Debating starting new hatchery

[jamesrm]

Hey guys,
My mom wants me to spend more time on her horse farm and I was debating starting a hatchery more as a hobby, as I have a good base set of equipment. I was thinking about trying to specialize in the more rare breeds as the big guys handle the tons of production, meat and standard egg laying foul needs of the average masses.

That being said, what kinds of birds are you looking for and having trouble finding on a good, consistent basis and what would you pay for them? I am planning on having chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys as well as quail. I am going to raise some of the standard flocks for locals, but I suspect I would be able to do decently well specializing for the birds people are wanting to find here.

I am not looking to be the next McMurray, Ideal or Meyer, but I would like to be able to pay for my poultry and perhaps put a few dollars in my pocket down the road. I would be located in between Hendersonville and White House, TN.

James


Also, if anyone has experience and would not mind helping me out with design, I have about a 80x30 area to work with. I am trying to get all pens dedicated outdoor runs.

 

[Illia]

I think that starting a hatchery isn't really a good way to go, IMO. You end up having no focus on your poultry husbandry, and so many things can go wrong. . . I have yet to see a hatchery that runs as well as a breeder.

If you truly love the poultry world, why not go into breeding a decent variety of rare breeds? That way you really get into knowing your birds as well as other people's stock, and have better connections with your customers. You'll be striving for the true breed, not just a "bunch of chickens."

 

[Choctaw Valley Farm]

Very well said Illia, I couldn't agree with you more

. You just need to start with good QUALITY stock and NOT the hatchery stuff, there are to many hatchery's out there now that do not have good stock.

Steve

 

[michickenwrangler]

I just posted on another thread about hatchery vs. breeder stock. Your best bet would be to get good foundation stock of a few breeds that aren't a dime a dozen. Maybe focus on 3-4 different breeds of good quality that arent' particularly common. TN is a fairly central location as you can ship easily to the south, mid-Atlantic and southern Midwest.

 

[Chickanmanfromarkansas]

Go for it.. You could call it a hatchery or not. Do not try to get too many breeeds at once though. Start with three to five breeds, go from there.
My wife is from Celina, TN.

 

[Lensters]

I would suggest calling yourself a breeder or a farm though you will still need to register your business with the state as a hatchery. Their is so many preconceived notions about hatcheries that having that word in your business name turns off a lot of people. I named mine as a hatchery but I sell better quality birds than most of the "heritage breeders" do, but people still think that they are doing the right thing by purchasing their "heritage birds" which are just hatchery stock.

 

[joletabey]

I agree- leave hatchery out of your name and become known as a breeder of quality with the birds you choose- this is a great place to find people with good quality birds to start you out- you can ship eggs or chicks as you please- you are going to have plenty of room to develop this.
If I were you, with that amount of space, I would dedicate myself to some of the Heritage breeds or breeds on the critical list and breed the best you possibly can with the best stock you can get. I am just going to throw out a few breed names- maybe others will add -

Delawares- off the critical list, but still need attention to improve the breed
Buckeyes- see the threads on BYC- incredible info
Barnevelders- seems there aren't that many GOOD ones out there
Javas
maybe something that I, at least, have found hard to find - good Partridge Rocks
And maybe something in a rare color that people will want. ????

I know if you had excellent Barnies or Dels, I would order.
Good luck-

 

[purelypoultry]

I would chose some breeds that are regularly sold out at the hatcheries. Call Ducks, Muscovies, Marans, Welsummers, Barnevelders, Chanteclers, Delawares, Faverolles, Sussex, Dorkings, our lines of Wild Turkeys. Our Wild Turkeys we sell all that we can get on the rare types. We do still have Osceolas available this season that you could buy from us. We would send you orders for you to ship out to our customers and would probably be able to sell all of them that you can do.

I would not call it a hatchery call it a farm or like we do just calling it Purely Poultry.

You can definitely make a business out of it. People will criticize you for the notion but it can be done. You might consider also our program where we send orders to you to ship out to our customers.

 

[Urbanfarmerkc]

This has been a perfect thread for me. I am so frustrated trying to find certain breeds like the Dorking (Red or colored) as well as the Le Fleche that I've decided to start myself a breedery.

I was going to call it a hatchery but y'all talked me out of it. I have chicks coming from Sand Hill and have already bought from Ideal (silver grey dorkings). I have also purchased a few from a local sources and traveled around to find a few.

I've chased my tail for two years trying to find breeders or folks that sell the breeds that are interesting to me and have had little to no luck in some breeds and in others I've either had to wait all summer long or they are sold out by March. I guess the most frustrating thing is people either want $10 per egg or an ungodly amount of money for the chicks. So, I hope to have myself up and running this next spring. I'm hoping to have my NPIP stuff completed in the next few weeks. I hope it turns out well since I've been all over the planet to find these breeds.

Thanks for the interesting info.

Dave

 

[JSGamefowl]

Quote:
"I guess the most frustrating thing is people either want $10 per egg or an ungodly amount of money for the chicks " people you get what you pay for if you want cheap chickens then buy chickens if you want high quailty chicks then you gotta pay , i get this alot with my asil, people say they are high priced , but you have to think they are rare breeds for a reason they are not as easy to breed as all the others , everyday care, predator losses , cages it all adds up and of course the quality of the birds , you can get asils, from hatcherys but they are not the real thing , if you want good quality birds its going to cost you , just be sure you are not getting some mixed breed trying to be passed as pure, i dont sell my asil for less that $100 ea