Category Archives: Making money from your hobby

Re-homing my chickens

I like to sell my chickens to a home that is going to raise and enjoy the eggs or just having the chickens around.  I don’t want to sell them to someone who is going to eat them or resell them to make a profit.  The only reason I actually start selling any of mine is because my feed bill is just too high or I realize certain chickens do not fit into the scheme of what I am trying to do.

I put a note up on the feed store bulletin board saying I have chickens for sale.  So this guy calls me this morning wanting to buy chickens from me.  He is being rather pushy that he wants them really cheap.  Now if you tell me you are out of work and trying to feed your family and want fresh eggs for them, then I will bite and lower my price.

I asked him if he was going to eat them and he said probably not.  Not a good answer for me.   He said he was trying to get them as cheap as possible so he can make a profit…out of work and got to do something to make money.  I really don’t see how anyone can make much of a profit reselling chickens unless you buy super cheap and sell a whole lot of them at one time.   When I told him I had 116 chickens including the 8 babies just hatched out yesterday and he asked how much I want for all of them.

Is it ridiculous that I don’t want to put my chickens thru the trauma of being moved from home to home or even being killed for food?  My chickens are more like pets.

I may be selling two dark Silkies hens and one rooster to a family will need for their 4H project.  Now I know they will take good care of them.

Guess I will just pray my chickens lay lots of eggs to pay the feed bill so I don’t have to sell any of them to people that do not fit my “adoption rules.”   lol

Keeping track of births, deaths and sales

I learned recently that my memory will not serve me to remember all the ages of my chickens.  When you sell chickens, you want to be able to tell the person the age of the chickens or at least I do.

I have a calender with the big squares for each day that you can write in (a little smaller than a desk calender and it has spiral wire on it and it hangs up).    I write down births, deaths, sale of chickens, when I buy some chickens, when I put eggs in the incubator, when to stop turning the eggs, hatch dates, money I make from selling eggs, money I make from selling chickens, money  for feed and supplies and reminders of chicken related stuff.

The back of each page is great for writing down additional info that is lengthy.  I write down…incubator hatch, first egg (green), second (Barred Rock), third (Silkie, white), etc.  If I hatch out chickens the next month, it is easy to get them confused about birth dates but I always feel like if I can give the buyer an approximate date (say June or July of 2011), that is close enough.   After all, it isn’t like they are going to throw the chicken a birthday party each year.

When I let the momma keep her babies, it is so much easier to identify the chicks because they get to the juvenile age and I can usually tell them apart….unless I have 10 white Silkies.  lol  If a hen hatches out chicks and my incubator chicks hatch at about the same time…within days….I have given the momma one or two of the chicks from the incubator.  Especially if she only hatches one egg and is still sitting on her eggs days after the hatch date.  I feel sorry for her.

I also write down which chickens I sell.  I look back at my calender and find where the chickens were hatched and write down the sell date and price and who I sold them to.

I have only been doing the calender for about three years now…once I started getting so many chickens that I couldn’t keep track of their ages.  I have two Silkies right now sitting on Guinea eggs (8) and a standard breed chicken sitting on 4 .  I have a standard chicken sitting on 7 Silkie eggs, too.  Then I have two Silkies who are sitting on 4 and 8 Silkie eggs.  Oh yeah, and I have probably a dozen Silkie eggs in the incubator.  Don’t ask me why.  I already have 108 chickens right now but I am addicted to those baby chicks.  Especially when I see them running around with their mommas.

I keep thinking I am going to treat this as a business instead of a hobby so I guess each thing I do to keep my accounting organized will help me to make a decision about hobby or business.   Right now, I am sure I spend more than I make on my chickens.  I guess that would be the appropriate time to claim it as a business…who doesn’t need another tax deduction?

I also need to start going to the chicken swap/flea market sales they have at the feed stores around here.  I sell on Craigslist sometimes but perhaps I should try selling at these places, too.  I am afraid I will come home with more than I sell.  That is a possibility.

I think I will go visit a couple of the businesses that are on Chicken Swap to determine what I need to do to make my chicken hobby a professional business.  Right now, it looks more like Grandma’s back yard.  Why that’s a cute name, isn’t it?  Grandma’s Back Yard.  Maybe I am on to something.  lol

Have a great day, guys and remember “don’t take life too seriously.”  Nobody likes to be around grumpy people.  Life is a journey, not a destination.

New place to buy and sell

When I was on Craigslist, I found a chicken swap site.  It has been great.  I have sold a few chickens and chicks and some fertilized Silkie eggs.  I am getting more eggs ready to sell, too.  Two more people want some.  I am excited about selling the eggs because I like to think of all the baby chicks that will be hatched out.

The bad part about this site is that it makes me want to buy more chickens.  I keep seeing so many pretty chickens that I have never heard of and wish I had.  But, I have to finish up what I have started before I start adding more yards and chickens.

Since getting rid of the eleven roosters, I am going to put the Americauna and Barred Rock hens together in my largest chicken yard (approximately 60 ft x 60ft) which is presently the BR yard.  I let them free range on about 1/2 acre.  I have 11 Americauna and 11 BR hens so that is not too many to have together.  I know they will peck and fight a little at first to get the pecking order but hopefully, they will adjust.  If I see one is being really aggressive, then I separate the mean one from the group for a little while (in a cage).  So far, that has worked for me.  Basically, I will put her in “time-out.”  I told you they are like kids to me, didn’t I?

The Americauna yard has two nice, large trees (Maple and Pop Corn, not the real name).  Since it opens into my Silkie yard, I can just open the gate and let the Silkies run in there for relief from the sun.  Their yard is newer and doesn’t have the shade that the two trees offer to the Americaunas.  I let the Americaunas free range into another part of my two acres so they don’t usually stay and enjoy the trees in the hot part of the day anyway.

So, that’s my new plan…move the Americaunas to the BR yard and open the Americauna yard to the Silkies.  I swear, the Silkies are definitely creatures of habit and I have a hard time getting them to move into new areas.  I guess I will have to throw little pieces of bread to lure them into the larger shaded yard. That I should video….

Record Egg Day

Wow, I can’t believe I got 22 eggs today.  If the girls keep doing that good, I may be able to sell enough eggs to pay for their feed.  Wouldn’t that be nice????  YES

I am saving my eggs from my buff colored and my white Silkies because someone wants to buy them to incubate.  I hope the girls don’t let me down because I only want to save them for 5 days….to ensure they will actually hatch.    I am keeping them in a cool place and rotating them side to side twice a day with the fat end of the egg up.

If for some reason she decides she doesn’t want the eggs….she lives in Orlando, then I will just have to hatch them myself.  Love those baby chicks.

Time to Sell Chickens

Now comes the hard part.  Time to slim down my chicken yard.

I have a couple options when it comes to selling my chickens.  One is advertise on Craigslist which has always been successful for me.  Sometimes, I check everyday to see if anyone is looking for what I have to sell and that has worked for me a number of times.  I recently sold some fertilized eggs and a couple of white Silkie hens from the wanted section of farm and garden.

There is a Swap Meet at a local feed store on the last Sunday of each month.  We only went there once when we bought our first Silkies.  I may take a few chicks/chickens there this weekend.

There is also the local flea market where you can sell your chickens.  I personally try to avoid the flea market when I purchase chickens because most of the ones I have seen look old.  I prefer to look at the yard where I purchase chickens so I can see they were raised in a clean, healthy environment.  But still, it is an option.

I have actually had a few people stop by that have purchased chickens from me.  Repeat business is always nice.  Sometimes I don’t have what they want at the time though, especially if they want 10 hens of a certain age.

I have been using the same rooster, Kellogg, for my Americuanas for a couple years now and I have a few of his sons that could replace him but I am thinking I need to trade one of my roosters for another Americuana just to get some fresh blood in the mix.  I don’t know if it even matters with chickens but it just seems to make sense that a new rooster could improve the flock.

I love taking care of the chickens but I must admit, the feed bill is getting high and cleaning all those water containers is a back breaking job.   I think I have 20 water containers right now.

The good part about selling chickens is putting some money in your pocket.   I can’t really say I am in a profit making business because it is more of a hobby.   I  did sell some chickens recently and made 70 dollars not counting the eggs I sold.  I really think I could make it break even if I put my mind to it.

Leah, a fellow chicken raiser, certainly seems to have a nice business going for her.  She has three incubators and keeps two of them full of fertilized eggs and the third one is the hatching incubator.  She sells day-old chicks for $3 to $7 days as  straight run (sex not determined).  She has some beautiful chickens.  She advertises on Craigslist and that is how I met her.  I think I have bought from her at least three times.  I am wanting to get some of the Copper Marans from her.  They lay the dark chocolate colored eggs.  I will need another yard for them so that may have to wait until next year (putting up fence and building another house).

I have promised myself this fall will be the year I actually prepare the soil for my long awaited vegetable garden.  A garden will help with feed costs for the chickens, too.  I am thinking of planting corn for the chickens and of course, they will get all the extra vegetables (especially if too many grow at one time) after I share with my relatives.

I received  my Mother Earth News this past week and they have an article on being self-sufficient on one acre of land.  Well, I have two so that makes it even better.   By the way, if you have never read or looked at a Mother Earth News, go online and look at the articles they print.  Good stuff.

I am not one to be a doom and gloom kind of person but reality is….our economy sucks right now so anything you can do to provide for your family is going to help.  I stock up when I can on sale items that have a long shelf life.  We all need to stretch those dollars.   I guess if times got really hard, I could eat my chickens.  I hope that never happens for many reasons.

I hope you find a hobby that makes you feel at peace with the world or at least relaxes you.   I have found my little piece (PEACE) of heaven.