Breeders/Sellers, Why Are You Stopping?

[punky rooster]

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There are different kinds of breeders......

 

[justuschickens59]

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I agree with you 100% here !! There are quite a few people that I would never sell my birds to.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Although I'm still selling hatching eggs and chicks, I'm seriously considering stopping. I find that many folks THINK they know a LOT about incubating and hatching, but in reality they don't know zip. Anyone who is willing to take a risk on shipped eggs should NEVER contact the seller regarding "clears" or "bad hatches".

Also, I've had 3 buyers in the last month contact me asking for replacement eggs because they experienced power outages and lost their hatches. Really?? We have them too. You should be prepared for those with some sort of generator, etc BEFORE you put them in the incubator. I have sent out replacements in the past, but never again. That is why I don't give a hoot about "feedback" anymore. I do an incredible job of wrapping and protecting the eggs from abuse and am in no way responsible for anything past that.

I have 95-100% fertility when hatching my own eggs, so DO NOT tell me that "none of them were fertile". This just shows the buyer's ignorance.

I'd really rather sell chicks but can't ship from May through September, so that limits sales. I help my daughter's grandma by supplementing her social security for helping me take care of our silkies. She is 78 and does an incredible job of helping me. That's the main reason I sell at all.

I think the answer may be to put a price on the eggs, make sure that there is a "disclaimer/policy" stated and from then on, ignore any negative emails/PM's. I hate to see eggs that I cannot use go to waste, but perhaps it's better than the alternative.

I am very appreciate to those who have purchased from me and I do wish them all the very best with the eggs/chicks. I have spent a great deal of $$ and time getting my flock to where it is now and a bit of income from eggs/chicks does help us to keep the flock up to the highest quality we can.

 

[sutillman]

I am seriously considering selling mainly eating eggs to the public next year. Less hassle than shipping hatching eggs, or selling chicks. Just had a guy come to my house asked for specific breed hatching eggs, enough to fill his incubator, and stupid me, because I knew him, didn't ask that he pre-pay. I saved all the eggs and called him and told him I had 40 eggs ready for him to pick up, he's says great and that's the last I heard from him. Well, that's 40 eggs I could have sold else where. I do have a large feed bill, plus everything else that goes along with having chickens. I'd like to be able to make a least enough to help some with that each month.

 

[Stacykins]

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Lanae, I think of all the people I bought hatching eggs from, you prepared the buyers the most with information regarding what to expect from the hatch! Especially with the breed specific difficulties. I for one am definitely so happy to be able to purchase eggs from you, since araucanas of the caliber you keep are hard to find!

To all the sellers, if it weren't for you, those of us starting out wouldn't be able to find many of the rare breeds of chicken. I know I am very interested in breed conservation, and would love to continue and better a heritage breed than have low quality hatchery birds any day! The breeds in need are rare and unique, and only with dedicated keepers can we hope to keep them around for generations to come! Purchasing hatching eggs is a huge risk, but hey, sometimes you have to take a risk to get a good result!

 

[TurtleFeathers]

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There are different kinds of breeders......

Whether you call it "making money", "making a living", "having a hobby that pays for itself", or whatever, I don't see anything wrong with it, just as long as its done properly and the animals are well cared for. But I have YET to come across a reputable breeder of ANY type of animal that "makes money" at what they do. Some breeders may charge more for eggs and/or chicks than others do, but when you look at any breeder's income vs. expenses at the end of the year, there is always a loss. Always. More so if the breeder factors in their time.

I think this may be starting to head off topic, so I'll do my best to stick with the OP's theme from here on out...

 

[punky rooster]

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There are different kinds of breeders......

Whether you call it "making money", "making a living", "having a hobby that pays for itself", or whatever, I don't see anything wrong with it, just as long as its done properly and the animals are well cared for. But I have YET to come across a reputable breeder of ANY type of animal that "makes money" at what they do. Some breeders may charge more for eggs and/or chicks than others do, but when you look at any breeder's income vs. expenses at the end of the year, there is always a loss. Always. More so if the breeder factors in their time.

I think this may be starting to head off topic, so I'll do my best to stick with the OP's theme from here on out...

I agree.

 

[racuda]

I've sold 45 dozen Guinea eggs on eBay this year. I recently contacted all of the buyers and asked about their hatch rate. It varied from 20% to 100%. All of the ones that had low hatch rates said it was their fault, power went out, wrong humidity, etc. Not a single person blamed me.

 

[Sparklee]

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The "etc." should likely also include the breeders' time, experience, record keeping, knowledge, breeding choices that make the lovely chickens, the extra breeding pens and equipment, banding chickens, and more. Believe me, $30 an hour is not too much to pay for the work that breeders put into the hatching eggs they sell and ship to us even if it's "just a hobby."

It's difficult for me to believe that just because it's a hobby that I should expect a breeder to give their hatching eggs away to me for a mere pittance. Feed and bedding is a mere drop in the bucket of what the true cost of breeding (or even just owning) chickens.

I don't have a dog in this fight as I've never sold a hatching egg in my life or chicks either. But I don't like seeing breeders get discouraged and quit selling hatching eggs because I never know when I'm going to want some. Money is about the only way that I can personally encourage a breeder that it's worth their time and effort to continue breeding. They can spend the money to reward themselves in whatever way they want. I want them to go spend the money on something they want because I want them to know that I appreciate their expertise and work. I really can't expect someone to breed chickens and send me hatching eggs and reward them with a "Hey, thanks. Good luck with that hobby of yours." I know some can manage to keep breeding by living off the accolades from others, but in the end many people engaged in any endeavor that starts as a hobby and goes on for years needs to get more out of it than just their costs. Marking eggs as they are collected and then sorting them into proper cupboards when you get them back in the house 3 times a day gets close to drudgery after after a few weeks. It's also borders on drudgery to be out rebanding chicks because after three weeks you can see that some are a little darker than the others and they need to be rebanded to keep them separate or just track, not to mention crawling on hands and knees around in the used but still mostly fresh shavings trying to catch the chicks.

 

[justuschickens59]

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There are a lot of "hobbies" where people make money. I don't think that breeding chickens for a "hobby" necessarily automatically negates trying to make back a small amount of money that we invest in our "hobby.". This is the type of attitude that a lot of us encounter when selling eggs, chicks, started birds, etc., and this is one of the reasons I have quit selling. If I am going to give my "hobby" birds away, I would rather give them to people I know that love and appreciate the breed, as well as appreciate all the time, effort, money, sweat, and tears that I have put into it. I've sold a lot of chicks, started birds, and eggs, and I have yet to make a profit. Most every penny I make from my birds goes right back into my birds.