price difference

[digginchicks]

Is it really worth it to raise eating chickens?? Do you save any money or is it just that fact that your not eating meat filled with steroids and meds?

 

[Katy]

I think for most people it's more the knowing where your food came from and what went into them. With the price of feed it's certainly not cheap to raise them.

 

[FarmerCarl]

Hi Josh, I just started raising meat birds for myself last summer. I put 26 birds in the freezer last year and I have 26 meat chicks in my barn right now. I can't say I saved any money doing it this way, but like you said, I know how they were raised and what they ate.

The taste is much better than what you'll get in the store, plus if you know how the chickens in the store are raised you probably wouldn't want to eat them anyway.

 

[digginchicks]

Yeah I was thinking about it and didn't think there was anyway to raise them very cheaply. Does anyone know how much they usually put into a bird before butchering it?

 

[FarmerCarl]

I didn't keep real good records last year but I figured roughly each bird cost me about $7.00. I butchered them myself. They free ranged so they didn't eat as much bagged food as some might. They weighed between 4-7 lbs each last year. I butchered in groups two weeks apart.

This year my DH says "no way" to processing them here so we will be paying $2.00 per bird to have it done. So that will make each bird about $9.00.

 

[pbuckler]

Those prices sound pretty good considering I usually pay $8 per pound for organic skinless breasts! That is the reason why I'm considering raising my own.

 

[Omniskies]

It's a lot cheaper for me to raise my own chickens than to buy them in the grocery store. But I go a little overboard with everything I do with mine.

I buy a lot at a time and try to go in with other people to get the chicks for less than a dollar initially.

The chicks are turned out in tractors so they're eating free food in addition to the expensive stuff.

When they're butchered I sell all of the stuff I won't use for $0.40lb to people who feed their dogs raw. This includes the back bone area since I butterfly cut all of my chickens in order for them to lay flat and fit in the freezer better. Then I stuff them with something to make them look like a chicken again when they're being cooked (usually red or gold potatoes

.

This year I'm going to try to start up extra red worm beds using the feathers as their food source. If I can pull it off then I'll be giving the red worms to the birds as a supplemental feed.

If you're willing to put in the work then you can raise chickens for pennies and spend the extra money buying locally grown foods from your neighbors that you don't want to raise yourself

 

[digginchicks]

You make sound pretty cheap!!! I do think that I will be ordering some soon. What breed would you suggest just cornish's

 

[jaku]

My birds cost about $6.50 each to raise. That's more than the cost of a whole bird at the supermarket, but less per pound than prepackaged chicken breasts. That price assumes I buy feed in 500 pound lots, which cuts the cost in half as well. I do it to know what's in my food.

 

[walls0stone]

mine will cost me around 3-4 bucks to raise. However I look at what I'm NOT doing. I'm NOT going to the movies...I'm NOT at the Mall...I'm NOT hang'n out with some fools at the Coffee house.

I'm entertained by reading about chickens and watching them grow.

I look for deals on corn, birds ect... But I also save on the fact that I've got a past time that produces more than just memories. Also, once the birds are in the freezer and in the freezers of the friends and family I love, I can take some ease in knowing that if the price of chicken goes higher it won't effect me or those I love.