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tnokie · #1 03/12/09, 10:18 PM

The local news tonite ran a story about getting your garden seed early because stores were going to run out of seed early. Was checking hatcherys,Ideal which is one of largest,is sold out till after May!. Attended a nearby Amish sale last week and people were paying record prices for poultry. Seems maybe we are going to have a lot of company in our search for self-sufficent living! Wow!Never been in lead of a fad movement before!

plantinthings · #2 03/13/09, 03:34 AM

I've already purchased my veggies seeds, fear that I may be one to wait till to late, now just waiting on being able to plant a garden, which I am expanding big time.
I went to the local feed store they wanted $4.50 for Buff Sex-links. I had to ask what a sex-link was......a cross breed for price? Heck I could have bought a full grown layer for
.50 more.....so my sister found a man locally that will hatch us out 125 for $1.50/chick.

cowboy joe · #3 03/13/09, 04:32 AM

Bought my seeds right after the first of the year. Thought there might be a shortage. Also started quail and pre-ordered hatching eggs. Lots of hatching eggs and chicks for sale this time of year from private sellers. www.backyardschickens.com has a forum and sale board. Some of the long time posters have good reputations...I'm more inclined to buy from a dedicated poultry site than from ebay or the like. Also check out the rural areas if you get the opportunity. I located a gent who sells eggs for eating which are actually fertile and can be used for hatching. He gets a $2/dozen and is more than willing to gather some of the just layed eggs for hatching.

Yeah, you're right. It's going to get pretty crowded around here. Be interesting to see if the membership on the board takes off.

Fae · #4 03/13/09, 05:21 AM

My DD owns a feed and seed store and there are some seed that are hard to get. Seed potatoes are gone and when we could get them we could not keep them. Now there are lots of people looking for them and there are none to be found. My SIL is a sales rep for Johnston Seed Co. and so we know about the shortages plus he says it is getting harder to load the trucks due to stores not ordering as much because of the economy. I am blessed that I don't have to buy my seed because my SIL gives them to me.

tab · #5 03/13/09, 08:30 AM

I ordered extra seed last year and placed it in the freezer. I would like to order some other "new" things but have been slow, guess I better get on it. I think I will check out McMurray Hatchery, April is a good time here for chicks.

Helena · #6 03/13/09, 11:45 AM

Here is another good reason to collect your own seeds from your own plants at the end of the gardening year. Make sure they are "true" seeds and not the hybred kind. I usually always hatch a few dozen chickens in the incubator. Just enjoy doing it even though a few of our hens hide there eggs and hatch a a dozen or so on there own too. I was thinking of selling some of the chicks this year for a couple of bucks each...they will be totally a mix breed as over the years my chickens have just "gotten" together. They lay mostly brown and green eggs. I actually did see seed potatoes at the Agway yesterday and here in PA the ground is still frozen !! But now and store them or you can even use the ones you stored last year and plant the eyes from your own. Guess we all just have to think a step ahead from most the the public..that's what us homesteaders are good at anyways !!

JIL · #7 03/13/09, 12:03 PM

we went to a local animal auction barn last SAT and it was unbelievable the amount of people there that had never been to an auction barn and the prices that the livestock and poultry was way up there! The place was over packed with barely standing room. wow yeah it's catching on. JIL

Danaus29 · #8 03/13/09, 01:51 PM

The feed prices were incredibly high for the winter. Costs have gone up for the producers. I sold ducks last spring for around $10 each and made little money off them. The current flock has approx that amount in feed in them. When we go to the swaps I will be selling for $15 and up for young (less than one year but not yet laying) Muscovy ducks and $20 and up for drakes. If they don't sell, they will be eaten. I would rather eat them than take a huge loss. I can't buy good meat for what it cost to raise those ducks.

ETA: Got my seeds already too. Lots of people I work with are doing gardens this year. Some just so they will have something to eat. Others are putting in more veggies because of the increasing grocery prices. You can get a lot of food out of a dollar pack of seeds.