stupid question? Who buys them?

[greymane]

I have to agree with Tony and others. I don't think there is a profit for the large majority of breeders. I keep them because I like having them around. I give the feathers away to friends who are fly fishermen (although, I know I could sell some).

As for selling / buying, I go to small animal auctions and deal with local breeders. Also, eBay, Craigslist, local swap meets, etc. are all options.

Between housing, food and upkeep materials, I can't imagine ever making a profit from them.

 

[ranit]

I just consider it a hobby that mostly pays for itself. I did keep track one year of how much I spent vs how much I sold. I included my gas expense to go to animal sales/swaps but didn't include my time or electricity to run the incubators and brooders. At the end of the year I broke even.

 

[flyingmonkeypoop]

Just like anything, it can bring a profit depending on how you do it. I know a couple big pheasant/exotic waterfowl breeders that sell their birds just for taxidermy. For a golden pheasant live, you get them around here for about $15-20. A bird in taxidermy condition can go for close to $200 if it is good enough. I don't agree with those folks that raise birds and kill them just for taxidermy but they are the ones who have to live with their choices, not me.
I do some taxidermy as well but never would kill a pheasant just for that purpose. I have done it to a few extra chicken roosters but we used the meat from them, plus made profit from the feathers.

So many new pheasant people are in it for the money. They see how much some birds sell for, then start thinking that they could get a pair/trio of the same type and breed them, then sell the chicks for the same price. When they get the birds, then pay for the pens, the feed, the hours shoveling snow, any repairs to the pens, electricity to keep some of the species warm for winter, the power to run incubators and heat lamps, the chick feed, more pens to house chicks as they grow, then waiting to tell the gender of the chicks as more feed goes into them, they realize it wasn't worth all the time/money/space to do it and call it quits.

If you go into pheasants, do it for the love of the birds, not the money. If you just are in it for the money, it will never work out since your heart isn't in it. Keep in mind that they are not chickens. Some birds will kill each other, some birds just wont mate and produce any offspring, some species don't mature and lay eggs until their second year. Some species are hard to tell the gender, even when they get to be near a year old.

 

[Birch Run Farm]

 

[aprophet]

I always figured you could make a profit (eventually) off the feathers.

You can you have to be willing to run a buesiness instead of playing at it most will never have this happen, for whatever area you are in you need to raise what no one else has you can learn a lot just hanging out with the "old guys" that do birds