How much does it cost to raise a meat chicken?

[stoneunhenged]

I don't think you're ever going to be able to make the business case for raising chickens if you compare homegrown organic chickens to store-bought industrial raised broilers. It is impossible for you to compete with the massive economies of scale of a Tyson or Perdue on a pure financial basis. But, if you compare quality instead of price, here's where the backyard grower kicks the butts of the big guys. You are raising birds that taste better, are healthier, and in turn will make you healthier when you eat them.

Over time this difference can be staggering. Rather than consume a chicken nugget that tastes about the same as the cardboard container it is served in, you'll be eating something that tastes like a real chicken. This difference can't be overstated. When I started eating real chickens again, I was transported back 40 years to my grandmother's kitchen. I had not tasted a chicken like that in decades, and I had forgotten what a real chicken is supposed to taste like. What's that worth? A lot. Every meal becomes memorable. And, of course, it becomes much healthier, too.

And, I suppose, we should recognize that industrial chicken farming in a fundamentally inhumane way to raise chickens. There's a reason commercial chicken growers ban video cameras from their farms. They hide behind the walls of those metal sheds because what they do is shameful. You don't have to be a bleeding heart to recognize that commercial chicken farming methods are simply cruel. How much is it worth not to participate in a practice so barbaric that I'm firmly convinced it will be outlawed in the next decade?

So, I wouldn't spend too much time trying to justify raising your own birds on a pure financial basis. It won't work. But, finances are only a piece of the puzzle. The other pieces easily justify it.

 

[jaketheeggman]

I raised meat birds this summer in Wisconsin and here are the costs

1.10 per chick
5.50 food per chick
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total per bird 6.60 about

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25 meat birds about 6 dollars worth of straw ( 2 bucks a bail)
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They are pretty economical because normally my family eats 2 store bought birds but since these are so dense and meaty we only eat 1. (just a warning those things really put of an odor)

 

[Birch Run Farm]

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Right on!

 

[discoveregg]

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Right on!

x3

 

[RainbowState]

We raise a very small flock of laying hens and when they age and stop laying eggs, we find someone who will butcher them. They keep some birds for the butchering and we get the rest. The birds are much smaller than any broiler hen but man, the taste is absolutely unbeatable. I now think store bought chickens, even organic, taste like cardboard. They are almost completely devoid of flavor. The nutritional quality of one of our hens has to be higher than the store bought and that is the most important aspect of food for me. Our eggs also taste better than any store bought, even the organic, because our birds eat a very varied diet of scrap fruits, veggies, greens, and bugs and the eggs are really fresh. They have access to sunshine and dirt. They also get a small amount of organic feed. We sell the eggs (about 5 dozen a week) and that more than covers the cost of the feed. For me, that is well worth the time spent.

 

[TDM]

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It seems there has been a backlash in my area towards the organic egg farmer. Due to the cost of certification and feed, they are lumped into the category of corporation farms. In other words, you have to be big to produce organic eggs economically. Furthermore, people view it as another revenue generating scheme for the government due to the regulations and cost of certification. The trend with the farmer's co-ops here is to support the local farmer, who have hundreds of hens rather than thousands. If you want organic eggs here, you have to go to Wal*Mart. If you want to support the local farmer, you have to go to the co-ops.

Just this month I replaced an out-of-state organic egg farmer at a co-op. The co-op was only buying their eggs, about 40 dozen per week, to fill their shelves due to locally produced eggs being unable to meet all the demand. It was the co-op that came to inspect my farm before I was allowed to sell eggs there, and it didn't cost me anything. It was the co-op that presented me with a list of criteria I had to meet, such as providing a minimum of two square feet per bird.

 

[jcatblum]

I was wondering those calculating cost around $1.50 a lb are you buying feed @ the mill? Or commercial pre-bagged feed?

 

[galanie]

Every time I see this topic posted, someone has to chime in about the "real" costs that "people don't calculate."

The REAL cost is the actual REAL money that left your REAL wallet directly related to those chickens, and those chickens only. At least for the purposes of Backyard Chickens it should be. I can see throwing in all that other nonsense if you were discussing large scale broiler factories but we just aren't.

My cost will be the cost of the chicks plus the cost of the feed. Period. I'm running water all over like I'm baptising the world anyway with this drought so I'm not factoring that in (Ok it only feels like it. In reality I've let the grass go but now we've had a little rain it's coming back some). The land is there and would otherwise be unused. The structures are from used material that was free. My labor is free. I refuse to go bean counting trying to figure out what my labor, etc. is worth since I'd otherwise not be making money during the time spend caring for them anyway. Nor would the land.

Now, if I were to start raising them to sell to others, then I'd approach it in with a bean counter's perspective. But I'm not.

So rather than $12 a bird I'm looking at a much lower price. Pasture raised Cornish X here are available at $15 each and almost none of them are a full 3 pounds. So I figure I'll do pretty darn good for myself. And I'm processing myself, but I won't do over around a dozen at a time.

 

[LilyD]

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I agree I think that people get too much into the nickel and diming of it when they talk raising birds. I also think that people are talking apples versus oranges when they talk Perdue and Tyson versus home raised birds. We have one store in our area that sells pasture raised chicken and for a 3 pound chicken they charge 13$ a bird. Even paying 1.41$ per bird to purchase them and the grain for 8 weeks a 3 pound bird doesn't cost nearly that much and if you go Dual Purpose and hatch your own they cost even less. You can't really compare your birds to factory raised ones because they just aren't the same. People are willing to pay more for pasture raised humanely treated food.

 

[Oregon Blues]

[[[.......My cost will be the cost of the chicks plus the cost of the feed. Period......]]]]

So all your fences, shelters, feeders, didn't cost a cent. You don't use electricity to brood. You don't pay any property taxes or rent. You never have any medical issues. You don't even need antibiotics, dewormers, no-pick lotion, oyster shell, grit.......?

Your labor is free. So when you sell, you aren't even giving slave labor to your purchasers. If they kept a slave, they'd have to buy food for him. Your labor is absolutely free.

I wish I could find me some of that free labor. I need some fences built. The helper could bring his own drinks and his own lunch. I'd say "thank you", though.

Still, it's beyond me why you want to work for free for a bunch of strangers. Pretty generous of you, I'd say. Most of them aren't even going to say "thank you".