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This has been something we have been continually evaluating where the sweet spot is between (on one side) providing for ourselves and enjoying our homestead to (the other side) providing for others to earn income. I think chickens are especially tough in this regard because costs for hatching eggs can add up quickly since the more breeds you provide, the more pens, waterers, etc you need and since they are free-ranging less (compared to if you were just raising one group for eating eggs) they are more reliant on feed, which adds up quickly in cost. And this year has really got us questioning where the market is going since we’re barely getting any hatching egg orders besides Bresse – the meat breed we raise. In the past the silkies were always our number one seller, last year Bresse surpassed them but silkies held pretty steady, along with Lavender Orpingtons.
How many breeds do you keep for hatching? Currently:
- White Silkies
- Blue & Splash Silkies
- Black & Paint Silkies
- Porcelain & Buff Silkies
- Bresse
- Lavender Orpington
- Silverudd’s Blues
- Cream Legbar
- Plus two project breeds I am working on
All the silkie eggs get combined at shipping so the buyers get a variety of colors. I have also done this with different heritage breeds to create a rainbow eggshell color carton but they did not sell well as hatching eggs for me – people love the colors for eating eggs though!
How many birds per hatching breed
- Minimum is 3 roosters and 3 hens (pairs)
- Maximum is 12 hens per rooster for as many roosters as you want families
- If you want to continue beyond a couple of years you’ll need to replace the hens and eventually the roosters too (see the Self-sustaining flock lesson)
What is your hatching income season
Typically late February we start accepting orders and they are steady through June. I don’t usually take orders in July and August because it’s too hot. If you have pullets that have started to lay full sized eggs, they can pick up for September orders onward since they won’t be molting until they slow down in the winter. I have done year round hatching eggs for silkies since they are decent winter layers. Cold isn’t a problem for eggs as much as heat, as long as they don’t freeze.
Is shipping them safely 100% of the time difficult?
It’s not as bas as you would think. USPS Priority mail is automatically insured up to $100 and it’s rare that they are damaged. Usually only 1-3 orders per year have damage reported.
Do you sell your eating eggs?
Mostly we eat them ourselves, feed them to our dogs (raw) and young chicks (scrambled) and preserve them for the off season. We have sold at a farmers market in our town, which we did not make money on after the vendor fees, all the things we needed to buy (table, decor, canopy, etc) and our time! We do occasionally have people pick up eggs to eat and we are in the works of switching over to an egg CSA with a local shop for the rest of the season since hatching eggs are not doing well this year.
What happens during the laying off season as far as farm income? Suggestions for filling in the gaps?
My goal is 7 streams of income. I want them all to provide different products/services to compliment each other and spread out risk etc.
- July and August would be a fantastic time to have produce for sale – that is the perfect season for harvesting so many things people love! Any food you offer if you can sell it as a CSA or bulk (eg half of a steer) it’s much less work for you coordinating for the same income.
- When we have lambs we plan to sell meat in the fall (November/December harvest). If you don’t want to raise lambs for meat, you can sell them as pets/lawnmowers at 8 weeks old. They can be born December through May depending on when you breed.
- Starter flocks – sometimes people don’t want to raise chicks or worry about multiple roosters when they’re first starting out and love to buy a male and 3-6 female chickens, ducks, turkeys etc. You can hatch in the fall and sell the grown birds in the early spring. If they don’t sell you can harvest the males and use the females as replacement hens in your flock.
- Classes you can teach year round but especially in the winter when people are in hibernating/learning mode but outdoor/hands-on classes are better suited to warm weather in general. Think of anything you didn’t know how to do a few years ago, and then offer to teach it! Or if there’s something you really want to learn that you don’t know, hire someone to come teach and everyone who attends helps pay the instructor and you for hosting.
- Digital eduction material (like the Holistic Homestead Course) are a lot of work upfront but can be available for anyone to buy pretty much forever.
- Affiliate links: Anything you use for your home or homestead that you love, find out if the company offers an affiliate program. Depending on the program there’s potential for significant income.
- Investments: I automatically invest every month in long term investments.
- For fun: Wool, feathers, eggshells etc can be sold for fiber and other art
I’m sure I must be missing things. Does anyone else have ideas to add?
😮💨 It may be that you have to keep them separated from now on.
Oh no I’m so sorry! That’s typical that a Pyr would jump up and attack from above. Do have have things to help clean and heal the wounds? Do they need stitches?
Yes ours will fight if they get together. It’s a general rule for the breed that two males will not coexist long term. I’m sure there are exceptions, but I’ve heard many stories, even some that ended in one of the males being killed. 😭 Thankfully ours do not try to kill each other, just try to make the other one submit. 🥴 We keep them both in their own fenced area now (one with chickens and one with sheep) so that if one ever gets out of his fence there is still another fence between them.
We finished all the stock piled areas and then stopped moving them. Usually we do one paddock per month for December, January and February. This year we haven’t moved them yet. But we do move manure out to a compost pile so that they have clean ground to lay on. It’s a lot easier when it’s frozen. This warm January has been messier than usual!
Oh no!!! 😩 I’m so sorry. Such a disappointment. 😢
Can’t wait to see babydolls in your orchard! 😍
Definitely! That comes from them being on a spot that is beaten down to mud and poop. They will lay in a clean area if at all possible but they can’t stand forever! Ours do get a little muddy on their hooves in winter or if there’s a lot of rain and they beat down the area near their water trough (since that’s one spot they walk to repeatedly). But they should never have to lay in it like that!
I always bring out three washcloths at milking time but I almost never even see anything on her udder so I just wash with one and dry with one. I’ll take some photos later today!
It can depend on climate. This January has been unusually warm. Every day has been above freezing, so that makes more potential for mud since the ground isn’t frozen where they’re walking on it and we haven’t moved them since the beginning of December.
I believe you can avoid muddy/poopy cows by managing their area:
Move them to a fresh paddock as often as you can during the growing season
Move monthly December, January, February if possible (eg, shelter with multiple doors going to different paddocks or a lane going to the shelter)
Scoop out cow poop during winter and add to a compost pile
Use wasted hay, wood chips etc to cover any areas where they have walked repeatedly and made muddy.
This is what their area looks like after about 6 weeks in the same spot, you can see the piles of manure that will be moved to the compost pile, but most of the ground is clean for them to lay down:
This is an example of an area that’s getting a little too beat up and muddy to the side of their shelter, I just moved the fence line in so they can’t walk there any more:
And this is what Mulberry’s udder looked like before I washed her at milking time today:
She doesn’t need a buddy, especially as they mature they are content with their charges and having multiple LGDs can create management issues since they can be so territorial and hold grudges etc.
If you want more than one, it’s definitely something to be prepared for managing both mentally and physically. I think in general limiting the number of LGDs to the least you can with still getting the protection you need is the best idea. She doesn’t cover the whole 10 acres right, just the area the sheep are in?
The only downside to one is if anything were to happen to her. I have had a couple of people write to me desperate for a mature LGD when they lost theirs, one was right before all their goats were due to have kids.
Did you end up deciding anything? Or waiting on test results first?
