Help!!!

[Mrs MIA]

Quote:
I've already suggested this... don't think it worked.

 

[Katy]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

Quote:
I've already suggested this... don't think it worked.

Some just have to learn the hard way.​

 

[Zahboo]

Are you opening a hatchery or just breeding and selling chicks. If you make it a business, you get into legal mumbojumbo. Start small either way. You'll get more than you can chew. Are you going to keep the colors seperate or have mixed colors? Where would you ship them too? Are you looking for newer breeds/colors or heritage? Need more info than you're going to open one. What's your budget? That depends on how many birds you can house. With a hatchery you will need to make sure you stay on top of biosecurity which means lots of coops for your breeds and quarentine coops. Brooders for improving your flock. ect. ect.

 

[BorderKelpie]

I just want to wish you all the best. I hope you can make this work. Congrats!
(I also like the suggestin of MorningGloryHatchery - it sounds full of promise and hope).
Good luck!

 

[morninggloryhatchery]

Mrs. AK-Bird-Brain :

So, are your parents getting your business license for you, since you're not old enough to get one yourself? Just curious...

Yes it is under my mothers name .. she will be owner but i will be the chicken breeder / person who manages the chickens and feeds them.​

 

[morninggloryhatchery]

Quote:
Well i decided to down size on a couple breeds just cause my budget so i am not getting roosters for my RIR's and Bo's and am keeping those just for laying hen. But so far i am hopefully going to be breeding silkies in White, Cuckoo, and Calico. I am bringing in the Cuckoo and Calico's cause there is another hatchery that has Whites, Blacks , and Blues and i have my eyes on some Blue Laced Red Wyandotte bantams and i contacted the breeder and if i can't get some wyandottes he has Sebrights , Nankins, and sultans. and i will have Cuckoo Maran then thats it. I was going to start with about 10 breeds but decided thats going to be WAY to much with my budgeet right now. So i cut down to 2- 5 breeds max. I am only keeping the Whites cause i already own them. I currently have 2 coops. A 10x10 with a nice big 20x25 run and the second coop is 8x8 with a 8x20 run. Then i also have Rabbit hutches in my basement in winter for my bantam and non - hardy birds. And in a couple weeks we are going to start building another coop that will be 15x18. There will be an isle right down the middle and on each side there will be 3 5x5 pens that will each have their own run. and as a brooder room i using one of my rooms in my basement. I feel secure using the basement cause it is always heated and has heated floors for the chicks. As for breeding coops i am going to be using 4 rooms from the new coop we are building to have different color silkies although we may have a pen that will hold 2 colors but we are probably going to be sticking to one color per pen. And if i run out of room in my coops my basement is a whopping 1,985 square feet basement so we could probably put something temporarily together.

 

[saddina]

Ok, good thinking, but are those breeds in demand in your area? Have you figured in the cost of an incubator large enough to handle this? What about advertising, who are your customers, and how will you reach them? Are you going to ship live chicks, eggs or both? What supplies does that take? How much do you need to sell to break even, make a profit?

Of course you are saving every reciept for your schedule C taxes at the year end?

Have you begun tracking your current flock?

 

[morninggloryhatchery]

The Silkies arn't in the highest demand but they are considerably in demand. From e-mail i get alot of people mainly wanting them as brooders and we have 4H in alaska and the Kids that have their flocks always like to get Silkies.I am currently sharing an incubator with a good friend of mine but in alaska we get a dividend once a year so when i get it i am going to be putting that money toward a nice big Sportsmans incubator and if the dividend is big enough i will put it toward another incubator or chicken feed/ coops , ect. Currently craigslist has been working for me cause i am not a big hatchery just a small family owned hatchery but we are currently working on getting a website, then i will probably post it on craigslist and Another good website in alaska. I am not interested in shipping live chicks just cause i hate the thought of my chicks dying and i have never shipped chick but in shipping eggs i am ok with that , i have done a couple orders already in Quail and Guinea eggs to the lower 48's so i know what supplies i need for the shipping part. Yes when i spend anything for my chickens and ect i keep all the receipts in a file cabinet and my mom ( the owner will go thru them and does what needs to be done for the C taxes.