CHICKS AND MONEY

[Jesus solano]

Sorry not sure if this is the right forum. Anyways, its been a year since I've had my chickens, I never really got chickens to sell eggs or make any profit out of them, we eat the eggs and sometimes make chicken soup. Anyways, although I enjoying raising chickens as a hobby, I want to earn some money out of them, at least to pay for their feed. I might sell some eggs, but what I was going for was to sell some chicks. Maybe not right now but later in May. I know a friend who has very nice chickens, he has serama and silkies, which I find them to be gorgeous. I talked to him and he is willing to give me some fertile eggs so I got that. I'll also hatch some eggs from my chickens.

Now I know people in my area are always trying to find chicks because in the spring, people go crazy trying to buy as much as possible. They usually sell out after a week or two, maybe three if you're lucky.

Now I have some questions:

Do I need a permit to sell chicks?

Do people care about quality? or does quantity matter more?

Is there a way I can sell chicks to my local feed store? I'm pretty sure they would be willing to buy some more chicks.

If I can sell my local feed store, how do I sell them the chicks?

Where do you recommend I sell the chicks?

How much do I sell the chicks for, my friend told me silkies and seramas are not a common breed and could be sold more than the rest, but never told me specifically how much.

Sorry for all the questions

Thanks in advanced

 

[Jesus solano]

Oh, and I plan for the chicks to be purebred.

 

[Jessica Thompson]

Ok umm you should definitely do polish I can't find anyone doing polish

 

[Jesus solano]

Wow, the polish chicken looks amazing.

 

[sannabelle]

If selling to a feed store I'm pretty sure they will want you to be NPIP certified- you may want to look into that.

You'll also need a large reliable incubator and brooders.

Your friend giving you hatching eggs is nice- but will he be giving you a large quantity? Having your own adult birds of those breeds to produce your own hatching eggs would make more sense.

Who you are selling to will depend on what they are looking for. People buying from a feed store are expecting hatchery quality chicks, not show quality.

Pricing will also depend on your area and what the market for those breeds is like. Here, straight run silkies sell for about 3$ a piece as day olds, and price increases with age.

If you have multiple breeds of chickens on your property you'll need to look into getting some breeding pens set up. The sperm of a rooster can fertilize a hens eggs for up to 30 days- so if she has been exposed to any roosters that are not the ones you want her to breed with, the chicks may very well not be pure bred. Difficult to explain through text, hope it made sense.

Check your state ordinances to find out if you need a permit- if call your department of AG. Here, unless you are selling chicks off of your property, no permit is required.

Hope that helps some! Good luck and

 

[Jesus solano]

Thank you!

I need to investigate more. Perhaps I could advertise the chicks on facebook?

 

[sannabelle]

You could certainly try! I'm not familiar with how Facebook works but my uncle says there are "swap shop" type pages that often have livestock listed.

 

[CSAchook]

You could certainly try! I'm not familiar with how Facebook works but my uncle says there are "swap shop" type pages that often have livestock listed.

Swap pages or other local "groups" are probably your best FB options. Many people also list on Craigslist.

 

[momto35chicks]

Honestly, I make out ok selling eggs. I sell my eggs for between 3-4 a dozen. You'll sell chicks but to make money, to cover your lights, browser etc you'll need to sell alot of them

 

[Smuvers Farm]

First, WHERE ARE YOU LOCATED? If the US, which state? You can go to YOUR STATE THREAD and ask people directly. The rules and regulations vary from city to city, county to county and state to state.