small scale hatchery

[mycountrycabin]

Quote:
thanks
how many sq feet are in an acre?

 

[AZKat]

www.google.com

Its your friend.

 

[mycountrycabin]

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oooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhh duh!!!!!!!!!!
43,560

 

[saddina]

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why do i need breeders if im gonna be doin the breeding?
idk if brahmas and other feather-footed breeds are in demand?
how much room is advised?
i keep all of my breeds seperate

Breeders meaning roosters and hens with genetics worth breeding.

I was giving you a list of things to research. Remember you'll have to fence in all of that acre for each group seperatly.

 

[Chicky Tocks]

1 acre = 43,560 square foot - which means you could have
4,356 chickens if the acre were dedicated to only them...give or take a few chickens for land between pens.

With that said, it would most likely be more profitable to be a breeder and sell both your hatching eggs and the chicks. Find your local farmer's coops and family owned feedstores and convince them to buy your chicks.

Remember though, you'll surely have to vaccinate any chicks that you sell. The feed adds up considerably and the electricity to run your brooders and incubators will add up as well. So it's really not so easy to turn a big profit off of your chickens.

ETA: That's a lot of poop too.

 

[mycountrycabin]

Quote:
why do i need breeders if im gonna be doin the breeding?
idk if brahmas and other feather-footed breeds are in demand?
how much room is advised?
i keep all of my breeds seperate

Breeders meaning roosters and hens with genetics worth breeding.

I was giving you a list of things to research. Remember you'll have to fence in all of that acre for each group seperatly.

i have another ?
how do i know if the breeds im breeding are in demand?

 

[Katy]

Sometimes you won't until you have them for sale. Be sure and get good breeder stock tho and not just hatchery birds. A bird that actually looks like the breed it's supposed to be will always sell better.

 

[onthespot]

You might want to keep meticulous notes on your profit and loss status as you embark on your venture. The information could be very useful if you need to write a paper on the subject in the future.

Just from the sounds of your questions, I would say you are doomed to failure. I am not a pessimist. I always think there is a way, but someone who lacks the initiative to google how many feet in an acre, and who does not already have an idea of what his market is and how he will provide a better bird at a better value than his compettitors will likely loss his bankroll before he wises up. Not being brutal, just saying it plain. It takes more than just filling feeders, raking poop and picking up eggs to make a profit in chickens.

In horses there is a saying... "When a man with money meets a man with experience, the man with the experience gets the money and the man with money gets the experience." I see some expensive lessons in your future before you break even or profit. We all have learned the same lessons, so no shame in that. There is an inescapable learning curve with chickens, and you are at the bottom of the curve still. Good luck and hope you make a living.
Patty

 

[mycountrycabin]

Quote:
I see where ur comin from and know im still at the beginning of the curve ,but also take into consideration im only ** years old and this is what i want to do,whether i make a living or not this is what im gonna do ( i mean this in the nicest way possible)

 

[wombat]

I'd suggest that at your age, you start with this as a hobby, and learn your lessons with a small scale operation before you decide to sink a lot of money into this. Look around at the web sites of small commercial operations; what are they doing to make their operation commercially viable? Do this as a hobby on a smaller scale, and see if you can first get to covering your costs, and figure out what scale you would need to turn a profit from there.

Also - it's wise to have a contingency plan. Get a good education that you can apply to a variety of tasks, so that you have solid, marketable skills if your business plan doesn't work out.

Nothing wrong with chasing a dream. Without that, not much would get accomplished. On the other hand, making a career out of niche agriculture can be very challenging. You'll need to study far harder with this than you ever had to in school if you're going to make a business out of it. As another poster already mentioned, if you're having to ask how many feet to an acre instead of tracking down that information yourself, you are a long, long way from being self-reliant enough to start a business. Not being mean here, just trying to get you to consider what mindset it takes to succeed.

I'm considering hobby farming to be my "retirement" plan, and I expect to spend years and years learning it and ramping up before I'm ready to bag my IT job and do it full time ... and then I'll probably end up working harder and longer in "retirement" than with my "desk job." ...