We Are a farm in Maryland(Faithful Friends Farm) we do the same as you. We raise a variety of poultry, that is our specialty. We have been purchasing from freedom ranger for over 10 years. We used to loose birds until we started picking them up ourselves. We got so tired of going to the post office to find out they had our birds out back because the peeping was annoying to them. Freedom ranger is a wonderful supplier and I have never blamed them for the loss of our birds. Two weeks ago we drove up to pickup 600 birds. They gave us an additional 100 for free because someone backed out of their order last minute. I didn't realize until we got home and I counted them. We haven't lost one, and it's been cold up here in maryland. I would encourage you to purchase from them and pick up if you are able. That has made all the difference. Who knows what those birds go through in those couple days while being shipped. BTW get your order in soon, they are sold out until may! You may be able to get the sasso breed still, we are trying 100 of those this time. Best of luck! We love y'all!
Odd offer but here we go. Retired logger here and willing to come help with tree. I’m certain there is someone much closer than me that can handle it once the ground dries out but I’m available. Might actually enjoy the trip.
I'm in my sixties and decided I wanted to be a farmer. I only have an acre and a half and it's a hill side. Me and my bright ideas. But, anyway, I decided on chicken eggs. We are slowly building our little operation, making improvements and expanding. I recently discovered your videos and am enjoying them tremendously. I find you "personable" to watch. Like folks I'd sit down and have a cup of coffee with.
@@budhames5254I've thought about it, but there isn't that much going on, yet anyway. I recently made a Face Book page where I have been putting pictures and short, hopefully funny videos once in a while. We just put an expansion on the coop this past summer. Gonna remake the back part hopefully this year. I call it Cackleberry Castle. LOL
What a gentle and kind soul you are. You and Sondra are such a blessing to each other and to all of us who love following your journey. Thank you for sharing your lives with us. God bless.
Those last few minutes are what we have been clinging to lately. We are really trying to get to a spot in our journey where we can be home and tend to each other, our kids, and the animals with more intention. There's a certain peace about being home that gets semi-destroyed when we go into a place that we really don't enjoy working but know that it pays the bills. God Bless y'all and thanks for being authentic!
Im sorry about the loss of your baby chicks...i had a bad experience with Hoover Hatchery last year with my first ever batch. i bought 75. over half were dead on delivery. I got replacements and half of them were dead on arrival as well. I will NEVER purchase chicks from them ever again. I bought from Murray Mcmurray and had great birds and no losses. ( i was also brand new to raising chickens so it was rough way to start into the homestead life )
That lady is such a sweet sounding lady .I swear she could heal people with her voice,sorry to hear about your chicks dieing Its frustrating farming some times.
When you go to spear a bale of hay, angle the spear slightly down and lower the lift arms as you drive forward to pick a bale. That way the bale will be pinned to the ground until you get the spear in.
Our little mountain cottage is in the Wilbar area near you and we had to have a tree service take down a huge red oak tree that the leaves all died one summer and never came back the next Spring or the year after. We think the tree was 90 years old (90 rings) - the trunk was about 30" in diameter. My husband didn't want it to become firewood, so he called a mill and they came and picked it up and brought us some beautiful planks back. My husband intends to make a table and some other furniture out of it.
I Love y’all, my brother and sister!! Y’all are so humble!!!! You always give great words of wisdom!! Any of those “skinny jeans” wearers probably couldn’t do what y’all do!! Y’all are an inspiration to me and a whole bunch of other people!! THANK YALL!!!! We, in Hathaway Louisiana are always praying for y’all!!
Hi, I really enjoy your videos. Sorry about the baby chicks. That is strange for so many to die. From what I see you guy's take care of your farm.Good job. God Bless
Hello Chuck and Saundra, I don’t know what hatchery you’re working with. I know of a few people here in Tennessee that use a small family owned hatchery called Valley Farms Hatchery in Alabama and have had success and great reviews on the hatchery and their chicks. I don’t know if you’re interested in trying them or not, but it’s worth a shot. I’m so glad you take the time to let us know who what where and why. Blessings to you and your family, have a wonderful day and stay safe
We are in RI and received 65 chicks from hoover hatchery at the same time frame you received yours and all died within 24 hours, so they sent more and we added 25 more to total 80 and all were about dead upon pickup and were only able to revive 8, 2 more died that evening so down to 6 from 145. We raise a few thousand birds a year and never had a problem with our other hatchery but they were not able to ship. Good luck with your birds this season.
I always love watching your videos but the last couple minutes of today's may have been my favorite. You make me feel like i'm part of the journey and why I keep on watching. God bless you and your wife and keep up the great work.
Such a cathartic pleasure watching these vids, living vicariously through you until I get my own acreage. Sorry about the chick losses. I've had some issues lately myself. Last few batches did not grow like they should have. Lost 4 in shipping on my most recent, but the 6 Cornish and 5 New Hampshire that survived are doing amazing. God Bless!
When you get your chicks, crush one clove garlic, one TBSP raw honey and 1 TBSP Apple Cider Vinegar.. all into one gallon warm water. I do this all the time. Just got 70 and only lost one on day 4.
start at the root end!!! Some decent wood there! it may have gotten too wet in the soil, sure didnt look DEEP rooted! I'm partial to runts, they have to fight harder to survive, and are tougher!
Look like you have some fine-looking logs for your mill out of that oak which fell. Have fun cleaning up the mess. That has to be so very heartbreaking to lose that many chicks. I feel your pain dear brother. Is there a county extension agent who can check to see if there is an unforeseen disease in the brooder? As to those other ready-to-process chickens I could not be happier, nor could such good fortune happen to better people. God does take care of His own, doesn't He? I am so happy that you were able to get these chickens which will make it possible to sell chickens at your first farmers' markets.
Really enjoy your videos. Especially the skinny jeans comments. Wish I was closer, I'm in Oregon. Cleaning up that fallen tree would be fun. Question: Is your white rail fence made of wood or vinyl? If it's vinyl, is it part of the fencing to keep in the cows? Thanks, Gary T.
It is vinyl and does keep the cows in. They stick their head through it sometimes trying to eat on the other side but it works fine to keep them in. Thanks for watching!
Yep. Hoover Hatchery is having major issues. Same thing happened to us. Also, I think the 'matriarch' of that business passed away in January. I could be wrong.
I so happy that have positive outcomes in your farm getting more chickens to make up the numbers u need for processing and the baby piggy are beautiful colours ❤
My guess is that Saundra’s slower, calming earth energy is where your real home is. She speaks slower and sits quietly watching the animals. That is earth energy. Air energy is always moving and talkative like you Chuck. Yes, her beautiful energy grounds you. Good pair.
Oaks are shallow rooted and heavy rains, saturated soil, or strong winds can cause them to fall down. The roots of oaks intertwine and help to hold each other up. That is why you plant them in threes in the shape of a triangle. That one was old and pretty straight. You should see if you can get some lumber out of it. If nothing else it will make good fire wood. I am sorry you are losing your chickens. God bless.
I was at TSC today and the lady said they have changed where they buy there birds due to so many to die. The birds they had looked good. I may go and buy some this week. I like Rhode Island Red hens. Blessings, and it is always good to be home with family🙂
One of our local independent feed stores is bringing in chicks that the customer pre-orders. Not sure from which hatcery they are receiving deliveries. We have to pick up the chicks or poults at the farm store. It is one of the feed mills where we get custom feed mixes. Perhaps you have a feed store that would get a protected delivery, not a usps "sits in too cold, too windy, or too hot of places."
It's mostly because some people care not about life at all. And it shows in how our country is being destroyed. Top down, bottom up and squeeze the middle. The death cult is a real freaking problem.
As Soon as the farmer said he was experiencing crud enough to cut the tree, I had to sign off forever. You’re a farmer, you best learn how to do everything.
I’ve been hearing of so many people having issues with meat bird chick deaths this year. We were planning to raise 300+ this year. Now I’m considering Bielfelders. I have hatching Bresse eggs coming tomorrow but that’s long term experiment.
What are those brooder heat lamps called? Trying to find bigger heat lamps for a large outdoor brooder. Love you both, as a farmer selling directly to costumer, your videos have been so helpful!
That is a high loss rate of baby chicks. I hatched my own last year with what I have on hand. I have heritage poultry but somehow a blue slate hatched out of the royal bronze I had ordered the year before. Not a variety I even ever had. I had seen a black jersey giant mating with a broody turkey a few times so I was afraid at first it was something that came from that but my blue slate is a real full Tom.
We have ordered through Farm and Fleet with 100% survival rate, excellent chicks. Farm and Fleet orders from Cackle Hatchery. The chicks we have gotten are so good that I made sure I contacted Cackle to let them know how superior their chicks are. To date, the only deaths we have had from the chickens has been my fault. There is no illness or weakness in any of these chicks.
there is either a disease issue with the whole flock you're ordering from or they are experiencing temp. stress from transport. Niether you or the farm can control the care or transport conditions by the USPS. If you trust the farm, and it is within 100 miles, you can justify a trip to and from for your spring batches.
Same thing happened to us last year. Been raising chickens for ten years. Lost 25 out of 50 in the first 48 hours. Unexplained. I had my tinfoil hat on for sure.
Sounds to me like ya'll need to switch hatcheries! Try Cackle Hatchery! Chick's come with warmer inside box to help keep chick's warm. I haven't lost one in route to me ever...
I quit getting my chicks mailed no matter what time of the year I dealt with one hatchery more than not most of the chicks would be dead and within a few hours more would have died. How wonderful you were able to score chickens right at the time needed No wasted time.
I had a Red Oak, over 110 years old, came down after a rain week before last. Took out the corner of a shed. Looks like a bomb went off in the back yard.
We also lost 43/112 from Hoover about a week before you did. We just found out there is a new hatchery in Anderson, SC (about an hour from us), and they were much cheaper on price. You should check them out-Stumphouse Farms
We got 1000 chicks from Hoover’s hatchery this week and over 400 dead we are in Western Ohio a lot closer to Iowa than you are i’m not sure it’s a hatchery thing I think it’s more of a post office thing to be honest
That's not good at all. Were there shipping delays? I used to live in Ohio, but I've had the same issue with it taking 3+ days to receive at post office and losing a bunch myself.
So sorry for the loss of your chicks. Just a thought - could it be the USPS shipping? I had ordered merchandise from MA (I live in VA) and for whatever reason it went to the west coast, Hawaii, and finally made it back to VA. Can you imagine if this shipping snafu involved chicks?
Always used Murray McMurray and never had an issue. Except an chick that escaped inside the post office. They called on a Sunday morning to come get them.
I'm glad the Lord worked out your chicken problems. The Red Oak tree will make good barn wood or fence boards or sell to the public. Thx Chuck and Saundra we appreciate the videos.
Theres a hatchery in Muscle Shoals Alabama that is supposed to be really good. The channel True Grit Appalachian Ways gets their chicks from them and they say they have had wonderful results from them
Well clearly I asked my question before I finished watching the video about whether or not you process your own chickens. It’s something I would like to do but I’m nervous about the processing part.
Sheraton Park farms youtube have videos showing processing. The mechanics of it are easily learned. Go slow, start small. Call your feed store and see if they have cornish cross available and get 3 or 4 to try. After trying chicken we raised my wife was convinced. Did my first 3 chickens last fall (on a whim mind you) did 3 turkeys in November (i was going to bring them to a local processor, but did it myself instead), and 5 chickens just a couple weeks ago. I say the mechanics/motions of it are not hard. However it does require you to care for a living thing from hatch and intentionally take its life. I will say that's the hard part.
@@robertdemaine3818 thank you! I’ve raised hogs before and yes raising and caring for then processing is tough but I keep the thought that they have one bad day on my farm and this is part of their purpose. Best meat ever! Do you have the fancy processing equipment for your poultry or did you rent it or did you do the old fashioned way?
I'm sorry the chicks haven't been doing well this year. Did the hatchery ask for any back to send out for testing to see what the problem may be? You've lost so many this year which is unusual. You'd think the hatchery would want to find out why. On a related note, are there any raptor rehabs near you that could make use of the dead chicks? Or maybe a reptile store? A big monitor lizard or snake would happily eat the dead chicks. Just a thought.
Our losses with Hoover's has been terrible this year. 11 of 15 dead within 48 hours, twice! Customer service didn't want to discuss the problem. They just wanted to replace, or refund. Going to try Valley Farms Hatchery, from Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Please let us know if Hoover's is actually willing to say anything worth while. P.S. Skinny jeans are a generational thing and many young farmers wear them, now. Besides, disparaging people, for any reason is not very cool, or Christian. Kinda like the racist jokes I learned in the 60s and 70s.
I had to stop using the heat lamps. I use the safe heaters from tractor supply. I stopped losing my chicks. Do you see how the chicks get as far away from the heat lamps into the corner?
