Best Chicken Breeds to Breed for Selling?

GlicksChicks

Songster
Apr 11, 2024
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Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas
I plan on doing some breeding flocks of different chicken breeds to sell. Have one rooster with however many hens I feel should be in the breeding pens.

I have been looking into desirable and popular chicken breeds in the US, as well as endangered/rare breeds and I have found many articles om popular breeds, but I want to hear from people who know chickens as well.

What breeds of chickens would be best for me to breed to sell?
Which chicken breeds are popular and more sought after?
What chicken breeds have you and/or people you know been looking for or wanting?
Do you have breeds that sell better than others?
 
I plan on doing some breeding flocks of different chicken breeds to sell. Have one rooster with however many hens I feel should be in the breeding pens.

I have been looking into desirable and popular chicken breeds in the US, as well as endangered/rare breeds and I have found many articles om popular breeds, but I want to hear from people who know chickens as well.

What breeds of chickens would be best for me to breed to sell?
Which chicken breeds are popular and more sought after?
What chicken breeds have you and/or people you know been looking for or wanting?
Do you have breeds that sell better than others?
It just depends on where you're located. What sells here for a lot likely doesn't do the same everywhere
 
Agreed, what breeds sell well and are in demand is highly variable from one area to another. There's no such thing as a "general list for America" of breeds that sell well. What sells well in one part of a given state may not sell at all in another part of the same state. And sometimes what sells one year is unpopular the next year, it can be a very fickle market.

Chickens are rarely a money making hobby, your best bet is to figure out what YOU like and raise those breeds.
 
I want a general list for America because I hope to one day be able to ship to different areas as well.
I am in Texas.
You could look at what breeds the major hatcheries are offering. Overall, I would expect those breeds to sell well, because otherwise the hatcheries would not be continuing to offer them.

If you don't want to be in direct competition with the major hatcheries, you could specialize in breeds they do not offer. That would give you a different market, that may pay more per bird (because they are rare) but sell fewer total birds. I think Greenfire Farms is using a model like that.
 
I agree with what NatJ said in the post above. Having a breed or breed s that the big hatcheries don’t have, or have limited numbers of them, could be beneficial to set you apart.
Breeds like. Black Copper Marans, several have those but they seem to sell out fairly fast.
Penedeseca ( probably spelled wrong) is a breed that I don’t see the big hatcheries as carrying at this point. Games, Silkies, Giants, various bantams are all fairly popular too among some folks.
I would also agree that one would need to carry several common breeds that people are familiar with because for most people that’s going to be the bulk of what they want. They are going to want dependable egg layers.
Breeds like Rhode Island Red, Barred Plymouth Rock, Buff Orpington, New Hampshire, Wyandottes, etc.
There is also a place for commercial type cross bred layers like ISA Browns and Amberlinks.
 
Might not be the answer you are after but breed what YOU want, not just what is popular. You aren’t going to enjoy it as much and what is popular is constantly changing. That means that when the spotlight changes, you are going to be stuck chickens that aren’t what you want.
 
I agree with what NatJ said in the post above. Having a breed or breed s that the big hatcheries don’t have, or have limited numbers of them, could be beneficial to set you apart.
Breeds like. Black Copper Marans, several have those but they seem to sell out fairly fast.
Penedeseca ( probably spelled wrong) is a breed that I don’t see the big hatcheries as carrying at this point. Games, Silkies, Giants, various bantams are all fairly popular too among some folks.
I would also agree that one would need to carry several common breeds that people are familiar with because for most people that’s going to be the bulk of what they want. They are going to want dependable egg layers.
Breeds like Rhode Island Red, Barred Plymouth Rock, Buff Orpington, New Hampshire, Wyandottes, etc.
There is also a place for commercial type cross bred layers like ISA Browns and Amberlinks.
My husband's grandpa is a world known game chicken breeder. He breeds fighting roosters and they sell for at least $1000/bird. He is well known because back when cock fighting was legal, he was America's best cock fighter.
I have seen things about the Rhode Island, Plymouth Rock, Orpington, and Wyandottes. I currently have Buckeyes, Black Copper Marans, Silver Laced Wyandottes, Speckled Sussex, Golden Sexlink, Buff Orpingtons, Lavender Wyandottes, and White Sport Legbars.
 

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