Business idea: Chicken plucker service?

[Maria G]

Hi,

Fed up with my 9-5 job, and looking for supersmart ways of financing a lazy lifestyle at home

So - I sell some chickens, and consider expanding into mealworm production, kalp production etc. Now I have this chicken plucker idea, since I have some roosters that need to go, and I also let customers return roosters if they end up with too many roosters. I have never slaughtered or plucked a chicken, but I have someone who can teach me.

Then I started thinking about all the other backyard chicken people who have birds to kill and no clue how to do it/how to pluck them.

Would it be an idea to buy one of the smallest industrial pluckers and simply sell "chicken plucking/slaugthering services"? (that would make a great sign down by the road!).

Is this a viable micro-business? (or nano-business - I am mainly looking to earn back the cost of the machine really). What do you think is a fair price per chicken for plucking and/or slaughtering? I guess I could expand to ducks, goose etc for hunters as well.

Silly idea or not?

(I live in and urban area, so I think the majority of chicken keepers here are over educated tree huggers with no practical sense - just like me

)

I would love to hear your feedback!

M.

 

[Mrs. K]

I think it might be a small side business. I would love to be able to take my birds somewhere to be plucked, and I only do a few. But I can do it myself, and I will do it myself if your cost is too high.

The moment you start butchering animals for human consumption, I would be pretty sure you would need health inspections. there would be legal licencing and local laws.

Might be a sideline, but keep the day job!

Mrs K

 

[Maria G]

Good point - I'd have to look into the legal side of this. But slaughtering and consuming my own birds is ok, and if customers bring their animals for me to slaughter for them, they consume their own birds as well. But I might need some kind of licence for the slaughtering part so that it is performed according to animal welfare/hygiene regulations. Maybe stick with the plucker only.

First I'll have to learn how to slaughter and hand pluck, and then I'll get an idea of how much I would pay to get someone to do it for me. I got an aggressive rooster who is a good candidate after biting my son today....

How much would you be willing to pay, though? Just curious

 

[donrae]

Good point - I'd have to look into the legal side of this. But slaughtering and consuming my own birds is ok, and if customers bring their animals for me to slaughter for them, they consume their own birds as well. But I might need some kind of licence for the slaughtering part so that it is performed according to animal welfare/hygiene regulations. Maybe stick with the plucker only.

First I'll have to learn how to slaughter and hand pluck, and then I'll get an idea of how much I would pay to get someone to do it for me. I got an aggressive rooster who is a good candidate after biting my son today....

How much would you be willing to pay, though? Just curious

This is a loaded question, isn't it?

When my husband is trying to butcher and things aren't going well and he's having a hard time, I'd gladly fork over $20 per bird, just so he doesn't have to deal with it

. But that's just in the heat of emotion, I'd never truly pay that much.

I'd think you'd need some sort of sliding scale according to how many birds the customer is having processed. Someone bringing two cockerels to be processed should pay more per bird than someone bringing in 25 Cornish cross...just my thoughts. And would it be worth your time to set up and clean up for just two birds? Something else to think about.

If I could drop off my cockerels live and pick them up bagged for the freezer, I'd willingly pay around $5---depending on how far away and the turnaround time. Much more than that and I'd probably just decide to listen to my husband swear

 

[DanEP]

I would think that having a plucker rental service might be an easier way to go. If I'm ready to process my birds and just rent the plucker from you that eliminates your need to deal with the health reg's and if somebody shows up with 100 cornish cross your going to need a lot more equipment than just a plucker and a lot more help.

 

[aart]

Definitely harvest a few birds before proceeding with this business idea.
Kill to chill takes about 15 minutes per bird, setting up and then cleaning up afterwards takes a couple hours.

You can't really offer just plucking......
.....unless you rent out the plucker, then you need to think about transport of equipment and contracts in case someone damages it.

Wonders.....will a plucker take out the pin feathers of a bird in molt?
That's the only thing hard about hand plucking a properly scalded bird, the rest of the feathers pretty much slide right off.

 

[Maria G]

Ah... reality has set in. Probably a pretty bad idea. Also considering disease control - if people start bringing all kinds of birds to my property, even if I don't let the birds interact, I guess disease could transfer pretty quickly.

Well well, back to the drawing board - I got lots of ideas

 

[ashlieneevel]

I second the suggestion of renting out plucker equipment as opposed to performing the service, but even that would require a substantial demand for that to even break even. Good luck to ya either way