Processing cost?

[Ditch Chicken]

I have a friend who purchased 10 meat birds. He's new to raising meat birds... actually so am I. Anyway I come from a family that owns a butcher shop and it's what I did for most of my life. He asked me if I knew anyone in the area that processed birds. I knew of one about an hour away. He then asked if I would do it. I have all the equipment to do my own. Problem is he wants to pay me I have no clue what to charge him. I'm in central Wisconsin and have thought about doing an on farm chicken processing side gig but wasn't sure what to charge. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Around here the facility has to be USDA licensed to do it for pay.
I would call around to see what other facilities charge and go from there. The closest place to me is almost 2 hours away. There are lots of butcher shops and small processors but they don't do chickens, most only do beef and swine.

 

[CluckerFamily]

Some Amish in the area charge by the weight, 40 cents a pound. While other Amish just take 10% of the birds you bring in to process.

 

[iwltfum]

I would also price it based on your local prices. I've seen everything from $2.50/bird to $6+/bird and often times it depends on the variety of bird. It's much easier to process a cornish cross than it is a three year old laying hen. To me, it wouldn't make much sense to charge by the pound. Since lighter birds don't take less time to process. I would charge hourly or by the bird. On my farm, it takes a three person line (everyone at a different station) about 4 minutes per bird to set up, kill, scald, pluck, eviscerate, bag, and clean up. That's a cost of $3 per bird at a pay rate of $15 an hour per person.

Does your butcher shop have a feather picker? If not, you will want one if you are going to make a side business out of it

 

[Ninjasquirrel]

Indiana here. Most places around us wont do it for less than 50 birds. Not sure how much they charge because we've never had that many. In my research however a "good ol boy" to butcher and process charges $3.50 per hen and $5 per roo. Another thing to consider is your time. In my limited experience with the process from butcher to table is about 20 to 45 minutes depending on difficulty of the particular bird. Think about how long it takes you and then consider how much you would want to be paid per hour to do the job.

Lets say you want to make 12 dollars an hour to process. And that it takes you a half hour to process 1 bird. In this case you should charge 6 dollars per bird.

 

[Mosey2003]

Illinois here. We have three, two north of me and one way south. Basically, they are priced by quantity and type - if you have under 25 birds, it's one price - if they're spent hens or other non-broilers, it's more. The lowest I've seen is $2 per bird. If I were you and this guy has less than 50 birds, I'd charge $5 each.

 

[Justso]

Illinois here. We have three, two north of me and one way south. Basically, they are priced by quantity and type - if you have under 25 birds, it's one price - if they're spent hens or other non-broilers, it's more. The lowest I've seen is $2 per bird. If I were you and this guy has less than 50 birds, I'd charge $5 each.

Mosey, can you share the name of the processors north of you?

 

[Kusanar]

The processors around me that I have found are around $5 per bird. That said, unless you are an inspected facility (here at least, check your local laws) you aren't allowed to process birds for others. Some people get away with that by selling "live birds" and then throwing in an "optional free processing" but not sure how you would get around that if you were processing their birds not yours.

It may be a thing where you can do a certain number per year without inspection, again, check your local laws. At the very least, you could process the birds for a case of beer or item of similar value, then no money changes hands

 

[Mosey2003]

Mosey, can you share the name of the processors north of you?

Brummel is in Rochelle I believe. They're quite pricy and rather new, but seems like a clean, quality place. The other place starts with a G and I wouldn't send my worst enemy there...

 

[poultryprofessor]

I don't know the legalities of processing birds for someone else in Wisconsin, but that is something you may want to look into. Likely won't be an issue if the friend isn't selling the processed meat, but better to be safe than sorry.

To answer your question... the cost of processing depends on a lot of different factors. Here in Central Missouri, I pay $2.60 per bird to a Mennonite-owned/operated USDA-inspected facility that processes my birds and packages them for retail sale. There are additional charges if I want the birds cut up or other parts (liver, gizzard, etc) kept and packaged. I assume they have a minimum charge, but I'm usually processing 100+ birds at a time so I'm not sure what it is. As a customer, I am more than happy with this price for the service we receive.

Having said that, I would not personally process birds for $2.60/bird. While I can do it myself and have the basic equipment necessary, I don't enjoy processing and would rather not do it. I'm honestly not sure what price would make it "worth it" to me to process birds for someone else. On some level, that is a personal determination. If you do decide to process for this friend, consider the value of your time, impact on your equipment, and costs associated with utility usage (electric, water, etc) involved.