Best Breeds to Sell???

[LindseyM12]

math ace, Thanks for warning me I'll be extremely careful and I'll watch them.
poltroon,We will eat all the cockerels that dont get sold. And if there are to many, I can cull them and sell them for meat.

 

[okiehen]

IMO most people want hens no roosters, some like having a rooster. I do

Black sex link and red sex link would be the very best way to go.
Breed your own, barred rock hens x a red roosters gets black sex link chicks. A Red rooster x silver hens gets red sex link.
Black sex link chicks will be all black pullets and black with white head spots roosters at hatch roosters will be barred after feathering out. Red sex link pullets will be red roosters will be yellow at hatch.
This way you know at hatch how many pullets and the number of roosters. Some people will buy all your roosters to eat too.
This is the link to the sex link topic showing all the breeds to cross and what you will get.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=261208
I have done the black sex link and have done good with them. If I had more coops I would do the reds too.
Best of luck.

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Wow Thanks! You just gave me an idea for spring. Blue Barred and Barred Rock girls with a blue or black Rock rooster will make sex-linked chicks and I won't have to cross breeds (Haha, not that I have anything against crossing breeds).

Lisa

 

[muddstopper]

Around here, the Barredrocks, RIR, Dominiques, red and black sexlinks are your best sellers. Some also like the Buffs. Oldtimey heritage breeds like the dark red RIR will sell exceptional well also, but the market will only absorb so many. I have found most people just want eggs and lots of them and aint to particular about the breeds. Most also want POL pulletts, which is what starts you down the road to extra expense added to the cost of your birds. POl means feeding them until they are 5-6 months old so you need to charge a premium if you wish to make any money. Hatching eggs also means hatching as many roos as pullets. This is something you will have to take care of pronto or risk buying more feed than selling the grown roos will bring at market. My solution is to cull all the roos as chicks, even if they dont bring 50cents apeice. I find that even selling at that low price is better than investing a ton of feed to raise them to meat birds.I have a trader that will take very bird I want to sell, reguardless of the size. He picks them up at my place and takes them straight to auction so he never buys feed.

 

[LindseyM12]

Muddstopper: Thanks for the advice! The thing is, I cant tell if they are roo's or hens when they are chicks so I cant cull the roosters.

How do u do it???

 

[LindseyM12]

bump

 

[JustDawn]

Quote:
I agree!

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

Quote:
It is possible to sex some breeds of chicks at birth, but I understand there is as much art as science involved, not something you can teach via a forum or email I imagine. Hatcheries do this to fill All-Pullet orders for day-olds. Mudstopper must be able to sex chicks (cool).

 

[LindseyM12]

I know that people vent sex them but I cant do it.

 

[tnchickenut]

Google "wing sexing" and then there is also the dangle test (as I call it). pullets dangle their legs if you hold them just right when they are chicks... cockerels pull their legs up. It works.

I do both methods and that way I "double check" in a way what one test's result is verses the other... if they say something different I just wait... but usually it's right.