Meat Bird Pricing

[Fordfunnyfarm]

Hi! I am looking to get a feel to what others are charging for a fully dressed bird? As well as what you charge per pound if you break down the birds and package based on cuts.

I currently charge $4.99/pound for a whole bird, but I am looking at expanding my market reach with offering different cuts. I haven't decided a price yet and I am just curious what others are getting.

Thanks

 

[Molpet]

Depends on your area.
Farmers market $6.50 a lb for whole birds fed non GMO feed. Northern Illinois USA
Birds have to be processed at USDA facilities

 

[Fordfunnyfarm]

Depends on your area.
Farmers market $6.50 a lb for whole birds fed non GMO feed. Northern Illinois USA
Birds have to be processed at USDA facilities

Awesome thanks for the information.

 

[iwltfum]

Hi! I am looking to get a feel to what others are charging for a fully dressed bird? As well as what you charge per pound if you break down the birds and package based on cuts.

I currently charge $4.99/pound for a whole bird, but I am looking at expanding my market reach with offering different cuts. I haven't decided a price yet and I am just curious what others are getting.

Thanks

We have been at $5/pound for a few years raising with organic feed and pasture based. Feed has skyrocketed for us this season by more than 10% so we are reassessing pricing going into next year. When we did cut ups (we don't anymore - too complicated and ended up with WAY too many wings every time) our prices were:

Breast - $12/pound
Thigh and leg quarter: $6/pound
Wings: $3/pound
Backs : $25 for a 10 pack

To us, it only made sense to cut up birds heavier than 5 pounds. At that weight, we knew we could get at least 1 pound of breast meat out of each bird.

I believe a very rough breakdown of parts in ratio (for freedom rangers) was about this:
-1pound of breast
-2+ pounds in leg and thigh quarters
-And less than 1 pound in wings

So we would net roughly $29-30 per cut-up bird (as long as each bird was over 5 pounds)

This is all at a scale of about 600 birds per year and 10 on farm butcherings

 

[itsmatt]

Hi! I am looking to get a feel to what others are charging for a fully dressed bird? As well as what you charge per pound if you break down the birds and package based on cuts.

I currently charge $4.99/pound for a whole bird, but I am looking at expanding my market reach with offering different cuts. I haven't decided a price yet and I am just curious what others are getting.

Thanks

I have been wondering about this as well.

There's a farm about an hour or so from our farm that charges $5.50/pound for whole chicken and $17/pound for chicken breasts. These are poulet rouge fed non-gmo feed. Honestly I think the $17/pound is quite high - I saw "organic non-gmo" chicken breasts at the Wegman's (a nice grocery store in our region) for $9.99/pound.

If I may ask, how much of a profit are you getting at $4.99/pound? The money part of this is the part where I'm kind of flying blind at this point.

Thanks muchly,
Matt

 

[Welllaidacres]

East Central IL Here. Over an Hour from any worthwhile farmers market. We sell our Wholes for 3.15/lb, Cut-ups for 3.40 (One whole bird precut on a tray), Boneless skinless breasts $6, Thighs and Wings for $4, and legs for 3.50. Ground Chicken is 7.50. Thats our on farm price. We seasonal raise turkeys for 3.50/lb whole. Ground Turkey for 9. Necks and backs for $1/lb and livers and gizzards at $3/lb. At farmers market we up the charge depending on market fees/food license costs for that county. Each county charges differently and there is no reciprocity among having a food license in one health district vs the next, at least not in IL.

We never use antibiotics, hormones, or steroids (all hormones and steroids are illegal in all US poultry). We do feed GMO feed, but do not use animal byproducts. We raise our meat birds in our barn and they have daytime access to the outside, they don't go outside much. Cornish Cross birds here who enjoy food, water, and sitting too much to be bothered by going outside for warm sunshine, and lush clover and grass.

We shoot for 5 lb whole bird averages (Neck Included). When we piece out birds to our typical 8 cut (wings, legs, thighs, breasts) I figure you lose a lb to necks and backs. that same 5 lb bird will net you about 2.5 lbs of ground. That is only grinding the breasts, legs, and thigh meat. No skin in the ground. Our processor does not debone/grind wings or necks or backs, so we get those back as well. My suggestion if your going to piece out chickens to sell, try to have your processor piece out the larger birds. For us it makes the most since as it cost more for piecing them out. Hate paying higher butchering fees on low yielding birds under 5 lbs. We take our birds to a processor because we sell to consumers as well as a few markets. Last year we did about 1200 meat chickens and 50 turkeys, and hope to increase those numbers in 2022 after a few renovations to our pen layout and pasture setup this winter.

 

[Isadora]

We raise our birds on non GMO feed and use tractors to move them to fresh pasture daily. We charge $4.50 for whole birds, $10 for breasts, and $6.50 for all other cuts like drumsticks, thighs, wings, etc

 

[Fordfunnyfarm]

I have been wondering about this as well.

There's a farm about an hour or so from our farm that charges $5.50/pound for whole chicken and $17/pound for chicken breasts. These are poulet rouge fed non-gmo feed. Honestly I think the $17/pound is quite high - I saw "organic non-gmo" chicken breasts at the Wegman's (a nice grocery store in our region) for $9.99/pound.

If I may ask, how much of a profit are you getting at $4.99/pound? The money part of this is the part where I'm kind of flying blind at this point.

Thanks muchly,
Matt

Hi. Sorry it took me so long to reply I forget to check my account. At $4.99/lb I’m making roughly $2.50/lb. But I’ve found that $4.99/lb is where my market is and I can’t go higher.