starting a chicken businesss

[mulelover1999]

Does anyone have any other advice for me? I need as much as I can.

 

[Maggiesdad]

Frosthazard and greenmimama both give good advice. Read read read! Use the search feature on BYC to find topics that match your questions - there's a ton of great info on here.

Remember, you're looking for a niche in the market... if you're offering something that's already there, you may have to offer it cheaper to be able to move your product. If you're the only one with your product, then you're in a better position to name your price.

Search here and craigslist in your area for what you're hoping to sell, that will give you an idea of what the market will bear.

Don't overlook table eggs as a means to pay for building your breeding flock - my 12 Black Australorp girls paid their own way plus fed 70 other birds this summer with their eating eggs.

 

[mulelover1999]

Frosthazard and greenmimama both give good advice.  Read read read! Use the search feature on BYC to find topics that match your questions - there's a ton of great info on here.

Remember, you're looking for a niche in the market... if you're offering something that's already there, you may have to offer it cheaper to be able to move your product. If you're the only one with your product, then you're in a better position to name your price.

Search here and craigslist in your area for what you're hoping to sell, that will give you an idea of what the market will bear.

Don't overlook table eggs as a means to pay for building your breeding flock - my 12 Black Australorp girls paid their own way plus fed 70 other birds this summer with their eating eggs.

Wow that's sounds impressive. Well to me it is anyway.

 

[Frost Homestead]

they are easter eggers, sorry. A lot of people dont know the difference between real ameraucanas and easter eggers so you get a lot of folks selling them as ameraucanas when they're not purebred. If you want to get some real ameraucanas read up on what makes them different and find someone to buy from who also knows the differences. When you buy ameraucanas the seller should ALWAYS specify an APPROVED color. (for example: blue wheaten) and ALL of the females of a specific color should look identical, same goes for the roos. Ameraucanas never have green legs.

 

[Runawaylobster]

Way to go !!!!!


The very first thing you need to decide when starting a business is how much money you want to make.


So the first calculation is.... how many chicks, eggs, pullets etc etc do I need to sell to make this much money.


Add up how much it costs you to produce each of the products you plan to sell.


eg: Cost of housing, feed, medications, shipping etc:


After you have this number, you need to decide who you will sell your producst to. Who will be your
customers.


Are there enough of these customers to buy the number of products you wish to sell.(ie what is the size
of your market).


Next : How will you advertize in order to make sales to these customers.


Who are your competitors, and how will you attract people to you instead of them.


How do you plan to collect funds. Cash, Checks, credit cards etc:,


Of course there are lots of other details but this is a basic structure for a business plan. The coolest
thing is to start with a sound business plan, then you can tweak it as you go along. It will
really help you structure things and be one step ahead. Even when it's a small business to start
the discipline of the plan will help you expand it when the time comes.


Best of luck!!!!!


Lesley

 

[MuranoFarms]

Ok, while you got some very good advice on breeds let me explain something else: you can still sell EE and pet quality silkie eggs! If that is what you have to start with, that is fine! As you improve your breeds you can raise your prices. Simple as that! Just be honest...don't claim they are something they're not. Their is a market for 'blue egg laying chickens' pure or not. (ask any feed store at Easter! LOL)

Write yourself a business plan. It's supposed to be extremely detailed and cover several years....BUT I have to admit mine only goes about a year at a time.

Start with the beginning coop, flock, bator etc. Write down expansion plans. Will you need to build? Where's the money coming for before they start laying? How much money will be put back into the business? How many customers can you project to have to start? How will you find more? How many eggs will you produce with the chosen flock size? Will you advertise? How will you expand your flocks (will you use an outside breeder? etc)
Put it all in the plan. I do mine in outline form. That way there is space for when I want to add details.

Try not to expand too quickly. While it would be awesome to get 4 dozen fertile eggs a day...can you sell 4 dozen fertile eggs a day? If not, that is a whole lot of extra mouths to feed. You need to come up with a hen to customer ratio that works for you. So while you may be on a waiting list at times, it's better then feeding a dozen extra hens and ending up eating a lot of omelets!

Good luck to you!

 

[mulelover1999]

they are easter eggers, sorry. A lot of people dont know the difference between real ameraucanas and easter eggers so you get a lot of folks selling them as ameraucanas when they're not purebred. If you want to get some real ameraucanas read up on what makes them different and find someone to buy from who also knows the differences. When you buy ameraucanas the seller should ALWAYS specify an APPROVED color. (for example: blue wheaten) and ALL of the females of a specific color should look identical, same goes for the roos. Ameraucanas never have green legs.

I just got on a website and it has a picture or an amauracauna hen with green legs

 

[mulelover1999]

Thank you so much for all of your advice

 

[BantamFan4Life]

The book "Your Chickens" is design for kids starting a business (including selling eggs,breeding,showing,selling feathers, and meat). It also helps you plan
out your expenses and profits. I'm starting a business also and it was very helpful (I'm starting one and don't have one yet) If your looking to by frugal chickens
for egg-laying go with Leghorns and Hamburgs they have the best feed to egg ratio.If you want them for to be a pet and egg-layers go with Orpington,Faverolle, or Brahma. If your looking for breeding go with a broody breed like Orpington,Silkie, or Sussex. They are all very broody. You should get 1 cockerel and with hens you'll need to tell me how many you are estimating
to sell. Hope that helped!!!

edited by staff

 

[mulelover1999]

I don't know how many I need I just want to sell enough that they can atleast pay for half of their stuff if not all with alittle bit of a profit