chicken prices

[united]

Since corn is one of the cheapest ingredients in poultry feed, why corn-fed chicken are more expensive?

 

[scubaforlife]

More expensive than what?

If I average out the cost of the chick and feed, it costs me about $8.50 per bird for a 6lb bird that gives me 4.5lbs of meat. That's before you consider I have had to buy/build a brooder, chicken pens, prevent critters, contain the feed and water, etc.... That's just total of the variable costs.

I charge $12 - $14 per bird.

 

[alicefelldown]

Keep in mind that prices vary depending on where you are - and what you are comparing. Grocery chickens? Farm raised chickens? It's hard to answer or hypothesize with you, when you're short on the details.

 

[united]

Sorry, i was short. What i meant was the prices at the grocer/supermarket. The corn fed chicken are nearly double the price of the normal chicken ( at least in europe).

 

[Bossroo]

Would you be willing to pay more for a very appealing plump yellow skinned chicken or an anemic looking white skinned but equally plump chicken ?

 

[united]

That's what i was thinking. They both have anti boitics, adictives etc....in them . If the only difference between them is the percentage of corn(which is cheaper)in their diet, why they cost more(in the supermarket)? And why their value was never questioned? I mean they are considered as much better than the normar ones.

 

[alicefelldown]

So you are in Europe. You are at the supermarket. You have two options in chicken: CORN-FED or NON-CORN-FED. The CORN-FED is more expensive.

You are asking why this is - do I have that right?

You're still leaving out some key details from the types of chickens you are comparing - I've been using Google to try and narrow down what you are asking:

From the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/get_cooking/cooks_guide/poultry.shtml :

Corn-fed chickens have yellow flesh and are widely considered to have more flavour than birds fed on fishmeal or soya (the usual diet of other factory-farmed fowl).

So right there, is a big part of the higher cost for corn-fed. Their grocery counterparts are fed soya or fishmeal, which iirc are cheaper than corn.

I should add that I also saw an article from 2007/business.timesonline.co.uk that said:

tests conducted last week by government scientists on behalf of this newspaper portray a very different picture of the supermarket’s chicken. They have shown that birds had not consumed enough maize to justify the label and that the supermarket is in breach of strict EU laws. The findings follow concerns that some retailers and producers are “passing off” cheaper chickens as corn-fed to hike up their prices.

Corn-fed chickens are supposed to have a unique flavour and yellow colour – but have been beset by allegations that unscrupulous sellers use dye. Simon Baty, the business development manager at the Central Science Laboratory, said: “Fraudulent farmers have been known to put yellow food dye in their chicken feed in order to produce this healthy colour.”

** for the note-takers - this same thing happens with eggs, check your feed bag labels for additives such as Marigold petals, which help keep the yolks nice and orange.

In addition, anything labeled 'free-range' is going to command a premium price, compared to basic factory chickens - no matter how 'off base' that is with our view of 'free-range' (p.s., if you're taking notes, and your chickens eat grass and play outside, you're a bit more pasture-ranged than free-range. Free range *by definition of the large companies (because the USA doesn't regulate these terms as thoroughly as the UK)* is 'freedom to move around in the crowded barn, not restricted in battery cages', whereas, pasture includes time spent on a pasture, or grass and dirt.)

From the BBC (These are the standards for the UK):

In an effort to improve standards, the European Community produced regulations governing special labelling for chicken, and the minimum standards that apply to them.

The most common categories are:

'Extensive indoor' or 'barn-reared': these chickens mustn't be packed more than 15 to a square metre of living space (and not more than 25kg/sq m in combined weight); they shouldn't be slaughtered before they are 56 days old.

'Free-range': the maximum indoor stocking density is 13 birds per square metre (and not more than 27.5kg/sq m); in addition, each bird, for at least half its life, should have continuous daytime access to open-air runs with a maximum density of one bird per square metre.

'Traditional free-range': the maximum indoor stocking density is 12 birds per square metre (and not more than 25kg/sq m); continuous daytime access to open-air runs should be given from the age of six weeks, and these runs should allow at least 2sq m per chicken; poultry houses shouldn't contain more than 4,000 chickens. Slow-growing varieties of chicken should be used, with a minimum slaughter age of 81 days.

'Free-range - total freedom': in addition to the criteria for 'traditional free-range' chickens, these birds should have open-air runs of unlimited area.

Most UK chicken meat comes from birds that are packed at a density of about 35kg/sq m, have no outside access, and are slaughtered at 41 to 43 days.

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Does that help?​

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[united]

Corn-fed chickens have yellow flesh and are widely considered to have more flavour than birds fed on fishmeal or soya (the usual diet of other factory-farmed fowl). That is the answer i was looking for. I did'nt know soya was cheaper.Thanks.

This has to be the best poultry forum in the world. Twice(from differnt members) i got a detailed answer for my questions. Thanks