Farm Did I miss something? A 3yr old rooster and a 3yr old hen are worth $45 each??

[ainitfunny]

Can somebody explain this?
They don't look like "fancy" chickens I used to see at the fair.
Don't chickens start slowing down their egg laying at about 3yrs old?
https://seattle.craigslist.org/skc/grd/d/hens-chickens/6484950508.html

Black Copper Maran 35 week-old

Rooster-$45 SOLD

Hens-$45each

 

[Squib]

Your post says 35 weeks old, that’s just getting into their prime.

Although, I confess I never paid anything close to that for a young laying hen!

Maybe that’s the going price for a laying hen in Seattle?

 

[Hognutz]

Hipsters..... it's trendy to have chikins now. Around here they are still a dime a dozen.

 

[Hfcomms]

Is that more of a rare breed of chicken perhaps? You can get a laying hen up here for $10.

 

[NHGUNNER]

Around here the Black Copper Marans are pretty pricey. They lay the "chocolate" eggs. We bought some chicks a few years ago and they were pricey. I want to say $6 or $7 per chick. Can't remember exactly, but roughly twice the cost of a normal breed.

Also, as mentioned above, 35 weeks is right at prime. Regular hens around here at that age are usually $15 or so. I would say the Marans are priced a little high, but not unreasonably so (for Seattle area, I mean). They wouldn't get that price around here.

 

[goatsrus]

They cost more as day old chicks from the hatchery too. They lay really dark shelled eggs. I would like to have the dark eggs to sell but I don’t want to pay that much for a flock of Marans.

 

[zeker]

Is that more of a rare breed of chicken perhaps? You can get a laying hen up here for $10.

about $10 here too.

 

[Fetz]

Your title says 3 years (36 months) but the pictures say 35 Weeks. Weeks vs. months ?

 

[Luddite]

An uninformed market will bear the unbelievable.... 36 months or 36 weeks? Either way, the price/earnings ratio doesn't pencil out...

ETA: Rumor is that fighting cocks can pay a farm mortgage, until you get caught and get that 15 min of local news fame. I doubt that there are many cock fights in that area.

Maybe the rooster was a "green alarm clock"

 

[Millwright]

Worth what you can get for them.

If someone will pay $90...so be it.

Might cause a chicken, balloon market tho.

 

[Hfcomms]

Worth what you can get for them.

If someone will pay $90...so be it.

Might cause a chicken, balloon market tho.

Heh....if anyone can lay a line on people willing to pay $90 for a chicken I'll contemplate getting into the chicken business. I'd deal with a lot of chicken poop and incessant squawking for that kind of change.

 

[Millwright]

Heh....if anyone can lay a line on people willing to pay $90 for a chicken I'll contemplate getting into the chicken business. I'd deal with a lot of chicken poop and incessant squawking for that kind of change.

Thik big...

Digital fowl.

Cryptochicks?

Bitbirds?

 

[dogmanan]

They cost more as day old chicks from the hatchery too. They lay really dark shelled eggs. I would like to have the dark eggs to sell but I don’t want to pay that much for a flock of Marans.

Well look at it this way to buy them is a one time expense. buy a few hens and a rooster and then hatch out your own every year, some to sell and some for more birds for you.

When your hens start laying in the spring you can collect and keep them in the frig. for up to two weeks before you put them in the incaboter to hatch them out.

I use a card board box, bowl of water, temp. gauge, and a light bulb to hatch mine out when I do it.

 

[WalknTrot]

Yep, Black Copper Marans are still hard to find. I have and can get Cuckoo Marans any day of the week, but their eggs aren't as dark chocolate color. If you want to talk the price of show birds, or even good 4-H fair birds for kids - things get real pricey.

For someone who has a market and is selling these chicks, 90.00 spent for a breeding pair could come back to them rather quickly.

Added: Haha. I see the rooster is sold.

 

[naturallysweet]

If a chick costs $5 at the feed store. Then eats $10 worth of food. Not to mention all the care, heat, cleaning needed to get her to age. Why would anyone think its reasonable to demand they sell their adult birds below cost at prime for $10? I was selling pullets for $25 a decade ago. They weren't even a fancy breed or purebred.

 

[MinnesotaSmith]

 

[imaginative]

In Feb '16 I bought 16 chicks for $43. I kept them inside for about 5 weeks and went thru 2 (or 3?) bags of starter @ $15/bag.

Around week 8 I sold 10 of them for $110. I think I made a few $/hr and had 6 free birds

 

[RDF12]

IF it was after a serious SHTF event, I could see a chicken going for $43 . . . IF people were still taking paper cash. Which I would not be.

 

[Faroe]

Chicks from a large hatchery are cheaper by the chick, but you pay for shipping. Chicks from the feed store can be bought individually, but you have a limited choice, and there is no bio-security on the sales floor.

They are time consuming to raise under a heat lamp. Up-scale urban markets are going to reflect that. I can easily see a buyer paying a much higher price for adult birds with specific genetics. On-line pigeon auctions have birds in that price range, and much higer, with less utility - it's all about what ever you "fancy."

 

[ainitfunny]

Mea Culpa. My OP was based on my misreading 36 weeks as 36 months, thinking the chickens were much older than they were in fact. Sorry about that. I do appreciate the depth of wisdom (about just about everything) available on this forum, I learned a lot about it from you guys and gals, as I always do from those who know more than I do. Seems like I learn something new every day here.

Thanks Folks.

 

[Freeholder]

An uninformed market will bear the unbelievable.... 36 months or 36 weeks? Either way, the price/earnings ratio doesn't pencil out...

ETA: Rumor is that fighting cocks can pay a farm mortgage, until you get caught and get that 15 min of local news fame. I doubt that there are many cock fights in that area.

Maybe the rooster was a "green alarm clock"

Fighting cocks are especially bred for that (normally 'game' chickens). Black Copper Marans are not used for fighting, nor are most 'homestead' breeds used for that, though some people do keep games for eggs and meat, more often as broody hens. Just because someone has chickens, does not by any means indicate that they are involved in cock fighting! Not even if they have a number of roosters on hand -- I've had up to a dozen roosters (and no, I don't mind hearing them crow early in the morning) while waiting to see which ones I wanted to keep for breeding, and usually keep three or four around just for breeding, but I am not raising chickens for fighting, just for eggs and meat.

Kathleen

 

[Luddite]

Fighting cocks are especially bred for that (normally 'game' chickens). Black Copper Marans are not used for fighting, nor are most 'homestead' breeds used for that, though some people do keep games for eggs and meat, more often as broody hens. Just because someone has chickens, does not by any means indicate that they are involved in cock fighting! Not even if they have a number of roosters on hand -- I've had up to a dozen roosters (and no, I don't mind hearing them crow early in the morning) while waiting to see which ones I wanted to keep for breeding, and usually keep three or four around just for breeding, but I am not raising chickens for fighting, just for eggs and meat.

Kathleen

I was trying to be funny about the fighting roosters. I had a neighbor that bought a bunch of cornish crosses and they sent him 2 dozen rooster chicks for free. He gave them to me. I think they were buff orpingtons. I raised them and put them all in the freezer. I don't do the fighting thing either. There were 2 females in the bunch. They were two of my best layers at that time.

 

[Rastech]

Hens are about that price in dollars equivalent over here in the UK. It's bonkers, I used to get ex layers for not much more than a dollar equivalent each. My friend and his wife would have saved a fortune by just buying eggs.

 

[Hfcomms]

Speaking of chickens....

I have a temporary coop ready to go with the feeder and waterer and am picking up four started pullets about 15 weeks old on Thursday. They are Rhode Island Reds and also getting a cockeral. They have plenty of cockerals so I'll choose one when I get down there. And I'll start building a bigger 6'x10' coop next week before the buggers get bigger. It will be interesting to see how my Malinois deals with them. Hopefully she'll be protective of them and give her something else to do during the day than begging me to throw the ball for her all the time.