Advice for hatching/selling for Easter Hatch

[Iluveggers]

Since we have 4 roosters at the farm (3 are EE/OE), I would like to test out fertility and possibly sell fertile hatching eggs locally. Thinking of setting eggs 3 weeks before Good Friday since I will be home on Fri day 21. If the eggs are blue or green I would call them EE, brown or white would be BYM, correct?

We would not be keeping any of the chicks. I am hoping to sell them on Craigslist. Thinking demand will be high due to the springtime and egg prices. Any suggestions on the best way to do this? Obviously it would be straight run & as soon after hatch as possible. I don’t need to buy anything as I have a brooder, feeder/waterer, heat plate & my flock eats starter-grower.

Excited as I should be able to do the Easter HAL for the first time!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

In answer to the first question, that's what I would do. Because you can't lie about the color of eggs when they are looking at them. In any case being honest is the right thing to do.
Do you have hens that are other than OE/EE?
So on craigslist, you'll be selling fertile eggs or chicks?

 

[Iluveggers]

In answer to the first question, that's what I would do. Because you can't lie about the color of eggs when they are looking at them. In any case being honest is the right thing to do.
Do you have hens that are other than OE/EE?
So on craigslist, you'll be selling fertile eggs or chicks?

We have WTB, WTG, & Cream Legbar females. The roos are 1 OE, 2 EE, and a Buff Orpington. The rest of the girls are brown or white layers.

I would eventually like to sell hatching eggs for the farm, and selling chicks this one time would give us a good indicator of fertility. There are 33 girls, and I am hoping the 4 boys are covering them well. If the chick sales go well, I may hatch a group or two on occasion, but interested mainly in selling hatching eggs.

Thank you for your help!

 

[Iluveggers]

Suggestions on pricing chicks? Wording to use in a CL ad? Other advice? I am going to try to take some cute pictures too, and will put a pic of the eggs in the incubator so the color varieties are there as well.

 

[Tonyroo]

Be specific of the parents, BYM is too vague.

Post your ad 2 weeks before hatch, so you can access potential buyers.

Indicate the day they will be ready.

Price $5 to $10 range straight run.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Honestly I would absolutely not sell Easter chicks. It's a recipe for chicks being bought as cute basket stuffers by people not knowing what they're doing

 

[Iluveggers]

Honestly I would absolutely not sell Easter chicks. It's a recipe for chicks being bought as cute basket stuffers by people not knowing what they're doing

Even with the minimum 6 as per NYS law? Should I wait & only have them available the Mon or Tue after Easter so they don’t end up in baskets?

 

[SourRoses]

Honestly I would absolutely not sell Easter chicks. It's a recipe for chicks being bought as cute basket stuffers by people not knowing what they're doing

x2

Any other time is better.
Way too many people out there still think getting temporary animals for special occasions is justifiable because of the cute pictures they will be able to post on social media.

- They often have little understanding of how to care for them.
- They usually intend on getting rid of them as soon as the holiday has passed (including nagging the seller for a return).
- They typically allow children to handle the entertainment animals leading to drops and squeezing deaths.

Even if you heavily screen the potential buyers, some can be telling tales to get what they want, and that's so much more effort to discern than you would have to expend any other time of year.

 

[Iluveggers]

Be specific of the parents, BYM is too vague.

Post your ad 2 weeks before hatch, so you can access potential buyers.

Indicate the day they will be ready.

Price $5 to $10 range straight run.

The dark brown eggs could be either Welsummer or Cuckoo/Blue Cuckoo Marans.
The light brown could be Orpington, various Wyandotte coloring, various Plymouth Rock coloring, Speckled Sussex, Delaware, and a few sex-links.
The white eggs could be Ancona or Blue Andalusian.
Blue are WTB & Cream Legbar, Green are WTG.
I don’t know how I can fit all of that in the ad. I was planning to separate the eggs at Lockdown, 1 section dark brown, 1 light brown, 1 blue and green, & 1 white. Just in case someone only wanted colored layers.

 

[SourRoses]

For the breeds, it would probably be better to narrow down what they have been bred for.
Mixed is fine but it should have some goal to encourage desirability. Olive Eggers and Easter Eggers are easy marketing.
Listing "just because" mixes doesn't seem very successful if my local craigslist full of oft repeated adds is any indication.