What do you do with overstock?

[K&H Chicken Farm]

Ok looking into the future while reading all your posts I can see a time in the future where I have hatched out way more then I can ever need. What do you do with your extras?
My son was thinking we could raise the hens and sell them as young layers, that way we could keep the pick of the hatch and sell layers to folks who do not want the hassle of raising chicks (silly people). Of course any roos that we did not want could be sold at our small animal swap meet locally. We have a huge Asian group around here that will by chickens at any age for there cook pots.

 

[chickhamm]

heck, dont need to be asian to love a good stewing rooster on the stove!!!!

chickhamm
Theressa
Creatively Woven Baskets
GA

 

[tiki244]

yes a lot of people like fresh chicken meat,
but the man I get my show birds from, sells most of his extras to the Asian people at the local swap meet just like you said which is good cause I dont think a lot of people would buy a little banty for stew

 

[4-H chicken mom]

You are right tiki244. I always end up giving our roos away. Of course they are bantam birds and my dh says it is not worth the trouble to dress out a banty bird that will only feed one person.

 

[Buster]

bantys aren't bad to put into stew. I did mine last week and the soup was great!

 

[K&H Chicken Farm]

Here you can get $6 a bird no matter age or sex. We are almost thinking about getting a large meat order and selling the extrass to cover feed prices.

 

[MsMcChick]

I drive 100 miles to take my extras (any ages, but the chicks are cute, the hens are serviceable, and the roo's are tasty!) to a swap meet in Indiana may-aug. I make decent $ if I take enough. My kids take their leftover 4-H critters and my daughter made a killing with her turkeys last summer, she paid for the gas the whole trip down and back (and she was 12yrs. old). We average $3-5 per dayold + chick, and $5-20 per roo, and then $5-$30 per layer hen. Ducks, quail and guineas go just as fast as the turkeys. We also have local farmers markets in surrounding towns and if you put them out in cages the kids just flock (no pun intended) around to pet and hold them, eventually talking parents into taking just one....then it needs a friend...pretty soon i'm out of birds and heading home, LOL