Position Humane Chicken Hatchery. Flock and Hatching​/Shipping M

Overview

Live & Work Position Available at The Humane Chicken Hatchery Alchemist Farm

Looking for a dynamic job and sweet private living space? We are looking for a farm helper. The position is a year commitment with potential for long term extension if we are all a good fit!

Position and housing available starting Feb 1st 2026

A 120sq ft lofted tiny house with a large private fenced yard and 500sq ft greenhouse all set up for veggie gardening with raised beds and irrigation.

Rent for the living space is $800 and includes water and electricity. You will be in charge of trash service, internet and propane for your outdoor shower.

Join us for a year of raising breeding groups of chickens and running a humane chicken hatchery. 3 days a week (Saturday/Sunday/Monday) you will be the first eyes on the birds in the morning and the last eyes on them at night with lots of chick cuddling in-between if you so choose! 🙂

Starting Feb 15th your position will expand into preparation of our pickups on Mondays and then incubation, hatching and shipping of our baby chicks on Tuesday mornings.

Some of the hours we have available are in the evening after dark, specifically putting the flocks of chickens away and scanning to make sure all of the auto doors have closed on the coops so whoever joins our team needs be living on the farm for ease.

As the year ebbs and flows with the seasonal shifts of raising birds/hatching/shipping chicks you can expect 30+ hours a week from January – October and 15+ hours of work a week from November-January.

During our hatching season, Tuesday is a longer hour work day of preparing shipments of chicks, and cleaning after hatches, the rest of the week the bulk of the day hours are free if you have a second job in town or are in school.

Stating pay is $18 an hour with options for more hours of property upkeep such as mowing, weed whipping, irrigation repair and general tinkering with the coops and farm infrastructure.

Lots of learning opportunities available.

• Examples of solo work hours:
  Morning checking to make sure each coop door opens
• Sat/Sun/Mon collecting of eggs and sorting from our breeding groups
• Tucking the birds in at night
• Training juvenile birds into coops at night
• Trimming wings in winter
• Sat/Sun/Mon checking of chicks in brooders and refilling their water and food
• Setting eggs in the incubators and hatchers
• Weekly Preparing shipping boxes for the chicks
• Weekly prepping of chick pickup boxes
• Packing up hatching egg orders for shipment
• Weekly cleaning of hatchers and incubation space on Tuesdays after hatch
• Management of pasture watering/reseeding for flocks
• Random fixes of coops/upkeep if latches/hinges need attention
• Farm sitting for a few weeks at a time throughout the year.

• Examples of group work hours:
  Packing up baby chicks on Tuesday mornings for shipment with our farm owner Franchesca

Someone who is interested in seeing what a season of hatching baby chicks at a hatchery is all about. We will make sure you are confident on all aspects of how we run the various systems on the farm and you will jump right in with putting the birds away at night, and collecting our daily laid eggs as we prepare for our first hatch of 2026.

You will see the magic of our breeding program and the unique chocolates, greens, speckles and interesting shades of egg colors of hens lay.

As the months shift so do the rhythms with the birds on the farm. We will have weekly check ins to make sure you are up to date and feeling prepared for the shifts as they come.

To thrive in this role with us you will need to be a self starter, interested in working with animals and open to learning. Must be able to lift 50lbs and have attention to detail. Must be a clear communicator and willing to ask questions while being trained. Job is 4 days a week with wed-Friday off (or a different combination of days if you need, we can flex with you).

Vacations can be worked into the year for longer days/stretches off with enough planning and notice. Hours are completely flexible with exception of Tuesdays which are our hatching/cleaning day of the incubation space. The rest of…