what do you DO??

ok it has been brought to my attention people are sneaky.....allot of times i forget my cukoo marans are sexable...i dont even pay attention realy...anyways when you have a auto sexing chicks and you have people coming to get some what do you do? sell them as 1/2 and 1/2 straight run no choosing your own.... or offer the girls for more money or what? i said if you want straight run it will be 1/2 girls, 1/2 boys at a lower price...but if they want to pull the wool over my eyes and sex them then the girls are 2x more? or what do you do in this case???

I would offer the girls at a premium, boys at a lower price and straight run some where in the middle. And I would not let people choose if possible. Have straight run orders picked and packaged before they arrive.

Thats what I plan to offer with the welsummers.

Hmm, this is tricky. As a consumer, if I knew you could sex those chicks and I went home with 'straight run' and ended up with 10 roos and 2 girls, I'd be mad and think you pulled a fast one. (although I know myself that this CAN happen in a hatch and often does, to me anyway!)But other byers might not realize this is how it can go.

I think you either sell them sexed and forget the straight run. OR when people order chicks say, I am setting your 10, 18 or 22 eggs today and you are committed to take whatever hatches. They get what they get and they give you a NON REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT.

I think since you are able to sex these chicks, you are almost committed to unless you hatch in designated batches only when an order is placed. And the buyer takes the whole works.

This doesn't sound too helpful, does it? Good luck finding the solution.

I think Uno's right. Hard to be fair here, may as well just bite the bullet on this breed and only sell sexed.

Hmm, this is tricky. As a consumer, if I knew you could sex those chicks and I went home with 'straight run' and ended up with 10 roos and 2 girls, I'd be mad and think you pulled a fast one. (although I know myself that this CAN happen in a hatch and often does, to me anyway!)But other byers might not realize this is how it can go.

i know that happens to me all the time lol i know i would feel bad selling someone all roosters but a couple hens but that does happen...? so what you do? i dont want to b stuck with a bunch of roosters! i dont have the room here for lots of excess roosters that i dont need or want ....
and what would i sell sexed chicks at?

I think you price them separately. Do you know your percentage of accuracy? If you are 95-100% accurate have separate costs per chick. It may mean you have more cockerels left over, but really make sure you charge a premium for the pullets. That is what most people want and if you can guarantee them they should be willing to pay.
Straight run is not really that if you already know what they are. 50-50 is better than some get and not as good as others do, I guess you could just price it how it would be if you sold half cockerels and half pullets and you would get the same money.

It is an interesting question you raise.

Wow...this has my brain going! That's that burning smell I keep smelling.

I still think I would sell them by the hatch. YOu get what you get. For those who really insist on hens only, pick the males out of the hatch, but make them pay you for their chicks that they are making you keep and feed. Hens are $X and then it's $3 per chick for you to take the roos off their hands. If they wanted 12 and you hatched 12 and they are backing out...no way, they pay your dumping fee. I'd even give them the males in the hatch for free...but insist they pay you to leave them with you. Of course, they may take them and toss them out the window on the way home. Mind you, not everyone will be confident enough to sex their own chicks and might not toss them, fearing they might toss a hen!

You gotta be tough to sell chicks.

I think that you just have to be clear with people and even though they are sexable you cannot guarantee even numbers in straight run. For females I would charge close to what you would sell a pol pullet for maybe knock a fw dollars off.

I just had a day long email war with someone interested in my milles. I happen to have even sexes with my last hatch amd now that they are 10 weeks old I know who everyone is. I advertised that they were for sale as pairs then i get asked how much for a trio. I said I dont have trios for sale but if you would like one its the same price as 2 pairs. The guy freaked out and I said again I dont want the extra roos so you aare welcome to a trio or 2 pairs for the same price and you can do what you want with the extra one. So they agreed to that. Now after I have arranged a ride with family to the coast for them we are now arguing that they need to be paid in full before they leave here. They want to pay when they see them.....I said ah no way...still playing email tag.....

Sorry a little off topic....You do have to be tough in this business!

I would offer one price if you choose the chicks and a higher price if they choose. If you choose try to give them a 50-50 combo, but if they choose, they get what they get.

I find my Dominiques are sexable as day olds and If i have the space to keep the extra roos til butcher age, I am willing to sell 4 pullets and 2 cockerel chicks in a bunch...but I would charge a set price which would take into account they are getting a good group without any excess roos. ( I figure you need at least 2 roos to pick from and in case you lose one)

If someone is willing to take 3 pairs I will give them a better deal because I don't make any money keeping the extra roos, but I feel better about keeping them until they are big enough to butcher and thus be useful.

yea this has been brought to my attention....i just dont know whats fair...i myself dont want to grow out a bunch of scraggly roos, i dont have the room and this breed isnt exacly the bulkiest...if it were wyandotees i could do it but not for these guys they would eat more than its worth. so me keeping roos is out of the question. i guess i will go the staright run price, pullet/cockerel price as reflects...? and straight run try to be fair as possible...and if they order hatches...you get what you get...

If a breed is sexable you should sell them sexed. If you wouldn't want to grow out a bunch of scrawny roos then it's not really fair to get someone else to unknowingly feed and raise them for months only to find out they're all boys. It's one thing with a breed that is unsexable but I would never be able to knowingly hand over more than 50% males unless the person was aware and wanted all those boys. It would be different if the boys had been bred to a good size and could become dinner but if you consider them too scrawny to eat then it doesn't seem right to sell them to someone who doesn't know better. I also don't think it fair to ask almost POL prices either as people have to feed and care for these chicks 6mnths to get them to POL. If you want to charge POL prices then raise them to POL and pair them up. That seems fair to me

SerJay wrote:If a breed is sexable you should sell them sexed. If you wouldn't want to grow out a bunch of scrawny roos then it's not really fair to get someone else to unknowingly feed and raise them for months only to find out they're all boys. It's one thing with a breed that is unsexable but I would never be able to knowingly hand over more than 50% males unless the person was aware and wanted all those boys. It would be different if the boys had been bred to a good size and could become dinner but if you consider them too scrawny to eat then it doesn't seem right to sell them to someone who doesn't know better. I also don't think it fair to ask almost POL prices either as people have to feed and care for these chicks 6mnths to get them to POL. If you want to charge POL prices then raise them to POL and pair them up. That seems fair to me

so whats your solution then? these people KNOW wich are pullets ect they want to come here and pick all pullets and leave me with ALL roos...thats my dilema in nature they hatch some boys some girls..so i feel its only fair people get some boys some girls..i always do....

If I ever get over the trauma of typing a very, very long post and losing it, I will be replying to this, smiling that big smile. Probably by tomorrow morning, have a wonderful night, CynthiaM.

I would do as Miry says and if they're sexable then sell in pairs or trios and sell the boys a bit cheaper if they're only good for breeding and not for eating. We all know only keeping one roo isn't a good idea as "stuff" happens and it's a royal pain to end up with no boy for the next year

Why not sell them as a chicken starter pack ? Offer a few roosters with some hens so that they know that they will have some of each ( more hens of course ) You could sell them for a bit more because they will have a small flock when they grow up ( at least with the cuckoo's you can sex them that is ).I know for myself if I want hens and I get to many roosters it's a real bummer .Just a thought ??

I think you should sell them however you price them. If you hatch a dozen eggs and pre-sell them as a package of x number of dollars for all 12 chicks, then you get what you get. If you sell them sexed you need to increase the price of the pullet chicks, and give or sell cheaply the boys. These guys should be suitable to eat, so if you sell them as straght run, I don't see how that is different then selling anything else straight run, it's not like you hoard all the girls for yourself and sell people boys.

Or, better yet - just sell hatching eggs

yea exacly, you can eat these guys....if you feel like waiting 8 months to butcher...wich i dont feel like when i can bucher in 8 weeks the franken chicken ..but to each their own... it isnt like i would purposley keep all the pullets and give people cockerels...i have enuff of my own birds..., there is no difference like you say if you couldnt sex them, i have bought 10 chicks and ended up with 2 pullets i think we all have, luck of the draw, i dont even look at the chicks hard enuff unless i notice flaws, i forget you can sex them most of the time! LOL

LOL On the other hand, I like heritage boys better, I butcher them at about 6 months and they are leaner and eat less then franken chickens

I raise buckeyes, they are not sexable until at least 2-3 months old, this is by visual, the combs

I raise buff orpingtons. I THOUGHT that the breed was wing feather sexable, (and should be according to the slow and fast feathering gene). They absolutely are not. Visible signs at about 4 weeks old, who is who, this is by comb visual. I also find the pullets have big round heads, the cockerels not so round. I used to think that I could wing feather sex the orpingtons, but then after the hatch of the eggs last June I found very differently. According the fast and slow feathering of the wings and tail, I should have had 1 cockerel and 9 pullets. Yay, not bad I thought. Until, they grew up more and I had 6 cockerels and 4 pullets. Blah...thank goodness I had not sold any or had culled any. As it was 4 cockerels went for processing, two the biggest remained. I have a good reason for ramblin' here, just hold on, be patient .

I raise blue, splash and black cochins. The blue and splash cochins absolutely can be accurately wing feather sexed at a few days old. The blacks, as fas I can do it, nope. I had a pullet that should have been a cockerel (black), thank my lucky stars that I did not sell her or cull her, as a cockerel....

So I have three breeds. I will sell any chicks of the two breeds that are unsexable at a young age, as unsexed. They are all the same price unsexed. When I sell them as sexed chicks, when they are older and I CAN ascertain gender, the pullets of course will be more expensive than the cockerels, but not by much. always have left over cockerels. I do not sell a whole lotta chicks, so this does not plague me. I must be honest and if I know the difference, I will tell so, and reflect the price accordingly.

The cochins, blue and splash, I will sell the pullets for a little more than the cockerels. I really don't have a whole lotta room for raising extra roosters, but will do so. I find they can meld with any breed of the adults until processing age. No one minds the little dudes until they begin to get that age of crowing. Then you know they have something else on their mind shortly thereafter. I make appointment with the processor for that time, smiling. I do not have an extra pen for these extra young men, they just live with everyone else, and I do have room for that.

I don't know if my comments have helped or not, but hope so. If you can sex the chicks, absolutely the pullets have a higher value than the cockerels. We must remain honest in all our dealings in life, and I know we try to attain that. If you get stuck with cockerels, because no one wants them, advertise for cheap, someone will surely purchase these, well hopefully. If not....off with their heads Hope it all works out well for people just trying to make a few dollars to pay for their chicken addition with sales of eggs and fuzzy butts. Have a most wonderful day, CynthiaM.