How did you start out?

[joerogrz]

I'm fairly new to the chicken business and am learning as I go. I plan on selling eggs, fertile eggs, chicks, chickens. Since I am getting serious about this, I was wondering how everyone that is in the chicken business started out. How you got your buyers, how you started raising chickens for eggs, meat, or whatever. I'm curious to see how others do it.

And I may as well ask, since I'm considering buying some Welsummers, how well do the really dark brown eggs sell as compared to the rest?

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Well, I started off by someone giving me some bantam Cochins from a show line that they had too many of. They laid some pretty little tan eggs and we enjoyed them but the 3 hens laid and laid and laid! So we started giving them away and then when people asked for them we would not have any. So many people said we ought to sell them and make a little money to pay for the feed. Well 3 hens wasn't enough so we ordered 80 chicks of 8 different breeds then went out and bought Araucanas and Barnevelders for color assortment.

Our customers have now gone wild with all the colors and sizes. We bought egg cartons and give 25 cents off for returned cartons. And some people have given us ones from the grocery store which we use to sort and store different sizes in the fridge.

We do have Wellies but they haven't started laying yet. My best and darkest layers are the Black Stars and they are a breed I will always have. I have 15 red Stars and Brown Stars and buff Stars on order right now. But I bet the Black Stars will always lay the largest darkest eggs.

We are well on our way to 200 chickens but that is okay, we have the land and are furiously building coops and tractors and letting every broody hen set on eggs to hatch.

Our buyers are from church, friends, music teacher, local stores that see me wearing my BYC "My Pet Makes Me Breakfast" t-shirt and even the people that see me selling eggs to others like the music teacher at the music store want my phone number. Plus we are going to put a sign at the end of our driveway. We live between 2 very large churches and know we will get business from them passing and noticing it each week.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[ROC4K]

I haven't sold egg 1 yet. I have however mentioned chickens to several people and almost every conversation leads to the comment..."I know where to get my eggs from"

Word of mouth seems to be a good start. Of course this (ROC4K) is only 28 chickens and high hopes at this point. Come spring I'll be "The Omelette Factory"[fingers crossed]

 

[77horses]

well, in Spring, 2007, my dad found an ad that was about for sale baby chicks. so we got some!

We had never owned chickens before(my dad did when he was little) so we had a small coop, and once the cute fuzzy butts were old enough to go outside, we put them in it. we had 5 one them, 3 roosters and 2 hens. sadly, a weasel got the two hens and our good rooster, and left us with the two loud, aggressive, RIR roosters.

lol of course.....
BUT, just last Spring, 2008, we found another ad about baby chicks and we got 2 buffs and 2 red stars, and they are all alive and well today, and the 2 red stars are laying. we sold our most aggressive RIR rooster, and we still have his brother, who survived the weasel attack in around March, 2008. after we got the 4 pullets, we got some old hens who were red stars also and they were laying already. Everything has been going OK.
So, to break it down, we started off with 3 roosters and 2 hens. knew almost nothing about chickens. Today, we have a homemade incubator, waiting in the garage for Spring. We have 4 red star hens, 2 buff hens, a RIR rooster, a splash cochin rooster, 1 buff cochin chick, and 1 black amauracana chick. That's 10 chickens, total! and plus, after spending a while studying about chickens(mostly from BYC! LOL)

we now know LOADS about chickens!

I learned so much about hatching chicks, and I built the bator myself. I know how to handle most things with hatching eggs too. This Spring, we are planning on selling fresh eggs to our neighborhood and we plan on hatching chicks and selling some, just like you want to do. What a difference! we started with 5 chickens, now we have 10 and we are planning on hatching more and selling eggs!

Good luck! Trust me, you're gonna love the chicken "business"!

 

[Colored Egg Farmer]

Well I started In the Winter of 2006/2007 I got 4 White leghorns. I liked them so much I then ordered 15 EE from welp hatchery. I slowly grew my flock after that by selling baby chicks (like a feed store) and kept any extra. After that I got 12 free White leghorns from 4-H. So this begins this year.... In March 15 I got my 700 chickens. I raised 100 of them to 15 weeks and sold them. I am not left with over 600 chickens and still willing to get a lot more.

 

[mrsengeseth]

We decided it wasn't worth it to pay a supermarket for eggs that didn't taste all that great. DH was opposed to the idea of raising chickens though. He's still not all that convinced, but has resigned himself to the fact that they're here. We read and read and read till our eyes hurt. And then got four chicks locally.

 

[notsooldmcdonald]

Well, the DH wanted chickens. Like many "dreams" of his I nodded patiently and waited for the urge to pass. It did not. He even went so far as to order chicks! Imagine my horror when I found myself driving to the regional post office on Father's Day to pick up a tiny box of chicks!

Since that day I have become completely obsessed with our chickens...I watch them constantly, fret over their diet, exault with every egg, and revel in their personalities (I'm trying to steel myself to be able to "cull" them in a year). In short, I love the buggers. We have 21 red star pullets and one rooster (who by darned luck is the sweetest thing ever).

I have sold two dozen to date, but am actively pursuing the philosophy that if I give people eggs they will find them SO much better than what they're used to that they will come back and buy some!

Maybe?

-Christian

 

[sunnychooks]

When I found that I had more eggs than we could possibly use I put a sign in front of my house. Most people buy 2 dozen, but I have a couple of people who want 5 dozen or more at a time!
There are some people who are "regulars" that I know will take a certain amount each week. I save eggs for them. I tell others that I have eggs available only when the sign is out. I still have people stop and ask even when the sign isn't there!

 

[GopherBoyFarms]

DH wanted to get chickens since egg prices went up so high...so knowing nothing about chickens.........and me having a HUGE phobia of chickens I started reading all I could before our first 25 chicks came in the mail.
The mailman was our first customer....the day he dropped them off he said "as soon as they are laying I will buy a dozen a week from you" and he has. We Have one rooster with 18 girls in the big coop, and have now hatched 7 from them. The egg selling is our 9 yr old sons business, and we have regular customers, since the chickens have been laying they have been paying for themselves. All the egg money goes towards the feed, DE and bedding and the young son even has some pocket money from it from time ot time. We are hoping to have 3X the chickens by next spring...we are going to place another order, and keep hatching all winter. I am totally addicted...I love my chickens, my phobia is gone, our son is responsible for feeding watering and cleaning up after the flock, and our family is enjoying building our second coop at the moment for the chicks to move into soon.
Heck, I had someone call me a few weeks ago and wanted to know if I could supply 15 dozen a week!! (I wish).
We arent doing it for money....we all really enjoy it.

~Tiff~

 

[Guinea Goonie]

It was May 22, 2008. The 70 or so chicks came into the local feed store and now I have about 30 of the originals (25 were for meat) the rest were bad roos that went to auction and a few parished along the way. be very weary when your spouse tells you "it would be fun to get a few chicks for the chick days at ...., don't you think ?". Now i have near 100 chickens in the barn and I really do not want to tell you how many are in the house and the nursery. Here is a pic of the nursery.