Selling chickens or butchering

[DDDflock937]

I have several buff Orpington roosters and hens. Born in may and June. I am planning on butchering some and possibly selling some. I was wondering if anyone could advise me if I do sell, approximately how much I could sell them for?
Also wondering if roosters or hens differ in taste when butchered and cooked

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

I would butcher the boys if there were no takers for selling.

But girls in their first season of lay should EASILY sale for $30, I wouldn't take less than $20 (if they haven't started laying yet). No chicken is going to give you $20-30 worth of 1 nights dinner. It will always be more profitable to sell the hens. You can aim to sell boys, but that isn't usually as easy. I have sold plenty of boys, but noway can I get rid of them all. When it comes to boys, I won't sell for less than $10, because that's what 1 nights worth of meat for my family usually cost me. Raising them isn't free and since we have the ability to process and eat, then we shall!

I wouldn't butcher pullets. Too much profit in selling them. And if I couldn't sell the hen than I might aim to sell her eggs. Space being an issue though.. I might butcher a pullet. Every situation is different.

I find it usually takes me about 2 weeks to get good offers on my birds from Craigslist. Which that and word of mouth are my only 2 current forms of advertising.

There is no difference in taste to me between pullets and cockerels. Biggest difference is size.

ETA: I figure my feed cost me about $2.50/mo per bird. So I make sure and charge at least that for birds I haven't gotten any eggs or benefit from. Your feed cost may be more or less.

 

[happyhllfarm]

I am in the same position. I'm trying to sell some but would rather butcher them. We have butchered an old roosters on our own but it takes time we don't have right now. We have no butcher shop that will butcher chickens anywhere nearby. I am checking with ethnic groceries nearby to see if I can find a someone. The old roosters was a lot of dark meat (typical of free range - I'm told). We made stock and feed the dog for a few days.

I just sold a Danish Leghorn cockerel for $20. At four months, he cost me $11 in variable cost (chick cost, feed). Probably a lot more in fixed cost (coup, watering setup, feeders).

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I am in the same position. I'm trying to sell some but would rather butcher them. We have butchered an old roosters on our own but it takes time we don't have right now. We have no butcher shop that will butcher chickens anywhere nearby. I am checking with ethnic groceries nearby to see if I can find a someone. The old roosters was a lot of dark meat (typical of free range - I'm told). We made stock and feed the dog for a few days.

I just sold a Danish Leghorn cockerel for $20. At four months, he cost me $11 in variable cost (chick cost, feed). Probably a lot more in fixed cost (coup, watering setup, feeders).

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Ethnic grocers is a great idea!

Butchering old roosters takes a lot more time than younger ones we discovered. It took a while to wrap our head around the whole process so our first boys were a bit older and our inexperience took 2 hours to butcher and SKIN a single boy (we haven't plucked any yet). Fast forward several months and my daughter was worried about it being harder to do young boys from not being able to get her hand inside the smaller body cavity. To our surprise, there was much less connective tissue and the bones were more flexible so the process dropped to a half hour per bird instead of 2 hours, with not much more experience.

The amount of dark meat won't be only relative to free range, but different breeds have different characteristics. Some are double breasted, while others are not. What I think is typical of free range is longer legs. Oh, and I bet your chickens would have appreciated some of that extra meat! We eat the older ones as well.. but use like shredded chicken in burritos or enchiladas, after making stock.

I can't count my fixed cost... those are what make my eggs cost me probably $10/dozen! Keeping chickens to enjoy the eggs/meat certainly isn't cheaper than just buying them. But the pay off is huge and I don't spend $ on going to the gym or a therapist. And don't eat nasty blood river meat from "big chicken". Since we process only a couple at a time, we get to air chill them in the fridge.

 

[DDDflock937]

Thank you!!!!

 

[DDDflock937]

I’m now apparently having an issue with weasels
Lost 10 over night

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I’m now apparently having an issue with weasels
Lost 10 over night

Oh no, so sorry.

It's my understanding that weasels can get into a quarter sized whole AND go on massive killing sprees.

If there were a lot of dead chickens... and I had the capability (physically and emotionally), I might consider trying to process the meat for my freezer instead of letting it go to waste.