I would like to take this time to introduce myself. I am a retired man at the proud age of 68. I was raised on a farm and lived a lot of my life with animals of all kind around me but for the past 40 years or so I was out in the work place with no dealing with farm animals at all. I always said once I retire I was getting me some chickens to raise.
Well that has happen this year. Started out with what i believed to be three white rock chickens and one rooster. Well it turned out to be two chickens and two roosters. That didnt work out so i moved one rooster to a seperate pen and he remains there to this date. Would like to get rid of him but no one seems to want an older rooster and i dont have the heart to eat the fellow.
The girls have some age on them but they are great layers and present me with at two very large brown eggs almost every day. Sure arent spring chickens but they do know how to lay eggs.
About two weeks ago i notice someone had placed an ad on craigslist to sell some chickens for three dollars a piece. Well i knew that was a good price so i decided to check it out. Wasnt to far away so i called and made the trip. What i saw almost broke my heart. There were twenty hens and roosters in a small pen with red clay and they were in what i would consider poor condition. Some look like they were at deaths door while other seem to be okay. After asking a lot of questions i found out the man had lost his job and just wasnt able to feed them proper and they stated they were laying but in fact none of them were. I was told none of them were older than two years and i believe that to be true.
There are several different breeds and some i have no idea what they are. He did say all of them laid brown eggs so I had somewhere to start but that wasnt the importand thing. All i was looking for were health egg laying chickens. As you may have guessed i ended up buying all the hens but i sure wasnt interested in the two remaining roosters.
I took them home and place all of them in a seperate location from my two white rocks and as of today all of them are doing great and the girls are now laying. Not all of them but most are. They look better and i think they are going to be okay.
Same week i found someone wanting to sell pullets for one dollar each. That i couldnt believe so i went and checked that out. They turned out to be Amearicina pullets. Not sure of spelling but thats close, i think. Well i have 13 young pullets and they are growing each and every day. Of course they are seperated from the other chickens as well.
Now you know how i got started and where i stand today. I am working on restoring three chickens houses for this winter so they will at least have a decent place to get in out of the cold weather. I have a long way to go but with each passing day I am getting closer.
Other than the chickens I have a wood working shop that I love to work in and then the vegatable garden but most to that is over with and of course the yard. So retirement for me is more work than I did when i was working.
Along with all of this comes problems. Its a good problem but a bad one all at the same time. I am getting about a dozen to dozen and half of eggs each and every day and I cant seem to find anyone that is willing to pay just a little to help on my feed bill. So my question to all of you is how do I go about trying to sell enough eggs to at least feed the chickens and pullets?
I have been reading a lot and have found a lot of helpful information on this site so finding answers to most of my questions has been easy but I have yet so see where others doing about the excess amount of eggs they produce.
Glad to be a part of this family of people and hope to have many years of pleasure with dealing not only with my chickens but some of you as well.
Thanks and hope to get answers to my questions
Harley
btw live in Landrum, SC
Well that has happen this year. Started out with what i believed to be three white rock chickens and one rooster. Well it turned out to be two chickens and two roosters. That didnt work out so i moved one rooster to a seperate pen and he remains there to this date. Would like to get rid of him but no one seems to want an older rooster and i dont have the heart to eat the fellow.
The girls have some age on them but they are great layers and present me with at two very large brown eggs almost every day. Sure arent spring chickens but they do know how to lay eggs.
About two weeks ago i notice someone had placed an ad on craigslist to sell some chickens for three dollars a piece. Well i knew that was a good price so i decided to check it out. Wasnt to far away so i called and made the trip. What i saw almost broke my heart. There were twenty hens and roosters in a small pen with red clay and they were in what i would consider poor condition. Some look like they were at deaths door while other seem to be okay. After asking a lot of questions i found out the man had lost his job and just wasnt able to feed them proper and they stated they were laying but in fact none of them were. I was told none of them were older than two years and i believe that to be true.
There are several different breeds and some i have no idea what they are. He did say all of them laid brown eggs so I had somewhere to start but that wasnt the importand thing. All i was looking for were health egg laying chickens. As you may have guessed i ended up buying all the hens but i sure wasnt interested in the two remaining roosters.
I took them home and place all of them in a seperate location from my two white rocks and as of today all of them are doing great and the girls are now laying. Not all of them but most are. They look better and i think they are going to be okay.
Same week i found someone wanting to sell pullets for one dollar each. That i couldnt believe so i went and checked that out. They turned out to be Amearicina pullets. Not sure of spelling but thats close, i think. Well i have 13 young pullets and they are growing each and every day. Of course they are seperated from the other chickens as well.
Now you know how i got started and where i stand today. I am working on restoring three chickens houses for this winter so they will at least have a decent place to get in out of the cold weather. I have a long way to go but with each passing day I am getting closer.
Other than the chickens I have a wood working shop that I love to work in and then the vegatable garden but most to that is over with and of course the yard. So retirement for me is more work than I did when i was working.
Along with all of this comes problems. Its a good problem but a bad one all at the same time. I am getting about a dozen to dozen and half of eggs each and every day and I cant seem to find anyone that is willing to pay just a little to help on my feed bill. So my question to all of you is how do I go about trying to sell enough eggs to at least feed the chickens and pullets?
I have been reading a lot and have found a lot of helpful information on this site so finding answers to most of my questions has been easy but I have yet so see where others doing about the excess amount of eggs they produce.
Glad to be a part of this family of people and hope to have many years of pleasure with dealing not only with my chickens but some of you as well.
Thanks and hope to get answers to my questions
Harley
btw live in Landrum, SC
As far as selling eggs goes, I would post a sign by the mailbox if you can, maybe put a note up at a coffeeshop or other small businesses like that if the owner permits. Word of mouth....let neighbors, friends, family know that you have good eggs to sell!!! You said you are retired but if you are in touch with old co-workers maybe ou could let them know or post a note on a communication board if they have one. I still get eggs for myself (no eggs from my girls yet) and a friend from a lady that works in the same building....she posted a note in the cafeteria there a couple of years ago. Since then her eggs have become so popular that it is often times difficult to get enough of them!! Some of that is my own fault....I've told coworkers about her eggs and most initially shrugged it off...eggs are eggs, right?!?!? Until a couple of people tried them. Everyone that tried them was hooked and spoiled now. She started out with pretty low prices for the first few months then gradually raised price to 2.00 a dozen (which is still cheap compared to organic eggs from the store). Most people would pay more!!! So, good luck with your flock and I hope you can get your egg selling started! 
