chicken prices

These chickens were hatched 3/25/08. My husband says they are eating too much and I can't keep all of them. There is a Southeast Iowa Pidgeon Swap the first weekend of June that I am going to take them to, but I don't know what I should ask. Any ideas. Eleven of them are CKMS cuckoo Maran Straight Runs, 6 are female Aracanas, 2 are male Aracanas, and 6 are female Barred Rocks.

?

not sure, but being the breed they are, and at that time almost 11 weeks old, i would ask the most for the Marans. by then folks could tell the sex, but dont' discount your roos too much. maybe 15 for pullets and 10 for roos.

Aracaunas, depends on how true the breed and the quality and color. but i guess 5 for roos and 8 for pullets if they are just Easter Eggers, or more if they exhibit breed standards and could be shown. sell them on the idea of getting GREEN or BLUE eggs. i think even the roos, could be crossed with non-green egg hens and produce offspring that lay colored eggs.......

the Plymouth Barred Rocks are excellent dual purpose birds, and i would be willing to pay 15 each for them.

now consider that you purchased them at a hatchery or farm store, provided heat and light, water and feed for them. so cost of chick plus 1 dollar a week to feed and care for them. then i go up or down depending on breed, sex, quality, and demand...

now, if they don't sell at that price, you are better off keeping them if you have a place for them to free range. all of these breed can feed themselves well through spring summer and fall. you will have eggs to sell, and roos to eat. so at this point, tell DH you have invested time and money in them already, and won't GIVE them away.

perhaps if you have no free range area you could arrange with someone who does, and share the eggs and meat with them. maybe you will meet someone at the swap.

i would sure hate to see you put all that time, effort, money and [i assume] LOVE into these birds and loose future dollars over pennies of feed.

sincerely,
tf

Thank you so much for your info. Someone told me that pullets at the swap were going for $8 each--don't know if those were good breeding stock or just future layers. Your suggested prices are right in the ballpark for what I was thinking.

I am disabled and on oxygen so can't build a fenced area myself. That was supposed to be done by hubby! We have plenty of land--live on 24 acres. Do they always come back inside to roost at night? How high would I need the fence so they wouldn't fly over? I've heard of people clipping their wings, but I really don't want to destroy their beauty. We had barred rocks quite a number of years back when our daughter was in 4-H (she's 32 now) and loved them. Calm and beautiful big brown eggs. I'm trying to talk DH into keeping a couple of each and maybe a Maran rooster. I've never seen how dark Maran eggs are, so I'd like to keep them long enough to see. Had never heard of Marans until when I ordered the chicks. Wanted something a little unusual and harder to find. They came from McMurray Hatchery in Iowa, so I don't know if any of them are good quality. I know the barred rocks don't look the best in their barring at this time.

oh, pretty, peony, they will go back in to roost every night. I have 24 chickens that were born on March 12th, and I started letting them out to free range two weeks ago, and they are doing great.

If you have 24 acres, you don't need a fence. Put a waterer out and they won't stray too awful far from that. They have all kinds of bugs and things to eat this time of year. Believe me, it's so much easier to just let them wander around. The only worry we have had is getting our dogs to leave the chickens alone. It's so much fun when they see me go out the back door and they all run up to say hi and to me.

Also, if you free range they will eat less, as soon as the snow was gone my gals ate a lot less feed so maybe you can keep more! I noticed my chicks go thru a lot of food, once they are full grown it will be less. I had a atleast 11 silkies bantams, 8 sebright bantams, 12 guineas, 6 cuckoo marans hens and a marans rooster, I was going thru 50 lbs every two weeks so it was about 25lb a week. Now that is it spring and there is plenty of greens and bugs the food isn't going down as fast. The chicks are seperate and I have no clue how much they eat, I know its a lot.

if you let them free range, they will need their wings to fly from predators. i have video tape of a dog attack here, and because they could fly, she gave up on the ducks and chickens and went for the stupid guineas. cornered the poor things where they couldn't think to fly up...

just sell your extra roos at the swap. and enjoy your birds. any questions, we are all here for you!

tf

I have an inside rat terrier, but I will have to watch her closely when I let her out if I decide to free range.

Another question. I don't have any roosts yet. Do I need to get some. They seem to be satisfied just squatting on the ground.

they really need a night time shelter of sorts, or they will become predator food. and yes, i would put low roosts in. if you know of someone replacing their wooden porch railings, those turned on their side and leaned against the wall work great!

assuming you will end up with 20 adult chickens, a four foot wide, five rail roost would be perfect!

hopefully the dog can do her business before the chooks go out in the AM and after they roost in the PM. ..

You might try pointing out to DH that the fertile Cuckoo Maran eggs are selling for about $ 60. a dozen on Ebay. He might change his mind. If you could keep them long enough for them to breed and lay, they could make money for you. At those prices, he might even re-think maybe making some nesting boxes for them.
If I was able to keep any, it would be the Marans for sure.

Mature or started pullets/hens sell for $12.00 tp 14.00 each at the poultry auction here, any breed. Roosters sell for $ 4.00 to 6.00 depending on the breed.