Selling older chickens

[Colored Egg Farmer]

For thoes of you with older chickens you get rid of what do you do with them other than process them. I'm Selling mine using my website and Craigslist for 2 each. If anyone else have some suggestions I would greatly appreciate some. Thats there current photo: http://www.coloredeggfarms.com/oldhens.html

 

[Mahlzeit]

Are you having luck selling off your older hens?

 

[Colored Egg Farmer]

I was able to sell a few 2-3 months ago but that is about it

 

[MissJenny]

If I were to shove my opinion on you, and I'm not saying I'd really do that,

you might have better luck if you were to rephrase your sales pitch from

"Old Hens"

to something more positive and hopeful like

"Mature Laying Hens"

. Raise the price a bit to, say, $7. People perceive value based on price

-- if you want only $2 for a thing the perception is that it can't be any good.

Take a couple of good clear close up photos that show one or two of your handsomest hens from the top of the head to the bottom of the toes. It's all in presentation. I am betting you'll likely get better results.

Jenny

 

[Colored Egg Farmer]

only reason i came up with the price that is that 1 year chickens around here go for about 4 bucks a chicken. I should have just sold them at 1 year like i always do but no i had to keep them

. The photos on the other hands... they don't like the camera for some strange reason i can go in there and they chase me everywhere. But as soon as I bring the camera in its like a bomb blew up and i have chickens flying everywhere. I think it might be the flash they were never very good at taking pics lol.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You can ask about posting a notice at the feed store.

 

[vbgarden]

This is a really valid question and one that I hope will get a lot of suggestions - we also have some chickens that are getting older and past laying. We don't eat chicken, only the eggs, so we're really stuck. I don't have enough coop and run space to house a growing population of old gals when I need to bring in new layers. (And, believe me, aat Pushing Sixty, I'm real sensitive to anyone not having a use for an Old Chick!

) I used to have a neighbor who would take our older chickens and all the young roosters and eat them - I'd take her down a batch (free) and a few days later I'd see a big chicken BBQ party going on in her backyard. Alas, she's gone and I don't see chickens moving on Craigslist unless they are peeps or new layers.

I volunteer at our local animal shelter and heard one of the folks there say that someone would come in and get any poultry that was brought in so I'm going to follow up on that lead. My old hens are good girls - well, okay, some are a tad ornery - and I'm fond of them. I'm okay with them becoming dinner as long as they don't suffer in between - I know y'all know what I mean. But right now we're going through a lot of feed for a flock with only a couple of serious layers and it's just too crowded and expensive to keep this up.

sadly,
Sybil

 

[Colored Egg Farmer]

well i lowered my price to 1 doller and now have one person comming in today to take 50 of them.

 

[sommrluv]

$1!

Where are you in NE PA? Do you do this often? (wondering if my husband would kill me if I have 50 hens lined up next to his truck when he gets home from work one day)

 

[JoAnn_WI_4-H_Mom]

I'm afraid I would only be willing to pay $1 for an old hen that wasn't going to be laying much any more. It will take effort or $1.50 to butcher them, so I am already looking at $2.50 for a chewy stewed chicken dinner. If they are not laying regularly, they will likely eat more feed than they produce in value of eggs.

Sad that their "useful" lives are often so short. There just isn't a market for huge numbers of "pet" chickens unless they are also an interesting breed.

Now the market for pretty, interesting, ready to lay pullets in an urban-ish market that allows small flocks of hens, now there you might be able to get $15 a bird (so I am told), but sadly not for the old girls.

And Murray McMurray advertises started pullets at $12.95.