A mostly positive outcome this year with the new flock of pullets. I've sold the majority, and held back a few of each of the breeds that now are going up for sale. The one disappointment was the number of roosters from the Lavender Orpington group. That's partly on me. Thankfully, the sold ones were all females so I did good on finding the females early. But, in the end, I only had one female left over along with seven roosters of the Orpingtons meaning that I only had five females of that breed, to begin with.
This new hatchery does not gender the Orpington chicks, plus over charged me for the breed at the start. When I checked back online in March, the price per chick had dropped by $2/chick.... soooooo...... I will not purchase that breed from them in the future. However, for the most part, I had no deformed chicks this year, That is a win. I did, however, get a rooster in the Barred Rock group. So, all in all, I did end up with eight roosters along with fifty two pullets.... I lose money on the roosters because, even though they eat more food than pullets, I can barely sell them for the price I paid for them as chicks. I end up giving them away, actually. Considering I pay the higher price per chick for females to begin with, well.... Roosters are a pain in the...... But don't get me wrong, this year was WAY better than last.
The chick brooder sales were better this year, also, and I only need to sell a few more to whittle down to my "over the winter" flock. I just won't have any Lavender Orpingtons, once again. I will have have two, to four, of the following breeds; Barred Rock, Steel Blue Novagen, Gold Comet, Amber Links and Easter Eggers.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
