Raising our 1st set of CX meaties

[Angelicisi]

This batch I got from AG have to be slow growers. Or the weather messed them up lol they're taking forever to grow and eating the same, so this batch we may break even or end up IOU-ing ourselves lol

 

[Beekissed]

And Bee you were a catalyst in both chicken math and fermented feed.

I need cost of feed and waste to go away and was researching hard for alternatives to the norm...found your giant thread...ff for meaties...saves me 30% at minimum right off the top. In turn helping families here eat healthier for cheaper.

Yay!!! That's good to hear!!! That was the whole goal of the FF experiment...bring down cost, make a healthier bird.

 

[Coralietg]

There are similar prices at our closest Farmer's Market. I remember looking, and it would be over $20 for a chicken. I haven't looked in a while, I will check next time I'm down there.

I have a feeling that the first meatie is kind of like the first egg. We're lucky that we got a bunch of lumber and tin for free, so we only need to buy hardware cloth for the tractor. I bought a tin can for food storage ($25), 1 gallon plastic waterer ($16), new brooder lamp and bulbs ($26), heat shrink bags ($25). I'm trying to buy things slowly so I don't notice the small costs adding up so much, lol. We don't get our chicks until March 3rd. I still need hardware for processing and a couple of other things.

 

[jenifry]

I don't count my labor and time in factoring cost. I have, should probably and well, I am just too much

Love it!

I wish I had your self esteem! I was pushing it to tell myself I'm worth 10$ an hour!!

I did it for around $5 a bird~that's chicks, shipping, feed and bedding. I don't count time spent, which was very, very minimal...say 5 min. per day...just like I don't count my time when I make my breakfast, do my laundry or gas up my car, plow my garden, etc.

If you're doing it for your self, It's fine not to account for your time... In my calculations I did account for my time, because someone asked me to raise meat birds for them, and I can not see how you don't account for your labor when raising birds for another's benefit.

I wish I lived in a rural area where it could be a 5 minute job, but I live in town, surrounded by people that complain that my chickens stink, even though we all know that they don't stink if well cared for, and well.... if I clean the 10x7 coop daily whilst raising 40+ poop factories, it doesn't stink. ~~(With only my layers, I only have to clean the coop once a week)

(Side note... I know 10x7 wasn't a big enough coop, but they were fine with it for the time they spent sleeping, and they had access to free-range on a 1/4 acre 100% of the time. I learned my lesson, even when chicks are $0.25 I will NEVER raise 46 meat birds at one time again....)

 

[Beekissed]

Love it!

I wish I had your self esteem! I was pushing it to tell myself I'm worth 10$ an hour!!


If you're doing it for your self, It's fine not to account for your time... In my calculations I did account for my time, because someone asked me to raise meat birds for them, and I can not see how you don't account for your labor when raising birds for another's benefit.

I wish I lived in a rural area where it could be a 5 minute job, but I live in town, surrounded by people that complain that my chickens stink, even though we all know that they don't stink if well cared for, and well.... if I clean the 10x7 coop daily whilst raising 40+ poop factories, it doesn't stink. ~~(With only my layers, I only have to clean the coop once a week)

(Side note... I know 10x7 wasn't a big enough coop, but they were fine with it for the time they spent sleeping, and they had access to free-range on a 1/4 acre 100% of the time. I learned my lesson, even when chicks are $0.25 I will NEVER raise 46 meat birds at one time again....)

Try fermented feed and deep litter next time...and also maybe an electric poultry fence so that they can get out of the coop and spread that goodness all over the lawn so it won't be concentrated in one space?

These are all things implemented to decrease total work time...not just a condition of living in the country. My coop didn't smell like anything at all with 54 meaties living in it and out of it, with 98* temps and 65% humidity. Most clean smelling coop I've ever smelled in 37 years of keeping chickens...and my coop still doesn't smell with deep litter that's been in there for over a year. Ventilation, deep litter system(not just deep shavings that you keep cleaning out over and over), fermented feeds that use all the sugars so that they aren't stinking up the feces and attracting flies. That's another thing I didn't have....not one single fly.

The poultry netting is an investment and raises your total initial cost but will pay for itself for the next 10 years in keeping your flocks safe while they eat foods that you didn't have to buy and keep your work load down, while improving your pasture/yard for the next batch the following year/season. It's a good investment.

 

[foreverlearning]

I sorta like that so many people love what I have at such a good price.

I've been told by so many people thank you for affordable. I was asked multiple times if I could take wic or food stamps

I can't. But I can't pay $5 plus dollars for natural fresh meat. Many people I know wanted to but can't. So we tried to get cost down as low as possible.

It's a lot of work but hopefully we can keep it up and please many many families as well as feed ourselves.

While you can't legally take WIC or Food Stamps you can barter. Have you thought about things you may want to trade for the cost? Maybe you can get fresh home grown fruits and veggies from some people, used building materials, or even labor to help out.

 

[kuntrygirl]

This batch I got from AG have to be slow growers. Or the weather messed them up lol they're taking forever to grow and eating the same, so this batch we may break even or end up IOU-ing ourselves lol

Slow growers. Same problem here. We get what we pay for huh?

 

[kuntrygirl]

There are similar prices at our closest Farmer's Market. I remember looking, and it would be over $20 for a chicken. I haven't looked in a while, I will check next time I'm down there.

I have a feeling that the first meatie is kind of like the first egg. We're lucky that we got a bunch of lumber and tin for free, so we only need to buy hardware cloth for the tractor. I bought a tin can for food storage ($25), 1 gallon plastic waterer ($16), new brooder lamp and bulbs ($26), heat shrink bags ($25). I'm trying to buy things slowly so I don't notice the small costs adding up so much, lol. We don't get our chicks until March 3rd. I still need hardware for processing and a couple of other things.

You're right about the first egg. And FREE is always good. I love Free.

And you can always post in the WANTED section on Craigslist if you are looking for something. Someone may have something that you need.

Where r u getting your chicks from?

 

[Coralietg]

You're right about the first egg. And FREE is always good. I love Free.

And you can always post in the WANTED section on Craigslist if you are looking for something. Someone may have something that you need.

Where r u getting your chicks from?

We need knives and some kind of way to heat water in a big old crawfish pot. I think those are the main things we need really.

We're getting Cornish X's (15) from McMurray Hatchery. I probably should've waited for TSC, but there were some layers we wanted (light Brahmas and Cuckoo Marans). I'll probably pick up some more from TSC anyway, lol.

 

[Beekissed]

We need knives and some kind of way to heat water in a big old crawfish pot. I think those are the main things we need really.

We're getting Cornish X's (15) from McMurray Hatchery. I probably should've waited for TSC, but there were some layers we wanted (light Brahmas and Cuckoo Marans). I'll probably pick up some more from TSC anyway, lol.

My first batch of meaties were scalded in a big ol' copper apple butter kettle which we had placed on top of one of those outdoor patio stove thingies that someone had given to us...we placed a bag of charcoal in the bottom of it and lit that baby on fire and it provided hot, even heat throughout the processing. Only cost the price of that charcoal.

You can do it like they used to do..build a fire inside a cairn of stones in the yard and place heat reflectors around it(pieces of old tin roofing or something similar) and put your pot on a grate over that. It can get as simple as you want or as complicated. Where people lose profit is by going complicated.

We always use Rada knives...very cheap, very effective, last forever, sharpen up nice. Cost effective because we use them every day in our kitchen too.