So I've been thinking about actually starting a hatchery bidness...

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

Quote:
Thank you, Mr./Mrs. Rodriguez.

This is not my only source of income. I hustle.
I also don't plan to waste time/money/space with very many of my own birds, aside from the ones that make me breakfast and the "fancy" ones. I can find plenty of folks around here who have some purebred eggs and that's what I had in mind.

I'm already incubating and hatching constantly, and brooding peeps for myself. As a hatchery, I don't want any peeps more than a week. I want the little pains in the neck sold and gone. Vaccination is easy, I've done it. $17 for up to 1,000 birds.

Thanks again!

 

[lauralou]

I would love to help you reminisce about your ex-girlfriend's constant and relentless negativity. Unfortunately, I keep being sidetracked by thoughts of my ex-husband's cruel and brutal criticism.

So, sorry. I won't be able to help you there.






But seriously, if you have some sort of a venue, such as local swap meets, I believe there is a bit of money to be made by hatching and selling chicks. I know some folks who do pretty well at it. They have put a lot of work into organizing and advertising the swap meets, though.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

Are you going to be sharing any of your income with the people who are allowing you to purchase their eggs? Or are you going to keep all monetary gains?

It's Ms. Rodriguez. Thanks!

I'm not trying to sway you one way or the other, I'm just wanting to make sure you are looking at the things that you will need to consider in the "cons" department since you have already decided on the pros.

 

[WallTenters]

Why not raise pullets? If you had the space, there is a good market for naturally raised (foraging able) non-de-beaked pullets almost everywhere. Even cockerels.

Also, I would go with heritage, dual purpose breeds. Any of the cockerels you don't sell can be advertised as meat birds at butcher time. Any of the pullets you sell can get good dollar as laying hens in a few months.

Check with your state laws on butchering (and selling eggs!). I know several states where there is an income/# of birds limit before you need a license. Here in Oregon, you need a permit to poop brown, but not everywhere is so straight jacketed. If your state allows small time poultry butchering at home, there is premium dollar to be made on home grown chicken meat vs. store bought meat.

I think what everyone has already said about making money on chicks is true. Shipping is a pain. Customer service on a large scale is a bigger pain. There is very little money in it, fatalities are high, and it seems like it would be far more time consuming and expensive than it would be worth in the long run. You wouldn't want to look back on a year of hard labor and stress over eggs to discover you made $300.

Or maybe just choose 2-3 nice breeds, and raise show quality (or at least breeding quality!) birds. Then you COULD charge a premium for the chicks, and any remaining birds would be still worth enough to earn their keep as breeding quality animals. The biggest problem with the big hatcheries is they are factory farms with very poor genetics, lots of mistakes and dead animals, all a result from "bigger is better" thinking. You will spend a pretty penny on birds to start your flocks, but they should pay for themselves if there is a market for that bird.

I would have much much rather paid three times as much for our 15 doms if they were show quality - can you imagine?!! Show quality chicks from a hatchery?!?!

 

[FlashPointFarm]

Good luck!

Just keep in mind, high quality birds cost just as much to feed as junky looking stock.

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

Quote:
hon, Petaluma has not been the "chicken capital" of anything for about 100 years.

Nowadays, it's more like the "abandoned, run-down-chicken-coop-that-you-are-not-allowed-to-touch-for-historical-purposes capital.

 

[CityGirlintheCountry]

I'm with WallTenters. I have a hard time selling chicks. If I wait until they are at point of lay, I can ask $20 per pullet for a mixed breed barnyard mutt. The roosters are harder, but if you are willing to sell pullets and roosters as a set, then they move along too. An individual rooster is fairly hard to move, but toss in two pullets and people come out of the woodwork (and this is still barnyard mutts we are talking about!). I can't keep enough pullets around the place! Since you seem comfortable using your roosters as meat birds, you are good to go. Sell the best and eat the rest!

Speciality chickens are the other way to go. I'm moving away from my generic chickens into two particular breeds. That way I can concentrate on developing the best possible. Hopefully when I have a proven quality track record, people will be willing to pay more for eggs, chicks and started birds. I still get the fun of breeding, the birds go to good homes, and I make enough money to at least break even.

Side question- You are in Petaluma? Have you gone to the Seed Bank store yet? I just got the Baker's Creek seed catalog and it had all sorts of pictures. The store looks fascinating!

 

[kelseygirl707]

Quote:
hon, Petaluma has not been the "chicken capital" of anything for about 100 years.

Nowadays, it's more like the "abandoned, run-down-chicken-coop-that-you-are-not-allowed-to-touch-for-historical-purposes capital.

LOL, we've only been gone 2 years, how did that happen?

 

[Randy]

Don't let the dream killers get you down. You can do it.

 

[Cara]

Point-of-lay birds are easy to sell, but not easy to profit from. By the time they're 4 months old I have a lot of time and money invested in them (particularly when accounting for losses), and $20 doesn't make it worthwhile. I find i'm better off keeping them and selling the eggs.