Chasingmytail
Member
- Location
- Newport, SE Wales
Following from Joel Salatin's model. Eggmobile and weekly moving to new pasture.
As much as I enjoy the hens there are many issues not addressed by JS. The idea of the organic eggs was to introduce the locals to our farm and then open the doors to any further produce we may sell. (I did do spuds in the summer).
These are the issues:
Endless hawk attacks (lost over 12 in the summer)
The weather (lost 2 in the snow even though hens in shed the snow was deep)
Moving the eggmobile around site in the wet fields (mess and can be slippery)
The holes they dig (time to fill in)
Moving them around, electric fence up and down is timely.
Over wet weeks the hens get muddy and the eggs get mucky. the area around the entrance is a mud bath.
Natural deaths
Risks of disease from wild birds (Mycoplasma etc)
Feed costs - buy in 1 tonne
Not farm gate have to deliver (allow time to do this and keep distance close)
Initial costs incl price per hen (quality hens cost money)
Cant replace birds therefore the flock only naturally decreases (all in all out)
Finding new homes for older hens (hard work)
When you have a small flock (less than 100) and you sell most of the eggs. Over the year you start to lose the hens, there are the odd ones what are dead in the morning. A sickily one. I had a new flock of 70 hens last summer now I have 50. Meaning I have lost the sale of a lot of eggs. 20 hens at 10 pound each then lose of sales say £2000pa - yikes. Different breeds of hens with white, brown and blue eggs.
Now my sales book is full I am on edge as cant take on any additional orders and over this year I'm going to lose more birds means I wont be able to fulfil my orders. Options are to replace birds with younger birds from same source but then you get in a mess sorting through ages. I had issues on my last flock that some weeks I couldn't take orders as they were slowing up and numbers dropping.
Therefore I cant see how doing eggs on small scale works. The conclusion for us is to find a new owner who would like a bulk number of birds and keep a few back for own supply (say 10) call the whole thing off. If I keep them then the numbers are dwindling so get back into cancelling orders again. For the margins it takes too much time and adds to things to be done on the farm. Then if we go out we need to find someone to put them in and let out. Then walking out at midnight as forgot to put them in arrhhh.
The hawk attack really knocked my confidence and worries us now. Because I'm not farm gate the issues of rolling customers is really what means I cant slowly let my numbers decrease.
Turning into a bit of a nightmare....
As much as I enjoy the hens there are many issues not addressed by JS. The idea of the organic eggs was to introduce the locals to our farm and then open the doors to any further produce we may sell. (I did do spuds in the summer).
These are the issues:
Endless hawk attacks (lost over 12 in the summer)
The weather (lost 2 in the snow even though hens in shed the snow was deep)
Moving the eggmobile around site in the wet fields (mess and can be slippery)
The holes they dig (time to fill in)
Moving them around, electric fence up and down is timely.
Over wet weeks the hens get muddy and the eggs get mucky. the area around the entrance is a mud bath.
Natural deaths
Risks of disease from wild birds (Mycoplasma etc)
Feed costs - buy in 1 tonne
Not farm gate have to deliver (allow time to do this and keep distance close)
Initial costs incl price per hen (quality hens cost money)
Cant replace birds therefore the flock only naturally decreases (all in all out)
Finding new homes for older hens (hard work)
When you have a small flock (less than 100) and you sell most of the eggs. Over the year you start to lose the hens, there are the odd ones what are dead in the morning. A sickily one. I had a new flock of 70 hens last summer now I have 50. Meaning I have lost the sale of a lot of eggs. 20 hens at 10 pound each then lose of sales say £2000pa - yikes. Different breeds of hens with white, brown and blue eggs.
Now my sales book is full I am on edge as cant take on any additional orders and over this year I'm going to lose more birds means I wont be able to fulfil my orders. Options are to replace birds with younger birds from same source but then you get in a mess sorting through ages. I had issues on my last flock that some weeks I couldn't take orders as they were slowing up and numbers dropping.
Therefore I cant see how doing eggs on small scale works. The conclusion for us is to find a new owner who would like a bulk number of birds and keep a few back for own supply (say 10) call the whole thing off. If I keep them then the numbers are dwindling so get back into cancelling orders again. For the margins it takes too much time and adds to things to be done on the farm. Then if we go out we need to find someone to put them in and let out. Then walking out at midnight as forgot to put them in arrhhh.
The hawk attack really knocked my confidence and worries us now. Because I'm not farm gate the issues of rolling customers is really what means I cant slowly let my numbers decrease.
Turning into a bit of a nightmare....