Do hatcheries/breeders make money?

[Ragna]

The title is the main question but if so how do they make money and how are things usually constructed?

 

[TheGoldenGirlz]

Breeders can do it as a hobby, but most hatcheries do it for money. They sell large quantities of chicks to have an income. There is no way they could produce chicks if they didn’t make money...

 

[Ragna]

Breeders can do it as a hobby, but most hatcheries do it for money. They sell large quantities of chicks to have an income. There is no way they could produce chicks if they didn’t make money...

My family owns a poultry facility where they sell but NOT raise chickens. I want to raise chickens and initially I wanted to own a processing or distribution business. there are different permits for each one here according to what I was told by the state... And I'd have to reach out to the USDA it's a whole big complicated thing. But then it came to mind about hatcheries and it would give me a good reason not to kill my own chickens and to keep raising them. I don't really like to kill chickens :x I am in love with them

 

[TheGoldenGirlz]

My family owns a poultry facility where they sell but NOT raise chickens. I want to raise chickens and initially I wanted to own a processing or distribution business. there are different permits for each one here according to what I was told by the state... And I'd have to reach out to the USDA it's a whole big complicated thing. But then it came to mind about hatcheries and it would give me a good reason not to kill my own chickens and to keep raising them. I don't really like to kill chickens :x I am in love with them

That seems like a great venture for someone who loves chickens. However, you might not like how all the unwanted cockerels would need to be taken care of. Not to mention the amount of money it would take to get the hatchery started. I sincerely wish you good luck!

 

[Rose Quartz]

so far, I haven't sold any of the chicks I've hatched. (my sister sold some - I hatched them for her.)

I imagine if there was demand for what ever breed you were hatching you could make quite a bit.

start up cost is something to consider. as well as time put in to incubating even with the most automatic incubator, you're still going to have to be home for hatching, and you'll have to spend time selling them, since I can't have chickens here before I can hatch any I have to be sure they have a home if the person I'm hatching for changes their mind about wanting them. or if I set extra in case they don't all hatch and then I have more than the person asked for.

hatching is exciting and fun, and really sad sometimes.

what I would suggest is if you really want to hatch as a source of income... it is doable, maybe try it out small scale for a while and see if it's something you really want to do.

 

[Silkie2]

I agree with @TheGoldenGirlz. you'll need to figure out what you'll do with all those cockerels you'll no doubt get from hatching so many eggs. Make sure to do a lot of research and maybe visit some hatcheries to see how they do things

 

[Ragna]

so far, I haven't sold any of the chicks I've hatched. (my sister sold some - I hatched them for her.)

I imagine if there was demand for what ever breed you were hatching you could make quite a bit.

start up cost is something to consider. as well as time put in to incubating even with the most automatic incubator, you're still going to have to be home for hatching, and you'll have to spend time selling them, since I can't have chickens here before I can hatch any I have to be sure they have a home if the person I'm hatching for changes their mind about wanting them. or if I set extra in case they don't all hatch and then I have more than the person asked for.

hatching is exciting and fun, and really sad sometimes.

what I would suggest is if you really want to hatch as a source of income... it is doable, maybe try it out small scale for a while and see if it's something you really want to do.

The USDA will fund farms and since I intended to sell to businesses for food I'm sure they'd help

 

[Rose Quartz]

The USDA will fund farms and since I intended to sell to businesses for food I'm sure they'd help

oh, so you're looking to go large scale? look in to quota if that's the case. At least in Canada if you are raising to sell for meat, (large scale) then you have to make quota, which is around 1500 chicks. minimum.

I haven't looked into that myself because I would rather do stuff small scale.

 

[Ragna]

oh, so you're looking to go large scale? look in to quota if that's the case. At least in Canada if you are raising to sell for meat, (large scale) then you have to make quota, which is around 1500 chicks. minimum.

I haven't looked into that myself because I would rather do stuff small scale.

Well I wanted to raise chickens to sell back to my family's facility which buys 1500 chickens a week both rooster and hens. A hatchery is something else I want to do since I'll be raising chickens *already* so I figured it would be another way to generate more revenue. I'm definitely looking into a larger scale business. I have a few factors that help me out and that's family in the business (or similar business), very good credit and the USDA's help with starting a farm

 

[The Moonshiner]

The USDA will fund farms

and the USDA's help with starting a farm

When you say this does it mean they'll put you in their pocket and then control just about every aspect of your operations?