I often debate about taking my Google business listing down. From spring to early fall, my driveway has a constant trickle of cars pulling in unannounced wanting to buy silkies. We live in a small farm town that is on the verge of being swallowed up by the encroaching neighboring suburb of Warren. Most people here don’t even farm, let alone breed fancy chickens. While hobby flocks are prevalent here, most are shipped in from hatcheries or bought at TSC. When people pull in the driveway after googling “silkies near me”, they expect to pay $10/ chick to $40-$65/ hen. Most scoff at those prices. Most times, I’ll feel bad and find something to sell them in their price range. There’s always a pet quality bird around here somewhere. At least 2-3 times a year, it’ll be a really excited little kid and I’ll sell a hen for 60% off the usual price. I’m always excited to watch them light up as they hold their new chicken on their lap as they pull back out of the driveway. The feeling fades fast as I think about how that one hen should have paid for 4 bags of feed and now it won’t even pay for one and half. Then I go back to thinking I should pull my business off of Google. If I did that, though, no one would be able to find our farm. GPS is messed up here. My address will take you around the corner to our hayfield. Even with Google maps marking my business as our driveway, I am usually standing in my yard for 30-40 minutes waiting for a customer. Trying to direct them to my house via cell phone as they weave around dirt roads with no signs. It really is a conundrum.
Today was just another early summer weekend. Had 2 people stop in the AM looking for chicks (don’t have any) and finally a man stopped with his grandson in late afternoon. He said that he tried buying silkies in Warren but the guy gave him the run around. I laughed because there is a law against owning roosters in Warren. The guy must have been buying them in. I asked the man if he had seen my website. He said yes! Then showed me his phone with my Google business listing. I tried showing him my actual website so he could see my prices and save me the uncomfortable conversation about show birds and how much they cost to raise. I don’t think he could see the screen in the sun because when I brought up the pullets and told him $75, both him and his grandson did a double take. Looked at the truck they were driving. Knew it took $40/gas with all the driving they did to get here and found them 3 pet quality juveniles for $20/ each and sent them on their way. Then I went inside and sat on the couch in a state of depression.
This year just sucks. AI has shut down a lot of the normal shows I go to. It has shut down the swaps I usually sell birds at. Since taking over as Points Secretary for the ASBC, I have little to no time to get my birds presentable for sale pics and listed, let alone actually get them to the post office on my lunch at work and shipped out the door. Entire states are shut down for importing. And even if the swaps and shows were open, it wouldn’t matter. With gas over $4/gallon, hauling trailers across state lines is too expensive. Feed is now $4 more per 50lns bag. Raising chickens is now a true labor of love. It is presently entirely funded by 9-5 job. In the last year, I have cut down my numbers to the bare minimum. I dropped entire varieties out of my barn. I ceased hatching all winter and now only do small batches in my tabletop Brinsea. There is constantly an average of 45 silkies at my farm ranging in ages from 1 week to 12 years old. Most are under 3 years old. Mrs Frosty was my first silkie and she is the 12 yr old. She totally pulls the average age up, so it’s not even accurate to calculate. What I did calculate though, was how much each silkie female should be priced at if she were sold at 6 months old and would cover the cost of raising her. The number I came up with is TWICE the cost of what I’m currently selling them for. See the chart below.
In light of this, I no longer feel bad about what I charge. This doesn’t even cover the cost of all the clubs I belong to, all the entry fees, all the travel expenses of showing. If you want to learn how to breed, shows are the way to do it. You’ll never learn just by looking at pictures on the internet. You get what you pay for. If you’re looking for a pet, you should probably stick to TSC. If you feel you are entitled to someone’s work, you are not. If you think you can get into silkies to make tons of money, Good luck 😆. This really is a labor of love.
