Incubation Service

[GodLovesU]

I had a thought. So I have an incubator, no space to keep more birds, and a bit of an itch to hatch something. I’ve hatched quail and chickens before. What if I offered an incubation service? People bring me/send me fertile eggs and I incubate them. They would only have to pay me for the chicks that actually hatched when they picked them up. Has anyone ever heard of something similar to this or had any experience with it? Do you think there would be any demand for it? I haven’t done anything yet, this all just theoretical.

 

[Debbie292d]

I think that would work if you live in a populous area.

One set of eggs I recently hatched for someone were mine, but similar thing. They were anonymous. I should've asked for a deposit, and will in the future. They got my name and phone number from a nationwide poultry swap site I'm listed in that I had forgotten about. I hatched the colors they requested, sent them a picture, a message they hatched, and my address. They drove the half hour and bought them all. Whew!

That'd be my only advice is get a deposit so you don't get stuck with whatever you're hatching.

 

[GodLovesU]

I think that would work if you live in a populous area.

One set of eggs I recently hatched for someone were mine, but similar thing. They were anonymous. I should've asked for a deposit, and will in the future. They got my name and phone number from a nationwide poultry swap site I'm listed in that I had forgotten about. I hatched the colors they requested, sent them a picture, a message they hatched, and my address. They drove the half hour and bought them all. Whew!

That'd be my only advice is get a deposit so you don't get stuck with whatever you're hatching.

It isn’t super populous where I live, but it is pretty rural. A lot of people I know here raise chickens.

 

[Debbie292d]

It isn’t super populous where I live, but it is pretty rural. A lot of people I know here raise chickens.

In that case, it might work out well. You could get business cards to share and post on bulletin boards in town. We have them made by Etsy and I can give you the link to who did ours if you want.

Here, it's also rural and I've been handed eggs from two farmers and gave them back what hatched. I had the one who gave me quail eggs come get hers out herself, as I wasn't used to all those little buggers running all over the incubator.

 

[GodLovesU]

In that case, it might work out well. You could get business cards to share and post on bulletin boards in town. We have them made by Etsy and I can give you the link to who did ours if you want.

Here, it's also rural and I've been handed eggs from two farmers and gave them back what hatched. I had the one who gave me quail eggs come get hers out herself, as I wasn't used to all those little buggers running all over the incubator.

Quail are incredibly tiny! I was scared to touch my button quail when they hatched.