Comments on: Side Hustle Series: I’m a Chicken Farmer

By: J. Money

J. Money — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 18:17:03 +0000

In reply to Josh. Fascinating!

By: Josh

Josh — Mon, 04 Apr 2016 17:26:56 +0000

One great source of food is restaurants and supermarkets. They waste a lot of food, and in my area, as long as you are not using the waste for human consumption, they can legally give it to you.

This has proven a great food source, and much less costly. We leave four 55 gallon bins with a local grocer, and we pick them up each day. Chickens are mostly omnivorous, so this is a good match.

Obviously this is not sustainable on a large scale, but as a side hustle, this one tip can nearly eliminate food cost.

By: Bill

Bill — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 23:27:19 +0000

You forgot to add in any savings on not having to buy eggs (or selling them) for the duration of the time you were “processing” the chickens. This is worth something at least. Also if you are able to breed the chickens wouldn’t you be able to keep it going without the initial layout?

Also if you are farming, you should also be able to figure out a way to grow your own chicken feed to avoid that cost as well.

Since you already own your equipment needed, this won’t impact the second batch or continuation so your profits would rise as you continued.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Sat, 31 May 2014 01:02:03 +0000

In reply to theFIREstarter. Hehe go for it! I love the idea of egg-producing pets around the yard :) Not allowed to do it where I currently live though, booo...

By: theFIREstarter

theFIREstarter — Thu, 29 May 2014 17:44:26 +0000

Brilliant old post this one!
We are due to move in the next couple of months from a flat to a house with (crucially) a garden and the first thing I want to do when we are settled is getting some chickens. For egg laying only though, not sure I could handle the butchering side of things! Will now be reading through the chickentown blog with pleasure :)

By: J. Money

J. Money — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 01:33:04 +0000

that is awesome!! I want fresh eggs!!!! :) I really really admire all of y’all who make their own food like that, and raise all these farm animals. I just don’t have the patience (or land) to do any of that just yet. I can totally see getting addicted to it though. Maybe one of these days?

By: Erin

Erin — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 17:53:07 +0000

Just reading through all of the side hustles for a friend! Thought this was GREAT! I live on a 5 acre farm and we have 7 chickens and 3 ducks that lay eggs (well, 3 chickens aren’t quite there yet, they are this springs babies). Anyways, I’ve been trying to figure out what we will do with them when they stop laying. I was a vegetarian for a year except for things I caught/killed myself but have recently gotten lazy about that. I just don’t think I could kill them myself either, and the manfriend won’t because they are “pets”. I actually have an egg co-op at work. Coworkers bring me egg cartons, they get fresh chicken eggs. We just have way too many that we can’t use. I suppose I should have started charging for this. Oh well – hindsight :)

By: Jen

Jen — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 03:14:58 +0000

Good for you! We have been doing this for years also. We experimented with raising and selling homegrown turkeys for Thanksgiving one year, but found the same problem – not much $ for a whole lot of work. The scale we would have to get to in order to make a reasonable income for time invested was not worth it for us. And having to butcher all of them a day or two before Thanksgiving was pretty stressful!
Our kids (5) have always had homegrown poultry, and they actually think chicken from a restaurant is pretty gross (different texture). My 5 year old daughter took a chicken to school one day for “show-n-tell” and when they asked her what the name was, she thought quickly and answered “Dinner”. I love when kids have such a healthy attitude about where their food comes from. Keep it up!

By: Molly On Money

Molly On Money — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 12:45:03 +0000

I’m always impressed when people tell me they helped butcher the family chicken as a kid. My kids will help with the chores but NOT the butchering. They go in the house and scream out,’TELL US WHEN ITS OVER!’

By: J. Money

J. Money — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 02:28:11 +0000

haha… I think I’d get along with that guy.