True...I could always find a couple people to give them to. I think I'll sell my chicks as straight run, and if they aren't selling well, I'll try that. I don't want to mess with a bunch of broilers if I don't have to.
Money making Ideas?
- Thread starter CluckGirl
- Start date
ejcrist
Songster
I have an acre and sell eggs, butchered chicken, and vegetables. I can't compete with the big grocery stores on vegetable prices so I sell gourmet items like several varieties of hardneck garlic that you can't get hardly anywhere. I get $1 per head for garlic and grow quite a bit. You'd be surprised how "in-demand" garlic is. Also certain Asian vegetables are in high demand and they're pricey at the Asian grocery stores so you can sell them too. Stuff like quality snow peas, chinese cabbage, daikon radishes, mustard greens in winter and sweet potato tops (kamote), bitter melon, etc., in summer. Other than for ourselves we don't grow the common less expensive vegetables to sell, stuff like onions, corn, etc., because you just can't charge enough to make a profit. Better to use your crop space for growing less parishable, high quality, harder to get stuff that you can make a profit on. But you can make quite a bit of money selling vegetables. Between garlic and eggs I cover all my feed costs for 26 birds and have a lot left over. I'm in the process of building a multi-sectioned coop with attached runs so I can start a breeding program this fall. Once I figure out what I'm doing I'll sell any birds I don't want to keep for breeding after they're old enough to evaluate. Whatever I can't sell will go in the pot. Everything I'm doing is strictly a hobby and if I did it only to earn a living it would quickly cease being fun and would then just be another job. The objective of the sales is just to cover some of the costs so my hobbies don't use so much of our income, and that's how I account for it and file during tax time - hobby income. Even so, the egg and garlic sales turned out to be a lot better than I ever anticipated.
junebuggena
Crowing
Selling already butchered meat without a USDA license is illegal in most states...
ejcrist
Songster
Very true. Make sure you follow the rules for your state and the USDA for the classification you fall under and you'll be good-to-go.
- Thread starter
- #15
These are all super good ideas! keep them coming!
I planning to start selling egg soon, I have silver laced wyandottes but they are laying me pretty small eggs they are only 7 months old so i'm hoping they will start to lay bigger ones, But in the past my chickens are usually laying bigger eggs by now. I got them from Mcmurrey Hatchery This is where I got my chickens for the last couple of years. but the last two batches I got from them I have not been impressed.
I planning to start selling egg soon, I have silver laced wyandottes but they are laying me pretty small eggs they are only 7 months old so i'm hoping they will start to lay bigger ones, But in the past my chickens are usually laying bigger eggs by now. I got them from Mcmurrey Hatchery This is where I got my chickens for the last couple of years. but the last two batches I got from them I have not been impressed.
ejcrist
Songster
Just curious but what didn't you like about the chickens you ordered from Murray McMurray? The reason I'm asking is because I ordered Cornish Crosses from them earlier this year and they turned out very well. I have another order in October for Brown Leghorns because I haven't found a breeder yet, and I also ordered Naked Necks and Dark Cornish for the grill. In addition to that I have 30 more Cornish Crosses due to ship in October. All of this is from Murray McMurray. I've read hatchery birds in general are smaller than the original breeds and more geared toward egg-laying rather than dual purpose, so I'd rather buy breeding birds from a reputable breeder but for everything else I think hatchery birds are pretty good.
I haven't heard a lot of good things about Murray McMurray. They have been around for forever, but I've heard of people getting chickens that aren't purebred or with the wrong comb or leg color, etc. But I've never ordered from them so I don't have an opinion.
- Thread starter
- #18
Usually The chickens I get from McMurray are Great, laying nice big eggs and Healthy. But the sex links I got two years ago didn't grow real well and didn't lay as much as I hoped. This year I got the SLW and they are real Healthy and laying good but their eggs are small and they are supposed to lay pretty big eggs. (well bigger then the ones I'm getting)
ejcrist
Songster
Ok, gotcha. I wouldn't worry too much about it at this point since they're only 7 months old. I've never had Wyandottes so I don't know what's typical for them, but I know my Barred Rocks started off laying small eggs and after a while they got a lot bigger. Same thing happened with the Leghorns but they were the first to start laying. Now I might get an occasional medium egg but most all are large. I got a couple of extra-large but they don't do that regularly. It'd be nice if we get extra large in the future. Mine are 8 months old now so I guess it's possible. The Leghorns are laying the biggest eggs so far. I still haven't figured out how such a sleek bird can produce such a big egg in comparison to their body. Gosh that would be like giving birth to a 20 lb baby every day.
OUCH !!! just the thought of a 20 lb. baby - oh my
Similar threads
New posts New threads Active threads
-
Latest threads
-
-
Isabella Ameraucana x Black Ameraucana??
- Started by ChickyPants
- Replies: 0
-
-
-
Threads with more replies in the last 15 days
-
