rethinking profit?

[Bircheggfarm20]

this winter i will have 30 hens laying and 4 roosters. I will be going threw roughly 8 pounds of grain a day these are barred rocks. I can sell 2 dozen eggs a day for 2.00 dollars a dozen. im gonna try sell hatching eggs for 3.00 a dozen. Feed costs me 11 dollars for 75 pounds of feed. What id like to no is can i make profit doin that along with selling day old chicks 1 dollars a peice and sellin month old chicks straight run at 2.00-300 dollars a chick. 2 month old 4.00 dollar roosters and 5 dollars hens. 3 months 5 dollars rooster and 6 dollars a hen. Ready lay pullets at 8-15 dollars a head and roosters 6 dollars a peice. and if i still have sum at 5 month laying 10-15 a peice. And any roosters i have left over im goin to butcher and sell meat at 7 dollars a hole chicken im also goin to sell compost manure 4-5 dollars for 50 lbs?

 

[greathorse]

In a word NO. LOL. I think you can mitigate expenses a lot by doing just as you describe, but I am not sure you will ever make a profit with backyard chickens. I am sure you know you will need to figure in the time the hens molt the six to eight months it takes them to lay etc. etc. I have about 30 hens and get nowhere close to 24 eggs a day, but you may get that, I think many do.

I frankly choose to put my head deep in the sand and pay no attention to what I lose or gain, I write it off as a hobby. I am happy to sell the eggs that I can and give the rest to my free loading kids and grandkids and anyone else that does not annoy me with their skepticism about fresh eggs from free ranged chickens.. They are great and I am happy to do it.

A lot of people do carefully track their expenses and their sales and I admire them for it, I just am not that curious.

good luck

 

[azelgin]

Out of curiosity, I ran the numbers for myself one time. Seems that under the climate and market conditions I have, I need about 600 hens to pay for my time to tend them. I'm now satisfied when they are able to cover their own feed costs.

 

[Peeplperson]

Yikes! I wish I'd paid more attention in algebra.

Seriously, you're paying a little less than $1.20/day for feed. If you can make $4.00/day from eggs, that sounds good. But don't forget any other costs: electrical (any heat lamps) egg cartons, transportation, and your time. Any other sales you have (meat, chicks, manure, etc) would just add to profit.

Around here, we have never used 'chickens' and 'profit' in the same sentence:

Good luck!

 

[Bircheggfarm20]

all the equipment i have egg cartons i get for free. the only expens i have is in feed for all the groups of chickens

 

[lelisabeth]

You can only get $2.00 for eggs? As long as you say they are "free-range" (which there is no technical definition for), you could get $4-5.00 a dozen here in New England!!

 

[JewellFarm]

I think you are under-charging? Especially for hatching eggs. Have you looked at prices that other people are charging?

 

[Bircheggfarm20]

ok i may and probly will charge more on each thing but those are the bare minums i wanted no if i make a profit on it. it dont have to be 10000s of dollars profit just as long as im comin ahead all the time

 

[azelgin]

Quote:
I think you'll most always come out ahead. Right now, we have about 50 hens laying and sell eggs for $2.00. Our feed cost are about $15.00, for 50#, so we double pay what you do. But, we free range and that cuts the consumption in half, so we are paying the same as you.

In order for me to actually have enough chickens to make it pay, as a part time buisiness, it ment going out and actually selling a product, instead of folks dropping by for eggs and the occaisional chick and pullets peddled on Craigslist. Volume sales would also get me onto a commercial catagorey, with permits, inspections, record keeping and other problems I don't want to hassle with. I'm happy with the chickens covering the cost of their own food, dog food and cat food, with sometimes enough left over for a new piece of chicken equipment.

 

[wohneli]

I view my profit as all the enjoyment I get from my girls!