How much to charge to raise meat chicken per bird..

[CoopCrazy]

Hey folks I am trying to get a price list together for a local grocer who is wanting to purchase meat birds from me.. I will not be responsible for transportation or processing only the cost to raise them.. I am, trying to think how I can figure my time into it per bird.. so say for 25 birds how much should i charge as my fee for raising them to ten weeks ? I have the price to purchase per bird and the feed costs figured but just nit sure how to add up the time it takes for me to raise them... Any help is as always greatly apprecaitted ...

 

[patimekiller]

Seeing how you probably spend what a half hour a day feeding and water ing them and don't forget thoes heat lamps on your electric bill ? Did you think bout them or your gas to get feed. But what it comes down to is how much would you be happy making ? Or might this lead to more sales in the future you don't want to do it for free cause when you start doing more free won't cut it. It's all in what you feel is right I saw a place on the web on the west coast that charges 25 bucks for a 5/6 lb bird processed ready to cook . I think that may be a little steep knowing what I can raise mine for but if they can get that out of em good for them

 

[NancyP]

I would base my price off of what is comparable in your local market area.
Nancy

 

[Bossroo]

That is the number one item that most of us fail to do here... to pay ourselves. It may be hard to figure out the actual time we put in actual work ( timecard) versus just looking at the birds ( goofing off). Then one has to figure in what you feel is a reasonable $$ / hour that you ( owner) are willing to pay your employee ( you). The more chickens that one raises at one time, the time spent per bird will be less therefore more efficient the operation. One soon will realize that one is working for less than minimum wage when one finds out what the buyer is actually willing to pay for the chicken plus his markup to make a profitable sale to the public. I wouldn't even consider raising 25 birds at a time for anyone other than for my personal consumption. Several years ago one of my friends had a contract to raise 100,000 commercial meat chickens at one run of 6 weeks each... he figured that he received 0.05% on his sale of the birds. He sold his farm after 1 year of his contract as he figured it was just not worth his pay for his effort and $$ invested. Edit to add: I can buy a whole, 2 pound, already COOKED game hen at the local grocery store for $5.00 every day of the week.

 

[TimG]

I don't think you should figure this on a time per bird basis -- it would probably take the same amount of time to raise 15, 25 or 35 birds.

If you want to base this on time, just figure out how much time you will spend raising the birds, then apply an hourly rate you are comfortable with.

I think you should just charge a flat rate per bird or per pen/tractor depending upon how your agreement with the grocer is made.

I also think it is a mistake to determine sales price based upon expenses. Sales price should be determined based upon what the market is willing to pay. Once you have determined the price the market is willing to pay, then you must decide whether the expenses you will incur make it worth your while to enter the market.

So, you should go about this by first finding out what the grocer will pay for live chickens (maybe this is something of a guess if he hasn't made a firm offer). Then figure out your expenses. Then take the difference and decide whether that is enough to cover your labor. As a previous poster mentioned, you should also factor in things such as goodwill and potential to generate future sales.

 

[CoopCrazy]

Awesome folks that makes much more sense to see what they are charging and then do my figuring.. This is hopefully going to become a full time thing as they owner already has backorders for over 150 meat chickens and thats not even counting the quail , turkeys and rabbits she is wanting as well.. Also she is buying all my surplus eggs as well.. I really want to give her a fair price but also make sure I am not jipping myself.. I will hit the local grocers tommorow and start getting average prices etc.. Also since you can all tell that i am not that business savvy I will have my aunt taking care of profit ,taxes etc...(she's a CPA) Thanks again

 

[patimekiller]

If you could what would you do , sell 50 birds for major profit and only sell thoes birds once and a while or sell 500 birds for a little more than what it costs to raise them only to have you orders for next year be greater thus making more money . That's how I looked at it . I have 100 meat birds I am raising I only need may be half for my self so I planned on selling the others for a little more than I have into them to friends at work and in the local area. Hopefully I can pay for my birds with the profit if not o well i am not gonna lose any money but my freezer will be full. I figure that if I am gonna raise 50 I might as well raise 100 just my thoughts. Let us know what you come up with per bird right now I figure I'll have bout 4 25 a bird in them that's feed and buying the chicks and I even figured shipping per chick .. I also figure on adding a buck a bird at least for processing them so prolly 5/6 bucks a bird for a 4/5/6 lb bird so far I might even go 7 bucks by the time I'm done

 

[ourflockof4]

It sounds like you are going to scale this up rather quickly then. Make sure you cross your T's and dot your I's before you get in over your head. Set up a legitimate business, or farm and get your agreement in writing. Figure all of your overhead for accounting, fuel, filing fees ect. and make sure that you figure that into your cost. See what the local market will bear and set your price accordingly. That doesn't mean what the store sells it for but rather what the local store buys it for from their current supplier. You may need to negotiate a little to work out a fair price for both of you.