What do you sell your meat birds for?

[CHIC]

We are getting some meat birds and have several friends interested. They want us to raise the birds, however. We are thinking of having a sort of slaughtering party and letting everyone participate. 1. Is this legal? 2. Do you have any ball park range of what it costs to raise these guys or what you sell them for?... We are not looking to make a huge profit or anything but we definately need to get what we invested in them.

 

[Nemo]

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I have no idea. But, that didn't stop us from doing the same thing.

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We've done it two years running, and it cost almost $10 a bird. We just got cost from our chicken co-op friends, because they come over to take care of the birds when we need to go out of town, and they all come over to help on slaughtering day.

[EDIT]
I put a bit more info on a similar question HERE.

 

[maplesky7]

I asked the same thing to a meat shop and how much I could charge for my chickens... he told me like 2 years ago.... $2.50 a pound.

So I had $20 chickens and that's what he was selling his for.

 

[CHIC]

Wow, I was thinking more like 5 or 6 bucks! That is a LOT of money and work per chicken. I don't know if it's worth it or not! What do you think? I don't think people are going to want to pay that kind of money will they?

 

[kingmt]

Let them keep eating supermarket chicken then.

I was thinking $3 a pound.

 

[Winsor Woods]

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Yes to that! With homegrown chickens, people need to realize that these are not the same as supermarket chickens. Today's consumer mentality has focused everyone on quantity rather than quality. I was absolutely amazed at the first Cornish Cross I ate from my own homegrown batch.

When I used to eat supermarket chicken, I could eat about 4-5 breasts (half breasts). Now, with my own chickens, I can eat just one half of a breast (left or right doesn't matter

) and feel full and won't feel like eating anything for about 8-10 hours. I'm completely shocked by this and the only thing that I can explain this with is that there is just that much more nutrition/energy in my homegrown batch.

Commercialized Agriculture has really brainwashed us into thinking that we need to eat LOTS of food. If we eat their food products then we do have to eat lots because most of it is waste to our body. But when you have homegrown chicken and vegtables from your own garden and you don't even think about eating except one meal a day, it speaks volumes. I'm 6'5" and I normally eat like a horse. Since we started providing a good portion of our own food I really learned so much about our supermarket food. If I could provide all my food, round the year, I'd do it in a heartbeat. I certainly feel healthier.

I don't think most people recognize that (well maybe people here would) $3/lb of homegrown chicken is a good deal. Especially if you only need to eat 1/5th as much of it than the supermarket variety. It tastes better too!

Dan

 

[CHIC]

Ok.... Well, I will run it by my friends. I don't guess it matters cause we are going to get some for us regardless, and its like you said- quality matters. If they were to try to go to the local co-op and get the next best thing to homegrown, they would probably have to pay an arm and a leg.

 

[robbdebbie]

Cornish X sell for 2.75-3.00 per pound at our farmer's marker, and they are sold out within an hour.

 

[CHIC]

Already dressed? Is that legal?

 

[robbdebbie]

In Louisiana it is. Most states have the same requirements as the Feds which is something like 1500 birds. Don't quote me on that though. If you call the department of ag in your state I am sure you can find out. A lot of people don't sell their birds by the pound. What they do is presale the birds before they are dead. Just like we buy chicks, etc. Then they offer the customer free of charge to dress the bird for them. So they are not being paid for processing. Somehow this skirts the issues a bit. You would have to come up with an average weight of the chickens, and then settle on a price per bird.