Chickens as a Business

[GoslingRanch]

We might be a little bigger than the average-sized flock, but we live in a rural community and have designated 1500 sq ft for our coop/run, all enclosed. And if we need to, we can make it bigger. With that size, we believe we can handle 150 chickens, and the question becomes how best to manage the flock.
By my calculations, with chick feed being $0.44/lb and layer feed by the ton at $0.28/lb, when the hens enter their third year, the lifetime cost per egg starts going back up. So the two options are getting 50 hens once each year, swapping through 3 or 4 breeds (or more) or 25 hens every six months, cycling through 5 or 6 breeds. The whole reason to cycle through the breeds is to make it easier to track laying habits to prove out or at least track the theoretical laying cycle.
We will have a light in the winter, and while we only have 60 hens right now, we will be adding over time as we build our customer base. Just wondering your thoughts about caring for a flock of that size. Smaller than some, larger than average.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I can tell you what I've learned as a hobbyist who sells eggs on a very small scale who began her flock as a project for my Vet Tech daughter to learn with. I also have an organic farmer son in law that now farms veggies and for a time chickens with said daughter, and I have small farm friends that I talk "chicken" with. Lastly, I have a few memories from my grandmother who owned an egg farm (I actually grew up in feed sack play clothes)...This is what I've seen, heard, and learned. (I will step aside for the "big boys" to make comments from their experienced business perspectives).

The good news, you are small scale enough at 150 hens to avoid FDA oversight. (The FDA does not require flocks less than 3,000 hens to follow the commercial rules.)

First, you have to decide if you want to make money selling eggs, meat, or both. To do both, you will need to segregate your meat birds from your layers as they are very different "animals." If I understand your post correctly, you want to focus on egg layers, so I will not delve into the differences with meat birds.

Yes, you will have to rotate your laying flock and keep a fresh set of chicks coming in each year to mature in time to lay as the older birds are falling aside. Most "big boys" retire (spelled cull) their birds when they are 2 to 3 years old as those hens begin to slow greatly in egg laying especially since the "big boys" use the very productive commercial high lay lines such as the red sexlinks, commercial reds, or white leghorns (shout out to my granny who kept a flock of white leghorns). Those types age very quickly to be spent at 2 to 3 years of age. This means that you will need to get chicks so that they come to age of 5 to 6 months before you cull your 2 to 3 year olds. Generally granny got chicks in spring in one big truck load. Personally, I don't light (burned a coop down once) so I use the "natural" method of being sure my new chicks (which are broody hatched) come to maturity by June/July...August latest....so that they will lay through the first winter while my older gals are molting. Lighting will keep them laying, but it also is harder on their bodies, and you will find laying exhaustion set in. Generally my high lay hybrids were completely spent by year 3, most dying from some internal cancer at 2 1/2 to 3. (Which is why I went to mixed breed sustainable flock since I am NOT into this as a business...most of my hens live until 4 to 5 years of age. I do cull at 5 as they are not true pets and are eating way more than they produce, but my customers like the oversized eggs of the older hens. Hens lay less but larger eggs as they mature).

You will also have to consider how you will rotate your pen and fields. My son in law and I have had lengthy discussions, and we both agree that if you want to make a living at selling eggs (or meat), you absolutely have to have cheap feed (you mentioned you can get it by the ton) and rotation of land preferably with some foraging. He found he had the healthiest chickens when he used the chicken tractor and put them over land the cattle had been on. Somehow the cow pies created a very healthy biome in the chicken intestines, and he had no coccidiosis whatsoever (a problem in his warm, wet Tennessee.)

You will also have to decide if you want to consider going "organic" or not. To get organic certification takes a lot of effort (and I'm not sure worth it with 150 hens). Be aware if you are "organic," you must use only feed and supplements deemed approved for organic hens. Even non-organic, you absolutely cannot treat any bird with anything that is not FDA approved for laying hens if you want to sell eggs to the public. You also need to look at your local and state laws as to how you are legally allowed to sell to the public. In my state, small scale can sell "farm direct" meaning I can sell from my "farm" directly to customers, but I cannot place my eggs in stores, restaurants, etc. Cartons must also be marked with name, address, location of farm. Check into your local laws for local farmer's markets. You may be able to set up a booth there. Be aware that a lot of local farmer's markets are very competitive for a booth location.

It's getting harder and harder to treat chickens now with FDA standards removing most of the worm and disease products off the market, which makes keeping a healthy flock harder too. You will need to have something planned for the typical lice/mite infestations that come with having birds over time. (Those in the north with hard cold winters report less problem than I have in my wet northwest). I use Ivermectin and poultry dust. Many use a spray. Again look at FDA regs and organic requirements as to what you can use, but you will have to have regular body checks. It's a matter of when not if that some sort of mite/lice infestation occurs.

If you don't field rotate you will have worm build up which will cause significant egg loss and health deterioration the longer you keep birds on a field. You can keep some ground pumpkin seeds, garlic, and cayenne out to let them treat on which helps to flush the worms, BUT WILL NOT eliminate them. They flush for the next to pick up off the ground. Back to field rotation as a necessity. The only FDA-approved dewormer specifically for backyard chicken flocks is SAFE-GUARD AQUASOL (fenbendazole oral suspension). It is approved for treating and controlling adult roundworms (Ascaridia galli) and cecal worms (Heterakis gallinarum). This dewormer is administered orally through the drinking water.

Also, too much concentration on the same field causes other health issues, bacterial build up, etc., but those kinds of infections need vet Rx, and generally treatment means removing the bird from the flock if you are selling eggs. Most "big boys" and breeders state to just cull rather than treat. That goes back to field rotation as the first line defense. I don't have land to rotate (the "big boys" keep different warehouses they rotate), so I re-bark my runs yearly. (I do it with a Tom Sawyer method...I call up my garden friends who scurry over smiling with bucket and shovel to take away my black gold. Then my hubby puts the piles of fresh bark out, and the hens scatter it nicely). As mentioned, my son in law found using a chicken tractor worked well for him, especially over the cow fields.

As to breeds...if you are seriously trying to make money, most will go with the white leghorn, possibly brown leghorn, commercial reds, or high production sexlinks (Constant Comets, Cinnamon Queens, a kazillion other names they hatcheries call them). They mature quickly and lay prolifically especially when lighted through the winter. Check your local ag center to find out best lighting times if you are more northern. Be aware that you will need at least 14 to 15 hours of lighting to keep them laying. Too bright or too much, and you will see aggression, anxiety and feather picking. Many of us in the more northern latitudes actually have to begin lighting late August to keep the pituitary gland producing the hormones for laying. And remember, again, that if you go high laying breeds, hybrids, etc, they will pretty much "play out" by year 2 or 3 with constant laying. Have a plan for what you will do with the culled birds. Do not expect to sell for a true meat bird as a spent layer has hardly any meat on her. Often they are sold in bulk to be ground into fertilizer or fodder. Grandma used them as a stewing hen for chicken stock to freeze.

If you try different breeds, look carefully at their age of maturity and feed/output. The heavier breeds, like Buff Orpingtons (at least mine) ate a LOT and produced only a little. Unless you are looking for a more dual purpose, some eggs/some meat, I'd stay with the lighter weight birds. I've done well with Marans, for the dark colors, Easter Eggers for the green, Cream Legbar for the blue. Welsummers give steady eggs with nice brown spots. And of course the Rhode Island Red is a standard. Consider comb types if you get really brutally cold winters. You can read a nice breed chart here to determine temperament, laying ability, maturity, etc.: http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html

Be aware that you will have to band birds to be able to tell age. It's very hard to tell a mature 1 year old hen from a mature 2 year old hen unless you have a clever system (I actually bred for feather color in a way I can tell at a glance by breed/color how old a bird is). Obviously you will need to keep meticulous logs on what bird came into the farm (and out) and when.

Find out what egg prices are in your location. The average given for a laying hen's consumption is 1/4 pound of feed a day. Compute that with feed prices. Factor in pine shavings or whatever bedding you will need and any supplements and treatments needed. That answer will be your baseline cost. See if you can make a bit of profit. I sell at a cheap $5 a dozen, as a HOBBY. I have 26 birds. I make enough in spring/summer/fall months to offset feed a bit, but that's all. I'm buying at the feed store, so I will never see a profit.

And finally, make sure your coops and run are predator and pest proof. You will be aghast at how much feed rodents and birds will cart off which will drive your feed costs up astronomically. It will almost always be a pitched battle with the rodents and birds to keep them out of your feed. Store in metal bins. Take up at night (but the varmints come out in the day and steal directly from the feeders!). Have a plan for rodent deterrence. I have tried EVERYTHING. The only thing that keeps the rodent monsters at bay is poison, which obviously you have to keep away from your birds, children, pets and raptors.

Learn what your land and air predators are. You may need Fort Knox to keep out your land predators, hawk netting to keep out the air predators. I've learned I cannot keep a light colored bird on my property as they are picked away by hawks. I keep my birds the color of my bark dust or black.

That's what I can think of from my childhood and last 15 years of backyard keeping. Good luck on your endeavor.

LofMc

PS: Shout out to Arizona! My grandma's chicken farm, which I lived with her on in my early childhood, was in Ajo Arizona!

 

[GoslingRanch]

Thank you for that vast amount of knowledge. I read carefully.
We are planning to retire different breeds at different times. For example, all the Whiting True Blues will be the same age, and the red sex-linked will be the same age, so that we would retire all the birds of that breed at once.
I very much appreciate the advice to dig up the brown gold every year and lay down bark. We don't have enough land to rotate, especially because we enclose the entire run to prevent hawk poaching. We are in the mountains of Arizona, so we have snow in the winter, with a few very cold days, but a mostly mild winter. We put the chainlink at least six inches into the ground and hardware cloth to prevent predators.
We occasionally have bears come into town (the last one was about 15 years ago), but more commonly, coyotes, skunks, and mice. We are working toward having 'coop cats' to control the rodents. We literally live inside a national forest, and there is mostly open land beyond our back gate. It is fenced every few acres, but that's it.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Thank you for that vast amount of knowledge. I read carefully.
We are planning to retire different breeds at different times. For example, all the Whiting True Blues will be the same age, and the red sex-linked will be the same age, so that we would retire all the birds of that breed at once.
I very much appreciate the advice to dig up the brown gold every year and lay down bark. We don't have enough land to rotate, especially because we enclose the entire run to prevent hawk poaching. We are in the mountains of Arizona, so we have snow in the winter, with a few very cold days, but a mostly mild winter. We put the chainlink at least six inches into the ground and hardware cloth to prevent predators.
We occasionally have bears come into town (the last one was about 15 years ago), but more commonly, coyotes, skunks, and mice. We are working toward having 'coop cats' to control the rodents. We literally live inside a national forest, and there is mostly open land beyond our back gate. It is fenced every few acres, but that's it.

That sounds really good. Removing and refreshing bark dust will be your way to go.

Let me also mention the beauties of black sexlinks, mine were especially plentiful and hardier than the red, or consider California Grey (if you can get them), plentiful, large white eggs. My clients really appreciate my beautiful egg carton which I take the time to arrange in a rainbow fashion from blue to green to olive to dark brown.

I find having the different breeds or feather colors an excellent way to keep track of ages. Just keep good notes, as trust me, as time wears on, so does the memory fade.

Finally, you will need to consider if you want to hatch your own eggs, hatch purchased fertile eggs, or buy feed store/hatchery chicks (which granny did by the truckload). There are pros and cons of both. I personally find my broody hatch chicks hardier, maturing earlier, and far savvier than any artificially hatched and definitely better than the commercial hatchery quality. To do that I purchased a stable of annoyingly frequently broody Silkies who became my brooding queens in a designated, separate broody hutch. (Most Silkie breeders have at least a couple they are willing to part with if they are not quite show quality but clogging up the coop brooding.) One year I got a couple of bantam cochin from a gal who was using them, get this, to hatch turkeys! She relied on them to get the chicks she needed. My broodies are treated like the princesses they are, and my original broody queens literally built my flock from good quality breeder eggs that I purchased. I eventually kept my best hatched rooster and began line breeding as I was headed for olive eggers. Eventually you'll need to decide if it is more cost effective for you to hatch your own, but buying hatchery chicks is a good start especially if you are alternating breeds and colors for age designation.

Again, good luck with your new endeavor.

LofMc

EDITED TO ADD: Farm cats can be very effective. There are actually studies that show laying hens living around cats actually create a protein in the eggs that helps those that eat the eggs become less allergic to cats!

Finally, finally, lol, think of your market. My son in law finds that he can create some "designer" quality items and sell them at upscale urban farmer markets. Your best prices will be there. Remember you are competing with the really big farms who can charge $3 to $4 a dozen (yes, egg prices will come back down to where they were before).

 

[Mrs. K]

Are you making money now with the 60?

Where are your worst expenses and hardest problems?

If you are adding buildings, it will be very hard to make it pay for the buildings.

What will you do with the spent hens? How will you dispose of them?

MrsK

 

[GoslingRanch]

I have 40 hens at 12 weeks old, and got 20 more today. We lost our flock of 36 last November because we had the wrong kind of dogs. In one night (possibly one hour), they killed every chicken. It has taken us this long to reinforce the coop and get a new batch of chicks.

We thought we could sell the hens at 3 years old, as they (theoretically) would still be laying. We're almost 3 years away from that moment, so I suppose we will figure it out as we go.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I have 40 hens at 12 weeks old, and got 20 more today. We lost our flock of 36 last November because we had the wrong kind of dogs. In one night (possibly one hour), they killed every chicken. It has taken us this long to reinforce the coop and get a new batch of chicks.

We thought we could sell the hens at 3 years old, as they (theoretically) would still be laying. We're almost 3 years away from that moment, so I suppose we will figure it out as we go.

Start looking now for who/what will take your spent hens. My better breeds I can re-home, usually for free, designer or rarer breeds for cheap. As stated the commercial hybrid high layers are pretty sad by year 3. There are those who will pick up for use in fodder or fertilizer.

Oh...and of course plan a year for Barred Rock or White Rock. Good temperament and good layers of brown eggs. They'll last longer and could be re-homed as aging layers.

LofMc