Can I make a profit doing this?

[kwhites634]

Hi friends,
I've been wondering whether I could generate some income if I got maybe a 50 egg incubator, bought some fertile eggs online of high quality chickens (can't have a rooster here) then raise the chicks to pullets then sell them online? I don't whether the cost i could sell the pullets for would cover expenses, much less generate a profit. What do y'all think?

I think you should save your time & money; not likely to happen; feed, labor, coop/run construction, the inevitable predator/illness will all see to that.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

You're welcome.
I have the capacity to incubate about 1500 eggs at a time..
I did very well collecting guinea eggs and hatching them and sellling the keets.
However, I did not have to buy eggs.

I also did OK custom hatching batches of eggs for people, but there are drawbacks to that, too.
Like if the power goes out and you lose a whole batch of someone else's eggs.
Some people bring eggs that aren't fertile and then look all disappointed when the hatch
%-age is low.
now I hatch only for the people who understand the draw backs.
and that number is few..
......jiminwisc.......

Would you mind elaborating on any other drawbacks you've dicovered to doing custom hatches besides the disappointment factor? I was thinking disease might be a possible downside. I have hatched eggs for a couple people.
As with anything else, whether it be hatch eggs or selling live poultry, a well thought out sales policy the buyer must agree to would be a good plan for doing incubation for others.
I'm smaller scale than you. I have a homemade cabinet with capacity for 120 plus a separate hatcher in the same cabinet to allow staggered hatches. Plus a tabletop for emergency backup. With the size of my poultry operation, that's about perfect capacity.
I'm planning another fully automated cabinet of perhaps slightly higher capacity. I also have a big portable generator for power outages.

 

[jvls1942]

kind of off topic, but this thread seems to have run it's course anyhow.

people collect eggs too long before bringing them for hatching.. I finally got a couple of them convinced to bring me eggs each week instead of waiting until they had collected a larger number of them and bringing them two and even three weeks of collecting.

I do wash the eggs if they appear dirty.

I have never had a problem with disease in the incubator..

keep the incubator clean as you can.

I have run the incubator steady for months at a time with no chance to clean it .. Not a good practice, but I sometimes have no choice because of rotating my hatches..

try to have at least a week of time between setting new eggs in with the existing ones.

you will have to learn to be patient with people.. they expect you to put the eggs in the day they bring them to you. if it doesn't work out with my one week waiting between hatches, then the new eggs have to wait..

Keep a written schedule of the eggs in the incubator. do not expect to remember anything. write it down..

mark each batch of eggs, whose they are, date of lockdown.. believe my, you will not remember.. I have had at least ten individual batches of eggs going at one time..

if you have a need for chickens. do the incubating for half of the chicks that hatch..

keep it local. don't try to get into shipping chicks.

I had sources where I could buy hatching eggs for regular eating egg prices.. those I would pick up .. stay away from shipped eggs.
too many shysters out there to take a chance.

and besides , even fertile shipped eggs are not a good risk.. if you get 50% hatch rate , I would consider that high..

even if you pick up fertile eggs yourself. don't put them in the back of your pickup truck.
try to give them as smooth a ride as you can.
.........jiminwisc......

 

[duluthralphie]

Ewwwwww Putting someone else's eggs in my incubators!!!

GROSS!!!

Some call me a germophobe for no good reason.....

 

[jvls1942]

Ewwwwww Putting someone else's eggs in my incubators!!!

GROSS!!!

Some call me a germophobe for no good reason.....

oh gee, I can't imagine why..

 

[ChickenCanoe]

kind of off topic, but this thread seems to have run it's course anyhow.

people collect eggs too long before bringing them for hatching.. I finally got a couple of them convinced to bring me eggs each week instead of waiting until they had collected a larger number of them and bringing them two and even three weeks of collecting.

I do wash the eggs if they appear dirty.

I have never had a problem with disease in the incubator..

keep the incubator clean as you can.

I have run the incubator steady for months at a time with no chance to clean it .. Not a good practice, but I sometimes have no choice because of rotating my hatches..

try to have at least a week of time between setting new eggs in with the existing ones.

you will have to learn to be patient with people.. they expect you to put the eggs in the day they bring them to you. if it doesn't work out with my one week waiting between hatches, then the new eggs have to wait..

Keep a written schedule of the eggs in the incubator. do not expect to remember anything. write it down..

mark each batch of eggs, whose they are, date of lockdown.. believe my, you will not remember.. I have had at least ten individual batches of eggs going at one time..

if you have a need for chickens. do the incubating for half of the chicks that hatch..

keep it local. don't try to get into shipping chicks.

I had sources where I could buy hatching eggs for regular eating egg prices.. those I would pick up .. stay away from shipped eggs.
too many shysters out there to take a chance.

and besides , even fertile shipped eggs are not a good risk.. if you get 50% hatch rate , I would consider that high..

even if you pick up fertile eggs yourself. don't put them in the back of your pickup truck.
try to give them as smooth a ride as you can.
.........jiminwisc......

Nice write up. Thanks.
The Delaware eggs I hatched for a big 'slow food' heritage chicken project were pretty dirty. I think about 50% hatched.