INDIANA BYC'ers HERE!

[Quinstar]

Ok, so I am considering ordering mcmurray hatchery chicks for fall. Most likely the Oct 21 hatch. I am looking at BLRW which are only available straight run, and hamburgs, which you can order pullets. I don't think I want all 15 which is the minimum. Anybody in the brown county/columbus area interested in splitting the order if I do this? Also, I will be ordering vaccinated chicks.

I wish I lived closer to you. It's probably better this way though, I really should wait till spring and try to get all of my new chicks at the same time.

This showed up on my FB. Is it real or just some scare tactic?
http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/usda-allow-china-process-chickens-ship-back-u-214500281.html

Unfortunately I believe it is legit. I read this on NPR as well. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/20...ugget-made-in-china-itll-soon-be-hard-to-know

US chickens shipped to China, processed, and shipped back to US.

Now what could possibly go wrong with that? After all, the Chinese are so meticulous, honest in dealings with American-running-dog-capitalist-warmongers, that they would be extra cautious with our foods.

I won't even buy dog food if I see China anywhere on the label. I don't even want the BAG to be made in China. D*mned sure I don't want my food to come from there.

Let's see, 75 chickens shipped to China, 5,000,000 breasts, 20 million drumsticks, 40 million chicken wings processed and returned. My, my, aren't they efficient?

"We have confidence that the USDA will do that testing and do it in a good and adequate manner". Right, our government is so effective and efficient. They will test 1 chicken per boatload, if that. The boat captain will probably hand it to the inspector, lest (s)he get frostbite digging through a freezer.

John

And this is why we buy all of our meat local. I have been toying with the idea of eating vegetarian when we go out unless I know that the restaurant sources local and where it comes from (many local restaurants around here do) and this just may be the kick I need to do it. And in other fun news it sounds like the FDA may be replacing the current poultry inspectors with company people.
Quote:NPR

 

[Quinstar]

Will do thanks. Not ever having done them, I was going along like I did with the layers. I do have a light on for them, after watching them for a bit, they seem to be on the outside of the light, so up it went. They are being fed ff so hopefully, they will grow a little slower. I am planning on culling them at 10-12 weeks instead of 7-9 which is suggested. But I will go by how healthy they are. That is my goal anyway. Dates are subject to change of course lol.

Deb

edited for spelling

Keep us updated on how it goes. I keep going back and forth about trying this out next year. I'm supposed to learn how to process a deer this fall so maybe I'll see if I can stomach that before deciding on the broilers.

 

[hogster160]

Our local farm sells chicken at 24 for $250. I'm not sure if that's a good deal, but I am pretty sure I am not the person to process them. They are definitely free ranged and humanely treated, but I just wish for the price they were fed organic feed. Can meat chickens be raised for less than $10 each? Any thoughts are appreciated.

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.

 

[julie0477]

Quinstar - I think I've already talked myself out of it. Not much available right now I'd be better off waiting too.

How early do they start their spring orders?

 

[Quinstar]

So I just discovered Mille Cochins and I'm in love! Someone needs to breed these in a standard size!!!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/228613/mille-cochin-info

 

[Quinstar]

Quinstar - I think I've already talked myself out of it. Not much available right now I'd be better off waiting too.

How early do they start their spring orders?

Good question! I have no clue. I was REALLY hoping to find all of my birds local next year and I'm planning on getting a couple CCL and I don't think any hatchery has those anyway. I only want to add 4-5 max to my flock.

 

[SallyinIndiana]

Our local farm sells chicken at 24 for $250. I'm not sure if that's a good deal, but I am pretty sure I am not the person to process them. They are definitely free ranged and humanely treated, but I just wish for the price they were fed organic feed. Can meat chickens be raised for less than $10 each? Any thoughts are appreciated.

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.

Quote: 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.

 

[Quinstar]

Picked up some of these for the chickens that I have in common with my neighbors so that I can tell my girls from theirs and they look so stinking cute on their little legs. I was worried that it would bother them, but they don't seem to care. Super easy to put on and way better looking than those commercial bands. I'll post some pictures later so the ladies can show off their newest fashion accessories.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/25-Chicken-...194?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35cb30bb3a

 

[SallyinIndiana]

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.

 

[danand]

Wow!!! I guess I'm going vegetarian too!!! That's scary!!!