Backyard Hatchery?

[BluegrassSeramas]

Check this out!
www.backyardhatchery.com

or click the link in my siggy that is next to FREE for YOU!

 

[johnnymax]

We should be recording a show tomorrow and I am going to talk about this board and some of the responses.
Thank guys.

 

[johnnymax]

I am going to mention the backyard hatchery . com site too
great find!

 

[BluegrassSeramas]

Thanks! I love it!

 

[Big C]

Mojo Chick'n :

My "backyard chicken hatchery" pays for the chicken feed, plus the donkey's feed (I have ten donkeys).

People around here prefer started chicks to day olds - so anything that can be sexed or that is old enough to go into the coop sells really well. (Last issue of Backyard Poultry has a good article on this issue).

Day olds I can sell if they are high demand chicks - for instance, in my area high demand chicks would be Barred Rocks. I can sell any barred rock I can hatch - be it rooster, hen or day old on up. Day olds also sell well in the spring - but usually by fall no one wants to have chicks in their house for the winter.

A lot of folks will buy your extra roosters (if priced cheaply) for food - they'll raise it up and butcher it. Now, if they are city folks, this might not work for you, but most country dwellers (near me at least) have no problem killing and butchering a rooster. This is an option if you don't want to butcher and eat them yourself.

I sell extra roosters (started) for 3-4 dollars each, depending on age or breed. I have people who will buy five or six of them at a time to raise up to eat. It isn't big money, but a couple of roos will buy a bag of feed for me. Last friday I took 14 extra roos to the auction (I sell in the parking lot instead of running them through the auction) and I sold out before I had even unpacked them all. I parked, sold and left within ten minutes

wish I had taken a few more along with me.

Of course, I've been selling there for a few months, now, and people recognize my truck, so they look for me to pull in because they know I sell at reasonable prices. I never make less than 80 bucks a week, whether I am selling at auction, or from home - usually it is a combo of both. I also sell eggs for eating - buck a dozen - to a couple of customers who buy 5 or 6 dozen at a time from me.

I could probably make more on each sale, or more on the eating eggs, but I make my money on volume. I know a lot of folks out at the auction who charge higher prices, and more often than not they end up taking their chickens home with them to feed longer, and invest more money in them. They may make more per sale - but how much more have they spent on keeping them longer?

I may be doing it all wrong, but I'm doing well enough, for now.

eta - I have also made some good sales through Craigslist ads.

meri

We have a first coop of barred rocks have planned on breeding them. Have you had luck with broodiness in the hens?​

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

Quote:
I haven't had a barred rock go broody yet - and I hear/read it isn't a common thing. I think there's a thread on here where someone had a BR go broody - and everyone who breeds the BR's is saying how unusual it is. Not impossible, but I wouldn't count on it, in other words.

I did recently acquire three LF cochin pullets for that purpose. I plan to put one in each pen so that they can go broody for me (hopefully) and I'll be able to tell if they hatch their own mutt eggs, because of the differences (feathered feet, dif color, etc...)

I do have two hens who are trying to go broody at the moment, one is a light brahma and the other is (of all things) a red sex link. The RSL has already brooded a batch of babies this year - I guess she's ready for another go. I've been taking her eggs, but I may let her have some if she seems to be determined about it.

I have three hens who go broody on a regular basis, but the one is a bantam and she tends to hide her own eggs in the barn and hatch those exclusively. The other two I can stick anyone's eggs under and they are happy.

I also hear that silkies go broody very easily - so maybe you could put one or two of those into the mix and use them as brooders.

meri

 

[Mojo Chick'n]

I suppose I ought to clarify on the broodies.

I sell so many that I couldn't do it with just broody hens alone - I also have three incubators and plan to put in at least one more by next spring. One of the incubators I use exclusively as a hatcher.

However, the broodies are great, and they'll raise their own (saves on heat lamp usage and room in my brooder coop) plus, usually their babies are more hardy and grow faster than the human brooded ones. I just figure that if I have four or five broody hens then I can utilize them plus the incubators.

Also, I would definately prefer to have my breeding stock replacements brooded by a hen than in the brooder coop (because of the hardiness/bigger chick thing.) So I am looking ahead to when I need to add in younger stock, also.

I had discussed with hubby about buying a cabinet incubator, and I have not ruled it out entirely, but for now I am happier with several incubators that I can control a little differently. (I also hatch duck, geese and quail - so different temps/humidity/time frame sometimes than chickens.)

meri

 

[DawnSuiter]

Quote:
Hey that's fantastic!!! Thanks!

 

[johnnymax]

Man... we forgot to mention the site, but I really want to, so next show...