The Moonshiner's Leghorns

[KF0002]

I think I'm down to a quad of buffs
A quad of exchequer that I would use. Few blue mottled girls I'll probably throw with them.
Few usable barred girls and a blue barred male. Have a few barred males I'll probably pair up with some blacks or blues.
One lonely crele girl but no crele boys. Need to put her with a brown or blue brown boy to continue those.
Few silver crele girls and couple silver crele and couple blue silver crele boys. Not sure what boys are double or single gene barred. Have silver duckwing female I could also add.
For some reason I only have one brown and 2 blue brown boys but lots of blue brown females and a few brown females.
Couple black males, couple blue males and quite a few black and blue females.
Few splash birds but not sure how many or what. That's my starting point as of now. Some hens I don't care to use and lots of boys that need to go.
I'm probably gonna do a mass eviction and only keep enough to keep going. Would rather be able to feed more future chicks then keep around so many adults I don't really need.
Kind of sad. These last couple years has my leghorn empire feeling like it's in shambles. Decisions, decisions, tuff calls for the future.

I wish you could do a mass eviction of them to my house.

And I feel you on feeding all these critters! I told my husband we have at least a dozen Speckled Sussex roosters that need butchered very soon. We may do 5-6 next week on my day off. Otherwise, we are going to have to get second jobs to feed all these things.

 

[KF0002]

These last couple years has my leghorn empire feeling like it's in shambles.

And your Leghorn empire seems to be doing pretty good to me. Don't be so hard on yourself. You have quite the collection of color varieties you have created. I think it's awesome and you should be mighty proud.

Anything to do with chickens always feels like it is in shambles though, so I get it. There is always birds you really need that die, too many birds you don't need that seem to live forever, juveniles huddling up in piles in the yard during downpours instead of roosting, brooder bulbs blowing, free range roosters fighting with cocks through the wire of pens, the hens you really need eggs from keep going broody, the hens you want to go broody never will, power outages with incubators full of eggs, bad hatch rates on eggs you really need to hatch, while the free range hens will come out of the woodwork hatching every weed egg they sit on, the list goes on and on...

 

[KF0002]

Just received the tracking info for my second batch of Brown Leghorn eggs from the breeder of the eggs in lockdown now. Hopefully, they make it intact, and I get a few more to develop out of that bunch.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Wonder how shipped eggs are doing now days overall. Do you get yours in a timely manner?
I've all but given up on ebay because everything goes through the postal system and takes longer then it used to.
Here stuff gets to KC then sets for 2 or 3 days now.
My tire and rim came through UPS and FedEx which used to suck here but both were faster and better tracking then USPS.
Love Amazon. With prime I'm getting stuff in 1 to 3 days.

 

[KF0002]

Wonder how shipped eggs are doing now days overall. Do you get yours in a timely manner?
I've all but given up on ebay because everything goes through the postal system and takes longer then it used to.
Here stuff gets to KC then sets for 2 or 3 days now.
My tire and rim came through UPS and FedEx which used to suck here but both were faster and better tracking then USPS.
Love Amazon. With prime I'm getting stuff in 1 to 3 days.

Most breeders are apparently moving to Fedex or UPS for shipping eggs nowadays because the USPS has gotten so slow. I shipped some turkey eggs to a friend and it took them 5 days to get there because they took a detour in the opposite direction for a bit. Luckily he says most of them are developing well. The Buff eggs I ordered came FedEx and I got them in 2 days. I was impressed. The first set of Brown Leghorn eggs came USPS and got here in like 3 days. The second set from a different breeder shipped FedEx and got here in 3 days. The set from the breeder that is sending me more Brown Leghorn eggs just shipped this evening, and they are estimated to arrive on Saturday, so 3 days.

The second breeder packed his eggs in a way I have never seen before, but honestly it was quite efficient. He used fine pine shavings and packed the eggs throughout the pine shavings in the box, and packed the shavings pretty tight. It felt kinda like trying to find a needle in a haystack, except it was trying to find eggs in a box of pine shavings. Amazingly, 11 out of 12 of those eggs are developing. If it were me, I would have double boxed just for extra protection but his method worked thankfully.

We love Amazon too! You can't beat getting your packages in 1-3 days. It is super convenient. My husband orders parts on ebay and they arrive fairly timely as long as the seller ships timely. USPS can take a while depending on which USPS option they use for shipping, but when it saves money buying a part on ebay he doesn't mind waiting. lol

 

[The Moonshiner]

Most breeders are apparently moving to Fedex or UPS for shipping eggs nowadays because the USPS has gotten so slow. I shipped some turkey eggs to a friend and it took them 5 days to get there because they took a detour in the opposite direction for a bit. Luckily he says most of them are developing well. The Buff eggs I ordered came FedEx and I got them in 2 days. I was impressed. The first set of Brown Leghorn eggs came USPS and got here in like 3 days. The second set from a different breeder shipped FedEx and got here in 3 days. The set from the breeder that is sending me more Brown Leghorn eggs just shipped this evening, and they are estimated to arrive on Saturday, so 3 days.

The second breeder packed his eggs in a way I have never seen before, but honestly it was quite efficient. He used fine pine shavings and packed the eggs throughout the pine shavings in the box, and packed the shavings pretty tight. It felt kinda like trying to find a needle in a haystack, except it was trying to find eggs in a box of pine shavings. Amazingly, 11 out of 12 of those eggs are developing. If it were me, I would have double boxed just for extra protection but his method worked thankfully.

We love Amazon too! You can't beat getting your packages in 1-3 days. It is super convenient. My husband orders parts on ebay and they arrive fairly timely as long as the seller ships timely. USPS can take a while depending on which USPS option they use for shipping, but when it saves money buying a part on ebay he doesn't mind waiting. lol

I mostly like ebay because they have the auction option. I love irl auctions and eBay's are good for the rush. Ya I'm weird like that.
My favorite is when they offer the make offer option. Oh ya I'm that guy that will try to low ball ya.

 

[KF0002]

I had been checking out some 55 Flowery Hen eggs on ebay from a seller that was NPIP, but I decided to focus on a few varieties of Leghorn instead. They are a cool breed though, mille fleur and barred at the same time. Autosexing at hatch and the males look completely different than the females.

 

[KF0002]

I mostly like ebay because they have the auction option. I love irl auctions and eBay's are good for the rush. Ya I'm weird like that.
My favorite is when they offer the make offer option. Oh ya I'm that guy that will try to low ball ya.

There is zero shame in making an offer. If they don't want to accept, I will try again but I will certainly start low and work from there. And I like the auctions too, I will wait them out and bid at the last minute. lol

 

[Amer]

I think I'm down to a quad of buffs
A quad of exchequer that I would use. Few blue mottled girls I'll probably throw with them.
Few usable barred girls and a blue barred male. Have a few barred males I'll probably pair up with some blacks or blues.
One lonely crele girl but no crele boys. Need to put her with a brown or blue brown boy to continue those.
Few silver crele girls and couple silver crele and couple blue silver crele boys. Not sure what boys are double or single gene barred. Have silver duckwing female I could also add.
For some reason I only have one brown and 2 blue brown boys but lots of blue brown females and a few brown females.
Couple black males, couple blue males and quite a few black and blue females.
Few splash birds but not sure how many or what. That's my starting point as of now. Some hens I don't care to use and lots of boys that need to go.
I'm probably gonna do a mass eviction and only keep enough to keep going. Would rather be able to feed more future chicks then keep around so many adults I don't really need.
Kind of sad. These last couple years has my leghorn empire feeling like it's in shambles. Decisions, decisions, tuff calls for the future.

I know how it is, personally, when I get my own place I'm going to not have many chickens, that way I can take care of the d'Anvers and pigeons I do have extremely well. Then I will add more pens and once I have those then I'll add more.
I have plans, great plans! To get exotic waterfowl and so many pigeons.
I think first I will get turkeys though. They just need the snow off of them and a place to free range. They need lots of space but their pen can be more rustic.

And your Leghorn empire seems to be doing pretty good to me. Don't be so hard on yourself. You have quite the collection of color varieties you have created. I think it's awesome and you should be mighty proud.

Anything to do with chickens always feels like it is in shambles though, so I get it. There is always birds you really need that die, too many birds you don't need that seem to live forever, juveniles huddling up in piles in the yard during downpours instead of roosting, brooder bulbs blowing, free range roosters fighting with cocks through the wire of pens, the hens you really need eggs from keep going broody, the hens you want to go broody never will, power outages with incubators full of eggs, bad hatch rates on eggs you really need to hatch, while the free range hens will come out of the woodwork hatching every weed egg they sit on, the list goes on and on...

Oh for real
In shambles

Wonder how shipped eggs are doing now days overall. Do you get yours in a timely manner?
I've all but given up on ebay because everything goes through the postal system and takes longer then it used to.
Here stuff gets to KC then sets for 2 or 3 days now.
My tire and rim came through UPS and FedEx which used to suck here but both were faster and better tracking then USPS.
Love Amazon. With prime I'm getting stuff in 1 to 3 days.

Yeah did you hear about how I shipped adult birds (d'Anvers pullets) through the US Abuse System and they got stuck in the mail for six days? They did survive, fortunately, but they were very thirsty...
Never again

Most breeders are apparently moving to Fedex or UPS for shipping eggs nowadays because the USPS has gotten so slow. I shipped some turkey eggs to a friend and it took them 5 days to get there because they took a detour in the opposite direction for a bit. Luckily he says most of them are developing well. The Buff eggs I ordered came FedEx and I got them in 2 days. I was impressed. The first set of Brown Leghorn eggs came USPS and got here in like 3 days. The second set from a different breeder shipped FedEx and got here in 3 days. The set from the breeder that is sending me more Brown Leghorn eggs just shipped this evening, and they are estimated to arrive on Saturday, so 3 days.

The second breeder packed his eggs in a way I have never seen before, but honestly it was quite efficient. He used fine pine shavings and packed the eggs throughout the pine shavings in the box, and packed the shavings pretty tight. It felt kinda like trying to find a needle in a haystack, except it was trying to find eggs in a box of pine shavings. Amazingly, 11 out of 12 of those eggs are developing. If it were me, I would have double boxed just for extra protection but his method worked thankfully.

We love Amazon too! You can't beat getting your packages in 1-3 days. It is super convenient. My husband orders parts on ebay and they arrive fairly timely as long as the seller ships timely. USPS can take a while depending on which USPS option they use for shipping, but when it saves money buying a part on ebay he doesn't mind waiting. lol

But your hatch rates on turkey eggs inspires me

It would be so fun to try some day...

 

[The Moonshiner]

There is zero shame in making an offer. If they don't want to accept, I will try again but I will certainly start low and work from there. And I like the auctions too, I will wait them out and bid at the last minute. lol

Same
I grew up with a garage sell mother. She never paid what they were asking. She'd say if you did you paid too much.
There's been a few times on ebay I've offered something ridiculously low and they jumped on it.
Happy dance time. And I have very little shame so....