Shipping Chicks - Baby Chickens in the Mail

For the past five years or so I've shipped day-old Buckeye chicks all across the US, about 400 or so a year.

This year I'm taking off, for several reasons, and encouraging others to pick up the baton and run with it, to get some of their lines out there. One of those is my friend Sharon Fildes, who lives in Ohio, and who has a ton of various rare breeds of poultry and waterfowl. She also has some great Buckeyes, in both large fowl and bantam. And this year she's ramping up to hatch and ship a lot of large fowl Buckeye chicks at a very reasonable price.

She has a Facebook Page you should check out: S.M. Fildes Rare and Endangered Poultry, which she's still working on, but which will soon have her price list and photos of her Buckeyes. You can also email her to get on her waiting list, the time to do so is now if you want chicks in the spring! You can also find other breeders of Buckeyes on the American Buckeye Poultry Club website.

And for those of you who haven't shipped chicks before because you weren't sure what it entailed, I encourage you to do so. It's much more efficient and cost-effective than shipping hatching eggs, due mostly to the damage eggs receive during shipment which prevents them from hatching. If done right, shipping chicks is safe, easy, and gives one a much better base of stock to work with.

When I ship chicks I buy several items from Cutler Supply: 25 chick shipping boxes, sisal mat box liners, heater pads to ensure the chicks stay warm, and Grow Gel Plus, which keeps the chicks hydrated during their journey (I usually buy the larger bag of it to ensure I have enough in each box.)

Where I put the heater pad depends on what the temperature is out when I ship - when it's very cold I will put it on top of the sisal mat, when it's warmer I put it underneath the mat. But I always use one, as you never know where a box of chicks will wind up. I stop shipping in early June, as it's too hot to do so by then here in KY.

That's really all you need. Oh, that and a spreadsheet to keep track of your wait list, which if anyone wants they can send me a message and I'll be happy to share the one I have made up so you don't have to reinvent the wheel.

Your next step is to get your birds into breeding pens, make sure they're getting a good quality breeder ration, and collect eggs several times a day (eggs which get too cold lose fertility.) Do a test hatch or two to make sure your fertility rates are good, then hatch away!

I like to set hatches on a Monday afternoon or early evening, which means the majority of the chicks are hatched out by 21 days later, ready to ship by a Tuesday. I don't ship on Mondays, because there's often a lot of mail going out on Mondays and I want the birds to get where they're going with no delay.

I always ship chicks via Express Mail. It's just not worth it to to me to take the chance with Priority Mail, although I know some folks do. I generally include the cost of the shipping in the per chick price, so it's a flat rate for everyone.

I also have a roll of Express Mail tape that I convinced my local USPS to give me (they're really great in Grant County!) and I use that to put the boxes together. Once the chicks are hatched they get popped in the box and off to the PO I go.

I know some people print postage labels online, and while I do that for work, I'm more comfortable having the Posties do my labels for chicks, although I do get copies ahead of time and fill them out before I go. I also have some plastic envelopes that I use to attach the NPIP paperwork right on the box, in case the state to which I am shipping requires it.

Be sure to get the phone number of the person to whom you are shipping, as Express Mail labels require it, and then call or email the buyer to let them know when you shipped and what the tracking number is. That way they can be sure to make arrangements to either pick the chicks up at their local PO or to be home for delivery. Its generally easier on the chicks for the buyer to pick them up, just tell them let their local Postmaster know they have chicks coming and they will get a call once the box arrives.

That's really all there is to it folks. Easier than it seems, and a great way to get your customers the birds they're clamoring for. If you have any questions, send me an email, or stop by the Facebook Page for the American Buckeye Poultry Club and give me a shout, happy to help!

Two Knives and Some Fat*

I have always loved pie. I love making it. I love eating it. But I have never gotten the Holy Grail of crusts down perfectly, and in my mind, that's a lard-based crust.

I want to be the Empress of Pie Crust. I want to be able to whip a perfect pie crust together with nothing more than two knives, some fat, and some flour. Come hell or high humidity. No food processors. No tricksy vodka recipes, just the basics, like our grammas used to make.

I told A today that I was going to make a pie a week for a year until I got it right. She said (and rightly so) "That's a lotta pies!" Well, that's a price I'll have to pay I guess. One hopes it won't take a year...

Like my friend Julie, I'm going to work my way through some pie books until I get it absolutely right. And I may blog about it, in the most blantantly copying way (that girl had a bestselling book and a Nora Ephron movie, all I want is perfect pie crust.) Right now I am using Southern Pies by Nancie McDermott, and started with her lard recipe and a buttermilk pie.

A friend commented on Facebook "Must be something to do with leftover holiday provisions. Or so said Mrs. McGuiver when she made the same yesterday." And well, yes. There was the larger part of a quart of buttermilk in the fridge about to hit its expiry date, so buttermilk pie it is.

Never made it before. Have made all sorts of chess pies, most especially my Chocolate Chess Pie, but hadn't tried buttermilk before.

I will note that either a) I didn't roll the crust out thin enough or b) the recipe needs expanding a bit, but I didn't get enough crust along the top to make it purty and fluted, so it looks rather ragged. But I picked a wee bit off the edge and it tastes divine!

So I'm going to do some math (argh) and increase the recipe about 25% before next weekend, when I'll try again with a different filling. But for now, here's the Buttermilk pie as it cools:

*And thanks to my friend Melissa, who says "Two Knives and Some Fat" would make an awesome book title." Or, at least a good one for a blog post to get started, anyway. Thanks Melissa!

The Book Bag

I have always been a voracious reader. As a child, I preferred reading to almost any other activity (except maybe riding horses.) I remember one time my father came into my room (which faced the street), pointed out the window and said "Why don't you go out and play with the other kids?"

"But Dad, I'm reading!" I replied. I couldn't grasp how he didn't understand that sometimes there was nothing more absorbing than a good book.

I was lucky in that regard, because I come from a long line of dedicated readers. My mother's family all read, all the time. My Aunt D jokes about how boring we are when we're together on New Year's Eve, because we're all typically absorbed in books, and it takes a real effort to rouse oneself in order to get champagne and drink toasts.

One of the best things my Mom did when I was very small was create two things: The Book Box, and The Book Bag.

The Book Box was a large metal storage box that lived under the bed in the guest room, and which locked. In it were all sorts of amazing books, which she doled out as needed: when one was ill, if one had done well at school; if it was a week of rain on a vacation, that sort of thing. They were always special; perhaps fabulous picture books of Russian Fairy Tales; one of a series of books like the Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder, things like that. I was never disappointed with anything Mom gave me from the Book Box.

The other wonderful tradition she created was The Book Bag. The Book Bag was always the very best part of Christmas, and was opened last. Mom was a master shopper, and was able to find a bunch of books that were just the perfect thing for each of us. Fairy tales, SF, and fantasy books for me; mysteries and puzzles for G; history and biographies for B.

It became such a cherished part of my childhood that when I had children I continued the tradition (bolstered by books Mom sent for the girls, of course.) Even now, the girls say it's the best part of Christmas, and we always open our Book Bags last. You know if you picked the right things, because everyone goes silent as they delve into their books, and wander off to chairs around the house to settle in and read.

Or, in the case of my cowboy husband, he and A set up a rope-tying practice session with a set of halter rope and a dining room chair, after he got Ashley's Book of Knots in his Book Bag this year. You know you live on a farm when...

I feel my Mom's presence often, but never more so on Christmas morning as everyone is opening their Book Bags. It's a tradition I know my own girls will pass along to their children, and I am already making lists of books to buy for them (in good time, all in good time.)

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a very Happy New Year to everyone from us at the farm.

Beware: The BYC Owns Your Photos

Yes, that's right. The BYC owns whatever photos and messages you post in their online forum, but it wasn't always that way. I will explain.

I joined the Backyard Chickens Forum back in 2008. At that time, when I signed up, the Terms of Service (TOS) said one thing. Now, it says another. And in the interim, changes have been made to it, which were not sent to members, and which significantly impact how one should post things there.

A little background: I am a professional photographer (among other things.) I have a BFA in photography from Syracuse University. I had my first photo published in 1980, as the cover of a national magazine (National Fisherman.) I have sold my photographs on and off since then, and value the copyright on my images.

I am also a freelance writer, have been for many, many years. Had my first article published in a book in 1990, and I hold copyright on my articles as well.

I would never willingly sign away copyright to any photo or article to anyone for free without some sort of benefit to someone. For a number of years I have written articles (and submitted photos) to Backyard Poultry Magazine (which has no connection to the BYC, by the way), in exchange for a free advertisement for the American Bantam Association. For most of that time, I received no payment for those articles, but I do now due to a change in ownership.

But I digress. The point of this is, as a professional, I would never sign a TOS in which I would agree to turn over the rights to the things I posted, photos or other content, to a forum website. So when I joined the BYC back in '08, I am certain no such provision was in their TOS at that time.

Not long ago I decided to leave the BYC (why is the topic for another blog post.) Before I did, I had asked a Moderator there to just delete my account and all my photos. Here is his reply:

"As for deleting an account, BYC has no delete option.  All photos and content forever remain property of BYC.  Just part of the signing up, user agreement."

You can imagine my surprise and dismay. WHAT?! I emailed back for clarification. No response. I emailed one of the Admins, asking to be sent the TOS as it existed when I joined the BYC back in 2008. No response again, and when I tried to log in subsequently, I found my account had been banned. 

Wow. Just wow. And here's the thing: most websites, when they change their privacy policies/TOSs, send out an email at least annually to their members, letting them know about the changes. Major changes will often get a separate email. So that if a member disagrees with the new TOS, they can remove themselves from the site. The BYC never did this, ever, in my entire time there. Pretty sneaky, IMO.

I actually queried several lawyer friends of mine, and the response was, even if it's a bad agreement, if you agree to it, it will likely stand up in court. So despite me never giving the BYC permission to own my photos and articles when I joined, because they changed their TOS on the sly, now they own my stuff. And they can use it any way they want, for whatever they want.

I will note that the BYC has a calendar they produce, which I presume is made with members photos. And I also presume, due to the TOS, none of the members whose photos are used get compensation for their pics. Which to me is just despicable.

So I warn all of you who are members of the BYC, don't post anything there that you want to retain copyright to, not photos, not articles, nada. Because once it's on the BYC, they own it forever, and you'll never get a dime out of them. And if you ask for clarification on this change, they'll ban your account forever.

Charming business practice by arguably the largest chicken related forum on the Internet.

I will note that the ShowBirdBid forum has no such draconian policies, and is filled with excellent information and knowledgeable people who are more than willing to help folks learn more about poultry. I encourage anyone who is seeking a good online source for poultry info to check it out today. As well, there are a number of good groups on Facebook in which you can participate, not the least of which is the Show Poultry Group, and for those interested in Buckeyes, the American Buckeye Poultry Club group.

And in those places, you'll have no worries that your photos will turn up in a calendar or book or something, and you won't be paid for their use. Just good people and great info.

Color in Buckeyes

The proper color for Buckeyes has been a bone of contention between breeders for a number of years now. A lot of people think that the Standard of Perfection for Buckeyes, as it is written today, is wrong, and hearken back to the words of the founder of the breed, Nettie Metcalf.

In an article she wrote for Poultry Success Magazine in 1917, Nettie stated "The Buckeye should be as much darker in color than the accepted Rhode Island Red as the Rhode Island Red is darker than the Buff breeds. Their plumage should be so dark as to male as to look almost black in some lights, garnet red being as near a description as I can give."

And until now, I had never had any images from that era to go by, to determine the actual color of the RIR's she was comparing them to. But I found one! This plate is from a book from 1912*, by F.E. Wright, and shows a number of different breeds of the time, including the RIRs at the middle right.
(Note this image has not been color corrected in any way, what you see is what was scanned. Just a small amount of retouching was done to remove extraneous dirt.)

It's fascinating to compare the color of those birds with that of the other Buff birds on the page, as they really aren't that much darker!

But then when we look at the BB Red Game bird (yes, in that picture it's a bantam, but shows the accepted color for what were then called "Indian Game" birds, which she says she used to create the Buckeye.)

That color is a darker, glossier red than the Rhode Island Red of the day. And that may be where Nettie got the color she was looking for at the time for her Buckeyes, that "garnet red" color she loved.

Currently, some folks are, in my opinion, going off the deep end when it comes to color. They have pushed their Buckeyes to get so dark that they lose that lovely glow, and turn a muddy brown.

Yes, in some light, properly colored Buckeyes look almost black. The photo at the left (not the best focus, because I took it with my phone) shows a cockerel of mine at a show this past fall. He looks "almost black" in that light. But in daylight he is a lovely, glowing red, just like the garnet Nettie was striving for.

It's also important to note that the Standard of Perfection of today calls for a color that is "rich mahogany bay." Certainly, the old RIR's were nowhere near that color. They were much lighter than the "garnet red" Nettie bred for. And just because RIR's have gotten darker over the years, doesn't mean the Buckeye should go any darker than what the Standard calls for now, despite what some folks say is "Nettie's vision." We can see illustrated above what she was striving for, although bear in mind there are different colors of garnets out there too, all you have to do is Google "garnet red" and click the Images tab to see the different shades available that all fall under "red."

But I think it's important for folks not to get lost in what they think Nettie wanted, after all, no one has a Ouiji Board they can use to talk to her and get a photo of an exact bird she'd like. But we can use illustrations from the time she was creating and breeding the birds to guide us, so we don't lose our way.

*Note, the original of this image is no longer under copyright, but my retouched version now is under my copyright. Please do not right-click or otherwise "share" this image. Thanks.

What it really costs to hatch chicks

I was in an online forum today, responding to a comment someone posted about thinking she might start hatching chicks to make some income.

It reminded me of my grandmother, who quipped about the "$10,000 eggs" my grandfather produced (based on the actual costs of getting those eggs into his hands.)

So I ran some numbers, and came up with some interesting info, which I am re-posting here in my blog.

I don't know that I would consider hatching as a source of income, per se. Unless you can sell all the chicks you hatch right as day-olds, you're going to have to put feed into them. And most people aren't generally going to want mixed-breed chicks (just because you see ads for same on Craigslist doesn't mean those folks have run the numbers and are actually making money hatching.) So you need to start with some purebred birds of good quality, which will cost anywhere from $20 to $50 per bird.

I hatch between 400 and 500 chicks per year, all one breed (large fowl Buckeyes) and I ship most of them. I charge $6 per chick, which includes the cost of the shipping materials and the postage (Express Mail.) And a bunch of other stuff.

I have seen a number of different figures on the amount of electricity needed to run an incubator for a hatch, of course, which one you use will have a bearing on that. I've seen figures that run between $5 per hatch to $15 per hatch. So assuming you have a smaller incubator (I have a cabinet, so I can hatch more than the smaller ones), and you can hatch out 25 chicks each time, that's 40 cents per chick.

That doesn't take into account the feed costs for the hens who lay the eggs, oyster shell, or other supplements. Those are other figures we could calculate to determine the cost to produce each egg.

An average hen eats about 1/4 lb of feed per day. The feed I use costs me $19.99 per 50 pound bag (I'm going to call it $20 to make the math easier on myself, because I have dyscalculia and numbers give me fits sometimes.) That breaks down to (if I am doing the math right) $36.50 per hen for feed each year.

The average Buckeye lays between 150 and 200 large eggs per year. I'm going to call it 200 (again, to make the math easier.) So each egg costs me roughly 18 cents to produce. I'm going to add in about another 2 cents for things like oyster shell, probiotics and so on.

Then there's the cost of de-wormers. Let's pull a number out of our hat (based on what I just paid to de-worm the whole flock) and call it 63 cents per bird, x twice a year (at least) for $1.26.

Then you have to consider mite treatments. Not going to get specific, let's just say my numbers are 83 cents per bird, twice a year, give or take, to make $1.67.

That doesn't include things like bedding, hay, and labor! You have to pay yourself, you really do. If you don't factor that in, there's no point in doing it to "make money."

So without even including those three things, it will cost you $3.51 per chick to produce each one.

That's $3.51 per chick to produce them, without including your labor.

Now, if you're shipping chicks, you have to add the following costs in:

You have to use a special box, which costs $3.59 each.
I use a heater pad when shipping, those cost $3.34 each
Then put in some Grow Gel Plus, that costs only about 10 cents per batch.
Postage for shipping across the US can run between $45 to $65, let's call it an average of $55
Gas into town (one gallon there and back for me, I am in a very rural area) we'll call $3.35 (which is what it was yesterday.)
Total just to ship those chicks: $65.38

Divided by 26 (I always put in at least one extra) and that works out that it costs me $2.51 to ship each chick. Add in the cost to produce and hatch the chick, and that comes out to $6.02 per chick. Oops. I'm losing money shipping chicks to people. But I'm ok with that (I do this for the love of the breed, not to make money. But don't show my husband these numbers!)

Obviously, selling locally and being able to sell chicks for $5 each means you will make some money.

But none of this takes into account the initial investment to purchase all the equipment needed (feeders, waterers, brooders, grow-out pens and so on. And the depreciation of said equipment. And the cost of the incubator! (Please, don't buy one of the cheapest ones, they really aren't worth it and you'll just get frustrated. Buy a Hovabator at least.)

So. Still want to do it? Go for it! I personally find it lovely work, very satisfying and good for my soul to raise chickens. But I, and my accountant are here to tell you, you're not going to get rich doing it unless you do it on a huge scale, which then would (IMO) take all the fun out of it.

Just some thoughts...

Safe Egg Handling

This topic seems to keep cropping up, so I am blogging about it again.

With all the "keeping chickens" craze that seems to be exploding, there come questions of all sorts. Two common ones are:

• Should I refrigerate my eggs?
• Should I wash my eggs? If so, when? Before or after refrigeration?

There are as many answers to those questions as there are bloggers in the blogosphere. Here is my take on the topic, based on my many years as a 4-H poultry leader, longtime breeder of poultry, and farmwife for more than a decade now.

If you are raising your own chickens and want to know if you should wash/refrigerate your own eggs, or if you're buying eggs from a local farmer, the answers are the same.

Yes, you should refrigerate the eggs. They'll stay fresher longer that way, and taste better.

Yes, you should wash the eggs. But here's the thing, do it after they've gotten cold in the fridge, and just before use. 

Why, you ask? When a hen lays an egg, she deposits this lovely mucoidal coating on them called the "bloom", which gives the egg a seal that prevents most bacteria from entering, and yet which allows the egg to breathe. Eggs are porous, and do need to breathe, otherwise the developing embryo (assuming the egg has been fertilized) can't grow. That's the point of a hen laying an egg, to hatch a chick, so all hens do this.

However, the bloom isn't airtight, it's not made of plastic, and as such it does breathe. And if left out on your kitchen counter, an egg will slowly get stale, because it is absorbing air over time. They also lose flavor if stored at room temperature on the counter, and can absorb whatever odors are in the air (if you cook onions a lot, in theory, your countertop stored eggs could absorb some of that odor.)

So you should really put your eggs in the fridge. But don't wash them before you do so, because once an egg is washed, the bloom is removed, and the evaporation process speeds up and they get staler faster, and will also absorb odors from the fridge faster.

The thing to do is, collect your eggs, gently wipe off any excess dirt/feces with a dry piece of paper towel or cloth, put them in a clean egg carton, and put them in the fridge. Then, once they're good and cold, and just before using them, wash them in very hot water with a little dish soap.

The hot water on the cold egg prevents germs and dirt from being sucked into the egg, and allows it to be washed off. And the egg will be fresher because you've kept it in the fridge and delayed the evaporation process. I posted this picture before, but will do so again, because it demonstrates how the air cell in an egg increases over time. If left on the counter, that process accelerates, putting the eggs in the fridge delays the process.

I have heard the arguments about "When I lived in Europe (or South America, or wherever) we never put eggs in the fridge." Well, I live in the US (as do the folks I am targeting this blog post to), and here in the US we have different issues with regards to disease - Salmonella that is carried by wild birds and rodents that can get into your chicken coop and infect your birds without you even knowing it.

So when someone tosses that argument at me, I say, it's not germane to discussions about chickens in the US. There have been a number of outbreaks of Salmonella in the US this year (and previous ones), I was even asked to sit in on a conference call earlier this year with the CDC regarding same. It's here, and we have to deal with it using safe handling measures for our chickens and their eggs.

Bottom line folks: put the eggs in the fridge, and wash just before use. They'll stay fresher, and you'll stay healthier.