Break even price point

[Still Amateur]

Never raised meat birds but considering it. I was talking with a neighbor that mentioned a local farm is charging $40/processed bird. That seems really high, and I know they’re in it as a business but it got me wondering what the break even price point is if you were to charge for a defeathered meat bird. My consideration here is getting together a fee some friends could pay to basically have us raise a meat flock. I’m not looking to make money but our time would be compensated. So, price of chicks/feed/time and labor raising and processing them… what do you all think is a fair fee for that?

 

[Molpet]

Price of chicks and prices of feed depends on where you are.

 

[Ridgerunner]

what do you all think is a fair fee for that?

It will vary for each of us. You need to determine what your one-time costs will be to set this up. That may include building facilities, will you buy (or rent) a plucker, will you need a state license or permit? How will you cool them to age them.

Then you need to estimate your recurring expenses. The cost of chicks and feed, ice for cooling, bags to keep them in after processing. Will you have transportation expenses for birds or supplies? Estimate how much time you will spend on this project.

Put it all together and come up with an estimated cost. Then keep meticulous records and adjust the price for future projects.

Or use the SWAG method (Scientific Wild A..ed Guess). That's kind of what your first estimate will be anyway.

 

[FunClucks]

Before you raise them for someone else, I'd recommend you raise some meat birds for yourself. Even 10-15 birds, or the 25 minimum order some hatcheries have will give you a better feel for how difficult everything will be. You may decide it's not worth your trouble even if the costs seem to work out on paper. You may identify areas where you'd like to improve next time. There are so many ways it can go wrong - good research and some practice before other folks' money is involved can set you up for success.

 

[Still Amateur]

I research very throughly before taking on a project. This particular time I’m just trying to ballpark BEP - not looking for more than a few and a neighbor mentioned the idea of basically co-raising. He brought up basically the “foster price” for us to offer a couple of the birds we would raise. It’s all hypothetical, but has sparked my curiosity.

I’d assume all housing and infrastructure was done, so basically cost of you were doing the second run ever. I believe organic feed around here is ~$30 per bag - which is what we pay for our layers’ feed.

Thanks for helping me satisfy some curiosity if for nothing else but a mental exercise.

 

[Molpet]

A guy did a study on heritage, so costs will be different, but gives an idea on what to look at
https://projects.sare.org/project-reports/fnc12-866/

 

[Still Amateur]

I read the intro and am looking forward to some time this evening to go through the entire study. Thank you for providing!!!