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The cost of raising meat chickens- cheap & healthy meat!

7/9/2016

13 Comments

 
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Every year that we have raised our own chickens for meat I have said I was going to keep diligent records so that I would have an exact cost breakdown, but every year something gets in the way.  

This year is an exception.  This is our third year of raising our own meat chickens and I was DILIGENT to keep track of EVERYTHING so that you can benefit from knowing the exact cost breakdown of raising your own meat chickens too.  Whether you are living off the grid or just beginning into the realm of homesteading this is invaluable information to have.

Lets start with some quick starting points first.  

We are a family of 7 people who really like to eat chicken.  We eat chicken at least twice a week so when we have run the numbers we have figured that to produce enough chicken for our family to enjoy and to make the amount of work involved worthwhile, we buy 25 meat chickens at a time.  

Less than that and it is too time consuming, more than that and we are taxing our freezer space as well as our resources.  25 meat chickens for a family eating chicken 2 times a week equals roughly 12 weeks of chicken dinners or 3 months worth.  That means we should actually be raising chickens 4 times a year but we typically do it 2-3 times over the summer months as it is easier that way.
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We choose to raise Cornish Rock Cross chickens as these reach butcher weight faster than any other chicken around.  It only takes 9 weeks to raise a bird from chick to a 5-7 lb monster of deliciousness.

We order our chicks from a Hatchery called Mt. Healthy out of Cincinnati, Ohio.  They ship nationwide and have been great to work with.  Our chicks cost us $1.68 a piece this year so the package of peeps set me back $42.00.

Without a brooder in place (we have one since we do this regularly) you need a place for your chickens.  We did have to purchase new heat lamps this year and at our local feed store those ran us $5.50 a piece.

Suggestions for brooders:

A large metal or rubber feed or wash tub
A makeshift pallet construction
A chicken tractor with access to electricity for heat

It need not be fancy and don't be intimidated by the heat instructions for your birds.  I use the redneck way of measuring temperature satisfaction in chicks...no thermometer required.  IF THE CHICKS ARE ALL HUDDLED UNDER THE LAMP THEY ARE TOO COLD, IF THE CHICKS ARE AT THE FAR CORNERS OF THE BROODER AND AWAY FROM THE HEAT SOURCE THEY ARE TOO HOT.  Very scientific right?

NOTE: As soon as the outdoor temps are warm consistently during the day and not dipping below 70 at night we try to transition 4-5 week old chicks outside to the chicken tractor.  This helps with the copious amounts of poo as well as providing fresh air, fresh forage and insects for the chickens to eat.

The only thing left now is feed.  I purchase our feed from a local feed store for $12.99 per 50lb bag.  I spend a little more because I order all natural medication free feed.  (why it costs more to get your chicken feed without medication I will never understand!)

350# of feed set me back a total of $77.94 for 6 bags (50# per bag)

We butcher our own chickens so I also added the cost of vacuum pack bags for our food saver. ($20.00)

If you are keeping track here is the cost thus far...
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But what did I end up with for that $145.93?  After all the birds were butchered and weighed I wound up with exactly 145 pounds of fresh, free range, antibiotic free chicken.  That is $1.06 a lb!!!

The cheapest I have EVER seen chicken that is free range (raised on forage and insects as well as feed such as in a moveable chicken tractor) and antibiotic free is $5.99 lb.  I'd say for all of the effort we did VERY well!

Don't get me wrong, it is A LOT of work but to know what my family is eating and to have a freezer stocked with delicious meat is worth it!
Related Posts:
How to order chicks
How to care for new chicks
​

Want to learn to butcher your own chicken?
 Read my post here complete with a video!
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13 Comments
Amy Dingmann link
7/22/2016 07:08:54 am

Informative article. :) We chose not to raise meat birds this year because the cost of the chicks has gone up 80 cents a bird since we started and the food, too! We decided to take a break this year. UGH. I love reading articles like this because it's always nice to see the cost break down - I think it depends a lot on where you live, but it's always interesting to read!

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incidentalfarmgirl link
7/22/2016 07:14:12 am

One thing that helped us with the rising cost of the birds was to order with a local farmer who was getting a price break for purchasing over 200 birds, do you have some neighbors you can network with to purchase in quantity?

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Ruth
8/15/2016 09:13:54 pm

I just purchased 30 Cornish rock from ideal poultry for $1.25 each..$7.00 shipping. Just go to their website and click on the special for the week. There are many specials but they usually offer a meat bird option

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Nathan
10/14/2016 06:58:47 am

Our 4-h group sells the broilers in Nov. for .40 each to the kids for show. that's a good time to load up for us.

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incidentalfarmgirl link
10/15/2016 02:05:42 pm

WOW Nathan, I wish we had a deal like that!!! You have a great in that way.

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Andrew
3/18/2017 02:04:32 am

We're looking into starting to raise chickens for meat. How much does allowing the chickens to eat bugs, weeds, grass, etc in the yard (moving them around in a chicken tractor) affect the quantity of feed required? Do you feed the broilers garden scraps and such, or is that just for the egg layers?

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incidentalfarmgirl link
3/18/2017 04:24:58 pm

Hi Andrew,
For us the chicken tractor we used was mostly to eliminate the mess, fertilize the yard, and allow for bugs and worms to be consumed but with the broilers that we use (Cornish Rock Cross) they grow so fast that it is just like a small drop in the bucket because they eat so much and grow so fast. I didn't notice that it cut down on the amount of feed, but it was definitely cleaner and more sanitary to move them about in a chicken tractor (we actually moved the tractor 2x's a day!

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Dave
4/3/2017 11:31:46 am

Nice article! I'm getting my toes wet in the chicken world and will be getting meat chickens soon. Can I ask you how you calculated 350lbs of food? Is that for 25 chickens for 9 weeks, or 14 lbs of feed per chicken over 9 weeks, or 1.5 lbs of feed per chicken per week? I guess I'm trying to figure out how much food to feed them per day. Also, what type of food do you buy @ 12.99 per 50lbs? Do they require other types of feed besides that and grass/insects?

Thanks in advance for the info!

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Incidental Farmgirl link
4/3/2017 09:31:18 pm

Hi Dave, so this is very scientific mind you... We fed the chickens about 2 large coffee cans full in the a.m. and again in the p.m. as well as allowed them to have free access to grass/bugs/scraps via a chicken tractor. I simply looked at my total feed bill when all was said and done and that is how much I spent/bought. I just went to our local feed store (not a TSC- way to expensive that way) and I ordered non-medicated chicken starter. Hope that helps!

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Ansel
10/25/2017 11:34:41 pm

You are suppose to free feed this animals for 12 hours, then take their food away for the other 12 hours of the day.

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Incidental Farmgirl link
10/30/2017 06:37:54 am

Hi and thanks for stopping by, this is how we have done it and it has worked very well, we all have preferences of course and everyone will tell you a different way to feed.

john Brown link
8/20/2017 01:53:03 pm

do you know any local farmer that use grain silos or storage bins??? they need to be swept out each year and some let you do it for free or minimal fee....also look for a farmer that stored grain in field on and under tarps (didn't have enough storage) if it got wet it is no good for market.....chickens can eat it though......I am using rhode island reds and leghorns again this coming year for eggs and meat...200.... i use a small hammer mill and crack the grain and soak in 5 gallon pail over night to feed next day (2 pails) and they have 200 by 100 runway enclosed with wire overhead as well to keep out hawks, lol..they scratch down to bear ground than i switch them into another enclosure.......happy chicken raising

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ECOVACS DEEBOT N79S black Friday link
10/22/2019 02:57:55 am

Aw, this was a really nice post. In idea I would like to put in writing like this additionally? Taking time and actual effort to make a very good article? But what can I say? I procrastinate a lot and by no means seem to get something done.

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    Wife to a wonderful husband, Daughter of the King, Mother of 6 (one with an xtra chromosome), and an incidental farm girl.

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