Colorful Day

8:45am was the ETA, but my livestock broker said that barring any problems, he should be able to release about 11am.

Yes, our batch of Certified Parent Stocks from SASSO of France arrived today.

Since it was for call at 11am, I took time. Bank duties, had coffee at a leisurely pace etc. By a little after 9am, my broker calls and says that the SASSO colored chicks had been released! Surely I will credit Odi's good job, and the perfect working vibes we have with the French company :)

The vehicle to transport was there already, but I was set for 11am...."can you wait for me pls so I can see our new babies"?

After some clicks clicks, the chicks were on their way to their new farm. Chitchats with the other livestock brokers there as we were on the same flight with two other importers. Very showbiz talks about what's happening and what didn't happen weheheheh.

Decided to relax and spend the day with colors around me.. for prosperity. Prosperity for the shops at Podium ahahahahha.

We have new strains, in addition to our basic red, our naked necks. As I said, colorful :)

Colored Range Broilers

Those are perfect descriptions to what Sunshines are.

1) The Sunshine Chickens are colored Brown Red, Black, Grey and we also have the Egyptian looking Brown striped chicks. The Naked Neck is a strain we have, predominantly for growers who have seen the stability and hardiness.

2) They are meant to be free ranged on open areas, thus termed "Range".

3) Broilers yes. They are raised for primarily for meat purposes.

In short, broilers are meant to be eaten. We are used to seeing white industrial chickens, but there are colored ones. The colored range broilers are raised the way chickens are really meant to be. Free ranging on open fields, fresh air, foraging and a lot of sunshine!

Aesthetically, lovely to look at....running on the range as they fill up your eyes with our different colors.

Taste buds wise....let your tongue do the talking. Am sure that as you eat, you will let your fingers do the talking...doing the THUMBS UP!

Heat was pleasanty on my shoulders :)

Am sure everyone goes through mountains of trials.

We get short on manpower, when you have to sacrifice closing a branch some days instead of allowing it to be manned by someone not equipped to be helpful to clients. It can't be enough just to be able to punch cash register. Losses from operating costs have to be smiled off :)

Then you have to catch the plane that has your imports....nap before meetings....then rush to the hatchery to check on day's hatch. Pack, count, print invoices while answering phone calls and texting, that is also while you have a client in front of you.

Quick nap again before you send off deliveries, then go straight to AANI for two more meetings.

The break and relaxation came when you were set for the 8hr trip back to base in Isabela.

I loved the weekend that just passed :) Truth is....the sunshine brings me joy. Can't call it work.

NAME

I wanted a simple name that gives the idea of freshness..."SUNSHINE CHICKENS" :)

Permit to Import

We have now received our permit to import parent stocks of colored chickens.

Expecting our first batch to arrive not later than end of March :)

WHY did we decide to import?

We used to be distributing for an importer (AP Inocencio/Teresa Farms), but we weren't happy with the standards. Day old chicks being produced were way below par, not meeting growth expectations and mortality rates were high. Chicks were not being classified properly. After countless discussions, the importer didn't offer concrete changes. On the contrary, everything turned from bad to worse.

Decided then that we will not attach our name to a product we can't be proud of. It was a hard decision to stop distributing the colored chicks. I earnestly believe in the concept of free ranging and drug-free meat.

Importing from Grimaud of France became an option. Since initial talks w/ Grimaud, we decided to sacrifice time and severe ties w/ the previous product we were carrying (SASSO). Eventually, it was learned that AP Inocencio hasn't been importing parent stocks to replace his flock. No wonder the product was getting worse from bad. Good we didn't wait for the worst to come before deciding to cut connections.

Whew...Until we finally built the housing for the parent stocks, and getting accreditation to import...it was hard to keep the excitement!

All we had to reply to emails and calls was "We are importing breeders and expect island borns to be available in September. Till then, we won't carry a product that we can't back up"

So now, we are in the stage wherein we are finally making the transaction to import :)