off valve (gray part of fittings) is plastic and a person needs to keep them from freezing up or they will crack and you will have 55 gallons of water all over the floor, So DH cut down two 5 gallon buckets cut a notch in the side and it sits over this fitting assembly and now we are pretty comfortable that the heated water in the drinking pan will be trapped under the buckets and keep the shut off valve from freezing into a ice cube in side of valve....
You will see that the oil drain pan is so much bigger then the 5 gallon bucket so plenty of room for chickens to drink, we don't want the chickens sitting on 5 gallon buckets and pooping into water so we have a cone to go up on top of bucket, but only one cone so southern states order more in for us, then of course there are cones for the 55 gallon drums also .....
After getting everything built assembled and trial we learned that the TWO valves open at bottom of barrel to fill the two trays, will not work together, they suck and pull and push air and water the two valves don't work together, SO ONLY ONE VALVE IS NEEDED.....we will turn one to off position and get a bigger water drinking pan and only use the one valve. so I am on the hunt now for much bigger pan.....But the whole thing works and will only have to be filled every other day and with a garden hose, no more carrying 5 gallon buckets
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Post by shellymay on Jan 9, 2017 14:34:21 GMT
POSTED TWO NEW IMPROVEMENTS ABOVE, SEPERATE POSTS........... |
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Post by farmchix on Jan 10, 2017 10:50:28 GMT
This past weekend we got the water system done...
Okay this is hard to explain but will try, wanted to eliminate hauling many buckets of water, wanted to eliminate many many water heaters, wanted to eliminate all the poop on all those multiple water containers, but needed heated water so everything wont freeze up.
So we used a 55 gallon plastic drum and ordered a drum belt heater, it has thermostat adjustment low of 50 degree or as high as 175 degree....this will keep the bulk water heated YEAH, now we need to get water out of barrel and into drinking dishes for chickens, so we used all the right fittings (ask if you want to know) and assembled to bottom of barrel, they have SHUT OFF knobs on them....DH added straight pipe the right length to fill the water trays and when they get to a certain height they stop filling by them selves, think of it as if you filled the sink half full of water, then took a FULL 2 liter bottle of water and with lid off turned it upside down (straight up and down) into sink water NOTHING comes out right, but if you lift it up out of water it starts pouring out of bottle, same theory here. When chickens start drink the water in the pans and that water level gets low water will come out of barrel and replace until the pan water is above the pipe coming from the fitting setup...Hope that makes sence, OF course this only works if you have a barrel with solid lid and make sure your screw caps are in and sealed tight, this set up is all done on vacuum pressure
I still needed the round heaters under the pans of water as the water in pans is exposed to the outside air temp, so pans sit on those round heaters, PANS are oil drain pans you would put under your car to drain you oil into Anyhow still another issue, the shut off valve (gray part of fittings) is plastic and a person needs to keep them from freezing up or they will crack and you will have 55 gallons of water all over the floor, So DH cut down two 5 gallon buckets cut a notch in the side and it sits over this fitting assembly and now we are pretty comfortable that the heated water in the drinking pan will be trapped under the buckets and keep the shut off valve from freezing into a ice cube in side of valve....
You will see that the oil drain pan is so much bigger then the 5 gallon bucket so plenty of room for chickens to drink, we don't want the chickens sitting on 5 gallon buckets and pooping into water so we have a cone to go up on top of bucket, but only one cone so southern states order more in for us, then of course there are cones for the 55 gallon drums also .....
After getting everything built assembled and trial we learned that the TWO valves open at bottom of barrel to fill the two trays, will not work together, they suck and pull and push air and water the two valves don't work together, SO ONLY ONE VALVE IS NEEDED.....we will turn one to off position and get a bigger water drinking pan and only use the one valve. so I am on the hunt now for much bigger pan.....But the whole thing works and will only have to be filled every other day and with a garden hose, no more carrying 5 gallon buckets
Wow! Love this! Where did you get the heater? |
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Post by shellymay on Jan 10, 2017 13:00:53 GMT
farmchix, I got mine here www.mscdirect.com/product/details/05942776 but we use this supplier for the family owned business all the time, so we get deals every week for 30% off and things like free shipping, many other places have them, just search for drum heaters on line, a person could also use a metal drum for this, just make sure you get a belt for the right material of your drum, as you can see I had to order the plastic barrel drum belt.....
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Post by farmchix on Jan 11, 2017 9:51:06 GMT
farmchix , I got mine here www.mscdirect.com/product/details/05942776 but we use this supplier for the family owned business all the time, so we get deals every week for 30% off and things like free shipping, many other places have them, just search for drum heaters on line, a person could also use a metal drum for this, just make sure you get a belt for the right material of your drum, as you can see I had to order the plastic barrel drum belt..... We inherited about 8-10 blue plastic barrels with this house. This will be perfect. Thanks! |
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Post by shellymay on Jan 11, 2017 15:41:48 GMT
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Post by shellymay on Jan 18, 2017 0:29:56 GMT
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Post by farmchix on Jan 18, 2017 10:41:25 GMT
When will your next load come in?
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Post by shellymay on Jan 18, 2017 14:52:02 GMT
 farmchix, Let me get this batch of approx. 670 birds SOLD first, then I will think about next batch. lol
I really intended to do a batch this large in hopes to not have to do another this year, I have always done two batches a year of about or around 300-400 each batch, by doubling the space and being able to do so many more per batch it would give me time off during lambing and weaning of lambs season.....but if they sell out to quick yes I am a chicken nut and will do another (IF)
PS, after posting pictures here last night I decided to run my CL ad last night with a note in ad that they will be ready to go on the 28th of this month, heck at 9:30 am here I got a call and a guy wants to come out THIS Saturday and pick up 20 Golden Comets, SO IT BEGINS wish me luck! |
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Post by countrymom22 on Jan 18, 2017 18:43:22 GMT
Beautiful chickens! I hope you sell out quickly!
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Post by Woodpecker on Jan 19, 2017 1:16:28 GMT
Love all the different chickens & there are so many! We've only had two golden comets & one New Hampshire red. The New Hampshire red is our favorite. Loretta the only one still here & doing good. We have one chicken farm here near by for many years. I've been there and walked around close to 600 chickens, with my daughter. i can't even imagine what a hard job they are...ya gotta love them!
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Post by farmchix on Jan 19, 2017 9:25:16 GMT
farmchix , Let me get this batch of approx. 670 birds SOLD first, then I will think about next batch. lol
I really intended to do a batch this large in hopes to not have to do another this year, I have always done two batches a year of about or around 300-400 each batch, by doubling the space and being able to do so many more per batch it would give me time off during lambing and weaning of lambs season.....but if they sell out to quick yes I am a chicken nut and will do another (IF)
PS, after posting pictures here last night I decided to run my CL ad last night with a note in ad that they will be ready to go on the 28th of this month, heck at 9:30 am here I got a call and a guy wants to come out THIS Saturday and pick up 20 Golden Comets, SO IT BEGINS wish me luck! That's awesome! Good luck!!!!! |
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Post by shellymay on Mar 5, 2017 5:52:24 GMT
farmchix, Since Feb 1st I have sold 317 chickens.................so about 1/2 are gone, March has started out real good on sales, and I think I will be sold out by the end of Month Many have started laying and I hope to sell out before I get buried in eggs
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Post by Skandi on Mar 5, 2017 15:09:58 GMT
I'm trying to imagin how many eggs 300 chickens are going to produce a day.. not in numbers, my maths isn't that bad, but visualy!
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Post by farmchix on Mar 5, 2017 16:45:51 GMT
I'm trying to imagin how many eggs 300 chickens are going to produce a day.. not in numbers, my maths isn't that bad, but visualy! Looks like we are all invited to shellymay,'s for quiche! |
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Post by shellymay on Mar 5, 2017 20:49:27 GMT
Not a person that stops by goes home without free eggs...lol
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Post by shellymay on Mar 10, 2017 20:08:03 GMT
A few more 10-12 chicken order sales since last post, have a few more scheduled for the weekend AND......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................I have a buyer coming Monday for 100 of the Golden Comets, YIPPY He is starting a egg selling business! |
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I did get the side of the coop that chickens were on cleaned and also bedded down the other side and will leave door open between both sides so they can use either or......I also burn all waste bedding so no long term mess around, look at all that nice spring grass. Lazy sheep are all under one tree (62) yearling ewes just chillin! Black chicken is black sex link and sorry the pictures aren't in order but I was to pooped to change them around!!!!
Anyhow still another issue, the shut off valve (gray part of fittings) is plastic and a person needs to keep them from freezing up or they will crack and you will have 55 gallons of water all over the floor, So DH cut down two 5 gallon buckets cut a notch in the side and it sits over this fitting assembly and now we are pretty comfortable that the heated water in the drinking pan will be trapped under the buckets and keep the shut off valve from freezing into a ice cube in side of valve....
