Economics, expansion of cottage industry

[User635240]

Hi BYC, question about starting a meat bird side gig / cottage industry. I sell eggs in a couple of grocery stores and they said they would buy butchered poultry from me as well. This week, a horiculturalist visited my orchard and suggested setting up chicken tractors between the rows of trees. (There are ~30 rows, 100' long each.) Right now I just have 30 meat bird chicks but I wonder if there would be a real business to filling all 30 rows with 30 chicken tractors, with 20 birds each, switching out every 8-12 weeks during spring and summer. Would this be profitable? Doable?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

That sounds like a lot of work. I personally would try a few and see how it goes. I also would rotate the rows as far as usage. You don't want to keep running chickens on the same ground. I would start small, and increase as I'm more comfortable doing the work.

 

[Brooks_]

Without "you" being USDA inspected, I doubt "those" stores could legally sell the chicken. State laws vary, I would seriously look at all food codes. Raw poultry is typically not considered "cottage".

 

[User635240]

Without "you" being USDA inspected, I doubt "those" stores could legally sell the chicken. State laws vary, I would seriously look at all food codes. Raw poultry is typically not considered "cottage".

I checked with a state inspector. There are some rules to follow but overall exempt under 1000 birds annually.

 

[Penpal]

I would ask how many birds they wanted per week. You will want to raise your birds to be of age only so many at a time. Also, I think I would not breed CX because that is what everybody sells. A tastier breed would be better.

We found that were RIR were much better than our CX, but took longer to grow out. You might want to get different breeds of broilers and make a decision as to better taste and texture.

 

[User635240]

I would ask how many birds they wanted per week. You will want to raise your birds to be of age only so many at a time. Also, I think I would not breed CX because that is what everybody sells. A tastier breed would be better.

We found that were RIR were much better than our CX, but took longer to grow out. You might want to get different breeds of broilers and make a decision as to better taste and texture.

Thanks you got me thinking. Bresse chx might provide some competitive advantage.

 

[Penpal]

Right. You could breed your own. Maybe do a search for most flavorful chicken breed. Sell three different breeds, labelling each as such. When you see what people prefer, which I am sure the customers will tell the store staff, you can focus on one or two breeds.