# chick biz



## busybee870 (Mar 2, 2006)

I have my home based biz in the spring
I hatch eggs and sell chicks, I make about 200.00 weekend. Usually sell out, about 100 checks is what i try to have each week. But in the heat of the summer i dont hatch alot beucase its so hot that they struggle in transport. And of course in winter people dont really buy chicks. I hope to be ready this spring . This past spring was my firts at doing this and i loved it, the kids enjoyed helping sell them. I was able to work my other at home job while they sold the chicks, they got money fr their work. They had a blast!!


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## chris30523 (Jun 11, 2005)

how do you sell your chicks? Word of mouth? Add in the paper?...


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## countrygurl (Dec 23, 2002)

most states have "market bulletin" ours is mississippi market bulletin is come out 2x a month, $10 a yr to subscribe and you get to run 2 free ads each issue (2 x a month) it is put out by your state agriculture department. our is really big and i get alot of business from it, well worth the $10


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## clovis (May 13, 2002)

Neat business idea!!!!

Have you tried craigslist in your area for advertising? They have a farm and garden section. It is free to post.

Clove


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## bigmudder77 (Jun 9, 2008)

that would be good but we have a hatchery like 30 miles away from me that sell there chicks for under $1 each i wouldnt make any money if i sold them that cheap


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## busybee870 (Mar 2, 2006)

yeah the hatchery would kill ya, theres none here you have to drive an hour or so, which isnt bad for some if they are buying alot. But most folks here buy about 12-24, and they like buying locally. I had many repeat customers, and new customers from word of mouth. I went to farmers supply and sold, did ok, and the livestock auction , and sold outside(they dont sell poultry), but i acutally did more from my own house. Once they figure gas, and shipping and the extra fees they decide to buy from me, plus they can get more whenever, not restricted by days or hours. They call ahead and see whats hatching when and tell me to hold x amount of each brred, and i do. So making them feel special makes more sales too. if Im gong into town, and someone needs them I drop them off on my way in and save them gas. I made 200 per weekend andthat was mainly on Saturdays. So 800 a month isnt bad. I havent hatched any since the hot summer. I cant wait to crank up the bator again. Maybe one day I can sell more than i was, i was just starting. I fell in love wth chickens and want alot for me. Every time i would hold some back for my own flock, someone would show up wanting to buy them. I hate to turn down money. LOL


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## busybee870 (Mar 2, 2006)

Plus my selling chicks helped out others I bought my eggs from my list of people, I would buy up to 12 dozen from each. that paid their feed. and i got to see the hens they came from. I had 4 different people i bought from. 
I bought austrolorps from one lady, the roo and hen won awards at the fairs and shows.
I got easter eggers from one, red stars from one, and a bunch of different breeds from another.


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## chris30523 (Jun 11, 2005)

Where do you get the hatching eggs? Raise your own? I produce lots of hatching eggs (about 7500 a day). Mine are sold to a local chicken co. I only get .44 a dozen but I don't have to pay for the hens or feed.


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## busybee870 (Mar 2, 2006)

i pay 2.00 per dozen, from individuals


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## chris30523 (Jun 11, 2005)

How many dzn do you want LOL


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## sunflower-n-ks (Aug 7, 2006)

Chris, does the chicken co supply the hens and feed? I had heard that in that area the companies would supply the chicks and feed for farmers to raise the birds. That would sure be better than buying the feed, etc.


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## chris30523 (Jun 11, 2005)

sunflower-n-ks said:


> Chris, does the chicken co supply the hens and feed? I had heard that in that area the companies would supply the chicks and feed for farmers to raise the birds. That would sure be better than buying the feed, etc.


Yes the chicken co.Brings me hens that are 22 wks old.Then we get 700 roosters. We keep them on average 43wks.The company supplies the feed,packaging and boxes for the eggs and picks them up twice a week.We supply the housing,equipment,labor and power for the hens.We have to keep everything to their specifications but that isn't too much of a problem.Our only out of pocket expenses are the power bill which can be really high in the summer,and our mortgage which I wish was paid off (sigh).Then of course there is equipmet to fix ,darn chickens are hard on equipment.


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## sunflower-n-ks (Aug 7, 2006)

Chris, that is great. I had/have a chance to raise ducks for an established market. But, I would have to pick up and buy the ducklings, feed, transport them to a processor quite a ways away and would be paid per processed pound. Might work, but too much risk for me to take. All they would do is sell the ducklings, and pay per pound processed.


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## busybee870 (Mar 2, 2006)

well chris. the shipping is the problem. the post office doesnt handle hatching eggs very well, my loss would be great im sure. and you probably have leghorns right? I do like to get different breeds.


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## busybee870 (Mar 2, 2006)

if you had different breeds, like americaunas, austrolorps, buffingtons, reds, wyandottes, then we might could work something out, I hatch weekly in the spring, with one bator, i sell 100 chicks on a saturday, so if i could get eggs from you shipped delicately for a decent price, i would build another bator or two.


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## chris30523 (Jun 11, 2005)

busybee870 said:


> if you had different breeds, like americaunas, austrolorps, buffingtons, reds, wyandottes, then we might could work something out, I hatch weekly in the spring, with one bator, i sell 100 chicks on a saturday, so if i could get eggs from you shipped delicately for a decent price, i would build another bator or two.


Not sure what the commercial chickens are anymore.They have been bred and inbred so much .Frankenchickens would be my best guess.When we sell the hens at 65 weeks they weigh between 8-10 lbs a piece the roosters are huge and can weigh up to 20lbs.All are white.I am afraid the shipping would be to costly too.Not to mention selling the eggs to anyone other than the co.I contract for is verboten.


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## Jeanette (Jul 29, 2008)

busybee870 said:


> if you had different breeds, like Americaunas, Australorps, Buff Orphingtons, reds, Wyandottes, then we might could work something out, I hatch weekly in the spring, with one bator, I sell 100 chicks on a Saturday, so if i could get eggs from you shipped delicately for a decent price,* I would build another bator or two.*


I have been looking at different ways to build an incubator so I am curious about how you built yours. Any specific plan that you followed? 
About how many weeks do you continue hatching - when do you begin and approximately when do you stop?
How much do you ask for your chicks? Do you sell them only as straight run?
Sorry for all the questions! The more I wrote, the more I thought to ask 
I live in a rural area and I think this might be something I could do this coming Spring. 

Jeanette
Hondo, TX

Always Learning!


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## busybee870 (Mar 2, 2006)

when do i stop for the year? I ask 2.00 per chick, straight run. I usually sell out on Sat. I try to set it up where they are 2 days old when i sell. I start incubating in feb if i can get enough eggs, i hatch all the way through summer. Sales usually die down late summer. By then everyone has what they need and they dont want to have to winter over chicks.


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## Cygnet (Sep 13, 2004)

I did this for a few years. I stopped mostly because I could make more money doing web development, but am looking at getting into it again. The economy sucks for web dev right now.

I started out selling day old chicks (mostly marans, for their <i>meat</i> qualities) for $1.50, or sexed four to six week old chicks for $3 for pullets and $1.00-$1.50 for cockerals. 

Eventually, I had one family that would buy all my males and I ended up selling them every male for $1 each just to get them off my feed bill, as soon as I could identify them as males. They'd come by every week or two and buy a hundred or so males from me. They raised them out to about five pounds and then sold them as fryers. They LOVED the marans for this.

I made most of my profit on the $3 little pullets, though. 

That was a few years ago and feed prices are 3X higher now. I will _have_ to raise my prices. And I don't know if my customers will be willing to pay what I'd need to .charge to make money

If I do it again, I'll raise better layers than the marans. My customers liked the marans because they were great meat birds, but they're not very good layers and that ate into profits. 

I've got some buff orps in the brooder right now that I might use for chick sales. They're also fairly large and meaty and they lay better -- though orps have a tendency to lay double yokers that would reduce the number of fertile eggs. I'll have to see how bad of a problem that is. 

I'm also thinking of ordering something ornamental that lays well (longtails, maybe, or some tiny little exotic-looking banties in pretty colors) in the spring and selling well-started pairs at the farmer's market. 

(I'm thinking I could get as much for a banty pair as I could for a couple of large pullets, and they'd eat a lot less! However, the market's a lot more limited on banties as the customers tend to keep them as pets, fewer people want pet chickens, and they don't eat their purchases and come back to buy more.)


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## busybee870 (Mar 2, 2006)

sounds like you had a lot of birds. Im in a temp. location right now, im looking for a new place, i would love to have at least 100 layers. I tried to get cuckoos , noone had any, I have a new resource for austrolorps, and dominickers though, plus i still have my resource for easter eggers, and moxed breeds. So hopefully ill be in a new place for spring, and can get set up. I have my eye on a few places. One has a decent shed I would convert to a coop, for my layers. Where are you located I would love to get some Buffs for my flock in the spring.


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## Cygnet (Sep 13, 2004)

I'm in Arizona. I still haven't decided if I'll keep the buffs and sell chicks, or if I'll sell most of the chicks I have now and just keep three or four for eggs for the table.

I had around 100 layers at the peak of things, which was probably more than I needed -- or I should have had another 'bator. (Which is something else I'd do differently.) I had marans, buff catalanas (which were fantastic layers and just generally nice birds) and ameracaunas. I've sold all but a handful of mixed-breed birds that are currently running loose in my yard.

If you have a 'bator that can hatch 70 eggs a week, you probably don't need more than about fifteen hens to keep it full. Figure some hens won't be laying (broody, or just taking a break) and some eggs get cracked or are double yolkers, too dirty, imperfect, etc. but if you've got fifteen hens and you average a 66% rate of hatchable eggs, that's ten eggs a day, which gives you 70 eggs. Call it twenty hens if you want a comfortable margin of extra eggs.

(I used to set twice a week, and had tabletop incubators for hatching. I'd mark the date I set them on the eggs, then twice a week I'd candle the eggs, and discard any duds or questionable eggs -- I'd much rather throw out a viable egg than have one explode in the incubator and contaminate the whole thing -- then move the ones within three or four days of hatching to a tabletop 'bator and set the next batch.)

If you're not real good at candling, think twice about marans. They're very hard to candle.


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## busybee870 (Mar 2, 2006)

my bator can incubate 42 DOZEN at at time


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