Is there really a market for home bred chickens?

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GBov

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I had decided to use my tax back to start up with four breeds (Dorking, French Maran, Silkie and green/blue egg layers) with dedicated pens for the breeders while letting the youngsters free range to be sure they are hardy, healthy and good foragers BEFORE breeding them. And once I am happy with the proformance of them, to sell day olds and hatching eggs.

This came about due to my TOTAL disappointment in a batch of chicks I bought from a big hatchery. They came dopey, proved to be too stupid to live and delicate to boot. With decades of chicken raising experience we only have 26 of the 100 left and am proud to actually have that many of them, they have been THAT hard to keep alive. :evil:

Then I read an article that says my idea is taking off all over the country!

Goodness, talk about timely. :shock: But I am also wondering how true it is?

At the end of the day if it does well great and if not, well, chicken is always tasty :lol: so its win win for me but it sure would be nice for it to be true AND to go well!
 
It seems to me that many things make sense to do for our own use or to give away but don't really make sense as a way to make money. For example we grow most of our own vegetables and give some away to a local soup kitchen and to people who come to help with the work. But I don't think it would make much sense to try to sell them. And we make wooden toys that we give to refugee families in Syracuse (our nearest city which has a couple refugee resettlement programs) and sometimes people ask if they can buy toys, but it wouldn't make sense given the time they take to make and what people would be willing to pay. :? We do sell lumber and hay and those seem to work, and we're thinking about selling some inoculated shiitake logs but have some things to figure out.
Good luck with your venture. More healthy chickens more locally raised has got to be a good thing :)
 
At our local flea market, chicks easily sell for hatchery prices in the spring. We have recently sold two batches of 4week old Orpington for $10 each. And they sold fast.
 
I've only ever bought small scale, locally raised poultry. To be honest, it's never even occurred to me to order from a hatchery or buy from a feed store. Ones raised around here are already climate hardy.
PA has some pretty severe salmonella cases EVERY SPRING from feed store peeps...

But you know, when your birds are friendly and hardy, you don't really need to replace them very often. I doubt anyone I've bought peeps or birds from made very much of a profit.
 
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