Meat bird pricing?

[EricaD]

One local source charges $5/ pound, and she has no trouble selling at that price. Another I found, a little farther away (but worth it for the savings, I can just buy more and freeze them) charges $15/bird butchered, or $12.50/bird live (of butchering age). $5/pound is steep and makes me want to raise my own. $15/bird (he says they average 4-6 pounds), on the other hand, makes me want to just buy them and skip raising my own. His birds are fed organic feed too. I won't process myself, so with a $5/bird processing fee (unless I can find cheaper), I doubt I can raise them myself for much less and it's not worth the trouble just to save a buck or two per chicken (my time is worth more).

I've ordered some chickens from him, due for butchering August 2nd, and if they're as good as the more expensive source I've tried, I'll probably just process and eat any hatched DP roos in future, but will skip meat chickens and just buy those locally.

I also found a lady who sells her extra roos for $2/each at 6 weeks old, and recommends processing them at 4.5 months, so I can always pick up some of those too, raise them for 3 months, then have them processed for the freezer.

This should give me a great mix of meat birds and DP birds for my freezer!

 

[Buster52]

Prove to us that store baught chicken was fed POOP .

No, they're just bathed in it.

 

[Island Roo]

Does anyone charge a different price for dual purpose / heritage birds?

I've got some cockerels to process along with my meaties and I'm reluctant to use the same pricing but I really don't know the input costs or market value for the tasty dual purpose ones.

They'll be 20 weeks compared to 9 or 10 weeks for the meaties.

Since they're worth more to me, I'll freezer some of them.

 

[trifecta]

Around here (east/central Kansas), the going rate is $3.50/lb for broilers and $4-4.5/lb for heritage birds. I find this amazing since you can buy conventional chicken for as cheap as $1/lb in the store, and "smartchicken organic" chicken for $3.50/lb in the grocery store every week.

I purchased extra chicks this time around and may try selling a few of mine.

 

[LakeBird]

I currently have dual purpose for egg laying, but researching meat birds. I'm curious what type of meat birds do you like to raise? I see Cornish X, Red Ranger, etc. Not sure what the difference is? And is there a different taste to dual purpose birds verse the meat birds?

 

[beanmcnulty]

lakebird, I will try to be a succint as possible, the rangers take a few weeks longer than CX to get to same weight. Most say they have less health problems because of this (I dont know I've never raised CX and dont want to). Rangers also cost a bit more to raise (higher feed conversion). Dual purpose take twice as long as CX, have almost double FC, you get a very differently proportioned carcass (50/50 white/dark, very long legs and thighs). They are firmer textured since they are older, some say tough but if you cook properly they are just fine. They also have more flavor, but I would say probably all home grown chicken is going to have more flavor, but generally speaking the older the bird, the more flavor.

 

[humphrey farms]

We plan to raise meat birds next year and will do all the messy work ourselves. We live in a tourist town in Western Maine (Lakes Region) with quite a few upscale restuarants and hope to sell them to the owners for a good price. Plus throw some in the freezer for ourselves. Glad I stumbled onto this thread so my son the "Farmer/Hunter" can read your prices & costs. Thank you for all the information I find on this site.

 

[LakeBird]

lakebird, I will try to be a succint as possible, the rangers take a few weeks longer than CX to get to same weight. Most say they have less health problems because of this (I dont know I've never raised CX and dont want to). Rangers also cost a bit more to raise (higher feed conversion). Dual purpose take twice as long as CX, have almost double FC, you get a very differently proportioned carcass (50/50 white/dark, very long legs and thighs). They are firmer textured since they are older, some say tough but if you cook properly they are just fine. They also have more flavor, but I would say probably all home grown chicken is going to have more flavor, but generally speaking the older the bird, the more flavor.

Thank you for the info. The carcass of dual purpose is 50/50 correct?

 

[Buster52]

We plan to raise meat birds next year and will do all the messy work ourselves. We live in a tourist town in Western Maine (Lakes Region) with quite a few upscale restuarants and hope to sell them to the owners for a good price. Plus throw some in the freezer for ourselves. Glad I stumbled onto this thread so my son the "Farmer/Hunter" can read your prices & costs. Thank you for all the information I find on this site.

Check your state regs. It is illegal for me to sell meat birds to stores and restaurants in Oklahoma unless they are USDA inspected. Although it is legal in some states.

Also, you won't get a great price from a restaurant. They expect wholesale prices.

 

[PotterWatch]

I agree about restaurants. They generally wish to pay far less than my birds cost. We did I've a contract with one last year but it didn't last. They needed the price to be lower and we needed it to be higher.