04/19/2024
I am seeing a LOT of "looking for a laying hen" but here's some things you, as a buyer, need to realize.
This is OUR season. We raised these hens. We hatched them, fed them, kept them alive, doctored them when they didn't feel good, and housed them for 6-12 months to get that first egg.
An AVERAGE hatchery stock bird costs $5 anymore. A NON hatchery is easily $7-12. At birth.
Feed is $25/50lbs on the medium grade quality stuff. A chick should be free fed until nearly 4 months old. That feed bag doesn't last as long as you think. Nor does the bedding at $8/bale.
Lice/mite treatment, worming, viatims/stress meds, none of those are free. Housing, not free. Upkeep and repairs, not free.
Layer pellets of medium quality, $22/40lbs
Supplemental lighting to get optimal egg laying, not free.
So no- we aren't being greedy when a LAYING HEN of known bloodline/breeding and known health is $35++ we are probably not breaking even on her.
We can't sell you that hen for $10 that's not realistic. It wasn't realistic 5 years ago and it's certainly not now.
We are a SMALL operation. We don't cut corners. If you want $10/hens go to an auction and pick up sick birds and then do the work yourself. Or raise them yourself instead of cutting corners and then whining about crazy farmers pricing.
No, I'm not talking to the people looking for eggs. You're not my target audience here. You are willing to pay what they're worth after it's explained. I'm talking to the old man that just wants a cheap pretty hen to flip at swap next weekend. The one in bib overalls scoffing about "in MY DAY". That's fine. This is MY DAY now. Hens aren't $10 anymore. If they are, you get what you paid for.
Rant over.
