Butchered some birds: cost and thoughts.

[pintail_drake2004]

Hey folks, my wife and I have been raising some Red Rangers, BR, and some barnyard mixes for meat and to add to our layer flock. On Aug 27, I butchered 5 of the largest/oldest roosters. 3 of the barnyard mix roosters that were given to me weighed 4.5, 4.5, and 5 pounds they were a little over 16 weeks old. I also butchered 2 of my 9.5 week old RR roosters that were starting to get a little too aggressive with the hens. They went 5.5 and 6 pounds live weight.
I figured for the barnyard mixes I didn't do too bad on weight. I was impressed with the red rangers, and how plump they were. I have 6 more RR roosters and 6 more young BR roosters left to go. The BR roosters are 12.5 weeks old and still look like Cornish hens. They are still put on pasture every day with free access to food and water as well. I do give them a handful of meal worms everyday. As well as some garden scraps.

So here is my breakdown:
BR=5 hens, 6 Roosters (we hatched)
Mix=3 hens, 3 roosters (gifted)
RR=3 hens 9 roosters ($1/ea) one died

After factoring in 7 bags of meat bird, 6 bags of chick starter, and poultry bags, the cost per bird Averaged just over $7/ea. I figured by the time I butcher the rest, I'll be about 7.50/ea. I've never raised birds for meat before, so how does this compare to others? I know they were raised with plenty of room, and access to green grass and sun every day.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

When you raise chickens for meat you will never match prices with the supermarket. The big producers buy their birds in bulk. The feed they use is the lowest quality commercial feed available and they order it by the truck load. Raising chickens for meat isn’t about trying to save money it’s about raising a chicken in a natural way so that the bird has a normal life and so that the meat you eat will be high quality. I have 3 8 week old cockerels and they will be butchered in 2-4 weeks. If they don’t have much meat on them I will use them in a soup.

 

[Mosey2003]

If cost is important to you, you're better off buying whole birds from the store when they're on sale. You will never match store price. If you could get feed cheaply enough, you'd come close, but you'd still have to be donating your time that you spend caring for them and butchering them.

 

[pintail_drake2004]

Cost isn't that important to me. I am simple wanting to know where my batch falls in with others. I put my cost on there to show others who may be curious as well. I have no intention of attempting to match store bought birds. I raise or hunt 90% or more of my families protein. I know how it was treated and fed from day one to slaughter. I'm sorry if the OP came across as wanting to match store bought birds, that is not the case.

 

[PirateGirl]

This is good info because often the discussion on price per pound to raise a meat bird is based on a Cornish X or similar, but many of us are looking at processing older birds, or dual purpose birds, extra roos, etc.

 

[Mosey2003]

I get it, I've wondered about that myself. I ran some base numbers on what broilers should eat and I came out around $5.50 each at best. Won't know unless I try them.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

Cost isn't that important to me. I am simple wanting to know where my batch falls in with others. I put my cost on there to show others who may be curious as well. I have no intention of attempting to match store bought birds. I raise or hunt 90% or more of my families protein. I know how it was treated and fed from day one to slaughter. I'm sorry if the OP came across as wanting to match store bought birds, that is not the case.

Sorry about misinterpreting your first post. I think the weights you are on the average side for most people considering the age that you butchered the birds. I don’t expect to get a whole lot of meat from each cockerel when I will be butchering mine, but I expect to each one will be a single serve meal.

 

[MichelleBelle]

When I ran the numbers for my first batch of meat birds, it came out to about $7.50 a bird. Unfortunately, a band of troublesome dogs managed to break into their coop and devour them 3 days before they were to be processed. That was about 6 months ago, and I've just now convinced myself I have a predator proof setup to try again.

 

[pintail_drake2004]

well, this past weekend I butchered another 4 birds. They averaged 5-5.5# dressed and my cost was $7.50 as expected. I'm hoping to build a drum plucker for next year. I still have 11 more I plan to butcher, a few RR and several BR roosters.

 

[pintail_drake2004]

So, we butchered 8 more this past weekend. 4 BR roosters, and 4 RR. Total cost per bird is $7.87/ea. We still have 11 birds left. We will butcher 2 more BR roosters and keeping 8 hens for layers, and 1 RR rooster. Planning on crossing the RR rooster with some of my bigger BR hens and get some fuller meat crosses.
In this pic, the RR are in front, and the 4 BR are in the back row.