# Anybody sell started pullets?



## fffarmergirl (Oct 9, 2008)

I ordered some layers today and ordered 6 extra to sell at the fur & feather swap as started pullets. I've never done this before but I figure if I don't sell them it's only 6 extra chickens.

Have any of you ever sold started pullets? Would you mind telling me how much you got for them, any problems you ran into, whether or not you think it's a good idea etc.?


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2011)

I sell started pullets.

The biggest problem is that if you're not producing a fair part of their feed yourself it's going to be hard to sell them for much more than what you've got in them. Some of the more affluent areas you might be able to do that, but my experience so far is that I can sell them for a dollar or three more than I've got in them. Not a lot of return considering the time and effort involved. Feed costs are what really drives this equation.


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## Horseyrider (Aug 8, 2010)

Alan, do you mind if I ask what kind of pullets you have, and what you're selling them for? 

I looked into some from Murray McMurray, and while the price for the birds was fair, the shipping was a heart clutcher. I wanted eight birds at $14 each. Shipping was over $160. That's a lot of eggs!

A friend of mine runs a feed store, and is having Chick Days soon. I might have to take her up on hers, and just wait the wait.


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## barefootflowers (Jun 3, 2010)

This is the first year that I started selling the pullets. Our area just passed an allowance for suburban backyard chickens so I thought there would be a good market. I am selling rhode Island reds that hatched out mid-December for $20 each. I've already sold more than enough to cover my initial costs for the entire batch of 100 day old chicks I had ordered from a hatchery. Like Alan said, though, it helps if you can sell to a more affluent area. I think one of my helpful selling points has been that all of the "hard work" has already been done- and people can expect eggs starting in mid-May. If they are buying the chicks from the feed store they need to have the set up & still have to wait 5 months or so for eggs. I don't know if this will work next year once the novelty of having chickens wears off- or if more people are able to plan ahead. But it sure has been nice so far.


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2011)

$20 each would be very worthwhile in my area for birds younger than 20 weeks. I've been watching the folks who sell started pullets around here and it looks like about $15 each for quality birds is what the market will bear.

I have Murray McMurray Pearl White Leghorns and ISA Brown pullets from Townline right now.


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

Seems to me that the prices I saw, picked up at the farm, for the started pullets sold by the Mo. hatchery, was around $5 per bird. Of course that could not work now with the increased fuel and feed prices, but even $10 would be worthwhile if you were close. $20 is not recoverable over the life of the bird. That is at almost a year's production of eggs and even if you feed her through a molt and keep her two years you'll be paying high prices for eggs. I can buy barnyard free range eggs now for $1 locally, so it just does not pay. 

I keep bantams as barnyard flowers. I am hatching some RIR's because I like to have chickens. I cannot make a profit at $1 per dozen. Even the feed mill is selling them for $1.50 per dozen. Raise in the spring, let them eat bugs, snakes and worms, butcher all but a handful of layers in the fall. 

By the way, they will eat as much grass, weeds and seeds as they do bugs, snakes and worms. There is some profit in that if you can keep them out of he garden and off the patio.


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## fffarmergirl (Oct 9, 2008)

We're getting $2.50/dozen for our eggs. The organic food co-op sells them for about $5/dozen and the feed store sells them for $2/dozen. So let's do the math here: if they're worth $2.50/dozen that works out to 20.8 cents/egg. If you got an egg per chicken per day that would be 365 X .28 = $102.20 worth of eggs per chicken per year, minus the cost of feed. I'd think people living in the suburbs without brooding facilities would be willing to pay $20/bird.

Maybe we should wait and list them on Craigslist for $20 each once they start laying & see what happens. I haven't seen anybody else selling them in our area and, like horseyrider says, you can't buy them from a catalog without paying $160 for shipping. I can't imagine anybody paying that for shipping!


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## greenhorn (Jun 3, 2009)

When you find the breed that lays 365 eggs/year let me know  Actually our Golden Comets are pretty good at 5-6 a week.

My dss 9&10 are going to do this for a "business" this year. The chicks will be $1.50 each and they'll do 30 Comets and 20 Americanas. We plan to list them at $15/bird and then have room for bulk discounts and hagglers. They will free range for once they're 10-11 weeks and we produce a lot of extra veggies for the chickens and hogs. Why else would anyone plant 30 zuchini plants!

I was going to order started pullets from Meyer ($7) and drive up to get them (1.5 hour drive) but the dang things are debeaked!! So since we have to raise a few replacements from chicks anyway, I figured I'd plant some entrepreneurial seeds in the air and sure enough the boys are all about doing this little project. For their age a even a marginal profit is a big deal 

To check you market look at Craigslist adds. You'll have to meet or beat those prices or demonstrate why yours are worth more.


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## barefootflowers (Jun 3, 2010)

Craigslist is where we list ours. We also sell our eggs for $4 per dozen, but the farmer's market & a few other on farm sales are getting up to $6 per dozen. My goal with the pullets was to sell enough at $20 to cover the cost of my initial order of 100. Anything above that was just extra money to put back into other farm projects. The pullets that I don't sell will become my new layers for the year. For me, it was a good deal all around. But I can see how it makes a huge difference depending on where you live & how much your market can bear. Looks like this was one of those times that being closer to suburbia paid off.


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## fffarmergirl (Oct 9, 2008)

We're finding 10-11 eggs per day from our 12 free-range hens but we just got 9 of them them last year, they haven't moulted yet, and I'm sure this is peak production for them. Only 3 of them are over a year old. So - redo the math . . . 5 eggs/chicken/week X 52 weeks a year = 260 eggs/year X .28 = $72.80/year worth of eggs. $15-$20/hen still sounds like a good deal.

I haven't seen any Craigslist adds for started pullets in our area so I'm trying to get an idea where to start. I imagine as soon as I list mine, other people will start listing theirs.

Maybe we should build some chicken tractors & sell them, + chickens to be delivered, at the farmers market . . . . . all the rich people go to the farmers market! Yeah . . . .


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## fffarmergirl (Oct 9, 2008)

Barefoot flowers, how many were you able to sell?


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## mistletoad (Apr 17, 2003)

greenhorn said:


> My dss 9&10 are going to do this for a "business" this year. The chicks will be $1.50 each and they'll do 30 Comets and 20 Americanas. We plan to list them at $15/bird and then have room for bulk discounts and hagglers.


Where do you live and when will they be ready to go?


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## barefootflowers (Jun 3, 2010)

fffarmergirl- 23 so far. And my listing has been up for about 2 weeks with a 1 week lag when I forgot to renew it. I haven't really been pushing it after I covered my initial cost. I think it cost me around $210 to order 100 sexed chicks from Welp hatchery- I'd have to go back and check for sure. My husband says I should give up the egg business and just sell the pullets. But, like I said before, I don't know how long pullets for $20 will hold out. I'll probably keep at it until the interest dries up. I like selling the eggs because it's a great way to get people in my door. Once they start with the eggs, they usually buy other things- like pork, beef etc. You should just go for it. Make sure you say something in your ad about how all the work is done, no heat lamps, lights etc. No roosters because they are already sexed. I tell people if they do end up with a rooster from me then I'll swap it out. People like the idea of getting eggs faster without all of the advance planning. Especially in our area where backyard chickens is kind of a novelty and only recently allowed. We actually farm further out but sell to the bigger "city".


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2011)

Pullet sales are somewhat seasonal. You'll sell more in the spring and early summer. Fewer in the fall and winter.


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## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

How much you can sell hens for is going to depend upon what breed they are. You can get a lot more for a Maran than for a leghorn.

Purebred hens are going to sell for more than barnyard hens.

Pretty colors are going to sell for more than plain looking hens.

Exhibition quality sells for a lot more than hatchery quality, except the buyers are few and far between and most people don't care if their poultry is exhibition quality or not, as long as they get eggs.


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## greenhorn (Jun 3, 2009)

Mistletoad, we're in central Ohio. They'll be ready in August-September. We're getting them on the 14th of April.

I also think that many people find value in NOT having to do the peeps thing to have layers. Sure, they're cute and all and it's great to do a couple times if you have kids but at the end of the day most people don't need the hassle. Some guy out here keeps listing them for $8 each, but who knows how old they are. His farm is a PETA nightmare!

I really need to get a farm website/blog going! I know a lot of the potential customers for my meat birds would make a decision to buy if they saw the farm and the products on a website. They could always come out and see for themselves too. We are 5 miles from a rich college town and there are people there that will pay almost anything for organic, free range, blah blah. But I guess first I need a farm name........


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## barefootflowers (Jun 3, 2010)

True about seasonal. If you plan it for next year, you could order your chicks like I did in mid-December. Then you'll hit it about perfect- mine were ready to go just a couple of weeks before the feed stores had their day olds coming out. I was just looking at Welp hatchery and saw that the next batch of rhode islands wouldn't be available until sometime in May. So you really do have to plan ahead if you want to be able to sell the started pullets at the right time.


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## fffarmergirl (Oct 9, 2008)

If I start now they won't be laying until Aug/Sep. By then, people will already be thinking about winter. I wonder if I should go ahead & take the risk & order 50 or so, start offering them up as soon as they're feathered but before they start laying?


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## barefootflowers (Jun 3, 2010)

Well, I'd ask myself what would make some one buy my chicks over the ones that are at the feed stores etc. You should be able to hit a market that wants them in May/June. I think lots of people aren't thinking of outdoor activities until it gets warmer anyway. If you are going to have a use for the chicks that you don't sell I'd say go ahead. But if you are going to be in over your head with 50 of them if they don't sell, then think that one through first. Definitely sell them before they start laying- that's what I'm doing. And it keeps your feed cost down. You can always see how it goes this year, then re-evaluate for next year. You really won't know until you do it.


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

I can sell now for $15 to $20 a "ready to lay" pullet. (or already laying)

In the Fall you can't give them away here. 

If you live near a city or urban area where they allow chickens in town, you can sell a "package" of 4 hens that grew up together and get along quite easily. 

In about a month, once it stops being so nasty out, I'd be able to sell my entire laying flock for that price. BUT...I'm located in a very organic and "local harvest" friendly area...plenty of people with large backyards or on hobby farms.


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## greenhorn (Jun 3, 2009)

I really do think we need to start ours in the winter to sell in April, but I'm really trying to avoid more winter chores if I can and it's so easy to do them in the good weather. Luckily there are at least 3 people interested just by word-of-mouth. Anyone else finding it harder each winter to get out there and milk, feed, water etc.? I need to find some herb or something that raises body temp and take it from Oct-April!


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

I'm afraid that there are not enough "farm ignorant" yuppies out here to do anything like that. Two friends have laying flocks; one is giving his up because he cannot keep going at $1.50 per dozen--he was selling at $1 until I talked him into going to $1.50 and now the mill is selling at that price also. 

The other friend still sells for $1, but I suspect he raises some of his feed.

Now the auction is a different matter. In March, April and May birds sell high. I've seen and sold hens for $20 and over, even bantams will bring up to ten dollars. I've bought roosters there in August for seventy five cents, but now the Asians are there in force and will pay $5 and up for any rooster worth cooking.

I have to go right by Estes Hatchery twice in the very near future. I think I will stop and pick up some birds from their extras--each day they have a hatch, and those they do not have orders for are "extras" and can be purchased at the counter. 

I've never raised the white rock cross broilers and will pick up a couple if possible, plus some Italian leghorns for color and whatever else looks good. My own hatch is due very soon and the birds will be about the same age.


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## wolffeathers (Dec 20, 2010)

Best time to sell is spring and then summer would come in second. People get spring fever and I think the association of Easter and chicks, just really drive sales. 

We ordered a bunch of RIR pullets as replacements for our own and thought 'whynot' might as well get the best bulk discount unless you order 100 of the same and sell extras, so we purchased 100. All sexed pullets and all RIR. We would have mixed and matched, but then you don't get the bulk discount. The pullets were roughly $2 a piece and the day after they got here I advertised them on craigslist for $4. Sold all that I wanted to sell within a week and was left with the 25 I wanted to keep. This was the last week of February and before the feedstores and TSC had chicks in the area. When people ask, I told them that we ordered bulk and sell the extras. Nobody had problems with it. 

The only setback I have found was there was an odd colored chick in the bunch. It was red and yellow, versus just red, so we made sure someone didn't pick that one out because we weren't sure it was a RIR and I didn't want to surprise anyone. Also, if you start with chicks, remember to calculate in your losses. We lost 3 out of 110(we had 10 leghorns for ourself).

We decided to start selling them the day after we recieved them, simply because you start feeding them and the time and money start to factor in from that point forward. We have 25 RIR left and our 10 leghorns(didn't try to sell them) and in the end we really only want 15-20 RIR, but wanted to leave room for losses. I didn't keep records but I assume we made a better profit selling the chicks, then feeding them and selling them later(much less work as well). I know Welp stated that the RIR will eat 17lbs each in feed from hatch to laying age and chick starter grower around here is a pretty penny. 

Just know what sells in your area. Many people who came to buy chicks had looked into buying started pullets but hated that they were debeaked and passed them up. White egg layers do not sell here and we knew that before we ordered, so we only ordered as many as we wanted for ourselves. We looked at other brown egg layers, but hubby(who is not the poultry person) made a very common sense suggestion and said "buy RIR, because that is the only one I have heard about and if I was buying I would buy the one I'd heard about before". 

Another thing to consider is, feed will be your biggest cost. Have you shopped for the most affordable? Many people who sell started pullets in a big time operation, run them in a broiler house setting and buy their feed in bulk.


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## fffarmergirl (Oct 9, 2008)

barefootflowers said:


> Well, I'd ask myself what would make some one buy my chicks over the ones that are at the feed stores etc. You should be able to hit a market that wants them in May/June. I think lots of people aren't thinking of outdoor activities until it gets warmer anyway. If you are going to have a use for the chicks that you don't sell I'd say go ahead. But if you are going to be in over your head with 50 of them if they don't sell, then think that one through first. Definitely sell them before they start laying- that's what I'm doing. And it keeps your feed cost down. You can always see how it goes this year, then re-evaluate for next year. You really won't know until you do it.


Our feed stores only sell day-old chicks. The closest person I've found selling started pullets is at least an hour away from here. 

I think maybe I'll just get like like 12 extras, see how it goes, and then re-evaluate for next year. I have a sneaking suspicion they'll go like hotcakes if I take orders at the farmers market, or advertise at the organic co-op.


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## mistletoad (Apr 17, 2003)

greenhorn said:


> I really do think we need to start ours in the winter to sell in April, but I'm really trying to avoid more winter chores if I can and it's so easy to do them in the good weather.


Ah but that is exactly why people like me are prepared to buy them in April or May - I have no electric in my barn and I get tired of raising chicks in the house. By summer I can easily raise my own chicks outside, but my egg sales begin in May and I would like at least 30 more hens by then. The money comes from doing what other people don't want to :thumb:


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## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

I have thought of doing this, get a bigger order from the hatchery to get better pricing per chick and spread out the shipping costs, then sell the extras when they get close to laying age. But I see others selling them so cheap, like at the auction or on craigslist. Do they get free feed or what??? I don't want to lose money on them and waste my time and resources so somebody else can get a bargain. I am considering hatching some of my EE eggs and trying to sell some. The strain I have isn't very pretty, the hens are white with light brown splashes. But they have been good foragers and layers and have nice dispositions, especiallly the rooster. At least that way all I have to lose is some feed, electricity and time and not the initial investment in hatchery chicks.


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## barefootflowers (Jun 3, 2010)

fffarmergirl- If you can take pre-orders I would ask for non-refundable deposits with those orders. You could easily charge $5 per order. That would more than cover the chick cost. Then if someone backed out you would have already more than broke even. Apply the deposit to whatever you would charge per pullet once they're ready to go. That gets you your starter money in advance and also breaks up the cost for your customer. My experience has been that people are willing to order more when the deposits are not too hefty. Just make sure the deposit covers your cost. Sounds like you might have a good business venture in your future!


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## Horseyrider (Aug 8, 2010)

Wisconsin Ann said:


> I can sell now for $15 to $20 a "ready to lay" pullet. (or already laying)
> 
> In the Fall you can't give them away here.
> 
> ...


I'm not *that* far from you.

What breeds do you sell? I need to turn over my flock, and I've been considering finding a local breeder. You're not really local, but you're not on the other side of the world, either.


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## wolffeathers (Dec 20, 2010)

An idea that my husband and I played around with was building simple and cheap chicken tractors and market small flocks of 3-4 hens with a chicken tractor. The chicken tractor wouldn't need to be something elaborate or even bulletproof like some people build there's. I've seen most tractors built with chicken wire and the wood is painted and they sell for an extreme amount. 

We are being quickly developed around and our area is quite chicken friendly. So I think as more and more folks move to "the country" they would be interested in an all inclusive small flock and tractor to throw in their subdivision backyard. 

But, we sold all we wanted to sell and quickly, so there was no need for the extra work. It could have been an opportunity to make a little more money. Maybe something to think about.


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## Judy in IN (Nov 28, 2003)

I bought 30 Golden Comets back about the last of October. I paid $6.50 ea. for them, but I see that they are $8.50 now. The folks run an ad in Farmworld. Yes, these are de-beaked, which I don't like, but they are also vaccinated for Merick's Disease, which I do like. 

AND, if they weren't debeaked, my poor old rooster would be naked! They pick at his feathers constantly! 

I met a fellow north of me with Barnvelders. He sent me home with 6 standard eggs and 6 bantam eggs. (got a soft spot for those bantams) The eggs are comperable to those of the Golden Comets, so I'm thinking I just might switch over after this batch is done. Even for a chicken, a Golden Comet is dumb as a post. They lay like crazy, but I need to have a little pride in my poultry, lol.


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## Oxankle (Jun 20, 2003)

Judy; the eggs are comparable, but I'll bet the Golden Comets will lay long after the Barnevelders have quit. I'm going with RIR's but want some color, so will look for a couple of really wild looking roos to keep on the place. I can always pen them when I want setting eggs.


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## fffarmergirl (Oct 9, 2008)

barefootflowers said:


> fffarmergirl- If you can take pre-orders I would ask for non-refundable deposits with those orders. You could easily charge $5 per order. That would more than cover the chick cost. Then if someone backed out you would have already more than broke even. Apply the deposit to whatever you would charge per pullet once they're ready to go. That gets you your starter money in advance and also breaks up the cost for your customer. My experience has been that people are willing to order more when the deposits are not too hefty. Just make sure the deposit covers your cost. Sounds like you might have a good business venture in your future!


Very good suggestion! I wish I could still do it this year . . . .


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## Guest (Apr 5, 2011)

Went to the poultry swap last weekend and sold every started pullet I had in less than an hour. Eight week old White Leghorns for $7 each and six week old ISA Browns for $6 each. Had a half-dozen folks go away disappointed for coming too late.

Next year I'll double those orders and raise prices.


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## barefootflowers (Jun 3, 2010)

Good for you, AT! I'm doing great with the pullets, too. I have a lady coming out to buy my last 30 RIR's. I've been selling them for $20 each, but I'm dropping it down to $17 each for her. I already marked my calendar for next December so I remember to double my order, too. I've never gone to a poultry swap, I don't even think they have one of those out here. That's an awesome way to sell, you know that everyone is going there because they want to buy.


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