Need your help folks... Cornish Costs....

[CoopCrazy]

I have been offered an awesome oppurtunity to raise meat chickens and turkeys for a local supplier.. This would be a great oppurtunity for my family as we love to raise the meaties and have the space to do so.. I would have all animals sold on a preorder bases... And all butchering will be done at her USDA imnspected butcherer...
She has asked me to get pricing for her on ready to butcher Cornish X, BBB turkeys and Freedon Rangers.. i know this info is on here but I am having a hard time locating any threads... If anyone could help me out it would be greatly appreciatted, Ive never sold birds on a large scale so im kinda oblivious.....

 

[vatterpa]

i dont know but would love to see the answers

 

[SteveH]

To be on the safe side , I would figure feed costs based on 500 lbs per 25 birds to get them to finish weights . I would definately look for a mill to buy at bulk prices . Other expences would be depreciation on equipment , bedding and electrical for brooding , any supplements you add to water , and of course cost of chicks to your door . I would figure for a 5% mortality and hope to hold it to 1% or lower . I don't know if you are to be responcible for processing costs or your obligations have been met in getting them to live finish weights .

 

[ourflockof4]

In all honestly you kind of need to figure this out yourself. Since you have raised them before you should have a good feel what your mortality rate, feed conversion, and feed cost are. After you figure out what those are then you need to decide how much profit you want to make, per bird, per pound or whatever.

The one thing that has me wondering is how are you going to set your price? Per bird, per live weight, per dressed weight? Since they are going to be handling the processing I would assume that per live weight may be in your best interest. Per dressed weight would vary widely depending on how they are processed. Are they selling whole birds? boneless breast? back quarters? Would they figure necks, feet, liver, ect into the processed weight? I think you get my point here.

Another thing is are they going to tell you exactually what they want? Will you get an order for 10 BBB @ 14lbs, 6 @ 19lbs, and 12 @ 24lbs and you need to make sure you hit those numbers whithin 2lbs or so?

Most of the people on here who sell their birds set their price and then find customers, you are kind of going at it the other way.

The other main question is what do you want to gain out of this? Do you want to raise them more as a hobby, or do you want to approach it as more of a business to make more?

 

[sammileah]

when i did my meat chickens i figured it was going to cost about $9 per bird from start to finish. including butcher fees.

 

[blueskylen]

for the last 3 years it has cost between $9 or $10 per bird- dressed out with processing ( about 4.5 to 7 lb each ).
next time I am going to have the feed store mix my feed, as they will do 500# or more, and I had 60 this spring and used about 650 #. - that may reduce your cost a bit. also, i had to buy my straw for bedding at $3.50/bale, so you may be able to cust costs there too.

i sold to friends/family for $2.25/lb - but i was not trying to make a big profit, just cover my costs and a bit extra for the next batch.

 

[CoopCrazy]

Quote:
Thanks Steve... My obligations willl be just to raise them to butcher weight .. They have a USDA processor that hs to do all the birds... I couldnt for the life of me remember how much they typically go thru.. i am stopping at the feedstore today to check out pricing ...