Want to hatch chicks but dont want to buy an incubator or dont want to spend a ton if money?

[CIuck]

My daughter is setting up a business where she is meeting on zoom with anyone who doesn't have an incubator or doesn't want to go through the hassle of hatching chicks, if you are interested please send me a message on backyard chickens and my daughter can set up a meeting with you, we live in CT so we would be fine driving anywhere near there to deliver the chicks, you will still have to pay the cost of the egg depending on the breed and you will have to sign a terms of agreement, to meet with her it is $5 (she needs to pay me back for the incubator ) Thank you! She would love to help you with the incubation process! You can pick the breed! If the egg place does not have you can pick your second chose.

 

[Ruthster55]

Interesting. Sounds like a good idea once you know your incubator pretty well and are confident setting eggs for clients.

Have you had a successful test run with your incubator already that resulted in a good hatch rate of your own flock's eggs? If it was a really high hatch rate like 85 or 90%, you could even advertise that!

I am hoping that you have an automatic turner and that it's calibrated for temperature and humidity, so you wouldn't need to constantly babysit the incubator - ?

Have you thought about how you will charge for the hatching services? Would you let people bring their own fertilized eggs for you to hatch? I think you would also need to charge for delivery of the chicks because of the gas and wear and tear on the vehicle.

I'm not so sure about the appointment fee idea, but maybe?

For the hatch itself where they come and pick up the chicks in person, there are a couple ways to do that. You could just charge a flat rate for each egg, but that could result in disappointed clients if some of the eggs turned out to be infertile.

Someone in Tucson who sounds like they know what they're doing charges a small setting fee and then charges per chick that actually hatches. Then, if the client doesn't pick up the chicks within a couple of days, they charge a little to brood and feed the chicks.

https://tucson.craigslist.org/grd/d/tucson-hatching-services-your-eggs-my/7130446368.html

 

[CIuck]

Interesting. Sounds like a good idea once you know your incubator pretty well and are confident setting eggs for clients.

Have you had a successful test run with your incubator already that resulted in a good hatch rate of your own flock's eggs? If it was a really high hatch rate like 85 or 90%, you could even advertise that!

I am hoping that you have an automatic turner and that it's calibrated for temperature and humidity, so you wouldn't need to constantly babysit the incubator - ?

Have you thought about how you will charge for the hatching services? Would you let people bring their own fertilized eggs for you to hatch? I think you would also need to charge for delivery of the chicks because of the gas and wear and tear on the vehicle.

I'm not so sure about the appointment fee idea, but maybe?

For the hatch itself where they come and pick up the chicks in person, there are a couple ways to do that. You could just charge a flat rate for each egg, but that could result in disappointed clients if some of the eggs turned out to be infertile.

Someone in Tucson who sounds like they know what they're doing charges a small setting fee and then charges per chick that actually hatches. Then, if the client doesn't pick up the chicks within a couple of days, they charge a little to brood and feed the chicks.

https://tucson.craigslist.org/grd/d/tucson-hatching-services-your-eggs-my/7130446368.html

I actually am buying a new turning incubator so I should charge for every living chick, that is smart. I think people would come and pick it up. I think that I may do somewhat of the same thing, I may put it on Facebook, I just wanted to start here. My daughter will love the new ideas! She will let people bring there own eggs if they want, that's smart.

 

[CIuck]

Interesting. Sounds like a good idea once you know your incubator pretty well and are confident setting eggs for clients.

Have you had a successful test run with your incubator already that resulted in a good hatch rate of your own flock's eggs? If it was a really high hatch rate like 85 or 90%, you could even advertise that!

I am hoping that you have an automatic turner and that it's calibrated for temperature and humidity, so you wouldn't need to constantly babysit the incubator - ?

Have you thought about how you will charge for the hatching services? Would you let people bring their own fertilized eggs for you to hatch? I think you would also need to charge for delivery of the chicks because of the gas and wear and tear on the vehicle.

I'm not so sure about the appointment fee idea, but maybe?

For the hatch itself where they come and pick up the chicks in person, there are a couple ways to do that. You could just charge a flat rate for each egg, but that could result in disappointed clients if some of the eggs turned out to be infertile.

Someone in Tucson who sounds like they know what they're doing charges a small setting fee and then charges per chick that actually hatches. Then, if the client doesn't pick up the chicks within a couple of days, they charge a little to brood and feed the chicks.

https://tucson.craigslist.org/grd/d/tucson-hatching-services-your-eggs-my/7130446368.html

I also may create a website to advertise. The limit is 16 eggs thought for my new incubator so people may not like that, I will look for a bigger one that is not to expensive because she is paying for it herself.

 

[Ruthster55]

If you're in some local FB groups for chicken lovers, that's a good place to talk about your incubator setup and let people know that you offer hatching services. Craigslist is a good place to advertise once you have thought everything through about pricing and have done a test run and are confident that your incubator is well calibrated for temperature and humidity with a good hatch rate. .

The test run with your own flock's eggs or hatching eggs that you have bought is really important so you can get and idea of the hatch rate and are confident managing temperature and humidity before offering to hatch for other people. Of course, you can sell those chicks if you already have enough! If you have an auto-sexing breed like Barred Rocks or sex links, you might put those in for your test run because you can sell the pullets better (easier and at a higher price) than straight run.

To offer hatching services, you would probably want either a really good quality small incubator like a Brinsea or more likely, a small cabinet incubator. I know both of those are rather expensive. You probably don't need anything as big as a Sportsman unless you have a lot of customers.

Disclaimer: I've failed with one of those styrofoam incubators years ago when I knew less but now have a small cabinet on order with thermostat and automatic turner.