Pricing Chickens

[Jerrymac]

I am more and more figuring out that I need to find out what to charge for chickens. Or at least what are fair prices. People keep asking me "How Much" for various aged chickens. One guy wants me to hatch him a few specific eggs (my green and white ones) he offered $2.50 per chick. I will do that for that price for him.

Then someone today wanted to know the price for roosters. (To make soup) At what age would be good for that? I got young ones varying from 10 weeks and younger. The others are a year old or a bit more.

Is there a place to find the going rate for different areas?

[Natalie]

I see chicks around here for $4.00 each and they are usually unsexed at that age.
If someone is going to buy alot then I would give them a deal.

In my area roosters are a dime a dozen and hard to unload unless they are breeding stock then its a whole different story.
I sold a bunch at an auction/swap for $5.00 each and they were between 4 and 6 months old.
People won't pay much for roosters that they are going to eat since they either have to pay someone to process the roos for them or they have to do the work themselves.
They can go to the store and buy them for only slightly more and not have to deal with the processing, at least that is their thought process they shared with me so I have been selling them for $5.00.

I don't like dealing with the hatching thing for people so selling fertile eggs and letting them do it themselves is more appealing to me.

Now if you want to get into selling pullets you can make more money, pullets around here sell for $15.00 at the age of 4 months.
Some people do sell them for more if they feel they have good stock or are selling organic.


Here is a blurb from an e-mail I recieved from a woman when I inquired about her pullets:
Pullets sell for $15 at 10 weeks, $30 at 17 weeks. We are Certified Organic...and you get certificate with your pullets.

I actually sold this woman the rooster that fathered the pullets she is talking about.
The are purebred ameraucanas.