How did you go about getting your name out there for silkies? Do u sell them at a certain age? Any details are helpful! I luv the whole process!!! Wee bit addictive
Well, it takes time to build a reputation. I live on an island with a population of 200,000 and a limited market for Silkies. People are able to buy them from hatcheries from the mainland for about five dollars each so why should they buy mine that I charge three and four times more for?
My goal market is people who really want these birds and really want to care for them and are willing to pay more for a quality bird. I give people lots of attention, if they are waiting for eggs to hatch I send them photos of the eggs under development which most people find pretty interesting and cool! Each chick hatched has an individual portrait and is banded individually, the buyers then get to pick the chicks in order of their place on the waitlist. I make myself available for folks after they buy the birds if they have any questions that come up. I offer them a six page care guide that I developed recently with specifics to taking care of Silkies in an environment like Hawaii, and of course I refer them to BYC!
I really love my birds and I want the people who buy them from me to be really happy with them and to love them as well. In general, the people that are willing to pay more money for a bird, are people who are going to take care of them and I’m trying to cater to this population. I also have repeat customers. I usually give them a discount.
At this point most of my business in by word of mouth. I do not have Facebook or Instagram but I am thinking of making an Instagram page in the future, if I can get my daughter to help me set it up! She fortunately is an excellent photographer and helps takes photos of the birds as well as helps me with the birds in general. Don’t think you’re going to make money on this though! This for me is just a hobby that I thoroughly enjoy. To keep my daughter motivated I split any money I get from sales with her. Her motivation waxes and wanes as she is getting older.
When my waitlist gets short, I post ads on craigslist when eggs are in the incubator to let people know that chicks are expected to hatch on such and such a day and to let me know if they are interested to be added to my waitlist. I sell most of chicks from five days of age to make sure that they are eating and drinking and pooping and acting normally and are healthy. Only recently I’ve been asking for a small deposit to be on the waitlist, mostly so I know people are serious about it.
There is a lot of trial and error in this process as other breeders can attest. You have to figure out what your goals are for breeding, what are you trying to do. Most of the birds I sell are for pets. I hatch all of my eggs in the incubator, at least for now, so they are all handled frequently right from hatch and all are quite friendly, which is what people want. I vaccinate my birds against Marek’s disease, which only one other breeder on the island is doing and this is also a plus as a selling point. It does add about five dollars each to the chick price due to the expense of importing the vaccine from the mainland.
So, sorry for all the rambling!
Hope this gives you an idea. This is very specific to my circumstances and environment. You’ll have to figure out what works for you.
What are other people selling chicks for? How available do you want to be to buyers?
Ask yourself these questions.
You could also just hatch some chicks and see what happens! It is a lot of work but so very addictive! Such a great joy seeing those little chicks crack out of the eggs!
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go away thoughts!! (But wouldn't little silkie mixes just be so cute??) Honestly i bet all my neighbors would take up chickens if I offered them.. theres only one other house w them, and one neighbor behind one of those. Only 7 houses on our street.. i think the two w kids might take them!!
