Tips for selling? How do you decide which to keep which to sell and what you price them at?

[PhantomSlayer]

Our original girls will be 2 years old this year and were gonna be hatching chicks from them this year to add more fresh girls. However I'm planning on being strict on who to keep. More than likely all cockerels will have to go. We have to high of predator pressure to keep a free range flock. While I'm not in particular sensitive to the risk my mother on the other hand is.

When it comes to pullets is there anything you should be looking at that makes a nice backyard flock? I'll be prioritizing friendliness in general. Our resident drama queen Goldy will not be repeated lol. Pic of our cockerel/rooster Casanova and a pic of Goldy.

Our other breeds are store bought from tractor supply, black australorps, buff orpingtons and gold lace wyandotte. I'm interested to see the colorations that come out. I was told our boy is a ameracauna possibly black australorp cross but I'm just calling him a mixed breed cause I have no idea the person had so many breeds lol

Also how do you decide pricing on selling pullets? I know cockerels wont be much if anything. Specially when it comes to backyard mixes.

 

[Debbie292d]

In some of the poultry groups on Facebook for my state or area, they have chats groups where you can post pictures and talk prices to dozens of others. That's how I kind of get to know prices of my silkies as there's a couple of silkie chat groups I'm in.

Otherwise, for where I am, I sell the pet-quality ones for half the high/show-quality ones, so these are $5 and $10. That's for 1-14 days old. Older than that, it depends but they are higher.

Cockerels usually I give away unless a special/unique one, then like $10 is all.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

In some of the poultry groups on Facebook for my state or area, they have chats groups where you can post pictures and talk prices to dozens of others. That's how I kind of get to know prices of my silkies as there's a couple of silkie chat groups I'm in.

Otherwise, for where I am, I sell the pet-quality ones for half the high/show-quality ones, so these are $5 and $10. That's for 1-14 days old. Older than that, it depends but they are higher.

Cockerels usually I give away unless a special/unique one, then like $10 is all.

So basically the older pullets they are they usually bring in more money? I'm not that good at telling cockerels from pullets early besides in order to make sure they friendlier I'll be waiting longer. So my guess they'll probably be older than 2 months. Basically just gonna pick 'em out as I notice them lol

I'll probably use a colored leg ziptie system. We did that with our original flock cause multiples with the same look lol. They all lost their zipties within a year except one. And it happens to be the one who you can tell without a ziptie cause her comb is much smaller than the other 3 her same breed and age.

 

[Ridgerunner]

When it comes to pullets is there anything you should be looking at that makes a nice backyard flock?

What are your goals? What traits do you consider necessary for a nice backyard flock. Once you decide what you want, eliminate any that don't muster up. Usually the first selections of which to get rid of are pretty easy but as you get closer to the final choices it can get pretty tough.

My main goal is to play with genetics and I eat any that I don't keep, boys and girls. For all of them I select for whatever genetics I'm playing with. That generally includes colors and patterns, early maturity, and behaviors. I typically hatch about 40 to 45 chicks a year so I have a fair amount to choose from. Any with obvious physical defects are among the first to go. So are any whose behaviors volunteer them for the pot.

I typically start to eat the obvious male rejects at 16 weeks of age and make my final decision on which to keep at 23 weeks. That's a little young to have a good idea on behaviors but at least I have an idea.

I generally eat excess pullets at 8 months of age. I only keep 3 or 4 most years. They've had their adult plumage a while so no major surprises. By 8 months, I've been able to evaluate their laying so I choose among the ones that make the first cut from colors and patterns from their laying. For egg laying, my criteria includes how many eggs per week, what color, and what size. I do not like double yolks or weird eggs.

My criteria is obviously different from yours. I went through it to maybe help you tailor your methods to your goals.

Also how do you decide pricing on selling pullets? I know cockerels wont be much if anything. Specially when it comes to backyard mixes.

I don't sell mine, I eat them so not much help. I'd look through the "Buy-Sell-Trade" section of this forum, look for your state thread in the "Where am I? Where are you!" section of this forum and chat with your neighbors, look for a chicken Facebook group around you, or check Craigslist.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

What are your goals? What traits do you consider necessary for a nice backyard flock. Once you decide what you want, eliminate any that don't muster up. Usually the first selections of which to get rid of are pretty easy but as you get closer to the final choices it can get pretty tough.

My main goal is to play with genetics and I eat any that I don't keep, boys and girls. For all of them I select for whatever genetics I'm playing with. That generally includes colors and patterns, early maturity, and behaviors. I typically hatch about 40 to 45 chicks a year so I have a fair amount to choose from. Any with obvious physical defects are among the first to go. So are any whose behaviors volunteer them for the pot.

I typically start to eat the obvious male rejects at 16 weeks of age and make my final decision on which to keep at 23 weeks. That's a little young to have a good idea on behaviors but at least I have an idea.

I generally eat excess pullets at 8 months of age. I only keep 3 or 4 most years. They've had their adult plumage a while so no major surprises. By 8 months, I've been able to evaluate their laying so I choose among the ones that make the first cut from colors and patterns from their laying. For egg laying, my criteria includes how many eggs per week, what color, and what size. I do not like double yolks or weird eggs.

My criteria is obviously different from yours. I went through it to maybe help you tailor your methods to your goals.


I don't sell mine, I eat them so not much help. I'd look through the "Buy-Sell-Trade" section of this forum, look for your state thread in the "Where am I? Where are you!" section of this forum and chat with your neighbors, look for a chicken Facebook group around you, or check Craigslist.

That helps alot! I wasn't thinking that I could keep more than a few pullets till they lay lol. Probably won't keep all pullets but probably be lenient on some maybes.

 

[LaFleche]

General health and quick molt is important too, and anyone prone to external and internal parasites, bumble foot etc. will not stay in my flocks.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I price based on rarity of the breed, also whether it's a mixed breed. My pricing is also based on traits, like culls from a project that's being sold.
For example: 3, 7 month Old Purebred Indian Malays from my PBA in USA Project I'm currently selling are priced(Grouped) at $150. That'd be $50 per bird if they're being sold individually.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

General health and quick molt is important too, and anyone prone to external and internal parasites, bumble foot etc. will not stay in my flocks.

We surprisingly haven't had to much health issues with our flock (Knock on wood). No prolapse, no deaths health related, no eggbound. I think the only issues we've had is them breaking their nails somehow and last spring we had some mites. We do have a few that lagged behind in their molting this year but once they got some higher protein they recovered faster. So general health not much issue. Aside from our runt Kiora. I can't bear to part with her though shes a weirdo lol. If I could I would make her a house chicken.

 

[PhantomSlayer]

I price based on rarity of the breed, also whether it's a mixed breed. My pricing is also based on traits, like culls from a project that's being sold.
For example: 3, 7 month Old Purebred Indian Malays from my PBA in USA Project I'm currently selling are priced(Grouped) at $150. That'd $50 per bird if they're being sold individually.

Yeah all of ours are pretty common breeds lol. Black Australorps, Gold lace wyandotte, Buff Orpingtons and Easter egger. And I have no idea what the rooster is technically in his mixed breeds.

 

[Slothinc]

In our area for barnyard mixes, sexed pullets that are laying or close to lay will usually go for about $20-$25. Purebreds are more, depending on the breed. Mixed breed cockerels are free and even then, sometimes there aren’t takers. I gave away all of my cockerels last summer, even the purebreds that hatched from shipped eggs from show breeders. But I feel like our market is really over saturated, at least last summer it seemed to be.