Where’s the money!? Chicks? Eggs? Pullets?

[Maejo]

I am raising chickens for meat. I sell them to members of a religious organization who like to know what the chickens eat. Must be kosher! They process the chickens on my farm and pay cash for each bird. My small flock of hens(26) and lone rooster provide the fertile eggs for my incubator. I sell my older chickens and start my next flock with the younger ones of egg laying age.

 

[EggMan207]

I live in rural Maine, not a lot of money here... I have found some success selling eggs locally, I only profit $6-$9/week for every 8 birds (a couple of them are production hens)... That's not a lot of money, but still a profit. That also doesn't include the start up (I.e. coop, feeders, etc.)... In order to sell the eggs, I have to put in a little work. I constantly talk about my birds to people (which lots of people are fascinated by), I get to enjoy very few eggs (usually my wife and I get to use a half dozen a week or so), and I constantly reach out to my buyers and work hard to meet their needs.

People seem really interested in meat birds and that appears to be where some of the money is (people are willing to pay $15-$30 a bird). I have only started gauging interest on this, and I plan to experiment with it in the future.

I've thought about breeding, but based on most successful businesses I've seen, you would need a combination of rare breeds and production breeds.

Again, to re-iterate what others have said, I don't think you do it for the money. I do however think you can make some money if you are patient, careful with your spending, and you're willing to hustle and find buyers.

 

[Mamma Hen Hanna]

I live in rural Maine, not a lot of money here... I have found some success selling eggs locally, I only profit $6-$9/week for every 8 birds (a couple of them are production hens)... That's not a lot of money, but still a profit.

YES! That’s exactly what I’m talking about. That’s roughly $30 a months... pays for a tank of gas! That’s helpful! Profit is profit no matter how big or small. We love spending time with our birds so we don’t consider our time in the situation. But I’d love to do just a tad bit better than breaking even and I hope not to go in the hole! Thanks for the input!

 

[Mysimplewyominglife]

I have only owned chickens for almost a year and love my girls and roo and have just started to venture into selling eggs, hatching eggs & chicks (late adults if not bought young). Right now my mother in law is paying me £5 or about $7 for 30 eggs ever week grant (never asked her for money but every little does help) I also have the once in awhile customers who gives me £2-£4 or about $3-$5.50 for between half a dozen and a dozen (all are neighbours) just the money from my mother in law buys feed for almost 3 weeks plus leave me plenty of eggs to eat for the hubby,dd and me to eat.

hatched out 16 ( but had to cull one) out of 21 eggs and I know I'm going to pick only a handfull if that out of the lot so have turned to selling the chicks at £3 or a little over $4 a chick from day old to 4 weeks old (sold as stright run). and hatching eggs for £0.80 or a little over $1 a egg. I have 15 eggs in the bator that are 2 weeks into it 1 egg that is almost 2 weeks and just added some bought in naked neck hatching eggs that are in day 2 of incubation (looking to buy a bigger bator).

I know I won't get rich doing this heck I might not even break even but that is the chance anyone takes when it gets to this point. right now I just want to sell the extra chicks/chickens and hatching eggs so I don't end up as the crazy chicken lady in the village with a billion chickens LOL.

 

[EggMan207]

YES! That’s exactly what I’m talking about. That’s roughly $30 a months... pays for a tank of gas! That’s helpful! Profit is profit no matter how big or small. We love spending time with our birds so we don’t consider our time in the situation. But I’d love to do just a tad bit better than breaking even and I hope not to go in the hole! Thanks for the input!

Agreed. I actually increased my flock this year because I couldn't keep up with the egg demand. I'm going to expand the egg sales a little and shoot for $50-$60/month of profit. If that works, I'll increase a little more next year.

I don't count my time, because it's a hobby I enjoy as well as a side hustle.

 

[Lostchicken]

I am now selling my eggs for $3.00 a dozen and I cant fill the orders with my small backyard flock. I have 17 laying hens, and another 15 that will be laying shortly. I have not tried to hatch any eggs until recently when I had a hen go broody on me, and I just gave her some eggs to hatch. I did go with just certain breeds. I have Barred Rocks for eggs. Silver laced Wyandotte's and Blue Laced Red Wyandotte's for hatching and sell the chicks, but I have not hatched out any chicks at this time. My egg sales do cover my feed and up keep cost for now.

 

[Mosey2003]

I need more hens to keep up with egg demand here, I can sell between 2-4 dozen a week, and we like a dozen for ourselves. I sell for $2, many in the area charge $3-$5. I tried homebred sexlink chicks last year and not a soul wanted them, eventually I gave them to a friend. I have some nice Barred Rocks due to hatch next Wednesday, I hope they sell better. Plan to ask $4 each straight run.

 

[Emojikitten]

My business plans? Woah, I feel like I’m raising Poison Ivy for nothing now. Ivy is my special pet, beautiful, energetic and thoughtful. I’ve wanted a chicken since I was a child, so I got Ivy and three other chicks just last year. She’s an amazing hen with a great personality. The only reason I use her for my own gain is for chicken research. Well, I’ve got things to do. If you need me, just give me a cluck! I usually answer in a few hours.

 

[Boonie Stomper]

My take on where the money is:
The money is in your control. That is, by spending as little as you can to accomplish any given task means you maintain more control of your money.

So you still have most of your money now, and you can increase it if you sell anything.

Keeping your cash goes beyond just reducing flock costs. Your flock can reduce expenses in other areas if you put the birds to work. You can reduce or eliminate the need to buy fertilzer, weed and insect control products , lawn dethatching tool and labor and kitchen garbage disposal by the flock turns into no need to buy eggs or chicken to eat.
Cost savers include but are by no means limited to :
Feed - give bugs weeds kitchen scraps and plate leftovers , discarded food from produce markets, grocers too (they will discard broken bags of pet and bird food and butcher scrap) .
Housing: repurpose a disused structure or scavenge free materials to assemble your coop. Applies to nest boxes and roost as well.

Flock: Adopt from rehoming offers on BYC. Hatch a batch cheaper than buying birds.Stock your first aid and flock special need items before you need them and you'll pay less than if you have to make an unplanned emergency run to the store which costs more time, fuel, and you'll likely pay premium price for what you could've got on sale.Take-away: Plan ahead!

 

[Henrik Petersson]

My suggestion… Ayam Cemani.

Seconded.

In Sweden, from what I've managed to glean, Ayam Cemani seem to sell for orders of magnitude more than other breeds. It's not unusual for a hen or rooster to go for hundreds of $. They also seem to be hugely popular. Maybe it's that the blackness of the birds matches the darkness of our souls? I digress.

Now, I have no idea how much money had to be spent in order to raise such a bird, but I can't imagine it's significantly more expensive than any other breed.

Incidentally, I also saw a dude selling Jersey Giants for an immense amount of money. I think $100 for a hen and somewhat less for a rooster.