How much are chickens worth?

bpoore04

Songster
Jun 14, 2019
282
527
206
Tennessee
Hi I was wondering how much I could sell some of my pullets for. They are laying and have no health issues. They range in age and will all turn a year from April-July. Thanks!
 
Depends on what part of the country you live in. I live in southeastern Louisiana and people do not like to pay over $15 for an egg layer. Specialty breeds in my area dont go over $30 per bird.​
Agreed. Your local market is the determining factor. Some regions are interested in production breeds, others ornamental breeds, some areas are willing to pay top dollar while others wouldn't consider paying more than $10-12. You can try to list them high and lower the price later if you have no takers.
 
I have bought hens between $10-20 per head.

I while I understand the reasoning of asking more for birds considering what you have in them, the easiest way to reduce your current feed bill, is to reduce your flock size. A lot of people get extra chicks, either thinking they need them, or thinking they might loose some. And they need to correct the numbers as the birds get full size.

At that point, it will be worth a bit, to sell for less, and get your flock down and your feed bill down.

I just wish I was closer, I think I would be willing to go a bit too high, if I could get some layers after my wreck.

Mrs K
 
I’m not selling them all.. I love my chickens. I am just selling maybe 1 or 2 of each breed so I can hatch some chicks this spring. My cousin was wanting to buy some from me and I wanted to know a reasonable price to sell them at. I just don’t have the room to keep them all plus the chicks that I’m wanting to hatch.. and I’m really wanting to hatch some chicks

good advice above. You have pretty common breeds, and selling to your cousin (so, not trying to gouge them and you are comfortable with their chicken set-up). You should target $12-15 each, or package deal of ”take all I want to get rid of for $X”, which should be more of a price like $10-11each Bc they are taking all you need to get rid of, your choice. Be willing to negotiate.

we sell our extras at a livestock auction. The auction house takes about 25% of the sale price (and will mail you a check if you don’t wAnt to stick around for cash), but young layers are popular, and sell well. Last fall I sold 10 cockerels, pure breeds, various breeds. They sold pretty well with 3 of them getting several bids, lowest sale price was just under $10/ cockerel -pretty good for young (16 week) cockerels, but I caged them separately, with detailed label to help encourage higher sale price. When I’ve sold miscellaneous layers, they’ve sold for around $9/each, but it was a January outdoor auction, so light attendance.
 
So if I am doing this right that equals a little over $31 each?? That seems a little much but I wouldn’t know because I’ve never bought anything other than chicks. I have 20 chickens who go through a $13 bag of food a week. So if I do 13x52 and then divide by 20 I get $31.2. Is that a fair price?
I would say so, the person paying for the birds don’t have to rear chicks or do much of the hard work, they just get to buy laying pullets. Are your birds a year old yet? I believe once they’re a year old pullets are called hens and cockerels are called roosters
 
Your local market is the determining factor.
.....and your sales/marketing savvy.

But, oh.....
I’m not selling them all.. I love my chickens. I am just selling maybe 1 or 2 of each breed so I can hatch some chicks this spring. My cousin was wanting to buy some from me and I wanted to know a reasonable price to sell them at. I just don’t have the room to keep them all plus the chicks that I’m wanting to hatch.. and I’m really wanting to hatch some chicks
Selling to a relative is a whole other ball game.
 
I would sell each bird at the cost it takes to raise them. If I have 12 year old birds who go through a bag of feed every two weeks, each bag costing $20, it would cost $20x(52/2) per bird. I do 52/2 because there’s 52 weeks in a year, but I buy feed once every two weeks. I would also tack on a bit more to cover the expenses I spent on housing, bedding, fencing, etc. etc.

so cost of feed times frequency of buying feed, plus a little bonus to make up other costs, and after those costs are paid off, the bonus becomes your profits.
 
Id say $10-20 depending on what breed they are. If theybare just feed store or hatchery chickens then no more than $15. If they are backyard mix then about $10. If they are a nice quality breeder bird then $20.
 

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