try before you buy hens

[green goddess]

I am thinking of starting a business renting out hens as a sort of try before you buy scheme and was wondering what others thought of the idea?

I was looking at providing a brand new eglu with 2m run and two hens for £10 per week plus a £100 deposit. Does this sound reasonable? People could then see if chicken keeping was for them without the long term committment. If it didnt work out then they could return everything to me or they could keep on renting or buy everthing from me at a reduced cost.

I have hens myself and was actually surprised at how little time it takes up and I think the long term committment could be a barrier to a lot of people.

[Totally Scrambled]

Hello GG,
Greetings and welcome to The Lane
Could be a good idea but would have to be kept fairly local to you I would have thought. Maybe if it took off you could run a franchise system
Dom

[Steve valentine]

Consider how long it will take to be in profit renting out a brand new eglu at £10 a week!

[green goddess]

thanks for the welcome.

I was thinking of keeping it local and a franchise scheme could be a good possibility. I would also be at the end of a telephone for the nervous people that need a bit of hand holding and could deliver and set the kit up for them.

At £10 a week it could be quite profitable. The key would be how much time I would need to spend with each customer as I would need quite a few to make a decent wage plus also how long people would rent for or what the drop out rate would be. Do most people carry on with hens?

[aceface]

i would be concerned as to how many times is it fair for a hen to be returned if they just fall out with hen keeping

vet fees who would pay them

a hen has to be pts who is responsible for replacing and making the decision and the payment

if they decide to keep them what is the opt out fee from the initial rental agreement

initially it has alot of holes but potentially a great idea to prevent the hens from being dumped just because someone "thought" hen keeping was a good idea and then found out the commitment was too much .


if you put the legalities in place maybe schools and oap homes would be a good place to look into aswell i know local authorities like the ideas of urban farms springing up and it would be fab to be a part of this good luck and i love your thinking outside the box

[green goddess]

In theory the business model wouldnt work if i get a high percentage of returns so I wouldnt expect the hens to be moved around a lot (twice at the most).

Vet fees - I was going to look at finding some insurance to cover it and factor in the cost.

Fox attacks, dead hens etc - I have factored in 2 replacement hens, any more would be charged for and depending on the frequency, the contract could be terminated and equipment removed if I didnt feel the hens were being looked after adequatly.

The opt out fee would be fairly small depending on the length of time rented, something approaching the cost of the eglu full price (around £300) minus inital deposit.

Daughters school is looking at hens, thats how I got the idea in the first place.

[LittleBrownFrog]

I have an idea that someone posted here recently about a company that was loaning hens to schools. I know that's not the same as you're suggesting, but might be worth digging up the thread anyway.

[LittleBrownFrog]

Here is the thread.

[urbanchicks]

Two hens if laying won't cover £10 a week,the thread I started was for schools and care homes to have chickens as educational and beneficial qualities.If you research especially on this website,most people then are prepared for owning and caring for them. and go ahead and get them.

Maggie

Maggie

[Mo]

It might work if you could get a discount from Omlet for working as their agent, then you could discount the rental already paid if people wanted to buy.
But if you are offering a 'brand new Eglu' each time what will you do with the returned Eglus.

The opt out fee would be fairly small depending on the length of time rented, something approaching the cost of the eglu full price (around £300) minus inital deposit.

Are you saying that people will have to pay for the Eglu if they opt out? Or were you thinking that was the cost to you of an opt-out.?

[wendy]

I am with Ace here as she said they may have to come and go a few times.
Also I am not certain I am comfortable with renting an animal out.

[Skeksis]

It seems like a good idea on the face of it but I would be concerned about people looking after the hens properly and the stress on them of to-ing and fro-ing. Most people I know (in my area) don't look after their hens to what I consider are high enough standards. I don't want that to sound bad or snobbish, I just take my animals more seriously than a lot, perhaps. (I think most of my fellows on here are equally nutty though).

[rhubarb93]

Looks like a great idea in theory, but....
what happens when they stop laying?

[Annie]

Another one here whose first reaction was , the hens will be unsettled (then they will stop laying ,might possibly start showing signs of ailment/distress).
How about considering setting up a training idea ? Introduce folk to the hobby of hen keeping by spending a 1/2 day with you looking after your flock , less hassle all round.

[Wellington Boot]

To be honest, I don't love the idea, I'm not sure it would be profitable on a small scale, and even then there would be quite a big out lay needed (if it all goes wrong, you would be left with all the eglus, and a lot of chickens!) Plus, do you have space at home to keep all the chickens, if they got returned to you all at once? Remember to that you would need somewhere to rest the birds between visits (to check they are healthy before sending them off somewhere else).

Would you allow the chickens to FR? This is risky (foxes mainly, but also chickens can be flighty when they haven't settled in properly), but the eglu runs are tiny, so leaving them cooped up could cause other problems. If you are letting the birds FR remember that people could have things in their gardens that are not chicken friendly (lots of plants are poisonous to chickens, and many others can cause health problems).

Not to mention the health issues, stress on the birds, and the risks of improper care.

I'm not sure what the advantages would be to the customer (of renting, rather than buying their own). Not to sound callous, but you can buy an ex-batt for a few quid, or a Point-of-Lay hybrid for about £7-£15, and If someone wasn't sure about chicken keeping, they would probably be more likely to either not bother, or else, just buy a budget set-up (the one I started with was only about £100) and then sell it on, if they changed their minds. My point being, that the initial out lay isn't huge, so the benefits of renting don't stack up (IMHO).

Having said all that, if you can make it work, then I wish you every success. I hope I don't sound too negative, I would just hate for you to go to all the trouble of setting it up, and then be lumbered with a load of eglus, and having to find home for lots of chickens! Good luck, and whatever you decide - keep us posted!

Nx