Does anyone actually make money breeding chickens?

[TherryChicken]

I don't breed, but I do buy from breeders who sell their eggs. After they hatch i sell the chicks and so far have made $30 from 10 chicks.. Since we live in a quiet neighborhood, roosters wouldn't be a good idea.

 

[juststruttin]

Yep, I find it hard to make money. As soon as I make a little I spend it to build another coop LOL.. I think I do the best selling pullets, especially in late winter early spring. I am hatching chicks now to sell in Jan/Feb. I also have a rooster guy who will take my young roos which really helps.

I also like hatching chicks this time of year as replacements. If I hatch them now, they are producing in April/May when eggs/chick sales are at their peek, instead of Sep/Oct when eggs/chick sales slow.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

Yep, I find it hard to make money. As soon as I make a little I spend it to build another coop LOL.. I think I do the best selling pullets, especially in late winter early spring. I am hatching chicks now to sell in Jan/Feb. I also have a rooster guy who will take my young roos which really helps.

I also like hatching chicks this time of year as replacements. If I hatch them now, they are producing in April/May when eggs/chick sales are at their peek, instead of Sep/Oct when eggs/chick sales slow.

Same here sugar! LOL That is a good idea. You are going to end up making me turn on my Sportsmans again...STOP IT! LOL haha

I seriously may have to consider hatching out a bunch of pullets to sell locally. How much do you get for you pullets, and at what age?

~ Aspen

 

[juststruttin]

Depending on breed, I sell pullets between $30 and $60. My Sulmtalers will be priced $100-$200 when available

 

[DMRippy]

Depending on breed, I sell pullets between $30 and $60. My Sulmtalers will be priced $100-$200 when available

at those prices I could make some money! I get between $10-25 each for pullets depending on breed. I expect to have some for $30-50 each next spring...just depends on what the market will bare in your area.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

$20-$25.00 is the most I've sold laying hens for in my area. Although, usually when I sell off hens they are culls from my breeders, they don't have good coloring, etc, but still lay lots of eggs, or they are a common breed.

I can probably price them alot higher at the first of the year, as most people won't have young laying hens, but chicks for sale.

~ Aspen

 

[cmfarm]

I think the first place to start is finding a good, low priced feed. I found some local feed for $11 a bag. I contacted them to see if they sell for cheaper in bulk but they said they only sell to stores. So for that price with feed and after you get the a certain percentage of chicks to hatch it cost about $.15 to produce a chick (feed, electric, water, gas, based on about 80% hatching). I had a really good business for black sex links but had a hard time because we made an incubator and it wasn't working right. I was only getting like 25% hatch rates but even with just that it was paying for the chickens. I have been searching all over CL to find people selling eating eggs (much cheaper than those selling hatching eggs) that have pure flocks. I did find someone that has BR and RIR chickens and sells eggs for $3 a dozen. That is $.25 an egg, and after you factor in egg loss it comes out to about $.30 a chick. So you can sell them and make a fairly good profit. I was selling my sex links for $1.80 each pullet for 25 or more and $.75 for males. That is around $1.65 per chick profit for females, and $.55 for males (that is, if you have a good hatch rate, which I wasn't). So if you produce 200 chicks a week (and we will say you hatch out half males and half females) you can make $220 a week profit. Of course you could charge more but with those prices they sold easily. You could do it as a part time living but you would have to produce a lot of chicks a week to make it a full time living.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

I think the first place to start is finding a good, low priced feed. I found some local feed for $11 a bag. I contacted them to see if they sell for cheaper in bulk but they said they only sell to stores. So for that price with feed and after you get the a certain percentage of chicks to hatch it cost about $.15 to produce a chick (feed, electric, water, gas, based on about 80% hatching). I had a really good business for black sex links but had a hard time because we made an incubator and it wasn't working right. I was only getting like 25% hatch rates but even with just that it was paying for the chickens. I have been searching all over CL to find people selling eating eggs (much cheaper than those selling hatching eggs) that have pure flocks. I did find someone that has BR and RIR chickens and sells eggs for $3 a dozen. That is $.25 an egg, and after you factor in egg loss it comes out to about $.30 a chick. So you can sell them and make a fairly good profit. I was selling my sex links for $1.80 each pullet for 25 or more and $.75 for males. That is around $1.65 per chick profit for females, and $.55 for males (that is, if you have a good hatch rate, which I wasn't). So if you produce 200 chicks a week (and we will say you hatch out half males and half females) you can make $220 a week profit. Of course you could charge more but with those prices they sold easily. You could do it as a part time living but you would have to produce a lot of chicks a week to make it a full time living.

I think I sold most of my chicks for $4.00 each, all purebred. If they were mixed or Bantams I usually charged $2.00-$2.50 per chick. I sold Guinea keets for $6.00-$8.00 each depending on color. I can sell all the keets I want, pretty much year round, but my chick sales went down as the weather got hotter. This coming spring I plan to sell mostly ducklings and goslings. I'm really thinning down my chickens, so we'll see what I have next spring.

~ Aspen

 

[Double Laced]

I supplement their feed with spent grains from a local brewery. That cuts my feed bill by about 1/3 or more. I buy from a feed mill by the ton so that cuts my feed bill too. If I have to

Brewery grains is a bad idea for chickens, they are just bulk with very little nutritional value. ( most of the starch and sugars have been removed ). They should only really be fed to animals like cows with four stomachs.

 

[DMRippy]

I supplement their feed with spent grains from a local brewery.  That cuts my feed bill by about 1/3 or more.  I buy from a feed mill by the ton so that cuts my feed bill too.  If I have to 

Brewery grains is a bad idea for chickens, they are just bulk with very little nutritional value. ( most of the starch and sugars have been removed ). They should only really be fed to animals like cows with four stomachs.

You might want to look it up! If all the starch is gone..... that leaves protein..... not a bad thing for chickens. Much better than feeding scratch. You can feed up to 40% spent grains. VERY GOOD for them and my pocket. There are lots of studies online you can research like I did.