When I saw ready-made seedlings for sale in my supermarket, I thought: business can be done not only on an urgent need, but also on the opportunity for someone to win something:
Real gardeners, of course, grow their own seedlings. But busy people who know little about plant growing may prefer to simply buy seedlings. It’s easier for them and, perhaps, more profitable (if they are so stupid that they are capable of destroying their plants and being left “on the beans”).
After this example, a chicken rental business does not seem impossible.
In the USA, one married couple - Jen and Phil Tompkins - just started a similar business. Moreover, it developed in them naturally.
They live in the village of Freeport in Pennsylvania. And they raise chickens for their own pleasure.
The neighbors looking at them also decided to make themselves happy with chicken clucking and fresh eggs. But for most of them, nothing came of this venture (either the chickens did not survive, or they refused to lay eggs).
And the luckier neighbors decided to help them. They found suitable laying hens for them and began renting them out to them (rentthechicken.com). Along with portable chicken coops, food and drinking bowls.
And such pleasure costs $350 for six months (from May to November - this is the time when chickens lay eggs best).
What is the pleasure for the client?
Firstly, he receives a customized and streamlined system for the production of fresh, environmentally friendly eggs (his participation consists of a simple procedure of adding feed, adding water and periodically moving the portable chicken coop to fresh grass).
Secondly, of course, are the eggs themselves. They are not just environmentally friendly. They are 100% environmentally friendly, since chicken tenants take them directly from the producer (and not from a store where they did who knows what with these eggs).
Thirdly, for some owners of backyards, listening to the peaceful clucking of chickens is a real pleasure after working day over a cup of tea in the yard.
Working chicken coop suppliers guarantee 8-14 fresh eggs every week. For this purpose, only young chickens are supplied - from six months to two years.
For the winter, they take the chickens back to their home farm (because it's cold in the winter and they don't lay eggs as well). If one of the clients wants to keep the rented chickens for good, they can buy them from the business owners.
The family business couple has been working for the second year (since 2013) and the business is only growing (already in February, half of the chicken coops are purchased for the May delivery).
They supply their chicken coops not only within a 50-mile radius from their farm, but also much further (they are already developing neighboring Canada).
In general, chicken is a very popular topic in the USA. They have entire communities of chicken raising enthusiasts on the Internet. Many entrepreneurs (and even designers) are involved in the production of a wide variety of chicken coops:
And the above-mentioned couple is not the first to think of renting out chickens.
Even earlier than them (in 2012), another married couple living in the suburbs of Washington created a similar business. They called their business "Rent a Coop" - rentacoop.com:
These guys are so popular that they rent out their chicken coops all year round(but they also live further south, in a humid subtropical climate).
They started with 5-6 chicken coops per month in 2012, and today they rent out 25-30 chicken coops per month. And they are going to open another branch - in New Jersey (this is already close to New York).
And their prices are not bad, $180 per month:
But this is understandable. The suburbs of Washington (the US capital) cannot help but generate high profits.
I do not suggest that you immediately start raising chickens and renting out chicken coops on Rublevka (I assume that we also have a similar business - after all, Alla Pugacheva kept a rooster in her garden).
But you can think about it.
After all, in Soviet time there was the option of renting a cow from a collective farm to produce milk for oneself (judging by the cartoon “Vacations in Prostokvashino”, where the dog Sharik says: “Whose cow do we have? It’s a state cow. We rented it, after all”). This means this scheme is working.
A person can rent a cow, a chicken, an apple tree, or a garden bed. And a businessman can prepare everything he needs so that the client starts using it right away (and does not have to think about how to approach this matter, where to start, how to be able to grow something).
There are three pleasures for the user in such an agricultural lease:
1. The opportunity to obtain a natural product for yourself.
2. Participating in the growing process is both interesting and educational (especially if you have children nearby).
3. Quiet joy from communicating with nature. Another reason to delve into your native land, admire your native sunsets, forget about the computer, TV and world problems.
Well, for an agricultural businessman - income. Big or small - depends on the scale.
The do-it-yourself concept is becoming increasingly popular in Russia. One of the manifestations of this trend is private. But not everyone can raise cattle and poultry. Understanding this, professional livestock specialists offer short term rent a farm animal, mainly chickens and quails, and, based on the experience gained, decide for yourself whether to become a poultry farmer or not. The situation in the laying hen rental market was assessed by correspondent Sergei Gololobov.
A search query for “chickens for rent” opens up several offers. Not a lot, but there is plenty to choose from. I'm calling one of the numbers.
- I'm interested in chickens for rent.
- No, everything has already been sorted out.
Approximately the same answer for other addresses. This means that the service is popular, despite the fact that the average cost of renting a chicken indefinitely is 500 rubles. If you then give it back, 100 rubles are returned. Hence the question: what is the advantage of temporarily using a layer over buying one? Judging by the poultry farmer’s response, there is no particular benefit in terms of money, but there are ethical considerations:
“The only benefit is that people take chicken for the summer, and in the winter... You know, there are people who cannot kill a chicken and eat it. Do you understand? So they, well, look after it purely aesthetically. Do you understand? "If you have some kind of goal, breeding, then, of course, you just need to buy chickens - and that’s it, use them. If you have someone to look after them in winter, why not?"
Keeping chickens in winter is the main problem for city dwellers. And then I have my own personal experience. After a pleasant summer season with purchased chickens and fresh eggs, a harsh autumn arrived. The dacha was not suitable for winter living. The hand did not rise to cut off their heads, and after all, there were laying hens, which could delight with fresh eggs next year. I had to take my cackling friends to Moscow and set up a chicken coop on the balcony with all the ensuing problems - smells, dirt, a complex heating system and the need to regularly buy feed. At the same time, chickens practically did not lay eggs in winter. If then, in Soviet times, we had known about the rental of poultry, then the problem would have been solved by itself. And only now do you realize that in fact the rent was at least large cattle. An example of this is footage from the famous cartoon about Prostokvashino:
But if we return to the chicken arithmetic of today, then laying hens are already rented out, which is why their price is relatively high - 500 rubles. With this money you can buy a hundred eggs in a hypermarket. But the rent cannot be cheaper, says the landlady:
“Do you understand why such a price? Because I keep them, I feed them, I kind of preserve them. Therefore, I cannot, naturally, give the chickens for 500 and then return the same 500. Why then do I need this - in winter they keep it just like that? That is, I have to at least compensate for this winter maintenance, right?"
Compound feed, by the way, is not cheap these days - 700 rubles for a 20-kilogram bag. The hen will eat it in less than six months. Plus a chicken coop, which you can, of course, build yourself, but it’s better to buy a high-quality one for several thousand. Total: rental cost - 500, 100 will be returned, 700 - food. We assume that the tenant himself will provide housing. It turns out that one chicken for the summer season will cost 1,100 rubles. Well, yes, she will lay 70 eggs. In general, everyone evaluates the profitability of such an acquisition for themselves. But the fact that there is more poultry in summer cottages is a fact that is confirmed by the head public organization"Gardeners of Russia", State Duma deputy Andrey Tumanov.
“Yes, there is, of course, interest in chickens, especially small ones. Just this week I have visited several gardening associations, and in almost every one there are several chicken breeders. Small ones - five chickens, no more. Just to provide eggs for my family. So that it is, of course."
Rent poultry- a kind of test drive, as a result of which a summer resident can discover his vocation as a poultry farmer. True, he won’t make any money from this, but then he will have homemade eco-friendly eggs, the joy of the kids, and buckets of droppings as a bonus.
Chicagoans rent chickens for the summer.
Photo: pixabay.com
Heeding calls to eat organic food or simply a desire to do something unusual, Chicagoans are renting laying hens for the summer.
They are helped with rent by local “chicken queen” Kelly Burke, who, with the help of the public Urban Chicken Rentals rents laying hens for 11 families in the city, writes the Chicago Tribune.
According to her, the number of people wanting to get chickens for the summer has been growing every year since she founded the public in 2014.
Another national chicken rental provider reported six families renting chickens in Chicago.
“I just wanted to know if I could handle chickens, but I’m not ready to devote myself completely to this activity. We live in a city with small children. I love animals, but I wasn’t ready to become a 100% chicken owner and devote all my time to them,” said Kaelin Peterson, a mother of three from Chicago who rented three chickens.
The offer to rent chickens has found a response among Americans who are looking for a way to save money and therefore prefer renting to buying; moreover, in the United States, eating what was grown or made on their own farm is becoming increasingly popular.
Renting chickens costs about $110 per month, and usually includes two or three layers, feed, dishes, all the necessary supplies for keeping chickens, as well as support. e-mail or by phone.
Kaelin Peterson's husband estimates that each egg costs the family about $1, but in addition to that, they get the entertainment of the chickens in their yard and the aroma of fresh eggs.
“For me it’s a more natural way of life. I love fresh herbs. I love fresh tomatoes. With eggs, I think there is also a difference in taste compared to store-bought ones,” the woman explained.
In case the chickens are injured by a fox or raccoon, landlords offer free replacement birds.
Many tenants note that in addition to eggs, they also enjoy watching chickens.
The only drawback, according to tenants, is that chickens produce a lot of droppings, so you need to prepare a special place for them, as well as tools for cleaning after them and products that will help hide the unpleasant smell.
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An unusual farm has appeared in the Solnechnogorsk region.
A farmstead in the village of Novy Stan, Solnechnogorsk district, Moscow region, invites everyone who wants to become urban farmers, the 360 TV channel reported. Change familiar image You don’t have to live for this, the farm only offers to rent a goat, lamb or several chickens. The farm takes care of the animals; in return, project participants pay membership fees and pick up eggs or homemade cheese once a week.
Farmer Dmitry Zamyatin says that he has been keeping lambs and goats for the last eight years. He has few animals, the man produces milk and homemade cheese only for his family, but very often Muscovites come to the village in search of natural products and ask to sell something. It is too expensive to run a store for such a small farm, but recently a plan was born in the entrepreneur’s head on how to introduce city residents to village life.
“The scheme of work is very simple. We jointly purchase a certain amount of young animals - poultry and animals. We jointly purchase feed at wholesale prices - the best feed, because we grow everything for ourselves. And in the end we get the product best quality practically at cost,” says Zamyatin.
In essence, fans of organic products are invited to join a farming club and jointly manage a collective farm. Legally, it will be a non-profit partnership, where participants make small monetary contributions. In return, they get the opportunity to eat fresh farm products.
Currently there are 30 lambs and 500 birds living on the farm. Any animal can be rented, and its maintenance and care can be paid for through a designated contribution. Participants just have to come and receive finished products: eggs, homemade cheese or fresh meat.
The beauty of such a collective farm is that city residents do not have to feed their pets and rake out their manure on their own. Veterinarians and livestock specialists take care of the animals. But if they wish, members of the urban farmers club will be able to visit the animals they have chosen and even monitor the state of affairs on the farm via the Internet.
“Our territory is equipped with cameras that record online. All this is planned to be displayed on our website. Our members can come to buy the products of their farms, or they can wait until we bring them to Moscow - this additional service", says Dmitry Zamyatin.
The target contribution for raising animals is about five thousand rubles. The exact amount depends on how much milk or meat the club member plans to receive. The farm can contain a maximum of 200 lambs, which means the number of club members is no more than 200 people. For those wishing to become urban farmers, in the second half of May the club will organize lectures where experienced veterinarians and nutritionists will answer all questions.
Earlier it was reported that an automated farm for four thousand cows would be built in the village. Annunciation of the Naro-Fominsk district of the Moscow region. On April 22, the construction of the dairy complex was inspected by the Deputy Chairman of the regional government, Minister of Investment and Innovation Denis Butsaev.
For three years now, the Moscow region village of Novy Stan has been the epicenter of attention of the capital's prosecutors, investigators, tax police and even district judges. It’s not their official duty that draws them here. Brutal security forces, high-ranking officials, successful lawyers...
All of them are members of the closed farming club "Puss in Boots".
Guests come to Novy Stan to visit their “wards”: rams, goats and chickens. The cattle is grown for them, ironically, by a former investigator and tax policeman, and now the owner of a large private farm, Dmitry Zimin.
Club members simply rent space and staff from him to grow food for their table. Some come themselves to buy eggs and milk. Some people pick up the entire “harvest” for the week on the way to work every day, while others take away the entire “harvest” for the week on weekends. But delivery is still in constant demand. A special taxi with a refrigerator picks up food from the farm and delivers it to the addresses. And now the tired general, after work, drinks fresh milk from his goat.
“A man comes to me and says - I want a lamb. We sit down and count how long it will take to fatten his lamb. We look at how much feed he eats during this time and what kind. Then we go and buy a lamb for fattening. We take animals and poultry only for the customer Club members simply pay the cost of maintaining them on the territory of my farm."
Your own farmer
Zimin is 41 years old. He speaks so enthusiastically and knowledgeably about agriculture, that it seems as if he himself comes from the village. But this is not so: the founder of the farming club is a city dweller. Born in Chelyabinsk, then moved to Moscow. Now he works as a lawyer - this is how he earns a living and supports his personal livestock farming. Zimin emphasizes: he is not a farmer and never has been. At least in the classical sense of the word. He does not sell products from his site and does not plan to. He simply created a system of consumer cooperation - he raises animals for himself and his partners. With the sole purpose of eating homemade food of guaranteed quality.
It all started in 2006, when Zimin bought 30 acres in Novy Stan and decided to move from the city to the village. The very next summer, ten rams and several dozen chickens appeared there. Guests from Moscow began to come to the lawyer-farmer, who quickly appreciated the taste of home-made food. No one returned home empty-handed: everyone took with them a generous treat.
When friends began asking for homemade products almost every week, Zimin began to wonder whether it was time to make the business self-sustaining. And so, in 2013, his farming club was born.
Now Zimin already has more than 100 lambs, 30 goats, about 500 birds: chickens, geese, ducks, turkeys and even guinea fowl. However, he owns only ten sheep, one goat and several birds. Everything else belongs to the club members. The extent of ownership is different for each participant. Some have a couple of sheep, some have one and several chickens in addition, and some have a “full set”, including goats, ducks and turkeys.
The fairytale name “Puss in Boots” was also not chosen by chance. Under the auspices of the club, they began to organize children's parties, then banquets for adults, then, together with travel agencies, they began to conduct entertainment tours. But Zimin doesn’t make money from “entertainment”. After all, his the main objective in another - to expand your non-commercial partnership. And he succeeds. Now there are about 50 people in the club.
One of the economists, for example, really likes to watch his animals from his office in Moscow City. Of course, remotely. For this purpose, there are video cameras in the premises of the farm, allowing club members to visually monitor the life of their “wards” from anywhere in the world.
- It happens that a businessman from Moscow will call and say: shouldn’t I change the diet of my lamb: maybe add some carrots? The owners, of course, can influence both the diet and the living conditions of the animals, and make comments on the keeping. This is much more interesting than playing a virtual farm. This is real life,” Zimin notes.
The price of enthusiasm
The more participants there are in the club, the cheaper the products will cost them. This is why Zimin is so actively looking for like-minded people. Now “remote farmers” pay a monthly fee of 5 thousand rubles. The money goes to pay staff - 3-4 employees permanently live on the farm, - veterinary services, security of the territory and communal payments. The cost of the animals themselves and the food are paid separately.
“Let’s say I pay an employee 40 thousand a month,” says Zimin. - When there are 100 of us, the cost of this employee for each will be only 400 rubles. And so it is in everything. The larger the volume of feed we purchase, the lower the price.
Zimin does not name the final cost of raising, for example, one lamb: too many factors influence this. But if you consider that a lamb for fattening costs about 4-5 thousand rubles, then we can assume that one lamb will cost at least 20 thousand. Even in the summer, when the animals graze in the meadow and eat fresh grass.
As a result, a kilogram of meat will cost about 1 thousand rubles. This is three times more than in regular stores, but comparable to farm prices. But the more animals a person keeps, the cheaper the meat of each of them is, because the size of the monthly contribution for maintaining the farm does not depend on the number of “sponsored” cattle.
For now, membership in the club is limited by the size of the plot. On 30 acres you can keep animals for no more than 200 families. But there is a hidden resource. Directly behind Zimin's site there are huge fields that belong to the bank. They are in disrepair; the bank does not deal with land. Therefore, for now, the Puss in Boots lambs graze there completely freely. The bank has no claims against the sheep for the grass they eat.
“But if the number of club members grew to 1000, then it would be possible to rent this land and build utility rooms on it for keeping animals,” Zimin hopes.
However, so far the non-profit partnership is expanding not in the Russian expanses, but is reaching the European level. Three years ago, Zimin rented 3 hectares of land in Hungary. This summer they will begin to build the first outbuildings there and buy livestock and poultry. They will keep geese, ducks, and chickens, but the main highlight of the farm will be the gray Hungarian cow.
When Zimin starts talking about the legendary gray cow, his eyes light up. He really wants to see her in his fields. But this can only be done in Hungary: exporting this breed outside the country is strictly prohibited.
“The food embargo prevents Russians from trying milk from a Hungarian cow,” explains Zimin. - Therefore, you can buy the “gray” one together, in Hungary itself. And then just come there to relax and drink milk from your farm. There are many hotels around my site, so it is a great place for tourists.
“The Hungarian gray cow is the pride of Hungary, a tourist attraction protected by law. Scientists name the time of its breeding as the mid-nineteenth century. However, references to a similar animal are found in documents from the 14th century. One of the distinctive features of this breed is that its representatives do not suffer from rabies"
Mobile chicken coop
If Zimin rents out animals kept in the vastness of his own agricultural complex, there are people in this business who rent out entire chicken coops. Mobile. So, for the owner of the portal rentachicken.ru Mikhail Grachev, renting chickens is not a hobby at all, but a carefully planned business. He suggests renting a mini chicken coop for the summer. For 15 thousand rubles with two laying hens, for 16 thousand with four. For this amount, the customer receives 7-14 or 14-28 eggs per week. Depending on the number of chickens chosen. This also includes a waterer, feeder, food for laying hens for three months and free delivery.
“We build chicken coops, staff them with “personnel” and take them to the customer,” is how Grachev describes his business. - We plan the nearest orders for one day. For example, I understand that five chicken coops need to be delivered on Saturday. By this time I order ten laying hens. Already on Saturday I load the “objects” into the car, go to my partner for chickens and send the already completed order to the clients’ addresses.
Grachev began producing mini-chicken coops completely by accident. Searched on the Internet unusual ideas for business and came across information about mobile chicken coops. A month ago, not far from Domodedovo near Moscow, he found premises for a future workshop. Next he hired two employees who make the chicken coops. All expenses for opening a new business amounted to 200 thousand rubles.
Clients were not forced to wait. Already in the first month of operation, the demand was enormous: Grachev received more than 50 orders. Mostly they took two chickens. The businessman himself recommends taking the same amount - because it’s easier to care for. Not every novice poultry farmer can cope with even four laying hens. At the same time, you cannot buy a chicken coop without chickens - this is the company’s policy. They provide only one service - “turnkey stocked chicken coop”.
If anything happens to the chicken, it is entirely the buyer's problem. The company provides a service that can be called something between rent and purchase. The price includes the full price of the chicken coop and laying hens, so they become the property of the customer. At the same time, if a person cannot keep a bird all year - and the main customers are city dwellers who move to their dachas in the summer - then the chickens will be taken back. This is an additional service, which itself is free. The customer pays only for transportation, and the price here depends on the distance.
“In fact, you are calling a taxi for chickens,” Grachev concludes.
Quail Trouble
In the Moscow region SNT "Ryabinushka" they are equipping the first batch of "quails for rent". Here, on her property, Valentina Shevarenkova has set up a large poultry house. Last year she started renting out chickens, and this year she started renting out quails.
You can rent one quail for five months from May to October for only 80 rubles. And this takes into account the collateral value,” explains Shevarenkova. - If the tenant returns the quail in the fall, he will receive 20 rubles back, if not, it will be considered that he bought the bird.
"Chickens for rent" will cost more. One laying hen will cost 500 rubles. For each chicken returned in the fall, tenants will receive 100 rubles. There is a higher demand for chickens. This year, three families have already adopted laying hens. Each took from three to seven birds. There are eight more potential clients who were interested in the service, but the chickens have not yet been taken.
Shevarenkova came up with the idea to rent out birds last year. She saw that the summer residents had new fashion- try yourself in poultry farming. Many people wanted to get a bird to get their own eggs. But few people have thought about what to do with birds in the fall. Not every city dweller can kill a pet. So the summer residents rushed around the surrounding villages, looking for someone to give the chickens a home. Shevarenkova decided to help them, and at the same time earn a little extra money to support her own poultry.
The situation with quails is different. Shevarenkova rents out birds that are “old,” or more precisely, older than 8 months. She keeps only the hatching egg. After 8 months, the incubation properties of the egg decrease, although quails continue to lay eggs for up to a year. But they are more likely to produce food eggs, which are not required on Shevarenkova’s farm. In order not to slaughter the bird ahead of time, she rents it out. By the way, renting a quail costs about the same as two dozen eggs in a store. So summer residents have a chance to taste quail eggs for almost nothing. And this is, after all, a delicacy.
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