Who hatches out chicks for sale?

[danceswithronin]

What breeds do you hatch out, and what makes you choose to hatch those breeds? How extensive is your setup, how many chicks do you turn on a regular basis? What do you charge?

I am thinking of starting this as a side hustle just because I enjoy the animal husbandry aspect of it so much in my free time, and am curious what kind of experiences people have had with it. My thought is to just get maybe a dozen eggs of like two rare or imported breeds I really like the look of and think will sell well, hatch them out, and then just sell them locally through one of the several Facebook chicken groups I'm in. I might sell some at the flea market as well.

 

[Wolfefarmyard]

Just beware when hatching, be prepared for a lot of roosters, which are really difficult to sell or even rehome at all.

A lot of people prefer to purchase from hatcheries because they are able to sex chicks, as not many people want males.

 

[mixedUPturk]

What breeds do you hatch out, and what makes you choose to hatch those breeds? How extensive is your setup, how many chicks do you turn on a regular basis? What do you charge?

I am thinking of starting this as a side hustle just because I enjoy the animal husbandry aspect of it so much in my free time, and am curious what kind of experiences people have had with it. My thought is to just get maybe a dozen eggs of like two rare or imported breeds I really like the look of and think will sell well, hatch them out, and then just sell them locally through one of the several Facebook chicken groups I'm in. I might sell some at the flea market as well.

Hey there doing this as a side thing is the way to go IME, it is a hobby that can make a little money but it isnt a full time income. I went at it fullsteam ahead for about two years in hopes of achieving a full time job from home with the health benifits but the best i got in a month was 600$, about 300$ after expenses. It was pretty good as a hobby but not realistic as a real job.

I am staggering hatches through two incubators all spring hatching every week and still chicks are sold before they hatch. I live near baton rouge so theres alot of market here. I use craigslist alot and have been lucky to do well without needing the npip cert for out of state sales or a livestock market or facebook. You should access all of those markets and see what niche you could fill in your neck of the woods. I have good lines of high demand birds and i think thats helpful now but it wasnt the case back then so might be a little more money now that im doing it better. They are Svart Hona, Foleys Blue Laced Red Wyandottes, Bantam Cochin and James Marie Farms Pharaoh quail. Before, i had nothing raised and hatched pure on my farm. I would pick up any random eggs from livestock markets and hatch them and sell the chicks as soon as possible, hatching only mixed breeds off of my own flock as egg. I would hatch for other people and i raised two flocks of ducklings to sell adult ducks at a premium. This is my first spring with my own nice stock like i said theyre sold before they can even hatch.

I like these breeds so that i know i can proccess extra roos because if worse comes to worse and they dont sell before growing out, then you can sell pullets for more and put the extra roosters on your table. The quail especially which grow out in only 6 wks. Im sure pickled quail eggs are as big a thing in AL as they are here. The Hona are sort of the Lamborghini of chickens and i just love them. I determined the price based on others prices on my craigslist. I will ask 6$ per wyandotte chick at 3 days after hatch then it goes up 1$ per wk until i can tell what sex they are(around 6 wks.) Then i ask 15$ per pullet and 5$ per cockrel. The Hona are 25$ per "day old" and 2$ more per wk. Waiting the 3 days to be sure they wont have any who dont have their legs under wm good. Im glad to cut someone a deal especially if they have a buddy theyll tell about me word of mouth and long term relationships with people have helped me out time after time. Almost forgot the bantam cochin, more of a pet, hatchery stock isnt nearly as good as breeder stock but i also love these. Theyll fetch bottom dollar for my program at 3$ per day old plus 1$ per wk.

A note on the lines, each Mr Foley and James Marie Farms hatched out thousands of birds to get their lines to where theyre at breeding towards the wyandotte SOP and in quail to the largest size in the quickest time with the most eggs and most diverse DNA. Things we would need years to achieve. There are big names in most of the breeds of chickens and you should look at the best stock possible from the beggining if you want to breed to sell so your not perpetuating poor stock.

Sorry its so long hope theres been some use to all my rambling.

 

[danceswithronin]

Just beware when hatching, be prepared for a lot of roosters, which are really difficult to sell or even rehome at all.

A lot of people prefer to purchase from hatcheries because they are able to sex chicks, as not many people want males.

Yeah that's why I was thinking of focusing mainly on really hard to find colors and varieties that aren't normally available in hatcheries, like Lemon Pyle Brahmas, Silver Laced Barenevelders, Deathlayers, or Sulmtalers. Real hard to find exotics and imported lines for novelty sales. Either that or focus on chicks that don't ship as well like bantam silkies and frizzles, which I can just sell straight run and are generally popular.

I'd like to learn to vent sex, but it seems very difficult.