Can a flock support its self?

[grandads]

Good luck but it sure is fun to try! ya gotta love chickens.

 

[PrinceSandwich]

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yeah! I'll just throw them in the carry-on compartment. Do you think customs will mind?

"Sir. Your carry-on is clucking."

Imagine having to let one go, because you are overweight? I bet chickens would LOVE to live in an airport. It'd be like letting them loose in a movie theater or Disneyworld. POPCORN!!!!

Ducks would be funnier, because they'd follow you everywhere, no matter how many you had.

"I would like to buy a ticket for my Pekin please. Your what!? My pekin. Hes about ya tall and caucasian"

 

[Tala]

It would totally depend on the market in you area. Everyone said that they make more money selling chicks than eggs.....so I hatch chicks and couldn't find a buyer one!!!! Plus I got lots of roos since hatching is purely "straight run"

Everyone here wants something for nothing. If feed store sells sexed pullets for $2.50, then nobody wants to pay the price for "started" pullets - they think all chickens are worth $2, as if feed is free.

 

[rancher hicks]

If I were selling eggs and such for profit I'd be ok. It depends on the breeds your selling and marketing. Like every other business, it's , location, location, location.

Keeping good records helps for sure. If you can butcher that will help offset roosters. If you can be like a hatchery and cull roo chicks then that helps to. I can't.

I lose on broodies cuz they are hard to break. Sometimes they win. I just lost a month of egg to a broody who hatched zip. 0/4 She did not do good, but it may have been my fault. Breeding is tricky and if your going to do so you have to have a plan for the roos chicks. Most folks don't care how rare a breed is nor how pretty and you can't compete with hatcheries. Now if you can sex your chicks, you'll do better.

 

[riftnreef]

Make money? Not a chance for me, but then again, I'm in it for the fun. When I'm over run I give away hatching eggs and chicks just to promote back yard chicken keeping in my area. Even though I live in the birth place of 4-h, agriculture has lost it's way around here, and chickens have been "outlawed"....so I carry on quietly trying to make deals at shows and barter over the internet but I will never even come close to breaking even with my birds.

 

[PrinceSandwich]

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Why couldn't I sell the roosters? Around here at the auctions I could make maybe 10$-$15 for a rooster ( depending on the breed).

 

[rancher hicks]

As I stated "location, location, location. Around here roosters don't sell. I just gave away 5 Delawares. We don't have a decent auction here. If I could have gotten $5 each I would have been happy. The average buyer here only knows of two kinds of chickens, red and white. They think all chicks are yellow.

I may ring necks at the first sign that a chick is a roo. They just don't sell.

 

[Baymule]

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[crosbygroup]

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Simple solution... take your birds with you on vacation. I'm sure they'd love to collect some fresh oyster shells, for themselves, in Hawaii.

yeah! I'll just throw them in the carry-on compartment. Do you think customs will mind?

Not if it is a BYC charter flight.