[Dizzycow]

I have a friend who only buys ex-bats because you can't possibly rear a bird to when it actually lays for anything like the £3 per bird which he pays. I haven't worked it out, but I'm fairly sure I'm not making much by selling mine for £15 each. It'll never make me rich. 

[melodrama]

I got my rare breeds for £8 each - both at POL and at 10 weeks old so that  I have some layers and some that will lay in the not too distant future.  We are quite lucky because there is a wildlife trust place just along the road that sell them quite cheaply. 

[Greenerlife]

My hybrids (cuckoo, blacktail, blue etc) cost £15 each and I paid £22 for a colombine (?) which laid pretty eggs.  I had to wait weeks for them to lay but it was very exciting when they did.  The warren I bought is the most reliable for laying by far - and my local farm is currently getting rid of their stock for £9 a bird which is very cheap round here - I may have to go and get some more!   

[deepinthewoods]

i pay £8 each for hybrids at 14wks from 'the horse box' redruth.
i bought rir last yr but theyre both destined for the pot soon, cos they havent laid more than 3 eggs this yr. big birds tho cant wait 2 tuck in!!

[helskitchen]

We had some different breeds, a silkie sussex cross, a bluebell, 2 rhode island reds and a black star, they all cost £15-£17 each and were all lovely healthy big birds who started laying within 2 weeks of them coming home.  However after the fox attack which out of those only left us with the black star, we are now sticking to our ex-egg farm girls who were only £2 each, they may look a bit tatty but they have been laying right from being brought out of the box when we brought them home.  Have got a few chicks that we bought for a couple of quid each, and are slowly growing up, there are sussexes, what looks like an indian game cockerel, a very pretty massive partridge coloured hen who doesnt appear to want to stop growing and a couple of cockerels we got for nothing.  Have been put off spending too much money on individial birds, think we will either breed our own or collect chicks cheaply when we find them and raise them.  Its lovely watching them grow up!! 

[dizzy1pig]

there is a lady near you who sells at about 8 each hi lines i think

[doganjo]

Yes, and hylines at Dollar for about £9.  AHve sent you a PM about Thursday, Ellie.

[TheCaptain]

Going rate for Rhodies around here is £35 at POL.  I sold three to a friend of a friend (I don't advertise and don't sell unless they're going to be truly free range and we've seen where they're going) for £25 each, laying pretty much 6 days out of 7 at 36 weeks old.

[hughesy]

If you're buying hybrids from a bigger farm where they have thousands expect to get them cheapish. From the smaller producer such as the people on here you should expect to pay a fair price that reflects the expense and efort that goes into raising birds to POL. I don't think the prices quoted in the first post are bad at all, and would expect to pay more for pure bred birds. If you want cheap or free go for ex batts.

[Eggs, Chicks & Hens]

This is the reason I started to breed my own, 

Likewise Julie!!  However, our first batch all turned out to be boys, and batches 2 and 3 are still to young to lay, so it's early days for us yet.

Have you ever put a figure on how much it actually costs to rear a POL pullet?  I mean including keeping parent birds, incubation losses, raising male chicks you then can't sell, heat lamp costs, food, vaccinations, etc etc?   I did enough of a sum a while back to convince me only to breed for myself, rather than to sell (it simply wasn't worth the hassle, given the small amount of profit involved), but I'd be interested to hear your point of view.

I breed sex linked birds so I can cull the cocks straight away & usually sell them at a day old so haven't really worked out costings

[darkbrowneggs]

This is a link to a calculator for poultry costings if you want to work out how much it costs

http://www.ruleworks.co.uk/cgi-bin/PulletCost.exe?Guide=Poultry&t=Chicken%20Cost%20Calculator

All the best
Sue

[Eggs, Chicks & Hens]

This is a link to a calculator for poultry costings if you want to work out how much it costs

http://www.ruleworks.co.uk/cgi-bin/PulletCost.exe?Guide=Poultry&t=Chicken%20Cost%20Calculator

All the best
Sue

Ohhhh heck.... dont let my OH see this LOL

[Crofter]

Just looked at the calculator and I think it was designed by an accountant!  It takes the cost of all the layers feed into account without deducting any value for all the eggs they laid that you don't set.  Also it takes all the cost of raising the cock birds but gives them no value at the end of the calculation.  If you allowed the price of a free range roasting chicken for each cock and deducted the value of all the eggs you used/sold you'd be closer to the real costs.

By the way, we get some birds from a guy on Skye sometimes. £7 each for point of lay hybrids and £12 each for pure bred pullets.

Dave

[Castle Farm]

Nobody seems to take into account the hours of pleasure and of course exercise whilst looking after them  .

I often read about people looking for the cheapest birds, thats fine, but not many of these people ever advertise their birds for sale at knock down prices.

Bringing a bird that is fit and ready to start laying cannot be done cheaply, unless your producing thousands.

I sell my birds for £20 each and that just about covers the time, money and effort put into them.

Anyone calling here for a cheaper bird usually gets told to go away in short jerky movements.

[hughesy]

Twenty quid is still cheap if you ask me. I was talking to a lady the other day who said she'd give me £8 each for all my light sussex hens. I think she thought she was doing me a favour. I told her to f**k off.