How hard would it be to raise birds and sell them live m? Cornish cross breed….

[Ke11er98]

How hard would it really be to raise a few hundred birds and sell them live legally? I really wanna get into chickens farming

 

[Molpet]

How hard would it really be to raise a few hundred birds and sell them live legally? I really wanna get into chickens farming

Do you have a market? By me they don't sell live, processors are backed up for 6 months and have to be USDA approved processor.

Might start with 25 and see how it goes

 

[3KillerBs]

What are your state's/country's laws about it?

Have you done market research to find out if there are people interested in killing their own birds but unable to raise them?

I've heard of people serving ethic specialty markets selling birds live for making certain traditional, specialty dishes that call for the inclusion of blood or certain organs customarily removed during butchering.

 

[iwltfum]

Copied and pasted from another thread I just responded to about the same subject-

I have raised 600+ birds per year several times and 200+ more than a few times. All on pasture in pasture pens, organic feed, butchered on farm and sold on location. I can tell you that there are easier things to be doing. Easier businesses to start. but this is necessary work in this day and age.

It's a big investment - brooder+equiptment, pasture pens, feeders, waterers, crates for butchering to transport them, butchering supplies, packing supplies, plus a bunch of other things that aren't crucial but make life alot easier. Probably want a tractor or 4 wheeler with cart too depending on size of land.

Not to mention, feed has gone up 20% since last season (seriously), and you need to have enough money to buy feed for basically the entire season. For us, it was about $1-2k per week to feed 300-400 birds at a time. The amounts per week fluctuated because of the staggered nature of the individual batches. The price of chicks has gone up a good bit in raction to the cost of feed. That will be a seasonal start up cost since you will want to preorder chicks for the entire season in early spring.

I dont want to get into too much detail here, but also had to build a dedicated butchering facility due to state law, our initial investment was a good bit more than 10k.

Staggered batches are the best way to keep the flow of chickens coming through the season without having to invest in lots of freezer space.

1)Market research, 2) small scale trials and 3) test sales are your best friends Do those three things for at least 1 or 2 years before you start. Hold a job that makes money while you do your trials and testing. Have a back up plan for where the funding will come from.
Cheers and good luck, please ask more questions!

 

[Ke11er98]

Copied and pasted from another thread I just responded to about the same subject-

I have raised 600+ birds per year several times and 200+ more than a few times. All on pasture in pasture pens, organic feed, butchered on farm and sold on location. I can tell you that there are easier things to be doing. Easier businesses to start. but this is necessary work in this day and age.

It's a big investment - brooder+equiptment, pasture pens, feeders, waterers, crates for butchering to transport them, butchering supplies, packing supplies, plus a bunch of other things that aren't crucial but make life alot easier. Probably want a tractor or 4 wheeler with cart too depending on size of land.

Not to mention, feed has gone up 20% since last season (seriously), and you need to have enough money to buy feed for basically the entire season. For us, it was about $1-2k per week to feed 300-400 birds at a time. The amounts per week fluctuated because of the staggered nature of the individual batches. The price of chicks has gone up a good bit in raction to the cost of feed. That will be a seasonal start up cost since you will want to preorder chicks for the entire season in early spring.

I dont want to get into too much detail here, but also had to build a dedicated butchering facility due to state law, our initial investment was a good bit more than 10k.

Staggered batches are the best way to keep the flow of chickens coming through the season without having to invest in lots of freezer space.

1)Market research, 2) small scale trials and 3) test sales are your best friends Do those three things for at least 1 or 2 years before you start. Hold a job that makes money while you do your trials and testing. Have a back up plan for where the funding will come from.
Cheers and good luck, please ask more questions!

Thx!! I’d like to know a bunch more about starting a business like that! I’m also wondering if those mobile trailers that you can set up to butcher in would work?

 

[iwltfum]

Thx!! I’d like to know a bunch more about starting a business like that! I’m also wondering if those mobile trailers that you can set up to butcher in would work?

I like the mobile trailer idea. I know a few people that have made a thing of it in Maine and Colorado. Honestly, that might be where the better money is. $5 or 6 per bird bird is $50-60 an hour if you can do 10 an hour, which is not that difficult. Everyone had birds to butcher alllll season and so many of them forget to make butcher appointments and need to find a butcher quickly. And you can raise your own and have meat for the year or to sell in some way.