cost of eating home-raised chicken

[patandchickens]

I know this has been hashed to death on BYC but it always seems to benefit from further go-rounds with new participants, plus this is the first time I can really participate (we are eating our 1st homegrown cockerel tonight for dinner) AND most of all I just can't think of any other better more relevant topics to start

Soooooo....

I will propose that it actually CAN be cheaper, or at least as cheap, to eat yer own chicken as something bought in the store (and I'm not talking fancy organic free-range, I'm talking regular grocery store chicken).

I figure the 15 wk old chantecler cockerel that is currently in the oven comes out to be almost exactly the same price as run-of-the-mill grocery store chicken around here (about $6.59 per kilo - I dunno what that is per pound and the kids walked off with my calculator, a kilo is 2.25 lbs, you do the math ). Possibly a *little* more expensive since he may have less meat for the same weight of carcass, but not really very different.

That's $3.00 for the chick, plus I am estimating about $4 worth of feed to get him to this point. Dressed carcass weight was exactly 1 kg, funnily enough. (Actually, that's skinless weight -- I have no idea how much extra to guesstimate to compare him to a skin-on supermarket carcass, so I choose to ignore the whole issue <g>) There was no processing cost (axe out back, followed by cuttingboard and bucket), and I'm not including the cost of converting the kennel to chickens b/c I prefer to consider that as hobby-related 'capital improvements to the property as a whole'

If we had hatched him from our own egg, as we will likely be doing next spring with the sussexes, it would actually beat the cost of grocery store chicken. As long as you do the capital-improvements accounting trick, anyhow.

There, now y'all can argue with me or share your own experiences/calculations


Pat

 

[enjoy the ride]

I do believe that chickens, which I do not raise, would be much less expensive than meat goats which I do raise. But I suspect that neither would be a bargain if you consider medictions, suppliments, pro-rata materials, stock losses, maintanence of the hen or incubator, capital expenditures (they do cost) , and misc brooms, cleaners, bedding, etc and the real fatal thing, the value of your time and effort.
I do not do this for that reason- I do it to have meat that is healthy, natural and happily raised. I enjoy the time I spend with them and do not think of it as real work but my labor , if spent making an income, does have value.
Since you can still buy chicken here, cut up and ready to go at $1-2 per pound, it would be hard to compete. They are professionally raised to minimize expense. But that would not be the question I would ask- I would say- good for you.

I have raised $10 lemons and $5 tomatoes- my greatist fiascos- even then though I was learning. And enjoying.

 

[patandchickens]

But I suspect that neither would be a bargain if you consider medictions, suppliments, pro-rata materials, stock losses, maintanence of the hen or incubator, capital expenditures (they do cost) , and misc brooms, cleaners, bedding, etc and the real fatal thing, the value of your time and effort.

I dunno about goats, but for the chickens, I've used no medications or supplements (not going to, either - the cure for most chicken ailments is time or the axe, unfortunately). No reason to use cleaning agents. Lost one chick out of twenty this year -- so I suppose you could divide the ~$5 that I had into the chick at the time among the 19 survivors, but it turns out pretty trivial that way.

Brooms and tools I already have from the horses. Bedding... good point, I have spent probably a total of $7 on bedding for the chantecler pen, which divided among 5 chickens adds a little over a dollar to the "cost" of tonight's meal. OTOH the bedding gets composted and used to improve garden soil/production, so it's not quite as simple as a plain ol' cost.

The "value of my time" thing I don't really get, though. Well, I mean, I realize that many people choose to calculate things this way, and there's no reason not to I guess if that's one's preference.

But my time is NOT money. It is not like I am taking time off from otherwise-lucrative employment to feed or slaughter chickens I just, you know, *am*. I exist. I live, I do things that need to be done, I occupy myself. If I did not have chickens occupying a (very very tiny) fraction of my daily 24 hrs, it's not like I'd be earning money with that (very very tiny) amount of time instead. So, for me, I think it would be totally bogus to calculate what my time is somehow "worth" <shrug>

I do not do this for that reason- I do it to have meat that is healthy, natural and happily raised.

Oh absolutely, me too! I won't *buy* the super cheap bargain basement chicken *anyhow*, so that is irrelevant to me. And I really really would prefer not to buy the 'better' supermarket chicken either, because of how it was raised.

I'm just reacting to a number of posts over on BYC where people calculate out that their homegrown chicken is costing them like $12 a pound or other very upscale numbers. I am sure that is true for some people, especially if you spent a bunch of money building housing for the chickens and then amortize it into the chickens' cost. But OTOH I think it is not necessarily true for *everyone*.

JMHO,

Pat

 

[heatherv]

If you already have your coop/run built from having chicks for a hobby/pet/eggs whatever, it's really not that much more, esp. when you hatch your own. So I tend to agree w/ Pat that it's not really that high of a cost. Plus I'd trust my own chickens over grocery store chickens anyday. I KNOW they'd be healthier for my family.

My prob. is that I can't get DH to 1) help butcher/process and 2) he won't eat them He actually threw his chicken away that was on his plate tonight. (could've at least fed it to the dogs or chickens)

 

[FarmerChick]

I think it can be cheaper ---for some people. Others THROW money at any project they handle whether animals or something else.

If you are frugal in your purchases and your time to handle the animals, it comes in cheaper definitely.

And of course the benefits of eating your own "known" meat.

For me ---time is money. I farm for income. My time and work is money for everything I do on the farm. My hours to make a living....so I have to count it in when handling all my animals. Some people do not have to do this.

 

[Beekissed]

I look at my chickens as an investment and a back-up food source. I invested $80 dollars in chicks this year to get a return of $4-$6 a day in eggs(counting my present flock, which were free!) for next year. Since my henhouse was here already, I already had nest boxes, made feeders and waterers out of stuff I had here, roosts out of old beanpoles, etc. I figure these hens will pay for themselves over and over in the next few years. I plan to sell the eggs here and I won't have a problem getting $2 on the low end and $3 on the high, depending on what I choose. Since they freerange, I can make a 100 lb/$17 bag of feed on a continuous feeder last about 2 mo. I mix that with an $11 bag of oats. That works out to $168 per year. Lets round that up to, say, $200 in case they eat more in the winter, which they usually do. Lets calculate that they will slow down their laying for 2-3 mo. in the winter, so we'll deduct those eggs all together and put them towards family consumption. That leaves 272 days at approx. $4 a day and equals $1088.00. I will be raising my own chicks from now on, so I will replenish my flock free of cost, eat the extra roosters and any culled, older hens, so that is free meat. That leaves $888.00 in profit. Let's take off another $100 in unexpected losses, more feed if necessary, etc. Leaves $788 per year profit. The first year I will operate at a loss( due to having to wait until the chicks mature) as so many do. But the remaining years I will be to the good.

That leaves a tidy little profit of approx. $788 per year for birds that keep my orchard and garden spot healthy, give me free fertilizer, provide me with free breakfast and the occasional dinner and look cute out on my green lawn. Not many people raise their own chickens around here due to the commercial growers in the area, so my flock stands out and I get comments on them wherever I go. This brings in added business for my egg sales. They look so pretty,fat and healthy, that folks want to buy their eggs.

They don't require much time, as they do most of their pooping in the garden and yard, the feeders have to be filled every 5-6 days, the waterers about the same. We collect eggs daily. Not much work involved with these chickens. The emergency run was built from free (well, we did a job for it) chain link fencing. All in all, I'm pretty satisfied with how much profit I am getting from these girls. They are healthy, haven't been sick, good steady layers of big, brown eggs. I don't have a predator problem as I have 2 LGD par excellent.

Yep, the chicken is the best investment of livestock for my small holding.

 

[miss_thenorth]

OK, looking at my receipts.

25 chicks @$1.35 =33.75
4 bags (25kg)purina start & grow =53.20
7 bags purina meat builder =97.65

(two birds died)

processing for 23 birds@ 3.20/bird =73.60

Birds were processed at 8 wks of age, average weight 7 1/2 lbs.

Total expense:$258.20
Price per bird: $11.23

I was at the grocery store the other day with my son, and he pulled me over to see a roasting bird that was about 3/12 lbs. (my guess--I didn't check the weight) but it was $10.58. It was about 1/2 the size of my smallest bird.

 

[ticks]

OK, looking at my receipts.

25 chicks @$1.35 =33.75
4 bags (25kg)purina start & grow =53.20
7 bags purina meat builder =97.65

(two birds died)

processing for 23 birds@ 3.20/bird =73.60

Birds were processed at 8 wks of age, average weight 7 1/2 lbs.

Total expense:$258.20
Price per bird: $11.23

I was at the grocery store the other day with my son, and he pulled me over to see a roasting bird that was about 3/12 lbs. (my guess--I didn't check the weight) but it was $10.58. It was about 1/2 the size of my smallest bird.

 

[Acre of Blessings]

Are you buying meat birds or just using standard birds for meat?

If you are buying meat birds the cost will be much less.

Myself and 2 friends are about to embark on processing meat chickens. This is the cost broken down.

100 fast growwing meat birds (ready for the ax in 6 weeks) = $120.00
6 bags of feed = $75.00 @12.50 per bag
cost for having birds process = $0.00 ~~ doing our own processing
cost per bird = $1.95 per bird

The meat birds usually dress out at 4 pounds or more per bird

 

[Acre of Blessings]

processing for 23 birds@ 3.20/bird =73.60

Birds were processed at 8 wks of age, average weight 7 1/2 lbs.

If you process you own, you can save that $73.60 and put that into more chickens.