Chicken Prices....

[Brunty_Farms]

What do people around the country get? Whole, cut-up, and per piece. How many?... I'm going to try something a little new this year for 2011 and offer not only whole and cut-up but also chicken pieces. Everything will be by the pound as well, including whole and cut-up.

I'm wondering what averages are around the country for certain cuts.

Whole $3.00 / pound
Cut-up $3.50 / pound
Boneless Skinless Breast $12.00 / pound
Leg quarters $4.00 / pound
Wings #3.25 / pound

Backs $0.75 / pound
necks $0.75 / pound
Giblets $5.00 / pound

These are projected prices. Curious to see if anyone else does this or not. I've never done the "by the cut" before but I'm going to be doing 50 of them in a couple weeks like this to see how they sell. I figured worse case, I can just freeze for a later date and lower prices if need be. However if I have to lower prices I will not do it. I will just continue to offer whole and cut-up birds.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Or if you do not sell, what do you pay?

 

[Raiquee]

Hey Jeff.

Well around by me people get roughly $3 a lb for whole birds. For eggs they get between $2-$3. Just saw an add for "extras" (gizzards, hearts, etc) for $3 a lb, but he is advertising it as dog food. I can't seem to find anyone around that is selling them cut up. If it was me (as a consumer) I wouldn't buy chicken breast at that price, what would you get per lb? Being broilers probably two, maybe 3 ya think? I would perfer to buy the whole bird, so I can utilize the other parts and also use for stock. Although a lot of people don't think like this.

I've only seen them "parted out" in meat CSA, so I guess I'm not a whole lotta help

Sorry!

 

[Raiquee]

Also, just thinking from a business standpoint...If you do part them out I can see you easily selling the breasts and having a harder time with the additional pieces. I know you do dog food too, there is an easy avenue to go! I know people that feed raw love those gizzards and wing tips (and some backs) for their dogs, so even if you have to lower the prices on the breasts, you could make it up with the dog food?

I think your other pricing is right on though. I just get a bit worried about the breast price and quantity wise. But I also am a "smart" shopper and would rather buy the bird sitting at that price, so I can utilize other things. Convience does tend to win out when you got money though!

Also, you need to get that fabulous meat CSA you got goin' on your site! I watch you now on FB too (god, I feel like a stalker

) I just really enjoy your threads and learn a lot from them.

How is your duck egg sales? Do you get a lot? Just curious.

 

[Dogfish]

Only sold 20 birds to date. $10 a bird. The cost was the same for a whole bird, or a bird cut up into 2xleg quarters, 2xwings, and the breast split without the keel bone. No giblets in either bag, and for a cut up bird I kept the back and keel bone for stock.

I have some word of mouth spreading where I work that has folks interested in my spring batch of 50-100 birds.

On New Years Eve I'll bring a few roto birds to our family party and see of anybody wants a few.

My net cost was $3.85 per bird for the 30 I kept this last batch after paying for feed. I have a different goal than you though, which is to get my birds for free. If I can sell 50 birds this spring, I should be there, as my feed cost will drop when I buy a pallet of feed, which is the only variable. Cost per chick is fixed. Water is free (rain collection), power is minimal.

 

[barrybro]

Just finished my first year. 2.75 per pound.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Barry is that whole? Or either?

 

[halo]

My local organic free range farm sells whole birds only, for $3 a pound. Big birds, too!

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Quote:
Ya, you would get two breast fillets per pound. So at $12.00 / pound it would pay for the entire bird. Basically, say if I sold all the breast meat and didn't sell one leg quarter or any wings, I would have made the same amount of money if I would have sold all the birds whole. So anything extra is just profit. I'm going to have to bag everything separate and store some product but I think it might be worth it if people want to pay the prices for select cuts.

Personally I too utilize the whole bird so I wouldn't want just breast fillets. But there are a lot of people that would buy them just because they don't want to deal with a whole bird or do not know how to deal with a whole bird.

As for the CSA, well... we are in the process of getting our new site up and running. It's been a year in the making. I made the current site with a friend of mine when I was 16 or so... so really it's crazy outdated. A lot has changed in 8 years and we offer a lot more products that aren't even on the sight. However I'm hoping that by next season it will be up and running. It's a cool website and really showcases everything we do, including the CSA's. As for Facebook, that's really the way we stay in touch with our customers. Feel free to post anytime, I'm trying to get more of my customers involved with what goes on at the farm so if other people are posting it encourages them to as well.

Thanks for the input.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Quote:
Ya, I think $3.00 / pound is a good price for a whole chicken not commercially raised.