How many of you make a profit from your chickens? How?

[phasianidae]

I know I dont.

 

[southerndesert]

Quote:
X-2 Big time! Can't really add much to that except these days chickens are kept as pets or producers, pets rarely do and are not expected to make profit. Producers or livestock if you will are expected to profit and though both types chickens are in most cases well cared for and healthy the care of them is much different.

There is really nothing wrong with either approach and it is up to the keeper....

We do indeed make a small profit on eggs, meat, and chicks....

 

[cubalaya]

Quote:
X-2 Big time! Can't really add much to that except these days chickens are kept as pets or producers, pets rarely do and are not expected to make profit. Producers or livestock if you will are expected to profit and though both types chickens are in most cases well cared for and healthy the care of them is much different.

There is really nothing wrong with either approach and it is up to the keeper....

We do indeed make a small profit on eggs, meat, and chicks....

X3. you can build coops very cheaply and selling eggs should pay for your feed. you can eat all your extra cockerels and sell your cull pullets, while keeping the best as your breeder/egglayers. you can sell chicks and adult pairs. you can sell or eat your older nonproductive hens.

 

[cjatthefarm]

HAHA! I THOUGHT I'd get into chickens for a 'boost' to my cash flow!!

I even said as much to my friend that has done the construction and improvements, and revisions and so forth and so forth and so on, for my girls. He replied, 'Well, everyone needs a hobby'!! In other words---he KNEW I wasn't making $$ !

So, that said. I do sell my eggs $3- $3.25 around the neighborhood. I spent $40 on the sign!!!!

!

I stopped keeping track of the $ spent. I know my eggs are probably $3 each--not $3 a dz...... But, I am enjoying myself. I have too many chickens right now. I know I have to cull.....but that's another topic!!

Think I'll go hug a chicken!!

 

[Blue]

I haven't made any profit from my chickens. I have sold a few dozen eggs for $1.25 a dozen. I don't think anyone around here would buy them if I sold them for more than the grocery store prices. That money goes toward feed. However, at the moment I have more chickens that aren't laying than those that are. I'm still waiting for my 20 week old brabanters to start, and my cochins and wyandottes are nowhere near laying age (8 weeks). I got them as a hobby and to play around with breeding. I may sell chicks in the future, but it's not something I've put a lot of thought into as of yet.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

We make a profit selling organic eggs, but then we have 2500 hens. We make $8-$10 per bird per year selling eggs wholesale to an organic cooperative. We do not have transportation or marketing costs. We produce eggs and the cooperative takes care of the rest.

That $8-$10 is what is left after paying for everything except assets, i.e., pullets, feed, electricity, propane, repairs and maintenance, farm insurance, mortgage interest, property taxes. Part of that $8-$10 profit goes to pay the note on the hen house, which is an asset that we have equity in which can be recouped if the farm is ever sold.

Our wholesale pay price has been from $1.75 - $2.00 a dozen. If a person has packaging, transportation, and marketing costs thrown in, then eggs would need to be at $3.00 a dozen or more to turn a profit from backyard eggs.

As others have said, keep costs down, and do some basic accounting to figure out where you are at. Even if you can just break even on a backyard flock, you are still way ahead; others are supporting your hobby.

Marketing, marketing, marketing. You need to find those people that are willing to pay $3 /dz or more and sell them on your eggs. Take your largest and best eggs, make them presentable by cleaning them and packaging them in an appropriate carton. Be able to make a good case as to why your eggs are worth the extra money, whether they are organic, all-natural, free-range, more humane, etc.

Besides our wholesale sales, my wife sells about 50 dozen a week for $3 / dz just by going door-to-door through the business districts in town. Once she built up a customer base she knew where the repeat customers were and she now pretty much runs the same route every week, using the cash from sales to do grocery shopping on the way home. These are normally Jumbo or Super Jumbo eggs packed in our own cartons stamped with our farm name and location. She has no trouble selling them. You need to get away from the rural areas though. Those in the rural areas tend to live more frugally and usually have no problem getting good eggs. Take your business to the city / suburban areas and market them.

 

[Tracydr]

Not here in the city. When I lived in the country and free ranged, I made money selling guinea keets and peachicks. I found the guineas and peachicks more valuable than chicken chicks. Eggs the least valuable, although I did sell eggs, because I could never incubate all of them or sell that many chicken chicks. But, many of the guniea eggs and all the pea eggs were incubated.
Where I am now I can't keep enough hens and feed is way too expensive to see a profit. I just raise meat and eggs for the family and a few extra eggs for extended family.

 

[Fiddlehead]

I wonder how much people are making on BQ/SQ birds and/or selling their hatching eggs for $50 per dozen? I have seen a pair of silkies go for hundreds of dollars! There has to be a profit there!

 

[julnjake]

For those of you selling your eggs as organic, are you feeding organic feed? How much does that cost you and did you have a hard time finding it?
Thanks!

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
We sell USDA Certified Organic eggs. Yes, they must be fed organic feed. We live in a hotbed of organic production in Southwest Wisconsin so organic feed isn't too hard to find. We buy in bulk from a local organic mill. Right now it's running about $550/ton, up from about $400/ton last year. I'm guessing bagged feed is probably running around $17 - $18 a bag here.

If you gross less than $5000 a year on organic production, you don't need to be certified, but you must still follow all of the federal regulations for production.

Just a few of the requirements:

Chicks needn't be from organic parents, but must fed organically from the second day of life. If they are fed otherwise they are ineligible for organic production.

They must be allowed to go outside, age and weather permitting.

Any pasture that they have access to must have been managed organically for three years; no pesticides, herbicides, synthetic fertilizers, etc.

Any bedding that they may eat should be from certifiable crops, such as organic straw, hay, grass clippings, etc.

If animals must be treated with non-organic medicines or antibiotics, they are no longer eligible for organic production.