California - Northern

[liz9910]

i'm sorry to report that poor Amelia has passed away.  i'll miss her.

I'm so sorry to hear that

 

[liz9910]

A few pictures of my little Cochin ....

Very cute I love Cochins

 

[debs_flock]

my little Cochin ....

What a cutie!

 

[OR4-hmom]

How many ppl have their chickens as fun/hobby? And how many ppl are in the "chicken business" ? And if you're profitable, how do you do it? Sell eggs? Chicks?

Just curious, I have about 50 and feed is getting expensive and I have about 6 breeds. Waititing for some to hatch to sell

I also sell eggs and that helps but I would really like to make a little $ on the side too.

We come close to breaking even. We have been selling eggs at our local growers market for 4 or 5 years now. 3.00 for larges, 3.50 for x-larges. I've got close to 50 large fowl and 14 bantams. We sell every egg we take. Others vendors are organic and get higher price per dozen but they are also paying more for feed.

We have another vendor that must make money at it. He runs around 700 layers at peak. The birds are sex-links, stars, comets, the usual. When it comes to feeding, they get only layer pellets and what ever they find in the runs, so they have the typical grocery store yolks. I don't think any of the birds are kept for a second year.

I am trying to hatch out a few chicks, if it goes well I may see about hatching more but they would probably end up with a 4-H kid and there's no money to be made that way.

 

[Happy Chooks]

So sorry Laura.

 

[capayvalleychick]

Laura, I'm so sorry! I know how much she meant to you. You tried so hard to do everything that you could for her.

http://www.indigo.org/rainbowbridge_ver2.html

 

[PetRock]

A few pictures of my little Cochin ....

I love her!!! She is a Cutie!!!

 

[HighNDryFarm]

How many ppl have their chickens as fun/hobby? And how many ppl are in the "chicken business" ? And if you're profitable, how do you do it? Sell eggs? Chicks?

Just curious, I have about 50 and feed is getting expensive and I have about 6 breeds. Waititing for some to hatch to sell

I also sell eggs and that helps but I would really like to make a little $ on the side too.

We sell our eggs for $4 a dozen and can't wait until everyone is laying around here and I can fill the orders. I also make money selling chicks in the spring. I don't incubate (leave that to the hens). I also do well selling the Polish. I sell young birds when I cull for my breeding program and that's a fun bigger chunk of cash. Most months our sales cover the food for all our animals (we have 3 horses, 2 dogs and a cat too). Well, except when I use the sell of birds to buy more birds! I just call that reinvesting in the business! My husband actually falls for that!

I'm considering starting a consultation business for people just getting into chickens. I'll provide all the in's and out's, go to their property and recommend a good spot for their coop. Help them decide how many chickens, feed, etc. Get a coop (I'm considering having my son build some). I just posted on my farms FB page asking if anyone has any questions if they're just getting into chickens. I gained 5 new likes overnight (I only had 20 something), have an order for 6 chicks and an inquiry on pricing for my chicks from someone who's interested in getting into chickens.

I may get another incubator and hatch some chicks but I had the Little Giant (AmyBeth don't get this one) and it was a full time job keeping the humidity and temp correct. Plus, it was eggs from my 30 chickens that were all killed one night so I was very emotionally attached (I was so tired I didn't remember getting up in the middle of the night to check on the chicks, falling and breaking my knee

). I had a good hatch rate considering I took all but three eggs out of the fridge and some were 2 weeks old. Sold the thing as soon as the last egg hatched! I bought it brand new with a turner and all the other gadgets and it was gone in an hour on Craigslist!

 

[ronott1]

Quote: You want to ask the man with 400 chickens how old something is?! ha ha ha ha. good luck. I probably knew when you got her (i mean him... sorry bout that!, didn't we "pick" the girl?! aargh). You have had bad luck. He's all boy. give me a call and we can talk about some options. I have a bunch not that much younger. surely there are some pullets in that coop somewhere. also, do you want to just get some clearly pullet silkies or sizzles to go with what you have? anyway, just let me know. I was also thinking I could give you a nice batch (like 6-8 silkies, sizzles) to go with the chicks you just got. surely you would get a couple girls at least!!! and you are already raising chicks. anywho, let me know. sorry bout all your luck!

You must not be German. I am German/Irish so I love to keep records but an too lazy to keep them up!

When someone asks me how old the chicks are, I have to go back and look up my hatch chart to figure it out!

 

[Miss Molly]

It is very sad!

I understand the business--UCD is in the second week of the Winter Quarter. Crazy times.

Hugs!

You must not be German. I am German/Irish so I love to keep records but an too lazy to keep them up!

I have to go back and look up my hatch chart to see how old they are.

I'm like Jeff. I have to quess how old my chicks are. I incubate every seven days and some batches get raised together. I'm getting pretty goo at quessing the age... So I think..LOL