Raising and Selling?

[jessica0028]

So I'm new to the Meat Bird scene, and I'm not entirely sure how the whole process works. I mean, I know how to raise them and process them, but does anybody know the whole process to be able to raise and sell processed chickens legally in Texas?

On a separate note - I have 2 other people asking if they can pay me to raise and process chicks for them with my flock of 20? How much would you charge for something like that?? or would it be more beneficial to me to just sell them processed birds at the end?

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Call Texas agricultural department for requirements specific to your state. May be a threshold of birds you can process without getting inspected, where and how your legally able to sell them, etc. It's all very state specific and instead of hearing it second hand call them or do a google search to read any online documentation on your states ag. website.

People wanting you to raise and process their birds is meh, well and good but what kind of promise can you give that their birds they give you to raise will live to butcher age? Things like this come to mind and do they expect a discount for them paying for the chicks? I suppose you could put bandettes on their birds and raise them alongside yours, make no guarantee of survival rate and charge them accordingly by having set price for feed and care per bird that doesn't change if the bird dies or not then a per bird butcher rate. Then you'd have an upfront payment to feed and care for birds with balance due of butcher and packaging rate per bird when they pick up and no guarantee of how much meat they'll receive. It's doable but again, kind of a no guarantee thing and you'd want money upfront as what if you cared for the birds and most died so they won't pay? You'd be taking a risk of sheer loss.

 

[Kiki]

So I'm new to the Meat Bird scene, and I'm not entirely sure how the whole process works. I mean, I know how to raise them and process them, but does anybody know the whole process to be able to raise and sell processed chickens legally in Texas?

On a separate note - I have 2 other people asking if they can pay me to raise and process chicks for them with my flock of 20? How much would you charge for something like that?? or would it be more beneficial to me to just sell them processed birds at the end?

 

[jake and pippa]

We raise birds for sale in NYS. The laws here allows the following.

We can process up to 1000 birds on the farm for sale direct to customers, no state inspection. We do not do this, we did a few and decided it was best left to professionals. Those sales are limited to end users. The buyer cannot then serve those birds in a restaurant, for example.

We can take our birds to local state inspected processing plants that operate under a small enterprise exemption. Here, we sell the live birds to the processor, they process the birds and sell them back to use, and we then sell the processed birds to restaurants and retail stores. The processing plant can process up to 20,000 birds per year. These birds can be sold to individuals, businesses, wholesale or retail. They CANNOT be sold out of state. A chef can cook them and serve them, we CANNOT cook them and sell cooked birds at farmers markets.

Regarding raising birds for others. We do this only for restaurants, and only with a real commitment. If a chef requests a particular bird, we will raise them, and sell at an agreed upon price/pound or price/bird. The birds are our birds, we take the risk, but knowing we have a sale at the end. We raise ducks as well under this type of understanding.

You need to be very careful, people back out of these arrangements all the time. Start very small, or get something in writing. Make a plan for how you will market the birds if the buyer disappears.

Good luck.