Why is your prices so high? It's just a chicken!

I get this question more than you think....

I'll try to explain why my prices are what they are. I'll add pictures because if you're like me, pictures are better to see the differences. I've seen an increasement of people caring more about quantity (money mainly) instead of quality over the years.

I can't count how many times I've had a buyer say "Why are your prices so high? I can buy them at Tractor Supply for $2 each!". I'll let you in on a secret.... Yes you can buy chicks all day long during chick days at Tractor Supply or Southern States etc. but there are several differences. I can tell you how my birds are treated for starters along with I have the knowledge of what chicks I have in the brooders so I won't sell you a different breed than what you want (yes mix ups can happen to anyone but I know the breeds/colors I raise so it's rare for me to get them mixed up).

I can guarantee you the quality of my birds are better as well. When we first started poultry, yes we had all hatchery stock or very poor quality birds. But when my passion grew so did my knowledge.

A short story...

Last year we went to Tractor Supply to buy some feed. Well they were doing chick days. We stood there looking at them all the chicks (debating if we wanted to get any or not). During that time, I overheard an older couples getting chicks, saying they wanted barred rocks. When the employee reached in the bin, she gave them 6 brown marked chicks. I had to take a second look. Well when we approached her since my boyfriend decided to get some barred rock chicks. She tells us we are lucky because she only has a few left. What do you know, she reached in the bin of what we think were easter eggers. When we told her the black ones were barred rock not the brown chicks. She got a little attitude. The barred rock bin was almost full where as the other bin only had 10 left. She had sold most of them as barred rocks to new or inexperienced buyers. Yes several people got what they thought were barred rocks but they weren't! Funny thing is, I noticed a few months after that one of them customers selling the chicks she bought that day as barred rocks and got angry and refused to listen when someone told her they weren't the correct breed she was selling them as. Her response was "that's what the lady at Tractor Supply said and I believe her since she knows what she's doing". Truth is, she was wrong and wasn't sold the breed she was suppose to buy. Sadly this will continue when she sells to a new buyer/owner and the cycle will continue.

No, I'm not bashing hatcheries because if you need layers they are great but if you want breeding stock then buy from a responsible breeder with quality animals.

Below is my buff orpington rooster we purchased from Tractor Supply years back. Below him is a barred rock rooster we bought years ago from someone locally. He was advertised as purebred which as you can he is not.

My first orpington pair (black mottled) I bought, yes they were poor quality but I was just starting to learn back then :)

Now below is my chocolate orpington rooster I purchased from a responsible breeder. Yes he's not perfect quality but he's alot better than my buff rooster for breeding purposes. Also my splash laced gold orpington rooster. Both are english type and each have faults that I'm working on bettering.

Over the years I've had several people interested in my birds until they find out the price. Then all they can do is complain and say they would rather buy from Tractor Supply because the prices are cheaper. I price my birds depending on quality, gender, age, my time used to get to age, not including I hatch on a small scale so I don't sell thousands of chicks/birds each year. So please don't bash someone's asking price if the quality is there. If you paid $10 for a laying hen chances are they weren't meant for a serious breeding program. My prices aren't the highest I've seen but they aren't dirt cheap either, they are fair in my opinion. Like I've told a few people in the last few years if you don't like the price, you aren't being forced to buy.