Is my math right??? Raising meat chicks for about $6 apiece???

[mommy9994]

They don't free range well... they can... but unlike a layer, don't glean much from things on the ground. They rather just poop on everything.

I have to disagree, at least with my birds. I have the cornish x from Meyer hatchery (I don't know if there is a difference). I have switched them over to scratch feed for the last 2 weeks (they have a date with a hatchet next week), but they are far more interested in bugs and weeds (particularly plantain) than thier feed. They still go through a good deal of it, mind you, but with 25 birds, the 50 lb bag still lasts about a week. Due to the free ranging, they are considerably smaller than others have reported growing thiers-- no 10 lb 8 week olds here, the one that I butchered last week (she was a little older than the others) dressed at 3.4 and had more meat than the 4 lb birds I buy from the store. Also, she didn't have much fat on her. We are happy with the results.

I would be leery of growing them to 12 weeks, likely they will have heart failure problems.​

 

[greyfields]

I will post more detail in the morning, but it runs me around $17 per bird to raise myself. $7 of that is going to a state approved processor. Feed prices have gone up from $12.89 per bag to $15.15 for me, so I'll be recalculating my price data soon.

 

[carugoman]

Currently, I'm raising 9 dozen meat birds half BR's half Buff Orps; 75 Royal Pearl guineas, straight run and 4 dozen each pullets of New Hamp Reds and Buff Orps. The guineas will free-range semi-wild on the 5 acre paddock; the meats will free-range in one of three chicken tractors,clearing the outer fields after spring harvest in 3 weeks and the pullets have their hen house and movable run to have fresh range available. I butcher the BR's and BO's, as meat birds, between 9-12 weeks; favoring the former more so the latter. Almost 65% of my feed cost is cut by letting the birds range and cull the fields. I still have 100# sacks of quick chick and high-protein layer crumbles, when needed.

If you are going to sell your eggs or chicken meat, to family, friends or complete strangers, take the grocery store's or Wally World"s price and double it...no, triple it! The products that you are making available for sale are of high quality,superb flavor without flavor enhancers and salts and directly traceable to its source of origin. The texture of the meat is more dense thereby a 6lb dressed chicken will feed a family of six, with enough left over to make a great chicken noodle soup. Print out some chicken recipes and put them in the sack with every product that you sell for that "value-added" enticement! Maybe Include a 6 oz bag of home-made noodles with every chicken and a cents-off coupon to buy a one pound bag? Where does Wally world get it's chicken? And from what country?

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

When I saw this post I thought no way. Then I did the math on my own and was surprised to find that it's about right! I didn't keep records, but I believe in 9 weeks I went through 5 50 lb bags of feed. I had them on the 28% gamebird feed for 7 weeks at roughly $17/bag. When the store stopped carrying it, I switched to 20% at an average cost of $15/bag plus 1 bag of scratch that is shared with my 6 bantams. So even at a high estimate of 6 x $17, it still works out to be about $7.85 per bird or .13/day. (13 Freedom Rangers.)

I just started processing yesterday and haven't weighed them yet, but I am estimating each rooster to weigh about 4 lbs dressed, maybe more, which would be $1.96/lb. I'm pretty pleased with that!

If I did the math right...it's still early

 

[Davaroo]

I'm not going to get into all the math, as I am NOT raising any purpose bred meat birds now. I do find it fascinating however - so much for the "cheap chicken!"
Were talking anywhere from $4-12 per bird here. Yes, you get "home-raised" meat, but at what cost? Esoteric "benefits" go out the window at filet mignon prices.
The only one I've seen so far that makes any economic sense is the free ranged bird, albeit it has less meat on it. Is anyone actually practicing the Saladin method of close confinement on pasture, in movable tractors?

Something I did notice in all this is the desire to get something for nothing:

Trying to get a 10-12lb meat bird from Cornish X hybrids.

I'm sorry, but that has gotta be false economy. The extra feed you must give them alone will surely offset any gains in weight - if you can even continue making linear gains after 8 weeks. The stress on their hearts is liable to up your mortality rate significantly, too, increasing your costs per bird even more.

I don't know where the notion of 12lb. leviathan hybrids came from, but it sounds like pie-in-the-sky. If one person managed it under some extraordinary set of circumstances, it is a stretch to assume you will too. I mean if it was that easy, everyone would be doing it. It certainly isn't something to bank on.

Stick to the recommended 8 week schedule for the Cornish hybrids, rear them in tractors on pasture under close confinement and use their special fleshing and growth traits to your advantage.

If you simpy must have a 12 lb. meat chicken, why not try your hand at caponizing. It is, at least, a much proven method.

 

[greyfields]

If you are only counting the cost of the chicks and the feed, then you are not doing an honest calculation.

 

[greyfields]

Quote:

 

[UncleHoot]

Quote:
As far as I can tell, I MIGHT break even after 2-3 years, given what I'm currently selling my chickens for, once I add everything up.

For 50 chickens:
cost of brooder, if any (can be amortized) ($0)
cost of chicken tractor, or housing ($250 or about $0.85/chick amortized @ 6 batches of 50)
cost of feeders/waterers/lamps ($70 or about 0.25/chick amortized)
cost of pine bedding for use in brooder ($25)
cost of electricity used in brooder for heat lamps (est. $10)
cost of chicks ($1.07 each shipped)
cost of feed (est. $325)
cost of processing ($100)

If my math is corect, this puts me in the $11-$12/chicken ball park, if raising them to 9 weeks. I'm most concerned about my feed estimate, however, as everything else is pretty easy to figure out.

I'm currently doing my best to keep track of my expenses this time around, as I've increased my volume this year. Even so, it's just a hobby for me (at this point), so losing a little money here and there isn't a big deal. But I'm trying to keep my costs low enough that if I do this for 2-3 years, I could at least break even or perhaps turn a small profit.

 

[mmajw]

I don't do it for the cost savings (because they cost less at the store). I raise meat birds for the health factor. I know what goes into them and what doesnt and that makes a big difference when I am feeding my family.

 

[MissPrissy]

I never set out to raise birds to save money. We all know realistically that is a pipe dream unless you can raise everything you need on site and don't have to actually spend a buck getting to the end. Even then there is always a cost either in man power or supply.

ElderRoo, I respect you highly but I did not go to extraordinary lengths with my broilers. I used my head and calculated the risks, the time of year, the feed available, space and time. I did NOTHING special that I don't do for my layers. I raised my Jumbo Cornish without heroic measures and nothing above and beyond. I did not have any birds die, become sick or have leg problems before processing.

Some of them made it to 12 weeks, healthy and active without the belly feathers rubbed or burned off. They weighed in at 10 - 13 lbs each. They were tender, juicy, clean birds with beautiful yellow fat for rendering. The livers where not the dark red bitter blood filled livers they were light colored almost yellowish and were very clean for pate.

I don't claim to be an expert. I do claim to know a thing or two about raising chickens. You can raise a good meat bird that is better quality that a commercial chicken without breaking the bank.

Up here close to DC there are common grocery stores selling a roasting chicken for $10 - $17 each. A fryer goes for $8. A capon or a hen is a 'specialty' and they can sell for more. Organic labled meat is even more expensive. I can do it myself "better than organic", cleaner and with good conscious that they were not abused or raised in filthy conditions.