I wanna raise chicken for a living?

[supremeguy]

Quote:
I so get it now!
I remembered when I was a kid back in hong kong, they place these chickens in cages in market and you buy them and they butcher them and pluck their feathers right off and process it for you.

 

[backyardturkey]

man, that's gotta be weird to see

 

[supremeguy]

Quote:
yea, and one time I was standing near the cage and a chicken just poop on me, spraying a stream of diarrhea-like poop on my shoes, nasty.

 

[Wild Trapper]

If I had to make a living in the chicken business I'd not want to do it. I sell my extra eggs and sometimes do not have enough for myself. The idea of me having chickens in the first place was so we'd have our own eggs and once in a while maybe some meat. Now I'm faced with needing some more chickens just so I can eat some eggs once in a while and fill all the orders for eggs. I guarantee you having enough chickens to make a living off will be work, a lot of work and not a lot of profit to be made. I just sell my extra eggs cheap, I'm not even sure if it's a break even thing and I don't even care, so long as the eggs don't go to waste. Back when I first got chickens, I was selling to a lady that was hoarding eggs, why, I don't know. One day she stopped in and told us she wasn't going to be buying eggs anymore because she had quit her catering business. She said she threw away like 15 dozen eggs, Made me sick. I could have been selling eggs to people who only wanted a dozen or two a week and had regular customers to buy all my surplus eggs, She came back this winter and wanted four dozen, I saved them up for her, but had other regular people I could depend on for buying I had to tell I didn't have the eggs. After she came to pick up the eggs, I told her I just didn't have enough eggs to supply her and those folks that had been buying already.

Good luck trying to make a go at chickens, it is far more work than it appears, but it is an honest living, if you can do it. You will have far more hours spent with your chickens than if you held a regular job and just went home at night and let the boss worry about the profit margin. I'm home most of the time, so I can look in my chickens when ever I get the urge. But, no matter where I go, I always am wondering if my chickens are okay, did I make sure they had enough water, are predators lurking, will I be home in time to shut them in at night, etc., etc. I only have 15 birds and one pig to worry about, but for me it is just a hobby, if I was in it to make a living, I'd have 50 times the worries.

 

[mandelyn]

You can try it, but whenever you try something like that, can you afford it if it doesn't work? Chickens are cheap little critters, it takes either rare breeds, high quality, or sheer numbers to make any money. Plus whatever laws for the number you have. You want to make sure you do it legally. It's easy to break even. I don't know about being able to pay the bills all year.

Add up your monthly bills, everything, from gas and groceries to clothing and electricity. Find out what you need to make in a year to cover your own expenses. Do your best to estimate your expenses for the business. Better to guess too high than too low. Everything from buying chicks to incubation of eggs, ect. Buying hatching eggs and having them shipped is risky and not cost effective. Buying from a hatchery means you need to do meat, and high numbers. Eggs... lot's of feed, housing, ect. For meat... you get one payday per flock of birds, hard to do that year round. Eggs will have dry spells too.

Instead of looking at making a living off chickens, think about what else you can do in addition to that. Can you form your diet around the chickens, and sell extras, to make your living expenses cheaper, to reduce the amount of money you need to bring home? That's a more realistic goal. Is there anything you can make and sell online? Have you looked into home based call center work? It's a real job, only requires a computer that is compatible with the companies software, and an extra phone line. A private place in the house, where you can "go" to work.

 

[ranchhand]

Quote:
Is that free Chinese food, from the resturant? Let's see...3 meals per day, at $10 per =$30. Free place to live...Is it just a room and bathroom or access to a whole house...Minimum, on the open market, $400 a month. So, your monthly income is about$2,700+ 900+400=$4,000x12= $48,000 per year...Better stick with the resturant, if the work is steady, the pay is good, and the boss isn't a slave driver.

I can't be doing that forever, I'm basically sick of the long hours of work and I wanna work 40hr a week job and plus they pay me cash under the table so it's hard to put the money in the bank legitimately and I'm a legal resident so I should go with some American jobs, I was thinking about being a truck driver but I got a ticket and an accident so I dont know if they will hire me.

You "wanna work 40hr a week job"? Raising chickens or quail is probably not a good fit for you. ANY kind of livestock you raise will require care 24/7/365.
When you least expect it they will quit laying for a molt, get killed by predators, get sick.... it's endless.
Where are you planning on raising these birds? You live somewhere for free- can you actually raise a large group of noisy birds there? Is the zoning/local code amenable to several hundreds of birds?
Do you have enought acreage for a lot of noisy, sometimes smelly birds?
Are you willing to be there to tend the birds EVERY day? There are no days off in the livestock/pet world. And it is hard, often dirty, work.

And pay under the table? I suspect the restaurant and/or you will be hearing from the IRS soon. They don't miss much. In fact, they probably scan forums like this, using keywords like "under the table".

It sounds like you want a nice, normal job where you work 40 hours per week and have a couple days off. Raising birds will not give you that at all. What WILL give you that is a degree in something you are good at and will enjoy.

 

[ranchhand]

On second thought, you go raise birds- I'll give you mine. Because I want a job in a restaurant that pays $32,400 per year! Are you the head chef? I could learn!

 

[Katy]

double post

 

[Katy]

Quote:
Well if you've managed to save that much in 2 1/2 years maybe my husband and I should give up farming and our cow herd and get a job in a chinese restaurant.

Livestock whether it's chickens or cattle require a lot of hard work and long days if you want to make even a little money at it. I work 365 days a year......most days at least a 12 hour day if not more.

How so you can't make more than me if you work 12hr a day and all year long, I get paid monthly, $2,700 and I get free food and place to live.

Well now that we know that you're paid $32,400 per year and you get paid under the table, hence no taxes paid on it plus you don't pay for groceries or any rent I'd certainly like to know the name of the place you work.....are they hiring.

Why can't I save that much? I pay taxes and I pay my own way in life.

 

[EweSheep]

My hubby makes that amount of money and its nine dollars an hour but remember, that annual salary does not mean that he brings home that much, probably before taxes are taken out.

Hubby works six days a week, eight hours (sometimes overtime), Sundays off. I wish I can save THAT much but bills come first!

It isn't much for someone who has very little bills, living for free and gets food for free, that's pretty good savings going on! Please do report your "under the table" taxes when you file taxes. I know some resturaunts can get into trouble and if and when they do, either IRS would shut them down or make them pay heavy fines, meaning they are either coughing up the money for fines or laying off people temporarily until fines are paid or go out of business. Don't let it happen to you, do the right thing as an American!

Well a delivery driver for a bread company would work...all the smell of bread for free!