New business for a 14 year old?

[Marks chickens]

So I have had chickens for over a year now and it has become a passion of mine so I decided I should try to make money at something im good at and love, across the street they are building 43 new houses they've already built 12 so just keep that in mind. So if I have 30 chickens ok 1 chicken eats a cup of food a day 3 cups equal a pound 50 pounds in a bag 150 cups a 50 pound bag of locally made feed costs me $6-7 basicly I will spend $1 a day feeding all the chickens. After keeping them a while most of the time 4 eggs a week per chicken is a good number to look too so if I get 120-140 eggs a week thats 10-12 cartons of eggs here a low price for farm raised eggs are $4 so that's what I will charge so I will get about $48 a week and spend about $8 on food I can put up a sign on my fence that every one in the new neighbor hood will pass and I have a golf cart so I can deliver. I wanted to ask people's opinion because to some one who loves having chickens it sounds to good to be true!oh and my business is called marks mini poultry farm

 

[blucoondawg]

If I were trying to make an actual business of eggs I would have chickens who lay much better than 4 eggs per week, I would want hybrid layers or Leghorns to maximize egg production and rotate them out yearly or 2 years max. If you actually are able to get 4 bucks a dozen and your feed is as cheap as you say then you should be able to make a few bucks from eggs but there is more expense than feed. You have coops and runs to build sufficient for your size flock, you have cost of chicks, cost of bedding, cost of any wormer or mite control you may have to do, added electric cost if you are in an area requiring heated water in winter or extended hours of light for maximum laying not to mention cost of running the heat lamp for your chicks. I sell eggs for 2.50 around here and don't sell them very fast, I could sell a few more if I lower my price to 2 bucks and at some point I may do that. I mainly hope to pay for the feed with the eggs which hardly does even though I'm paying twice as much for feed as you are but I won't ever really make a liveable profit from it

 

[Marks chickens]

I agree with rotating the hens out I have 10 hens that are pets and the other 20 will be rotated out

 

[DanEP]

If you can get $4.00 a dozen you can make a little money if you get regular customers But with regular customers comes the need for production every week.If your girls slow down in the winter and you can't supply your customers they may go to another supplier. some things to consider are lighting in the winter and I feed higher protein food to keep production up and higher producing breeds. When my girls drop to 3-4 eggs a week I rotate them out. To do this you must plan ahead, you cant just buy chicks and get eggs tomorrow you have to have a separate place to raise chicks ans feed them till they start laying. I try to replace about 1/2 my girls every year keeping the best layers. You can either eat or rehome the old girls. But if your going to rehome them do it while their still laying nobody wants to buy an older hen that's not laying. also make sure you have the egg cartons and refrigerator space needed to store your eggs in.
Selling eggs will be a learning process for you but that's good the experience will come in handy later in life

Good luck Dan

 

[dekel18042]

Quote:

I totally agree. The cost of your food is just part of the expensive of keeping chickens. My husband is figuring that each dozen eggs I produce is now down to $72.00 a dozen. This was keeping track of all expenses including housing up till the time the first egg was produced.

There may be times when your flock is molting and just doesn't lay. I read on BYC where hens start laying again after a four or five month hiatus. That isn't cost effective.

 

[SunkenRoadFarms]

Not sure where you are located, but you will new to look into licensing and egg sale laws, especially if you advertise with signage or online.

 

[dekel18042]

Not sure where you are located, but you will new to look into licensing and egg sale laws, especially if you advertise with signage or online.

Do not advertise at all. Have a backyard flock that lays better than anticipated. No one took a winter break, so extras go to extended family and friends Definitely not a business. Pets with benefits. BTW, I live l in an area zoned agriculture and up and down the road are many signs that read "Eggs for sale" "Farm fresh eggs" or "Brown eggs", or people even put them out on tables in warmer weather along with extra garden produce they are offering.
I see you're in a different state.

 

[SunkenRoadFarms]

    Do not advertise at all.  Have  a backyard flock that lays better than anticipated.  No one took a winter break, so extras go to extended family and friends  Definitely not a business.  Pets with benefits.  BTW, I live l in an area zoned agriculture and up and down the road are many signs that read "Eggs for sale"  "Farm fresh eggs" or "Brown eggs", or people even put them out on tables in warmer weather  along with extra garden produce they are offering.
      I see you're in a different state. 

What state are you in? Even word of mouth can get you in trouble. Seeing signage doesn't mean those people aren't following state law or taking a risk. People can be jerks.

 

[SunkenRoadFarms]

Sorry, just saw you are in PA. I do sell in PA, which does not require flock registration. But you do have to package and grade correctly. Sorry, should have quoted the original poster in my response, but my phone won't let it happen all the time. I was responding to the OP.

 

[RonP]

So I have had chickens for over a year now and it has become a passion of mine so I decided I should try to make money at something im good at and love, across the street they are building 43 new houses they've already built 12 so just keep that in mind. So if I have 30 chickens ok 1 chicken eats a cup of food a day 3 cups equal a pound 50 pounds in a bag 150 cups a 50 pound bag of locally made feed costs me $6-7 basicly I will spend $1 a day feeding all the chickens. After keeping them a while most of the time 4 eggs a week per chicken is a good number to look too so if I get 120-140 eggs a week thats 10-12 cartons of eggs here a low price for farm raised eggs are $4 so that's what I will charge so I will get about $48 a week and spend about $8 on food I can put up a sign on my fence that every one in the new neighbor hood will pass and I have a golf cart so I can deliver. I wanted to ask people's opinion because to some one who loves having chickens it sounds to good to be true!oh and my business is called marks mini poultry farm

How many birds do you currently have?
How large a coop/run do you currently have?
Are there laws pertaining to farm animals in your community?
What are your manure management plans?
How secure is your coop and run?

@$4 you should be good for a few extra dollars, especially if your feed costs are so low.

All the best!