Then in spring, I was planning on putting the roosters in the breeding pens for 2 weeks before putting hens back in with them. THEN 3 days later I plan on starting to collect hatching eggs from them. I've done this in the past and talked to other people who do similar. If this is not normal protocol, I'd be interested in hearing what would be normal.
from what i have read and understand a hen will stay fertil up to a month after a rooster has been removed thus 2 weeks would not be enough time for all th viable sperm and fertil eggs to have removed. i would wait at least a week before collecting eggs to sell and before i even sold them i would check for fertility so i know i'm not selling infertile eggs (nor mixed breeds)
for improvement means you want to buy the best quility birds you can get your hands on. show quilty will sell better than anything else. i have to improve on my self blues d'uccles as my roo has wattles and a very small beard which they are supposed to have no wattles and a nice full beard. it could take me years to get my self blues were they need to be to even be breeder quilty. i could sell the eggs as nothing but pet quilty but i want my chickens to actully look like they are supposed to but not necessarly show quilty before i offer eggs. i want my custmers to be pleased with their chicks over all with nice coloring and looking like the breed they should be. egg prodution has nothing to do with what i am doing. i could care less about egg prodution
If ya'll are interested I can share some more of my money saving tips, because really to make poultry profitable you have to focus on saving money and not really on making it. As far as my breeding goes I have my finest roo and 1-3 hens with him. This does 2 things; it ensures that I am breeding the best stock I have, and it really cuts down on what I can hatch ( less chicks = less food
). Also I hear people talk about hatching as many chicks as possible from as many different parents possible for a breeding program, I don't think this is true. It makes no sense to me to breed a roo with 6-7 hens when you could cut 3-4 of the less desirable hens out of the bunch, you would probably end up culling those chicks anyway. I have found ,for me it seems, if I have a pare of chickens and hatch 20 chicks I get a decent genetic variation. Another thing, I find the best ratio of laying hens to breeding chickens is 2:1 or 3:1. I usually keep the breeders in their pens, but allow the rest of them to roam free throughout the day. This really cuts feed down ( which makes my wallet a much greener place
). Also what is this business on getting rid of culls !!!!!!!!
If you have raised a chicken to nearly full size USE IT !!! Almost all of my laying hens are culls or gifts. There is NO sense in buying RIR or red stars for laying when you have raised other chickens that will be perfectly well suited for laying. Also ( I have done the math) and I can raise a partridge rock to laying age on around $30.00 ( I know, the numbers are sobering
), but I can raise them to 2 months for about $5-$7 each, and sell them for $7-$10 each. It isn't much but like I said any place you can make and save a little cash will make it profitable. Another thing if you are thinking about buying a bunch of assorted pullets and raising them to sale, DON'T, it is nothing but a money pit. Another thing ( sorry if this is all random, I am kind-of typing as I think) keep track of what your spending, it is the only way you will keep spending in check. Have separate place for your chicken money. You don't want to let your chicken money slip into your grocery money, or use it to get a big mac
, at Mc Donalds. Use as much recycled material as possible. Dont buy wood to make your pens, go by lowe's or any hardware store and ask for their left-over wood pallets, the pens won't be beautiful, but they will be functional, and (my fav. CHEAP
). Also ask for; packing p-nuts, paper, boxes, bubble wrap, boards, wooden plats, or anything else you could possibly use. Instead of buying wood chips for bantam pens or chick brooders , use grass trimmings, pine straw, or dead leaves, And if you NEED hay, go buy your supplier and ask for the scraps. They usually will gladly let you fill 2 or 3 trash bags full of what falls off when they load the other bails. Anyway that is just what I can think of off the top of my head. I hope it helped someone.
. Now that I have infiltrated your mind there is no escape mwahahaha
(ok I am officially losing my mind
) but ya I have 2 breeds that I am in the process of raising for show and the rest are egg layers. I find that to be the best way to do it. I also have a friend that raised a few geese and ducks and he told me that they were pits that he threw all of his money into ( said the same thing about turkeys)
. But anyway I learned my money saving strategys from necessity. I am in college and can use every penny I can get. Do I pay for a full semester's tuition ,NO, but I do pay for gas with chickens. They even help me buy books
! Youre not going to make a ton of money, but if you do it right you can definitely put a little cash in your pocket.
All I pay is feed bills and electric, and light bulbs. Everything else was free.
You dont need but a few hens and a roo each breed to sell hatching eggs. And having all your males togethwr even with hens can cause problems. Some roos fight. I keep all my breeds seprate, and let one breed freerange one day, another day, another breed.
. Also ( I have done the math) and I can raise a partridge rock to laying age on around $30.00 ( I know, the numbers are sobering
Interesting, so what all are you accounting for in that total ? I have never kept up with what it costs to raise them and unfortunately, I've only recently realized how unsensible is has been for me to grow off chickens just to sell like I have been doin the last few years. It gives me something to do of course, but money wise, its not worth it and I doubt I've even been breaking even on them.
I will have to disagree a bit on the ducks and geese being money pits though, they may be if you pen them up and have to feed them, but when allowed to range and brood themselves, they can raise themselves and their young almost solely on what they forage on and can be close to adult size in 3 mouths, which is half the time it takes a chicken, and when to allowed to get the majority of of their food from free forage, then they are nearly 100% profit when sold and I have never had a problem selling ducks around here.
Our trouble with trying to keep numbers straight is that the chickens free range with the geese, muscovies, welsh harlequins, and guineas.
Our geese are mutts, so I know those aren't gonna be big money makers except as butchered geese around Xmas.
I'd LIKE to get some pilgrims, because I love the idea of color-sexing, though I did get the hang of vent sexing ducks/geese this year.
I've always free ranged my birds, and because in the past I have seprated out breeds for my own use, I always keep roosters (usually 2/breed). I've seen occassional spats, but I've never had an injury from roosters fighting. The only trouble I've had with roosters is having too many for the # of hens I had, especially after last spring when a fox got a lot of our hens. >
I've had ducks and chickens both get beat up by geese before, who also free range with everybody. Geese can be big bullies IMO.
However, there is a thing called Market Research. This involves finding out whether there is a market in you area or anywhere you hope to sell. I suggest you start here. See if you can sell birds? Eggs? Chicks? Check the auction sites for eggs and chicks. I've seen chicks sell for hardly anything and have no buyers whatsoever.
I recently bought chicks. Green Fire breeds and paid less than half in some cases what GF charges. My top price was not just what I could afford but was willing to pay. I felt bad for the seller. Same line of birds but less than half the price. In one case I would have gone higher but didn't know how things worked.
You have to establish your self as a breeder of healthy stock. I drove over 8 hrs and paid $20 a chick because the breeder has a reputation for good stock. DW would have killed me if she knew. You have to develop a reputation. Some on BYC have that and others buy from them cuz OOHHH they're from so and so. Doesn't matter they aren't any better than somewhere else.
Further if you ship eggs, you have to ship "that days" eggs not 3 or 4 day olds. The PO is always late and anything past day 7 is a crap shoot. I believe many underhanded sellers are shipping eggs past their fertility date. I shipped eggs immediately and the receiver (they were a gift) had a great hatch. Not to mention eggs from birds not healthy and too young.
I suggest you develop a "business plan" first before investing money into your endeavor.
As a person with a Business Degree? I think even the person I paid $20 a chick to is losing money. Especially when you consider the labor costs. Time is money as they say. Figure that in and your behind the eight ball before you even start.
Can it be done? Yes, but it takes time and hard work. Nothing worth having comes easy. Don't be discouraged. Do the research, develop a business plan and give it a shot. No one successful in business ever avoided the risks.
I wish you success and a happy and prosperous New Year.
First off you need to find out what kind of chickens sell in your area. What breeds do people like? Do they like sexed birds or is st. run okay? Craigs list is a good place to see what others are selling. In the area I live in (Austin Tx area) people really like to only buy pullets. So that left me with 3 options (because I tried selling day old st. run chicks and hardly sold any). 1) Sell a breed that can be sexed at hatch 2) buy a large quantity of sexed chicks from a hatchery or 3) hatch chicks and sell them at 2 months when they could easily be sexed. I tried option 2 and 3 put found that is wasn't that profitable. So now I am trying option number 1. I am selling sex link chicks. And the bonus with this is you don't have to worry about color or body type, because it is a mix. So a few months ago I started putting up ads on Craigs list. I put up ads in Austin as well as some of the other large cities not to far (Houston, Dallas, ect). The only hard part was that you aren't really supposed to do that, so I had to make sure to word the title of the ads differntly (only the title, the rest of the add could be the same). I make sure to renew the adds at least once a week because that seems to really help get new people to see it. And in the last few months I have over 600 orders for chicks. Most are local, a few orders are from out of town and they are going to drive over and pick them up, and 1 person wants them shipped. Most are pullets and a few are St. run. Also, orders have to be at least 25 chicks, so that cuts out on people only wanting 2 or 3. In my experience it is more hasle then it is worth to sell lower end chicks in small numbers (it isn't so bad for more expensive ones). This is what I am doing and so far it seems to be working well.
