Poults v Day Olds

[tosca2701]

We are mulling over the idea of going back to rearing day olds, rather than buying in poults. We still have our rearing sheds as well as the infrastructure in place.

 

Can anyone tell me whether the savings are still there by doing this? Or do the increasing costs and risk attached with rearing your own outweigh the benefit.

 

[TR1]

I think it will always be cheaper to rear from day olds if you discount the labour element. Also the actual saving will depend on the quantity you rear and the price you are able to get feed.

However I think the real risk of a rearing disaster ( cold , wet rearing season or disease) greatly offsets any potential gain.

At least with poults you are guaranteed the number you want and you have some comeback on the supplier for a few days after delivery if things don't look right.

[rimfire4969]

We used to do day olds but we decided we would rather spend a few extra quid on poults and not have so much worry and hassle. But our numbers are low 500ish birds. I think if you are raising 1000's day olds would be the way to go.

[scotslad]

I have been told by a retired shooting agent/keeper that nowadays unless ur rearing 15k plus its not worth it and better of buying poults in. His son took over and has given up rearing after a few years saying lot less hassle just to buy poults in, and know quite a few full time keepers that also just buy poults in, also know 1 est that shot 100+ days this year and even it still buys poults in.

 

All depends on if ur time is free and u can be about enough to look after them properly esp in the early stages and if u know ur diseases, good game farmers make it look easy, it's not really that easy in reality.

[tosca2701]

Thanks guys, that sort of confirmed what I originally thought. Unless you are rearing significant numbers the savings aren't really there. I think we could possibly manage it, with the infrastructure and staff we've got, but it is the risk element which is the unknown. What price can you put on "peace of mind" with your poults?!?

 

It's just rather galling buying poults from someone who is buying them in as day olds and bringing them on, and then charging a premium for them.

 

Anyone any idea on the cost of bringing day olds on? I'm sure there is a rough basic equation somewhere per bird, like the shoot benchmark survey?

[scolopax]

It is not always about cost, or saving, rearing a few hundred day olds to release can be quite enjoyable. But it is very time consuming and forget about going away for a day unless you have someone reliable to stand in. It is not so much feed and water, more regular checks to make sure the heating is working correctly.

[scotslad]

Scolapax, has summed it up perfectly, i finnd the poults tying enough checking them 2 and 3 times a day while in a release pen, with day olds ur prolonging the season by 6 weeks plus ercting and dismantling and cleaning/disenfecting rearing gear.

 

If u have a few reliable retired flok it probably will save u a fair bit of money as their time will be free, it's when u add in time the profit drops a lot,

 

U state gamefarmers are 'charging a preium' yet u don't know the cost's involved. How do u know they are charging a premium?

Most are not making vast profits (2 local 1's have gave up over past 2 years as no money in it)

Alo know 1 wannabe game farmer decied to put all his birds in a big brooder house and lost 90+% the first nite, CO poisoning (not enough ventilation) and he had been around shoots for years and should of known better.

 

In a good dry summer when rearing field can be travelled and no disease issues it will be a doddle, its the wet years when rearing fields are like a swamp or u get a disease problem that GOOD gamefarmers are worth every penny they charge for there birds

[Grandalf]

It is not always about cost, or saving, rearing a few hundred day olds to release can be quite enjoyable. But it is very time consuming and forget about going away for a day unless you have someone reliable to stand in. It is not so much feed and water, more regular checks to make sure the heating is working correctly.

 

I'll echo the comments of scolopax. I used to do day olds but came to the conclusion that all the time they were taking up could be put to better use on other jobs on the shoot.

Went to poults about 15 years ago and would not consider going back to the rearing game now.

[tosca2701]

points taken and well made guys. Thank you.

 

scotslad, I probably phrased that wrong when I said they charge a premium. We run quite a large semi-commercial shoot, and have placed some reasonably sized poult orders in recent times. It has been noticeable that the game farmers rearing birds having bought them in as day olds are charging a significantly higher price than the farmers starting from scratch. Now, this may just be isolated cases and we have happened to pick them out, but when you are quoted £3.25 a poult from one g-farmer, and then £3.80 a poult from 3 others buying in as day olds, it does make you wonder. Correct me if I'm wrong, but these guys wouldn't be doing it if they weren't making some profit out of it, albeit not millions. I, too, know of a few who have gone out of business in recent times.

 

Having heard what you guys have had to say, I think we would be better off sticking to poults.