I'm in the last semester of my highschool senior year and want to start a chicken project for me and, in the future, my little brothers to enjoy and profit from. We have had random breeds of egglaying chickens just for our egg use for the last 6 or so years but I want to move on to something better. I want to build a new coop for my special breed and be able to break even and make a profit from selling chicks, hatching eggs, and maybe eating eggs. Is this a realistic thing to do on the small scale? I would start the project and when I graduate my younger brothers would be responsible for it during the week.
I picked Giant Golden Laced Cochins as my project breed as I love their temperment and looks and I think there is a breeder of SQ ones a couple hours from me. I hope to get 8-10 chicks from them in the spring and I am hoping to pay around $3 a chick. I am going to build the coop and run from recycled scrap so it shouldn't cost more than $30 for some more wire. Feed would cost $11 a 50lb bag so how many bags do you think they would eat before they start to lay? I am thinking on selling hatching eggs starting at $12 a dozen till I see if I find a market and then maybe raise the price. Chicks I would sell for $3-5 depending on the season. So from those numbers how much would it cost to start up and how long would you expect it to be till I break even and start turning a profit? Is there anyone who started out this way and can give any tips or insight as to what I might be missing in my calculations? I might show some of the birds with 4-H so I'll be working on improving on the breed. Thanks!
I picked Giant Golden Laced Cochins as my project breed as I love their temperment and looks and I think there is a breeder of SQ ones a couple hours from me. I hope to get 8-10 chicks from them in the spring and I am hoping to pay around $3 a chick. I am going to build the coop and run from recycled scrap so it shouldn't cost more than $30 for some more wire. Feed would cost $11 a 50lb bag so how many bags do you think they would eat before they start to lay? I am thinking on selling hatching eggs starting at $12 a dozen till I see if I find a market and then maybe raise the price. Chicks I would sell for $3-5 depending on the season. So from those numbers how much would it cost to start up and how long would you expect it to be till I break even and start turning a profit? Is there anyone who started out this way and can give any tips or insight as to what I might be missing in my calculations? I might show some of the birds with 4-H so I'll be working on improving on the breed. Thanks!