do your birds make you money?

[A.T. Hagan]

Mine are at least making enough to pay for their feed.

I haven't yet been able to think of a way to make enough on them to pay for more than that.

.....Alan.

 

[iluvcks]

I have 10 girls, they average 8 eggs a day. I supply eggs for 8 familys. Plus ours. We get $3.oo a dozen. It barely covers the cost of food. During the fall when they first started laying good but there still was plenty of "stuff" to eat free ranging we did a little better. Back then we only charged $2.oo a dozen. We are getting 15 more chicks in the Spring and have people waiting for eggs, but I know we will never break even. It's not about that. It's about the joy we get from the birds and great eggs.

 

[Deanner03]

I'm supposed to make MONEY with them????

Crap. I'm doin' it WRONG.

 

[Hunny]

I'm very new (first chicks are a week old) but I dont plan on making money!

I will sell excess eggs to friends for cheap ($1.50 doz) but dont plan on making anything.
Considered the local Farmers Market, (free to set up). But I dont think I'll ever have enough eggs to do it. It sure sounds like fun, maybe in a few years

 

[tazcat70]

It is difficult to make a profit, I personally do not.

 

[jeaucamom]

You seriously must be delusional!!!!!!

$300 for coop(s)
$75 for chicks
$300 in chick feed BEFORE they start to lay

And then the layer feed and egg cartons as they start to lay and you get maybe 10 cents on the dollar IF you don't wind up giving all your eggs away to friends and family.


You seriously need HELP if you think you are going to make money off of this!!! Find another addiction!!

 

[thepremo1]

45$ for coop 16.95 $ for chickens + feed and bedding 7 $ for feeder and waterer
2 $ for a dozen eggs

 

[mistyfeather]

myfirst chicks are ariving on tuesday!!! i have a list of people a mile long wanting to by eggs! but i dont think it would ever be profitable. maybe just enough to pay for feed. if you were getting so big to see huge profits you most likly would be doing it as any comertial company does and the whole point of backyard flocks is to get away from that!not over produse for large profit

 

[CherokeeCowgirl]

Yes, I make money off of my chickens. I sell eggs for eating and hatching. I sell chicks and adult birds. I hand paint eggs and sell them.

It isn't a fortune but it helps cover all my feed costs.

 

[Penturner]

Well, First of all you are not going to make money using the majority of techniques you see here. Not having anything against how things are done here, but the focus is on the enjoyment of hatching, brooding chicks and watching your Roos herd their hens around the back yard. all this effort spent on those goals basically does not leave enough time to focus on the making money stuff. A dozen hens laying eggs around the clock is not even enough production to make enough money to be considered making money. that sort fo thing. Now That pretty much sticks 99.9 percent of the members here in a neat little box that we can label "Hobbiest" or better yet Chicken Lovers. They do not make money, most actually pay money to have chickens and there compensation is of a completely different nature. some spend hundreds of dollars a year to go see movies or go out to dinner. these folks pay hundreds to watch chickens kill their grass. I do think there are some basic things that would actually help them make more money without sacrificing there first love of chickens, but that is another topic. I will mention one. For everyone that are paying hundreds of dollars a year to have your own eggs. Those eggs are not only worth the cost to you, but they are also worth the effort you have to go to in caring for the egg makers. I ask you why it would not be worth that same cost to others to have those same fresh eggs and all those people get to avoid all the work. Basically I think you are cutting yourself short on what your eggs could be to at least some people. And you only need some because you can only produce so many eggs. Alright enough on that.
If I where to seriously look at making money with chickens. I would first look at where the money is being spent. Take the average household. How much do you think they spend on chicken products a year. I know in my house maybe a dozen eggs a week. maybe and a chicken a week. time 52 weeks that would be on average 52 dozen eggs and 52 chickens a year. then consider that by far the majority of those families are going to get all that from the Tyson Family. the selling of chicken stuff to the end user is possible but not where I really see the money being spent on chickens. I see the people that really spend a lot of money on chickens every year are the people that keep chickens. I have to admit that I have other semi related experience that I have formed this opinion from. Make homemade bators , feeders, waterers custom coops, hatching services or whatever. My bet that average chicken keeper can spend more money in one trip to the feed store than I will on chicken for a year.
In the more traditional thinking of how to make money with chickens. It can be done, but it requires a focus on making money. you do not keep hens past their prime, you select breeders for max production. that means if you have a hen that lays 6 eggs a week and one that lays 5 you cull the one that only produces 5 because she is taking up the room that a 6 egg a week hen could be living. It is all about numbers, efficiency and completely heartless. it also has absolutely nothing to do with anything the average Back Yard Chicken person wants to have anything to do with. But in the end the idea that you can make money with a few chickens in your back yard is very very unlikely.