Going to start a hatchery in a few years.

[MeepBeep]

I do plan to sell them at very low prices online. I also have a few connections in the area of people that raise meat chickens all natural, and generally don't get Cornish rocks. So hopefully they would purchase them for dirt cheap prices. And I would be able to kill them if need be.

If you plan to hatch 5300 birds a week that is over 2500 males a week, I'm betting you will saturate the local need for slow growing broilers within days so I would not consider that much of a viable outlet, even less for bantam roos... Most hatcheries end up giving males away as 'packing peanuts' because at the end of the day it's actually the better investment vs killing and disposing of them... And when I say better investment, consider that if you toss 5 males into every box of 25 it's only a few pennies of insurance that can easily be justified and recouped if it saves just one 'paid for' chicks life in that box... The price paid by fertilizer and pet food companies isn't worth the effort unless you manage to find a real sweet deal, you are probably looking at literally a penny or two a chick if that...

Another option that I know of to get a very small return from the male chicks something that most hatcheries don't bother with as it's a hassle to make pennies, is to freeze them at day one and sell them as feeders to reptile owners, zoos and other wildlife agencies... Several large UK hatcheries do this but there isn't much profit, in the UK they sell for about 5 cents a chick in low volume bulk...

 

[junebuggena]

Maybe look into offering breeds/varieties that aren't commonly available through hatcheries, or better quality than typical hatchery stock. There isn't a single hatchery that breeds true Araucana, for starters. The only true Ameraucana that's available is Blue/Black/Splash. Most hatcheries only have Buff Orpingtons. It would also be nice to be able to order a Rhode Island Red and actually get a dark mahogany red bird. Maybe breed your own unique sexlinks.

 

[chickenlover54]

Years ago my plan was to have a strictly show quality hatchery, but that would take decades to build. That is my end goal. But the investment of the building I am going to build, the incubators, and equipment couldn't be supported by a SQ hatchery at first. Partially because I can't get the number of birds I need right away. I plan on having average quality females that I order in bulk and SQ males that I hatch from ordered eggs(because I only need around 5 of each breed) This is how I will produce better birds than other large hatcheries.

 

[chickenlover54]

I want to produce bantam Olive Eggers. I think there will be a good market for those.

 

[GodofPecking]

If you plan to hatch 5300 birds a week that is over 2500 males a week,

Chick vent sexing. It's what commercial hatcheries DO. Nobody else does it.


Edited by Staff

 

[chickenlover54]

I've learned how to vent sex from my former mentor. He bred for 60 years, and was known nationally in the show scene.

 

[junebuggena]

Years ago my plan was to have a strictly show quality hatchery, but that would take decades to build. That is my end goal. But the investment of the building I am going to build, the incubators, and equipment couldn't be supported by a SQ hatchery at first. Partially because I can't get the number of birds I need right away. I plan on having average quality females that I order in bulk and SQ males that I hatch from ordered eggs(because I only need around 5 of each breed) This is how I will produce better birds than other large hatcheries.

It would be a better use of your money to buy show quality adult roosters. Even if you get eggs from a good breed, you still won't be guaranteed a high quality male, and it can take over 6 months for a rooster to be developed enough to be properly evaluated. Buying an adult will ensure that you aren't spending money on growing and feeding males that aren't worth using for breeding.

 

[MeepBeep]

If you plan to hatch 5300 birds a week that is over 2500 males a week,

Chick vent sexing. It's what commercial hatcheries DO. Nobody else does it.

Small hatcheries can contract out free lance jobber vent sexers, put one on retainer that bounces between a few local hatcheries, hire one to their own staff, or even learn it themselves if need be it's part of the cost of business... There are also many breeds that are feather sexable at hatch with some basic skills and there are also clear auto sexable chicks that unless you are blind can be easily sexed even by a newbie after about 15 seconds of instruction, so to say that nobody else sexes or vent sexes chicks beyond big commercial hatcheries is just plain silly...



Edited by Staff

 

[chickenlover54]

I do not want to bring in any adult birds because of disease. I have battled roup for years with my previous flocks as a result of bringing in new chickens and taking them to shows. I will be buying SQ hatching eggs from trusted breeders and using the top males I hatch.

 

[chickenlover54]

I could quarantine for a long time, but it's still so risky that they may be carriers. I'm not saying it isn't the best way hypothetically, I just don't want to risk it.