Considering hatching chicks to sell, advice?

[Cheekychook12]

By no means am I definitely doing this, I’m curious about it though, what I should advertise towards with my birds, and what the costs and what I should sell birds for
Curious if this would be worth doing or not
My goals would be maybe to make a little bit of money (not enough for a job or anything significant)
And to study the feather colour genetics of my birds
I have purebred pekin bantams and a couple of frizzles

 

[DarkWater1929]

I have been going back and forth with this same idea. This video was the one that really fueled my enthusiasm.

I think that, for me, I have not yet been willing or able to invest the neccessary money in the infrastructure and foundational supplies yet. I would want to have good, solid, predator proof housing for them, which I lack at the moment. I would also want to lay in a supply of medications and so forth, so that if a problem were to arise, I would not have to wait for an order to arrive before treating it.

I believe that people who are rigorous in enforcing strict biosecuruty policies have not only fewer problems with their flocks, but likely also earn a reputation for selling healthier birds, which is important to me. I would like to be known as a reputable, reliable breeder, if I were to embark upon such a venture. Biosecurity, when done properly, seems very overwhelming to me, however. I once bought a rooster from a lady who breeds Brahmas. She will not allow people to come to her property at all! She meets them down the road from her farm, to sell her birds. I can't quibble with her methods, as that rooster was healthy, docile, and absolutely lovely! But, I am not sure that I possess the discipline and consistency necessary to make it work.

As with so many ideas that interest me, I would have a great deal of learning to do, in order to avoid meeting with disaster, caused by rushing into such a project without fully understanding and preparing for the hazards.

So, my advice to both of us would be to spend a lot of time listening to folks who have built successful businesses around Chickens. What do they wish they had known going in? What would they do differently? How much did they invest, before they began to see returns? I will take the anecdotal knowledge of one who has been there, over a textbook blueprint, any day!

If you decide to do it, please consider sharing your process and results. I bet I am not the only one who would be fascinated to follow your journey!

 

[Cheekychook12]

I have been going back and forth with this same idea. This video was the one that really fueled my enthusiasm.

I think that, for me, I have not yet been willing or able to invest the neccessary money in the infrastructure and foundational supplies yet. I would want to have good, solid, predator proof housing for them, which I lack at the moment. I would also want to lay in a supply of medications and so forth, so that if a problem were to arise, I would not have to wait for an order to arrive before treating it.

I believe that people who are rigorous in enforcing strict biosecuruty policies have not only fewer problems with their flocks, but likely also earn a reputation for selling healthier birds, which is important to me. I would like to be known as a reputable, reliable breeder, if I were to embark upon such a venture. Biosecurity, when done properly, seems very overwhelming to me, however. I once bought a rooster from a lady who breeds Brahmas. She will not allow people to come to her property at all! She meets them down the road from her farm, to sell her birds. I can't quibble with her methods, as that rooster was healthy, docile, and absolutely lovely! But, I am not sure that I possess the discipline and consistency necessary to make it work.

As with so many ideas that interest me, I would have a great deal of learning to do, in order to avoid meeting with disaster, caused by rushing into such a project without fully understanding and preparing for the hazards.

So, my advice to both of us would be to spend a lot of time listening to folks who have built successful businesses around Chickens. What do they wish they had known going in? What would they do differently? How much did they invest, before they began to see returns? I will take the anecdotal knowledge of one who has been there, over a textbook blueprint, any day!

If you decide to do it, please consider sharing your process and results. I bet I am not the only one who would be fascinated to follow your journey!

I will definitely share results if I end up doing this
I’m lucky enough to live somewhere where there aren’t many predators and they are easy to defend against
And there isn’t as much risk of bird flu here either
I’ll watch that video, it is very intriguing! Making 1000 a week is an enticing proposition

 

[KristenG]

I would say making $1000 a week selling chicks is unlikely and unrealistic unless you only do it in the spring, when demand and production are highest. It isn’t a year-round gig for a few reasons- weather conditions during the heat of summer and cold during the winter can both cause massive losses as well. So, depending on where you live and where you are shipping, you will be limited to a few months in the spring and fall. Bantams don’t tend to lay well in the fall, so this probably won’t fare as well in the fall. You also need to have a large variety of breeds and/or varieties otherwise demand seems to peter out. I sell my d’Anvers chicks for $8 each and I am limited in shipping them to between March-June every year. I have about 10-15 hens in each variety, which usually results in 40-45 eggs per week per variety. And about 20-25 of those can hatch out per week if I set them. So, it costs me about $30-35 to feed one breeder Belgian d’Anvers bantam chicken for an entire year. It takes two (a rooster and a hen) to make a fertile egg, so just consider the overall cost to be the pair of chickens for fertile eggs to be $60-70 per year. So if a hen lays 3 eggs a week from March until June (which she won’t because she will try to go broody in May) - she will have laid 50-52 eggs. About 43 of those will be fertile. And about 28 of those fertile eggs will hatch (these stats are statistics based on how eggs hatch from my own birds). The real numbers With broody attempts are more like 30 eggs, 25 fertile, and 16 hatch. So, for me, the maximum number of chicks I could expect to sell from a pair per year is about 15-16 chicks. I normally only have enough demand for about 8 of those chicks per pair per year. Now, if you don’t have purebred show birds, people aren’t going to want to pay more than $5 a chick, most likely. This is because tractor supply is selling chicks for this amount or cheaper. Unless you can do some fancy sex link stuff and sell only pullets, your demand will tank. So, if you have rare breeds or show birds, you can set the price higher. I generally Set it at $8 per chick. If I sell 8 chicks ($64 for half the chicks produced annually by a single pair), I can pay for the feed of adult breeders for a year and keep the remaining 8 chicks for myself to possibly select future breeders from. It will not, however, pay for my time caring for the birds, raising new chicks and culling, housing, bedding, medical or first aid care, supplements, or anything extra. Then you add cost of box and shipping since the local market will dry up fast, and customers really start to drop off. Chick boxes with a heat pad and grow gel run about $10-15 and shipping $50-80. Customers will not want to pay for your gas to deliver to a central hub post office. Nor will they want to pay for your time packing and sorting their chicks. I can only handle about 6 boxes of chicks per week without help or I go insane. So, money making venture? Maybe you can squeeze some money out but if you bring in $1000 a week, it will likely be 1. Very temporary 2. You will be spending a lot of that money on equipment, feed, gas, and maybe shipping of chicks. I wouldn’t call it lucrative. You need an economy of scale to make it actually bring in money. I can’t do it as one person selling chicks for part of the year at $8 each. But maybe you will have better luck. Good luck!

 

[Cheekychook12]

I would say making $1000 a week selling chicks is unlikely and unrealistic unless you only do it in the spring, when demand and production are highest. It isn’t a year-round gig for a few reasons- weather conditions during the heat of summer and cold during the winter can both cause massive losses as well. So, depending on where you live and where you are shipping, you will be limited to a few months in the spring and fall. Bantams don’t tend to lay well in the fall, so this probably won’t fare as well in the fall. You also need to have a large variety of breeds and/or varieties otherwise demand seems to peter out. I sell my d’Anvers chicks for $8 each and I am limited in shipping them to between March-June every year. I have about 10-15 hens in each variety, which usually results in 40-45 eggs per week per variety. And about 20-25 of those can hatch out per week if I set them. So, it costs me about $30-35 to feed one breeder Belgian d’Anvers bantam chicken for an entire year. It takes two (a rooster and a hen) to make a fertile egg, so just consider the overall cost to be the pair of chickens for fertile eggs to be $60-70 per year. So if a hen lays 3 eggs a week from March until June (which she won’t because she will try to go broody in May) - she will have laid 50-52 eggs. About 43 of those will be fertile. And about 28 of those fertile eggs will hatch (these stats are statistics based on how eggs hatch from my own birds). The real numbers With broody attempts are more like 30 eggs, 25 fertile, and 16 hatch. So, for me, the maximum number of chicks I could expect to sell from a pair per year is about 15-16 chicks. I normally only have enough demand for about 8 of those chicks per pair per year. Now, if you don’t have purebred show birds, people aren’t going to want to pay more than $5 a chick, most likely. This is because tractor supply is selling chicks for this amount or cheaper. Unless you can do some fancy sex link stuff and sell only pullets, your demand will tank. So, if you have rare breeds or show birds, you can set the price higher. I generally Set it at $8 per chick. If I sell 8 chicks ($64 for half the chicks produced annually by a single pair), I can pay for the feed of adult breeders for a year and keep the remaining 8 chicks for myself to possibly select future breeders from. It will not, however, pay for my time caring for the birds, raising new chicks and culling, housing, bedding, medical or first aid care, supplements, or anything extra. Then you add cost of box and shipping since the local market will dry up fast, and customers really start to drop off. Chick boxes with a heat pad and grow gel run about $10-15 and shipping $50-80. Customers will not want to pay for your gas to deliver to a central hub post office. Nor will they want to pay for your time packing and sorting their chicks. I can only handle about 6 boxes of chicks per week without help or I go insane. So, money making venture? Maybe you can squeeze some money out but if you bring in $1000 a week, it will likely be 1. Very temporary 2. You will be spending a lot of that money on equipment, feed, gas, and maybe shipping of chicks. I wouldn’t call it lucrative. You need an economy of scale to make it actually bring in money. I can’t do it as one person selling chicks for part of the year at $8 each. But maybe you will have better luck. Good luck!

Yeah I doubt I’d make much if anything, but there aren’t any stores like tractor supply or others here selling chicks, I have a popular breed and would be the only breeder of them in my area, so I think there’d be a decent amount of demand
You are right though I’d only be able to sell in spring and early summer

 

[Cheekychook12]

I would say making $1000 a week selling chicks is unlikely and unrealistic unless you only do it in the spring, when demand and production are highest. It isn’t a year-round gig for a few reasons- weather conditions during the heat of summer and cold during the winter can both cause massive losses as well. So, depending on where you live and where you are shipping, you will be limited to a few months in the spring and fall. Bantams don’t tend to lay well in the fall, so this probably won’t fare as well in the fall. You also need to have a large variety of breeds and/or varieties otherwise demand seems to peter out. I sell my d’Anvers chicks for $8 each and I am limited in shipping them to between March-June every year. I have about 10-15 hens in each variety, which usually results in 40-45 eggs per week per variety. And about 20-25 of those can hatch out per week if I set them. So, it costs me about $30-35 to feed one breeder Belgian d’Anvers bantam chicken for an entire year. It takes two (a rooster and a hen) to make a fertile egg, so just consider the overall cost to be the pair of chickens for fertile eggs to be $60-70 per year. So if a hen lays 3 eggs a week from March until June (which she won’t because she will try to go broody in May) - she will have laid 50-52 eggs. About 43 of those will be fertile. And about 28 of those fertile eggs will hatch (these stats are statistics based on how eggs hatch from my own birds). The real numbers With broody attempts are more like 30 eggs, 25 fertile, and 16 hatch. So, for me, the maximum number of chicks I could expect to sell from a pair per year is about 15-16 chicks. I normally only have enough demand for about 8 of those chicks per pair per year. Now, if you don’t have purebred show birds, people aren’t going to want to pay more than $5 a chick, most likely. This is because tractor supply is selling chicks for this amount or cheaper. Unless you can do some fancy sex link stuff and sell only pullets, your demand will tank. So, if you have rare breeds or show birds, you can set the price higher. I generally Set it at $8 per chick. If I sell 8 chicks ($64 for half the chicks produced annually by a single pair), I can pay for the feed of adult breeders for a year and keep the remaining 8 chicks for myself to possibly select future breeders from. It will not, however, pay for my time caring for the birds, raising new chicks and culling, housing, bedding, medical or first aid care, supplements, or anything extra. Then you add cost of box and shipping since the local market will dry up fast, and customers really start to drop off. Chick boxes with a heat pad and grow gel run about $10-15 and shipping $50-80. Customers will not want to pay for your gas to deliver to a central hub post office. Nor will they want to pay for your time packing and sorting their chicks. I can only handle about 6 boxes of chicks per week without help or I go insane. So, money making venture? Maybe you can squeeze some money out but if you bring in $1000 a week, it will likely be 1. Very temporary 2. You will be spending a lot of that money on equipment, feed, gas, and maybe shipping of chicks. I wouldn’t call it lucrative. You need an economy of scale to make it actually bring in money. I can’t do it as one person selling chicks for part of the year at $8 each. But maybe you will have better luck. Good luck!

Would you call these a show quality breeders? I’d like to know how close my best birds (I think) are to the SOP
Some people manage to sell the same breed at $20 per chick but that seems unreasonable

 

[KristenG]

It’s hard for me to tell at a glance whether your birds are show quality. The black ones look to represent the breed visually. But with blacks, there are some color faults that can prove problematic. For example: white tipping in the wings can be a problem that renders them useless for show (two or more large white tips in any section is a disqualification). Same with red in the hackles or the males- any amount is a DQ.

Proper foot color can also be an issue. Tendency towards vulture hocks can be an issue. I don’t think yours have vulture hocks but I am not able to see how they move or feel the thigh feathers.

Some of your blacks appear to have nice cushion development but some of the others do not. In addition, a lot of your other varieties have longer looking and pointed tails and narrower looking bodies (not as profusely feathered). Cochins that lack a well-rounded cushion will fail to be competitive in stiff competition.

If you are crossing any of these varieties together, they also shouldn’t be sold as coming from show quality stock.

Give it a try if you want though. Hatching chicks is fun and since you don’t seem to have any other local chicks available, you might do well!

 

[Cheekychook12]

It’s hard for me to tell at a glance whether your birds are show quality. The black ones look to represent the breed visually. But with blacks, there are some color faults that can prove problematic. For example: white tipping in the wings can be a problem that renders them useless for show (two or more large white tips in any section is a disqualification). Same with red in the hackles or the males- any amount is a DQ.

Proper foot color can also be an issue. Tendency towards vulture hocks can be an issue. I don’t think yours have vulture hocks but I am not able to see how they move or feel the thigh feathers.

Some of your blacks appear to have nice cushion development but some of the others do not. In addition, a lot of your other varieties have longer looking and pointed tails and narrower looking bodies (not as profusely feathered). Cochins that lack a well-rounded cushion will fail to be competitive in stiff competition.

If you are crossing any of these varieties together, they also shouldn’t be sold as coming from show quality stock.

Give it a try if you want though. Hatching chicks is fun and since you don’t seem to have any other local chicks available, you might do well!

The blacks are pure black, no white or other colours anywhere
They all have yellow feet and soles
Googling what vulture hocks are and I don’t think the black ones have those
Yeah only the black ones are nicely rounded, the other aren’t as good
Definitely not selling the chicks as show stock, because my roosters aren’t even close to how round they should be
Hoping to one day get a nice black rooster to go with the black hens as they seem to be the best
I guess I’ll see how they look when they are a year old

The person I got the frizzles from has a similar setup to me, same breed, hers weren’t pure bred though, some had wrong foot colour and head puffs and didn’t have the right shape but she still had apparently a very long wait list for her chicks, especially frizzles