Are buying started pullets worth the expense?

[Cattle dog Mom]

Holy Smokes! You are right. I hadn't checked that but it is costing as much to ship as it is just for the birds! I could buy a boatload of chicks and sell/process/give away for the same price.

Thanks for the help!

Welcome. (And exactly.) There are a lot of people that would rather pay more for birds past the brooder stage. (So a lot of people buy more than they "want" or need to meet hatchery minimums and sell the "spares".) OR if you have any friends/neighbors, you could see if someone wants to go in on an order with you. (At Meyers, shipping is more than double the cost of the bird! At lest for the breeds I happened to see. And that is EACH, not total shipping!)

 

[yakitori]

I helped my neighbor get 3 POL leghorn mixes for $10 each! They were unsexed, but because they were already 4 months or so old, it was really easy to pick out the hens So I guess it really depends...

 

[Auntiejessi3]

You have to add the cost for the purchase of the brooder, heat source, feeders, waterers, bedding, vitamins and electrolyte additives, possible medication as dewormer, Corid or antibiotics, cleaning supplies, gasoline when driving to get anything chicken related etc. etc.

And your time

 

[LaFleche]

And your time

Of course! But most of us would record the time we spent with chicken related activities as hobby.