a Local Hatchery that hand-delivers live chicks to your door

[PunkinPeep]

Hubby and i are throwing around some ideas and wonder if folks would be attracted to a local hatchery that would deliver day-old chicks to your door.

Would that be preferable to ordering chicks through the mail from a bigger-name hatchery?

How much extra would you expect to pay for delivery?

Would y'all share your thoughts in response to this idea? I'm just looking for some feedback.

Thanks!

 

[Kevin565]

Would I support a Local Hatchery over a semi comparable large scale one? Yes I would without a doubt. I'd also be willing to pay more for delivery. However, my biggest thing is QUALITY. If a local hatchery can breed a reasonable amount of chicks from some good stock I think they could still turn a profit depending on the area. However, to have legal Hatchery status you'd have to go through quite a bit of legal hoops.

 

[cmfarm]

I think that is going to very expensive for you to do. Chicks don't have a very high mark up so that is really going to eat into your profit.

 

[PunkinPeep]

I think that is going to very expensive for you to do. Chicks don't have a very high mark up so that is really going to eat into your profit.

Well, i wasn't really going to deliver for free. It seems like that if it's a valuable service, folks would be willing to pay for it the same as they would for shipping.

Would I support a Local Hatchery over a semi comparable large scale one? Yes I would without a doubt. I'd also be willing to pay more for delivery. However, my biggest thing is QUALITY. If a local hatchery can breed a reasonable amount of chicks from some good stock I think they could still turn a profit depending on the area. However, to have legal Hatchery status you'd have to go through quite a bit of legal hoops.

Well, that shows you how much i know. I didn't know there was such a thing as "legal hatchery status!"

Like i said, we're just throwing around ideas. But we live close enough to the Houston area that we could do maybe a monthly Saturday delivery route from Huntsville, to Alvin, to Katy, to Conroe, you know? It seems like a good area to make use of.

Thank for your input!

 

[Oregon Blues]

What does it cost to have chicks mailed? $10? As much as $30 to get small numbers? Whatever people are paying for mail, they would certainly pay that much for door to door delivery. So, I think the secret would be to keep the territory small so it limits how many miles you would have to drive.

I think it would work if you did a lot of advertising and got some good reviews concerning the quality of the service and the health and quality of the chicks. Word of mouth spreads quickly, especially if you mess up.

I don't know what "legal hatchery status" might be, but you would probably be required to be NPIP inspected. Or, maybe not, since you aren't shipping across state lines.

 

[PunkinPeep]

Quote:
Another Comment!!! Thank you! I really appreciate the input. I would definitely get every inspection we could find, honestly, for our own peace of mind as well as our customers, besides the law. If i'm not mistaken, here in Texas, we do technically have to have NPIP to sell if we sell anywhere that's not on our property. I don't think that Texas really puts a lot of energy into enforcing that law, but i'm pretty sure that's the scoop. And it's not that big of a deal, so i'd be happy to keep it up. I really just want to have a few breeds and raise hearty, normal, backyard layers/dual purpose chickens. And also Muscovy Ducks. Maybe i should keep my target area to locations north of Houston so i don't spread myself too thin while i see if it'll catch on. Thanks for the tip!

 

[jeepguy982001]

like the others have stated if you keep your range small and sell quality animals you'd probably do good. I mean yea a big hatchery is gonna be cheaper but if i had someone who would bring me personally quality chicks without the risk of being lost in the mail i'd be willing to pay a fair amount more.

 

[PunkinPeep]

like the others have stated if you keep your range small and sell quality animals you'd probably do good. I mean yea a big hatchery is gonna be cheaper but if i had someone who would bring me personally quality chicks without the risk of being lost in the mail i'd be willing to pay a fair amount more.

Thanks for the additional input!

That's encouraging.