I forgot to mention the timing. Great point. My fastest sells, when I thought I would need another incubator, were in March and April. As soon as I can separate pullets, they sell easily for $12-15. With the marans, that is at about 8 weeks, and it's looking like the ameraucanas will be the same, so my plan is to be incubating like crazy in January and February. I still haven't paid out of pocket for supplies since January, but I'm biting into the coop money now. I'm going to keep on with the coops as well. That one coop will pay for feed for 2 monthsGreat breeding/selling advice SC. We have 20 chickens strictly for laying and that will net my boys $40 in profit a month IF all goes well. I realized this year (too late) that I could have raised 4x the chickens I did and easily sold them for enough to pay for 2 years worth of feed. All I needed to do is get them to 8 to 14 weeks. I saw so many "my dog killed our chicks and I don't want to start over" ads and I got calls too when I posted roosters. I hope to raise and sell 100 Wyandotte and EE next year. If I hatch in Feb/March and sell in June I will pay for everything and make a profit. I just sold three 8 week old wyandotte pullets for $15 and I had 4 people waiting in line if the sale fell through. It only costs me $2 a month to feed them. I think the price of eggs and people being more conscious of where there food comes from is fueling the back yard chicken scene.I just think a 30 min documentary about you would be a great watch. You turned a tree a raw growing tree into a kitchen!
