SELLING MEAT BIRDS

[mullers3acers]

I have a customer interested in buying chickens that we butcher ourselves. We have never sold any. We've only butchered for our own consumption. What should we charge; my husband says anywhere from $10 to $15 a bird this is new to us so could you help us out??????

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[arlee453]

Saw something online where folks were charging around $5 per pound for home raised chickens.

 

[silkiechicken]

I sell for 3 a lb to an acquaintance and break even on food. Realistically, I should be selling for $5-6 a lb dressed.

 

[LoneCowboy]

There's a place here that charges $2.50 a pound not cut up.

 

[4-H chicken mom]

My daughter sells her meat birds for $12 for a 6-8lb bird dressed. Her customers are thrilled to have fresh chickens.

One of my 4-H kids that used to raise turkeys for Thanksgiving would get $50 to $75 for a fresh 15 to 25lb bird. She always had orders for the next year.

 

[OHChick]

my friends here in OH that do meat birds charge usually $1.50 to $2.50/lb for whole chickens.

 

[greyfields]

$3.00-$3.50 per lb here. If you are selling, though, figure out the regulations in your State (since each state is still different regarding poultry slaughter). Most states do not allow you to sell meat chickens you have slaughtered yourself, you must use a processor. And I can't think of a single state that allows you to cut them up, you can only sell whole birds.

I would take the time to figure out the rules. Is it worth losing your home over if someone gets sick? Your homeowners insurance won't bail you out if you didn't have all the correct permits.

 

[blue90292]

grey, you are a wealth of information.

my friend and i are planning on selling the freedom rangers next spring. i want to just sell them outright as birds at the local sales and whatever is left, have a local guy process and sell those...i'm still not ready to do the actual deed, although, after they are dead, i can gut and pluck, i'm sure.

my friend wants to process all of hers and sell them. to cut on the cost, she planned on processing them herself.

for some reason, it never occurred to us that there would be red tape from the government. what idiots are we!

thank you for the insight. we will be doing some more homework.

michele

 

[greyfields]

Start with your Extension office. Just say you want to do a pastured poultry operation. They probably have a pamphlet ready for you since it has become more and more popular since the Joel Salatin books came out. Generally, it's not too bad to figure out the system. The only 'issue' is that poultry is not USDA inspected (except for processors who do over 19,999 birds per year) so every state will have its own quirks.

In our state, they simply require you to use a processor (outside of one permit which allows you to do it yourself from home, but you have to slaughter,dress and sell the birds within 48 hours from your own home... not really practical for crops of 50). It's simply to protect human health. I don't see that as being 'red tape' as much as common sense. It does add around $1/lb to your cost, though. Include your gas to and from the processor in your pricing (depending how far you go, it's a rather shocking bump up in your price per pound).

Oh, and I mean this. Get a business license and insurance. It's very inexpensive step to take and protects your personal property in case of something bad happening. It also allows you to deduct your operating expenses. Let me know how your business plan works out. I've never thought of marketing them live at auctions. I really love raising our own meant birds because the quality can't be beat. But I'm not lying when I say I make more profit selling 2 dozen eggs than I do from an entire meat chicken. It's a labor of love... and in my mind a good way to get our customers eating healthy and moving up to the lamb, pork and beef where we have a larger profit margin.