Breeders/Sellers, Why Are You Stopping?

[justuschickens59]

There are many reasons why I am stopping. The main reason though is that my birds are my pets, first and foremost. I found that while I was hatching a gazillion chicks for people, I tended to not enjoy my birds as much. There is a lot of stress for a small breeder when hatching a LOT of orders for chicks and it just wasn't worth it for me. Most people have been great - but there are a few that there is absolutely NO way to please. I just don't want to deal with that anymore - I want to work on my birds and enjoy them. I am a member of the UOC and will, however, hatch chicks for those breeders that are interested in furthering the breed.

Also, as far as hatching eggs, I just really dislike selling hatching eggs because of the hatch rates. I agree with Katy that I think the biggest reason hatch rates are so low is due to the handling they receive from the PO. I always feel responsible even when I know that I can't be responsible for them once they leave my hands. I know my eggs are fertile because nearly everything I set at home hatches. Just recently I sent a dozen eggs to three different locations; Louisiana, Kansas, and Missouri. Out of the eggs sent to Louisiana, 8 out of 12 hatched; out of the eggs sent to Kansas, 3 out of 12 hatched, and out of the eggs sent to Missouri she had a hatch of 0/12. So one has to wonder about that kind of discrepancy in hatch rates from eggs from the same birds.

 

[BlossomSilkies]

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I had to google the Quechua, nice!

 

[tls_ranch]

I'm not shipping for 3 reasons:

Reason 1- Hatching out replacement stock was my priority in May. I finished all my egg orders and focused on setting lots of eggs so I would have plenty of replacement stock from which to select my next breeders.

Reason 2 Weather- it's usually in the 90's by mid May- June and shipping eggs is risky at those temps. I planned on stopping, but little did I know winter refuses to leave. Today's high was in the 60's

So far I've had good luck shipping eggs to customers this year. Only one "failed" hatch resulting in about a 30% hatch rate because of a incubator problem. The rest were 50% to 80% (pretty good for shipped eggs).

Reason 3 Projects- In January, I hatched 2 really nice cockerels from my blue project and several nice pullets. I figured I wouldn't be shipping/selling when they started breeding/laying in late May/June because the weather is too hot. I don't want to accidentally mix up egg orders now that they are of breeding age. We had planned by fall to modify my coop so I can divide all the lines and start shipping again when the weather cools down.

Trisha

 

[FourPawz]

For what it's worth, I just want to thank the folks who have provided me with some amazing birds. I can imagine it's beyond frustrating when you put so much time and effort into hatching and rearing beautiful birds that are most definitely NOT "just chickens", then have to put up with some of the problems mentioned on this thread.

For those of us who value your work, my hat is off to you!

 

[JerseyFresh]

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Agreed.
I got eggs from someone here and although the hatch rate was low I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and love the birds I got.

 

[justuschickens59]

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Mary - Thank you for this !! You are one of the great folks to work with and I'm glad that I had the opportunity to meet you

 

[ultasol]

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Oh yeah, olive eggers are DEFINITELY zoological specimens and not a recent man-made creation from the common chicken.

 

[KinderKorner]

I too am a little leery to ship. I get nearly 100% hatches here at home, but I feel so guilty when people don't get good hatch rates and they are looking at me like I ripped them off. It freaks me out that people may be looking at me like I cheated them. Haven't sold started birds yet. I was going to this week but it's too hot now. And is scares me a little.

Haven't had good luck selling birds localy either. Even though there are two big swaps monthly in my area. No one is buying and if they are they want the birds for a couple dollars. I sold 10 ten month old silkies for $60 and I was surprised i got that much. Someone wanted them to show. But even then it wasn't really worth it. I mean I paid $100 a piece or more for the parent birds and now I'm selling equally as good offspring for $6.

Why couldn't I get a deal like that. It probably cost $20 or more just the feed each bird for 10 months.

Point is I'm loosing money and fast on my birds. I'm rethinking my entire plan and may have to go down to just a few pets. The market for silkies especially seems hit hard. But it's not the only thing.

I couldn't get buyers for SLW and RIR pullets at 2 1/2 months old for $3 a piece! I paid that much for them as chicks!

 

[Oregon Blues]

It's frustrating when you want to buy and can't find anybody who has what you want for sale.

I know a lot of people who have stopped selling hatching eggs because they have had too many experiences with people who get really nasty when they don't get 100% hatch from shipped eggs. It's completely out of the breeder's control what the post office does with packages. Not to mention there are a lot of folks who really don't know how to hatch (see the incubation thread, if you doubt that).

I don't have any birds for sale and probably won't have many for sale in the future. The public expects to pay pennies for birds and I can't raise them for that. So I will only raise what I want for myself to try to keep my expenses down.

I have 30 ducklings 2 weeks old and so far I've spent $120 on feed and bedding (it will last another 2 weeks, I hope) anda couple hundred dollars on brooders, bulbs, feeders waterers, and electricity. Not to mention many hours of my time. John Q wants to pay $1-2 for a duckling. Sorry, can't do it. I can't afford to subsidize the raising of poultry for other people.

The price of feed is going up fast. The price of poultry hasn't risen. So, no birds for sale for less than it costs to raise them.

 

[Tomhusker]

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You ever get a nose bleed way up on that pedestal? Is there a course or series of classes one can take to become specially qualified to own your stock?

Pretty uppity for chicken farmer.