I have raised 600+ birds per year several times and 200+ more than a few times. All on pasture in pasture pens, organic feed, butchered on farm and sold on location. I can tell you that there are easier things to be doing. Easier businesses to start. but this is necessary work in this day and age.
It's a big investment - brooder+equiptment, pasture pens, feeders, waterers, crates for butchering to transport them, butchering supplies, packing supplies, plus a bunch of other things that aren't crucial but make life alot easier. Probably want a tractor or 4 wheeler with cart too depending on size of land.
Not to mention, feed has gone up 20% since last season (seriously), and you need to have enough money to buy feed for basically the entire season. For us, it was about $1-2k per week to feed 300-400 birds at a time. The amounts per week fluctuated because of the staggered nature of the individual batches. The price of chicks has gone up a good bit as well in raction to the cost of feed. That will be a seasonal start up cost since you will want to preorder chicks for the entire season in early spring.
I dont want to get into too much detail here, but also had to build a dedicated butchering facility due to state law, our initial investment was a good bit more than 10k.
Staggered batches are the best way to keep the flow of chickens coming through the season without having to invest in lots of freezer space.
1)Market research, 2) small scale trials and 3) test sales are your best friends
Do those three things for at least 1 or 2 years before you start. Hold a job that makes money while you do your trials and testing. Have a back up plan for where the funding will come from.
Cheers and good luck, please ask more questions!
It's a big investment - brooder+equiptment, pasture pens, feeders, waterers, crates for butchering to transport them, butchering supplies, packing supplies, plus a bunch of other things that aren't crucial but make life alot easier. Probably want a tractor or 4 wheeler with cart too depending on size of land.
Not to mention, feed has gone up 20% since last season (seriously), and you need to have enough money to buy feed for basically the entire season. For us, it was about $1-2k per week to feed 300-400 birds at a time. The amounts per week fluctuated because of the staggered nature of the individual batches. The price of chicks has gone up a good bit as well in raction to the cost of feed. That will be a seasonal start up cost since you will want to preorder chicks for the entire season in early spring.
I dont want to get into too much detail here, but also had to build a dedicated butchering facility due to state law, our initial investment was a good bit more than 10k.
Staggered batches are the best way to keep the flow of chickens coming through the season without having to invest in lots of freezer space.
1)Market research, 2) small scale trials and 3) test sales are your best friends
Do those three things for at least 1 or 2 years before you start. Hold a job that makes money while you do your trials and testing. Have a back up plan for where the funding will come from. Cheers and good luck, please ask more questions!
Last edited:
