Dumb questions from a chicken noob.

[PD-Riverman]

This thread got me thinking. I did the math and it came out to $30.05 each bird! Hahaha.

That includes the price of the plucker.

Oops add another .50 each for the shrink bags.
$30.55 per bird.

Is that including $20per hour labor for feeding, caring, processing. Plus the cost of the brooder, housing, electricity, plus gas going to get feed, etc----what did you include for this cheap Price??

 

[twigcrafter]

Hahaha! A total bargain right?
Nope I didn't charge for gas or my labor, electricity, brooder, rent, stink factor, dusty house etc. I've also given away 4 packaged birds to boot. Life experience was priceless

 

[StarChicken]

This thread got me thinking. I did the math and it came out to $30.05 each bird! Hahaha.

That includes the price of the plucker.

Oops add another .50 each for the shrink bags.
$30.55 per bird.

Hmmmm, lemme see now . . . flying by the seat of my pants here . . .

Broody hen hatching the eggs, then becoming mama and protector = cost of feed for about 10 weeks . . . or . . .

Put the eggs in the incubator that's already paid for itself several times over = cost of electricity for 3 weeks and caring for the chicks for about 10 weeks.

Cost of chick feed for about 10 weeks.

Chicken processing/plucking with my two hands = cost of water and gas/electricity to heat water = maybe a couple bucks?

I'll go with $.50 for the bags; I already own the sealer.

I'd say that I'm operating on a shoestring with the whole operation of putting meat in the freezer.

I'd say my six chicks will eat about a quart of feed per week in the beginning, and consumption will go up, but I just cannot see anything like $30.00 per chicken.

I'm not going to put a dollar figure on each chicken raised for the freezer, but I will start keeping records, although our chickens are primarily for eggs without added chemicals. Same for meat chickens; I want to know what's been fed to mine.

 

[Birdinhand]

I've raised and processed three rounds of CX, totaling about 70 birds so far. I've decided it's worth it, I have a family of four and feel that the way the birds are raised is important to me.

1. Is it cost effective to raise my own meat birds? (My wife and I would do this to save money in a heartbeat)
- that depends on what you are comparing to. there is nothing cheeper than an abused CX that is fed crap and sold for dirt at the super market. if you compare to organic, you can do it for less and be in control of the growing environment, which to me is very important. I grow out my birds on organic food for about $2.50 lb, the cheapest alternative in the local store for organic CX is over $3 and they are factory farmed. part of the reasoning for me is that I have a family of 4 and I think it's valuable for my kids to get to see what is involved in producing their food.

2. How hard is it to process the chickens. I don't want to drop 500 bucks to process 10 chickens every few months.
- that depends on how much work you are up for. you can do it on the cheap but you have to work for it. In my second year I bought a yard bird chicken plucker and that made life so much easier, but yes, it's $399 just for that. you don't have to vacuum seal them but the sealer at costco is $100 and keeps them fresh in the freezer for a good long time. all the equipment i have invested in except the plucker has multiple purposes and I don't consider the money i've spent on it a big deal. you can go without a plucker by either hand plucking, which is hard, IMHO or you can skin them (easy and fast).

3. How old do the chickens need to be before slaughter?
CX are game hen size at 6 weeks and ready for the oven at 8-9 weeks. mine top out at between 5-7 lbs dressed by 8.5 weeks.

I've found the whole process very rewarding on many levels, not the least of which is that I end up with a large volume of very good compost when I'm done from all the droppings. a flock of 37 birds goes through something like 400 lbs of feed in the grow out process, and all that feed becomes very fertile droppings. if you have a nack for composting, you can turn that into very nice food for your vegetables.

 

[twigcrafter]

I'd say my six chicks will eat about a quart of feed per week in the beginning, and consumption will go up, but I just cannot see anything like $30.00 per chicken.

Yes, I see my mistake. You are absolutely right.
I added $17.00 a week in meatbird feed for 14 weeks. When in reality the were only going through a bag a week at the end. Plus I did butcher the white ones earlier than that. I also added $12.00 every 2 weeks for scratch grains, but in reality I was feeding all my birds and pig the scratch grains too.

I have a huge problem when it comes to math and numbers in general. Every time I make a dumb math mistake I think of this old cheer...

"16? 24? do I look like I know the score? Go! Go! fight! fight! Gee I hope I look alright"

 

[Sublight]

You guys are great. I love reading all of this great information.