Cost of Raising Meat Birds ~vs~ Store-bought

[Salt and Light]

Has anyone ever calculated the actual cost of raising meat birds vs the cost of buying them.

I know home-raised is better quality, but I'm just curious the cost-difference between the two.

 

[Omniskies]

That's not the only way to save money.

You can pull out the wishbone, dry it and sell it as a lucky charm. ebay: $1

You can pluck the feathers and sell them to people who want them for crafts. ebay: $2

You can save the feet and make meals with those. No kidding. Look up the recipes. I'm saving mine back to make a big meal all at once. $0.50

If you want to be even more macabre, boil the meat off the skull and sell it to reptile owners for their tanks. Make sure you go through the process of sterilizing the skull. Bonus points if you paint some funky design on there. I can get anywhere from $3-5 per skull and am thinking about doing something with the neck bones, as well.

Right there you can make $6.50+ more per bird than you could have with one from the store.

If you're willing to do the extra work and sell weird little things you can eat your birds for free, if not be paid to eat your own birds.

 

[UncleHoot]

Quote:
I have to say, this post has made me both laugh and think harder than I have in a long time.

EDIT: Found this http://www.alessandraexposito.com/chickenskulls.html Kinda creepy, but really cool.

 

[hinkjc]

We calculated raising meat birds one year and it came out about even as far as money spent just based on feed. We did not include housing, labor for care and butchering (which we did on our own). The actual feed cost versus buying one in the store was about the same.

A lot of work goes into raising your own meat, so you never really get ahead as far as profit goes for personal consumption. I feel we win because we know exactly what went into our meat and how they were raised, so our family has a healthy meal. That is more important than the costs to me.

Jody

 

[Steve]

I kept track of my costs but didn't compare it to store bought.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=67703

 

[Poler]

I worked at a grocery store in the butcher shop for a long time.

We always charged $1.29 for a whole bird, and they averaged out to only like 3-4 pounds, sometimes less.

In my experience, homegrown birds always get bigger and always taste better.

Steve's Birds, (the 11 that he had processed) came to a total of 92.16 into the 11 birds is 8.38.

If Steve were to process them himself, saving $2.50 per bird, his total would have only been $64.66. Or $5.88 per bird, much cheaper than store-bought.

 

[silkiechicken]

Mine cost about $2.5 a lb each in feed. Add housing and so on it's about $3 a lb.

 

[UncleHoot]

I did an "accounting" (https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=65880) of all of my costs, in order to figure out how much to charge my customers, which are mostly friends and family. If your fixed costs are really low (feeders, shelter, bedding, etc), and you process yourself, you could probably save over $3/bird compared to what I came up with, which might put you in the range of $6/bird to raise to 5lb dressed-weight. That would be close to what you'd pay in the store.

The only way to truly "save" money, is to convince your friends/neighbors to buy what you over-produce.

 

[joebryant]

It would take a lot to convince me that ANYBODY actually makes a profit when raising chickens. I don't care if they're selling eggs and/or meat chickens. I got into chickens two months ago, and so far ten chicks have cost me over $2,000, and I'm still spending $$$ on them, their coops, and their run.

BTW, I wasn't even figuring my time and HARD labor.

I don't get it. I tell my wife, Anne, often that everyone on this forum seems exceptionally intelligent, but then I think about $$$$$$$$$$ and wonder about all of you.

 

[skeeter]

Albertsons has whole fryers this week for $.69/lb,thats pretty cheap eaten,