How To Make Your Chickens Pay For Themselves.

So your thinking of getting chickens, or maybe you already have chickens. Those little dinosaurs can cost a pretty penny to care for. You have your feed cost, supplements, bedding and if we are being honest with ourselves the chicken coop! Those costs add up quickly, especially if you are just starting out. Your first dozen eggs will be the most expensive dozen you have ever paid for. However your little flock of dinosaurs don’t have to be free loaders. They can work for you and help cover the cost of keeping them. If you have good management it is even possible you could profit with your chickens. So here is how to make your chickens pay for themselves!

Selling Fresh Eggs. I feel as if this one is obvious but it really is what buys the feed around our farm. Fresh eggs are staples in so many homes. Plus the quality of store bought just can’t compare to home raised chicken eggs. This puts them in high demand. You just have to get them in front of the people. In our area egg prices very and i’m sure yours will too. In our area eggs go anywhere from $3 to $8. It depends on the type of eggs you have free range, non GMO or organic. Obviously strict non GMO organic eggs are going to be the ones going for $8 a dozen. However don’t be the one who sells them for $3 either. Most people who sell their eggs cheap are shorting themselves. Yes your customers can find cheap eggs in the store for $1.98 most likely. But those cheap $1.98 eggs are low quality, you my friend do not have low quality eggs. So charge accordingly. You will have to do some math to see how much you should be charging. Keep up with your chicken care cost monthly and see if you can make that money back if you sold your eggs for $5 or $6. Here is a little book I made to help keep up with your sales. It is called Egg Sales Log Book.

Now getting your eggs in front of the customers. If you have the time setting up at the local farmers market is a great idea. You get to meet all the people close to you that are interested in your eggs. However that may not be the best fit for you. Most markets cost money to be a part of and they take a whole day out of your week. If you live in a high traffic area you could set up a small farm stand at your driveway. People love being able to stop and buy something without speaking to anyone. Lets be honest I am one of those people. Most of my egg sales are done through a mailbox pick up. The people in my community contact me if they want eggs. I leave them in the mailbox, they pick them up and leave the money. Another way to get your eggs in front of the people is by making a small farm Facebook page.

Breeding Your Chickens. You can go about this in a few different ways. Some other farms I knows hatch baby chicks from spring till fall and they sell the chicks as soon as they hatch. This is a good way to make decent money with your chickens. However this is only going to work well if your chickens are a full blooded breed. So either you only have one breed of chicken on your farm. Or you keep the same breeds cooped up together and have different coops.

We free range on our farm so we have what you would call barn yard chickens. You could still sell mixed breed chicks, your just not going to get top dollars for them. So instead of getting $5 a chick you could get $2 a chick. If your incubator holds 30 eggs and you got 25 chicks to hatch. That’s still $50 for sailing 25 chicks. Your chickens just wont be as popular as full blooded chickens. Then you run the risk of not being able to sell them all. People like to know what they are getting.

Now if your like us and don’t like incubating and selling the chicks. I find that to be a lot of work. I’m sure you will eventually end up with some broody hens! When a hen has went broody that means she is ready to have babies. She will be determined, you just about can’t break broody moms. When they are broody they don’t hardly leave the coop, they almost stop eating and they definitely stop laying eggs. I find it better to just give them eggs and let them raise the babies. We are on our 5th broody mom this year. I let them keep the babies and raise them till they are big enough to be on there own. You will know when mom is done with them. You can then sell them as pullets or keep them a little longer and sell them as young laying hens. The price you sell them for will depend on your area but around our area I would say at least $15 a bird.

Sell Those Roosters!! Something you will NEVER see for free from my farm will be roosters! They have value too! We used to keep our roosters and butcher them. However they are not meat chickens. So they do not pack on the ponds like meat bird breeds do. Its a lot of work for very little meat. So we decided one day to take them to a small animal auction. Everyone of our roosters sold for $14 each. I was astounded! Ya’ll I took 8 of them that day. Now I have took them before and only gotten $5 each. The prettier the rooster the more money he will bring. Because people wont him to breed their chickens. So don’t give away the roosters!

Selling Hatching Eggs. Another great way to have your chickens pay for them selves is by selling hatching eggs. Other farmers will want them to either put them in their own incubator or to put under a broody hen. I know personally I out source hatching eggs all the time. I either want to add a different breed of chicken to the farm. Or I am trying to get new blood lines to make sure our chickens don’t get inbred. After you have had chickens for a few years that is something you need to watch. You can also ship hatching eggs to other parts of the USA. Some people with full breed chickens will sell their eggs on a website like Ebay or Etsy. Then when they have sold. they ship them to were they need to go. I have never done this but I know it can be done.

Selling Feathers. Now I know this one is a little weird but it is true. Crafters love beautiful feathers! This is were your barn yard chickens will shine. Most barn yard chickens are very mixed in breed so their feathers at times are very odd and different. Crafters love them! You can package them up nicely and sell at farmers markets or they are easy to ship. You can easily sell on Ebay or Etsy.

Selling Composted Chicken Poop. Now this is not something I do because I am a gardener. My chicken poop is priceless in my eyes. However if you are not a gardener selling composted chicken manure is a great way to make money from your chickens waste. If you are buying it from the hardware store it is expensive. You could composted it down and most likely sell it bagged up once or twice a year. People would buy it up fast because it is fresh. The stuff you buy in the stores is good but it is also old by the time it hits the store shelves. Also you don’t really know what those chickens were fed. Therefore you can’t know for certain whats in your compost.

Selling Pictures Of Your Chickens. Everyone loves to look at pictures of chickens. If you have a good camera and love to take pictures. You could start a digital business selling your chicken pictures. This is also not something I do but I love the idea. You could even print out the pictures and make wall art to sell at farmers markets. If you have an Etsy store you could sell them as downloads for printable post cards. Now hear me out! Only Fans for your chickens? I mean there are weirder things in this world.

But all jokes aside there are lots of ways to make those little raptors pay for them selves. So don’t let them be free loaders! If you like this post you may also like this one. https://mountainwildhomestead.com/does-homesteading-really-save-money-lets-talk-about-it/