How to line up buyers

[aart]

Do I set up an ad before or after they hatch?

That's very hard to say. Selling chicks/chickens is fickle and often a crap shoot.

If you(can) get people to commit, with money, beforehand they won't back out.
But if you don't get the hatch rate you think you will then you will have to reimburse.

If they don't have to put any money on the line you'll get a bunch of people who say they want them but many will back out.

Best to have the space and resources to care for the chicks in case they don't sell.
Keeping them until POL might be the best way to go, but it's more work and upfront cost.

Do you know the breed(s) you will hatch?
What is your real goal here?

 

[CHlCKEN]

That's very hard to say. Selling chicks/chickens is fickle and often a crap shoot.

If you(can) get people to commit, with money, beforehand they won't back out.
But if you don't get the hatch rate you think you will then you will have to reimburse.

If they don't have to put any money on the line you'll get a bunch of people who say they want them but many will back out.

Best to have the space and resources to care for the chicks in case they don't sell.
Keeping them until POL might be the best way to go, but it's more work and upfront cost.

Do you know the breed(s) you will hatch?
What is your real goal here?

Gotcha
I just want to hatch some chicks, keep some for myself and learn how to do these things. I’m hatching BBS OEs and EEs.

 

[CHlCKEN]

I’m having 18 or so eggs shipped to me and because of that plus the fact that I haven’t done this before, my hatch rate will be much lower than it could be. I don’t expect to have 18 chicks, but There’s no way to know until it happens.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Gotcha
I just want to hatch some chicks, keep some for myself and learn how to do these things. I’m hatching BBS OEs and EEs.

My suggestion - which you must take with a grain of salt (handfuls, really, as I'm considering doing the same thing myself) is that you hatch first, look at your success rate, promptly put aside any obvious runts or obviously superior birds for yourself, then count the rest - if its only one or two, probably not worth the effort. If its 8, 10, 20??? Take some good photos, go on Craigslist, check the competition, then put up an add. If you have anything to distinguish yourself from other backyard hatches, put it in the add (i.e., NPIP)

If you sell some, great - if not, you are no worse off than if you had just hatched for yourself, and you've learned something by it. Much better than burning future bridges by over-committing, then failing to deliver.

 

[CHlCKEN]

My suggestion - which you must take with a grain of salt (handfuls, really, as I'm considering doing the same thing myself) is that you hatch first, look at your success rate, promptly put aside any obvious runts or obviously superior birds for yourself, then count the rest - if its only one or two, probably not worth the effort. If its 8, 10, 20??? Take some good photos, go on Craigslist, check the competition, then put up an add. If you have anything to distinguish yourself from other backyard hatches, put it in the add (i.e., NPIP)

If you sell some, great - if not, you are no worse off than if you had just hatched for yourself, and you've learned something by it. Much better than burning future bridges by over-committing, then failing to deliver.

Thanks

 

[aart]

I’m having 18 or so eggs shipped to me and because of that plus the fact that I haven’t done this before, my hatch rate will be much lower than it could be. I don’t expect to have 18 chicks, but There’s no way to know until it happens.

Your first hatch...ever?
'Don't count your chickens'.....but get housing ready for them.
Plan to keep them all until POL, just in case.
Will you slaughter and eat the 'extra' males?

is that you hatch first, look at your success rate, promptly put aside any obvious runts or obviously superior birds for yourself, then count the rest - if its only one or two, probably not worth the effort. If its 8, 10, 20??? Take some good photos, go on Craigslist, check the competition, then put up an add. If you have anything to distinguish yourself from other backyard hatches, put it in the ad

Ditto Dat.

 

[Sierra G]

If you sell some, great - if not, you are no worse off than if you had just hatched for yourself, and you've learned something by it. Much better than burning future bridges by over-committing, then failing to deliver.

Another option is to find just one buyer and explain how many eggs you're hatching 18, how many you can reasonably expect to hatch, 9, and how many you want to keep, 4. The offer him everything over four birds, including the runt if there is one. Give him a guaranteed minimum of 3 birds. If it's less than three he gets them for nothing (basically the first two are free).. Otherwise it's say $4 per chick for every chick over two. If you weren't using shipped eggs it might be less since your hatch rate would be expected to be higher. With shipped eggs you want to make sure the cost of the chicks pays for the eggs so you might need to adjust the guaranteed minimum or the price. Or possibly have the price per chick go down the more chicks that hatch. .