4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[katieD]

hi all

 

i work part time (2 days) a week lecturering animal care/science. my 'hobby' of chicken keeping has got slightly obsessive (my husbands words! )

 

i would love to turn my passion into more of a business and was wondering if any1 else on here did a similar thing? obviously i wouldnt expect to make loads of money or anything its just something i would love to do

 

i have friends who would let me rent land on their farms if i wanted to expand, but would like to start smaller in my large garden...

 

any ideas? i have neighbours so crowing not really an option unless i can contain the noise within the outhouses? not really sure on that one

 

if i was to hatch eggs would i be best to hatch breeds that the boys are good meat birds- dorkings etc? so the boys are easier to move on? would i be best to sell them at auction? is there a demand for young meat birds?

 

any advice/thoughts greatly appreciated !!

[Chook n Boo Mum]

I'm lurking here to glean info too Katie !

 

Not sure it's really an option for me as my next door neighbour can be a right misgog at times, but I have been offer use of a paddock which is a vague possibility.........

 

Sha x

[Redwing]

I am planning to breed from some of my birds next year for selling on but more for the enjoyment of it than making it a business.

 

These are my own thoughts in random order:

 

Pure breeds are slow to raise for the table, the cost of raising them to a 'commercially' edible size is quite high, the Ixworth is probably the best bet of the pure breeds, they grow the quickest and make good table birds, the girls are good layers and they are quite rare and fetch reasonable prices

 

If you specifically sell them for meat I dont know if there are any regulations you need to abide by so do some research

 

If you want to breed for the table the quickest way might be to get table bird stock and sell chicks and/or hatching eggs

 

Cutsie breeds are a reasonable bet, Silkies, Frizzles (pure or Pekin) and Polands sell well but boys are unwanted by most, their hatching eggs will also sell

 

The 'next big thing' will always sell well but you need to outlay the initial cost of a good breeding trio and be prepared to pay to bring in fresh blood

 

Rheas sell well if you can cope with them

 

You are unlikely to make a living from this, my 39 chooks cost me about £100 a month to keep (the initial outlay has been substantial on top) Out of 8 recent chicks hatched I got one girl who is unlikely to sell for £100 long term my aim is to cover about half the cost of keeping my rabble!

 

Boys cost as much to feed as girls so you will need to be prepared to cull them young if you want profit and that is a very very hard thing to do, professional breeders and sellers can cull up to 90% of the boys, sending them individually to market to face an uncertain future is not fair

 

Selling in pairs might actually fetch less money than selling a girl on her own, this depends on the breed and time of year, trios fare a little better

 

Black, white and buff chickens commonly sell for less at auction for some reason

 

Some auctions are better than others, Melton Mobray is not so good, Salisbury is better

 

Some breeds go for more at auction than they would cost 'retail' cute bantams and unusual large breeds for example

 

If you dont cull the boys young you will need to have somewhere to keep them while you decide what to do with them but DO have a plan up front!

 

I know it sounds stupid but this has happened to me to some extent - remember that chicks grow to adult size! I know its obvious but that small brooder with 8 chicks in becomes one or two houses and/or runs of full size birds which you need to have the room for

 

To hatch on a scale at which you can make money you may well need to hatch weekly (so need the appropriate incubators, hatchers, brooders and space) and hatch biggish quantities

 

Good bloodlines = more sales - but you need to do your homework on this, someone recently was selling their show quality Barnvelder bantam breeding stock and that is a good option - you do see people selling their entire breeding stock of something in order to concentrate on another breed/colour and so can be set up quite quickly

 

Once you have over 50 birds you need to register with DEFRA, it doesnt cost you anything but does mean that you are open to inspection so you need to be sure that your animal husbandry skills are good along with your chook housing, runs etc (which it should be anyway!!)

[cluckingmad]

Hi KatieD,

 

You'd need to contact your local council as you need to be registered if you're planing on selling meat birds (food premises stuff), we're looking at a similar thing, but just breeding the birds for the joy of it and raising the roos for our own tbale, rather than selling and we've come up against a right brick wall with our local council

 

Depending on where you are in the country, some councils are better than others, but definately worth contacting the Environmental health section of yuor local council before you do anything

 

Carolyn x

[Redwing]

If you are a 'hobby breeder' - breeding and selling the 'spare' birds rather than doing it for business you shouldnt need any special permissions as far as I know Cluckingmad

 

It might be worth posting on Practical Poultry or Bluelaced forums and getting some clarification on this as it could save you a headache

[cluckingmad]

Thats what we thought, but our local council are a right bunch of whatsits

[simon_blackwell1]

I would receommend you seek legal advice from a solicitor. There are also sorts of regulatory issues to consider, not the least of which is planning permission - your property is likely to be classed as domestic, and converting it to agricultural may involve a "change of use".

[Jools]

If you do post on either of those two forums, I can guarantee you will be told that you'll never make money by breeding poultry as the costs are high compared to the return. At most, the more efficient and committed breeders break even, but the others subsidise their business / hobby.

 

As Redwing has pointed out, unless you cull the boys as soon as you've sexed them, they cost as much to feed as the girls and they don't make any money, unless they are THE NEXT BIG THING. Even then, they have to be prime examples of the breed, which requires hard hearted culling and only ever using perfect specimens for the breeding pen.

 

Pure breeds don't make the kind of table bird that Joe Public expects these days, so not only will you struggle to come close to covering the costs of raising them, you're not likely to find much of a market for them.

 

You may do better by going into the hatching eggs business and selling on ebay and poultry forums. It's not foolproof by any means, but it could be a better place to start .... once you've decided which breeds to focus on. Maybe have a good look at ebay to see what sells and what doesn't, ignoring prices of Choc Orps lol.

 

And selling eating eggs at the gate too maybe?

[katieD]

thanks all!

 

some great advice

 

think im going to look into selling hatching eggs- that way no issues with too many boys etc!

 

could hatch the odd eggs ones under my broodie silkies to bring in new bloodlines.

 

only thing with this plan i suppose is im going to do it all on another premises as got a neighbour

 

oh how i dream for a small holding (dont we all )

 

off to look into breeds and find someone to rent me a bit of their land! lol !!!

[cluckingmad]

 

Yep, we do all dream of small holdings I keep telling myself, one day, alllll shall be mine..!