Selling them

[Ke11er98]

Is there any way you can raise meat birds and sell them as live birds to a processor? How can I get into this??? Thanks for any advice love y’all

 

[3KillerBs]

Is there any way you can raise meat birds and sell them as live birds to a processor? How can I get into this??? Thanks for any advice love y’all

Doubtful. Most processors are selling a service.

Selling meat is a different matter entirely with all sorts of hoops to jump through.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

Where are you butchering them? Some butcher will vacuum seal your chickens and provide a sticker with your choice of price to pounds and weight. (At least my butcher does all this.) That can be for resale.

Talk to your butcher about it, then your local stores might be willing to sell your food. You might need a signed certificate copy from your butcher.

 

[aart]

Is there any way you can raise meat birds and sell them as live birds to a processor? How can I get into this???

You'd probably have to become a commercial grower for one of the big poultry companies.

 

[Coops Dad]

I sell Cornish X and turkeys as live birds and the go about as fast as I post them. I sold Broad Breasted Bronze turkeys two weeks before Thanksgiving last year and got $75-$100 each depending on the weight. I've already had buyers from last year ask if I was going to be selling again this year.

I sold live Cornish X chickens for $15 each at 8 weeks and $20 at 10 weeks.

Sanderson Farms, a chicken processor here in Texas, contracts with growers. Minimum contract is 100,000 birds/year. (I know a guy who is a driver for them and picks up 40,000 lbs of live birds at a time.)

 

[Ke11er98]

I sell Cornish X and turkeys as live birds and the go about as fast as I post them. I sold Broad Breasted Bronze turkeys two weeks before Thanksgiving last year and got $75-$100 each depending on the weight. I've already had buyers from last year ask if I was going to be selling again this year.

I sold live Cornish X chickens for $15 each at 8 weeks and $20 at 10 weeks.

Sanderson Farms, a chicken processor here in Texas, contracts with growers. Minimum contract is 100,000 birds/year. (I know a guy who is a driver for them and picks up 40,000 lbs of live birds at a time.)View attachment 3071768

Wow that’s awesome I really want to get into doing something like that, I had a farm set up to start buying Cornish cross from me then they bailed out. I’d love to raise 100k birds a year!!!!!

 

[3KillerBs]

I sell Cornish X and turkeys as live birds and the go about as fast as I post them. I sold Broad Breasted Bronze turkeys two weeks before Thanksgiving last year and got $75-$100 each depending on the weight. I've already had buyers from last year ask if I was going to be selling again this year.

Is that to individual buyers or on contract to processors?

 

[Coops Dad]

Is that to individual buyers or on contract to processors?

Individual buyers. Processors will only buy from inspected and certified commercial growers due to disease and contamination concerns. Plus processors want a specific number of birds, of uniform size, cheap, all at once, on a schedule. If a grower misses his delivery date, his contract will stipulate an assessment due to missing the schedule. The processors run 24/7 and the birds have to come in on schedule to keep everything running smoothly. The longer it takes for a shipped chicken to go from the farm to the blade, the higher the mortality rate. A grower's birds arriving a day late throws off the workflow and many birds can die from heat, exposure and thirst before they even make it to the unloading dock.

Also, a commercial processor would never pay that much for a turkey or chicken. My buyers come to our place, see the birds in their pastures eating grass and bugs, and choose the ones they want.

 

[Ke11er98]

Individual buyers. Processors will only buy from inspected and certified commercial growers due to disease and contamination concerns. Plus processors want a specific number of birds, of uniform size, cheap, all at once, on a schedule. If a grower misses his delivery date, his contract will stipulate an assessment due to missing the schedule. The processors run 24/7 and the birds have to come in on schedule to keep everything running smoothly. The longer it takes for a shipped chicken to go from the farm to the blade, the higher the mortality rate. A grower's birds arriving a day late throws off the workflow and many birds can die from heat, exposure and thirst before they even make it to the unloading dock.

Also, a commercial processor would never pay that much for a turkey or chicken. My buyers come to our place, see the birds in their pastures eating grass and bugs, and choose the ones they want.

I’m so jealous of you I want to do that!

 

[3KillerBs]

Individual buyers. Processors will only buy from inspected and certified commercial growers due to disease and contamination concerns. Plus processors want a specific number of birds, of uniform size, cheap, all at once, on a schedule. If a grower misses his delivery date, his contract will stipulate an assessment due to missing the schedule. The processors run 24/7 and the birds have to come in on schedule to keep everything running smoothly. The longer it takes for a shipped chicken to go from the farm to the blade, the higher the mortality rate. A grower's birds arriving a day late throws off the workflow and many birds can die from heat, exposure and thirst before they even make it to the unloading dock.

Also, a commercial processor would never pay that much for a turkey or chicken. My buyers come to our place, see the birds in their pastures eating grass and bugs, and choose the ones they want.

Thanks for the info. That sounds like a good business model for someone with the marketing chops.