Trying To Make Money On Meat Birds

[Pine Roost]

Who all raises and sells meat birds for a profit? For me...feed is the main cost that cuts into profits when buying it from a feed store. Does anyone out there have a method of cutting down raising costs (particularly feed) so that it does not cut so much into what you net in the end??
All suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

 

[Pine Roost]

Surely I cant be the only one trying to bring in a dollar selling chickens... and pointers?

 

[Tervil Torv]

Go to your local feed mill and have them make you the feed you need. I get a 20% for $.17/lb. Unfortunately, I am new to this too, so I have to have it bagged for $.75/bag, which adds a couple cents/lb.

Good luck!!!

 

[offgridhermit]

I wish I knew how my dad's mother did it during the depression. Dad told me that she had 200 RIR and sold them by the pound live weight. I guess the people that bought them did their own butchering. And maybe there was more demand during the depression, I don't know.

 

[Mahlzeit]

How much is the feed costing your through the whole cycle from chick to butcher?

 

[BCMaraniac]

I wish I knew how my dad's mother did it during the depression. Dad told me that she had 200 RIR and sold them by the pound live weight. I guess the people that bought them did their own butchering. And maybe there was more demand during the depression, I don't know.

Well, people then were accustomed to processing wild game, so a chicken would be a walk in the park. Also, people probably wanted their chickens for Sunday dinner, so to speak, and had to kill, pluck, gut, etc immediately before cooking due to the lack of electricity/refrigeration.
It sounds like she was in an area where people didn't raise their own birds.....was she close to a large town/city?

 

[offgridhermit]

I actually don't know where they were living at the time they had 200 chickens. We didn't grow up with a close relationship with dad's family. I guess I should ask Dad and get some more information from him the next time we talk. I'd like to know what they fed that many chickens also. Of course in the 30's the cities in CA weren't all that big.

 

[offgridhermit]

How much is the feed costing your through the whole cycle from chick to butcher?

I'd like to know the answer to that question too, since I want a meat flock in the Spring, and hubby is worried about the cost.

 

[Chemguy]

I'd like to know the answer to that question too, since I want a meat flock in the Spring, and hubby is worried about the cost.

Meyer Hatchery has a feed consumption chart available here: http://www.meyerhatchery.com/produc...D=WBRS&grd_prodone_filter=PRODUCT_ID = 'WBRS'

According to the chart, on average one of their meaties will consume about 15 lb. of feed. I do not know the conditions under which the data were obtained; your mileage may vary.

 

[Pine Roost]

When figuring my cost, I say 14 lbs of feed to grow 1 CX for 7-8 weeks. Feed is costing me $11.50 per bag. 20% protein for 17cents/lb !....now That's what I need to get my hands on