How to make $1000 per week with 25 chickens (really! Not click bait) make money on the homestead
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- Опубликовано: 2 фев 2021
- How to be profitable with a small flock of chickens!
This is what we do, we do keep a few extra roosters as we have 4 breeds hatching out currently but these are real numbers and a real way to be profitable on your homestead or farmstead.
Can’t keep a rooster in town, do the same thing with quail, in many places there are no ordinances regarding them, they take up a small footprint, are quiet and we’ve found there’s a HUGE demand for quail!
Best of luck and thanks for sharing in our adventure with us!!!!
Don’t worry about the haters. This is solid advice and you didn’t take 45 minutes like most other vids!
Thank you, a lot of people just can’t look past what they themselves are willing to pay and forget that we aren’t always our own ideal customers. I know it wasn’t a well made video but the information is accurate. Thanks for the positivity!
One little suggestion? Turn your TV off the next time. It was hard watching this with the background noise. I couldn’t finish.
Good info. Thanks for sharing!!
I can't believe how many commenters don't understand pricing, and how much good purebred chicks are worth. Good on you.
Right?! Seems to be people that have no real involvement in poultry outside of maybe a handful of layers in their backyard. Clearly haven’t looked at the cost of “purebreds” coming out of hatcheries or ever been to a poultry show, or just looked at what’s available for hatching eggs on FB even 🤷♀️
Blues and splashes are my FAV!!
Very informative video. Thanks for sharing 👍🏽
Thank you
I second that, short, concise but very informative. PS: are u moving to Mexico by chance? Thats where I live but can't get australorps down here. Not even run of the mill australorps
I’m breeding for pure bred. I have Rhode Island Red, turkens and white leg horn. I don’t have a leg horn rooster yet but I’ll get one. 😂 I just take my time, keep searching and I’ll eventually find what I need.
I’ve hatched chicks out before without trying but this year I will be trying. Super excited! 👏👏👏
Thank you for the video! New subscriber!
Thank you! And best of luck!!! You’ll do great, those are all breeds that sell well in our experience, especially if you take your time as you are and breed for quality! Glad to see the excitement, you’ll do amazing!!
Love Leghorns. Mine are loving little egg factories.
The leghorns are an awesome breed! Unfortunately they just don’t sell for much in our area as there are too many commercial egg farms that sell their commercial leghorns off each spring. But they are a fabulous breed!
@The Frugal Farmstead absolutely understand that they wouldn't be profitable for breeding purposes. Not very popular with homesteaders and like you said low priced birds.
Low priced when trying to make profits
With chicks but one of the best when selling eating eggs! They eat less feed and produce nice big eggs for us in abundance! Definitely a go to bird if eggs are the goal
Finding buyers is always the hardest part
It can be though we typically average about 10 chicks per sale and based on these numbers would only require 13 sales per week. We do typically offer a fairly large variety of birds though which does help to increase our sales.
We post on kijiji (Canadian Craigslist type ads) and on local poultry groups on Facebook. We also offer to meet people in other areas or cities if we can justify the trip so that also helps us access a broader customer base.
Another key is having good quality photos, knowledge of the breeds you’re selling and SPELL CHECKING your ads, this is something we see a lot of. People won’t believe you know what you’re talking about if you can’t spell the name of the breed correctly
veeeery informative! thank you
Video was made about 3 years ago (during the crazy virus days) but still very relevant today. I think there was a spike in costs for chicks at that time (just like TP being hard to find lol). Feed store pullets or straight runs are about $4-6 where I'm at (mid-USA) where sometimes chicks cost upwards of $8-10 depending on breed. (06/2024).
Thanks for the vid content!
I am wanting to start a chicken farm do you know what two breeds I should start with? And thank you very much for your video.
Great video and thanks for the information. If you only have two roosters and 4-5 different breeds of hens then how do you get full blooded chicks?
You need to keep a purebred rooster for each breed of hens
Loved the video! Thanks for the ideas....how to you advertise to sell your chickens and fertilizer eggs?
We use kijiji (Canadian Craigslist) Facebook groups though you have to be creative with the vocabulary to prevent being restricted and follow their rules, fb and instagram pages and a website can go a long way. FB is definitely the easiest though
That can happen fairly easy with hatching eggs and straight run and auctions.
Very informative and much appreciate all the info you have to share. Hope your okay with a little constructive criticism, try not saying um so much. A very common thing for people to do but one of the first things that is taught in public speaking. That being said still loved the video.
Thank you for sharing this video. It is very informative. It was posted two years ago. You said you where moving to another country. I can only guess you have moved already. And if you can tell me what country you moved to it would be helpful because I’m also thinking of moving to another country and I’d like to know if you’ve been successful in your new farm. Thank you so much and God bless.
We unfortunately have not moved yet, Covid threw a wrench in the gears and delayed us applying for our E2 visa, we are in full swing with the planning and investment process needed for the E2 and will be talking about it in upcoming videos to really address the business side of small farming and homesteading as farm direct products are at an all time high demand.
We are currently in Alberta Canada and our property that we’re establishing is in the high desert of northern nevada, US so it’s a pretty big change for us and has a lot of hidden obstacles
@@thefrugalfarmsteadI hope you can make it away from that tyrant and into our 2A sanctuary down south😊
@TOMMY-WANT-WINGY we’re working on it, lol
Excellent video with good advertisement for breeding and selling purebreed chicks. I notice a lot of the ads on the internet for chicks are fairly consistent at $4.55 per chick and small discounts for larger purchases. I am not sure they are consistent with their pure breed but assume good intentions unless proven otherwise. You seem very careful and will make sure your hens are only bred with the appropriate rooster. Thanks for the information and very informative video. By the way, where are you located currently?
We are in Alberta Canada, the ads you’re seeing are likely for large commercial hatcheries or from their distributors and there is no comparison when pricing quality purebred chicks against quantity bred hatchery stock. We also discount/haggle when we have people buying chicks in quantity as we see nothing wrong with that at all.
Thanks for the reply and I suspected what you are saying was in effect. I am not familiar with the Brahma breed but have had Barred Rock and Rhode Island Reds in past and they are well suited to the climate here in southern Oklahoma. I assume your breeds are well suited to the cold winters and if I remember correctly it can get fairly warm there in the summer as well. Thanks again for the info.
Thank you so much!
What market (city) are you currently in.? How do you market your chicks?
Something else you should add is that you need to replace your original flock every couple of years because they slow in production. I recommend replacing every 2 years with grow outs. I’m just starting out raising CEO’s. (Chocolate English Orpington’s) I’m hoping I will be able to sell chics next spring and summer. I have 12 hens and 2 roosters. I’m going to have 3 pens and rotate every 2 years, so that I get good production. I will sell one pen of adult birds every 2 years.
Yes, this is an excellent point! We actually hold some back each year to replace as necessary and will sometimes hold back older hens if we like certain features even if production slows but we are lucky enough to have to space to allow that and produce our own feed so the cost of keeping lower production birds isn’t an issue.
Thanks for the great comment and best of luck, we LOVE orpingtons, they’re right up there as one of our favourites!!
@@thefrugalfarmstead please tell me about producing your own feed. What kind?
@@codyleeser392 we have a video on that! We produce complete pellets using our small pellet mill but also grind/shred produce, breads, etc with our wood chipper and add proteins and minerals as needed
Ok good to keep on mind thanks. Mine are around 8 months old now
Well, there’s not many chickens that will lay six eggs a week none that I know of. And where are you selling chicks for $10 a chick when everyone else is selling at three dollars to five dollars a chick
Great points here. I've been involved in bird raising ever since I was a lil kid and my sister got me into it. I took a break from them last year, but this year I really want to start over. My hope is to start with just a few chicks from a hatchery this year, then next year start hatching eggs from them, and then raise the birds until 8 weeks or more and then selling them. Any tips there?
That’s a great idea, try into invest in quality stock for yourself from the get go so that you can get a premium for your chicks or older grow outs. Selling off heat chicks and point of lay pullets is a heat way to take advantage of the slower months and still be hatching. Biggest thing is to track your feed usage while raising them to make sure you aren’t selling at a loss and reduce feed costs where you can. When we grow chicks out we do use chick starter but also always offer ground up produce so that they always have something to eat, still get excellent nutrition and helps cut our costs.
Best of luck, let me know if I can help in any way
@The Frugal Farmstead what kind of produce do you normally grind up? Kale/Spinich? Grass/clover?
Were part of the LOOP program which pairs Canadian farmers and livestock owners with grocery stores so we go and pick up a horse trailer load of produce, groceries, bread, dairy, basically everything that they sell that has damaged packaging, is close to spoiling, etc. so we get a variety but have been experimenting with growing because the program won’t be available when we move. For the younger birds we like to stick with the veggies with higher nutritional value and protein.
Spinach, kale, chard, Romain, peas, pumpkins, beets and black oil sunflowers are our favourite to grow for our animals as yield compared to the space and time for growing is excellent and we can utilize the entire plant with all of them including the greens and stalks. We pull the sunflower heads while the stalks are still green and run them through the wood chipper, along with the pumpkin vines. Bagging them for silage or fermenting will also increase the nutritional bioavailability as well!
We actually run all of our produce through the wood chipper when everything is frozen in the winter to feed our mature animals, it makes our feed bill near nonexistent
@The Frugal Farmstead also what do you mean by "invest in quality stock for yourself?
That most large hatcheries breed for quantity instead of quality, if you source from a breeder that breeds for quality you’re investing in the quality for your breeding program and can get premium pricing
What kind of incubators do you use? And what is a roundabout investment on that?
Thanks for the great info. I’m wondering how you market/advertise/promote your chicks.
Also, at what age do you sell your chicks?
Thanks.
Facebook groups and kijiji (Canadian Craigslist) have been our biggest source of marketing, instagram and TikTok as well as a website are all great options as well. Posting regularly, checking your grammar and spelling and being informative about the breeds you have goes a long way with your ads as well as having quality photos and by that I don’t mean they have to be professional but having them look clean. Make sure there aren’t messy backgrounds, that your chicks or birds or whatever are in a clean area and just overall appealing photos can go a long way.
My apologies for taking so long to respond. Thank you so much for taking the time to write to me and answer my questions. Much appreciated. Good luck with your business and with all those fluffy butts!!!@@thefrugalfarmstead
Hey thanks for the info! Question-if you only have 2 roosters to cover the 23 hens are you only selling 2 different true breeds? It sounds like you mentioned more than 2 breeds, but with only 2 Roos you would have mixes of some sort from the ladies? :)
You are very right! We personally run several different purebred pens which is likely why it would’ve sounded like I was talking about more than 2 Roos but tried to focus on numbers that are more reasonable to most homesteaders/farmsteaders that are just starting our or looking to expand slightly. I personally recommend with sticking to purebreds for the resale value, while BYM’s are great as dual purpose birds or for personal flocks they don’t hold as much value as purebreds so I would avoid breeding mixes without intention when looking to be profitable but that’s just been my experience and what I see in our area.
So would you be netting that much including the cost of the incubators, food, heat, lamps, etc? Or is that gross?
That is gross, everyone’s expenses would vary significantly
I have Blue Laced Red Wyandottes they are pure breed and produce Blue laced, black laced, and splash laced.
Wyandottes are a wonderful breed and sell really well in our area
What difference does pure breeding in chickens make all chickens share same DNA the crosses generally make the best layers
It’s no different than a purebred of any species, each have been bred in different regions for different purposes, people continue to breed purebreds for show, bred preservation, specific qualities and looks. You aren’t wrong that hybrid vigor is very real amongst first generation crosses but depending on which breeds you cross you can be bringing out different qualities from the parent stock. Cornish crosses aren’t purebred and are terrible layers but excellent meat birds because of the purebred parent stock that are used to creat them, they pull the best qualities from both parents. We aren’t saying that crosses are useless but you won’t be getting premium prices for them
In my area the prices are gonna be a little different just because most chicks sell for $5-7 each here
Yea we can get them for under $5 here
Someday I really want to raise chickens, roosters, quails, and guinea fowl together. Can all four bird species get along if they're raised as chicks together? I would raise ducks too, but I heard sometimes ducks will kill the chickens so I decided no ducks.
Roosters and chickens are the same species, the roosters and hens cohabitate well though you may run into issue if you have too many roosters in smaller quarters.
Because of the size difference between chickens and quail you may run into issue with them bullying the quail and pen requirements as quail are excellent escape artists.
We currently have ducks, geese, turkey and chickens all together and have free range Guinea’s with them in the past with no issue. The main issue with ducks and chickens is that ducks have a penis where chickens (roosters) do not so if a duck tries to breed a hen they can kill her as she’s not equipped to handle it.
Why not just start with something instead of making a long list of what you will do someday?
Is there a market for selling young hens at their point of laying? If so which breed would be most profitable? And would I only be able to sell them in the spring and summer? Where should I advertise? I'm interested in breeding and raising chicks but trying to do as much research as possible. Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks
YES! There’s absolutely a market for POL pullets however you need to really monitor your numbers to make sure you remain profitable, this is why we hatch year round, the chicks that are hatched out of prime season are held over and sold as POL.
Building a cheap website for your farm is very beneficial with so many scammers out there as it lends some legitimacy, advertising on FB groups that are poultry related, local farming and homesteading pages, Craigslist, kijiji if Canadian and anywhere else that’s free is ideal to utilize. Make sure you use good quality photos with clean backgrounds, check the spelling and grammar in your ads and utilize social media as much as you can, it’s free and has a HUGE reach. When it comes to breeds you’re best finding something that you feel will suit your area, are people primarily looking for production hybrids? Purebreds? Exotics? You can look into this and do a bit of market analysis for your area by checking out FB groups and looking at ads classified sites. Best way to market your birds is to know why they’re special whether it’s because they’re exhibitions quality, hearty for your area, phenomenal producers, quirky, exotic, you name it
I assume these numbers are based on a 100% hatch rate? And multiple large capacity incubators to keep up with the amount of eggs correct?
No, I never base anything off a 100% hatch rate, I go over the numbers in the video and several times throughout the comments. We used to use our homemade cabinet incubators, we now use our old humidaire drum incubator and hatch out in a cabinet, we have a video on our incubator as well
I am curious about your long-term outlook. $10 per chick? Maybe short term. Most people in our area want "barnyard mix". Not many are looking for pure, specific breeds. If they are, once they acquire them, 2 things happen: that customer will only buy from you again if they need new blood lines. There is also the chance they will become your competition, further deleting the customer base. We have raised yaks, Scottish Highland, Mangalitsa hogs, Brahma chickens, and other things. This has been the case every time!
We have found that long term clientele grows thanks to word of mouth and customers happy with the chicks they’ve gotten. Yes some will become competition but competition isn’t a bad thing, it grows demand and knowledge of the breed. We always work to better our lines and expand our offerings, BYM’s are always in demand but we’ve found that many many people still look for specific breeds as they know what they’re getting and what to expect from their birds, same goes with other stock.
We didn’t post this as a get rich quick scheme, work goes into the raising but most importantly marketing of your chicks or other stock, being knowledgeable about the breeds and showing and sharing with others why these particular breeds are a better investment.
@@thefrugalfarmstead I've been reading the comments and this one best explains how you get your prices. It's more about the marketing and helping customers become more knowledgeable. I've read many of your comments and in the video and really heard no hard answers when it comes to quality over quantity. This clears it up for me.
What chicken breeds do you recommend for someone to start with if they are trying to breed there own
I really recommend breeds that you’ll be passionate about, our favourites are Brahmas, orpingtons , jersey giants and Bresse as they all sell well in our area
Orpingtons! 😍.... if you're in a cool enough climate
Where would you recommend I start selling my Silkie chicks and fertile eggs? Thanks
It really depends on your area, we have Kijiji up here (Canadian version of Craigslist) which I use as well as on poultry groups on Facebook, both have worked well for us!
I'd say this is a Real Need now! I'd like to be on a piece of land to grow chickens and other animals before the inevitable happens...
Yes, it absolutely is. We’ve Watched demand grow for years now with no sign of stopping, the demand for humanely raised livestock, meats and locally grown products.
Thank you,.
I know this video is a year old but I'll ask anyways just in case you see it.
Who do you sell these chickens to? How are you finding customers?
We are hoping to get a house with a little bit of land soon and this sounds like a great way to help us pay it off so any advice would be great. Thanks.
By the way, this is the first video I've seen. I'm going to start going through your others. Thank you
Established Facebook groups are excellent, you usually just have to avoid certain words and emoji’s when posting, just check each individual pages rules. Starting your own Facebook/instagram page is huge and we also use kijiji which is like a Canadian Craigslist. Just keep marketing, posting, use good pictures and be knowledgeable about what you’re breeding, SPELL CHECK when posting ads, misspelling the name of the breed will absolutely lose you customers. As with anything there will be good and bad times just make sure you run numbers for yourself, it is too easy to overspend when farming or homesteading. Break your feed costs down to the pound, don’t spend exorbitant amounts of money to build fancy coops when you can repurpose and still make things look nice and maintain a healthy flock.
Best of luck in your new adventure
@@thefrugalfarmstead thanks for getting back to me, I really appreciate it.
And of course it has to be Facebook, lol. I must be the only person in the world that can't keep an account. Not sure why. Every time I open one they close it telling me it's an unapproved account.
I go through the dispute process and they say no thanks, and no second chance 🤷
That's okay. My wife can run that for me, she seems to be able to keep hers 😄
How do you get your bulk feed? There’s a milling company near me but I don’t know how to obtain the grain from them.
Contact the milling company nearest you, most will sell in 1 or half ton totes to get discounted pricing, if totes aren’t an option you can often get discounts on bagged feed when bought by the pallet from your local feed store though it’s usually still more expensive than buying a tote due to the extra costs with filling the bags
@@thefrugalfarmstead oh wow I don’t think I can store a half ton😅, what kind of pricing do you get on it, is it half price?
@@loganlin6109 not necessarily half price but significantly cheaper as you see rent paying bagging & convenience fees, a half ton takes up way less space than you may think! If you have room to store a pallet you have room to store bulk feed! We’ve even kept it outside and covered with a tarp without issue, though we don’t have a rodent issue thanks the five million barn cats running around 😂
@@loganlin6109 just stock up on feed in the regular bags when they're on sale, if you don't have space for half ton
Call them
Some of the chicks you mentioned sell for like $4 each at the feed stores, so how do you sell them for $10 each? Are you selling them when they laying or as chicks?
All of this is gone over in my videos, again you’re comparing quantity bred chicks to quality bred, it’s like comparing apples to oranges and and most chicks at that price point now are hybrids not purebreds unless you’re buying in large quantities (100+) take a look at Murray McMurray one of the top 3 largest hatcheries in the US, you’re hard pressed to find chicks at $4 even with them
Do you keep your different breeds seperate? If so, how?
During breeding season yes they need to be kept separate in order to offer purebred chicks. We have separate coops and runs for them outside and during the winter months have the back of the barn divided into separate breeding pens
At what age are you selling your chicks and are you housing then separately due to them being different ages?
We try to sell them as young as possible, even posting when we have eggs set to get a waitlist established, the faster they’re out the door the less extra costs and labour involved. We did build a couple divided brooders in order to separate the different age groups and band the different breeds. Our homemade brooders were cheap and easy to build and make a world of difference.
We do increase price if chicks have been around long enough to start feathering out or are out of the brooder to make up for feed and care costs.
@@thefrugalfarmstead - thank you for the reply and information.
I'm in Texas I can buy at tractor supply for 4-5 a chick. I sell them for 3 a chick and then people still ask me to go down
What birds are you breeding? Are they SOP? Have you done anything to ensure their quality and do you target the right customers? The people buying chicks from tractor supply aren’t your target customers. There are a lot of comments and responses about this in particular
Could be a good business if you have the space and initial startup $ how much does that cost for getting into the chicken business? That is my ❓
It depends on where you are, the cost of the breeding stock you invest in and how much you want to spend on incubators. We didn’t spend much to get started at all, we bought and buy quality breeding stock in the fall when prices are typically lower, we built our own cabinet incubators using primarily items we already had and built our own coops and runs. Starting small and building your business based on demand has very little cash input if you’re willing to put some time and effort into it
Where do live? I live in Alabama. How do you find buyers?
How do you raise purebreds of you have 2 roosters and see real different breeds of hens?
You have separate pens for each breed and have the same breed of rooster covering the appropriate hens
Where in the US do you sell straight-run chicks for $10? In the Tampa Bay area, the Brahmas sell for $5.
We are in Canada however quality breeders throughout the US charge $10 and up and regularly sell out as well
Depends on the bird I reckon.
Yes, depends on the bird and breeders not undercutting themselves. These are prices for standard purebred dual purpose birds which fetch these prices all across North America, too many people try to compare prices to hatchery stock which is bred for quantity not quality.
@@thefrugalfarmstead I live in Okanagan Valley. I concur with your premise of the amount one can make raising chickens. As I am sure you have noticed these past few years have seen an uptick in the desire to return to self reliance.Not only in Canada but on a global scale (Industrialized countries). I have had chickens for the better part of the past 20 years. Selling eggs IS NOT THE PROFITABLE ENTERPRISE people think. Here where I live competition is a cyclical event on a yearly basis. Most people buy hybrid chicks from hatcheries in Alberta at $3-$5 per. You know the hybrid laying history so no need to explain. I am not going that route anymore and just bought 5 Bardrocks for $35 ea. Yes you read right. BUT I got a Bard rooster for free prior to this so now it’s recouping time with incubation. I don’t foresee any problems in selling Heritage layers for $20-$35 given the economics we are heading into.
Yes, this is exactly right Bob, we see a lot of competition in our area as well but there will always be the customers wanting the quality stock. While this video doesn’t factor in costs it does give an idea of how much can be made with a little effort when it comes to selling, knowing your products and their worth. Factoring net profits is an individual assessment based on feed costs, structure, power, etc.
but it is absolutely possible to be profitable raising poultry both larger and smaller scale
How about selling organic unfertilized eggs? Would it be a good business considering u r producing 50% of ur own chicken feed?
We don’t currently sell eating eggs, it can be profitable however to sell them as organic all feed needs to be certified organic and the land we’re currently on isn’t, so a lot of hurdles when taking the organic route. It is something we are working towards on our new property so not unattainable but not currently an option for us. Being profitable with eating eggs also requires you to scale up as with small flocks you won’t ever recoup your inputs when you also factor in your time and labour, we also focus on heritage breeds and you typically need the production of hybrids or commercial layers to maintain profitability. There’s just more value in hatching eggs when we can get $40/dozen on the low end for purebreds and $10-$25/dozen on the low end for barnyard mix or Easter egger hatching eggs
Which breeds are the most profitable? I have light Brahmas and black australorps already that I plan to breed to sell, but I really want some kind of leghorns too, would they sell well?
I find the hardy dual purpose sell the best for us which would include your brahmas (they’re one of our favourites and best Sellers) and your australorps. I’ve found that leghorns don’t sell as well in our area because they just aren’t as hardy and people seem to be really moving towards self sustainability which the dual purpose offer. I’ve found that chasing the fad breeds really doesn’t pay off du to initial high investment then fairly quick overstated markets with everyone trying to get a piece of the pie. I’ve found the good quality, hardy and productive birds that we’re excited about tend to be our best sellers
@@thefrugalfarmstead ok thanks so much for the help and response, so if hardy dual purpose sell well, would buff orpingtons and some kind of rock chickens sell well? I suppose more fancy breeds would sell best in places with more money, where I live there are pockets of wealth and poorer areas mixed.
@@thefrugalfarmstead I was thinking of raising some white leghorns for selling fertile eggs and also eating eggs. They’re extremely efficient layers and so if people are trying to get self sufficiency with eggs I don’t know why they’re passing up leghorns lol. Sorry leghorns are just my favorite breeds lol they’re one of the oldest breeds too.
@@thefrugalfarmstead I’m also considering cuckoo marans.
@@thefrugalfarmstead I’m glad to hear the breeds I already got will sell well since that was my intention, I tried to be smart about selecting breeds🙂.
What breed should I get ? We are in SSM northern Ontario .
we need them to sell and still have eggs/meat to eat for our family
Any of the dual purpose do really well, we’re in central Alberta so experience extreme cold through the winter and don’t have heated coops. Choosing breeds with shorter combs helps to limit issues with frostbite, or favourites are Brahmas and orpingtons.
@@thefrugalfarmstead I like the jersey giants.. roos git ate hens do eggs.. when we processed the old roast hens. 4.5 lbs dressed.. roos at 18 20 weeks dress at 7 lbs avg.. yes they take longer but they free range.. hens are broody as hell to boot..best for homesteading imo..
Plus you can sell roos fir 30 plus us dollars here..not processed
Yes!!! Jersey giants are another awesome breed! They’re popular in our area too and really are gentle giants. Thank you for sharing your experience with them for others to learn from
Where do you advertise?
How many incubators are you using?
Because of regulations here in Canada we’re limited to a capacity of 1000 eggs, so we run our drum to incubate and use our cabinet incubator to hatch. Currently only doing up to about 250 +/- eggs per week, once we get set up on our new property pending visa approval we’ll be able to start up the industrial incubators we purchased as well, also big redwood incubators.
But we started with cheap plastic incubators, then built our own budget cabinet incubators then invested in a cabinet incubator before finding our big redwood drum
What is the original source of your eggs if you didn't buy from a traditional hatchery?
Other private breeders that breed for quality
@@thefrugalfarmstead So how do you define quality?
10 bucks a chic
I won’t sell any
4-5 bucks a chick
10-15 for pullet / cockerel
25 for egg laying
This is for high quality pure breeds .
Around here you have to go with everyone that has and sells
Same with selling eggs
Flat 3 bucks a dozen .
Meat chickens max 25 bucks but average 15
It’s all in how you market, McMurray hatchery routinely sells out of chicks that are $8+ each and that’s for hatchery stock that is bred for quantity not quality. Often when people think they can’t sell their products for what they’re worth it’s because they’re targeting the wrong audience. We also live in an area that has a diversity of pricing and we have no issue charging a premium for premium stock but we also recognize that not every customer is our ideal customer.
@@thefrugalfarmstead
Everyone sells here so market is low
People are poor and don’t care about pure Breeds etc
Just chickens are chickens they say
I’m not sure where you are but there are small farm and homestead hatcheries in every state selling at premium pricing and routinely needing to run waitlists. Shipping is an easy option in the US to reach areas that have higher demand
That's our rates too n i see people doing it 1-2 hours from me
These are reasonable rates across North America, as farmers/homesteaders we need to think with a profitable mindset as it’s sometimes easy to think that people won’t pay an appropriate price for items but we forget that there are others that value to work and knowledge that goes into breeding quality livestock or any other items as well.
Shipping is also an option to reach other areas!! Same with hatching eggs
Where do you get the original breeds of premium birds?
We sourced from other quality breeders, standard hatchery stock isn’t a great option as they’re bred for quantity not quality. By spending a little bit more on some quality birds from reputable breeders you’ll be saving money in the long run and setting yourself up to also be breeding and selling quality birds. A great way to find breeders is to join local poultry groups on FB and doing some internet searches, also if you’re in the US you hav an the advantage of affordable shipping
@@thefrugalfarmstead How do you determine the most important criteria in finding quality over quantity?
With all the breeds you mentioned but with only two roosters, are you selling crossbreed hatching eggs and chicks
No, we keep a seperate rooster for each breed, we mentioned the birds that we breed and have been popular for us. The number used were based off a flock of 25 birds for those starting small and running either one breed or two, it’s been a long time since we’ve had that few birds around.
@@thefrugalfarmstead Thanks! That makes it make way more sense to me.
Awesome
How are you getting $10 per chick when all my local farm stores are selling them for $5 or less?
Maybe when they start to lay you can get $30 min per bird but that’s assuming they’re females. Males still only go for $10 grown.
Help plz. I’m in center TN
Because we aren’t a farm store reselling large hatchery stock that are bred for quantity and not quality. We’re able to get more than $10 on most of our chicks, because we breed for quality, offer customer support and our customers know where their chicks are coming from
I can't find a link, do you sell and ship eggs or chicks?
No, we’re still located in Canada so shipping is not easy in our area, we currently only sell locally and have actually cut back our production this year as we work towards getting to our new property
I’m interested in selling chicks I have a basic flock but some of them are more interesting. Like our Ayam cemani rooster and two Easter Egger hen. Are those worth good value or do people enjoy pure breed
Unfortunately you generally lose value with crosses however Easter eggers even though a cross typically sell well if they give nicely coloured eggs. The downside to the Cemani roo is that he’ll pass on some of his fibromelanosis and people in North America typically aren’t keen on eating black meat or black skinned poultry. Because of crossing him you won’t be sure how much of those genes he’ll be passing on so could limit your sales to just those looking for colourful eggs. We also sell crossed chicks but sell them at a discount in larger quantities, we don’t lose money on them but also aren’t really making much on them either.
@@thefrugalfarmsteadpeople don’t buy true Ayam Cemani to eat.
@@MacJank7 well aware, but when it comes to crosses there typically isn’t much use beyond eggs or meat which my previous comment was addressing
Where is a good place to buy purebred chicks to start?
From a breeder, ask to see pictures of the parent stock and make sure they meet SOP if that’s what you’re after, googling local homestead/farm based hatcheries is a great start, asking on local Facebook poultry groups is also another good option
ive been wanting to get into chicken egg selling but worried about costs to feed them and about to learn about how to house them
There are lots of great ways to reduce feed and housing costs! We purchased some old moving crates measuring about 5x8x7’ for $100 each and they made excellent coops, we cut a small hole in the side to access a run.
Chickens need to be able to be dry and draft free to stay healthy during cold weather, shade and plenty of water in excessive heat and protection from predators, everything else is just us humans complicating things and trying to our fancy each other
We rarely get below 28⁰, but often over 100⁰. :/ We've let our chickens free range, destroyed lawns & irrigation. They roosted in a tree, even when 18⁰ & raining. Smh. Stopped laying when we tried to contain them. Next batch has been contained, started housing them in large dog kennels we had after our sweet rooster disappeared. :/ (Think only 2nd nice one.) Must keep water cold in summer, lost 3 in a day before realized. :( Do NOT buy Tractor Supply Dumor or Producer's Pride feed, hens won't lay. Finally got 3 eggs after none for 6 mths & switching feed. Soak feed for 3days, saves money on feed, chickens waste alot. :/
Yes, we have videos talking about feed reduction strategies and methods, never experienced the destruction you’re mentioning though don’t keep them on an irrigated lawn, they’re on a pasture, we also very rarely feed commercial feeds and when we do buy it’s only from our local mills
How about getting into chicken raising for personal use first and then worry about the selling part? Otherwise I doubt you'll ever do it.
Where can I sell eggs In virginia. Ive got plenty that I cant eat
Well, I’m not in Virginia to give you first hand info but posting on local Facebook marketplace pages is a great start though be careful about the community guidelines, post something along the lines of “cartons available for $X includes all 12 holes filled” with a picture of an egg carton. Some groups are a little more lenient than others. Putting up flyers in local stores and word of mouth is also a great option and don’t forget to add any info about your eggs if you have any special practices like free ranging or organically fed birds.
Minus the feed, meds, de-wormers, cage materials, etc
Yes, I don’t get into expenses because they’re variable for everybody, we pay next to nothing for feed, have an amazing incubator that was only $25 and build our own brooders which have been more than paid for by the 1000’s of chicks that have passed through. Figuring out net profit is something that needs to be done on a case by case basis
What incubator do you use?
Our primary incubator is an old humidaire and we use a new cabinet incubator for hatching out so that we can set new eggs weekly. We have a little video on our incubator, we LOVE it and it only cost us $25 🎉
hi loved your video! is 3 acres enough to pasture raise all these chickens? i have 6 now 3 1/2 months old. is it too much to take on for a 73 yr old?
I work as a health care aide with seniors, age is very much just a number! There are plenty of things you can do to help reduce your workload both physically and time wise! By using chicken tractors you can absolutely take advantage of smaller acreages and also reduce feed costs by allowing your chickens to forage!
Maybe you could raise laying hens to sell eating eggs? It’s easier because you don’t have to incubate eggs and you pretty much just have to collect eggs and feed/water the hens. With egg prices going up like they are right now, you could make some money if you had enough leghorn hens, but you’d need a lot. I’m breeding geese and ducks and chickens and trying to start raising leghorns to sell eating eggs.
I raise my 68 free range chickens in a fenced off area of my 1 acre yard. I have 16 roosters and I have no issues at all . Plus I have 2 goats and 4 guineas. Also I have never followed the whole 1 rooster per so many hens..my roosters are all raised together with a pecking order with no fighting other than random gang mating situations . I also have a 6 month old 25 lb Cornish cross rooster who walks,mates etc with no health issues other than looking like the hulk
@@Uptownfunkyouup843 yes we also keep an assortment of Roos without issue, video was mostly focused on profitability which goes down with excess mouths to feed
Can you help me set up something like this from scratch?
Yes, we’re working on getting a website and Facebook page going so that we can offer more guidance to people wanting to grow their farmstead/homestead businesses. What is it that you’re needing help to get started with?
That's about 7 to 8 dollars more per chick than rural king..... how many months a year do you do this
I’m not sure what rural king is, I’m assuming a feed store. We sell chicks/birds just about year round, we are able to get more per chick than hatcheries and feed stores because our clients can see the parent stock and the quality that they’re getting instead of getting just production run birds, we’ve found that most people are happy to spend a little more for quality and great customer service as we make ourselves available to answer any questions and help them along the way as needed. Into the fall and early winter chick sales are down but that’s when we hatch to provide POL hens for the following season.
And that is not expensive birds these days that is fairly easily to do I like the idea of no public sales anymore the most expensive price. But but with fertile egg sales are nice and a bigger market on line and just using auctions for sells is great. a few GQF incubators for each breed and hatcher per breed this makes is really easy a simple rotation. Ornamental birds are where it’s at they’re worth the most amount of money. They lay the least amount of eggs, but are far in the most demand for some goofy reason but a smart person that’s just looking for eggs get the dual purpose bird, which is a high egg layer but a small bird usually will lay about double or an egg each day where a bird will lay an egg every two days but when you’re selling them, the birds can be as much as twice as much as a dual purpose. So if you’re looking at $20 a chick $10. It’s a huge difference and if you do the math, it’s actually the same price for both birds cause one lays twice as much as the other. But more than likely, your ornamental birds are going to be in more demand than your purpose birds so they’re gonna be easier to sell, but if you were growing them out as hens a different story a dual purpose full-grown chicken is for $20 a ornamental is gonna go for closer to $60 that’s a big difference but it cost about six dollars to get there and Feed.
How would you be able to set 138 eggs into an incubator every week? You would need a unit that holds at least 400 eggs! What incubator do you use?
We have a video on our favourite incubator!
Wouldn't they all have to lay that number of eggs the same day to incubate them in the same incubator? If you have 26 hens that lay an egg every day then it would be done with multiple incubators.
@agomodern no they don’t have to lay on the same day, we set eggs weekly, fertility starts to decline after 7 days but chicken eggs can still be incubated with great success up until 14 days after being laid
@@thefrugalfarmstead That's awesome to know. Learned something new.
@@thefrugalfarmstead Can you have eggs that will hatch a few days apart in the same incubator? I thought the humidity level had to be higher a few days before they hatch, but if you had them hatching days apart would that work?
How are you selling chicks for $10 each? They go for $1.5-4 where I’m at.
Chicks at my local feed stores are $5.00 or less. (Except Guinees which are more).
How do you compete with that at $10.00 each? Cause @ $5 each that projects to $500.00 a week... less feed, electricity and advertisement to let people know you have them.
Those chicks aren’t your competition, hatcheries breed for quantity not quality which is what you’re going for. We have absolutely no problem getting $10 or even more for chicks and this isn’t a regional thing, check small on farm hatcheries and breeders all across North America and you will find them regularly having wait lists when they produce quality stock and charge premium prices
Competition with tractor supply etc is another animal. If I'm buying breed stock and good lines, I do not buy from these mass breaders at big box stores. I buy farm raised / hatched to ensure I have a better chance at hardy birds. I give more for them
Yes, this is exactly the mindset needed, thank you Tim Castle
Yes, this is exactly the mindset needed, thank you Tim Castle
What price should I price quail chicks?
It really depends on your area, if they’re any special colours, jumbos or celedon.
We sold ours for $5 a piece when we were raising quail but had a variety of more rare colours in our area and had a lot that carried the celedon gene and would lay blue eggs
My husband and I charge $10 laying hens. $3 chicks, $5 OE bantam and silkie chicks. $20 silkie and OE bantam hens. Free roosters. $3/dz eggs.
how do you earn $440 with 138 eggs by selling $3 dozen
@muxcan956 as said in the video the $440 from 138 eggs comes from selling them as hatching eggs at $40/doz as stated.
I’m not recommending selling eating eggs in this video, I mention eating eggs at $3/doz at the very beginning but that isn’t where our profit is, we very rarely sell eating eggs.
@@thefrugalfarmstead I was wondering, if you sell eggs for eating do you make it where they can't hatch on purpose? I know they wash the eggs they sell at grocery stores so they cannot be hatched, and on top of that don't have roosters to fertilize the eggs, but how about in a homestead situation?
It's a nice idea but these numbers are insane to maintain
How can you have all those breeds with only 2 roosters.
You can’t, we have far more than 25 birds, this is an example based on either one breed or two to show that be even in smaller setups poultry can be profitable
Do you use incubators?
We do! We started with homemade incubators that we made from foam board and old refrigerators, we now use an old redwood drum incubator from humidaire and LOVE it!!! Plus it only cost us $25 but it’s amazing, we use our new and much more expensive cabinet incubator as a hatcher in order to do weekly hatches a little easier. We have a short video showing our old drum incubator
How do you sell your chicks easily? I sell on Craigslist but am worried I won’t be able to sell enough.
We sell on Kijiji (Canada’s Craigslist) and on Facebook, there’s a ton of groups that you can join and sell through though many have specific wording requirements and no prices posted to meet FB standards. We find January-June to be the busiest time for chick sales, heritage turkeys seem to be popular just about any time of year and during slower times we still hatch and raise them to sell as point of lay pullets, the Roos go in the freezer or if you’re lucky enough to be in a state that allows the USDA exemptions you can process and sell the Roos for added profit as well
Take good photos, emphasise chick cuteness, and write good descriptions. Business 101
In which state do you live? I'm assuming California if chicks are going for $10?..... I've only ever lived in KY, IN and OH, where no one cares if it's quality, pure breed, or organic..... A full grow laying hen that's all of the above and lays a double yolk egg daily doesn't go for no more than $25
We live in Canada though also ave property in Nevada.
You can find small scale farm based hatcheries in every state selling quality chicks at the prices I listed and more selling out on a regular basis.
You might not care about quality but a lot of people do, there are a lot of people that breed for exhibition or just desire having beautiful purebred birds in their flocks. Even heritage breeds from hatcheries are rising in price, heritage breeds from McMurray are sitting over $7 each and are routinely sold out.
As producers we need to remember to look for what our target customers will pay not necessarily what we want to pay.
How does a beginner know if chickens are sick?
Chickens are extremely good at hiding early symptoms but things to keep an eye out for are lethargy, lack of appetite and any unusual behaviours like instability, gasping or any bodily fluid secretions
What is a dual purpose bird?
Dual purpose are birds that are considered good for both meat and eggs. Example would be any of the Plymouth Rock varieties as they’re a larger bird that are also excellent layers. Leghorns on the other hand are excellent layers but small framed and not overly muscular so don’t offer much as meat birds and purebred Cornish are large framed meaty birds that typically lay few eggs. Dal purpose are popular as you keep the hens for laying and the extra Roos can be butchered
Hi, how do I buy bulk feed?
It really depends on your area, we’re lucky to live in an area with a lot of farmers that sell directly and a lot of feed mills. A good start would be checking FB marketplace or online listings like Craigslist or Kijiji for farmers selling direct, you’ll get the cheapest rates going through them. Another option is to look for local feed mills, most will sell at bulk rates if buying 250+ lbs and if there aren’t any feed mills in your area talk to a local feed store, specifically a private or independently owned store and see if they’re able to order you feed in totes or by the pallet at a discount, most will and offer a discount as it helps them meet minimum orders, reduce haulage fees and reduce labour of selling each bag individually. And if all else fails check your local FB farming/homesteading/poultry groups, etc. and ask where everyone is buying their bulk feed from. We typically stay away from larger box stores and find better put icing from our local co-op’s and independently owned businesses than the big stores
How do you find quality breeding stock?
If you have poultry shows in your area that’s a great place to start, or check out county or state fairs that have poultry or livestock shows, you’ll get to see a variety of breeders and their stock first hand. You can also look for breeders online, a lot will have websites, Facebook or instagram pages nowadays. Make sure that they’re following good breeding practices and raising healthy, quality flocks. Not all will let you on their property to see flocks first hand, this isn’t a red flag, it just means they’re practicing or are able to practice good biosecurity. Ask to see photos of their parent stock if they don’t provide them and educate yourself on the particular breed you’re looking at so that you can make sure they’re meeting standards, I would also recommend finding someone that breeds in conditions similar to what you have or offer, especially if you invest in mature stock, it makes the transition for the birds much easier
Quality breeders
Thanks girlfriend.
New sub.
Thank you, I hope it inspires you in some way
@@thefrugalfarmstead Thank you it did!
I have so many questions
How do you create demand for your product.
The demand is already there, especially since the pandemic, a lot of people have shifted perspective and are looking for sustainability which in itself has created demand for dual purpose birds again. Taking the time to educate others on the benefits of the birds you raise and why you do it solidifies your customer base. We primarily focus on birds that are dual purpose, hardy and friendly/docile enough for new poultry owners/enthusiasts. Those things are part of why Brahmas and orpingtons are so popular for us, they come in a variety wide variety of colours, both so really well in our winters here, lay well and overall are friendly and docile and the excess roosters make good table birds. We don’t heat our barn through the winter, we make sure our birds are dry and draft free so during steady temps of -30 and even dipping to the -40’s our birds do fine, our customers love seeing this first hand knowing that they don’t have to worry so much about their livestock in our environment and the setup that they have.
@@thefrugalfarmstead Here in Texas my chickens completely stop laying eggs for about 3 or 4 months in the winter. How do I remedy that? I don't provide extra heat or light, but do have an enclosed coop and open chicken run.
nice video but it;s really hard to focus on what youre saying with the tv noise in the background
Imagine a Bunny Ranch Hefner Stats!!
Tbh I’m just saying you can sell even more lower your prices nowadays everyone has chickens and what not so make your prices kinda match up with hatcheries and you’ll do good and get more birds
We have zero problem selling our chicks for $10+ each, why would we lower prices to match a subpar product/experience? Hatchery prices on purebred birds aren’t cheap anymore for what you’re getting either. Small farmers and homesteaders need to learn to value themselves, their time and their products, yes there are more and more people with chickens now, we’ve only found that to increase the demand for QUALITY stock
Without watching I'm gonna say selling chicks...Now I'll watch. Yep,of course it could be nothing else.
To do this do u have to b certified ? Thanks great video very informative.
Maybe I’m not getting it, but do you sell the rooster chicks for $10 too?
We sell straight run meaning unsexed, so yes
Awesome, thanks for the info! Was it difficult to build up the clientele for more expensive chicks?
No, in most areas this isn’t expensive at all. The big thing is breeding for quality, there are small farm and homestead based hatcheries all across the US and Canada that have no problem getting these prices. Be honest in your ads, use quality photos and be knowledgeable about your stock and you’ll do just fine.
@@thefrugalfarmstead great, thank you!
👌
Where can you sell a baby chick for $10? Here in Alabama you can get $3-$4 a chick. Raise it longer to around 6 months you can get the $10.
There are breeders all across the US and Canada getting more than $10 per chick, it isn’t just a regional thing but sometimes a marketing thing, having the quality and targeting the right customers.
Even the ingest hatcheries in the US sell their quantity not quality raised chicks for over $8 each so it is very much possible. We also have some videos on ways to increase profits and will be doing some to help others with marketing.
And with a quick google search have found several small farm/homestead hatcheries selling chicks starting at $15 each. The people only wanting to spend $3/chick are not your ideal customers and that’s ok, if someone else wants to undervalue themselves it’s fine but fare too many people get themselves stuck thinking that they have to sell at the cheapest prices when it isn’t the case
I've noticed that it's more about marketing and offering good customer service than it is about quality. I've read her comment about quality over quantity at least a dozen times in the comment section and the video without ever explaining what she means by quality.
I enjoyed your video and I'm not fussing but for future video's maybe turn you TV down.
Yes, this was one of my very first, i honestly didn’t think anyone would ever see it
I pay $20 for 6 months old pure breed laying hens $15 for roo. No way I'd pay $10 for a chick. Chicks in our area sell for $3. With that being said rare breeds will bring a premium price of $10+ per chick.
Hi! I was wondering if you Facebook page for your farm?
Not right now but we should!!!
Who are you selling them too?
Other homesteaders, breeders, backyard chicken keepers, poultry enthusiasts, anyone that’s wanting chickens really
For next vid, might be good to turn off the tv and/or eliminate background competitive conversations.
The TV is Very Distracting!!😢
It doesn't matter how many you can hatch if you can't sell them.. Where are you selling all these chickens? $10 for day old strait run?? Maybe pullets but not chicks
For good purebreds we get three times that for pullets, and $10 is not difficult to sell. Seems like you might be lowballing yourself.
@@thedeadgypsy there is no way anyone is getting $10 day old chicks reliably.. Maybe in spurts but not all the time.. $30 pullets as you claim can be done in spurts but not reliably either.. I sold $30 polish pullets recently and that was fluke.
@@domading2759 Maybe you are not advertising to the right people. I never sell under those prices and never have any left over. Look at your marketing strategy.
What breeds you are selling baby for $10