You guys in the US are SO lucky! (Comparing prices to what we have here)

[Flock Leader]

Perhaps this doesn't strictly belong in this section, but I didn't know exactly where else to put it. It's more of a rant, really.

From looking up online, I've gathered that if you live in the US, you can, mostly, afford any chicken breed you want. On mypetchicken.com, the prices I've seen are all around 3-4$.

Here, on the other hand... I live in Israel, and there are no hatcheries for interesting breeds - just for commercial layers/broilers, and they only sell large batches to commercial coops. So basically, the whole business is in the hands of a handful of private breeders, and they put out truly exaggerated prices.

Just an example: Marans, Wyandotte, Speckled Sussex chicks are sold for around 25$. Per SINGLE chick! Isn't that crazy???

Orpingtons, Silkies, Cochins and Pekins of good quality, for around 20$.

Rhode Island Reds, for around 10$.

Now, if I want a small flock of, say, 4 Marans, I need to shell out a 100$ - for chicks who aren't even sexed yet!

And if I want to buy eggs for hatching? Well, most of those breeders hold on to their eggs for dear life, wanting to keep the business monopolized for as long as they want. Some sell eggs for hatching for exorbitant prices such as around 5$ per egg.

Others, less scrupulous people, will sell/trade you bad quality eggs, most of which won't hatch (like our recent experience with Brahmas - only 2 eggs out of 10).

So, life isn't easy here for those who want a hobby small flock of fancy birds.

 

[Fred's Hens]

While it is true that a wide variety of birds are available here, at reasonable prices, not everything is quite as clear as it appears, perhaps.

The US is a large country, as is Australia and Canada, geographically speaking. Shipping costs are quite high and going much higher. So, a chick that is $4 here, might also double that cost to get it shipped.

Yes, the retailers in their colorful brochures and websites do display a beautiful choice of chicks, but to be fair, they are not breeder quality. They are said to "represent" the breed, but usually fall far short of the Standard written for the breeds. The idea that we in the US can easily and cheaply get all these wonderful breeds is a bit of a misnomer.

To secure top quality, standard bred chicks or live birds from a breeder, that large land mass comes into play and shipping costs can push the cost per bird easily to $20 a bird, and often, much more. Shipping of a mating pair of top quality birds can easily cost $200-$300. We do ship fertile eggs and hatch them to lower the cost dramatically, but shipping costs are high and the eggs suffer greatly from the rough handling and hatch rates can be quite low.

We are blessed with a strong poultry heritage and a large network of entrepreneurial retail hatcheries. We are also fortunate to have many local poultry shows where breeders, fanciers and aficionados of the birds display and often sell their birds.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

Quote: Have you been to Australia lately.LOL.

I just paid $80 for 2 Marans pullets, yes they where sexed but still, a lot of money!
I also talked to the co-coordinator of the French Marans club of AUS and she said she know pullets that go for $200 each

. I think they would be top of the range show quality.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

We are blessed with a strong poultry heritage and a large network of entrepreneurial retail hatcheries. We are also fortunate to have many local poultry shows where breeders, fanciers and aficionados of the birds display and often sell their birds.


I think that's what the main difference comes down to. Over here is Aus, yes we do have fanciers and a few large scale hatcheries but no where near as diverse and wide spread as the US.
I am getting the impression that Israel poultry is much like over here, but perhaps even less.

 

[Flock Leader]

While it is true that a wide variety of birds are available here, at reasonable prices, not everything is quite as clear as it appears, perhaps.

The US is a large country, as is Australia and Canada, geographically speaking. Shipping costs are quite high and going much higher. So, a chick that is $4 here, might also double that cost to get it shipped.

Yes, the retailers in their colorful brochures and websites do display a beautiful choice of chicks, but to be fair, they are not breeder quality. They are said to "represent" the breed, but usually fall far short of the Standard written for the breeds. The idea that we in the US can easily and cheaply get all these wonderful breeds is a bit of a misnomer.

To secure top quality, standard bred chicks or live birds from a breeder, that large land mass comes into play and shipping costs can push the cost per bird easily to $20 a bird, and often, much more. Shipping of a mating pair of top quality birds can easily cost $200-$300. We do ship fertile eggs and hatch them to lower the cost dramatically, but shipping costs are high and the eggs suffer greatly from the rough handling and hatch rates can be quite low.

We are blessed with a strong poultry heritage and a large network of entrepreneurial retail hatcheries. We are also fortunate to have many local poultry shows where breeders, fanciers and aficionados of the birds display and often sell their birds.

Well, in that case perhaps I shouldn't feel quite so envious... I think what grates on my feelings here is human greed. While I understand the shipping costs in the US, here we have none, for we are a small country and even going from one end of it to another, you can still drive over and pick up your own chicks. So that's 25$ per chick WITHOUT shipping... objectively, I don't believe the prices are justified.

Several times, I've also observed the following: a new breeder comes up with a sales ad, and places it on the sales board - with a reasonable price. A few days later, lo and behold - the price is doubled! So it's one of the following: either the breeder checked out other people's prices and said, "hey, they charge double, why don't I do the same", or one of the established breeders spoke to him against lowering the prices.

If we manage to establish flocks of good-quality pure-bred chickens and have a surplus, we intend to sell chicks for reasonable prices.

 

[Flock Leader]

Have you been to Australia lately.LOL.

I just paid $80 for 2 Marans pullets, yes they where sexed but still, a lot of money!

No, sorry to say, but never been to Australia (I do have an Aussie friend here, but we've never discussed how exorbitant chicken prices are, LOL!)

*doing the math*... 80$... that's 40$ per pullet... yep, around here I'd probably pay as much, even around 50$. And I assume in Australia there are shipping costs too? (Israel is like a speck on the map compared to US/Australia/Canada).

I maintain that it's crazy, and that people charge so much just because they can, and because there's no competition.

 

[Fred's Hens]

I'm sad to report that human greed is part of the human condition.

We have chicks sold at feed stores, swaps and auctions by unknowledgeable and sometimes unscrupulous people. I'll just leave it at that. Ebay is full of people selling hatching eggs. This breed or That breed, or eggs of "Show Quality" birds which is nothing at all the truth. lol

Again, where there are people selling, Let The Buyer Beware. Caveat Emptor.

 

[Fred's Hens]

A major cost factor that drives the price of animals is the local feed costs.

Australia, Canada and the US are all grain exporters. HUGE grain producing countries. Small countries that rely upon imports for their feed grains must do things differently and it greatly effects the prices of things.

Just don't tell the average Yank, Aussie or Canuck that their feed is cheap!!!

Complaining about feed costs is a fairly universal gripe, I think.

 

[Arica]

No, sorry to say, but never been to Australia (I do have an Aussie friend here, but we've never discussed how exorbitant chicken prices are, LOL!)

*doing the math*... 80$... that's 40$ per pullet... yep, around here I'd probably pay as much, even around 50$. And I assume in Australia there are shipping costs too? (Israel is like a speck on the map compared to US/Australia/Canada). I maintain that it's crazy, and that people charge so much just because they can, and because there's no competition.

It is cheaper in the us. But as others have said shipping adds a lot, recently I got 2 cream LE legbar pullet chicks for an okay deal. The person was selling them 50$ per chick. luckily I only wanted 2 so they gave me one free.[/B] but last year I spent 80$ with shipping on 6 chicks!

 

[Flock Leader]

A major cost factor that drives the price of animals is the local feed costs.

You are right of course, but even so. As someone who had raised several generations of chickens now, I say they can be maintained relatively inexpensively, even and especially if you are a backyard breeder and include kitchen scraps and free ranging as a part of your birds' rations.

I understand that pure-bred birds, especially rare/new to the country breeds can and should be sold more expensively. But not *as* expensively as this.

And of course I'm only speaking about people who sell what they say they sell! There are many people who are just plainly dishonest, but here you just have to be careful.

My rule of the thumb is, if the seller can't even spell the breed name correctly (I recently saw a notice from someone selling "playmoth rocks"), they probably can't be trusted.