Raising while also Profiting from Chickens??

[sdm111]

X9 on the having broodies. They're priceless when hatching for selling chicks. If timed right the customer their self can help get them out from mom at a day old so no feed brooders etc. u can also rent broodies too

 

[tnmommy]

Other things that you can sell:

• Composted droppings with sawdust/straw in bags as good quality organic manure.
• Feathers for fly-tyers and fishermen.
• Small packets of larger feathers for craftspeople.

They may not be the most profitable, but it might cover feed.

Those last 2 never occurred to me.

 

[cluckcluckluke]

Hi, probably the best way to make money off chickens is selling their eggs and selling chicks. After you get the chicks or hatch them, keep them for a few weeks or months and sell them. People will give more for older ones. The older they are, the more they're worth. Hope this helps

The older they are, the more they're worth...but the more money you must spend on feed and time in raising them.

 

[Our Roost]

That makes twice on this thread i have heard the comment "the older they are, the more their worth". At what age are you actually talking about? I guess if a chicken has reached the egg laying age it could be valued a bit more? But yes you fed it for 5-6 months before getting there! So how much more is it worth to show a profit?

 

[suebgbr]

I don't know what the exchange rate is but a new chick unsexed I sell for £5. A 10 week old I sell for £12-15.
The problem is the older they are, the easier they are to sex so you get stuck with all the roos

 

[tnmommy]

I saw a show breeder once comment that it cost him 15 cents to raise a chick. Doesn't sound like much? Unless you are raising a highly desirable and rare breed, you aren't going to make any money on a point of lay pullet. You will, at most, break even at $20.00. I made profit on 2 blue English Orpingtons and will make profit on their offspring I kept if all of my chickens test clean from illness. But. If you just have a typical backyard breed, you will do better to sell hatching eggs or younger chicks. Unless you have a source of quality, cheap feed.

 

[aoxa]

I saw a show breeder once comment that it cost him 15 cents to raise a chick. Doesn't sound like much? Unless you are raising a highly desirable and rare breed, you aren't going to make any money on a point of lay pullet. You will, at most, break even at $20.00. I made profit on 2 blue English Orpingtons and will make profit on their offspring I kept if all of my chickens test clean from illness. But. If you just have a typical backyard breed, you will do better to sell hatching eggs or younger chicks. Unless you have a source of quality, cheap feed.

I don't know how that is possible! It takes 10 pounds of feed to get them to laying age (at least!). Feed is not 15 cents a pound... It's .25 cents a pound here for bulk feed. Plus heating, bedding, time.. and the males that are not sought after on the same scale as the females.

 

[tnmommy]

True... I think he was just throwing out an estimate. With my next batch of chicks, I am keeping a spreadsheet. From purchase of the eggs/shipping, factoring back in the cost of my coops as if I were starting over to get a true cost analysis. I've done pretty well finding free or craigslist materials so far. I've got one cockerel who looked to have an illness but is bouncing back. I researched his symptoms and they fit a vitamin E deficiency rather than any virus or bacterial infection. Vitamins in the water and he's bouncing back. I'm about to order my vaccinations for chicks hatching next week. So yes, that estimate of his is probably too low.

 

[sarahandbray]

Even basic backyard breeds around here are fetching $20/dozen hatching eggs. So for me to fill my incubator, we're talking $70ish right out the gate.
For me, it's just made more sense to use my own Barnyard Mix eggs and take the $2-2.50/chick rather than try to get purebred, more desirable eggs that would eat up all the profit.

 

[Kusanar]

I saw a show breeder once comment that it cost him 15 cents to raise a chick. Doesn't sound like much? Unless you are raising a highly desirable and rare breed, you aren't going to make any money on a point of lay pullet. You will, at most, break even at $20.00. I made profit on 2 blue English Orpingtons and will make profit on their offspring I kept if all of my chickens test clean from illness. But. If you just have a typical backyard breed, you will do better to sell hatching eggs or younger chicks. Unless you have a source of quality, cheap feed.

I don't know how that is possible! It takes 10 pounds of feed to get them to laying age (at least!). Feed is not 15 cents a pound... It's .25 cents a pound here for bulk feed. Plus heating, bedding, time.. and the males that are not sought after on the same scale as the females.

True... I think he was just throwing out an estimate. With my next batch of chicks, I am keeping a spreadsheet. From purchase of the eggs/shipping, factoring back in the cost of my coops as if I were starting over to get a true cost analysis. I've done pretty well finding free or craigslist materials so far. I've got one cockerel who looked to have an illness but is bouncing back. I researched his symptoms and they fit a vitamin E deficiency rather than any virus or bacterial infection. Vitamins in the water and he's bouncing back. I'm about to order my vaccinations for chicks hatching next week. So yes, that estimate of his is probably too low.

I think he was probably factoring the egg to hatch, not feeding it, more of a "if I sell the chick as a day old, I have x amount invested in it already" situation. If you factor in that he already has an incubator, then the power used to run it and heat it spread throughout however many eggs he has in it would be close to 15 cents a chick possibly.