Well, it depends onOk help! If you guys had to pick 8 breeds what would they be and why? I am looking for something I will be able to easily sell hatching eggs from and well mostly because I love them all lol. But my wonderful, understanding, (haha) husband says 8 pens,
BREEDS
Easter eggers/olive eggers
Black copper Marans
Gold laced orps
Partridge brahmas
Jubilee orps
Crele orps
Croad Langashtan
Barnevelders
Piña pintas
Biefeleder
a. How much you are willing to spend
b. how long you are willing to wait
c How long do you want to be able to have "preium" hatching eggs?
You have some very expensive eggs there. And some that we do not know how fertility will be in the breeds.
Stay away from OE/ee if you want to sell eggs. The other thing you have to think about is how many hens do you need for 6-12 eggs in 4 days? for some breeds that is a lot of hens, for some its not. The genetics of getting an olive egg all the time are tricky after the first generation.
FCBM people always want but it is a competive market, so you have to really know your birds and want to work with them. But they are a long term investment if you have dark eggs and are willing to cull hard. ( each year the eggs get lighter, so at some point people don't want it even if it was a 7-8 hen if your girls are 3-4 years old) I have an easy time selling chics, but egg sales are middling. FCBM eggs are notorious for being hard to hatch if shipped so people are leery and you get annoyed new people all the time.( if you want to sell oe eggs you could put a few blue layers in here) If you are looking to sell Marans, you might do better with another color that has a dark egg, IF you can get them, like birchin. But if the egg is not that dark, it is another story.
Orphs have staying power but don't lay terribly well. You could do a few rare colors and do a orph basket people might like, give you some variety but not have to have 10 hens of each breed like you might have to to get a dz eggs in a shipping window. I cant speak to what colors will stay popular, but jubilees are very popular now, that could mean by the time yours lay the markets tapped.
Brahmans are popular, but can take a year to lay, and don't lay well, so you will be sitting on those forever. Silkies are bad enough! I would not recomend it! I have some hens 14 months old still not laying, little suckers!
Croads will again depend on if you can consistantly reproduce egg color. The egg picture you posted was not what I saw on the site, so I'm dubious about how well it reproduces that bloom. But I do not know enough about bloom to know how consistant it is. There is a HUGE market out there, and there is not a lot of people doing this, so it could stay around for a while. Plus langshans seem like they need love.
Barnies I know nothing about, depends on color.
Pina Pitas I don't know about either.
If you buy biebs now, you will not make your money back, if that is a concern. They are in the bubble where prices are still high, but a lot of people have them, so once those birds start laying ( before yours will) the market will go waaay down. I like autosexing birds, and these guys are large enough to eat your boys, so I'm going to get some, but i'm waiting till they are in my price range. Autosexing birds seem to sell better as chicks then eggs, however, so i'm unsure about the egg prospects.
The colored orphs and biebs are more fad birds. Look at Sweedish flower hen eggs or Cream Legbars , for example to see what happens with gff import long term egg prices. But that might not matter if you are not thinking about it as a business. Or even a hobby that will pay for itself. If you want a hobby that will pay for itself, look for popular birds that have unique aspects that are not over popular or have already been a flavor of the month and has settled in to a reasonable but not crazy price point that is stable.
If you are going to sell those birds, however, be ready to show em or breed twards something specific. You need a reason to have people buy your eggs and not someone elses eggs ( deb is a good example of this even if she does cook a lot of her eggs)
OK, that is my chickens as a smal business speel.
Id go for croads, biebs, pp and an orph variety pack if I was doing it for me.
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