Offering a quail hatching service?

[Cherrydidi89]

Hi all, I am thinking of offering my incubator out and providing a quail hatching service. Where I live there are very few places to purchase quail.
Therefore, I was wondering if anybody had done this in the past and how much you charged, are there any risks other than the eggs failing? Do you have any policies? I was thinking of a 24h mandatory pick up time. Also, do you take deposits?

I have hatched my own eggs and postal eggs several times with great hatch rates - 94% with my own. I feel pretty confident handling my incubator and I have replacement parts.

If anyone has advice that would be amazing!
Thank you - Didi

 

[nuthatched]

Are you hatching others eggs? Or yours?

 

[Cherrydidi89]

Are you hatching others eggs? Or yours?

I would be looking to hatch from postal eggs or others eggs. My own male quail is getting a bit old so I’m not looking to hatch any more of my own for a while, their genes are also all over the place, which is great fun for me but probably not suitable for people looking for genetic quality. I breed for friendliness mostly

 

[Nabiki]

I would take orders for a certain number of chicks with a deposit. Be ready to have extra chicks to sell since you want to make sure that you're hatching as many as your customer wants.

I would price them at 1 day old chick prices, which will vary depending on where you are.

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

I just completed hatching for someone else. I probably should have taken a deposit, but the buyer has been following up regularly so I don't think I'll get ghosted.

In this case, the eggs were mine, the incubator was mine, the time was mine. He'll take possession of the hatched chicks.

I've also sold hatching eggs (buyer provides their own incubator/hatching) and hatching eggs and loaned out with the incubator. (My incubator is pretty cheap but works).

The expertise of the buyers has really varied, from those that have lived on a farm and are perfectly adept at culling when needed, to those where I've agreed to take back the extra roos because the buyers know it has to be done but don't want to do it themselves.

If all buyers were experienced, this would be an incredible side-hustle. I think though, once you decide to go this route, you have to be willing to also provide education and assistance if you want to be sure the birds are taken care of.

As far as pricing, if it's hard to get quail where you are, price it higher. If you're not using your own eggs, you will have to price it high anyway, because you'll presumably be buying eggs from someone else. I think it might be hard to convince someone to buy just "services," where they buy the eggs and you hatch them. There might also be some disagreement over the services if for some reason the hatching eggs don't hatch.

 

[Lofty Dreams Poultry]

Custom hatching is what I think you are looking for?

I've seen people charge per egg set, while others charge for the amount of chicks hatched- through Craigslist. Some people would take a percentage of chicks hatched in leu of payment. Usually $1-3 an egg/set for chickens and ducks.

I've seen more incubator and brooder rentals lately, with quail, which is neat.