How much feed does it REALLY take?

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Barnmaradotte

Barnmaradotte

Songster
9 Years
Jun 13, 2011
303
82
179
eugene
So ive been thinking about raising meat birds. cx's I think. I saw on murray mcmurray it says only 10.33 lbs of feed per Bird to butcher. Well i see alot of people saying it cost them 8-12$ per bird all done. So where is the extra cost coming from? How much feed does it really take ?? I broke it all down and figured just under $5 per bird, all done. Is there more to it i dont read about ? any input would be great. thanks.
 
It takes ours more than 10.13lbs of feed. Ours go through, on average, 16lbs of feed per bird (for an 8wk old 5-6lb dressed bird). As others have said, we also have to figure in the cost of bedding and other on going costs such as electricity, water, light bulbs, etc.
 
Last edited:
Price per bird, bedding costs, processing costs, supplies, electricity.. My total was $10.50 per bird this last time and they ate over 15lbs of feed per bird.. They had access to feed 24/7... My birds averaged 4.5lbs processed at 8wks.
 
Our current costs for 25 CX males are as follows:
25 chicks w/ mareks 68.
450 # feed 189. (18#s per bird to date)
bedding 3 bales 24.
total so far 281. which equates to $11.24 per bird

We are day 49 today. Weight today for 5 random birds was 8#1 0z. I anticipate a 25% processing loss (feathers, feet, offal, etc). which currently leaves us a 6 pound dressed bird for a final of $1.87 per pound.
Other considerations: We home process. Feed is available 24/7. The cost of brooder and tractor ($290.) will be taken over numerous batches for 2 - 3 years.
The two main reasons we do the poultry is we enjoy the end product much better than store bought, and second is a much larger bird than is commercially available to us in the NorthWest.
 

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