Poultry Math

Each week we deliver quail eggs to a number of local businesses.  We enjoy meeting our customers and appreciate very much their interest in our business.  It has allowed us to still have some egg profit while taking time off from the outdoor market during the worst of the summer heat, and has kept us from wasting a huge number of eggs each week.

The question we kept being asked was, "Do you have chickens too?".  Several customers really, really, wanted some of our specialty egg products but only if we had chicken eggs.  

After being asked this question a dozen or so times, we sat down one evening and talked about it.  Should we add chickens back in?  Do we have the space to do it?  Could Cletus construct what we would need for housing them?  Could we find a market for the eggs?  Would it be worthwhile to add them?  Do we want to add them back in?

The answers were: probably, yes, yes of course he can, probably, yes and yes.

The next round of questions revolved around finding chicks.  It seems easy enough, but because we are part of the National Poultry Improvement Plan or NPIP ~ and want to keep being a part of it ~ we have to find chickens from someone who is also NPIP certified.  Why is this important?  Being part of the NPIP means the inspector comes to our little farm twice each year and all our flocks over 5 months are tested, both blood and saliva, for diseases like Avian Influenza.  Whether you agree with this or not, our customers do appreciate knowing they are purchasing items from us which are certified disease-free.

 

Finding chickens NPIP certified means we have to go through a commercial hatchery or find a store selling them from a commercial hatchery.  That is hard to find this time of year; even Tractor Supply is winding down their chick days.  

I emailed a friend who has a feed store in Irvington, Alabama (St. Elmo Feed & Seed) and she immediately emailed me back they were getting a surprise shipment of chicks!  We were happy to find a good, trusted, clean source and she was happy to find a buyer for some of her surprise.  

We started getting ready, cleaning the brooders, and finding the supplies (some of what chickens need is different from quail, partly due to size).  We agreed we would just get 15 hens and 2 roosters divided between Buff Orpingtons (which I love) and Rhode Island Reds (which Cletus loves).

This morning we drove over to St. Elmo and came home with 10 Buff Orpington pullets, 1 Buff Orpington rooster, 10 Rhode Island Red pullets, and 1 Americauna rooster (she was sold out of the Rhode Island Red roosters).  And here we are with now 200+ quail, getting ready to hatch some in the next few weeks, and 22 chickens.  

 


 

 

 

 

How did the plan for a maximum of 17 chickens turn into 22?

 

 

 

 

 

  Quail Chicken math! 

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