August Hatch-A-Long

[CluckNDoodle]

Well, I'm gonna officially join, and quit quietly reading in the background lol. But I have somewhere around 40 eggs coming in next week, white leghorns, black copper Marans, and I can't remember the third breed. And we are hatching to sell, so any tips on selling them would be great, I think craigslist isn't enough, no possible buyers yet.
Im excpecting them to be in by thursday, so if i start them on thursday, then hatch day will be August 29th.

MeWe is the new place to get the word out that you have chicks available. I've never actually used Craigslist. Even though Facebook has made it against the rules to sell animals it's still my number one place to make sales. You just have to be careful not to say, "for sale" or post pricing of any kind. Just posting cute pictures and saying something like the breed and hatch date with "message me for details" seems to be the safest approach.
Eventually I don't think I'll need to use anything but MeWe but they still have a lot of kinks to work out on their app so people aren't flocking there yet. The browser or desktop version is much more user friendly in my opinion.
By comparison, I usually sell my chicks within 1-2 days on Facebook and it takes about a week on MeWe.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

@john_wrightson2003
I also scroll through posts from others in those local social media groups. Most of my waiting list prior to my chicks hatching is from responding to people looking for chicks and telling them when I expect a hatch and offering to put them on the waiting list. I always contact people on the waiting list in order and even if all of the chicks are spoken for before I make it through the list I will contact everyone lower on the list and explaine that all of the chicks that hatched are spoken for but I'm setting "said breed of eggs" now and I can put them at the top of the waiting list if they're interested. Sometimes even if it doesn't benefit me I will get people in touch with trusted friends that I know have what the customer is looking for. This will still leave an individual happy with me and often my friends will reciprocate in kind.
It's more work but it's good business practices for people like us doing small batch hatching. You'll have people that reach out to you for special requests in no time knowing that you go the extra mile.

 

[jolenesdad]

@john_wrightson2003
I also scroll through posts from others in those local social media groups. Most of my waiting list prior to my chicks hatching is from responding to people looking for chicks and telling them when I expect a hatch and offering to put them on the waiting list. I always contact people on the waiting list in order and even if all of the chicks are spoken for before I make it through the list I will contact everyone lower on the list and explaine that all of the chicks that hatched are spoken for but I'm setting "said breed of eggs" now and I can put them at the top of the waiting list if they're interested. Sometimes even if it doesn't benefit me I will get people in touch with trusted friends that I know have what the customer is looking for. This will still leave an individual happy with me and often my friends will reciprocate in kind.
It's more work but it's good business practices for people like us doing small batch hatching. You'll have people that reach out to you for special requests in no time knowing that you go the extra mile.

Absolutely. And relationships really help. I have a dump place down the road, a sweet lady who will take ANYTHING I want to place. She is the one that brought me the eggs last night. Met her on mewe.

My local FB group stopped allowing sales of ANY KIND for a few weeks even suggested sales. They encouraged everyone to move to MeWe so a lot did. But obviously Fb is still where it’s at. Now my local group is allowing sales with the caveat that when it’s shut down, the group is on MeWe.

I think eventually livestock will be allowed on FB.... there’s no reason not to and it hurts businesses. They do allow “brick and mortar” to sell animals, and I assume pretty soon they will allow a “farm” to qualify for brick and mortar status to sell livestock.

I read a story a few weeks ago that what happened was PETA bought stock in FB in order to be able to speak at shareholder meetings, and FB is trying to tie up loose ends before a scene is caused.

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Absolutely. And relationships really help. I have a dump place down the road, a sweet lady who will take ANYTHING I want to place. She is the one that brought me the eggs last night. Met her on mewe.

My local FB group stopped allowing sales of ANY KIND for a few weeks even suggested sales. They encouraged everyone to move to MeWe so a lot did. But obviously Fb is still where it’s at. Now my local group is allowing sales with the caveat that when it’s shut down, the group is on MeWe.

I think eventually livestock will be allowed on FB.... there’s no reason not to and it hurts businesses. They do allow “brick and mortar” to sell animals, and I assume pretty soon they will allow a “farm” to qualify for brick and mortar status to sell livestock.

I read a story a few weeks ago that what happened was PETA bought stock in FB in order to be able to speak at shareholder meetings, and FB is trying to tie up loose ends before a scene is caused.

That's almost to the letter what happened in our local facebook group. We're trying desperately to get everyone to go to MeWe but a lot of people don't understand the app, it will take some time. Now the admin is carefully only approving posts that don't specify sales. Some people are pretty creative. "Feathered bug catchers looking for new homes. Send a message" Names of breeds but no pictures, lol! I can't deny I just made a post "Looking for fertilized yolks still in the shell of the Polish variety."

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Speaking of fertilized yolks still in the shell, lol. Does anyone know of a BYC member that sells Polish hatching eggs that isn't an arm and a leg? I bid on some Tolbunt Polish on eBay but I can almost guarantee I won't win the auction at that price. When I look at prices online it reminds me how abundantly spoiled I am with local hatching eggs, lol.
Both of my local Polish chicken sources sold their flocks and I have someone that wants me to hatch some. I want one myself too but I did my usually selling of all of my chicks because I can always hatch more later...well I didn't consider losing both of my connections for Polish hatching eggs.

 

[jolenesdad]

That's almost to the letter what happened in our local facebook group. We're trying desperately to get everyone to go to MeWe but a lot of people don't understand the app, it will take some time. Now the admin is carefully only approving posts that don't specify sales. Some people are pretty creative. "Feathered bug catchers looking for new homes. Send a message" Names of breeds but no pictures, lol! I can't deny I just made a post "Looking for fertilized yolks still in the shell of the Polish variety."

Well that’s better than mine. They did a poll, 30 votes and “continue sales” won, so they don’t even hide it. Our days are numbered I feel.... :-/

Speaking of fertilized yolks still in the shell, lol. Does anyone know of a BYC member that sells Polish hatching eggs that isn't an arm and a leg? I bid on some Tolbunt Polish on eBay but I can almost guarantee I won't win the auction at that price. When I look at prices online it reminds me how abundantly spoiled I am with local hatching eggs, lol.
Both of my local Polish chicken sources sold their flocks and I have someone that wants me to hatch some. I want one myself too but I did my usually selling of all of my chicks because I can always hatch more later...well I didn't consider losing both of my connections for Polish hatching eggs.

I k ow it would be hard but man, a searchable BYC directory would be so nice.

 

[Kris5902]

All caught up here... I got distracted and forgot to follow along.

I’m hatching out 60 eggs for August 17ish. 24 for another chicken person whose flock was decimated by raccoons and the rest for us... I’ve got a dozen from the Barnvelder Boy I sold to a different Chicken keeper over his ISA and Hy-line layers. I’ve got a dozen from “Sammy” my CCLxLH boy over two Hy-Line red layers. The last Dozen are the same as my Last Hatch, my Olive Egger Boy “Chickie Hawk” (Wheaten Ameraucana x Marans) over some HyLines and a Columbian Rock.

The eggs for the other guy are Barnvelder crosses over Speckled Sussex, Chantelacer, ameraucanas, and some barnvelderxameraucana crosses, and a couple HyLines.

I’m planning on rotating the eggs throughout the hatch a little because I think I’ve got some cool spots I didn’t place any eggs in, and a hot spot directly under the heater. I can’t seem to upload pictures right now (buggy internet connection) but I’m candling tonight and should have some up soon!

 

[CluckNDoodle]

Well that’s better than mine. They did a poll, 30 votes and “continue sales” won, so they don’t even hide it. Our days are numbered I feel.... :-/


I k ow it would be hard but man, a searchable BYC directory would be so nice.

That really would be fantastic! I keep really good notes on my own for local people and what they hatch, prices, hatch rates if I've used them, etc. but unless I can Google a website online or find them on eBay, I don't have a clue what's available through BYC.

 

[wolfwalker]

for the past 3 weeks i have been battling one of my light brahmas being super broody. so i broke down, took a drive 2 hours away and met up with a nice young lady who had mixed fertile eggs. get back to the farm, get my partner that wants to see how this is going to work in the coop and stoop down with a crayon in hand to ring the egg in case , i know she is going to let others lay in her nest, and she takes one look at me and the eggs and gives out a loud squak and jumps out of the nest and makes a bee-line out of the coop.

i say a few words that should not be said in polite company and growl a few words after the hen and gather everything up.

so long story short, I now have 12 eggs in the incubator with an expected hatching day of the 24th.

to make matters more grumbly with bad language, she is back in the box refusing to come out as of this morning.

So i am joining all of you with this hatch along

 

[CluckNDoodle]

for the past 3 weeks i have been battling one of my light brahmas being super broody. so i broke down, took a drive 2 hours away and met up with a nice young lady who had mixed fertile eggs. get back to the farm, get my partner that wants to see how this is going to work in the coop and stoop down with a crayon in hand to ring the egg in case , i know she is going to let others lay in her nest, and she takes one look at me and the eggs and gives out a loud squak and jumps out of the nest and makes a bee-line out of the coop.

i say a few words that should not be said in polite company and growl a few words after the hen and gather everything up.

so long story short, I now have 12 eggs in the incubator with an expected hatching day of the 24th.

to make matters more grumbly with bad language, she is back in the box refusing to come out as of this morning.

So i am joining all of you with this hatch along

Lol!! Broodies can be so moody! You may need to sneak a few under her at night time if she's that touchy even about egg swapping. Good luck with your hatch! Lol