Anybody having hard time selling chicks?

[youdontknow32]

Oh yea, we will not set foot in an auction..

 

[newnanchic]

We have the opsite here !! I am hatching Rhode Island Reds .. Have sold everyone I have hatched and have a waiting list for new babies to hatch. I have never seen so many people wanting chics. I sell them for $2.25 each straight run 3 days old.

 

[farmgirlie1031]

Around here the feed store said they can't even get chicks in to sale as the hatchery said they are already sold out so that looks like good news for me to be able to sale my extras I hatch I decide I don't want after they get to be a few weeks old. The auction birds were $2-$60 per bird last week! It was crazy!

 

[silkieluver_07]

Last year I was flooded with emails asking for day old chicks or started pullets. Now this year I started hatching early and have birds available...... no one seems interested. Hopefully I'll have a breed someone needs that the hatcheries are sold out of.

Our auction near us is a very fun place. I've found GREAT quality birds there, my splash silkies came from auction and I'm planning to show them in 4-H.

 

[hyzenthlay]

Total newbie here, but wanted to say maybe the difference has to do with breed? Youdontknow32, I've seen your ads on craigslist, and always checked your site hopefully to see if you had any sexed chicks of laying breeds, or started pullets. I'm in the city, so I can't have roos, and I can only have a few chickens, so I want them to be both pets and good layers. I am definitely scared to go to an auction, so I would pay plenty for quality sexed chicks or started pullets, but I couldn't find any locally (or at least not the breeds I wanted). So as it stands now, I'm driving out to Meyer Hatchery twice (!) to pick up my EE, SLW, and Faverolle chicks. Think about all the time I'm wasting, and gas! It kills me. I'd gladly even pay $10 per non-show quality chick, or $20 for a started pullet (or more for show quality).

 

[youdontknow32]

We do not sex chicks but we sell layer breeds that are older, but under a year.

We just sold 20 or so started hens...last week

 

[Guinea Goonie]

Just wait until the end of May. The hatcheries will be Completely sold out and you will have available layers that are either started or feathered out.

Personally i would rather pay 6 to 10 bucks a hen than pick up chicks that i have to keep warm, feed starter, continually worry about and think about housing.

The auctions are going hard now. 6 to 15 bucks for nice laying hens of just about any breed.

 

[youdontknow32]

We get $15/hen we sell, of course if people buy more then 5, we give them a nice break. Ant they are mis treated like hatchery birds.

 

[hyzenthlay]

Quote:
Oooh, exciting! I understand not sexing chicks (hard to do reliably, can hurt them), but I can't have roos and I don't want plain old sex-links, so that puts me in a spot. If we need started hens in the future, I'll be sure to contact you to see if you have any!

I'm excited to have chicks for my first time, but I'm worried that they won't all make it--I'm only getting 3, so losing even 1 would be a big deal. In the future, I think I might stick with started hens.

 

[youdontknow32]

We don't have sex links so you may be in luck.