Trying To Make Money On Meat Birds

[Pine Roost]

Cost of processing will be the shrink bags, zip ties, labels, scale, a little bit of propane, and the cost of the plucker...which will hopefully be paid off in full after the first harvest. (all underlined items cost between $35-$40. I found a scale at a great price).
I have a free supply of hay, so bedding in the pen shouldn't be an issue. For sleeping quarters I have 4'x12' covered area. I have not considered loosing chickens...but will just have to be careful to keep them all healthy!! I'm sure that I will lose a few here and there though.

 

[Pine Roost]

I have another question... My 30x30 pen is not covered. When the humid SC summer temperatures hit, is the smell from my 50 birds going to be terrible and or uncontrollable? The pen is about 40 yards behind my house. I plan to keep it as clean as possible, but I think that there's only so much that you can do.

 

[greg zechman]

pine roost...do you plan on doing the processing your self and how will you get around the usda inspection process?

 

[Pine Roost]

I plan to process myself. Have done quite a few in the past and have a pretty quick process. That was without a plucker though. It should help speed things up by a long shot.

 

[greg zechman]

pineroost....i guess what i am trying to ask is how will you get around the state inspector for processing...i thought to sell at a farmers market the bird had to be inspected...maybe i am wrong?

 

[Arielle]

Cost of processing will be the shrink bags, zip ties, labels, scale, a little bit of propane, and the cost of the plucker...which will hopefully be paid off in full after the first harvest. (all underlined items cost between $35-$40. I found a scale at a great price).
I have a free supply of hay, so bedding in the pen shouldn't be an issue. For sleeping quarters I have 4'x12' covered area. I have not considered loosing chickens...but will just have to be careful to keep them all healthy!! I'm sure that I will lose a few here and there though.

What are the laws in your state? I don't mean to be a party pooper, just don't want you to go to all this trouble and not be able to sell your wonderful roasters. In my state I must be licensed to process and sell otherwise they must go to a licensed facility.

Love that you have thought about all the details of the equipment you will need. Whoooot on free bedding.

 

[Pine Roost]

I have no idea what the laws are regarding selling chicken. All of my sales will be directly to family and friends.....and a few will be kept for my own freezer.

 

[Mahlzeit]

I have no idea what the laws are regarding selling chicken. All of my sales will be directly to family and friends.....and a few will be kept for my own freezer.

You can just google the laws for your state/county. It's pretty easy, if you ever really wanted to expand your selling.

 

[donrae]

There is a lot of good stuff on here. Well....I have 50 white broilers coming the week of Jan 27th. (the first batch got canceled due to weather) I'm going to feed continuously for 3 weeks, then 12 hrs on and 12 hrs off until harvest. (any ideas on the best times to take feed away??) Hopefully my feed cost at $11.18 / bag will not hurt too bad. I am also hoping that they will grow to full potential with the 17% that I'll be using, start to finish.

Also in the process of building a wizbang plucker....so that should help with processing time. I'm leaning towards $2.70/lb for my cleaned, shrink bagged chicken. They will be raised in a 30'x30' pen and I would like to call them "naturally raised, antibiotic free"

I think you're going to lose money at that price. You need to factor in your time, and don't underprice yourself. Most markets can support $3.50/lb.

 

[BCMaraniac]

I have no idea what the laws are regarding selling chicken. All of my sales will be directly to family and friends.....and a few will be kept for my own freezer.

There is a federal exemption as long as you sell directly off of your farm, don't sell across state lines, and don't sell more than a thousand chickens per year including the ones you keep for personal use. Look up your state and the federal exemption. Here it is, the one for SC:

Section 47-19-140 Exemptions Section (e)

(e) The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to poultry producers with respect to poultry of their own raising on their own farms if (i) such producers slaughter not more than two hundred fifty turkeys, or not more than an equivalent number of birds of all species during the calendar year for which this exemption is being determined (four birds of other species being deemed the equivalent of one turkey); (ii) such poultry producers do not engage in buying or selling poultry products other than those produced from poultry raised on their own farms; and (iii) such poultry moves only in intrastate commerce. - See more at: http://statutes.laws.com/south-carolina/title-47/chapter-19#sthash.35CFV3aj.dpuf

http://statutes.laws.com/south-carolina/title-47/chapter-19