Whenever exciting changes happen in a community, such as Madison’s poultry ordinance, there are usually business opportunities that come with it. Two active members of the Mad City Chickens group share information with us regarding the business opportunities they see.
For Cherrie Nolden, this opportunity allows her to provide a needed service, share her knowledge, and do something she loves.
Cherrie got into Mad City Chickens (MCC) as a community service project but knows that she can also offer other services to those searching for poultry information.
Cherrie working in her booth at the Northside Farmers Market in Madison, which she helped organize. Photo by Lee Nolden. |
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Cherrie and her husband, Lee, have lived on their 10-acre farmette, Prairie Paradise Farms, LLC near Stoughton, Wisconsin for about four years. (Stoughton is about eight miles south of Madison.)
She is a currently a graduate student in wildlife ecology at UW-Madison but also works to encourage people to understand the origin of their food, increase their personal security by learning to raise their own food, and to simply spend more time outside in a tv/computer-free environment while connecting with their neighbors.
Cherrie feels that backyard chickens provide the kernel to nourish all of this and do so better than any other backyard activity she has previously encountered. Chickens provide the flavor of farm life that so many city-bound people yearn for, without the expense of buying a farm.
As a graduate student, Cherrie is paid a stipend for a half-time research appointment and puts in well over 40 hours per week; usually 50-60. Lee is a full-time farmer and certified independent crop consultant.
Cherrie and her husband are working to make city folks' desire to keep chickens into a viable business for their farmette. They raise the breeds people want, and folks can get them in small batches (Madison's ordinance allows four birds per single-family dwelling) rather than having to order 25 birds, the minimum most hatcheries require. Cherrie says, "Buyers are willing to pay a slightly higher price than the hatcheries charge for the convenience of only having to purchase the smaller quantity." Cherrie throws in some additional benefits for the customer. "I offer free advice and consulting on any chicken questions they may have. We also replace and rehome any birds that grow up to be roosters (not allowed in town) for those who are uneasy about making their roosters into roasts," explains Cherrie.
Cherrie got into Mad City Chickens as a community service activity that followed her interests in poultry and she continues to do most of her work with the group with this motive in mind. But, when people ask her where they can buy chickens, she tells them about her farm as one of the options. Cherrie is a local and county-wide 4-H leader and is helping MCC form a 4-H club in downtown Madison so the kids in the families with chickens can experience the record-keeping and youth development opportunities that 4-H membership affords, while being able to win ribbons, trophies and premiums by entering their chickens in the local fairs.
The products
Prairie Paradise Farms, LLC sells processed chickens, free-range eggs (duck and chicken) and garlic at a farmers market Cherrie helped start in Madison. They are not allowed to have the live chickens at the market so they give out free information on keeping chickens in the backyard and encourage people to stop out at the farm to pick out their birds.
This young girl obviously enjoys a Welsummer chick at the spring Horticulture Days this past year. Photo by Cherrie Nolden. |
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Products on the farm include straight run and some sexed chicks, pullets and hens depending on the desires of the customer. If Cherrie is wrong on the sex of the chick, they are replaced at no charge when it shows that it is a cockerel. She also takes any extra birds people may have and helps them find homes. Cherrie says, "I give a farm tour to anybody who sets up an appointment and explain what we are doing. Besides the chickens, they raise grass-fed beef and sheep, grow garlic organically, breed, train and sell registered Norwegian Fjord horses and raise geese and ducks to weed and de-bug the gardens. They offer any of their animals to 4-H members for their projects.
Visitors see the living conditions the animals enjoy and get a presentation on self-sufficient, sustainable living and animal welfare."
Develop a business plan
"We've always wanted to farm for a living and started the planning process when we purchased our first animals," Cherrie tells us. They wrote a business plan with assistance from Paul Dietmann, Sauk County Agricultural Agent and Dick Cates' School for Beginning Dairy Farmers at UW-Madison. "We've been adapting this plan as new ideas and opportunities present themselves. The chicken aspect just started seriously in January 2005 with the first Mad City Chickens meeting. We had raised chickens for years but this group looked like a good community service/education project plus a potential customer base."
Over the last year, they have had a hard time keeping up with the demand. "We plan to eventually buy or rent a larger farm to expand the production to meet our direct marketing customer's needs and support both of us off of the farm proceeds. I also hope to participate in on-farm research," states Cherrie.
Spread the word
Currently, Cherrie advertises primarily at the Farmers Market Stand and on the Mad City Chickens website. She feels that they have a very colorful and attractive display that helps draw the people in and connect them to their products. They give away free information, advertise for Dennis Harrison-Noonan and advertise for Mad City Chickens. The booth is multi-purpose and is also used for the Science Alliance, promoting scientific inquiry and discovery as well as the semi-annual Horticulture Days that educates the community on poultry in the garden.
What has worked...
Cherrie has found that a two-person team, one who focuses on marketing and planning and the other who focuses on production, with both actively and continuously researching and improving their respective areas, has worked well for their business.
She feels small businesses should start small and try not to take out loans to get started. Let the sale of products pay for the start-up costs.
Another key factor is learning to see an opportunity and responding quickly to fill a need.
Cherrie's booth is multi-purpose. Here she works to promote scientific inquiry and discovery for the Science Alliance. Photo by Don Warren. |
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For her, focusing a lot of effort on public education and outreach and providing free information to help people get started has led to added business, word of mouth advertising and also adds personal pleasure to her work. It helps that they have a good grasp of the science behind the methods for the consumers who are well-educated and the respect for those who take the time to get the whole story.
The best sales marketing tool has been to invite folks to visit the farm to see that they walk the walk and can talk the talk, and of course, having lots of petting and baby animals for the buyers with the most influence: the children.
...and what hasn't
While most folks could only wish for this problem, Cherrie finds that the main thing they have been struggling with is keeping up with the demand for eggs and pullets/hens of specific breeds. "We don't have enough hens to produce as many eggs as people want and we keep selling the pullets to the city folks, so our recruitment of the next generation of layers is low."
She finds that everybody wants something different for chicken breeds and they could go broke trying to have every breed asked for. She has realized that it's best to select a few breeds that cover the various attributes most often desired and direct people to other suppliers if they are set on a particular breed that they don't have.
To contact Prairie Paradise Farms, LLC e-mail prairieparadise@yahoo.com or call (608) 873-4903 or visit www.madcitychickens.com.
Much like Cherrie Nolden, Dennis Harrison-Noonan finds community involvement and a love of what he is doing has led to additional business opportunities.
Dennis currently has three hens and averages two eggs per day. He first raised chickens in a small rural village at the foot of the Andes in Chile, South America, where his family lived and worked as missionaries. Since they did not have to deal with the extreme cold there, this winter will be a time of learning for them.
Dennis has been self-employed as a carpenter in Madison since returning to the U.S. in 1995. Dennis, and his wife, Nancy, both work full time. They have two children, 18-year-old Jesse and 17-year-old Tobias. It seems the entire family has a passion for animals. Jesse works summers at the Humane Society and Tobias built one of the chicken coops shown on the next page with help from his scout troop as part of an Eagle Scout service project. Their pound hound, Graham, has learned about other animals too. After a couple of pecks and wing hits he now knows that the chickens prefer not to be sniffed too closely. He still enjoys snacking on their cracked corn though.
In his spare time, Dennis consults on the design and construction of chicken coops. As an active member of the MadCity Chickens Group and a carpenter, it was only natural that he would recognize a need for coops once the ordinance passed. It was an easy extension of his current job to begin offering his experience regarding coops.
Dennis finds giving his assistance and expertise to clients who can then build the coops themselves is better than being hired to simply build the coops. It gives him a chance to discuss other poultry-related topics with clients. These topics include the time commitment to poultry, basic poultry knowledge, what resources are out there, etc. These discussions are meant to prevent people from getting the birds and then finding out there is more work to keeping poultry than was expected. Unfortunately, these birds can end up at the Humane Society, etc. and no one wants to see those kind of issues arise from a well-meaning ordinance.
Currently, Dennis advertises his business at the MadCity Chickens website and in the local cooperative newspaper. In preparing for this addition to his job, Dennis said he recognized the need for chicken coops for small flocks (the ordinance only allows up to four hens in Madison). Because Dennis' previous experience with poultry was in South America, he also began educating himself on the weather-related needs of poultry.
Like Cherrie Nolden in the related article, Dennis thinks word of mouth and being active in the poultry community have been his best advertising.
Dennis says that in Madison, a chicken coop is considered an "accessory building" and doesn't require a building permit but reminds you that if you are planning to build a coop, zoning rules vary greatly and you may need a building permit. Check with your local government regarding their guidelines.
