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last month our feed bill was $769... up a little from the prior month. Wyandottes eat a lot of feed, especially the young birds. We use 1 bag of chick starter a day on the chicks alone.
yep I average $700-$800 monthly and all I have are bantams, well a few peafowl and turkeys too, but 90% is bantam feed.
As for those talking about notifying the seller, yall are the exception over what we normally deal with. I ship out about 30-50 boxes a week and virtually never have any broken (been doing this for many many years) Problem comes to me when they dont get a 100% hatch. Now mind you most folks are like yall, great about it, but still, I'll get a few every year that want to show their rear about it dispite all the ad warnings and statements of me not being liable after eggs leave here, chicks I do replace if they file a claim at the P.O. on arrival, but eggs, cant help ya there, too much stuff we all know can go wrong, new keepers are the worst seems like too, they have never hatched before yet expect a 90-100% hatch rate, or you get the ones with the old "my personal eggs were set along with yours, I got 95% on them and just 2 on yours" well, they werent shipped!!!
Actually just had one
ebay lady, miss read the listing, bid off the lead in pic alone, saw white birds, well it was an assortment 5 pics in the ad and full details, had a 90% hatch, was mad as all get out about them not being all white, re read, said it was her fault, she didnt read the listing...well 2 days later I have a
ebay item not as described claim come up from her...obviously
ebay sided with me in it, but got a negative feedback saying they werent even the correct breed, all because she screwed up.
This kind of stuff is what we as regular sellers have to deal with, so yes to answer the OP's questions, I can see why a lot of folks are getting out of doing it.
for the one not wanting a "breeder" to make a profit a few pages back...well that's another reason they are getting out. I spend personally abut $15,000 a year just keeping my birds and keeping them healthy and building new aviaries for them, not to count the countless hours answering and helping folks threw emails and phone calls, feeding, collecting eggs, getting boxes and packing material, boxing eggs and chicks, working incubators, keeping up with hundreds of orders over the laying season, making sure every one gets what they want in a timely manner, trips to the P.O. 3-4 times a week, on top of a 10 hour a day job. Sunday alone is a total wash for me, all I have time to do is box and pack orders, and label boxes.
I usually spend 1 hour on line keeping up with it all in the A.M. before work, then 4 hours every evening doing all the other stuff.
Not to mention, I can never go off on a trip any more and enjoy myself due to all that is need here at the farm on a daily basis.
thousands upon thousands of dollars in breeder purchases, selecting and culling the best stock for the breed, breeding and creating new colors for the breed, etc....we arent supposed to get compensated for this?? Come on!!!! Honestly??
When you go to work in the morning, do you expect to do it for cost, or do you want to get paid for you efforts at the end of the day?
Well it's no different for a full time poultry breeder either. True I'd do this weather or not I made a profit I love birds of all kinds, always have, always will, but if I didnt make a profit off it, difference is, I wouldnt be spending half my day working with others, it would like the above post said, all be for ME ME ME ...
I've made many many new colors in the various breeds I work with. Do you have any idea what kind of commitment that is. 2-8 years per color. and all those years are done out of pocket as during the creation process, I personally will not sell anything off them til I know they are right. Mainly cause I know people, they'd be on
ebay in a week with them selling them as perfect specimens. Well for the breed sake, I just dont allow that with my birds.
But after all those years, do I expect to profit from all that time, pens, feed, brooders, and effort of course I do. You can just do this over night and off 1-2 birds. It takes hundreds of birds, all that time, and a ton of culling to get them perfect. So lets all remember what a true breeder does for the hobby and not be so quick to slam them. Support them, let them know you appreciate all their hard work and time they put into the avicultural world. After all, remember, if it wasnt for them, well, YOU wouldnt have anything to buy, cause someone somewhere is responsible for all the birds you have.
Very well said
And as far as the feed bill goes, I have a one ton feeder in my front yard that I keep full of 4 way scratch for all my free range birds. It is almost $12.00 a sack now. And then I feed everyone else 28% gamebird crumbles. It is expensive, but I think the birds and the quality of the eggs and hatches I get is worth it to me. Now I also have Boer goats, I dont buy them any feed, I have 10 acres for them and they are strictly grass/weed fed.
And I buy 2 sacks of pig feed a month for my little piggy. Now I wont go into dog and cat food.
I love doing it, I think it is fun. I cant have a regular job. I look out my window and watch my ducks and geese swim and it is so relaxing. I hear the Bob's calling to each other, the roos crowing at all hours and it is worth every nickle to me.
So I revised again, and so far so good.
