With fence chargers you really get what you pay for. Ive got a parmak super energizer. It puts out one neck of a kick (16kv+) and its rated for 50 miles plus of fence.
Ibdont raise traditional meat birds. I dont do b roilers at all anymore. All of my birds meat eggs or breeders get 22% layer mini pellets and 6 way scratch. Oyster shell is always available.
See quality.... its all in what you want I reckon. I can get you black and splash jersey giants all day for 2 bucks a pop and assure you they are a lot better then hatchery stock.
Sometimes they do get them from decent hatchery. All you can do is ask them where they came from. Cackle ideal mcmurry and meyer are all good hatcherys overall for hatchery quality birds, but tractor supply will mark up the price for sure. -MCF
Personally I try to avoid tractor supplys chicks. From what I've seen the quality is just not worth it. There's nothing wrong with mail order chicks, just know like most things you get what you pay for. If you look for the cheapest you'll end up with low quality birds. That's not to say you...
Sorry I could probably use the space in a incubator at some point but with my npip cert, I can't outsource. Everything we hatch must be hatched on sight. Are yall prepped for the weather the next 3 days? Northern half of the state's in for a major deep freeze.
Redneckgurl- not all broody hens throw a fit when disturbed. We had 2 broody rir's last spring. One was Satan incarnate if you got near her. The other her sister from the same hatch I could scoop up and hold to check her eggs and never made more the cooing sounds. Just depends on the bird really
The feed debate is a vast never ending debate. What it boils down to is this: chickens are like hogs. Good or bad they will eat dang near anything. Got enough of them im sure they could and would peck and scratch a human to death (if the human couldn't fight back that is). They are feathered...
Just about everything I had before with a few swap outs. Rhode island reds, barred rocks, orpingtons, black australorps, rhodebars, cream legbars, buckeyes, Delawares, jersey giants. That's just the list for now. Will be looking to rebuild the duck flocks and bantams as well. -MCF