How much to sell roasters for?

[brooster]

I want to raise two batches of broilers this year. One for fair and to keep for our selfs to eat, and another to sell. We feed them $13 turkey starter. How much should i charge per bird? $1.50 a bird + $2.00 to slaughter. I was adding it up and came up with $12 for an 8 to 9 lb roaster. Sound good?

 

[brooster]

Anyone?

 

[LoneCowboy]

There is a place here that grows and processes their own chickens, they charge $2.50 a pound. I think we'll charge the same, but we'll have to pay them to process them for us. They charge $2.70 a bird. It's USDA inspected.

 

[CovenantCreek]

A friend just paid $22 for a small, "natural", chicken at one of the "organic" supermarkets. I think she said it was about 4-5 lbs. Depending on your location, you can probably get upwards of $15 for a whole bird if you go to the Farmers' Market. Maybe even without doing that, just by making sure everybody knows your birds don't have anything added to their feed that doesn't look/sound like chicken feed (arsenic and other chemicals don't sound appetizing to most people). There's a market for real food straight from the farmer, get what you can out of it.

 

[MissPrissy]

My meat birds weighed in at 10 - 13 lbs each. I don't think people would pay me what I have vested in them. They eat alot of feed and to be organic that is EXPENSIVE!

I would have to charge $3.50 or more per pound to break even.

 

[CovenantCreek]

Quote:
The markets (Whole Foods, Wild Oats) charge over $7 lb for organic, nearly that for "natural". According to my friend who bought the $22 bird, the smallest (5 lbs or so) organic chicken was about $35. Even Costco was selling whole, organic chickens for $6 lb. I don't think it has much to do with where we live -- I'm in TN, she's in Reno... totally different people, but they're willing to pay through the nose to get truly good meat. Don't sell yourselves short if you don't have to.

 

[Bawkadoodledoo]

Quote:

 

[greyfields]

I sell for $3.50 per pound dressed weight. It costs me $4-7 each to get them processed.

In general, I try to keep it under $20. People still view chickens as "cheap meat" and will balk at a $30 chicken, no matter how big it is or how many meals they could get out of it.

 

[UncleHoot]

This was my first year, and I wanted to see what people thought about my chickens raised "on pasture" (i.e. my back yard). I gave some away just so people would give me their opinion. But a few people insisted on paying, so I came up with $7/bird, but told them that it would probably be around $10-$12 next year. With feed prices steadily increasing, I think it would have to be at least $12, though.

My costs were about $1 + $2 processing per chicken, plus feed for 9.5 weeks. If I recall correctly, it ended up being roughly one 50lb bag of feed per chicken on average. With feed being about $12/bag now, I should be charging at least $15, just to break even, but right now I'm afraid of not having enough customers, so I don't mind operating at a slight loss, if I end up with a handful of loyal customers. If things take off, I'll raise the price, or process them a week sooner (8.5 weeks). It's just a hobby for me, anyway, regardless.

 

[greyfields]

I also amoritized the cost of the netting, shelters, waterers, feeders, brooder, etc. over a 2 year cycle. If you're not doing that, then you may be surprised how much money you are losing for a hobby.

Also, if you do plan to sell, get a business license and insurance.