Selling hatching eggs?

[McChickenNugget]

Wow americamom that's a lot of money, I had no idea you could make THAT much lol do you just sell locally or do you ship eggs too? I wouldn't mind trying that if it meant more buyers. Do you keep selling through the winter too or does business completely die off? Thanks for all the great info everyone!

 

[AmericanMom]

Wow americamom that's a lot of money, I had no idea you could make THAT much lol do you just sell locally or do you ship eggs too? I wouldn't mind trying that if it meant more buyers. Do you keep selling through the winter too or does business completely die off? Thanks for all the great info everyone!

I just started doing this last spring after seeing that there was only one person who advertised for hatching eggs, I tested it and posted a want ad and got not one...NOT ONE person offering hatching eggs, so I thought what the heck, I have them why not try.. My very first order was for two dozen for a teacher..
Eating eggs I sell only to friends and family, I am not greedy but like most addicts here, I will try and hatch anything fertile

, as of right now I have 10 dozen orders a week ( $2.50 dz for eating eggs).. Given that I haven't sold much in the way of hatching eggs lately I would say the rush is over, which is ok, some of my hens will start molting soon, pullets will start laying, my own broodys hatching their eggs.. This is the time to decide who stays and who goes, got 8-10 rabbits to butcher this weekend, 3 cockerels and more than likely my three oldest hens who got me into all this.
I thought about shipping and I may do that after a month or so, but looking on Ebay I wouldn't get much in the way of my barnyard mix and I don't think (right now) its worth it for me, if I had pure breds I for sure would and will next year with the turkey eggs.

I do not expect to make money doing this and as I said, as long as they pay for themselves I am happy.. Ever since I was a little girl I wanted a farm, I finally get to do it even tho on our acre its not as extensive as it could be its enough for me.

 

[farnorth]

I sell eating eggs for $2. a dozen. Right now I'm only selling about 5 dozen in 3 weeks....so not a lot but that's $10. every 3 weeks toward shavings or feed.

This summer I started selling barnyard mix hatching eggs for $10. a dozen because no one in the area was selling them when I wanted some...so I got a rooster and put an ad on Craigslist. I think I only sold only about 5 dozen hatching eggs all summer but that was still $50. toward feed.

Then I also hatched and sold 3 groups of chicks (barnyard mix, straight run) I sold for $2.50 each or $25. for a dozen. I sold every chick before they reached a week old and in most cases by the time they were 2 days old. made about $150. from that.

It's not a lot of money but it paid for feed and shavings and other misc stuff like grit, calcium, a new feeder etc.

I have people who already are saying they want to buy some chicks early next spring. I may get a 2nd incubator.

Next year I will be selling quite a few more eating eggs too because I will have 17 hens instead of only 6 and I hope to sell more chicks and hatching eggs by starting earlier in the spring.

I don't ship eggs but lots of people do.

 

[McChickenNugget]

That sounds like a great idea. I checked on cl and there were just a few people seeing hatching eggs and no peeps at all. I'm thinking of trying a few practice hatches over the winter with an incubator so I'll have it all figured out by springtime. Last year people were going crazy trying to find Easter peeps and ducklings and were offering a lot of money. I think it depends on where you live too. Right now Easter eggers and polish breeds are really popular here so I will try selling our ee eggs first and see what happens. I would like to try duck eggs too. We have two khaki Campbells that are laying great and it would be cheap to find a male for them. Everyone gave me some great ideas and I can't wait to get started