POSSIBLY OUR LAST SET OF THE YEAR
On October 15-16th, we had:
Black Star (autosexed breed) – 5 pullets
Rhode Island Red- 5
Black Australorp- 15
Buff Orpington- 8
Easter Egger- 8
Cochin Banties- 2
Around 10 of a few other breeds but only a few of each–A few each of some rare breeds
As of today 10-21-2024; we have left:
No black sexlink
No RIR
No Black Australorp–maybe 1
2 Buff Orpingtons
2 Easter Eggers
2 cochin banties (both gray)
and a few more rare breeds
The Easter Eggers and Buff Orpingtons went the slowest this time which shocked me cause those usually go fast-especially Easter Eggers.
They are all $5 each except the Marans and rare breeds. Marans are now gone.
We are at a dilemma with some of our chickens. No one wants rare breeds and no one wants the smaller breeds like Cochin Banties. I am not sure why because Cochin Banties are adorable and sweet and good hatchers and mothers (even if it’s not many eggs at once).
It takes lots of time and cages to keep breeds going. We cannot let them free range during baby season since they can’t intermingle with other. Our feed bill will be astronomical this winter.
Our last set of cochin banties, it took us almost 3 months to sell the babies. We had to sell them at $5 each just to get rid of them. Before that, our cochin banties went slow also. Because of this and because it’s hard to let them free range due to predators to decrease the food bill, we are considering discontinuing our cochin banties. They are not in danger of extinction and they are easy to find at almost any hatchery.
We also have several rare breeds that other hatcheries have taken an interest in and they are no longer in danger of extinction. In some of those breeds, we have sold ZERO of their babies in 2024 simply because there is no demand for them.
So….2024 will most likely be our last year for cochin banties and maybe a few more breeds. We simply do not have the means to keep them going.
Next…we do not sell chickens in the winter. We usually close for the winter because so few people are buying birds. When we used to hatch, we were stuck with most of the chickens and probably 99% of the roosters. By the time that the hens hit laying age in the Spring, no one would want to pay the price that we had in them so we had to sell them at a loss or at face value.
This year, we are considering a winter (pullets only) program for baby chickens. We are not hatching them but they will come to us already sexed. We plan on ordering one group in November. If those sell, we will order a December group. Please message us if you are interested. They will be $5 each at birth plus $1 per week in feed.
Little Rock Poultry 