A friend of a friend wants me to brood chicks for him for aprox. 3-4 weeks. He's planning on getting 50 chicks and he will buy the feed. So, what's your opinion?

-- malinda (teneniel_80@yahoo.com), May 07, 2002

Answers

I guess that all depends. Our turkey and goose had gone broody, but neither have fertile eggs. I worked out a deal with the feed store owner; I would hatch out his eggs for him for a discount on range cages. He gets his goslings and chicks back when our girls hatch them out.

If you want chicks of your own, offer the trade of some of the chicks for the hens to keep. If you have no plans for the hen, and he's agreed to pay for everything the chicks need, do it for a favor or future trade.

Last year, I was beggin for my hens to go broody. this year, not a cold body around. Heck, I swear even the roosters want to sit,right now.

-- Wendy A (phillips-anteswe@pendleton.usmc.mil), May 07, 2002.

Free. Good deed. Pass it on.

-- Rose (open_rose@hotmail.com), May 07, 2002.

We're talking brooding and not hatching, right? First and formost -- make sure you are not liable for loses. Then if you want to charge, figure your labor and the cost to you. another caution -- outside chicks can bring in diseases and pests. If they are his eggs, be careful. If they are hatchery chicks, you probably don't need to worry about this. You might ask the person and come to an agreement. Good luck.

-- Robin Downing (Southpawrobin1@aol.com), May 07, 2002.

Thanks for the answers. I had asked him if we could work out a labor trade since our fence needs to be redone. He would rather pay money than help on fence, since he is short on time right now. These would be hatchery chicks, so I'm not worried about disease. I just finished brooding my own batch of chicks so I wouldn't need any more. He was thinking of paying on a per chick basis. So, I thought maybe $1 per chick, that's having it for 4 weeks, plus he's buying the chick starter. Is that fair? I will be doing the brooding, not my hens, so it will be heat lamp, checking for pasty vent, the whole bit. So, what do you think?

-- malinda (teneniel_80@yahoo.com), May 08, 2002.

I think that's a bit steep. However your time has to be worth something. I could have saved my neighbor a lot of money raising his turkeys. He lost about 30 at $4.95 a peice. I would have helped as a good deed if he'd asked or for a couple of birds. I do a lot of helping people and usually get nothing in return then when I need help they never have time for me. Just food for thought. Good Luck!

-- Joel Combs (jwcinpk@yahoo.com), May 09, 2002.