rethinking profit?

[lelisabeth]

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I would be happy if they covered that much too!! But I only have four, so it would take many, many lifetimes of these chickies to pay off that coop!

 

[TammyTX]

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I want 75 pounds of feed for $11!!!

......please?

 

[azelgin]

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Man, if I had to figure in them paying off the coop, I'd just shoot myself instead. I figure they give us bug and pest control, along with some intertainment, in exchange for a place to stay.

 

[lelisabeth]

I agree, I definately don't demand near as much from my dogs and cats... lucky for them

 

[jqs birds]

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I agree and sometimes it's a stretch too...lol

 

[Davaroo]

I tend to think you're underpricing your eggs.

$3-$4 per dozen for 'natural, fresh' eggs is more the norm.
And $10/dozen for hatching eggs is not out of the question if you do your job as breeder.

As for selling started birds, you get feed at a good price, so that saves you.
A bird eats, on average, several ounces a day. As they age, it goes up. Over 22 weeks, you can expect them to eat about $6-$7 worth of feed each. You will have to sell grwon layers for $10.00 minimum to make a profit on the feed alone. This doesn't count other things like litter, water, energy, transportation, labor and so on.
My only concern is do you have:
A. Quality, pure-breed birds that will command premium prices?...
B. A market that wants to buy them?

As for cockerels, unless you can prove their worth as bloodline stock, it may be tough to find buyers. I'd look to the latino market, if you have one - and not ask too many questions of your buyers.

Overall, I'd say, yes, you could make a profit. But you need to price a bit higher on the grown birds - and do some research into what people want to buy and what they are willing to pay for it.

 

[twentynine]

You can make money on chickens?

Many years ago I tried the same thing. You can never bank on selling an egg that ain't been layed. You can never bank on selling an egg that has been layed.


IF, big IF, by chance you do make any money it's going to be pennies.

 

[EngieKisses]

I just try to break even here. Which we were till the cute lil fuzzy butts at the feed store arrived and now we are feeding non layers until they start,

 

[Bircheggfarm20]

yes their is a big market for chickens here specially barred rocks and people are selling year old barred rocks for 10.00 dollars a peice

 

[azelgin]

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Yup, I figure I could make an extra $8.00 a day (an extra $2 a dozen!), by driving 50 miles and a couple hours time. My current sales operation is pretty low tech, with low overhead.