How much does it cost to raise a meat chicken?

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tinkershell767 said:
My meaties practically ran each other over just to get outside. Of course their feeder was outside.
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THat would do it!!
lau.gif


I raised 2 batches of 15 meaties in 2013-- I learned a lot. A lot of what not to do, and the value of raising them for a longer period of time. I rather liked the larger bird and the greater amt of meat for the effor of butchering. ( which I hate but that is the price of fresh meat.)
3 pullets were kept for breeding and 3 eggs hatched. 2 pullets and 1 cckl. At 4.5 months the male is dinner quality but will be held for breeding. Longevity was definitely a problem in the cornish x parent stock. Still searching for my ideal meat bird . . .
 
At a nearby meat market that I frequent, the pastured chickens are $2.89 a pound. This makes a whole chicken nearly $15.

I have rarely gotten lucky and found a 99 cents per pound deal on chicken. I don't always look at the per pound cost when I buy one but I generally spend between $8 and $11 for a grocery store chicken. Since store chickens are not 10 pounders, I am pretty sure I'm spending more than 99 cents. Plus, I don't have a local grocery store. I have to drive 15-20 miles to the nearest one. When I add gas and my time on to that....well.

Anyway, I am happy to be raising my own now and hope not to buy grocery store chicken again. In a way, I don't care what it costs me to raise my little meaties. I feel that raising them is getting me outdoors more, making me more active, allowing me to not support commercial chicken raising practices and going to provide me with delicious healthy chicken that I know where it came from. That far outweighs the costs for me.

Besides, nothing delights me more than those silly little chickens running.....erm waddling across the pasture following me wherever I go. They are living a happy, healthy life as a chicken no matter how short that life is. I just feel like I am doing a good thing for myself, my family and those little chickies.
 
JessicaThistle said:
At a nearby meat market that I frequent, the pastured chickens are $2.89 a pound. This makes a whole chicken nearly $15.

I have rarely gotten lucky and found a 99 cents per pound deal on chicken. I don't always look at the per pound cost when I buy one but I generally spend between $8 and $11 for a grocery store chicken. Since store chickens are not 10 pounders, I am pretty sure I'm spending more than 99 cents. Plus, I don't have a local grocery store. I have to drive 15-20 miles to the nearest one. When I add gas and my time on to that....well.

Anyway, I am happy to be raising my own now and hope not to buy grocery store chicken again. In a way, I don't care what it costs me to raise my little meaties. I feel that raising them is getting me outdoors more, making me more active, allowing me to not support commercial chicken raising practices and going to provide me with delicious healthy chicken that I know where it came from. That far outweighs the costs for me.

Besides, nothing delights me more than those silly little chickens running.....erm waddling across the pasture following me wherever I go. They are living a happy, healthy life as a chicken no matter how short that life is. I just feel like I am doing a good thing for myself, my family and those little chickies.
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Food independence is priceless.
thumbsup.gif
 
JessicaThistle said:
At a nearby meat market that I frequent, the pastured chickens are $2.89 a pound. This makes a whole chicken nearly $15.

I have rarely gotten lucky and found a 99 cents per pound deal on chicken. I don't always look at the per pound cost when I buy one but I generally spend between $8 and $11 for a grocery store chicken. Since store chickens are not 10 pounders, I am pretty sure I'm spending more than 99 cents. Plus, I don't have a local grocery store. I have to drive 15-20 miles to the nearest one. When I add gas and my time on to that....well.

Anyway, I am happy to be raising my own now and hope not to buy grocery store chicken again. In a way, I don't care what it costs me to raise my little meaties. I feel that raising them is getting me outdoors more, making me more active, allowing me to not support commercial chicken raising practices and going to provide me with delicious healthy chicken that I know where it came from. That far outweighs the costs for me.

Besides, nothing delights me more than those silly little chickens running.....erm waddling across the pasture following me wherever I go. They are living a happy, healthy life as a chicken no matter how short that life is. I just feel like I am doing a good thing for myself, my family and those little chickies.
Click to expand...

Wonderfully put -- especially your last sentences about the chickens. I couldn't agree more!!
 
So I am thinking about raising 25 meat chickens this year for around 8-10 weeks. Was wondering what the best kind would be. I would be butchering them myself but was wondering what people charge for a pound or for a full chicken? Any advice would be great! Have raised egg laying hens for 5 years but never just for meat.
 

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