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I agree and thanks for inviting me to this thread poularde.
Listen all the crazy things said so far aside. I do this every year. You will never make money selling for food, eggs or meat. If you want to turn some form of a profit, you have to get into the ornamental and rare, stuff folks dont have and sell hatching eggs or chicks. In most cases, taking the time to raise birds will never work, as you'll spend up all you potential profit on raising them.
Hatching eggs and day old chicks, you have no care expense in them at all , now lets not go to nit picking here either.
You have your initial purchase of the birds, and their pens, then you're done, with that respect I make that back in the first few dozen eggs
then you have your feed, which in the big scheme of things is nothing. I spend $600 a month on mine, but 2-3 chick orders pays for it.
Incubators, buy them once, use them for ever....
Yes there is some initial start up, but to say you have to figure property, home, etc into it like a corporation is crazy, you should already own all this mess. Now if you bought it specifically for this reason, then yes, it is a legitimate expense toward to back yard business, but in the case of backyard owners trying to make a little fun money is what we are talking about here.
Start small and do like I did, just let the birds pay for your expansion. I have yet to spend one cent out of pocket to do any of this, aside from the initial few birds that were bought many many years ago.
for most this is just a hobby, and a hobby that most always when done right will pay for itself, how many can say that. Say worst case you break even, what's the harm, you are doing something you love and that brings you joy, and it's not costing you anything.
Now there are a few things you do have to do.
You cant just go get mutts or run of the mill birds, hatchery stock is also a no no. What you need to do is watch some auctions, and read some threads about certain breeds. Find some you personally like, after all if you dont like them, what's the point. Now that you have some you like, watch to see which ones or which colors sell high on these auctions. Those are the ones you want. You'll never cover feed at $2 a dozen. Now get the best ones you can afford.
pay with a couple breeds or colors for a little and see which breed best and sell best for you.
Now expand to a few others. Over time you may find one you liked, isnt so hot on everyone elses list
At this point who says you cant change your mind, sell them if you want and find some others. I did, my first 2-3 years was experimental, but still broke even
What I settled on , may not work for everyone, but I can keep up with orders even with hundreds of breeds. For me , in the long run it was all bantam fowl, as they always sell higher and more consistently.
D'anvers and phoenix are my two main focal points at this time.
Now if you have a little venture to you, start making colors that dont exist in these breeds you chose to work with. New colors done right always bring good money.
There are countless threads on here about all that.
In my case, I now have d'anvers up to 21 colors with 20+ more in the works, most people dont know of them outside of quail, same with the bantam phoenix, they are at 11 colors now and counting.
I also chose some cool crested breeds, to, an assortment does give buyers more options when they are looking to buy, which always helps.
With doing things like this, there is no problem getting good money for you birds. Lets go back to the $2 a dozen for eating eggs now. I get anywhere from $20- $100
with day old chicks running from $5 each to $20 each, and like I said, cant keep up with the orders. I never toss an egg or have to find a home for a chick.
This isnt even counting game birds, and such like migratory waterfowl, ornamental pheasants, peafowl etc, I mean you can get into the thousands with these.
But it can be done, in short I make about 60% of what I make at work off my birds every year, it just takes a lot of dedication, no I never miss work over it, so it's my FREE time, thus the word free (no cost). I could sell chickens with it, or I could sell crack with it, I for one will stick with the chickens and game birds.
IT'S WHAT I LOVE TO DO, that's what matters after all.
If you dont enjoy it, dont do it. But most reading here , obviously like poultry, so why not try to make your birds work for you most will never get rich off birds, if you break even, shoot you did good, be prowd of yourself
like the old saying goes, If there's a will there's a way....
