Hatchers Anonymous *Official Thread*

[Sumatra503]

Hello, My name is Sumatra503, but you can call me Sumatra. I am a hatchaholic. I am not ashamed and have admitted I may need help.

I got my first chicken in 2002 for my 12th B' Day. She was just a little crossbred hen, her name was Cluck Cluck. A few weeks later was the science fair at school. Guess what I did as my project!! I went to a local chicken farm and she let me pick out my eggs. Then I went to my mom's boss's house where I got my Cluck Cluck and collected some eggs there. 20 eggs total. My Dad bought me the bator as a late B' Day present and I was set. I filled the water pans, set the thermostat, marked the eggs with an X and O for hand turning them. I was ready to go.

About half way through the hatch I checked the temp and it was 110!! I quickly set it back down. I ended up with only 4 out of 20 eggs hatching. All Hens!!

I now have a new bator. It sat empty for years, cause of my broody hen. this year i have realized a developing problem. I have hatched about 50 chicks, 20 ducklings, 8 goslings, and 10 quail this summer. At one point i had 100 eggs in my bator. I brought the batch of 100 to the fair to hatch and someone unplugged the bator to charge their phone.

Part of it may be my friend. She has a lot of connections to people with a lot of stuff. She's always finding eggs from some sort of poultry that she would like me to hatch for her. i get to keep all of the hatch that I want and give her the rest.

I now have a few buttons and get four eggs per day. I have this serious urge to put all of those eggs in the bator. I ate two yesterday to keep myself from hatching them.


I have 10 chicken eggs and 40 quail eggs due to hatch this month.

Well, that's my story. Hope you enjoyed and thanks for listening.

Does it count if you have a market for everything you hatch? All of mine sell.

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
Welcome, Sumatra!

I am envious of your ability to market your hatches. I was going to say "sell" but that would suggest I have tried to sell mine. NOT. What I need is the gumption to market what I've got now and what I will have in the future ('cause I don't foresee being able to stop incubating/hatching, at this point).

I may make this into a little business in a few years when I retire from my day job; in the interim, I just wanna give babies away to good homes.

 

[Sumatra503]

I always post ads in the Pet section of craigs list. Take cute pictures and post the fluffy little chick pictures in the ad. I advertise 2.00 each and offer them some food and a care packet to go with. They sell like hotcakes!! The fluffy chick pictures help and so does the title "Cute and Fluffy Super Tame Handraised Chicks". Works like a charm. You've got to remember the Cute and Fluffy part. It's what catches them and draws them in.

I also keep them until they don't need a light anymore. Most people who want pet chickens don't like to bother with the lamps.

I've found a niche in the breeds that I have. Cochins and cochin crosses are extremely popular around here. Button and Coturnix quail are popular as well and aren't readily available.

you should get a breed that is popular in your area, like laying hens or a popular pet breed and raise those for hatching.

 

[gryeyes]

See, this is why I love BYC so much, AND why Hatchers Anonymous is so perfect - thanks for enabling my addiction, Sumatra!

I will SO do that. I like raising them to 8 - 12 weeks old, anyway.

I don't want a lot of traffic at my home so I think I'll advertise free delivery, too.

That way I can make sure they're going to real backyard homes, and not.. elsewhere.

Thank you so much!

 

[Sumatra503]

Glad I could help!!

I love hatching chicks. I've never found a baby chick I didn't think was adorable. I love the little EE chicks with fluffy cheeks.

Doesn't it say in all of the handbooks that i'm not supposed to enable your addiction?

 

[LaurenM23]

Alright, Sumatra, you've got me seriously thinking about this marketing business. So you keep them until maybe the 6 week mark? Are people able to purchase them earlier (if they want the fuzzy phase)? It's a nice idea to have them go to new homes at a later growth period. I wonder if that cuts down on people who "think" they want a chick, then change their minds when it feathers out. This would also give you a chance to sex them with greater reliability.

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
Oh, yah, sure, "sex" them. Like I have any expertise in doing that before they crow or lay eggs!

(But I do have some obvious roos in my brooders.... it's the sneaky, hidden ones that baffle me.)

 

[Sumatra503]

sexing chicks is easy once they're feathered out.

You market some as babies and see what sells, then you keep some until they are feathered and sell those. You can also sell them at the fluffy age and then offer to raise them until they are feathered for an extra fee to cover the food.

The market for started pullets is extremely high. If you can keep them until they are easily sexed you can make 10.00 each from them easy. Started means off the lamp and on its way to laying.

 

[Wynette]

Quote:
Around here, you're lucky to get $5/ea. I recently sold some young adult laying hens that were currently laying for $3/ea. That's what the market will bear around here, unfortunatly!

 

[Sumatra503]

That's depressing. Around here layers sell like hotcakes for sometimes as much as 20.00!! The young pullets i have generally sell for 5-10.00 depending on the age and the time of the year.

Remember that Christmas is not far off and that is a great marketing time for chicks.