The Pampered Pullets Farm
2012
Chick Season
Chick Season is in full swing here on the farm. We have been hatching chicks as quickly as possible and they have been going out the door just as fast. We have recruited the help of other local hatchers to keep up with the early demand. Our normal chick season runs from October through June.
People ask us why and how we do this when most hatcheries do not offer chicks until Spring. We run our breeder birds under artificial light through the Winter months. With hatching chicks this time of year, our chicks are starting to lay by Spring when everyone else is just getting their chicks.
This year we will be hatching heavy breed chicks in Plymouth Rock (blue, black, splash and barred), Buff Orpington, Delaware, Rhode Island Red and Ameraucana. We will also on occasion be hatching Black and Red sex-links. We also have Serama's that we will be hatching in limited numbers.
What we are seeing is that there are many folks that just can no longer afford to keep and raise poultry with the price of corn having gone so high. This is very understandable as even we cut our production flock down earlier this past year than in years previous. With local stores selling eggs as low as 99cents it has kept the price of fresh eggs low as everyone looks for ways to save a dollar. For those who are fortunate enough to have pasture land and can free range their birds, the economic hit has not been quite so hard.
You will also notice that started pullets are difficult to find. Many people want these to save them from having to go through the chick rearing stage. But again, the economic factor comes into play. Most people are only wanting to pay 8-10 dollars for a bird of laying age. The problem lies in the fact that it costs approximately 18 dollars to get a pullet to laying age with the price of corn at what it is today. So if you must have started pullets then realize that you will need to pay between 20 and 25 dollars per bird.
We are all hoping for a bumper crop of corn this next year and for fuel prices to continue to drop to make owning poultry more economically feasable. It is still a great way to go. There is nothing like being able to walk out to your henhouse and pick out a few choice eggs for your breakfast meal. Or that Sunday chicken dinner with poultry you know were raised the right way. In good times or bad, poultry have always been a mainstay to a quality of life.
For Our Local Customers
Well, we have done it! Though most of our business is done by way of mail order, we have found a great need to have products readily available for our local customers. Our product warehouse has been a great hit with our local customers. It's not huge but it does the job and we can always expand later if need be. We are currently stocking a wide array of poultry products and also some of the more popular livestock products. We are also in the process of adding a full line of rabbit products. If we don't have a product in stock, we can usually have most products here within 48 hours.
If you are one of our local customers, we still would suggest calling ahead or emailing us with your order so that we can make sure that your order will be ready for pick-up. This is a working farm and we at times have to be away so please call before coming to make sure we will be here. We will have no set hours of operation for this facility because there are so many variables but we are usually available from 7:00 am until 11:00 pm 7 days a week. If it is an emergency, please give us a call and we can arrange pickup of any in- stock product.
Local Area Shows/Swaps/Sales
The following is a list of swaps, shows and sales for the central Florida area.
Most of these we will be attending.
If you would like to pre-order product and have us bring it to the show,
this would save you shipping charges.
Simply fill out an order form and send it along with your payment and
clearly mark on the form which show you would like us to bring your product to.
All swaps are subject to weather. Dates and times may change due to conflicting swaps, shows or fairs.
Please contact the swap host for further details.
