LOL, the 300 is an old story now, but as you are newish.....
Last August we got 12 POL pullets. 6 were white ones that the lady called Amberlinks. I'd never heard of them, but we liked them and unusually they laid brown eggs. So Brian said I quite like those white birds, we'll have to get some more. so we thought that usually you see brown chooks wandering around people's gardens, perhaps they'd like a change? So I looked up mberlinks on the internet and found the nearest hatchery to us at Eye Green near Peterborough. Well, they only supply in 1,000's, but they have a surplus list. So they put us on the list, we turned my garden shed into a 7x5 brooder and decided we'd have enough room for £1.50p. Just thought we'd try it and see if we could sell them!
Then I get a cal from the hatchery on a Friday lunchtime, 500 day olds are going to be gassed as a chap from Scotland who had ordered 500 couldn't make it, how many did we want? So I said we had room for 150, Brian said we'll take 300! What on earth are we going to do with 300??? Well, they lived in the brooder for a week, then doubled in size, so we tried putting half of them in a greenhouse and trying to keep it to temperature, but you can't, it was too hot then too cold and they started pecking each other, so my other little garden shed was cleared out and the other half went in there. Then they still kept pecking each other, so I cleared out a bit of Brian's workshop, and put my cold frame in there and used that as a hospital for the pecked chicks, but that got too small as there wer loads of them! So I went upstairs and cleared out my spare wardrobe, tok the back off and tried to get it downstairs as Brian was out, but it was a double and i couldn't manage it on my own, so when Brian came home, there I was with awardrobe at the top of the stairs!!!
So he helped me take it into his workshop, where we laid it on its back, put a heat lamp in there and covered it with netting so the chicks couldnt escape and they went in there until they were big enough for the big henhouse after Brian had extended it!!!
It sounds really funny when you read about it now, but the whole story is on my chookblog if you'd like to read it.
Then we were worried about how on earth we were going to sell 300 POL's! especially with the price of feed going up and up. I would have to sell them for at least £5.50 to make a bit of profit, but the ones I'd bought the year before were only £3.95. Mind you, how she made any money on them I don't know. I don't think she reared them from day old, I think she used to get them from her friend and sell them on, as when she advertises, every week, her POL's are always 18 weeks old, whereas mine get older every week!!!! lol
So we tried an ad in the local paper, the idiotsput it in the Items For Sale columns, so no one phoned up. Then I put a What's for Sale page on my blog and John made it look better by giving me a contact form and lots of other nice things!!!! And I put an advert on preloved and a sign at the front gate.
The blog sold most of them, preloved sold a couple, I've sold quite a few to members on here and the sign sold quite a few, but since March when the last ones went, I'm still getting 2-5 calls a week from people finding my blog and phoning up. If I'd had the room, we cold have sold the whole 500!!!! So that's good. Lots of the people who had chooks from us are first timers, after watching Jamie and Hugh's TV progs, and they are really pleased with their chickens! So I am quite proud of myself, as I spent 25 years working as a PA/Sec in London, and I don't like poop!!!!!
But I do love my babies, shame they grow up and leave home!!!
But we got 65 meat chicks, and the first 16 went this weekend. We had one for sunday lunch which was lovely, and the other 2 Brian killed are in the freezer. They weren't really old enough to go, but a friend of a friend wanted 15 and she only comes up from Surrey a couple of times a year. But we will have some next week and I've got a list of people who want to test them!
Then we've got 125 Babcock's who are now 5 weeks old and in 3 weeks another 250 day old Amberlinks arriving!!!!! I'll be busy again then!!!
Still, I've bored you enough, so I'd better get on with some work! lol
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May 25, 2011, 18:09