Any market for Ayam Cemani meat?

[goats-n-oats]

I have 2+ years experience raising chickens, currently have 200 on 5 acres, mixed backyard breeds. This year I tried raising and selling laying hens, and cockerels for meat, but with overhead costs, this has not been a profitable exercise. So, I am thinking of investing in some Ayam Cemani chicks or eggs and selling the for chicks, eggs, or meat. My farm is not NPIP certified. In my state I am allowed to sell live un-butchered birds and eggs from my premises direct to consumer. Does anyone know who would buy Ayam Cemanis for meat? Retail prices online average at $100 per live bird and $300 per butchered bird. I thought a tour of Chinatown in Manhattan would produce a buyer, but I thought I would ask here. Any input or ideas appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Mountain Roost]

I thought a tour of Chinatown in Manhattan would produce a buyer,

This could be worth a try. People in NYC are interested in the rare and exotic. Ayam Cemanis don't lay very many eggs a year so your start-up time to actual production of meat could be considerable.

 

[mandelyn]

A friend of mine is going to use Svort Hona and Bresse to create a fibro meat bird for the local Asian market. Here, 1lb Silkies are $18-$30 in the stores. She's going to aim for 4lb dressed weight. Ayam can be tricky to get a hold of and the quality of breeding varies tremendously. Her plan of using stocky Bresse hens will produce a meatier carcass, while the male produces the coloring.

 

[goats-n-oats]

A friend of mine is going to use Svort Hona and Bresse to create a fibro meat bird for the local Asian market. Here, 1lb Silkies are $18-$30 in the stores. She's going to aim for 4lb dressed weight. Ayam can be tricky to get a hold of and the quality of breeding varies tremendously. Her plan of using stocky Bresse hens will produce a meatier carcass, while the male produces the coloring.

Fascinating!
May I ask, what part of the country are you in?

 

[ItsChicky]

We're getting into Delawares, Ayam Cemani, Salmon Faverolles, and large bodied olive eggers this year in hopes of producing more useful dual purpose birds, with a focus on improving the meat aspects of the breeds. I'll be trying to market my AC meat directly to restaurants and specialty markets in a local city once I'm able to consistently produce the quality i'm looking for!

 

[goats-n-oats]

We're getting into Delawares, Ayam Cemani, Salmon Faverolles, and large bodied olive eggers this year in hopes of producing more useful dual purpose birds, with a focus on improving the meat aspects of the breeds. I'll be trying to market my AC meat directly to restaurants and specialty markets in a local city once I'm able to consistently produce the quality i'm looking for!

Consistency is key ...
Which hatchery/ies are you buying from?

 

[Bananabread]

Some considerations:
1) they lay only 100 or so eggs per year...and the eggs are not particularly noteworthy (i.e., exotic looking)
2) They don't actually have that much meat on them. Our two are the smallest of our bunch..
3) I would think about the cost to raise them to get to a reasonable weight for processing. Even though the cost per pound may be higher, ultimately it not actually make you any more money since they are smaller birds and take longer to grow to processing weight

 

[Bananabread]

Also--I received ours from cackle. Most reasonable pricing I could find. Purchased 3 (trying to insure the odds), they threw in an extra. All 4 were a little sluggish out of the gate but they turned it around. 2 ended up being roosters, which we couldn't keep. The other 2 are beautiful. We added them to the flock because of their looks and uniqueness. The other birds are for the beautiful and high vol egg production.

 

[ItsChicky]

It looks like my response never posted!

I purchased my AC hatching eggs from Sugar Feather Farm in Vermont and had a great resulting hatch. They're currently growing out on pasture in chicken tractors for the summer and don't eat a ton of feed, so i'm not too worried about costs to raise them. I already have a tentative list of people interested in paying for my cull pullets to have as fancy additions to their backyard flocks, and I'll be culling the excess cockerels this fall for my own family to have as food.

In terms of making the investment worth it, there is an extremely high demand for sexed pullets in my area, but not a ton of breeders selling anything but straight run day old chicks. My hope is to raise all of the chicks I hatch from my own breeding stock to a sexable age. At that time I'll sell the pullets, and retain the cockerels until they're the appropriate weight for processing. This is why i'll be looking to improve the meat side of the dual purpose breeds i'm raising to bring more value and purpose to the necessary existance of these roosters. I followed a similar schedule with the other breeds i'm raising this past spring while I was building my breeding flocks, and I quickly ran out of pullets to sell! The first round of boys are long gone as well, and had a decent bit of meat to them!

With all that being said, if in a year or two I don't think they're worth it to me, I'll demote the ACs to pets, and fill their breeding coop with a different dual purpose breed. One obstacle I'm already facing is finding an appropriate butcher for next season that will commercially process for me. If I can't get that sorted I'll need to operate under my state's exemption and sell whole chicken to individuals. If that was the case, I would most likely have to discontinue working with AC, in favor of a larger dual purpose breed to make it worth my while.