BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[AnthNDacula]

I'm curious about how people are selling the fibro melanistic chickens. Are they sold live or processed. What kind of price do they bring? I've not seen anyone selling silkies for food since I was in San Francisco China Town in '2002. There was a shop there full of live silkies and rabbits. You chose the one you wanted and they butchered them for you. I don't remember anything about how they were priced.

 

[miss heny]

The cockrels I have sold I sold live for 10 bucks each, but I plan on processing them to be sold forehand so those who don't want to butcher won't have to. Also too it'll allow us to make sure we are breeding right

Also, pricing will be what its deem good for market, the amount of feed going in and of course other costs.

 

[dfr1973]

I'm curious about how people are selling the fibro melanistic chickens. Are they sold live or processed. What kind of price do they bring? I've not seen anyone selling silkies for food since I was in San Francisco China Town in '2002. There was a shop there full of live silkies and rabbits. You chose the one you wanted and they butchered them for you. I don't remember anything about how they were priced.

The cockrels I have sold I sold live for 10 bucks each, but I plan on processing them to be sold forehand so those who don't want to butcher won't have to. Also too it'll allow us to make sure we are breeding right

Also, pricing will be what its deem good for market, the amount of feed going in and of course other costs.

I sell Silkie cockerels live, and currently get $15 for a 4-5 month old. Remember, I hold them until I am sure of gender ... the hens are MINE. The same customer also bought GLW slips at 7 months old for $15, then a couple more at 9-10 months old for $17 each. Again, these were live - I dropped them off in a carrier, then came back the next day (or so) to pick up the carrier. I did have a Silkie cockerel who injured himself while still young and small, so I sold him for $7 since he was maybe half-sized.

My customer has mentioned finding Silkies in a market somewhere in the region (I didn't ask where) that were smaller than what I've sold, and for I think he said $11 each, already processed so no telling just how fresh.

I keep telling my customer he MUST tell me about anything wrong/substandard/weak, needing improvement on the Silkie carcasses. So far, all he'll say is, "We'd love for them to be even bigger!" so I guess nothing is too wrong with what I am starting out with.

 

[Kassaundra]

Some pics from today, a broody mom w/ her chicks. These are the first non NN chicks I've had in a long time. I am having fertility issues w/ my head roo (about to be fixed tomorrow is freezer camp day) I got these eggs from a friend so this broody could have chicks.

 

[miss heny]

I want that hen...and those chicks are cute!

 

[miss heny]

I sell Silkie cockerels live, and currently get $15 for a 4-5 month old. Remember, I hold them until I am sure of gender ... the hens are MINE. The same customer also bought GLW slips at 7 months old for $15, then a couple more at 9-10 months old for $17 each. Again, these were live - I dropped them off in a carrier, then came back the next day (or so) to pick up the carrier. I did have a Silkie cockerel who injured himself while still young and small, so I sold him for $7 since he was maybe half-sized.

My customer has mentioned finding Silkies in a market somewhere in the region (I didn't ask where) that were smaller than what I've sold, and for I think he said $11 each, already processed so no telling just how fresh.

I keep telling my customer he MUST tell me about anything wrong/substandard/weak, needing improvement on the Silkie carcasses. So far, all he'll say is, "We'd love for them to be even bigger!" so I guess nothing is too wrong with what I am starting out with.

in the end I have a survey written up to figure out what they prefer. If they want live okay, means less work for us haha.

 

[AnthNDacula]

I sell Silkie cockerels live, and currently get $15 for a 4-5 month old. Remember, I hold them until I am sure of gender ... the hens are MINE. The same customer also bought GLW slips at 7 months old for $15, then a couple more at 9-10 months old for $17 each. Again, these were live - I dropped them off in a carrier, then came back the next day (or so) to pick up the carrier. I did have a Silkie cockerel who injured himself while still young and small, so I sold him for $7 since he was maybe half-sized.

My customer has mentioned finding Silkies in a market somewhere in the region (I didn't ask where) that were smaller than what I've sold, and for I think he said $11 each, already processed so no telling just how fresh.

I keep telling my customer he MUST tell me about anything wrong/substandard/weak, needing improvement on the Silkie carcasses. So far, all he'll say is, "We'd love for them to be even bigger!" so I guess nothing is too wrong with what I am starting out with.

I'm impressed. Sounds like you've created an amazing little niche market for yourself. I'm sure your customers appreciate the freshness of a live bird. The only black chickens I every see at the store are frozen. Are you able to keep production costs low enough to make that profitable?

 

[dfr1973]

Sounds like you've created an amazing little niche market for yourself. ... Are you able to keep production costs low enough to make that profitable?

Right now, my "niche market" consists of one customer, who buys for his family as he has the best English speaking skills. It started after I had ordered the Silkies, but before I received them, when I asked him if he knew any special or good ways to cook black-skinned Silkie chickens. From there it snowballed, and when I got them in and showed him pics of all the chickens, that's when he stopped just short of begging me to sell him eggs.

I am not keeping track of the costs - we haggled on the price a tad, as I originally asked $20 a cockerel and he countered with $15. The Silkiebator project is for incubating, hatching, and brooding chicks, with the cockerels being an unavoidable by-product that I just happened to find a buyer. My Wyandottes are my main focus, and what makes my heart go pitter-pat.

 

[gjensen]

@ 7 months, and 15.00, they are getting sold at cost. After 12 wks they are eating between 4 and 5 oz per day (no waste). @ 5oz per day and .30 cent per pound of feed, we are in the neighborhood of ten dollars from between 3 months and 7 months. Feed is usually 80% of the cost of raising the bird. (It costs around 5 dollars to get them to 12 wks. @ .30 cents per pound.)

The cost effectiveness of poultry meat declines rapidly (and in a big way) after 12 and 14 wks.

This is where that cursed growth curve comes into effect. We want to harvest a respectable carcass at the peak of their efficiency. Once we identify what that point is, then we can see what kind of progress we need to make, and select accordingly.

Or just watch for the feathers laying everywhere.

It is easy enough to divide the pounds fed to a group of birds and divide it by the number of birds fed. That gives us our pounds of feed per pound of flesh gained. A number that matters. This number varies wildly from strain to strain. There is marked differences between them.

It can potentially cost twice as much between 12 wks and 24 wks, than from between 0 and 12 wks.

I get rid of cockerel culls here for cost. It saves me money.

 

[hellbender]

We have many, many gallons of goat milk and a bunch of colostrum frozen for the up-coming spring kids (we bottle feed all kids) so we will finally dry off the last two does by Friday. Plenty of strained product for family use as well. For kid's milk, we just milk and jug it.