If you want to actually profit from your hens you really need to understand a few things. The information in this post goes for anywhere in the world. If you are rearing chickens to make a living. Then there are a few rules to follow and you cannot fail but to make a profit.

Chickens are one of, if not the most popular poultry birds reared around the world. They are so easy to breed, hardy birds don’t take up much time and can make one hell of a profit for your investment. That’s if you breed the right breeds and if you take care of them the right way

The rules of breeding for profit will apply to every person who wants to make a living from raising chickens.

Make sure to read the whole article to understand how you can get the most profit from your chickens.

To many people who are breeding chickens, for-profit are doing things wrong. I know this because I see it all the time. Not to mention I raise chickens for a living on my small farm. Yes, this is the main animal that I rear, which makes my small farm of 2.6 acres profitable.

How Many Chickens Do You Need To Make A Profit

The answer to this question is not many. The more important question you should be asking yourself is how many chickens do I need to make a good living..?

If you are keeping chickens in the “UK” and have over 40 hens then you have to register for a “CPH” number.

It’s free to register so you must do it. If not, you can be prosecuted and fined or even imprisoned. So just get it done.!

This is really important and must be done if you keep more than 40 birds.

Choosing how many chickens to raise and breed. It all depends on how much land you have. Then you can actually work out how many chickens you can afford and manage to raise at any one time.

You also do not have to own the land. Renting farmland is pretty cheap in the UK. In fact, my partner rents out 15 acres for a small fee of £650 per year. That works out at around £10.50 per week cheap no..!

So how many chickens do you need to profit from..?

This will all depend on how much land you have..? If you have 1/2 acre you will be very surprised at the number of chickens you can raise. You will also be very surprised at how good the profits are from those hens.

That being said if you are only raising chickens in your yard you can still make a good profit. You can profit from any amount of hens even if you only had 10 chickens you could still make a decent little side income. It may only be around £500 per month if you sold day-old chicks but this is £6000 per year extra income.

If you were going to be keeping 10 hens then I would choose 2 breeds 4 hens and 2 cockerels 1 for each breed. You need to make sure your neighbours are ok with you keeping cockerels.?

I will be telling you how to raise a lot more than 10 hens. Also how much more income you can make as the article goes on? I’m just saying you can make a profit from as little as 10 birds.

What Not To Do If You Want To Make A Profit

Do not make the same mistakes lots of first-time chicken keepers do. If you do you will regret it.

This is choosing to purchase lots of different breeds and run them together with 1 cockerel. Then it does not matter how many hens you breed and raise. They will never make you any real money.

You are never going to make a decent profit from a Hodge Podge Flock of different breeds. Maybe you will be lucky to get a little feed money back from selling a couple of fresh eggs. You will never be able to sell the fertile eggs for any real amount of money.

Maybe you will sell the odd Hybrid Hen now and then but nothing that would pay you back in any real income.

This is one of the biggest mistakes people make. That is purchasing lots of different breeds because they look pretty. You need to have a plan for what you are wanting to breed. That’s if you are wanting to make a profit from your hens. As mentioned above that way is definitely not the way to go.

The only time you would go down that route. Is if you wanted a couple of fresh eggs daily? There is definitely no profit in this way of breeding chickens.

Choosing The Right Profitable Chicken Breeds

Firstly you need to research your local area. Looking for which hens are selling and fetching the highest prices.

Now, this also includes which chickens will thrive in your environment. There are chicken breeds that have very large combs. This is as you know the red comb on the chicken’s head. If you are in a cold climate these can get frostbitten in the cold weather if left outside.

It can be hard at first to choose the right pure breeds as there are so many different types of chicken breeds out there. But if you do the proper research and take your time you will find the best sellers. You will also find that different areas of your country will prefer different breeds.

You can also add some rarer breeds into your breeding stock now and then, just a trio or so. A trio which is one cockerel and 2 hens. Then you can see how well they sell. If they sell well purchase some more of the hens to add to the trio.

Choosing the right breeds is one of the most important things you need to know and do. Especially If you only have the room for 10 birds but if you have more room then you can add more breeds.

Remember to take your time when doing this do not just purchase a breed of chicken because you think it looks nice.

The more land you have. The more room you have and the bigger selection of breeds you can choose.

After You Have Chosen Your Breeding Stock

I myself have 18 different breeds and will be taking that to 30 in 2020.

I am not saying you need this many breeds or have 10 of each breed. You may only need a trio. This maybe because the demand for that breed is not as popular in your area, but it still sells.

The main breeds that, sell well for me. I try to keep 6 hens to 1 cockerel for each breed. This gives me more options and also potential customers. But I also have several trios which are mainly silkie breeds.

6 hens are also a good number for one cockerel to handle all by himself. Making sure that all your hens will be laying fertile eggs. Yes, he will probably fancy a couple of hens over the others but all will get treaded by him.

The hen can keep cockerel sperm inside her for a couple of weeks. This makes the hen’s eggs fertile, even if he only treads her once every week or two. Cockerels can tread birds up to 50 times per day. It’s a hard life for some I suppose.?

Make sure to get the best young breeding stock possible. It may cost a little more but you will recoup this investment in your sales. You should also try to purchase your breeding stock at “Point Of Lay”. These are hens that are just starting to lay eggs or really close to laying.

You can then start making money more or less straight away. That’s if you have a mature cockerel.

How I Make £5000 + Per Year From Just 12 Hens & 1 Cockerel

Average Uk Pure Breed Chicken Selling Prices

In The Uk Average Selling Price – is around £35 for a young pure breed pullet. £10 is the average price for a pure breed day-old chick. £15 – £20 is the average price of 6 fertile pure breed eggs. These prices are only the average. I have seen them go for a lot more. I have also seen them go for a lot less.

The fact is that pure-breed chickens are the most profitable chickens to raise. They are 3 – 4 times more valuable than the hybrid egg-laying chicken.

Pure-breed chickens can go for thousands of pounds or dollars if you manage to breed excellent show-quality stock or breeding pairs. Like This Pair of Ayam Cemani As you can see some pure breeds can make you a lot of money.

Make Money Breeding Just 10 Chickens

If you only had 10 Hens & 1 Cockerel then you can sell their fertile eggs for £15 – £20 for six eggs. So if your hens are laying 8 eggs per day then each week you could potentially sell those eggs for £140 – £180 per week.

Pure breed hens lay a little less than Hybrid hens which are purely bred for laying eggs. My pure breed hens average around 5 eggs per day from 6 hens in the first couple of years.

But if you have an incubator to hand you can incubate those eggs for 3 weeks. Them same eggs as day-old chicks would go for £560 if they all hatched. If you raise those chicks too young pullets. You could sell those pullets for £35 each which would be £1100 only taking into account the sale of the hens and not the cockerels.

But you can always sell a good quality pure breed cockerel at a really good price. If that cockerel has all the signs of a good breeding stock cock bird. Then they can fetch £100 – £200 to another breeder looking to add new genes to his flock.

I saw one cockerel at the last auction I attended which sold with one hen for £200 plus buyers premium and that was for the cockerel, not the hen. It was a Silver Duckwing Pure Breed.

So Choosing the right breed or breeds of chickens to make money from is really important. If you get it right then you will start making a profit from your chickens straight out the gates.

How To Make the Most Money From Your Hens

If you are really going to be putting the effort into making a good living from breeding chickens. Then you want to be doing all 3 mentioned above, selling fertile eggs, incubating your eggs and selling day-old chicks. Also raising some of your chicks to young pullets.

Yes, it takes longer to incubate and also to raise those chicks to pullets. But the payback, even when you have included feed cost and time for raising them. It is well worth it for the increase in value when you come to sell them.

Egg Incubators Can Make You More Profit

Investing in an incubator at the start doesn’t have to be expensive. You should start with a 50 egg automatic incubator if possible. You can purchase them for as little as for £49. But you could start with a smaller one for 6 or 12 eggs it is totally up to you.

There are plenty of cheap incubators on the market but I would recommend a more expensive incubator. The extra price will prove to be worth it and a better investment in the long run.

I myself use the Brinsea brand but I did start with cheaper Chinese models. They work fine but I find I have more control and better hatch rates with Brinsea Incubators.

You could start with a cheaper incubator at first and when you get going. Use the profits you make from your sales and invest in a more expensive model. Maybe you could purchase a quality used incubator and save quite a bit of money there.

Reinvesting your profits after you have taken out your feed bill etc. Is the best way to grow your breeding stock and if needed purchase a better quality incubator or a bigger incubator. Me personally I have 3 incubators so that I can consistently incubate eggs that do not sell.

You can store eggs in a cool place for around 7 – 10 days before they go into an incubator. Any cool place will do but not your fridge just in a cool cupboard. I store my eggs in one of my sheds and have no problems with my hatch rates.

You should also store your eggs the pointed end down and the fatter end up. Then you want to alternate them from side to side each day.

Mark your eggs with the initials of the breed of hen they came from and the date. Use a very soft pencil for this. This way you know how old they are and which breed they came from.

How To Tell Good Quality Pure Breed Chickens

Getting the best possible price for your eggs, chicks and pullets will depend on how good your stock is.

Stock quality is really important if you want to get repeat customers. Some unscrupulous breeders will sell you eggs and say they are one thing but could be a mixed breed. They may be 80% one breed and 20% another but look pretty much what you think you purchased.

You can also think you are looking at one breed and it may be another breed. This can be very hard to tell when you first start out. So you should purchase a couple of books on different poultry pure breeds.

You can and should do a little research on the internet. There are plenty of good books to read. Also, check out the British Poultry Standards & American Poultry Association of Pure Poultry Breeds.

Each country will have its own standards of which chickens they class as pure breeds. These are what you want to follow to get the best stock. But remember you do not need to have show-quality chickens.

You need good examples of those chicken breeds. Especially if you are looking to breed them then sell their offspring on for a profit.

The best way to start out and get the best money possible for your chickens. Is to find the best breeders of that particular breed. This may be a little hard at first because top breeders mainly breed chickens for showing at pure-breed chicken poultry shows.

What you are looking for is a good standard of that bird and not a show-quality bird. The best breeders will have plenty of chickens that don’t make a show bird. These pure-breed chickens will still be excellent examples of that breed and be perfect for your needs.

How To Find Good Examples Of Pure Breed Chickens

If you want to find the best examples of the chicken breeds you are looking to purchase. That will help get your pure-breeding chicken business off the ground.

Then you are going to have to attend pure-breed poultry auctions and shows. These are excellent places to meet breeders and most are very friendly.

They will give you plenty of free advice. Most are always willing to share phone numbers and also willing to sell off some of their older stock birds. Or the birds that did not make the show standard they were looking for

It is like a small community, yes they want to win but it is no different than other sport. Once the competition or show is over.

Then they all start chatting on what can be done to make their breeds better etc. You can find plenty of people to chat with at these shows and auctions. These people will all sell some sort of pure breed chickens and other poultry. You will be able to find plenty of good stock hens to purchase that’s for sure.

Even if some of the stock birds are a bit older and maybe not laying as many eggs. It is still an excellent way to get your hands on some great hens that will give you a quality breeding flock. They may be a bit older than 2 years but they will still be quality birds.

It may take them a couple of weeks to produce let’s say 20 eggs from 3 older birds but that’s not long. If you hatch those eggs and get 5 – 7 good hens from those eggs. Then you are ready to go with that breed. You also still have the older birds that will still be laying quality eggs you can hatch and sell.

Like I say these may not be show winners but you may get a show winner from one of their offspring.? Plus they are still excellent examples of that breed. Some breeders may only concentrate on one type of chicken. While others may breed and show several kinds.

Most show breeders do not sell their chickens to make any sort of income from them. They mainly do it as a hobby and will gladly sell you several hens that did not make the show standards.

They love to breed and show their hens and cockerels

Show chickens are judged on many things. These hens & cockerels will be the best examples of that breed.

If you manage to purchase some of the sisters or brothers of a show winner. This is excellent for marketing your hens to your buyers. You can tell them they are from show-winning birds.

Then All You Need Is A Good Cockerel.

This is a great way to get excellent pure-breed stock chickens or any other kind of poultry you may want to breed and sell.

As I say these are the brothers and sisters of show-winning birds. They still have good-quality genes and will make excellent breeding stock. Perfect for your starter pure breed poultry business.

Purchasing Pure Breed Eggs From People Over The Internet or eBay

You can also purchase pure-breed eggs from eBay and other online sites. But I would only do this if you can go and see the hens that have laid those eggs. Or you know the breeder personally.

If you do not know how they are raised or have even seen the hens in question. You are purchasing from an image on an auction website. Most good breeders do not do this they do not have to.

Plus the eggs could be packaged wrongly and they may not offer a guarantee. If possible always go and visit the breeder and check out how they look after their pure-breed chickens.

You can purchase special egg packaging boxes for the postal of eggs. But still, before you purchase through the post just ask the question can you come and see the birds?

If they answer no then do not order online from them. The reason being what have they got to hide.? If they are more than happy for you to visit them and check the hens out.

Then you can be pretty sure that the eggs you are purchasing are what they say they are. But still, you can not always be 100% sure. Remember the old saying “Buyer Beware”. What if they have just started out selling pure-breed eggs and hens? They may not even know if they have the pure breed they think they have.

I have seen people thinking they have Buff Orpingtons but they were not. They were Buff clouring but not a pure breed Orpington.

My advice is to try to stick to breeders that have been around for a while. The breeders you meet at shows and pure breed poultry auctions.

You at least get their rightful name and if anything is wrong with the birds or eggs then you know never to purchase from those breeders again. I have purchased a dozen eggs and not one was fertile.

I took an image of the writing on those eggs and will never purchase from that seller again. But this is rare most of the time I have a good hatch rate from eggs purchased at pure breed auction houses.

Remember that pure breed auction houses want to be known for selling pure breeds or people would not go. This is also why you should go to “Pure Breed Auctions” not “Fur & Feather Auctions”. There is a big difference in the two types of poultry auctions.

Keeping Your Pure Breed Chickens Healthy For Bigger Profits

Keeping your eggs super clean if you are selling fertile chicken eggs. This is really important if you want the best possible price.

Now I do not mean washing your eggs this is a big “NO, NO” the eggs have a protective coating around them and washing them will remove this. Plus eggs are porous and water can have germs and microorganisms in it which could affect the hatching success of the eggs.

You want to be keeping your eggs as clean as possible, the cleaner the better. How I do this is regularly changing the material in the nest box and coop floor.

I also make the entrance to the coop some distance from the nesting box. This way, if the mother hen has some dirt on her feet. It will hopefully be rubbed off by the time she reaches the nesting box.

Also, try not to let the run area get muddy. I know this is hard if you only have a small run. But you can do something to stop this and that is by placing 6 inches of wood chippings all over the run area.

The chickens love to scratch around in it and it has the added benefit of keeping their feet clean from mud.

Keeping Your Chickens On Fresh Pasture

This is the way we raise our pure-breed chickens for the best profit. That is to keep them on fresh grass. We use 1.8 meters high by 4.2 long and 3-meter-wide chicken tractors. We move these chicken tractors daily this helps the feet of the chickens stay clean.

You may want to read my article on What Is A Chicken Tractor

The chickens also love that they get to be in the open air and scratch around for “BUGS & GRUBS”. This is what chickens will do in the wild and free range.

Also because we only keep 7 chickens per chicken tractor they have lots of room to move around. A chicken does like to try and fly, even though they can’t but they like to have a good flap around. This is why our chicken tractors are high. Plus when people come to see our birds they can view them perfectly.

I don’t like the overcrowded low-down chicken tractors they cannot spread their wings in. If they do flap around then they can damage their main flight feathers.

Remember a happy chicken is a healthy chicken and a healthy chicken will lay the best eggs. Your customers will pay you a premium for them. They will also love the way you are treating your chickens

We do not cut the wings of our hens or clip the spurs of our cockerels. We also do not clip their beaks. Our birds are in tip-top condition and totally protected from predators. They get all the nutrients they need and our feed bill is cut in half. This is through raising them on pasture and moving them daily.

They never fight once the pecking order is in place and if they do have a little scuffle now and then. Well, there is lots of room for them to get out of the way.

How To Keep Your Chickens Making Money All Year

Now there are a couple of times a year that your hens will slow down laying or stop laying altogether. The first is when they go into moult. This is a very stressful time for your chickens and there is nothing you can really do about it.

The best thing to do is give them a well-balanced diet maybe add a little extra protein this seems to help my hens out. Now because they are moulting the last thing on their minds is laying eggs because growing feathers takes lots of energy.

So do your best to keep them well-fed and watered and let them rest for this period.

The Other Time Of Year They Stop Or Slow Down Laying Is Winter

A Hen is born with a certain amount of eggs inside them. Once all these eggs have been laid then the hen will stop laying eggs altogether.

If you are raising pure breed chickens for profit then it is up to you to get the most eggs from her as possible. This is in the first 2 – 2.1/2 years of her life. After this period she will slow down 20% year on year or thereabouts.

This is true they are born with all the eggs they will ever lay inside at birth

This does not mean that you have to treat your hens badly. Your chickens will be more than happy to carry on laying through the winter months. The reason they stop laying eggs is because of the light. There is not as much light in a day as there is in the spring and summertime.

So your hens start to slow down or stop laying altogether. The simple way to keep them laying is to introduce a little extra light into their runs and coops. Putting 2 small watt lights in the coop will do the trick.

They do not have to be powerful and also on timers preferably. Set them to get 12 – 14 hours of light daily. Then let one light go off first and then 20 minutes later the other.

The timers are used to signal to the hens that dusk is coming and that it is time to roost. This way your hens will keep laying through the winter months.

We bring our hens inside and use timers for this method. We have space so we use it plus the hens don’t like rain, wind and especially snow. I think they appreciate the warmth inside.?

Higher Prices – Supply And Demand For Pure Breed Chicken Eggs

The wintertime is an excellent time to double the profits you can make from your pure-breed hens. It is just like any other business if the supply drys up then the price goes up.

Keeping your chickens laying over winter is a pretty simple thing to do. It will not harm them in any way.

In fact, they will probably appreciate you if you do it the way we do by bringing them inside.

This is a perfect time for you to get a little extra profit from your chickens and your hens will not mind one little bit.

Remember you are trying to make a living from your chickens. If you are not getting eggs from them for 6 months a year while they moult which is unavoidable.

But also over the winter months which is avoidable. You are probably going to use your profits to feed them over the months they are not laying..?

These Are My Top Tips When Raising Chickens For-profit

• Stick to popular pure-breed chickens.
• Attend pure-breed poultry auctions & shows.
• Talk to breeders who are showing and selling. Swap phone numbers.
• Try to have at least two different kinds of breeds, more if possible.
• Never purchase eggs online if they will not allow you to see the birds up close.
• Check for all types of decease like scaly legs & lice.
• Give the bird a good look over, does she have shiny eyes, etc.
• Raise them in chicken tractors – Cuts feed bill in half & Protects them from predators. Free-ranging you will find that they stay close to coop anyway. This, in turn, makes the coop surrounding area muddy.
• If you keep them in a coop and run. Cover the run floor with wood chippings.
• Always make sure that your cockerels cannot mix with other breeds.
• Add titbits like corn & wheat not much just a small cup daily to the ground. This will keep them happy scratching around and looking for it.
• Only sell clean eggs, dirty eggs will get you a bad reputation and so will clean them.
• Add extra light to your runs or coops over winter to keep egg production going.
• If possible winter your chickens indoors in pens as shown in the video above. Also if raised indoors add greens like sprouts on stalks.

How To Tell A Chicken Is Young And Healthy

Let’s talk a little about the French Wheaton Maran Above and how to tell she is a healthy bird.

If you are wanting to sell chickens for profit and a good profit. You are going to want to have healthy birds like the French Wheaton Maran above.

First Visually Inspect the Bird

Look at how shiny her eye is, not only that but look around the eye itself. You can see she is only a young hen.

Check out her lovely red comb and wattles this is a sign that she is laying well. Undamaged combs are also a sign that no fighting is going on in the coop.

If a chicken is young it may still be healthy even if the comb is pale in colour. The comb starts turning bright red when the chicken is ready to start laying eggs.

The comb will always be bright red when they are laying eggs. But if a hen is said 12 months old and the comb is pale this could be a sign of a problem.

The French Wheaton Maran above is laying very well and the eggs are dark brown and sometimes look like chocolate eggs.

Check out her beak is it nice and straight? You do not want to purchase hens with beaks that cross each other. They can look like crossed fingers.

Check the legs out and make sure they are smooth scales and not ruff and scabby. If so this is a sign of scally leg which is caused by mites. It can be hard to get rid of, so it is best to stay away from that bird.

The French Wheaton Maran above has feathers on their legs but you can still see if she had scaly legs or not. I assure you she is in perfect condition

Look at how she is standing neck straight up and very inquisitive she wants to know what is going on. If you see a chicken that is lethargic and not very active.

This can be a sign of an unhealthy bird. Chickens are really active birds and you can tell when a chicken is not feeling well.

Check The Feathers Of Any Chickens You Purchase

Just look at her plumage and tail feathers which are all there. This is a good sign that there is no tail plucking in the coop or fighting and all is well and happy.

I have seen some coops and every bird has no tail feathers. This can be caused by a number of reasons. They may still lay eggs but do not look healthy at all. To me, they look weird and I do not like it one bit.

It can also be signs of mites and lice and an unhealthy run or coop area. Also, it could be caused by other chickens. Chickens will pick on unhealthy hens and attack them. Plucking the feathers from their tails and damaging their combs.

Take A Look A How The Chicken Is Walking

Make sure you check out how the hen is walking.? Does she or he walk funny or do they walk proudly upright and straight? If they have a funny walk, there could be a problem with the bone structure of the hen. This could be genetic and passed on to their young.

Lastly, get hold of the bird and place your two middle fingers between her legs and have a thorough inspection. Lift her wings and slightly blow looking for any sign of lice. Check the breast bone is it really pronounced. Place a couple of fingers where the vent is (The area that the eggs come from).

Place a couple of fingers pushing slightly and feel how wide the vent bones are apart. There should be enough room for two fingers at least if the bones are not open enough for two fingers and go into a point. This could cause the hen to become egg-bound.

How Much Can You Make From Chickens

This again goes down to how many you keep and what you are selling. If you have room for let’s say 70 birds. This would give you 10 different breeds at 1 cockerel for every 6 hens.

Selling Only Fertile Chicken Eggs

6 hens will lay around 5 eggs in the first 2 years. This can be a little less or more depending on the breed. But let’s stick with 5 eggs per day per breed.

The total amount of eggs daily would be 50 from your 70 birds. If you just sold the fertile eggs. You could sell those eggs for £15 – £20 per six eggs. We will go with the lower end of £15 for six. That would be £125 per day equaling £3,875 per month.

Now they are not going to be laying all year round through moult and winter unless you add light in wintertime. So let’s say you get 8 months’ worth of eggs at £3,875 that would be £31,000 just from selling 6 eggs per day from each breed.

You may think that selling 50 fertile eggs per day is a lot. But there are so many ways to sell them. If you market your chicken eggs properly then you should have no problem.

Now you do not have to start off with this many. You can start with as many as you feel comfortable with. Then build on your breeds as you go and gain a reputation for quality fertile eggs.

Selling Day Old Pure Breed Chicks

Now let’s say you want to incubate some of those eggs. Maybe half do not sell and you incubate them instead. That would take your egg sales down to £15,500 per year or £1,937 per month.

This would then leave you with 25 eggs per day to incubate. You can store those eggs for a week to ten days giving you around 175. Enough for one large incubator or several smaller incubators.

If you wanted to incubate the eggs that don’t sell every week. You will need 3 larger incubators. As I have mentioned you can build up your business as you go.

You can also purchase used incubators. But let’s get back to the maths. If you incubate all of the eggs which is 175 and you had a hatch rate of conservative 70%. This would give you 122-day-old chicks and also let’s say several were born with problems maybe 5.

The total amount you would then have would be 117-day-old chicks and times this by £10. This would equal £1170 for 3 weeks in an incubator. Electric would be minimal.

Now let’s say you sold half of those day-old chicks for £10 that’s £585 and the other half you raised to be pullets.

Now you have 58 chicks to raise to pullets which go for £35 each after you have raised them. Take into account your feed bill for each bird and if raised on pasture. The bill for each would be around £5 which leaves you with £30 per pullet and £1755 for them all.

So if you had 70 pure breed chickens which included 10 different breeds. You could potentially make a total monthly income of around £4,277.

This Is Total Amount Of Money You Would Make From Your Pure Breed Chickens Per Month

£4,277 is a good monthly income if you did this every month. Using only 70 pure-breed chickens you could earn around £34,200 per annum. This is taking into account only 8 months of your breeding season.

If you were breeding your hens over winter when the prices are higher then you would make more money. You would be able to get around another 2 months added to that number.

You should also take into account that every day a chick ages the price goes up. So you may not have to wait till the chick is a full adult. They could sell anytime and are normally sold at 1 day, 1 – 2 weeks, 2 – 4 weeks, 6 – 8 weeks, and so on all the time the price is going up.

It could be that all your young hens are sold before they even reach the age of a pullet. It’s not a bad small farming business and you do not need a large farm to keep 70 breeding stock birds. Though you will need areas to keep the young chicks.

Buying Hybrid Hens For Sale

If you have the land you may also find that buying in hybrid hens to sell on. It is also an excellent way to make a very good income from chickens.

You will be able to find a local supplier of Hybrid hens or you may have to travel. But you will find a supplier within 50 miles of your home if you are in the UK.

Also, remember to find the best possible breeders and suppliers of hybrid chickens. The last thing you want to do is bring disease into your pure breed flocks.

The chickens in the image above are the standard brown hens that have been purely bred for laying eggs. They lay more eggs than any pure-breed hen you can purchase.

You can purchase these birds as young pullets just before they go into lay for around £3.50 – £4 if you purchase them in a batch of 50. Soon as you have them you can sell them straight on. At the moment they are selling for around £10 – £15 each. Depending on how long you have kept and fed them before they sell.

The benefit of this is you do not have to incubate and hatch them. You also do not have to raise them. All you have to do is market and sell them and they sell pretty quickly to those people who are just wanting fresh eggs daily.

Once You Have Established Your Chicken Business

You can start adding other products other than chickens for sale. Things like feeders and drinkers. All different types of medications like lice and mite sprays.

Once your business of selling chickens for profit is up and running. You are now making a living from your chickens. Then you can add anything to do with chickens to your business.

You could even branch out into selling pure-breed ducks and other poultry which also fetch a lot of money. A pair of pure-breed ducks because they pair for life can fetch around £120 – £200 per pair.

Maybe you would like to breed and sell Turkeys, Quail, and many more kinds of poultry.

The point is that you can make lots of money from raising pure-breed chickens. Also selling their fertile chicken eggs, selling hybrid chickens, and much more after you are set up and running your very own chicken business.

I will tell you more about how to market your chickens in another post.