Can you make a living on chicks, and eggs?

[eggsellent]

How much can you reasonably make selling chicks, and eggs? I am just curious about this! Any advice and answers welcome! I am not planning on this anytime soon, just curious!

 

[TurkeyMountainChickens]

I think that depends on how you like to live! If you're satisfied with a coop for a home and chicken feed to eat, then yes, probably.

Really, though, it's probably a matter of scale. The profit margins are small, so you'd have to have a big operation to make it work out.

 

[eggsellent]

Ok, so let me revise my question! LOL Can you make a significant amount of money, Like enough to supplement your household? I am very interested in other's experiences, pricing, do's and don'ts. Thanks guys!

 

[abanjaf]

An interesting question. I sell my fertile eggs for eating for $2.50/dozen. I sell the eggs because otherwise I'd be swimming in them and also to help pay for their feed. If you are talking about breeding specific breeds of chicken and selling fertile eggs/chicks, then I suppose it would depend upon what breed of chicken and how hard are those egg/chicks to come by. I think that people who do it, do so as a hobby. Unless, of course, you are the owner of a large hatchery! To get an idea about how much eggs and chicks go for, on the main index page scroll down towards the bottom where "Hatching Chicken Eggs" and "Chicks for sale" are listed and what breeds they are. This should give you a good idea

 

[eggsellent]

Quote:
Thanks! I love BYC and all the resources on here!

 

[EweSheep]

Honestly in my boots, no profits at all. But it is the love that I can do!

 

[chicken_china_mom]

I know a few people on here that make a fair amount of money selling eggs and chicks, however they have A LOT of birds, and they sell the rarer breeds, not the more commonly found ones. One person aims to sell around 15 dozen eggs each month. Sometimes they hit that mark, but more often than not, they don't. But they sell a dozen eggs for roughly $40. Do the math. That's about $600 a month. But you have to consider the cost of feed, the cost of maintaining the birds and their coops, and other various expenses. You'd be lucky to see $250 out of that money each month. But, like I said before, this person sells rare breeds, not common ones. If you concentrate on the more common ones, the market is not as good. The demand is not as high and you can't sell the eggs or birds for as much because so many people have them. Take for example Barred Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, or Buff Orpingtons. You can basically find them on any farm anywhere in the country, so their eggs, or the birds themselves, don't sell for as much money. Now, if you take that typical Buff Orpington, and you breed for Lavenders, then suddenly everyone wants them and can't get enough of them. But generally, colors like that aren't perfected yet, and therefore you can't breed large numbers of birds because you won't consistently get Lavenders every time. Then you are stuck with the extra non Lavender birds, and unless you decide to eat them, you'll have to house them, feed them, and maintain them long term. Course I'm just making an example here. I don't breed Orpingtons, and don't that much yet about genetics. But I am hoping that you get what I'm saying. I have not had any success selling chicken eggs yet, but that's partly because I don't have a car right now to get to the P.O., and my standard eggs wouldn't be pure cause I don't have a roo to match any of my hens. However, I am working to remedy that right now.

Once I have a car, I will be offering more of my eggs up for sale, and as I straighten out my flocks, then I'll be able to offer pure breed eggs for sale too. Do I expect to make a fortune? No, but I'd be happy to make enough to cover the cost of chicken feed, litter, and medications, like dewormer and blu-kote. Things like that. If I could not go broke feeding my birds, I'd be thrilled! I'd like to make enough money selling eggs over the next few years to be able to build some new, smaller coops so that I can separate out my different breeds and colors, and so I can work on different projects without worrying about contamination (like an amorous Silkie roo wandering into my Blue Mottled pen!) I currently have 10 standards and about 27 bantams, but I have about 40 birds in my brooders, plus 6 ducks, so I have a new coop coming, and new fencing coming. Not to mention that I have chicken eggs in one incubator, and geese eggs in the other! Right now I'm putting a lot of money into my birds, and it will probably be a LONG time before I really begin to make back any of the money that I've already invested and am still investing, but my birds are more for my own pleasure than they are a source of income. I'll be getting into a few of those rarer breeds, but for the moment, I'm enjoying the little feather butts I already have!

 

[eggsellent]

Thanks for all the great replies! I am doing the chicken thing for eggs and entertainment. Although it would be nice in the future to make a little bit of recoup money off the hobby of having a backyard flock! Of course I am no where near that, but I love to prepare for the future!

 

[Elite Silkies]

I have tried to focus on some of the more sought after breeds. So, I have purchased Lavender Silkies and Coronation Split Sussex (for the pure Coronation Offspring). I am working on Porcelain Showgirls and some Lavender Australorps.

I hope to in the future to purchase some Silver Sussex and some of those awesome Silver Laced Brahmas.

 

[tnchickenut]

Just like any buisness... there is a HUGE amount of start up capitol that needs to be put forth. This is a big chunk of money that you have to invest to even get started. Once you sold enough to pay that off, then you start MAKING money. All the while you have "running expenses" like feed, medical care, bedding, ect.

There are ways to do it... however, you need that start up capitol. You can't do it with one backyard flock. Unless... and only unless... you have just a handful of SQ birds from a breed that brings in the dough. HOWEVER, keep in mind, putting all your eggs in one basket is not wise either. If you get a sickness through that small flock... you're done for a good amount of time or even possible ever (with those birds). Or what about a raccoon comming through? One night could ruin you if you only have one coop of birds to make money with.

These are all things that you should think of. The people who do make money off of chickens... (and there are some... how else do you get the bigger breeders or the new hatcheries?) Have invested THOUSANDS... even tens of thousands to get the birds and the set up that would bring them profit.

So, short answer: No. Not with a "pet" flock.