Fourth and final

chick feeders at the ready

I picked up the fourth and final batch of 150 chicks this morning. The most I’ve ever done in a single year was 300. Last fall I had lunch with my friend and mentor, Penny, and she advised me confidently, “Oh, you need to double that for next year.” That took a bit to sink in. Could I really sell twice the chickens I’d ever sold before?

But I trust Penny. So I told myself, “If you raise them, they will come.” And come they have. The first 2 batches sold out in short order. The pre-orders for this last batch are nearly all spoken for. And pre-orders for the 3rd batch (on pasture now) are rolling in. I expect once we get past Labor Day people will begin to think about stocking their freezers for winter and the birds will be gone in no time. (So email me asap if you want on the list!)

I’ve been trying to figure out if there’s a business lesson to be learned in this experience. But I haven’t come up with anything concrete, except maybe get a good mentor! It also helps to have a back-up plan. If we would end up with a bunch of extra chickens I know that the store that carries our beef and pork would like to sell them, and there are a couple of winter farmers markets that we could sell at.

A few weeks ago Matt did the Charles City farmers market, and a woman asked him where we get our chicks. He told her at Hoovers, and asked her why she wanted to know. She chuckled and said, “Well I own the hatchery!” It’s great to do business locally 🙂

2 years ago:

Mt. Rainier