Money for meat? Meat for money? A business opportunity...

[Beau coop]

Alright everyone, I need info quick. Please help!

I met a new restaurant owner who would like eggs and chicken for her NEW establishment.

This is what happened- my friend and I go for a walk as often possible and this new restaurant had a grand opening during one of our walks. We stopped in, and found out that they shop local ( I work at a school, one of our students families provides the NEW restaurant with fresh produce) My friend mentions I raise chickens- they now want eggs and birds.


How fast can I make this happen- 8 weeks? I raise banties for gods sake.

How do I get insta -laying leghorns to provide eggs? How do i know how many. her business is new, she doesn't know how many.

How do you work out a deal for meat birds? I have no idea how many they would need being a new restaurant? Or how much to charge.

Does any one here know how to start to develop a business plan for this- especially since all my eggs are in one basket so to speak?

Do I need a certification of any kind?

THANKS EVERYONE IN ADVANCE.

 

[wombat]

Contact the agricultural outreach program at a nearby public university. They can point you to the right resources regarding permits/inspections/slaughter/selling, and can provide sources for obtaining stock.

 

[jaku]

Sounds like you found a potential gold mine. Check the laws for your state. Someone posted a state by state list a few days ago, but it was a bit out of date. The only thing is, how big are you able to go? Heck, think about the egg demand alone. To get a SINGLE dozen eggs per day, you're going to have to have more than a dozen layers- and how many dozen eggs would a restaurant go through per HOUR, let alone per day!

 

[robbdebbie]

There are always people in my area selling laying hens on craigs list. Try there. Also, I would go through some of these posts about pricing, and then set up a price list that you can live with. Have a meeting with the owner and find out how she wants her birds prepared (whole, quartered, etc) and about how much she wants. Being a new business she might not know that "home grown" chicken cost more than wholesale. You wouldn't want to order a whole bunch of meaties without some sort of agreement.

Debbie

 

[Winsor Woods]

I think you need more information from the NEW restaurant as far as expected demand for your meat/eggs. After checking with the local laws and getting into compliance, I would next focus on a contract where the restaurant would commit to a set amount of meat and eggs per week/month.


Find a local feed supply that grinds their own grains for feed. You'll get a better price and you'll definitely need to buy in bulk.

For meat birds, the best value will most likely be cornish crosses. You'll need to buy those peeps and have an operation set up so you can keep a continuous stream of them in various stages of their short lives. They mature very quickly and you can process them as early as 6 weeks old and get close to a 4 lb birds dressed out.

For estimates on costs, figure that the cornish Cross will consume 2 lbs of food for each pound of body weight. So if you want a 6 pound bird, he'll consume 12 pounds of food. Then realize that a 6 pound bird will dress out to around 4-4.5 pounds.

Cornish crosses are filthy and you'll need quite a bit of space to keep a continuous cycle of them going through. They do nothing but eat, drink and poop, with an occasional nap here and there.

Dan

 

[pdpatch]

Generally speaking most state use the federal guideline but some have added to them. So as every one says check with your local AG department

Foe eggs, there is usually a maximun number you can sale in a month/year before you are required to pay any fees. You will have to grade them which means they will have to be candled to check the quality of the eggs, And by there weight.

Normally it takes 22 weeks before you will get pullet eggs. These can be about 1/2 the size of a normal egg and may not have a yoke in them. Then it take about another month to get full size.

Depending on the chicken they will lay in a cycle, the quickest is a sex link at 24 hours or so (but they are mean birds). Heavy breeds like Barbed Rock or Buff Orphington will lay on a 29 hour cycle or so. Which means you need 15 Layers for 12 eggs. If they will be free ranged you should only let them out for part of day after they have did most of there laying and you should collect eggs twice a day. You also should not store the eggs in your home refregerator.

After the first year the laying tapers off. So every year you have may have to start a new flock. After the second year yo may only get one egg a weeks or none at all. Most commercial farms for eggs, plan on replacing there flock every year.

As far a butchering, you most likely will have to have the butchering done in a state inspected facility at a minimum. Normally a Farmer can sell butchered Poultry from there farm for non-commercial use only. But for resale or restruant use it must be butchered in a Inspected Facility. Depending on the State the inspection is done by either Fed's or state health department.

Again each state may have added to the USDA rules and regs so you have to check the local regulations

Tom

 

[Milliemay]

There has to be places that sell pullets ready to lay. We have Organic famers all around us that have egg production and they don't raise chicks. Check with your counties Farm Service or Agriculture agency, they should have all the answers you need. Good luck, what a great opportunity!