How can you make maximum profit off Backyard Chickens?

[bruceha2000]

The general public buys eggs for $1 and chickens for 88 cents a pound, on sale, and you can't raise them and sell them for that.

Store eggs are sure cheap in Oregon. The cheap "store brand" here runs $1.79/dz for white. Then there are the more "name brand" and organic and SUPPOSEDLY free range but we all know the definition of that is all over the place. People selling locally raised eggs usually go $3 to $5/dz, at least in the ads. I don't know how many they sell at those prices. So, for myself, I'm hoping I can sell excess eggs in the $3 range. But since I've never had chickens, I really don't know how much it will cost to keep them. They will have plenty of pasture time in the spring/summer/fall and I am expecting a nice variety of color (white, browns and blue/green) so hopefully they will be worth more to people that want to buy local eggs rather than factory farm eggs from the grocery store.

 

[keetsms]

I sell my eggs for $2 per dozen and that pays for my feed. Something else I have just started doing is raising meat birds for people who want fresh chicken but don't have the room. This is still in the initial stages but from what I can already tell is unless you are raising Cornish Cross on pasture, it will be hard to make money and keep prices reasonable. I will repost when the first batch is done.

 

[keetsms]

I should add that my hens free range and that really reduces feed cost by about 30% because they forage for a lot of thier food.

 

[Singlemaple]

Yeah my hens free range as well..
It cost me around 30 cents to make an egg with my feed cost and all, people up here will buy local eggs for $8 but i only sell to my neighbors and some are bugged by the rooster ( nothing they can do about it we are zoned for livestock lol ) but i don't want to charge them that much so i charge $4 for the rooster noise... $5 if there driveway is really freaking long lol they don't mind they understand that i have to walk half a mile to deliver there eggs that i go out of my way to deliver them.

but there is a health food/organic/local food store around here they sells them for $6.50-$7 so we think we may (when all the hens are laying in July) sell eggs there.

We are thinking of raising mostly BR cause i roo is pushing 11lbs and the boys we got this year are 12 weeks now and weigh 5-6 pounds... i think that's a pretty good weight... but we are taking care of them on the weekend man am i going to have a lot of feathers to make stuff with..

maybe i should decorate my hatchet?? lol

 

[TommyFarmer]

Well part of the low prices is that a lot of people around here sell there eggs for $2.00 a dozen so you can't compete with those prices

 

[jamesbwood]

@ Hanaah

Where do you sell the tail feathers? What types/colors are in demand?

What does the jewelry look like?

James​

 

[effie]

store eggs here are about $1 a dozen. brown eggs at the store run $1.25 to $1.50. But, there are so many people here that have backyard birds and give the eggs away. I've even seen signs along the road for $0.75 a dozen! It completely depends on where you are.
I found out a long time ago that things are worth exactly as much as someone wants to pay for them, no more, no less

wow, I don't know where you live but even walmart here doesn't have eggs that cheap. If that is the case I can understand the prices there. You are right with your last comment though.

 

[Singlemaple]

@jamesbwood

What i first did was post an add on craigslist for homemade fishing fly's ( all you have to do is take a long feather with a good flip to it and a few small fuzzy ones around the top and put a crimp with a little hole in it for them to add a hook..) it will cost you $2 max around here to buy those things...

This would be a good feather for a fly.
cruddy picture but this is the crimp i use for both earrings and fishing flys..

You can always look up fishing flys on line to figure out what you need to do..

Now for the earrings.

This is the most recent set i have made, most girls like it with the chain if they have long hair but with no chain if they have short hair.. it 2 or 3 feathers i crimp together then place on chain and add fishhook earrings... you can buy most the stuff at walmart im trying to find bigger bags of crimps cause walmart doesn't sell them anymore..

 

[Singlemaple]

Oh and the free range brown eggs at my local walmart are $5.50+ the white eggs are $1.50... if you want "organic, free range" eggs at walmart there up to $6.25 now.

 

[madisonmama]

I sell eggs, hatching eggs, chicks and mature chickens. What I don't sell from home, goes to the local auction. My egg price is $2 a dozen. Store bought eggs are $1.89 a dozen. I currently have 50 birds of various ages and breeds. I keep a few pure bred lines and mix up the others. I bring in new stock every 12 - 24 months, depending on what sells. I have kept very accurate record keeping and won't see a profit for another year or two. The sale of the eggs pay for the feed. Although I expect that to change, as I have brought in some very large breeds. The auction helps to pay for the "hatching" addiction. I like of the craft ideas on here and may have to try some.