What do you DO with all the chicks?

[sBrickmanHouse]

Hi All!

One of our hens took off for a month, and came back with 5 unexpected babies in tow-- they're very cute, and we like having them around!

We have a couple other broody hens, and I'd love to let them set some eggs, but the better half is telling me "no way!" I think he's worried about being overrun with chickens.

It seems though, at least in this forum, there are a lot of people hatching a LOT of chicks, either in incubators or by hens!

So my question is, what do you DO with all the chicks you're hatching? Keep them, sell them, give them away, eat them, figure they'll replace the hens you lose by attrition, what?

I think the SO would be much more amenable to let the girls hatch some eggs if I had a reasonable plan for the resulting chicks...

 

[MissPrissy]

I am hatching blue/black/splash orpingtons to build my flock. Extras I do offer from time to time. For the most part though I am keeping them.

Turkeys, ducks, quail, guineas and most geese are grown out for the freezer.

 

[silkiechicken]

Sometimes I use them as replacements, sometimes as just flock additions, sometimes I sell them, but often if they are roo's I eat them.

 

[Fredster]

We raise them up and then eat them.

 

[Small Town Girl]

I've seen quite a few ads on Craig's List for chicks. You could post an ad there and sell off your extras. I'm in central Ohio and most chicks seem to go for between $2 - $5, depending on the breed. You're not going to get rich, but you and the girls will have the fun of hatching some chicklets!

 

[miss_jayne]

i have 212 chicks right now...yep, insanity.

40 for next batch of laying hens, the rest are for food. some will be sold a/o traded pound for pound for a butchered hog.

everyone's reasons are different.

you could raise them up and then sell them as replacement chickens. most people get $8-12 a piece for replacements. (livestock you raise until mature/almost mature for others to benefit from)

enjoy those cuties!

EDA...i put the wrong number of chicks...it just seems like eleventy-billion of them!

 

[Chickenaddict]

I usually raise them until they are about 2 months old and then sell some like the extra roosters. If you wait until they are a bit older then you don't have to worry about how someone else is gonna care for them. I recently went to an animal swap to sell 2 roos but was disappointed to see that EVERYONE else had nothing but roosters and then found myself walking around asking people if they wanted a free roo. Originally i was asking $5 a piece. I managed to rehome 1 roo and came back with the most aggressive and obnoxious one (sigh). Next stop craigslist.

 

[Promiselandfarm]

I actually went to our agi lady to do a farm plan. After I told her what we feed how much we feed and how many chicks, chickens and such I was amazed to see how much we spend on chicken feed in a year. Kind of like my food bill for home I would have really rather not known. I told her we were selling chicks for 2 bucks a piece and she told me that was way too cheap! To even recoup the feed we had in the hens they needed to be a the least 2.75 or 3 bucks per chick. So you may want to add up your expenses to figure out how to at least recoup what you have in them. Some of our we will never recoup anything from them but that is okay others we need to help at least pay for feed. She also told me that we need to charge at least 2.50 per dozen of eating eggs. I guess it depends on what type, amount or cost of your feed is to find your selling price. Or if you want to just get rid of them put them on freecycle.com , on here or at your local feed store. We have some that we need to butcher but just have not brought myself to that point yet to do them.
Otherwise you could just build your flock and keep them.

 

[SunAngel]

Luckily we have a poultry auction nearby that runs from March-Nov, so any extra roos or chicks can be sold there. Theres usually about 100 people there each week, so they always sell.

I sold 10 young hens thru Craigslist a couple months ago. I would do that again.

Mostly we get chicks so we have young ones aging to replace non layers, ones that get sick or turn out just to be `not the chicken for us`.

I've discovered its not as easy as I thought it would be, to just place an order and end up with the perfect healthy laying flock. I've been working at it for 4 months now and gotten chicks/chickens from several places. Once you get the chicken bug, theres always another breed you `just have to have`

 

[NYREDS]

Not every broody hen has to be allowed to set. Not every egg has to be hatched.
Each of us has to determine how many [if any] we hatch and raise.
Rather than asking what other people do with the chicks they hatch you might consider asking yourself "what will I do with more chicks"?