What would you order?

[AutumnHens]

I have a chick order placed for January 3, I want to get them started early plus we'll need more girls to meet the house's egg demands. I have 7 birds where I selected the breed and 1 that is a Meal Maker (Meyer's Hatchery program) that we'll donate the eggs from. BUT that leaves me needing 8 more chicks to make the minimum for shipping. These are chicks we won't be keeping as our coop would be too crowded. I can't expand the coop this year because we don't yet own the land that it sits on. We will in another year but for now we're renting it. I do however have plenty of room for them to brood in and or stay till about 8 or 9 weeks. I just can't keep that many adult birds at this time. So would you?:



I have an add on FB in our state's backyard poultry page and one on Craigslist asking if someone wanted to split an order but no answers yet.

Right now I have it on the grab bag option but I can change it with just a phone call. This way I get the fun of identifying the breeds that come in and if we get any turkeys or meat birds in the mix we can keep those and just sell the normal chickens as they're identified. We've never butchered a chicken or turkey but have butchered a rabbit.

I do realize January is early but our average temp then is 47 and this year we got them in June and of the six only one is laying so far.

 

[henny1129]

I have a chick order placed for January 3, I want to get them started early plus we'll need more girls to meet the house's egg demands. I have 7 birds where I selected the breed and 1 that is a Meal Maker (Meyer's Hatchery program) that we'll donate the eggs from. BUT that leaves me needing 8 more chicks to make the minimum for shipping. These are chicks we won't be keeping as our coop would be too crowded. I can't expand the coop this year because we don't yet own the land that it sits on. We will in another year but for now we're renting it. I do however have plenty of room for them to brood in and or stay till about 8 or 9 weeks. I just can't keep that many adult birds at this time. So would you?:



I have an add on FB in our state's backyard poultry page and one on Craigslist asking if someone wanted to split an order but no answers yet.

Right now I have it on the grab bag option but I can change it with just a phone call. This way I get the fun of identifying the breeds that come in and if we get any turkeys or meat birds in the mix we can keep those and just sell the normal chickens as they're identified. We've never butchered a chicken or turkey but have butchered a rabbit.

I do realize January is early but our average temp then is 47 and this year we got them in June and of the six only one is laying so far.

I would get a couple common breeds that are known to be friendly, like Buff Orpingtons, Easter Eggers, Australorps, etc. It's easier to find information on common breeds, so people will be more willing to buy a bird they have info on. You can sell them any way you want, individually, in pair, in trios, or a complete flock. If I were you though, I would sell them in a complete flock especially if you have common, friendly breeds that would make for a goof first flock. Hope this helps!

 

[AutumnHens]

Thanks Henny, I can easily switch the grab bag ones to the production pack assortment. Those are BO, RIR, Australorps, BPR and a few other layers.

 

[lazy gardener]

I would order birds that are known to be good layers, but are not commonly available from the feed stores. I would stay away from the grab bag, but that's just my preference. Choose several different breeds. I would never sell a single bird to any customer. My reason for this is that integrating a single bird into a flock is a difficult undertaking, and IMO, harder on that bird.

 

[donrae]

I'd be tempted to go with the Leann's, but probably wouldn't. First, it's straight run. If you wind up with a bunch of cockerels, they're going to be harder to sell off. Second, if you wind up with not-chickens, do you have housing for them? Heritage turkeys aren't ready to butcher for 5ish months, that's a lot of time to house them.

Looking from a purely re-sale point of view, I'd take one of two roads. Go production, "normal" breeds that folks know and are comfortable with. Barred Rocks, sex links and buff Orpingtons are always great sellers for me.

or, reverse direction and go ornamental. Polish, Sultans, something like that. Something rare and unusual that folks can't just pick up at the feed store. The risk for this is, if you lose some of your production birds you're ordering for yourself, you won't have extras to fall back on. And some of the ornamentals aren't available sexed. I don't care how rare the rooster's breed is, it's harder to find a home for a rooster than a hen.

If you ordered production breeds for yourself, I'd probably just double up on those. That will give you leeway in case of deaths, Oops cockerels, etc.

When selling birds, I've found that breed doesn't factor into a lot of folk's decisions. If they want a pullet, they want a pullet. If she's going to be a decent layer, they're fine. I sell my barnyard mixes for the same price as my hatchery pure breds and sell all I want. So I wouldn't stress over the particular breed so much. You know us crazy chicken folks, we just want more birds

 

[henny1129]

Thanks Henny, I can easily switch the grab bag ones to the production pack assortment.  Those are BO, RIR, Australorps, BPR and a few other layers. 

You're welcome.

 

[Gray Farms]

If your going to order extras specifically not to be keeping them I'd order a good laying breed. They are more well know to people, relatively easy to sell, and generally bring a fair price. Such as Rhode Island Reds, Barred or White Rocks, White or Brown Leghorns, or most any of the Sex Link breeds.

 

[AutumnHens]

Problem solved, found someone local to split the order with.

 

[donrae]

I've made some great chicken friends that way!