prices for 6 wk old chicks

[danceswithronin]

I have no clue with prices which is why i started this thread. But hey, like someone else said, start high you can always lower your prices. I know me personally, i WOULD pay those prices if you had what i wanted. You're talking to a woman who paid big bucks for a special kind of hermit crab to have shipped in from Florida and dart frogs from Canada hahaha

This is the way I see it. Obviously if someone is just buying some barnyard mutts they would not be wanting to pay a lot of money (and neither would I) but if you've got rare stock that isn't readily available, you can basically charge what you want and you'll eventually find someone to pay it. Got white and buff hatchery grade silkies? You won't be able to sell for too much, they're pretty common. But got some weirder colors like splash, partridge, or cuckoo? You can sell them $20 apiece easy, because people can't get those colors from a hatchery and lots of folks are too impatient or squeamish to incubate.

The people who usually pay $2-3 a chick at the flea market and have no idea what a bielefelder even is are not my core market demographic, lol. So if they want to turn their nose up and be like, "That's highway robbery for chickens! I'll give you $20 for the whole lot!" they don't have to buy them. Someone else will.

I think a few draws for small batch local sales for people is that a) they don't have to worry about shipping transit deaths, b) you don't have to worry about shipping costs, and c) there's no order minimum for chicks. That gives a home breeder some advantages over a hatchery. You can also take special orders if people are willing to pay you to hatch out a particular breed.

 

[aart]

But hey, like someone else said, start high you can always lower your prices.

There ya go!!
I got lucky this year and the local feed mill owner offered to sell my chicks for me along with their usually hatchery stock the sell. Got $10 ea for OE pullet chicks....and offered some OE hens too, using a nice 'poster', which will be picked up here shortly.

 

[danceswithronin]

There ya go!!
I got lucky this year and the local feed mill owner offered to sell my chicks for me along with their usually hatchery stock the sell. Got $10 ea for OE pullet chicks....and offered some OE hens too, using a nice 'poster', which will be picked up here shortly.

I think $10 for any chicken regardless of breed is totally reasonable to be honest, that's almost less than the price of a meal at McDonald's for an animal you'll potentially have for years. It's 2019, $10 is practically nothing and probably doesn't even cover the cost of raising a six week-old pullet in most cases.

 

[workindog]

Dances, i fully agree!!!! Like i said, i would definitely pay big bucks if it was what i want. high for quality/rareness of the breed. Heck, id pay big bucks if it was a mixed breed as long as someone took the time to make them friendly!!!

 

[aart]

I think $10 for any chicken regardless of breed is totally reasonable to be honest

Pretty steep for a day old chick in this area, especially next to the $3 ones.
Some folks scoffed, others didn't bat an eye.

 

[danceswithronin]

Dances, i fully agree!!!! Like i said, i would definitely pay big bucks if it was what i want. high for quality/rareness of the breed. Heck, id pay big bucks if it was a mixed breed as long as someone took the time to make them friendly!!!

Me too. I wouldn't pay more than $10 for a Wyandotte or other fairly common breed probably ($20 if it is a started pullet 6-8 weeks) but I'd probably pay $100 for a yellow cuckoo Orpington or something like that, just because when are you gonna see another one for sale?

 

[workindog]

I think $10 for any chicken regardless of breed is totally reasonable to be honest, that's almost less than the price of a meal at McDonald's for an animal you'll potentially have for years. It's 2019, $10 is practically nothing and probably doesn't even cover the cost of raising a six week-old pullet in most cases.

You know.. you're very right! I didn't even consider that thought!

 

[danceswithronin]

You know.. you're very right! I didn't even consider that thought!

I'm a clerk in auto repair, well versed in formulating counter-arguments against unreasonable cheapskates, lol.

 

[chkva]

Just want to make a CLEAR comment that I did not intend for a comment I made to be directed at poor people. The unwanted people I was talking about are abusers and fighters... I never said poor people and that was an assumption made. I'm sorry to whoever it offended, but in previous comments before mine they were talking about fighters and abusers (unwanted buyers)...

 

[chkva]

I'm a clerk in auto repair, well versed in formulating counter-arguments against unreasonable cheapskates, lol.

I used to work at a dealership and the people who walked in there sometimes had really unreasonable requests or offers