Finished another batch.

[pintail_drake2004]

Well, I could not have asked for cooler weather to process chickens in May. This past weekend was beautiful so I processed 2 dozen. My wife's home community typically orders about 100 processed from us each year. But in the past, I have found that 25-30 is all I want to in a weekend so we raise a couple batches each year. The Yardbird plucker is worth its weight in gold. This is the 2nd or 3rd batch I have processed with it, and the process go SO much quicker.

 

[iwltfum]

Very nice! Are those Texas Poultry Shrink Bag labels? They look like ours. A good plucker is the best investment we've made in our meat bird enterprise. Are they cornishx?

 

[pintail_drake2004]

Yes I believe they are the Texas shrink bags. And Yes, they are Cornish cross. I am a firm believer that if you let a chicken be a chicken they will be healthier. I have a 600sqft run for the birds, and the actually used it most days.

Now the part everyone wants to know: We ordered 25 chicks, they sent 26 but 2 died.

Meat Chickens	25	1.3	32.5
Starter/grow feed	2	12.29	24.58
Meat bird	9	13.99	125.91
Lables & Bags	22	0.58	12.76
Ice	3 (16# bags)	2	6
Total			201.75
Sold	2 live	12.5	25
	22 processed		Ave $8.03/ea

 

[Hamster0425]

How do you encourage them to wander and use their run?

 

[iwltfum]

I am a firm believer that if you let a chicken be a chicken they will be healthier.

Ain't that the truth!

Nice breakdown. I include my labor for raising and processing in my breakdowns at a moderate hourly rate so my costs are usually a bit more per bird for me, but I get that some people are doing it for fun and it doesn't matter. More power to you in that case.

 

[Parront]

Doing 2 dozen at a time would make sense to have a plucker. They look great!

 

[pintail_drake2004]

I open the pop door and run them outside. I put a tank of fresh water outside and they literally flock to it, and then mill around for a few hours in the grass. I have done this will every batch of meat birds, and it works well.

It takes 2.5 hrs from setting up the scalder to breaking down and cleaning everything for me to process 22 chickens by myself. My wife would have helped, but we have a backlog in the side business so we divided and conquered the tasks. Even if I add a decent hourly wage-I would charge the same as what I normally do in my side business, we'd still make money on them. I don't do it to get rich, but to provide quality protein for me and my family. The ones I sell cover cost of feed, maintenance, and labor easily.

 

[TheMother]

Well, I could not have asked for cooler weather to process chickens in May. This past weekend was beautiful so I processed 2 dozen. My wife's home community typically orders about 100 processed from us each year. But in the past, I have found that 25-30 is all I want to in a weekend so we raise a couple batches each year. The Yardbird plucker is worth its weight in gold. This is the 2nd or 3rd batch I have processed with it, and the process go SO much quicker.

Wow, Look at that beautiful protein! Awesome job. Thanks for those stats.
Can I ask what you're using to wrap those chickens in? This will be our first time raising and processing meat birds so I'm digging for as much info as possible.

 

[pintail_drake2004]

They are the Texas poultry heat shrink bags. I found them on amazon. Cheap and the customers really prefer the look of a store bought chicken (its familiar)