How to Get FREE Meat Chicks (Homestead Money Saving Tips)
As much as I love talking all things homestead business and different ways to make extra money (even without huge amount of time or a lot of space)… I know not everyone has the goal to make an income from their homestead.
A lot of people just want to grow food for themselves and not worry about selling to others too. I get it. Marketing & sales isn’t for everybody. But even if you don’t want to make money — you can still aim to run things frugally.
There’s a belief that I’ve come to really aim for within the past few years about income. It’s that: Sometimes it’s not about making more money - it’s about needing less of it in the long run!
Now, it would be pretty hard to homestead for free. You’ll always need some money. You’ll likely always have some feed costs. And some packaging. And energy costs. Etc.
What areas can you need LESS money for though with a little intentional planning?
One of the biggest expenses we have this time of year is ordering our meat birds for the summertime. We do several hundred a year typically which can end up being nearly $1,000 up front.
Until I realize - I could be getting all these meat chicks for free.
We had already been ordering directly from the hatchery for many years — mainly because we got frustrated going into the local feed store in hopes of getting a batch of meat chicks only to have them sold out, or not the amount we wanted — meaning we’d have to get more the next week and then have two different ages growing out together.
We realized quickly that ordering from the hatchery was not only a simple way to get all the chicks we wanted at once - but it was actually significantly cheaper too (who knew cutting out the middle man saved money!? Duh!) It may not seem like huge deal to save $1-2 per chick. But that little money adds up to big savings over time!
We also realized that most hatcheries have a tiered system — the more baby meat chickens you buy, the cheaper you pay per bird.
This is where it’s important to think ahead… I came up with the good idea to buy 200 chicks for the lowest price per bird of $2.17/each.
I only needed 50 personally for that batch. So I sold the extra 150 of them $2.90/each.
That meant the 50 I kept (plus any bonus ones they added in!) ended up being for FREE!
MATH RECAP:
200 chicks bought X $2.17 = $434.00
150 chicks sold X $2.90 = $435.00!
Now a few things —
First, these numbers are based on our local hatchery prices.
Second, you might wonder — why would anyone buy them for $2.90/each from us if we only paid $2.17!?
Convenience and savings.
$2.90 is typically still much cheaper than the local farm store (by almost $1/each!)
And the only down side of ordering from the hatchery directly is — you have to go to the post office to pick them up at 6 or 7am… which most people don’t want to do.
(Sure - you could take your chances and try to get the reject birds for $1/each from the farm store… but rarely is there a large quantity.)
Just to clarify - I am not raising these extra chicks. Sometimes, I’m not even unloading them from the shipping box! I'm literally just picking them up from the post office and then having whoever claimed them come pick them up from our farm right after.
There’s no extra space needed.
No legal considerations.
And since I’m already going to get my own chicks anyways — there’s not even any extra effort. I simply pick them up for people and then have them come get them from our house a few hours later!
Often I even take money upfront from people for their order so I’m not even paying anything out of pocket! (Nor am I having people who *said* they wanted them flake and back out last minute).
Now yes, I do have to invest time into communicating with people and arranging pick up. But it’s pretty minimal. (I have found local facebook groups to be the best place to find buyers FYI).
There are plenty of ways to apply this tip to save a lot of money. Basically anything that has a discount for bulk pricing -- animal feed, fruit trees and perennial plants, compost, seed potatoes, etc! I hope this was a starting point to help you think of easy ways to save money growing food for your own consumption with little effort!
For a complete guide on how to raise meat/broiler chickens including:
How how our family saves money on chicken feed
How to design a chicken tractor/mobile coop
A full comparison of breeds (freedom rangers vs. Cornish cross vs dual purpose)
How to process, package, and cook whole chickens at home
Check out my online course:
Homegrown Chicken: A Complete Guide to Raising Pastured Poultry at Home!
And for more on our own experience with MAKING MONEY raising chickens for meat without going to a local farmer's market (and having under 2 acres) -- check out my online class:
Raising Meat Chickens for Profit Online Class!
