Selling 23 week old chickens for profit- is there a market?

[BYCforlife]

I was considering raising chickens and selling them as soon as they start laying eggs. I was wondering how much success other people may have had with this? Also, I couldn't find the proper category for this question, sorry about that.

 

[waddles99]

Thats good. It makes the work that you have to do more fun if you like chickens. I hope everything works out for you.

Just a tip, if you are going to be breeding and selling, make sure you know what you are doing and your customers know what they are getting. So many times breeders are unknowingly breeding junk and selling it to people as good quality birds only to disappoint their customers later on.

 

[lazy gardener]

Quote: If you were selling birds with that regime, giving full disclosure to the customer, I doubt very much if you'd have any customers, other than the ones who do not have a clue that production of a flock is related to the nutrition and care they receive from the beginning. IMO, the beginning starts long before the egg you intend to incubate is laid. The breeding flock needs superior nutrition to produce superior chicks. Those superior chicks need superior nutrition to become superior layers.

 

[dekel18042]

So I should seperate my flock, keep the chickens purebred, and keep their feed good?

If you really want to raise and sell chickens you may want to start with an interesting but not usually available breed that is not usually found locally or even in hatcheries. (Thinking maybe fancy bantams would do well here?)
I know our local hatchery sells POL birds in several breeds for much less than I can raise mine for. Plus I have some breeds and interesting mixes bred specifically for egg color not found in hatcheries. But then mine have the best of everything while hatcheries can do it in bulk and at wholesale prices.
I can truthfully and jokingly say chickens are a money pit into which I invest my own money.

 

[waddles99]

Ameraucana. Pea Combs for cold climate. Good demand for them. A couple different varieties to choose from. Good ones are hard to come by, the market is filled with fake Ameraucana falsely sold as such, and as a result people will really want good Ameraucana chicks. I don't know about making money, but you may be able to break even.

 

[rosemarythyme]

This probably will work for some markets and not others, but you could go the opposite route and try spending more to sell more expensive birds. In my area organic anything sells much better and it would probably be worth the effort to sell organically raised birds (and probably POL, as most of the cities have no-rooster ordinances). They don't have to be certified organic, they can be raised with organic practices and even that alone would be enough to boost the price, if that's something people in your area want.

 

[TattooedChicks]

Just from local advertising, I see a few people in my are selling their started pullets and hens for about $20-35 dollars a piece on common breeds. Just from feed math, say a pound of chick starter a week on average at $.70 per pound (my price around here) is about $16 in feed to get to 23 weeks old. Plus cost of the chick/eggs, water, electricity if brooding/hatching, and your time. Not a huge profit but maybe breaking even.

 

[BYCforlife]

And my chick starter is WAY cheaper! $.30 per pound. I was also thinking of possibly selling coop packages, (coop, feeder, waterer, feed, wood shavings etc.) so maybe that would help me make a little more profit. Thanks for the info!

 

[Egghead_Jr]

35 dollars for point of lay pullet! Holy cow, and here I thought Kansas was an agricultural state?

Prices around my area are now up to $20 but you can still find point of lay for less. And of course the term point of lay is loosely used. Some try to sell 16 week and younger pullets as POL and $20

But if the market can support it who am I to judge. Your feed costs will vary on type of breed, layer or dual purpose, and how much feed is lost to wildlife and rodents and how much forage your birds have access to. 1/4 to 1/3 pound of feed per bird per day at 12 weeks and older and lets say 1/8 pound per day for overestimate from hatch to 12 weeks. To average and overestimate costs another way let's say 24 weeks at a 1/4 pound a day is 1/4*24*4.3 = 25.8 lbs of feed for one bird to 24 weeks of age. A bag of feed is $15 for 50lbs on average so your feed costs alone are only 7.50. If we go large on pine shavings and electric costs to hatch and brood and say a bag of shavings per bird plus 2.50 electric we'd add another 10 dollars. Reality of it is it only costs about 15 dollars maximum to raise a bird to point of lay so if we double that for fair retail (50% mark up retail) $30 per bird is not as ridiculously high as I originally thought. Being in a poverty stricken ag state the last time I purchased point of lay pullets five years ago paid 12.50 per bird which is a more accurate cost to raise them including price of chick.

 

[BYCforlife]

So I might want to sell them sooner, so I can sell them cheaper, therefore selling more, therefore making more money! I will have to see what sells better. Most people look at price more than age when it comes to chickens.
"wow! one dollar!"
"how old?"
"Only 12 years! please, mom?"