INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[racinchickins]

racin chickin~ Glad to hear your hen is having a better day. Let us know if you returned from work to find her still enjoying motherhood.

All seems to be going well. When I got home, she was still doing the glassy eyed broody thing, and I got a glimpse of a brown head sticking out of the feathers momentarily. That means the other egg hatched, since the first chick was yellow. I also heard peeping from the other side of her, so I'm assuming both chicks are alive and well for the moment. Very happy about this.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote: Congrats.

I got a touch of rain here. Just enough to wake up the children early. Perhaps they will take a longer nap.

 

[julie0477]

My all of the sudden immobile silkie ate well last night. Today he tries to stand but has to balance on one wing and then falls over. Not sure what to do. It's early yet but it's the classic breed, age, and signs of mareks. But I know it's also signs of other things and it may turn out to be ok. I suppose I'll just take care of this little guy and watch the rest of the flock for signs. I'm mostly concerned about the sebrights and other silkies. And the babies of course. I'm tempted to try the st johns wort. Couldn't hurt I suppose.

 

[CRSelvey]

Estimated Growth Rate and Feed Consumption of White Broilers Meyers Hatchery Website.​

Age
Weeks​

​

Average
Weight, lb.​

​

Feed/
Week, lb.​

​

Consumption
to Date, lb.​

​

Feed/
Gain​

1​

0.34​

​

0.30​

​

0.30​

​

0.88
2​

0.85​

​

0.62​

​

0.92​

​

1.08
3​

1.54​

​

1.02​

​

1.94​

​

1.26
4​

2.38​

​

1.44​

​

3.38​

​

1.42
5​

3.34​

​

1.90​

​

5.28​

​

1.58
6​

4.37​

​

2.32​

​

7.60​

​

1.74
7​

5.40​

​

2.73​

​

10.33​

​

1.91
8​

6.42​

​

3.10​

​

13.43​

​

2.09​

According to this chart on meyer hatchery website. Each bird will consume 13.43 lbs of feed by week 8. A 50lb bag of feed costs me $13.85 I have 16 birds. So 13.43 x 16 = 214.88 lbs by the 8th week. So that is 4.25 50 lb bags. 13.85 x 4.25 = 58.87 and 58.87 / 16= 3.67 of feed per bird. Now I was told processing here can run $2 - $2.50 per bird. Add it all up and I'm looking at $6 and change for each bird. My food is not organic. But they will have plenty of foraging. Which will also cut down on feed cost.​

I guess that depends on how well they graze while free ranging and the price they paid per chick. Here is a estimated price breakdown.
Price per chick including shipping ~ $1.50 - $2.50 depending on how many they get at once
Add in a factor for chickens that have heart failure and the price per chick goes up by $0.50-$1.0
Food, the Meyer website says a broiler will consume 14 pounds, that is the low end imo but I'll use it. Now a bag of meat chicken feed is higher in protein and costs more about 38 cents per pound plus time and gas to buy it. so That is about $5.50 per chicken on the low side with the price of gas now a days.
Then there are supplies I'm only going to count the consumable type supplies so no waterers, coops, feeders, or run costs. Not even going to add in the butchering supplies since it sounds like you are buying a live chicken, but you would need a cone, a knife, table, trash bags, freezer bags, lots of ice too. But supplies they have to buy each time, electrolytes (2 packages for 100 chicks $10) bedding for the brooder box and the coop. The meat birds poo a lot so at least $20-$30 for 100 chicks, water if not on a well is about $10 - $20 here for what 100 chicks would drink.
I'm sure I'm missing something but here is the total so far: $7.9 - $9.6. That does not factor in a pay for the time or effort put into raising the chicken.

I try to rehome any extra roosters I'm not in the mood to process. I ask a $10 rehoming fee to recoup some feed costs and help make sure they don't end up as fighter chickens. The non meat broilers typically eat more than $10 worth of food by the time they are processing size. And I'm not ordering in batches of 100 or more so my cost for a chick from the hatchery is typically $3-$4 including shipping.

Overall I would say just over $10 for a meat chicken ready to process is a very fair price.

If you get them on the grass by about 10 days they will learn to graze better and they will grow slower. Also once they get old enough start limiting their food intake. if they have grass and bugs then there comes a point when you can feed them once in the morning and once at night, and eventually just at night. If I have read the info correctly free ranging the meat chickens can delay their butchering date but it does not have too. In the end for a delayed butchering date with free ranging, the amount of chicken feed consumed is very close to the amount of an 8 week caged broiler.

Here is another breakdown of cost to raise a meat bird. I took this from a site not allowed to be linked here. if you want a direct link you need to pm me.

Less detailed break down per bird:
Heat: $.62
Food: $7.40
Chick: $1.30
Shavings: $.31
Electrolytes: $.24
------------------
$9.87 per bird

The food cost above was based on the following chart from WELP a hatchery in IA:

notice they say a meat chicken eats 20 pounds of food.

Thank you both. This is really good information. If I could just manage the processing part, I think it would be worth it. Even on organic feed, it would still be reasonable.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

CR have you watched any processing videos on you tube? There is this one on you tube.

After watching it a few to several times, processing is not so bad. Still I tend to avoid thinking to much or too hard on the subject right before processing day.

 

[hogster160]

CR have you watched any processing videos on you tube? There is this one on you tube.

After watching it a few to several times, processing is not so bad. Still I tend to avoid thinking to much or too hard on the subject right before processing day.

Thanks for this video, I will be watching it a lot over the next 2 months. We are going to try and do our own. DH has never done chickens, but he has done ducks. So hopefully he will do good. I'm going to try, but I don't think I will be doing the killing. The rest I should be good with. I'm hoping!

Deb

 

[CRSelvey]

Yesterday after posting the request for meat bird info, I headed to schools to pick up my kids. Once I had all three of them in the car, we stopped for gas at Kroger. I turned around and found this little guy under my car covered in burrs and oil. He was a stinky mess.

So, considering it was 4:30 and the busiest time of the day at our store (and all three of my kids were looking at me), I threw him in the back of my DH's truck (that has never seen a pet) and to the vet we went. He is not microchipped, but he is neutered and doesn't have fleas. I thought I might get in trouble when I got home, but oh well. I gave him a bath and he's actually really cute and very well mannered. My husband surprised me and said he knows we will be keeping him if I cannot find his people. This morning my DH told me he thinks the dogs name is Max. Really???? I did not see that coming.

I let Max out to go to the bathroom and he leaves with a purpose...only to return safely five minutes later. Good dog.



So today I will be taking him to the local groomers and vets to see if anyone recognizes him and posting some pics around town. I will be both happy and sad to find his family.

 

[CRSelvey]

Thanks for this video, I will be watching it a lot over the next 2 months. We are going to try and do our own. DH has never done chickens, but he has done ducks. So hopefully he will do good. I'm going to try, but I don't think I will be doing the killing. The rest I should be good with. I'm hoping!

Deb

Good luck! I think I would do well with the rest too. I just need someone to put them down first.

Sally- I tried to get to that part of the poultry fest but my life got in the way that day. I really do want to figure it out but I am just really soft and I think it takes someone being matter of fact about the chickens instead of all "isn't it so cute?" I'm trying to make myself think about the quality of meat I am buying at the store to fix my attitude. I will watch the video. Thank you.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote: The putting the rooster down is easier for me than the catching of the rooster.

Quote: I'll post here on this thread the next time we process birds. I'm thinking it will be once more before winter. You are welcome to come and visit. Depending on how many we have, DH might even help you with a chicken of your own. I'm taking a small break from the butchering process.
The cuteness factor wears off once you meet a mean rooster, one that will attack your children. Borrow a Production RIR for a week and you will think Wow what a nice chicken dinner you would make in no time at all.

 

[browncow15]

[COLOR=8B4513]This next paragraph is not directed at you-- it's just my thoughts about the quandary of vet care. [/COLOR]
[COLOR=8B4513]It is shocking that vet appointments are so expensive when many of us are lucky to have family health insurance co-pays, which make vet bills seem astronomical. Veterinarians have to know diverse information on many species compared to a human doctor. I've heard that animal insurance plans in general aren't worth it, but I wish there would be some alternative because most people can't afford to take pets in very often. In turn, vets often aren't able to help animals as they would like to. I don't know what the answer is.[/COLOR]

From the veterinary side of things I think most vets would like to be able to do a lot more for their patients too. People don't think about the expenses of running a business though; you'd be amazed how many people expect you to take care of their animals even though they can't pay! I wish there was a better answer too!

I was watching one of John's favorite survival shows, where the guy and his family are building a castle.  One of the things they were talking about was eating the placenta.  Said some people do that, you should've seen the horrified look on the girls there.  I was thinking there are a lot easier things to eat also.  I don't care how protien rich it is.

It can be as easy as swallowing a pill Not that I've done it, but I do have a couple of friends that have had their placentas encapsulated.

Good luck!  I think I would do well with the rest too.  I just need someone to put them down first.

Sally- I tried to get to that part of the poultry fest but my life got in the way that day.  I really do want to figure it out but I am just really soft and I think it takes someone being matter of fact about the chickens instead of all "isn't it so cute?"  I'm trying to make myself think about the quality of meat I am buying at the store to fix my attitude.  I will watch the video.  Thank you.

Let me know if you ever have some you want to do I'd be happy to help. I'm only about 45 mins from you.