Would like to start raising poultry for profit

[hysop]

Holy guacamole, you must live smack dab in a whole bunch of gullible people.

He said it was mostly neighbors. If I didn’t have chickens and I knew a neighbor was selling eggs I’d help em out a bit. I probably wouldn’t buy regularly but here and there to help with the expenses of caring for the chickens.

But I don’t think that price could be sold to strangers. In my opinion anyway.

 

[nuthatched]

He said it was mostly neighbors. If I didn’t have chickens and I knew a neighbor was selling eggs I’d help em out a bit. I probably wouldn’t buy regularly but here and there to help with the expenses of caring for the chickens.

But I don’t think that price could be sold to strangers. In my opinion anyway.

I charge 2.50, though I can sell the the the farmers market I can get $3, I get a dozen eggs a day, I break even on feed. my neighbor's wouldn't give me the time of day if I charged $13, lol

 

[hysop]

I charge 2.50, though I can sell the the the farmers market I can get $3, I get a dozen eggs a day, I break even on feed. my neighbor's wouldn't give me the time of day if I charged $13, lol

I don’t sell eggs nor do I give em away. Mine lay enough for my family and my MIL. The rest I store for winter since I don’t use supplemental light to keep em laying.

I wouldn’t buy $13/dozen eggs except maybe once or twice if they were really good neighbors. But everyone is different.

 

[BillJoeseph]

I don’t sell eggs nor do I give em away. Mine lay enough for my family and my MIL. The rest I store for winter since I don’t use supplemental light to keep em laying.

I wouldn’t buy $13/dozen eggs except maybe once or twice if they were really good neighbors. But everyone is different.

I was shocked that I could sell them that high

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I mostly let the buyer pick the price but I've sold eggs from $10 to $17

There is quite a large Latino community here that would buy older hens and roosters to eat.
If I was selling an older hen or rooster for meat. Would it be alive or dead? What price sounds fair?

Do a little research and see if they might pay well for certain things.. like average folk may not pay fair price for a Silkie to eat. But some value the melanistic breeds with black skin (usually Asian). Others might prefer a yellow skin bird.. but since we are talking secondary purpose here..

Many Latino families may be capable of harvesting their own meat.. which honestly for me.. is time consuming and not a desirable activity. I used to pay someone else to harvest my birds.. only $5 each and it was worth it in the beginning.. until I wanted a higher quality workmanship and also not need to rely on someone else schedule. It takes ME 45 minutes per bird, working at a very casual and cathartic pace. So YOUR value may be different than mine.. I MIGHT sell a live older bird to be harvested by someone else for $10.. and consider it to be making room, diminishing feed cost and antics, already have most it's usefulness in breeding, just making it worth more than putting on my own table. FOR ME, not less than $10 alive or $15-20 harvested... but a better choice is filling my families freezer. If I don't have the freezer space, energy, or heart to harvest.. I have given older birds to the family and consider it win win.. I

f your making enough to call it a business and itemize deductions.. any contributions can be counted in your write offs.. perhaps.. worth more to harvest and give to a 501c3.. You MAY even be able to take a loss for the first few years.. to cover your cost of housing and such getting set up.. Do you happen to have a CPA you can discuss these options with? One breeder in Florida told me there are federal write offs for your property, might be able to get green belt zoning, write offs for medical insurance, etc.. if you're serious.. it COULD become a viable operation.. it always takes money to make money..

I don't think I can raise a bird to harvest age for under $10 live. And no one can get humane raised and harvested, pasture raised, heritage poultry for cheaper. Remembering I am talking about heritage breeds which taste like chicken and cannot be compared with the watery mush most market chickens are today. At markets like whole foods.. a young (not old) bird would go for an obscene amount of $.. well I mean your eggs are already going for an obscene price and would NOT expect that to be the norm.

If you keep under a certain # of birds in your flock you can legally sell so many without any special permit.. Couple quick resource links to reference..

https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/ahfss/mpes/esqm.html

https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/ahfss/mpes/pdfs/Quick_Reference_Guide.pdf

OfficialStateAgencies NPIP

Sorry, I'm kinda disorganized, short attention span, and too much information competing for memory space.. so I get all over the place sometimes..

But.. I can't stop all the learning fun!

ETA: I expect California to be offering more and more (social justice) "charitable" tax benefit type programs.

 

[hysop]

I was shocked that I could sell them that high

Well I was shocked people were selling barnyard mix straight run chicks for $8 a piece at the beginning of the year. So anything is possible of course that has died down over here. We’ll see how it is in the spring

 

[BillJoeseph]

Do a little research and see if they might pay well for certain things.. like average folk may not pay fair price for a Silkie to eat. But some value the melanistic breeds with black skin (usually Asian). Others might prefer a yellow skin bird.. but since we are talking secondary purpose here..

Many Latino families may be capable of harvesting their own meat.. which honestly for me.. is time consuming and not a desirable activity. I used to pay someone else to harvest my birds.. only $5 each and it was worth it in the beginning.. until I wanted a higher quality workmanship and also not need to rely on someone else schedule. It takes ME 45 minutes per bird, working at a very casual and cathartic pace. So YOUR value may be different than mine.. I MIGHT sell a live older bird to be harvested by someone else for $10.. and consider it to be making room, diminishing feed cost and antics, already have most it's usefulness in breeding, just making it worth more than putting on my own table. FOR ME, not less than $10 alive or $15-20 harvested... but a better choice is filling my families freezer. If I don't have the freezer space, energy, or heart to harvest.. I have given older birds to the family and consider it win win.. I

f your making enough to call it a business and itemize deductions.. any contributions can be counted in your write offs.. perhaps.. worth more to harvest and give to a 501c3.. You MAY even be able to take a loss for the first few years.. to cover your cost of housing and such getting set up.. Do you happen to have a CPA you can discuss these options with? One breeder in Florida told me there are federal write offs for your property, might be able to get green belt zoning, write offs for medical insurance, etc.. if you're serious.. it COULD become a viable operation.. it always takes money to make money..

I don't think I can raise a bird to harvest age for under $10 live. And no one can get humane raised and harvested, pasture raised, heritage poultry for cheaper. Remembering I am talking about heritage breeds which taste like chicken and cannot be compared with the watery mush most market chickens are today. At markets like whole foods.. a young (not old) bird would go for an obscene amount of $.. well I mean your eggs are already going for an obscene price and would NOT expect that to be the norm.

If you keep under a certain # of birds in your flock you can legally sell so many without any special permit.. Couple quick resource links to reference..

https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/ahfss/mpes/esqm.html

https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/ahfss/mpes/pdfs/Quick_Reference_Guide.pdf

OfficialStateAgencies NPIP

Sorry, I'm kinda disorganized, short attention span, and too much information competing for memory space.. so I get all over the place sometimes..

But.. I can't stop all the learning fun!

I'm aware of all the laws. For selling eggs. There is also a market in the area for organic happy pastured chicken. So if I would be selling in that market I think I would have to raise 100% meat birds to make a profit. I will have to look into it a little bit more. But from all the input in this thread, the best route to take is selling eggs and hatching eggs. Also, save as much as possible by selling older birds and roosters as pets or for consumption. I never thought about write-offs that's another thing I have to look into.

 

[Lavender Wraps]

I've been raising poultry for the past 10 years. Currently have 18 Pullets, 8 ducks, 3 turkeys.. I work for the NCRS as a soil surveyor. I work a 12-hour work shift. I've been pondering the idea of raising poultry more for-profit as a part-time job. I currently have $10,000 saved up for start-up capital. What would be the best way to do this? Selling eggs? Meat chickens? Breeding? I would sort of like a niche market. Any ideas or suggestions?

Hello,
A lot depends on if you plan on letting your hens graze, free range or not. My hens are much happier when they can run free, scratching to see what they can find that's edible.
They are, of course, locked up at night for their protections from predictors.

I'm in Ca. as well and free range brown eggs are very expensive and a well managed flock can produce a goodly income for you. I see them advertised on Next Door and Craig's List for $6-8 a dozen. I feed a commercial egg producer in their feeders along with chicken scratch which I spread around on the floor for their indoor time, giving them something to do. They love scratching through the fluffy straw looking for a tasty tidbit.

You can buy new egg cartons at most any feed store at a very reasonable price. I don't have my customers return the cartons due to my worry of acquiring cockroaches.

So, my choice is raising chickens for egg production. There are a lot of people in your town that would love farm fresh eggs! I sell my eggs $4 for large. Pullet eggs I sell for less.

 

[schmedlap]

I've been raising poultry for the past 10 years. Currently have 18 Pullets, 8 ducks, 3 turkeys.. I work for the NCRS as a soil surveyor. I work a 12-hour work shift. I've been pondering the idea of raising poultry more for-profit as a part-time job. I currently have $10,000 saved up for start-up capital. What would be the best way to do this? Selling eggs? Meat chickens? Breeding? I would sort of like a niche market. Any ideas or suggestions?

if you have the land, a contract with a major poultry producer would get you started. here in Delaware there are many chicken houses. from what I understand, the contract will provide funds to build the house and provide starter chicks. you are locked in to using their feed and other things. these houses are not small. 500 feet is not a uncommon length.

 

[schmedlap]

Meat birds: CX or ranger type? Does your market want large and familiar (CX) or meaty but more “heritage” like (not all breast like a CX)?

another thought: duck eggs. Often prized for their superior performance in baking. Also larger than chicken eggs, I think. Might have a niche market? I don’t raise ducks so I don’t know their lay rate or anything about that.

Another possible niche- Quail: quick growth, many eggs.

local chicken eggs are $2 a dozen (large eggs). pullet eggs are $1.5. duck eggs are $3.