Hens and Roos
Herd Master
Congrats!
Very coolI sooo want to get this: http://www.homedepot.com/p/King-Can...C1820PC/203576569?N=5yc1vZbty1#specifications
It is a carport, but it has a canvas/tarp roof. I want to build it similar to the carport barn we have, except have 4' walls (built kind of like how we did the sheep shack) and then the space between the wall and the roof, fill it in with chicken wire.
I want to use it as a chicken house, as my chicken business is expanding. My parents didn't say no, but they did ask where I would put it
I have 100 more chicks coming in June... after those are sold I will have enough profit to buy this and build it up. My 10x8 previously used feed shack just isn't big enough anymore
Until I can get this carport, I was planning on building platforms about 2' above the floor to give the chickens more floor space so I can put 100 in there. I had 49 of them in there, pretty comfortably. Ten went to their new home about a week ago so I'm down to 39 in there. Just waiting on other owners to come pick up their poultry
So I would separate the new place into four 5x12 pens, to have different aged poultry. Since I raise started pullets, I only have them for 16-20 weeks, so I can get a new batch every month and have 1 month old, 2 month old, 3 month old, and 4 month old pullets in the pens and the newly hatched chicks in the playpen in the garage. I sold out my pullets the first month I advertised them, which was about 5-6 months in advance of them being ready for sale. I am going to start advertising my next batch of 100 here in the next week or two.
Fortunately the hatchery I get them from will let you pay through PayPal and will keep your order reserved so long as its paid within 1 week of hatch. So if I can get 60 reservations ($5 nonrefundable deposit) by June 3, I will have the purchase of them paid for and then I use the rest of the reservation money to pay for their feed. The rest is pretty much profit. It's a nice little business I have going. What really helped me is writing a business plan to really take the time to research costs, alternative suppliers that are cheaper, etc.