Check out these comparison charts if you haven't seen them before...
http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html
https://livestockconservancy.org/images/uploads/docs/pickachicken.pdf
Whatever you do... HAS to be a breed YOU love. Chickens are a labor of love. It's extremely hard to compete with hatcheries/feed store. So you MUST focus on quality. Part of what you are selling is yourself and your expertise... plus the conditions you raise your birds in. It's VERY easy for a location to quickly become over run with your birds, as I have seen with another local breeder... Too many cockerels in the mix now looking for homes... So if you can do something sex linked or auto sexing and do what you will with the extra boys that hatch... that could help YOUR market. Maybe offer up the male chicks at a discounted price to people who will be growing meat birds. Something like a barred rock hen crossed to a Marans rooster would give black sex links with ladies that lay Marans colored eggs (they get the color from the sire) and the boys will be tasty with a decent growth rate. Or the CCL lay lovely blue eggs... but the boys aren't as meaty and the hens are more flighty. Just as examples. Your user name says Cochin lover... Partridge Cochin are beautiful birds... though *maybe* too broody for me and I don't consider them to be prolific layers as even the eggs they lay are smaller in size than some other breeds. But they ARE fun birds.
How cold is your version of cold?
To be clear... The money made is just enough to break even on regular expenses. It does NOT cover any housing, property, incubators, heat lamps and that type of stuff.... And while those can all be tax write offs.... There is never enough write offs to go past my standard deductions and make it worth doing itemized and depreciating your equipment and all that, business wise. Plus if you go business style you will need a different insurance policy for your home (or a farming exemption) or if you rent need approval from the land owner. One persona I bought hatching eggs from this year, said she does get some special incentives like a green belt or something. She said she was able to cover her medical expenses... but that is with lots of showing birds that win competitions and such as well. So a business *MAY* be doable... but I'm guessing it's kinda complicated and there may be intricacies that I haven't yet discovered.
Good luck!
