Hatching raising and selling.

[WindingRoad]

First of all I'm not sure if this is the right place but oh well.
Anyways. I'm wanting to get into hatching ,raising and selling chickens and maybe turkeys or ducks. (Emus is possible)
I'm almost 17 so I'm starting to figure out what to do when I graduate from high school.
My parents say I'm not a typical teenager, I love the outdoors, I love playing with my chickens and siblings. (I actually enjoy doing my schoolwork) and I'm also homeschooled.

I currently have 15 adult chickens, 11 chicks and 2 ducks.
My main goal is to have a flock of about 60 this summer to next spring.
My adult chickens are, Old English Game Bantam, (At least I've been told) Calico princess, Mille Fleur, black jersey giant, golden laced Cochin bantam, and a speckled serama.
The chicks I have is: 1 Black Copper Maran, 1 light Brahma, 1 Dominique, 2 Blue Andalusians, 2 Black Australorps, 1 silver laced Wyandotte, 1 polish, 1 speckled Sussex, and 1 turkin. (I had a lot more but something happened this past Monday morning and lost a lot, and also going to get some more tomorrow)

So do y'all have any suggestions as to a breed I should try, or advice that you would be willing to share? Or just ask any question and I'll try to answer the best I can!
Any will be greatly appreciated!!

For egg layers I would suggest ISA Browns and Buff Orpington. they are good layers. I'm sure you know this is going to be a somewhat expensive endeavor. You might need a side job for start money. Are you handy and can built a big coop. The woman I bought my 2 SLW from buys chicks in the spring and sells in the fall. 16 weeks. Just before they started laying. I bought for $10 each. I don't think she's making much money. I don't know how many she bought. They do get a little cheaper in bulk. As another poster recommended maybe go to school to learn the trade. Might be a good idea to think about at least.

 

[lomine]

This year I plan to start selling started pullets and ducklings from my own flock, which shouldn't be too difficult in my area. My plan is not to make a lot of money, my hope is to be able to fully cover my feed costs for the year. I've done some simple number crunching and I think I need to sell about 130 to break even. That means I'll have to hatch over 260 (probably way more because I seem to hatch more cockerels) and raise them to about 6-8 weeks. I plan to raise the cockerels a bit longer and butcher them, so that will help with grocery costs a bit too (though I may sell some cheap because I don't need that much meat). I do sell some eggs too but not a lot. I suppose if I really put a lot of effort into marketing I could sell more, but even if I sold ever egg it wouldn't be enough to live on. If I'm lucky I might earn a little extra to help pay for water, bedding, and electric.

I think you need to take a good hard look at the numbers. I don't want to poke holes in your dreams and wishes here, but I honestly don't think there's a ton of money to be made unless you go a more commercial route. I suggest you do some research into startup and infrastructure costs and how much you can sell the products for in your area. Folks on BYC can give advice and share ideas but they don't know your local market.