There are many ways to make money from your poultry birds
But for me, it is not so much creating a farm business, as much as creating a self-sustaining farm. I want all aspects of our poultry to bring in enough income to pay for themselves.
I will talk on how and ways our poultry business will not cost us much money- but pays for itself with a little left over as income for us as well
Since chickens are probably the most common poultry livestock, I am going to map out all the ways you can use your chickens to make a profit- or at least make them pay for themselves!
remember, while I am going to focus on chickens- this all goes for other poultry birds too- especially ducks and quail.
These are how to Make Money Raising Chickens
Making money from your chicken eggs
This one is a no brainer. At one time or another most chicken owners will find themselves overrun with eggs and considering selling the excess to friends and neighbors.
We’ve been selling eggs at a local farmer’s market for a couple years now, at it’s a good market to be in. Here in Nigeria we can sell our eggs for about $2 per crate- and that is for conventionally fed birds.
You can charge even more for GMO-free or organic eggs. You can also post on your local Craigslist or contact local small markets and restaurants. Plus raising 25 chickens isn’t much different than raising 10….
Making money from hatching Eggs
If you’ve got a rooster- then you have fertile eggs! If you aren’t a breeder, you can probably sell hatching eggs for about the same price you might sell your fresh, eating eggs.
If you have a specialized breeding stock and highly sought after breeds you can charge much more even up to $1 per egg. Either way- it’s one more way to make extra money from your birds!
Making money by selling of day Old Chicks
There have been a few times- especially in the late winter, when egg production is picking up and the market season hasn’t started yet where we find ourselves with a lot of eggs.
This is a good time to stick them in the incubator! Chick days at the local farm stores usually start in February here in our area- so you can tap into that growing market.
You can hatch and sell day-old chicks for a couple dollars each if you are going straight run- a little more if you know how to accurately sex the chicks. This works particularly good if you have a flock that is just one breed- or if you have the ability to breed Easter-Eggers.
You never know- business may take off and you can expand and create a few breeding pens and raise all sorts of different breeds.
Making money with pullets/Layers birds
Some people just don’t want to deal with raising day-old chicks. They don’t want to mess with heat lamps or the high needs of babies.
Many of these people are willing to pay a much higher price to get already birds that are already feathered or even laying.
If you have a lot of space and storage this can be a very profitable option for you .
Making money with frozen chicken
We all know that chickens only lay their best for a couple of years, after that they need to be replaced with newer birds if you want to keep egg production up. So what do you do with all those old layers?
Well, you can either butcher them for your own soup pot, or you can sell them for others! It’s a nice way to get rid of your old birds and make them an even more profitable part of your farm.
Here at our house, we sell our older layers live or frozed them and sell.to those who want frozen chicken..
Making money with chicken meats
Broilers is one of the fastest growing chicken and quickest ways to create an income from chickens. They only take about 8 weeks to grow to butcher weight.
Depending on laws in your area, you can sell straight from the farm and butcher them yourself at home, which will keep your costs much lower. .
If you are raising chickens for eggs, you probably already have the brooder, run, and coop space to try out the meat bird business in your area.
