Can you make money selling chicks?

I don't have chickens, but I see people searching for Black Copper Marans that lay really dark eggs. So, if you've got those, they should be easy to sell. Sorry, I don't know what they sell for.

Just a generalization: excellent quality chicks of breeds that have been accepted into the SOP are probably going to be the easiest to sell for decent prices. Show people are willing to pay for quality, especially if it has a chance of winning. Pet people tend to not pay any more than what they would pay for any egg machine.

parkerpeeps7 said:

Could you suggest some of those rare breeds you are talking about?

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sorry been off for a while. Everything in my signature does extremely well for me. Many I am booked out on nearly a year in adavnce. I have never once had eggs or chicks that werent sold before they got here.
Like Oregon Blues said, high end show birds do well of course ....BUT I find the rare non standard colored stuff does better in the breeds I work with. Reason being, every one is always looking for something new. Many, my self included want to work with these new colors just for the reason of getting more introduced to the breed standard. My new colored d'anvers and bantam phoenix are some of the most popular I have, every time I announce a new color, I am swamped with e-mails wanting them. BUT the quality still has to be there... cant have mutted up breeds just with a odd color... type first then color, though in most cases you have to work on both together.

I have also found, bantams are way more popular than large fowl... price wise at least. Another big benefit of bantams, they take up way less space, and eat no where near what a large fowl bird does, so overhead isnt nearly as big of an issue. On the breeds I work with, honestly I get more per egg than most get for chicks or started birds.

Big thing is to find a breed YOU are passionate about. If you yourself dont love the breed, it's hard promoting them and selling them for any kind of decent money.

Many oriental breeds, games, long tails, crested, etc all do real good from what I have seen. Houdans, sultans, polish, and of course those in my sig are good breeds for sure, especially in bantam....

Thing is, you have to be willing to put forth the effort and take time to build a name for yourself. People wont be knocking your door down for stuff the first few years. Pick a breed, stick with it, get the best you can afford, get to know as many folks as you can in that particular circle, and be patient... With time, you'll build a name for yourself and buyers will come...in many cases more than you can handle..

I bought 30 brown egg layer chicks from the hatchery last year and after 10 weeks sold half of them and paid for all of the chickens and their feed up to that point. Not a bad way to get some free chickens! I think there's money to be made but you have deal with the headache. I listed them and was flooded with calls. If you post on craigslist or a similar site you WILL get a ton of wierdos. The first 4 people I talked to had no intention to buy and 1 wanted them for free (not cheap, but literally free because they needed them more than I did?). So I took down the ad and still had calls over the next few days. Then someone rang me and drove 3 hours to come and get all of them at full price and wanted more. If you bred rare or rarer breeds you'd get more and could keep your ads to a more select few.

The gall of some people! I can't believe they thought you were running a chicken charity just for them.

LittleFarmInWV said:

I bought 30 brown egg layer chicks from the hatchery last year and after 10 weeks sold half of them and paid for all of the chickens and their feed up to that point. Not a bad way to get some free chickens! I think there's money to be made but you have deal with the headache. I listed them and was flooded with calls. If you post on craigslist or a similar site you WILL get a ton of wierdos. The first 4 people I talked to had no intention to buy and 1 wanted them for free (not cheap, but literally free because they needed them more than I did?). So I took down the ad and still had calls over the next few days. Then someone rang me and drove 3 hours to come and get all of them at full price and wanted more. If you bred rare or rarer breeds you'd get more and could keep your ads to a more select few.

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How much did you re-sell them for?

Maybe this is a good thead to ask....Does anyone have any calico silkies for sale??? I've been asking everywhere!!!

Boggy Bottom Bantams said:

sorry been off for a while. Everything in my signature does extremely well for me. Many I am booked out on nearly a year in adavnce. I have never once had eggs or chicks that werent sold before they got here.
Like Oregon Blues said, high end show birds do well of course ....BUT I find the rare non standard colored stuff does better in the breeds I work with. Reason being, every one is always looking for something new. Many, my self included want to work with these new colors just for the reason of getting more introduced to the breed standard. My new colored d'anvers and bantam phoenix are some of the most popular I have, every time I announce a new color, I am swamped with e-mails wanting them. BUT the quality still has to be there... cant have mutted up breeds just with a odd color... type first then color, though in most cases you have to work on both together.

I have also found, bantams are way more popular than large fowl... price wise at least. Another big benefit of bantams, they take up way less space, and eat no where near what a large fowl bird does, so overhead isnt nearly as big of an issue. On the breeds I work with, honestly I get more per egg than most get for chicks or started birds.

Big thing is to find a breed YOU are passionate about. If you yourself dont love the breed, it's hard promoting them and selling them for any kind of decent money.

Many oriental breeds, games, long tails, crested, etc all do real good from what I have seen. Houdans, sultans, polish, and of course those in my sig are good breeds for sure, especially in bantam....

Thing is, you have to be willing to put forth the effort and take time to build a name for yourself. People wont be knocking your door down for stuff the first few years. Pick a breed, stick with it, get the best you can afford, get to know as many folks as you can in that particular circle, and be patient... With time, you'll build a name for yourself and buyers will come...in many cases more than you can handle

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Thank you so much for all the great info!!! This gives me a place to start and some things to think about!!

What do y'all think would be a good price to ask for rumpless blue egg laying Araucana chicks if I were to hatch some? I am NPIP certified Clean and have three roos that I will breed to my Hens for true Araucanas and also will breed to my brown egg layers to make OE's. Also have 4 EE hens that I may breed.