Storybook Farm has been our home for five years, and I never would have dreamed that we’d get into the business of breeding, raising, and selling chickens. But we are doing just that!
We’re Not Selling Garden Produce
Part of the reason is that I’m definitely not the inheritor of my grandmother’s award-winning green thumb. When we got here, the first thing we did was plant an orchard, and that spring, we cleared and terraced and fenced an 1800 square foot garden. For two seasons, we worked with the soil that was there naturally; very little grew. The next two seasons, we built raised beds and used the square foot gardening method. Things came up, but then came the rabbits to eat the tender bean shoots, and the deer finished off the tomatoes just when they were getting ripe after so many days of watering and weeding. That was the last straw for me as a gardener: I’ve been happily buying other people’s veggies ever since. (I do wish that we could grow cilantro, though, in the winter, especially. I use it a lot, and our local grocery store can’t keep it in stock because many people in our small town haven’t yet discovered it and it goes bad. Sigh.)
We Want a Working Farm!
Part of the reason for the chicken selling adventure is that we have always planned to create a working farm (in contrast to a hobby farm). We first tried raising sheep, and they were a lot of cute, but not any profit to us in any way that could be reflected on a Schedule F tax form. (Did you know that wool prices now are lower than they were 100 years ago, and that’s without adjusting for inflation?) We sold our flock, and now raise cattle instead, mostly for meat for our extended family and friends and to keep down our back 30 acres. We may sell beef someday, but it will take years to build up our herd. So, that’s still not going to satisfy Schedule F any time soon.
I ride horses, and I thought of flipping horses. Yeah. I’m not good with problem horses, so even though I bought a pony for $1200 and sold her two years later for $2400, in the process I came off her and broke a couple of ribs. When she got ornery, I quit riding her and looked to sell her. It was my bad for buying a green pony for my grandchildren when they are total beginners. I just got suckered by her pretty face and big brown eyes… which is why, I guess, she sold so well in the end.
Chickens Were My Hobby First
I never thought of selling chickens before this summer, but I have had fun raising them. Three years ago, I talked my sweet husband into buying me a coop off of Craig’s List and the seven chickens that went with it. Oh, they were so cute I thought. Finally, I said, Storybook Farm looked like a farm.
Then, a friend gave me three guinea fowl. And they were so funny and made such a unique and sassy noise that I fell for them… until one by one they disappeared. So, I decided I had to have more guineas and more chickens. We had an old outbuilding that we could renovate into a bigger coop than my Amish starter one… so, why not? Now we had a layer flock of 25 chickens, and my job began to be finding people who wanted farm-fresh eggs. Well, our little town has a Farmer’s Market on Saturdays, so that was a problem solved.
Then, I bought an incubator. And I was so terrified that it would break mid-hatch that I bought a second one just to have as a backup. My first hatching season wasn’t so great. I had 50% hatches, mostly. But the chicks were so cute! (In the picture at the right, you can see my grandson watching a hatching chick long distance via FaceTime.) It has been so much fun to watch the fascination that the children have with both hatching and the cute little chicks. They even like helping with morning and evening feeding and watering when they’re here.
With a little practice, I got better at hatching, and this year we had 80% hatches… in both of those incubators… which is how we ended up with 60 Silver Penciled Rocks to grow out. (Oops!? Well, not really a problem. We like to eat chicken, and with much encouragement and training have made our peace with butchering if we can’t sell less-than-perfect birds as pets. Yearly, we keep the best birds to improve our breeds!)
Into the Chicken Biz!
So, after reading this blog post, selling chicks and eggs kind of happened to us. What’s not to like? I get to buy a bigger incubator, and a hatcher. I get to start new breeding flocks. I get to meet new friends who love chickens as much as I do when showing my birds. I get to bless other people with cute fuzzy butts!
If we’re successful, we can cover our expenses and fill in that good old Schedule F and get a tax break. We will have a working farm, and I will have the joy of breeding and hatching to my heart’s content. And if we’re not successful, well, I like chickens and I have a generous husband who has always loved to watch me care for the myriad of animals that I’ve talked him into letting me have. So, it’s all good! 🐔