Chickens In Ya Window

[WVduckchick]

Here is my youngest in her little " chick hatching out of an egg " costume!




She loves it!

HA! That is so flippin adorable!!

My son and his girlfriend:

 

[rossfam06]

HA! That is so flippin adorable!! My son and his girlfriend:

Hahahahaha!!!! I love it! They look awesome!!! I will get some pictures of all of us later. I still need to get my costume ready!!!

 

[RubyNala97]

Yes, but not too early.  I want to have mine hatch on Wednesday so they are pretty sturdy by Friday/Saturday.  If they are too old, the wing feathers start coming in and they don't look so much like babies.

Thank you! This is what I was looking for!

I put together a whole notebook this year of what sells and when, so I'm qualified to answer this one

I started hatching in January last year. Day olds didn't sell in the winter, but those started pullets got gone as soon as I could sex them. Day olds started selling in March, and my phone was blowing up from 2 weeks before Easter to a week after for day olds of any breed. Demand was so high that I was selling day old straight run for $10 each, and had people waiting for me to hatch again. I planned my Easter hatch to hatch the weekend before. That gave me time to get them advertised, and a few days to make sure that all of the chicks were healthy. Feed store chicks were no competition. If you have pure breeds and a nice setup, there are plenty of people, at least here, that know my chicks are better than the feed store's.
2 weeks after Easter, sales died. I couldn't sell day olds until the weather started cooling off again. You could pretty much schedule your sales to the daytime high temperatures. If it was over 90 degrees, no one was buying chicks. Pullets always sell, and I end up giving away a lot of roosters, but if I hatch in the summer I have to have dedicated grow out pens. As soon as the temperatures started dropping and people started thinking about the fall, I started getting the calls for chicks again. Now that the weather is about to turn cold, no more chick sales, but I have people begging me to sell my BCM pullets.
So, moral of the story is: Hatch in March for Easter chicks, hatch early fall for winter chicks, pullets are always in demand, and have a plan to sell, eat, or give away cockerels

Even better!! Thank you for all this info. This is new to me and by spring I'll have the capacity to set 40 eggs. So I'm trying to come up with a game plan....if my girls ever lay!

 back at ya!

Good info...  Maybe I'll plan to set some on Valentine's Day for hatching the first week of March.  I do remember my ducks hatched the last week of March, and the feed stores already had ducklings for sale. 

Ruby -- how do you plan to market and sell yours?

Good question. I've had a lot going on the last few days in regards to this. I'm going to be more specific and posting for advice to this in a minute....

Here is my youngest in her little " chick hatching out of an egg " costume!

She loves it!

That is just soooooo beyond adorable!! Wish I had a little girl!

 

[WalnutHill]

Thank you! This is what I was looking for!
Even better!! Thank you for all this info. This is new to me and by spring I'll have the capacity to set 40 eggs. So I'm trying to come up with a game plan....if my girls ever lay!

Good question. I've had a lot going on the last few days in regards to this. I'm going to be more specific and posting for advice to this in a minute....

I have the capacity to set 550 chicken eggs or 330 turkey eggs...try coming up with a game plan for that, and NOT have an incubator full!

Here in Michigan, no one wants to brood chicks before the end of March, it's too cold. Memorial Day is last frost date, and I try to time mine so they are fully feathered around then. That is also the last hatch date for my Thanksgiving turkeys to reach maturity, and I can't hatch them too early or they will overmature.

First frost date is around October 1, and any birds not fully feathered by the end of October will be at risk.

 

[RubyNala97]

This might be a long post but here's what's been going on....This year has been a whirlwind for me with chickens. I hatched out my first eggs in May, not even planning on keeping any of them. Now I have invested in a solid coop and run and lots of shipped eggs. If I could do it all over, I would pick a different breed but that's another story. I need a way to at least break even with these chickens, financially. So I would like to sell hatching eggs, chicks, and pullets. Also, not sure exactly why but I'd like to sell breeder quality vs pet quality. So I've been talking to two of the best silkie breeders in the country these past two days. Both have offered to help mentor me and offered BQ to SQ (depending on price) started birds. I should have gone with BQ started birds from the beginning!! I'm so mad at myself about that. Plus my handsome cockerel that was going to be my main man has a huge flaw.

He's so beautiful but the comb is a total DQ. No breeding for him. So besides the chicks I just hatched which appear so far to be BQ, all my first guys need to go. Either be sold or be given away except for two pullets I will keep. Should I wait till spring to sell? Or just sell now? Should I buy the started birds from these breeders now or wait till spring? If I buy them now I will have to quarantine and it's going down to freezing at night, so that might be difficult but I guess not impossible. Any insight to help me out? I'm trying to build a solid foundation here so I can really keep my hobby going and be good at it. I'm not planning on trying to show birds anytime soon but I would be open to the idea in a few years.

 

[rossfam06]

This might be a long post but here's what's been going on....This year has been a whirlwind for me with chickens. I hatched out my first eggs in May, not even planning on keeping any of them. Now I have invested in a solid coop and run and lots of shipped eggs. If I could do it all over, I would pick a different breed but that's another story. I need a way to at least break even with these chickens, financially. So I would like to sell hatching eggs, chicks, and pullets. Also, not sure exactly why but I'd like to sell breeder quality vs pet quality. So I've been talking to two of the best silkie breeders in the country these past two days. Both have offered to help mentor me and offered BQ to SQ (depending on price) started birds. I should have gone with BQ started birds from the beginning!! I'm so mad at myself about that. Plus my handsome cockerel that was going to be my main man has a huge flaw.

He's so beautiful but the comb is a total DQ. No breeding for him. So besides the chicks I just hatched which appear so far to be BQ, all my first guys need to go. Either be sold or be given away except for two pullets I will keep. Should I wait till spring to sell? Or just sell now? Should I buy the started birds from these breeders now or wait till spring? If I buy them now I will have to quarantine and it's going down to freezing at night, so that might be difficult but I guess not impossible. Any insight to help me out? I'm trying to build a solid foundation here so I can really keep my hobby going and be good at it. I'm not planning on trying to show birds anytime soon but I would be open to the idea in a few years.

I may sound like a newbe but what does BQ stand for??? I know SOP, SQ, but not sure about BQ??

 

[RubyNala97]

I have the capacity to set 550 chicken eggs or 330 turkey eggs...try coming up with a game plan for that, and NOT have an incubator full!

Here in Michigan, no one wants to brood chicks before the end of March, it's too cold.  Memorial Day is last frost date, and I try to time mine so they are fully feathered around then.  That is also the last hatch date for my Thanksgiving turkeys to reach maturity, and I can't hatch them too early or they will overmature.

First frost date is around October 1, and any birds not fully feathered by the end of October will be at risk.

Yes, I have to take weather into account also. We are already having freezing night here. My chicks have been outside with their mph and so far so good.

I may sound like a newbe but what does BQ stand for??? I know SOP, SQ, but not sure about BQ??

Breeder Quality. That's ok, I learn new stuff everyday!

 

[WVduckchick]

This might be a long post but here's what's been going on....This year has been a whirlwind for me with chickens. I hatched out my first eggs in May, not even planning on keeping any of them. Now I have invested in a solid coop and run and lots of shipped eggs. If I could do it all over, I would pick a different breed but that's another story. I need a way to at least break even with these chickens, financially. So I would like to sell hatching eggs, chicks, and pullets. Also, not sure exactly why but I'd like to sell breeder quality vs pet quality. So I've been talking to two of the best silkie breeders in the country these past two days. Both have offered to help mentor me and offered BQ to SQ (depending on price) started birds. I should have gone with BQ started birds from the beginning!!

I'm so mad at myself about that. Plus my handsome cockerel that was going to be my main man has a huge flaw.


He's so beautiful but the comb is a total DQ. No breeding for him. So besides the chicks I just hatched which appear so far to be BQ, all my first guys need to go. Either be sold or be given away except for two pullets I will keep. Should I wait till spring to sell? Or just sell now? Should I buy the started birds from these breeders now or wait till spring? If I buy them now I will have to quarantine and it's going down to freezing at night, so that might be difficult but I guess not impossible. Any insight to help me out? I'm trying to build a solid foundation here so I can really keep my hobby going and be good at it. I'm not planning on trying to show birds anytime soon but I would be open to the idea in a few years.

That sucks. He's so pretty! And is that my little boy in the background?

Nice that you found some mentors. Sounds like you are doing your homework and you have time to formulate a good plan. I think I'd try to get rid of as many as you can now, if you know you aren't going to keep them. You may end up keeping them till spring anyway, if they don't sell, but its worth a shot to not have to keep them through the winter if you don't have to.

I bet lavender chicks will be good sellers for Easter. Hmmmm....

 

[dan26552]

Penguins are so cute.  Happy Friday Dan.  And everybody! 

Yes they are. You too

 

[mixedUPturk]

I have the capacity to set 550 chicken eggs or 330 turkey eggs...try coming up with a game plan for that, and NOT have an incubator full!

Here in Michigan, no one wants to brood chicks before the end of March, it's too cold.  Memorial Day is last frost date, and I try to time mine so they are fully feathered around then.  That is also the last hatch date for my Thanksgiving turkeys to reach maturity, and I can't hatch them too early or they will overmature.

First frost date is around October 1, and any birds not fully feathered by the end of October will be at risk.

Its so different there versus here:


the water parks open down here on Memorial Day