I have an excellent feed store near by and got started by buying up the 4+ week old chicks that were outgrowing the battery brooder. Saved $$ by not feeding them for 4 weeks on top of not losing any. My priorities in selecting breeds are good beginner chickens, not prone to egg laying issues, decent layers, not broody, good for kids, colorful. Mostly DP breeds, no bantams, no fancies, no long tails, no meat birds, no roosters ( do not dupe a beginner with roosters just to get rid of them) no high production hybrids. Started with batches of 15-25 for a few years. No more work to raise 25 than 3 so even if I were just buying replacement birds for myself I would raise the extras to pay for mine. Just raising them until they are off heat, outside and to the point where you can identify the boys is worth an extra $10 in my book.
I live in the metro Denver area so there is a demand for chickens and started pullets eliminate the accidental cockerels which most cities don't allow. You will have close to $10 invested in each pullet by 10 weeks. 16-20 weeks will be more like $15. What's your market? Can you get $25-30 for a POL pullet? You are assuming the risk of loss and potential cockerels. That has to work into the price you charge. People might baulk at paying $30 for a chick you paid $5 for 15 weeks ago but they aren't figuring in the $200 in supplies you invested in to get them to that point.
. Was kind of hoping that would let me charge a bit more. And that way we would have a backup in case one of our chicks didn't make it or was a dude. 
I ordered 35 chicks to arrive May 27th, 2023.
