How to make money from chickens?

[Rangergord]

If I was selling stuff like eggs to make profit from my chickens were would I even sell them

I sell them at a farmers market and to family or friends. Some small businesses here will sell them for you without taking too big a cut because it brings customers in the door.

 

[PLICHUS]

Thank you and I really appreciate your response and would also like to ask how much you make a year from doing this.
THANK YOU

I sell them at a farmers market and to family or friends. Some small businesses here will sell them for you without taking too big a cut because it brings customers in the door.

 

[Rangergord]

Around 100 dollars a month is what I figure keeping chickens adds to my income. Obviously that is not spendable profits. It covers feed and keeps me in more eggs than I could afford to otherwise purchase. This year I am raising 25 BSL pullets to Point Of Lay. I will sell all but 8 to pay all the costs of the chicks, feed and electricity. That should yield several hundred dollars in addition to leaving me with extra eggs to sell.

 

[raingarden]

Raising chickens is too easy. If it could make money on a small scale then everybody would be doing it.

 

[Rangergord]

If you take a close look at how people are making money with chickens a few things stand out. Large chicken farms keep a lot of birds in a given space at least 10 times as many as is recommended for BYC. This REQUIRES that the birds be debeaked so they don’t kill each other.
Second large sums of borrowed money are used to build automated barns that reduce labour costs to a minimum. These two factors are the reason why a small chicken keeper simply cannot compete.

There are people making money on pastured poultry right now with hundreds of birds. They use low cost movable structures and reduce feed consumption by utilizing grazing. This also reduces behaviour problems by keeping the birds busy. Profits require that there is a market for premium priced, locally grown, naturally fed eggs or meat.

 

[PLICHUS]

Thank you for the information I found it very helpful

 

[TheFatBlueCat]

Maybe some people can. I am happy when I can offset the cost of raising my own keepers by selling the extra pullets. I sell eggs when we have lots to work colleagues. But never have I ever MADE money with my flock.

I know that if you have very good birds you can make better money on selling hatching eggs rather than eating eggs, but again that takes more time than selling eating eggs. Depends on if you have a more profitable way to spend that limited time.

It's unfortunate that the way we live now means it is very difficult to make money with a small flock.