Raising point of lay pullets to sell!!

[AussieSharon]

ahhhhhhhh I would LOVE to have your horse, wish I lived closer.

 

[pips&peeps]

I think you will find by the time you add up the cost of the chicks, feed, litter, electricity, and your time you will be in the red.

It is really not cost condusive to raise p.o.l. pullets.

My personal opinion is that you would be throwing your money away and if you have more important things to buy and do I would do that instead.

Sorry I'm a bummer, but that is my personal experience.

 

[summerwindsfarm]

Ive raised pullets to point of lay for several years now and i make a decent profit at it. Nothing that will ever make me rich but its fun to get others addicted to chickens and to feed their chicken addictions.. ive been tagged the *chicken enabler* on the okie homesteading list lol.

I currently charge $12-15 per hen depending on breed and time of year. From late fall to early spring ppl will pay pretty much anything that you ask because they are itching for fresh eggs and pol hens are hard to find that time of year. From late spring through summer there are more chickens on the market so prices are lower. That old supply and demand thing.

I started raising pol hens because there were breeds i wanted for myself..so id order twice as many chicks as i wanted hens, raise them to pol, pick out the ones i liked the best, and sell off the others. I had originally hoped to pay for my chicks and their feed..i found that i could do that *and* turn a nice little profit for my work. Now i incubate my hens eggs and cut out the expense of the hatchery chicks also. I have several customers that order pol hens in advance now.

 

[Nupine]

Do you think I would do better with purebred ,traditional hens, not hybrids or leghorns?

 

[summerwindsfarm]

Look at what your market is. Here my market is mostly homesteaders and backyard city chickeneers. They prefer breeds that theyve heard about.. sorry cant find a nicer way to say that lol.

Its different in every area but my customers tend to buy barred rock, rhode island reds, australorp and orphingtons. Probably simply because those are the breeds they have heard about. Most arent chicken addicts..in the beginning <grin>.. but after getting a few they usually come back for breeds they havent heard about.. like my easter eggers and cochins and marans.

As a breeder of course i prefer raising the black sex links cause i can sex them at birth and just raise pullets to pol...which is esp nice with feed so high now.

So if the golden comets and leghorns are selling well in your area thats a good chicken to go with. I dont have good luck selling any white egg layer breeds. All of my customers want brown or green egg layers. I dont think that most customers care if its a hybrid like the sex links but they do seem unwilling to pay as much for a mixed breed chick..which imo is unfortunate because if all your after is eggs the barnyard special type chicks tend to be good layers and hardy birds.

 

[Nupine]

Thanks. I may even go with all comets. Just the leghorns are cheaper.

I forgot, our local feed store sells them in the spring. Our good friend works there, and she got to take home all the extras, which were comets, cornish fat birds, and one EE. She gave me a cute comet pullet, named blossom!! I wil have to see how cheap they sell their chicks, and maybe I can get some extras real cheap or free too.

 

[domromer]

I hope you keep us updated. I'd like to hear how the sales go and how you figure your costs.

I imagine you would be bale to cover the cost of feed and bedding but I don't think you would cover the labor to raise the hens. But if it's all for fun then you get to raise chickens and have the hobby pay for it's self.

 

[Nupine]

I will keep updated. Yeah, I bet you would take that horse, here is another real shocker. 5 yr old AQHA palomino mare, smaller, 14.2 hands, trail ridden, broke, went for $325. We are paying almost that much for a 2 month old goat. Thats crazy. I just will have to find a spot big enough for all of them, I am thinking, a 10' by 12' horse stall??

 

[Kanchii]

We sell our hens for at least $20