Category Archives: Making money from your hobby

Back home in Florida with 28 baby chicks

It has been a long time since I have had chickens to write about.
In 2013, we went to NC to take a turn taking care of my mom. We were there till Aug 2015 and then went back in 2017 till May 2020. My mom passed away August 10, 2022 so we are now home for good. I miss my mom but she was ready to be with the Lord. She was 98.

I ordered 25 Americauna (hen) chicks in May of 2020 and I sold part of them but still have 14 laying hens. I never had even one die. I always get McMurray Hatcheries to vaccinate for the two chicken diseases.

So I ordered 27 (two roosters) Americaunas that were delivered Aug 23 this year. My plan is to raise them and then sell them as laying hens and make a little money. I really enjoy baby chicks so it is a fun hobby that I can make a little money from, too. McMurray sent one extra hen so I plan to sell about 20 for 25 dollars each. I paid 120 for the chicks. The variable will be the feed costs since everything is more expensive right now. But, even if I broke even, it is still fun. Plus I got roosters this time so I can hatch out chicks.

We built a 24×48 chicken yard with 5 foot tall fencing. We bought an 8×8 shed with no floor for 1300 dollars and put it on the edge of the rectangular fenced in yard. We put 2x4s attached to the studs so there are two perches across the back. Then we put the 4 nests, which are milk crates, in the front, two on each side. Then we had an extra set of wooden mobile home steps that we put in the center so the chickens can get up on the perches. The large door allows more air flow and if need be, we could close the chickens up at nights and even lock them in.
We need to put some vents in the walls first. We also bought a 25×50 foot net and covered the entire yard. Chicken hawks are our only real threat. We let our chickens out to free range every day. I like to keep them in their yard till about 4pm to make sure they lay in their nests.

I hope you find a breed of chicken you enjoy raising. I love the colored eggs from sky blue to olive green.

Broody Chickens and Cool Weather

Well, my one Silkie hen sat on her five eggs for over 25 days and I took her off the eggs and put her back with the other chickens.  We had some pretty cold weather and I don’t think she could keep them warm enough so none hatched.

I have another hen that is Silkie/Americauna mix and she has been sitting for 12 days on five Barred Rock eggs.  Her maternity ward (lol) opens in a different direction so I am hoping the cool air won’t be cooling down the temp of the eggs.

Yesterday I noticed I have a white Silkie that is broody, too.  These 70 plus degree temperatures are certainly confusing my chickens and the plants.  Because my white Silkie rooster is in with my Silkies and my mixed Silkie/Americaunas, I don’t want to hatch any of their eggs right now.  I have a separate yard that I will put my Silkies in with a Silkie rooster if and when I want more of their breed.

Baby chicks are always fun and the last ones I hatched out was when my grand daughter, Maddy, came for a visit last July because I wanted babies for her to enjoy.  I still have 42 chickens and I have 6 dozen eggs in my refrigerator right now.  I have a friend I give eggs to and then my two sister-in-laws live behind our property and they appreciate the eggs.

I was thinking about buying 25 chicks from McMurray Hatcheries and raise them to about five months and then sell them.  So by July or August, even if I sold them for 10 dollars each, I could have 250 dollars.  Of course, you have to subtract the money you paid for the chickens (75 plus shipping) and their food for 5 months.  With 2 acres of land, they can find a lot to eat off the land, too.  The best part is you get to enjoy baby chicks even if you don’t make a fortune.

It is a good life.

 

 

Moving those roosters out

I believe I am down to about 64 chickens now and I still have another 14 roosters I am looking to re-home.  Often when people come out for the free roosters, they want to buy my hens which are not for sale.

It is amazing that people are so undependable.  I don’t know why that amazes me.  People say I will be out at 4pm and then when 5pm gets here, I check my email just to make sure they didn’t try to contact me.  No phone call, no email.  How inconsiderate.  I have learned to give my cell number out and say call me first to make sure I am home.  That way I can go about my business and if they don’t show up, it doesn’t bother me.  Just because we are retired, doesn’t mean we don’t have a life.  lol

I am telling you this so if and when you decide to sell or give away chickens, make your plans for your life and don’t sit around waiting for people to show up as they say they will.

 

Moving Chickens Around and Starting a Garden

Well, now that I am down to 72 chickens, I have stopped using a couple of my chicken yards. I did this on purpose because I have been wanting to start a vegetable garden for years. I have a yard that is pretty well bare of grass and has been getting chicken fertilizer scratched around in it. Plus, the yard is fenced-in which will keep the rabbits and chickens out of it. I just need to remove the chicken houses that are in the yard and one is so big that I will need to at least partially take it apart.

I think I will even start some seedlings in my house or shed to get a jump start on the growing season. Food is getting so expensive and seeds are pretty cheap.

Also, I am going to plant corn to feed to my chickens. Any decaying food and the plants will end up being extra food for my chickens, too.

Update:  2/11/2012

Well, we ended up moving one smaller chicken house out and dealt with taking down some fence to get it out.  But the second larger chicken house that was super heavy, we cleaned out and are re-roofing it.  It sits on some 4×4 posts. It is only 4ft tall but I am going to use it as storage for my gardening tools.  Just need to change out the entrance so I can actually get to the tools without having to crawl into the shed.

We put down some decayed horse manure on the area we anticipate growing corn.  My husband suggested we plant something in the compost area we took the horse manure from.  So we are going to fence off that area (since it is now in a chicken yard) and plant something there.  I am thinking tomatoes or maybe watermelons.  The soil is so rich looking there.  Yoo hoo

Selling chickens this week

As much as I love my Silkies, I have decided it is time to let some of them go to other homes.  It was a difficult decision because they are my fuzzy butts.

One lady bought a Splash Silkie rooster and she lives in Tallahassee so she definitely wanted the rooster.  She drove from St. Augustine where she was visiting relatives to get the rooster.  I like to think my chickens go to good homes that will take good care of them and love them as much as you can love a chicken.  ha ha

A nice Russian lady came today and bought two Silkie hens.  I really liked the little grey hen I sold her but she seemed so nice and I decided she could have my special hen.  She bought two so they will have each other even though the environment will be unfamiliar.  I am going to call her when I have another Splash chick hatched out.

Another mother and adult daughter bought 6 baby chicks, two Americuana hens about 2 months old, and two Silkie hens (one splash and one black).  She is going to breed them and I believe she will take good care of them, too.

I made a few bucks this week and made a little more room in my chicken yards.  Guess I could call it a good week.