VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Feb 25, 2015 16:46:44 GMT 10
Okay guys, I have exhausted most avenues so need to put the word out .... does anyone know a good reliable source of commercial meat chickens (fertile egg or day olds) in Victoria?
Cheers,
Veg.
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Post by wellrounded on Feb 25, 2015 18:57:08 GMT 10
I can put you in touch with plenty of fertile egg sellers. Have to wait until I can talk to my daughter as she's the one with the contacts (probably tomorrow). Do you want a commercial 8 week kill bird or a heritage hybrid or ??
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Feb 25, 2015 19:00:12 GMT 10
8 week kill bird if possible?
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Post by Fractus on Feb 25, 2015 20:44:10 GMT 10
Are you going to breed they yourself as a plan or continue to purchase. Only curious as I can't help. I have a duel purpose bird that will be eatable and broody for hatching my broodinessless egg layers. Plus the boss loves the look of them. Silver laced Wyandotte. Probably better birds out there but she who rules, rules strongly. Intending to develop the birds more, will be incubating ducks for pets (eating) next spring. Pets are easy to catch  |
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Post by Peter on Feb 25, 2015 23:00:53 GMT 10
...she who rules, rules strongly. Is my wife related to yours? |
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Post by Fractus on Feb 28, 2015 11:44:34 GMT 10
www.wagnerspoultry.com.au/stock.htmMay be what you need mainly egg layers but they sell day old roosters for 70 cents the Australorpe New Hampshire cross males should make a dandy meat bird and cheap as chips at 70 cents. May get some myself when the silver lace go broody
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Feb 28, 2015 12:16:59 GMT 10
Hi mate, did have a look at Wagners, but a long way to travel to get them, even at 70cents (which is a bargain btw).
Forgot to add to your earlier email re the ducks. We are building our ducks stocks up, too; Indian Runners, Khaki Campbells and bantam Appleyards. All are destined for the table.
We would like to breed up our own chicken stocks, but would like to get a few dozen on the ground as well as our Light Sussex and Australorps are slow to mature.
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Post by Fractus on Feb 28, 2015 16:20:26 GMT 10
I got excited when I thought about getting day olds and growing them out to sell as pullets and maybe make a bit of pocket money.
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Feb 28, 2015 16:51:17 GMT 10
Well that sounds like a grand plan fractus. Are you going to pursue this as an enterprise?
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Post by Fractus on Feb 28, 2015 21:07:12 GMT 10
Yes I think I may give it a darned good shot. I have the land so may as well.
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Post by Fractus on Mar 21, 2015 19:36:30 GMT 10
Well that sounds like a grand plan fractus. Are you going to pursue this as an enterprise? It is all happening at once. One silver lace youngster has come of age and servicing the hens. One SL I hen is broody and started to lay. All 14 brown layers are laying and we get 13 eggs a day from them atm. If the hen settles properly on her eggs I will get a bunch of day olds from wagners and put them under next Wednesday night as that is when the day olds are available. |
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Mar 21, 2015 19:43:56 GMT 10
Woo Hoo, I sense then the 'enterprise' is well on it's way. Well done to you |
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Post by Fractus on Sept 25, 2015 17:26:22 GMT 10
I did get ten day olds and managed to grow out five. Next time I rekon I could get 9 out of 10. I bought 10 for $35 and sold 5 left for $90 on gumtree. Food cost about $30 so I made a massive $15. This made me do some calculations about quantity req in a serious event. I will post it soon ,as it shows how flawed my earlier plan was.
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Post by Fractus on Sept 25, 2015 17:50:17 GMT 10
The foundations of my food preparations were poultry. Have a seed pool of chooks and when required increase quantity very quick. Would be a good plan if I could breed up several hundred chooks in a few weeks.
Eggs.. A chook does not lay until approx 25 weeks and I reckon 12 eggs per week per person. So I would need 2 chooks minimum PP. Say 6 ppl build in a buffer for life's vicissitudes and replacement hens 20 chooks req. so now I can feed 4 ppl but I won't be able to feed more for 25 weeks minimum.
Meat birds.. Say eat one bird pp pw eating 20 week old birds. ( not even sure that is an idea age) To produce this without an incubator will require a continuous cycle minimum of 20 hens brooding in rotation. This giving them a rest time and not removing until natural separation occurs. So to breed the hen 25 weeks and then another twenty weeks to eating time. That is if they all cooperate and go broody in an ordered sequence.
Also this is a big chook house that can have so many brood nests.
I am not even partially ready to step up to this, so some building and growing is required.
I have 30 currently growing eggs and will be trying the first vent sexing on them when they hatch next Sunday.
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gasman
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Post by gasman on Sept 26, 2015 8:13:17 GMT 10
One of the issues I have with our pigs sheep chickens etc is feed
If shtf my last stop is a bulk buy of stock feed but this will not last forever
How will you feed your large number of birds without commercial feeds?
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shinester
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China's white trash
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Post by shinester on Sept 26, 2015 9:25:21 GMT 10
One of the issues I have with our pigs sheep chickens etc is feed If shtf my last stop is a bulk buy of stock feed but this will not last forever How will you feed your large number of birds without commercial feeds? Great question. |
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Post by Fractus on Sept 26, 2015 10:18:20 GMT 10
The current egg bird breeds need lots of food and free range does not give them what they need. If i let them run free for daylight hours my feed goes down by about half. So that is still 10 kg pw for 18 birds incl 2 roosters.
Less productive birds can survive free range alone, but obviously you need more birds. So to survive without commericial feed I would have to make corn and sunflower part of the crops I grow. This extra food also keeps the chooks friendly if it is hand fed.
To keep them safe I would have to greatly increase the protected area or get a maremma dog to guard and dog means food for it, so a bit counter productive as I would need to grow another 7 chooks pw per dog to feed them.
So it looks like it will be a big protected area.
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gasman
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Post by gasman on Sept 26, 2015 11:12:18 GMT 10
I feed meat off cuts when we butcher a cow/deer and the birds love them and egg production goes crazy
This was recommended by our local mobile butcher and certainly works
In the absence of commercial feeds
Maybe zombie flesh may be an alternative
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VegHead
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Post by VegHead on Sept 26, 2015 12:46:06 GMT 10
Have you given any thought as to growing your own Clucker-Tucker gasman? |
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gasman
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Post by gasman on Sept 26, 2015 12:52:02 GMT 10
Having seen the size of your oat crop
Veg I'll have to give it thought
What you suggest?
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