meat bird all in pricing

[burgerusmc]

My wife and I currently have 11 egg layers and we are lookto get into meat chicks. Was wondering if anyone has or kept how much per bird average they cost. I will be processing them myself so that is not an added expense. Thanks for the info guys and gals!

 

[havery]

We're processing tomorrow so I just did the numbers for my flock. Unfortunately this year we lost half our flock to the flooding at 8 weeks. We had 32 Red Rangers and 6 Cornish X chicks to start (the Cornish X were started 2 weeks after the Rangers), we're butchering 14 Red Rangers and 5 Cornish X tomorrow. With the cost of the bird+feed we're looking at $17/chicken with the losses. I did some math and if we had been able to bring 30 birds (almost 80%) to processing weight, we would have been looking at about $10/bird. The Rangers are between 4-6 lbs live weight at 11 weeks, the Cornish Xs are between 6-9 lbs live weight at 9 weeks and I am hoping on an average of 75% live to dress weight. So with our losses we're looking at around $4.25/lb, if we had brought most to processing I'd be looking at closer to $2.50/lb. Keep in mind that's a mixed flock, if I had done all Cornish X my number would probably be much better. I am pleased with doing a mixed flock however and will probably continue to do so in the future because I feel like the vivaciousness of the Rangers really kept the Cornishes active and healthier than normal. I'll have better breed specific numbers on weights tomorrow if you're interested. I feel like if we hadn't had such trouble with the weather and keeping them alive we would have had much higher weights as well. So my estimate isn't great, but the difficulties I encountered are definitely something to consider. It's certainly been a learning year for us!

 

[burgerusmc]

geez, sorry to hear that! that's alot of solid info, and I would be inte4ested in the breed specific numbers. This is my first time doing meat chicks, so the more info the better! !

 

[havery]

I'm seeing much better numbers by others on other threads, down to $5/bird. But for us, we didn't buy feed in bulk because we didn't know what to expect, and with all the losses my numbers may still be higher than normal. However, I do feel like we've learned a LOT and aside from the weather related problems I'm definitely not that upset with the experience and look forward to our next round this fall where I'm sure we'll see much better outcomes. Still, where I am you can't get organic chicken for less than $4/lb, so that even with all our difficulties we're close to that and I don't actually have that much to complain about! The knowledge that my birds got to live and forage like real birds and they were humanely processed is worth more than that.

 

[burgerusmc]

Yeah, I hear you on that. That's the main reason I want to do meat birds. I figured the first round for my wife and I may be a crap shoot, so I figured I'd try to find what others did to help

 

[eviemethugh]

We are processing 50 red Rangers this weekend and are in about $2000 total to build a brooder, tractor, and homemade processing equipment (diy feather plucker, scalder, evisceration table, knives, aprons, freezer bags, 3 restraining cones, etc) this cost also includes the birds and about 800 lbs of feed for 80 days. I think we did 3-4 lbs of feed to 1 lb of meat but won't know until after Saturday. They are huge birds, we wish we would have harvested them before now because the roosters are fighting, but we didn't have everything and had a really busy weekend like the last 3 weeks in a row. The cost was pretty all inclusive, feeders, water nipples and buckets, we tried to be cheap but we did want items that would be useful for more than 1 year. We have also estimated 40 hours of work so far for just this one tractor and 6 adults about 6 hours each processing since its our first time. Plus build times.

 

[burgerusmc]

We are processing 50 red Rangers this weekend and are in about $2000 total to build a brooder, tractor, and homemade processing equipment (diy feather plucker, scalder, evisceration table, knives, aprons, freezer bags, 3 restraining cones, etc) this cost also includes the birds and about 800 lbs of feed for 80 days. I think we did 3-4 lbs of feed to 1 lb of meat but won't know until after Saturday. They are huge birds, we wish we would have harvested them before now because the roosters are fighting, but we didn't have everything and had a really busy weekend like the last 3 weeks in a row. The cost was pretty all inclusive, feeders, water nipples and buckets, we tried to be cheap but we did want items that would be useful for more than 1 year. We have also estimated 40 hours of work so far for just this one tractor and 6 adults about 6 hours each processing since its our first time. Plus build times.

Awesome, great info!! last time I plucked a bird it was by hand, is it due to the quantity of birds that you made a plucker?

 

[slingshotandLAR]

I have a batch of 50 CX going wednesday....

I will update with finished weights in a few days, here's what I got:

50 chicks w/ shipping 54.00

500lbs of feed total 166.70

I lost 7 chicks between 7-13 days old, so I have 43 birds ready for processing with a grand total of 5.13 per bird including losses.

I raise them in tractors, and have roughly $200 per tractor. I don't count them in my per cost because the first birds that go in to the tractors more than pay for it.

We have our birds processed because of state limits, that an additional 3-4 bucks a bird depending on how I have them cut and packaged.

Currently we sell them at 3.99/lb for whole birds and have a price list for cuts. I also sell the backs from the cut-ups to people that make raw dog food.

Hope this helps

 

[burgerusmc]

I have a batch of 50 CX going wednesday....

I will update with finished weights in a few days, here's what I got:

50 chicks w/ shipping 54.00

500lbs of feed total 166.70

I lost 7 chicks between 7-13 days old, so I have 43 birds ready for processing with a grand total of 5.13 per bird including losses.

I raise them in tractors, and have roughly $200 per tractor. I don't count them in my per cost because the first birds that go in to the tractors more than pay for it.

We have our birds processed because of state limits, that an additional 3-4 bucks a bird depending on how I have them cut and packaged.

Currently we sell them at 3.99/lb for whole birds and have a price list for cuts. I also sell the backs from the cut-ups to people that make raw dog food.

Hope this helps

It most definately does. It so awesome that everyone has numbers! It really helps us out guys! Also, any preferable hatcherie . Or anyone's to stay away from?

 

[wvhomesteader]

@burgerusmc we have had great luck with Meyer Hatchery. My husband and I will raise and process about 120 Cornish cross this season.

Right now we have about $4-5/bird. We buy them 50+ at a time and that's cheaper because the hatchery has a price break for bigger orders.

If you want their "fry pan bargain" they are 30c each and take longer to reach processing time but a good starter for anyone who hasn't processed their own before.

Currently our 25 day old CX are weighing in right around 2lb.