Raising Pullets to sell,Have you done this?

[Maidservant]

I don't know what your market is, but I can make way more just by hatching and selling chicks. I can sell out of chicks every time I have some. Two incubators were given to me, and I'm borrowing two others. I keep the chicks for 3-4 days to make sure they're healthy, then sell them for $3 each. That's on top of selling eggs. I haven't had to pay for feed out of pocket for near 6 months doing this. I hope that sales keep up though. Of course, hatching out your own chicks does require at least one rooster.

I had thought about raising pullets, but after buying the chicks, feed, equipment, counting all of the gas going to pick everything up, and your time, it really probably isn't worth it.

Hope this helps,
Emily in NC

 

[madisonjh95]

I am considering buying 50 extra chick and raise them until they reach laying age. I will keep 10 to 15 of them for myself and sell the rest of them. I am trying to up my profit so that I may reduce the cost of feed for my current laying flock. I can get the chicks at a very good price locally and feel that I can return a profit. I would like to know what was your experiences doing this. I would hate to get stuck with a bunch of extra chicks.

My husband and I do this! We buy 15 chicks online (they send us at least 16 each time) so they cost about $60 from Murray McMurray hatchery with shipping. We do not get them vaccinated but we do get the electrolyte solution. We got them a large baby pool to brood in and have to replace the $10 bulb once a year, we do 4 batches a year so that makes it $2.50/16 chicks. We use about a quarter of a bag of $12 woodchips in the brooder and replace that after each batch moves outside at 8 weeks. So that's one bag a year: $3/16 chicks. We start selling each bird at 16 weeks so we go through one $16 50-lb bag of feed in that time (we supplement with fodder and encourage foraging): $16/16 chicks. The coop we made out of scrap wood, the supplies I've had for years so I don't include the cost of feeders and the coop we have outside.

So that comes out to a cost of $85 per 16 chicks give-or-take so divide that by 12 (assuming I have 25% mortality rate) that is about $7/chick.

I spend about 10-15 minutes a day on all of my chickens replacing food/water, cleaning the coop, and doing health checks so in 16 weeks that is almost 20 hours of work total. Including my own flock of laying hens which is only 6 (I live in the middle of town) that is ~1 hour/chick or ~15 hours/16 chicks.

We sell the pullets at $25/bird or $40/2 birds. Almost everyone gets 2 birds so the whole flock (and I've never not sold a single one) goes for $240. Minus expenses I am making $155 off of every batch. Almost $10/hour. We do this 4 times a year so we make about $700 a year on our chickens.

It seems insignificant alone. We also breed and sell rabbits and I sell seed starts of rare heirlooms and perennials out of a seed catalog, eggs, fur. And seeds from my own hybrids that I accidentally let go to seed. With all of these we are able to make an extra $10,000 a year. For us that means saving up to buy a house on some land out of town with cash and be completely debt free.

 

[SunbonnetSuai]

Selling started pullets for $15 each won't even cover my feed bill. If you are looking for a way to make money on chickens it won't be easy.

Any current data on this? I see pullets advertised on line between $35 and $50 each. Cost of chicks are now between $4 and $6 in Southern Oregon as of today,, 3/20/25