Raising Chickens for Meat (and Money)

Raising chickens for meat in our day-range coop

Raising chickens for meat is a great sideline business for a small farm. You can fill your freezer with great, naturally-grown food, and put a few dollars in your wallet, too.

And, if you raise chickens seasonally, (i.e. in the snow-free months only), you can get started with very little equipment and resources.

On other pages I've written about feeding chickens, chicken coop ideas, and even lessons from the chicken coop. In this article I want to talk about what kind of money you can expect to make raising meat chickens.

Here's a breakdown of the expenses and income possible:

VARIABLE COSTS - these are the costs that apply to each bird you raise. Note I'm using my expense figures as an example, substitute your own costs into the formula given to figure your costs.

• Day-old chicks @ $1.00 each
• Organic chick starter feed @ $0.30/lb
• Organic chick grower feed @ $0.26/lb
• Processing at abattoir @3.00/each

FIXED COSTS - These are the costs for equipment that can be reused and amortized over a number of years. Here's what you need:

• Broody boxes and heat lamps to shelter the young meat chicks
• Feeders and waterers
• A movable coop
• Electromesh fencing and fence charger

You can get more information and plans for my two movable coops in my book How to Raise Meat Chickens.

Let's use the information above to make a sample budget for a small meat chicken operation, raising 300 meat birds in 'batches' of 100. We are using small batches so that equipment can be re-used as each batch is finished.

We use movable coops and electric mesh fence to protect our meat birds

Raising Chickens for Meat - Sample Budget

Let's assume we want to raise three batches of 100 meat birds, aiming for a 'market weight' of 5 lbs per bird. Here's how to calculate costs and profits:

Figure a feed conversion of about 5:1 ; that is, it takes 5 lbs. of feed to grow 1 lb. of chicken. This will further break down into 1/3 for organic chick starter feed, and 2/3 for grower. Here's the feed cost using the feed prices given:

300 meat birds x 5lbs. each x feed conversion of 5:1 = a total of 7500 lbs of feed. 1/3 of this is chick starter = 2500 lbs @ $0.30/lb = $750. 2/3 is chick grower = 5000 lbs. x $0.26/lb = $1,300.

So the total feed cost to raise 300 meat chickens is $2,050.

Add in the cost of processing at the abattoir - $3.00 per bird - and the total variable costs = $2,050 + (300 x $3) = $2,950.

Calculating the Fixed Costs. Your fixed costs will vary quite a bit depending on what equipment you use, and if you buy or build your coop, feeders, and broody boxes. I'll use numbers from my records, and you can use the same formula substituting your own figures to calculate your fixed costs.

• Movable Coops $150 x3 = $450
  
• Broody boxes $50 x3= $150
  
• Lamps, feeders, waterers, etc $175
• Electric poultry netting $150 x3 = $450
  
• Fence charger, wire, ground posts $250

Total fixed costs: $1475

So, let's run those numbers to create our budget. Assume we can amortize all the equipment over 5 years, and that we will continue to do 3 batches of meat chickens each year. Here's the results:

• Feed cost for 300 birds = $2,950
• Fixed cost for 300 birds (amortized over 5 years) = $1475/5 = $295.

Total costs per batch of 300 meat chickens = $3,245.

Now, what to charge? The cost per pound of your chicken is $3,245 / (300 x 5 lbs.) = $2.16/lb. I recommend pricing your chicken to net at least 60% or 70%, to allow for losses. So in this example, your price should be around $3.45 - 3.55 lb.

This means you will net around $1,900 on the first 3 batches, which pays for all your equipment and gives you about $500 free and clear.

If you want to see raising chickens for meat on a larger scale, check out my friends Ryan and Monica at Merrifield Farms.

They are building a pretty good start-up business from their meat chickens.

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Integrating animal husbandry and vegetable crops are critical for a thriving micro-farm. Learn how we raise chickens for meat, pastured pork and operate our organic market garden to the benefit of the animals and the land.

Even a small property can produce a lot of food and a decent income.

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p.s. my book How to Raise Meat Chickens is included in each special pack, at a special price.

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