Think about how long it takes you to process & clean a chicken, and also factor in how much time & resources were put into the bird while it was alive. I could not imagine selling a dressed home-grown chicken for only $3. That would not come close to covering the cost of the bird's feed, let alone all my time tending to them and the time to process them. I would rather eat them myself. I know it's not the most economical meat I could put on my table, but to me it's more about a lot of intangible benefits.
Like with so many other commercial enterprises, the profit comes from doing things in bulk. Jaku has a great system where he raises & processes lots of the fast-growing Cornish Xs. It would not be worth it for me to sell the birds I raise for meat, they're mixed standard-breed roos I grow out for our table, usually in small batches of about a dozen at a time.
People have asked me "how much would you charge for one of your meat birds?" and I tell them $30 just to watch them go
I tell them they're better off buying one from the store, some expensive organic free-ranged chicken. I won't butcher for money, but I will do it for love. I don't mind doing it for my own family's table, and I am glad to show people how to do it on their own or my chickens. If folks want to bring their birds over to process, or will help me with the chore of processing mine I am glad to give them some of the finished product, as long as they're willing to work alongside me.
Like with so many other commercial enterprises, the profit comes from doing things in bulk. Jaku has a great system where he raises & processes lots of the fast-growing Cornish Xs. It would not be worth it for me to sell the birds I raise for meat, they're mixed standard-breed roos I grow out for our table, usually in small batches of about a dozen at a time.
People have asked me "how much would you charge for one of your meat birds?" and I tell them $30 just to watch them go
