How much to charge for whole free range meat chicken?

[GrandmaCluck]

I just processed 19 cornish x's yesterday. I'm not looking to commercially sell any of them but my family and friends have asked to buy some. I have no clue what to charge. They are vacuumed sealed and frozen - whole birds ranging in weight from 5 pounds to 7 pounds. They were processed 1 day shy of 8 weeks. They were free range - no antibiotics or anything other than electrolytes in the water and feed. Any help here would be appreciated.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

$2.00 -$3.00 / pound is very reasonable for your type of chicken.

We sell a 3.5 - 4 lb bird for $10.00 even. It works easiest for us this way.

 

[TimG]

Quote:
I sold one of my Cornish Crosses (processed) to a friend for $10. I expect it was pretty close to cost (since I paid to have it processed). It did not matter to me whether I came out $1 ahead or $1 behind in the transaction.

Before you decide what you charge your friends and family for your chickens, you need to decide whether you want to get market price, want to cover your expenses, want to get paid for some (or all) of your labor, etc.

It might make a difference to me whether the friend asked "hey, I've never had a fresh chicken, would you sell me one so I can see what it's like" or "hey, I wouldn't mind putting 5 in my freezer, can I buy some?"

 

[cmcgoun]

Take Your Money!!!!!!!!! And Your Possessions!

 

[cmcgoun]

Rahhhh!

 

[jaku]

Figure out your per-bird cost and go from there. I process my own, and it costs me $6-7/bird, so I charge $10 for them.

 

[GrandmaCluck]

Thanks for the comments - it really helped. My family each gets 1 for free. It's the "extra" ones they want that I am going to charge them for. My feed costs were $1.07 per pound and I paid $2.00 processing fee.. So based on the prices you recommended, I would not be out of line to charge them my costs.

 

[douina]

We just have the layers, but we butcher our own,, they are good for the crockpot and frying. I ask $4.00 for our free range fresh butchered chickens. Does that sound like a good price.

 

[BBQJOE]

I'd pay $30 a bird for a free range chicken in the 8-10 pound range, cleaned and ready to go.

 

[Morrigan]

Where I live, an organic, free range chicken in the 5+ lb range would cost $15 to 20 in the market.

Last year I kept track of my soft costs -- chicks+shipping, food, bedding -- and ended up at $1.7 per pound. The hard costs of housing and waterers, etc. would add to that considerably, at least until I've got a few more batches under my belt to spread the costs out.

Personally, I would be reluctant to start selling my birds to friends or family for just soft costs, unless I really just wanted to raise a lot of birds and didn't care about my time and labor and felt I otherwise had enough meat for my family's needs. I think sometimes people don't appreciate how much time and care gets invested in raising birds in a backyard setting, as well as how much better a product you are getting as a result.