Any Farmers on Here?

I got my first eggs yesterday. My flock of chickens hatched back in March, I really didn't expect any eggs this year but I got 2 beautiful brown eggs. My peacock pecked a hole in one but I stuck a hen on the other one. Better a chicken tomorrow than a fried egg today is what I says. This is the first time I've ever raised egg layers so I'm pretty excited about it.

My farm grows Alphalfa hay. I have a small vegetable garden that gets taken over by weeds usually.

I have a neighbor that has chickens, I get a few eggs from him, but not meat.

Greg L

My grandfather had three chicken farms at one time. I'm pretty sure you'll need a rooster around if you want that egg to hatch.

When I was little we lived on one of the farms. When the truck came to bring them to the slaughterhouse, we kids got to run around and catch them and hypnotize them, leaving them for the old man with the truck to walk around, pick them up and put them in the cages.

Pa slept many nights in the coop with a rifle in his lap, and a stack of wolves and coyotes to show for it too. Lots of chickens = lots of predators.

Dad hated chicken, figured if he married the chicken farmers daughter he wouldn't have to eat it........... wrong.

I love eggs but am not fond of chicken.

I am a 10th generational farmer here in Maine.

Prior to 1746 when we got the land we now have off the Kind of England for some heroics in the French and Indian War, we farmed in Cambridge, MA since arriving on the Mayflower. My Great Grandfather 14 times removed was a tailor by trade, so the Pilgrims needed wool to stave off the cold winters and woolen items were required. That necessitated having sheep so we have a few interesting family farm highlights:

1st sheep in New England
1st Sheep Shearer
1st Sheep Shearing shed

We are probably one of the oldest existing sheep farms in New England I think.

In the late 1600's Harvard University had 157 fireplaces it had to keep stoked with wood, so they had their own ship that plied the waters between Cambridge MA and Belfast ME where plenty of hardwood grew along its coastal banks. One one such voyage, a free-spirit NoSmoke came ashore to cut firewood and never returned on the ship. He stayed in contact with family down in Cambridge, and fought for the King of England in the French and Indian War as a Lieutenant driving the French from Luisburg in that siege, but lost his son in doing so. For that, he was giving land in what is now Maine. Knowing where the best soil was, us NoSmokes settled here officially by land grant in 1746 though it was much earlier then that by squatters rights. Either way, during the American Revolution we were allowed to keep the land we had because we switched sides and fought in the Continental Army and reached high ranks in the army there.

Over the years we have moved a little, going from one side of town to the other, and me...I moved 517 feet from where I was raised, so yes we are moving west, we are just doing so at "Glacier Pace".

We have twenty horses in training and for sale and are registered as a NY ag. business. Making money?..... pleeezzz.

Ancestry.. I have traced my family back 100 years and decided I come from a long line of inconsequentials. I have been told many times that I am carrying on the tradition quite nicely. My biggest current achievement is that I burn coal and I even screw that up too.

we got 6 brown chickens (peeps) back at easter we now get 42 eggs a week wow

I want to be a farmer, but haven't figured out to aquire enough land. (hobby farmer at least) Anyone want to lend me a half Mil$ or so to get me started

oros, you don't want to be a farmer. You're young & healthy and already whining about the money part of it. Listen to coalnewbie, how do you think you'd fit in with the rest of us inconsequentials--hell Simon, did I spell that right?-- Orrrr, go in hock, butt deep & give it your best shot. It's a ya either love & do it or ya hate it. It's 24/7/365. Ya in???? Plenty of land for sale up this way reasonable--$500.00 to $1000.00 an acre. bb, chickens up this way are still laying to beat the band. Sounds real good e.a

I'm a farmer wanna-be. Going into my 3rd winter with chickens here. I presently have 19 hens. All of them are Black Australorps. During the summer I was getting roughly a dozen eggs a day. Right now I'm getting only about 2 to 4 per day. Some of my hens are moulting, which I find somewhat revolting.

I bought 8 egg layers a year and half ago . 4 of them are production reds they live up to there name but the other 4 not so much . Me and friend bought 3 hogs in April they are ready to go to the butcher . I'm dying to get at least one jersey heifer for some raw milk for the family and give away or sell what we don't drink . I would love to have 2-3 to make some extra money . I think you could make good money selling raw milk .

I was raised on a small farm and did raise pigs for several years but got out in 1987 due to low prices. Glad I did cuz if your not a huge farmer with contract prices its a tough market for hogs, more so now. Damned corporate farms. I do miss doing it though. I havent ate a good pork chop since then. Confinement pigs taste like crap compared to pasture pigs. I did raise various animals for hobby for a lot of years after that. Now I live on an old farm on 5 acres surrounded by high priced cropland. I grow a big garden now and grow a lot of fruit but thats about it.

If you think half a million will get you into farming they just sold 80 acres of bare cropland in Sioux County Iowa for $20,900/acre. Thats not a misprint it went for over 20 grand an acre! Its well over $10,000/acre where I live.

My brother in-law is the dumbest smart *censored* I know. He dropped out of college( civil engineering) to become a goddamn dairy farmer. I have no beef with farmers but do your research before going balls deep into it. He is always whining about milk prices and overhead cost and blah ba blah ba blah. He is a hard workin summa bitch but c'mon. He worked on this farm he is buying since he was 12 and knew all about how farming isn't a high money making job. If you want a job that makes lotsa money use your noodle and do some research. If you are satisfied with not having a lot of money but like the satisfaction of being a hard working mother be a farmer. I appreciate what he does and have a lot of respect for the fella. He told me once the best thing to ever happen to cows is McDonalds, gotta kick outta that

Anthony, whining about the money is a definite prerequisite to farmin-- back to--ya either love it or don't get it?????????

One pipe dream I have is to have some I mean some not a goddamn flock of chickens, and a pair of horses. My stepfather had horses once and It was nice, time consuming but I enjoyed it. Kept me in shape. But *censored*, I like to spend money and go on vacation so like I said pipe dream.

In time my young friend