Is raising chickens for meat really cost effective?

[chickenpatty]

Dh will consider this if it will actually save us money. Anyone happen to know how many pounds of feed 1 meat bird (like a cornish) eats until it is big enough to butcher (like 7-8lbs)? It sounds like they eat a lot & dh does not care about organic/hormones/happy chickens - he is concerned about cost. Any thoughts? Is it worth it? Any links that could be helpful in figuring this out?

[Ottakee]

I don't think it would save you money over on sale chicken at the store if you don't care about hormones/organic, etc.

 

We have chickens for eggs and might butcher them later (don't tell my girls). The eggs likely cost us about as much as the "on sale" eggs at the store but ours taste so much better and are hormone free, higher in omegas, etc.

[TwinMominTX]

We've looked in to it. Actually, I looked in to it and my husband humored me! :glare:

 

Unless you can do it on a very large scale - for us it was 200-500+ birds - it really didn't make $$ sense. The chickens themselves are the cheapest part. We factored in all the costs, birds, feed, housing, butchering, processing and it just didn't make sense. Now, that said, sometimes an increased cost is worth it to know where your food comes from and how it has been raised - we don't eat enough chicken to go to all the trouble, but for some who eat lots of chicken, it might be worth it.

 

I keep chickens for eggs and I know I can probably get them cheaper at the store, but I LOVE my hens!

 

ETA: I hope Tracy in KY will chime in. She has raised and butchered her own chickens and posted about it here to this list. You may want to search to see if you can find her previous posts.

Edited August 14, 2009 by TwinMominTX

[curlyhorse]

If you raise a larger number and process them yourselves you will do better. Friends of mine raise 25 -50 each at a time for about $4/bird, they finish out at about 8 lbs so it is less expensive. But NOT an even compensation for the effort. So you have to enjoy it and want other benefits.

[curlyhorse]

Can you free range them with a mobile pen (google 'chicken tractor')? THis will save you a bunch on grain and is pretty cheap housing to build. Of course you need the land to do it.

[Peri]

Well how much does chicken feed cost?

 

Building a chicken coop is a one time cost so I don't really count that as an expense. I also don't consider butchering and proccessing a cost either since we plan on doing it ourselves ... if we decided to do it that is. The only expense I see is the cost of the chicken feed.

[TwinMominTX]

We figured in costs for everything - water, housing (one time and ongoing maintenance), a plucker (even a homemade one), freezer (and costs of operating) and we did allocate some costs for our time both in raising and butchering. We have many projects around our place and some (i.e. selling a well trained horse) will yield us much more $$ than chickens. To make it a fair comparison we had to calculate some of the costs for that.

 

Obviously, some of the costs we used to calculate our expenses are one time start up costs and some are long term ongoing costs, but they are all still our costs involved in raising meat chickens.

[KingM]

It may not be cost effective now, but this could possibly be a useful skill to learn for the future.

 

Not that I keep chickens, but I've thought about doing it for this reason.

[krisp]

I don't think it would save you money over on sale chicken at the store if you don't care about hormones/organic, etc.

 

We have chickens for eggs and might butcher them later (don't tell my girls). The eggs likely cost us about as much as the "on sale" eggs at the store but ours taste so much better and are hormone free, higher in omegas, etc.

 

Ditto. We tried with 8 chickens this year. We have one remaining (a rooster). We've found ducks to be more resilient, though I don't think you break even with ducks either, the kids and dh just like 'em.

 

Now, my dh is an engineer and tends to ummm...over-engineer everything, so I'm sure a bird enclosure could have been constructed much more cheaply than he did, but it's never going to fall down or blow away ;) Main costs for us wasn't the birds or even feed but all of the containers for raising them in the house (we got the itty bitty ones and kept them in the house from Feb to about April) and the outside pen. Yes, that's a sunk cost, but it'll take a LOT of chickens/eggs to pay it back.

 

We figured that for egg laying chickens, it'd take 2 dozen eggs each to just pay for the chickens themselves. 'course that was compared to the normal eggs I'd buy rather than the organic, free-range eggs I wouldn't.

[justamouse]

Yes. :)

[Ibbygirl]

How many eggs do you typically get from a chicken and how often do they lay?? I would love to have a chicken (or two) but I'm unfortunately in the city and don't have much land except a patio and a terrace outside of the upstairs bedroom. Would that be enough space to have a chicken or two and would I get enough eggs to not have to buy them from the store?? Thanks. Sorry for the slight hijack. :blushing:

Edited August 14, 2009 by Ibbygirl

[Ottakee]

If you have younger birds, figure 5-6 eggs per week from each hen. When they get older, they less a bit less often.

 

I would check your zoning first. Some communities do allow chickens in the city while others do not.

[chickenpatty]

Can you free range them with a mobile pen (google 'chicken tractor')? THis will save you a bunch on grain and is pretty cheap housing to build. Of course you need the land to do it.

 

We pretty much have most of the housing materials already on hand, so I guess feed would be the main issue. Dh built a chicken tractor recently http://savoringthecircus1.blogspot.com/2009/06/clucking-in-style.html and we have plenty of room to drag it around, but I've read that the meat birds don't do much scratching around & just hang out at the feeder. Feed here is about $10/50lbs, but I'm not sure how much feed it would take to grow them. The dual purpose birds seem to take a lot longer to get big enough to eat, and then I wonder that they might be too tough by that time?

 

Thanks for everyone's input...

[chickenpatty]

It may not be cost effective now, but this could possibly be a useful skill to learn for the future.

 

QUOTE]

 

This is the one thing besides cost that appeals to dh. He thinks it would be good experience for the kids.

[LibraryLover]

I raise my own birds for eggs and meat. You can buy really cheap chicken when it's on sale and stock up. It's not organic, it's not free range.

 

My birds are local, easy on the planet, organic and free range. They get highly quality organic feed to supplement their ranging. It takes a really long time to get a 4 or 5 lb bird on just range, ftr. I don''t have that much patience, since by November there is no edible range to speak of in New England. I stop raising meat birds before T'giving. I start up in again in April. My goal was 30 chickens, one a week until the first batch starts up again.

 

I am raising some Brahma's that I hope to use for meat. They take many weeks to a few months to get big enough to eat. I have done Cornish x before, but I don't want to do that all the time. Although, I never let them get so big they can't move, or their breasts are dragging on the ground. My birds forage and play until the last. I've never lost one. I am trying some Barred Rocks, too.

 

I get a tasty organic product for my efforts, and know my birds lived a good - quality, healthy life. They also help keep our bug population down...lol. I think I save money as the chicken I would buy would be costly. People who raise meat birds organically locally charge up to $5/lb.

 

As for eggs: It's possible to buy very cheap eggs. I've seen them for under $2/dozen at the market. I've seen people sell local eggs for as much as $5/dozen. I don't raise chickens simply to save money. I raise chickens because I want a certain product, while not participating in the unsustainable, inhumane polluting food sytem that is factory farming.

 

I also like knowing I can do this for my family. It's empowering to take control of your food.

Edited August 15, 2009 by LibraryLover

[LibraryLover]

We pretty much have most of the housing materials already on hand, so I guess feed would be the main issue. Dh built a chicken tractor recently http://savoringthecircus1.blogspot.com/2009/06/clucking-in-style.html and we have plenty of room to drag it around, but I've read that the meat birds don't do much scratching around & just hang out at the feeder. Feed here is about $10/50lbs, but I'm not sure how much feed it would take to grow them. The dual purpose birds seem to take a lot longer to get big enough to eat, and then I wonder that they might be too tough by that time?

 

Thanks for everyone's input...

 

 

Cornish X, the main meat bird of home farmers, can be raised on grass. They forage like any other bird when they are out on pasture. they have the same instincts as any bird. Mine will dust bathe, even. At the end, when they are big enough to process, and I never let them get to 8 or 9 lbs...I can't do it...they seem to have trouble breathing at that weight... the roos will start to bug each other. lol I put my babies on grass as soon as they start to feather out. Before they start to feather out, I put dandelion greens etc in their pen. They know what to do.

 

If you have good pasture, you could raise them in a rolling pen within a few weeks. They will not be huge, but they will be tasty, and you wouldn't have spent a ton on feed. Around here organic feed is $24/50 lbs, but non organic feed is $11 for the same amount. So if you ranged and supplemented with the $11 feed, you would be getting a really great product, if not fully organic.

 

To reduce feed usage, I let mine out early morning and they need to work for their food. I might sprinkle a liitle feed to get them excited about looking. Later in the day, I bring them in and they get the feed, along with whatever weeding I have done that day. I also give them table scraps. In their water I put apple cider vinegar, and minced garlic. (keeps the sniffles and worms away).

[NorthwestMom]

It would not be cost effective if you are me. I do not have my own chickens, but I chicken-sat for my friend while she was away for an extended period of time. I fell in love with the birds and enjoyed them tremendously. I worried that the tractor was not spacious enough. I worried that they were bored and started contemplating how I could enrich their experience. Yes, ladies, I basically started planning to homeschool the chickens!

 

Clearly, I would never be able to process my own birds, should I raise them. In fact, all my space will be taken up by these birds, who I plan to purchase when my friend wants to process them. She can have money to buy organic chicken from Whole Foods, and I will save my little feathered students for a pleasant retirement.

 

I am not cut out for farming.

[jujsky]

It would not be cost effective if you are me. I do not have my own chickens, but I chicken-sat for my friend while she was away for an extended period of time. I fell in love with the birds and enjoyed them tremendously. I worried that the tractor was not spacious enough. I worried that they were bored and started contemplating how I could enrich their experience. Yes, ladies, I basically started planning to homeschool the chickens!

 

Clearly, I would never be able to process my own birds, should I raise them. In fact, all my space will be taken up by these birds, who I plan to purchase when my friend wants to process them. She can have money to buy organic chicken from Whole Foods, and I will save my little feathered students for a pleasant retirement.

 

I am not cut out for farming.

 

LOL! You sound like me! I don't think I could process them -- they'd be my feathered pets, and I'd fall right in love with them.

 

I would love to have chickens for eggs, but it's not allowed in our development. DH would pose another obstacle. He told me if I get any more pets, I'll have to sleep in the shed with all of them ;) It's probably a good thing that he balances me out in that area or we truly would be overrun with animals!

[LibraryLover]

It's true, birds need stimulation! In winter, I hang various pieces of food on twine from the rafters so they can play. Bits of butternut squash, pumpkin, apple, cabbage...it's not the cheapest endeavour/hobby.

 

The upside.. we have a huge patch of fantastic butternut squash growing out of the pen compost pile near the barn. It's gorgeous! I have counted over 15 huge butternuts and several little ones. Chicken poop makes for some fantastic fertilizer.

Edited August 14, 2009 by LibraryLover

[Ibbygirl]

If you have younger birds, figure 5-6 eggs per week from each hen. When they get older, they less a bit less often.

 

I would check your zoning first. Some communities do allow chickens in the city while others do not.

 

 

Thank you! :) :grouphug:

[Ibbygirl]

 

I also like knowing I can do this for my family. It's empowering to take control of your food.

 

 

That's awesome!! I'd love to be in a position to do this more. :)

[StaceyinLA]

It depends on the chicken you would purchase. We will not buy anything other than hormone and drug-free so, for us, it probably really just broke even except that there is NO COMPARISON in the taste of the chicken.

 

Since I have been cooking our free-range chickens we raised, I cannot even stand the smell of a package of store-bought chicken. I am totally amazed at the difference.

 

We also butchered our first rabbits a few weeks ago and I have loved that meat as well.

[Ibbygirl]

It would not be cost effective if you are me. I do not have my own chickens, but I chicken-sat for my friend while she was away for an extended period of time. I fell in love with the birds and enjoyed them tremendously. I worried that the tractor was not spacious enough. I worried that they were bored and started contemplating how I could enrich their experience. Yes, ladies, I basically started planning to homeschool the chickens!

 

Clearly, I would never be able to process my own birds, should I raise them. In fact, all my space will be taken up by these birds, who I plan to purchase when my friend wants to process them. She can have money to buy organic chicken from Whole Foods, and I will save my little feathered students for a pleasant retirement.

 

I am not cut out for farming.

 

LOOOL! hehehe

[justamouse]

I don't raise chickens simply to save money. I raise chickens because I want a certain product, while not participating in the unsustainable, inhumane polluting food sytem that is factory farming.

 

I also like knowing I can do this for my family. It's empowering to take control of your food.

 

 

This is us. I actually bought our chickens because I was sick of pulling ticks off my kids.

 

I free range my chickens, and buy their feed from a local farmer who manufactures feed at his farm.

 

I have 4 Delaware hens who just started laying, and I get one egg a day from them. They are LOVELY chickens. They come up to me and ask to be held! My kids carry them around the yard on walks. *g*

 

Altogether I have 14 chickens (7 kids-we need eggs!) and I actually just butchered my first. I had accidentally bought a Cornish Rock who matures at 8 weeks and this chickenzilla was almost immoveable at 13 weeks. So, with the help of my brother, and mother, we butchered our first bird (after a hilarious talk on the phone with a local organic meant farmer who said, "You're a farmer now, you need to butcher your bird.") :D It wasn't as hard as I thought, and Mom and I were truly empowered by it. Not the fact that we had to, but that we now know HOW to. And, there is a certain reverence to eating an animal you raised and butchered and cooked. A lot like what Michael Pollan says in Omnivore's Dilemma.

 

As for the eggs? They are AMAZING, and all of them cost me about 15 dollars a month to keep and seeing that free range organic eggs here cost 4 bucks a dozen and I buy 3 dozen a week ($12) I am saving $33 bucks, and Dr.s visits for Lymes tests. I feed them all my compost, (and boy can they mix a compost for you) and they eat all my ticks and bugs, the only cost is the feed.

 

If you want more info about chickens, you can visit the Back Yard Chicken forum!

 

http://www.backyardchickens.com/

Edited August 14, 2009 by justamouse

[Peri]

It's true, birds need stimulation! In winter, I hang various pieces of food on twine from the rafters so they can play. Bits of butternut squash, pumpkin, apple, cabbage...it's not the cheapest endeavour/hobby.

 

The upside.. we have a huge patch of fantastic butternut squash growing out of the pen compost pile near the barn. It's gorgeous! I have counted over 15 huge butternuts and several little ones. Chicken poop makes for some fantastic fertilizer.

 

Laurie, I have a question if you don't mind answering. Do you HAVE TO buy chicken feed? If I have a vegetable garden and lots of land (5 acres). Do you really even need to buy chicken feed? We also have lots of bugs lol.

[Peri]

It depends on the chicken you would purchase. We will not buy anything other than hormone and drug-free so, for us, it probably really just broke even except that there is NO COMPARISON in the taste of the chicken.

 

Since I have been cooking our free-range chickens we raised, I cannot even stand the smell of a package of store-bought chicken. I am totally amazed at the difference.

 

We also butchered our first rabbits a few weeks ago and I have loved that meat as well.

 

This is another animal I plan on keeping for meat. They multiply so quickly that we should never be out of meat lol.

[BillieBoy]

One way to make raising chickens for meat cost effective is doing your own butchering. If you can't/won't do this then do not bother you will not save any money at all. You can raise a batch of x's in chicken tractors in 8 to 12 weeks. You can butcher the hens at 8 weeks for fryers and let the rooster go till 12 for roasters. I wouldn't do any longer with a x but you could and may need to go longer for another large breed.

 

If you have the materials to make large tractors on hand then of course your cost is minimal but you still have feeders and waters to consider. I house 25 birds in a 4 x 12 tractor, remember that only 1/2 will be in there full grown (the last 4 weeks) so that is around 4 sq feet per bird (2 is required). Also the fact that it is a tractor they are not sitting on the same ground and have new things to scratch at every other day.

 

With all that in mind and if you do not care about organic feed you will still be paying for feed. How much feed can vary depending on the weather and how much other stuff you give them. I have done two batches of 50 in a year, spring and summer. My summer chickens benefited more from all the weeds that were more available. I still estimate about 20lb of feed per bird to butcher (give or take 5lbs either way). I feed chick starter for the first 3 weeks then switch to something like Meat Bird Complete by Nutrena or generic is even cheaper. Around here a 50 lb bag costs $11 - $15. So at $12 that still ends up being around $4.80 per bird. If your roasters dress out at 6lbs (which x's can) thats 80 cents a pound not including your start up costs and ALL your labor (which I happen to enjoy).

 

Now, you can make a considerable savings if you live near a farming community and can mix your own feed. Be very careful and research this completely; there are many sources. If you do not give the proper nutrition you loose time and time is money so they say. But if you buy in bulk and mix in a huge metal garbage can you can get that feed bill down to $2 per bird.

 

I haven't raised our own meat birds in a few years due to a move and traveling but I can not wait to do it again. There is something to be said when you sit down to a meal that you have totally provided for you family.

 

P.S. I would recommend renting a feather plucker and scalder come butchering time; HUGE time saver.

[Tracy in Ky]

We raise and butcher our own chickens. It comes to around $7.50 per bird, not counting equipment, ie. lights, waterers, feeders, chicken tractors, etc.

[chickenpatty]

We raise and butcher our own chickens. It comes to around $7.50 per bird, not counting equipment, ie. lights, waterers, feeders, chicken tractors, etc.

 

I've researched a little more & this is what I've come up with. I'm going to print it out & give it to dh & see what he thinks.

 

3 pounds of feed for 1 pound of gain

 

7lb chicken x 3 pounds feed=21 pounds feed/chicken

 

10 chickens x 21 lbs feed= 210lbs feed

 

5 bags chicken feed at $10/bag= $50

 

10 chickens at $2 each = $20

 

$70 total cost/10 chickens = $7 for each chicken

 

each chicken weighs 7lbs, so it works out to $1/lb for each chicken

 

store bought fat chickens are over $1.40/pound

 

additionally, you get manure (fertilizer) and more farming experience for us & offspring

 

 

 

:)

Edited August 14, 2009 by chickenpatty

[Jane]

Here's a couple links for you:

 

http://www.cityfarmer.info/what-does-your-chicken-coop-look-like/

 

http://www.free-rangepoultry.com/

 

HTH with your decision. :)

[LibraryLover]

Laurie, I have a question if you don't mind answering. Do you HAVE TO buy chicken feed? If I have a vegetable garden and lots of land (5 acres). Do you really even need to buy chicken feed? We also have lots of bugs lol.

 

 

I am not sure you could do this for meat birds you want to finish in a few weeks. But perhaps with layers you could get away with this certain times of the year. I haven't done it, but a PP mentioned Backyard Chickens. They are an amazing resource. You could ask there what people in your climate have done. I personally don't anyone who doesn't supplement at all.

 

I am very stingy with the feed in summer...it's so costly. But do check out BC! It's a busy, large board with some nice folks!

Edited August 14, 2009 by LibraryLover

[zaichiki]

Main costs for us wasn't the birds or even feed but all of the containers for raising them in the house (we got the itty bitty ones and kept them in the house from Feb to about April) and the outside pen. Yes, that's a sunk cost, but it'll take a LOT of chickens/eggs to pay it back.

 

We figured that for egg laying chickens, it'd take 2 dozen eggs each to just pay for the chickens themselves. 'course that was compared to the normal eggs I'd buy rather than the organic, free-range eggs I wouldn't.

 

Depending on the time of year and where you live, it can be very expensive to raise chicks. If we raise in July/August, where we live, we can keep them under a heat lamp in the bathroom for only 2 weeks. Then... out they go into an old rabbit hutch with an evening heat lamp. When we raised some in March, we had to keep them in the house for 6-8 weeks under a heat lamp nearly the whole time! Talk about a lot of electricity!

 

We can feed 20 hens on 2 50lb bags of feed a week (they also free-range, but in most cases the chickens will NOT be able to get more than 30% of their nutrition this way). Around here, each bag costs about $13. Organic will, of course, be much more. So, you want to figure AT LEAST $1 a week for feed per bird. The fastest growing meat birds can be butchered at 7-9 weeks, so that would be $7-9 for feed plus the purchase price (about $2 per bird including shipping). With electricity, you're looking at about $10 per 3-4 lb bird at least. You will need to build a feather plucker if you mean to do more than a few birds (it takes FOREVER by hand and it gets old VERY quickly). Making our plucker cost us several hundred dollars and we got a good deal on used and new parts (including a free 55 gallon food-quality drum/bucket).

 

We have chickens mainly for their eggs. We sell them as fast as they are laid. I currently have only 20 layers (40 more chicks growing up) and a waiting list. The chickens pay for themselves. That's it, though. We don't make any money, that's for sure. But we love our chickens and our fresh eggs!

 

How much do you pay for chicken in the store?

[kalanamak]

Not 100% organic, but I have a friend who went around in the summer and picked up bags of grass clippings put out for the trash. The pen fence was very tall and there was about 3 feet of compacted clippings as the "floor". Twice a day he went in and forked over the grass (you had to dig the tines in...it was more like walking on turf) and turned it over. HUNdreds of eathworms appeared and the fowl went wild, just wild (ducks, turkey, chickens, etc).

Free protein. Very cheap (gas for collecting). The deepest yellow yolks I've ever seen. Slaughtered in the fall. Composted the feather (as I recall), fed pigs any scraps. Ate high on the hen all winter. I think he rolled his eggs in veg. shortening and they "kept" a lot longer that way.

This was Kansas. Not sure if it would work for your weather.

[Wildiris]

On the fly.........................

 

Your question, is it cost effective to raise your own chickens for meat--No. We do have the Cornish and they eat way too much food for the operation to be cost effective on a small scale. We processed six chickens last week. The whole process from beginning to end was considerably short compared to doing a pig. I could see doing a chicken in the morning and having it for dinner that night--very easy. My grandmother in-law told me about doing this and now I can how easily it can be done. The learning experience for the kids is great! Google The Funny Farm.

[StaceyinLA]

since renting a plucker was brought up.

 

We skin our chickens. We did 21 birds in under 3 hours including the butchering, skinning, cutting up and icing down. Packaging the next day took another hour or so.

 

There is a good link (and a YouTube video I think) on doing the butchering and skinning. This guy basically bones out the breasts while the chicken is hanging then removes the leg quarters. We skinned the entire bird so that I could keep the backs for broth, but we will bone out about 1/2 of our breasts next time (I'm actually ordering some soon).

 

Even without the skin I find the meat very moist and tender. Of course I'm usually roasting or stewing it. We want to do the boneless, skinless breasts next time so we can have them for casseroles and jambalayas - it just makes it easier.

 

And the rabbits are easy to raise, not quite as easy to butcher (cuteness factor), easier to butcher mechanics-wise, and VERY good to eat.

[Tracy in Ky]

Dh built an automatic chicken plucker for around $50. It does one chicken at a time, but it is wonderful! Google for ideas and different styles.

[Tracy in Ky]

We processed six chickens last week. The whole process from beginning to end was considerably short compared to doing a pig.

 

Oh boy. We are raising a pig for the freezer. Several months ago we were boldly talking of butchering it ourselves. Now we plan on taking it to the butcher~:D

[nmoira]

Rabbits are probably more cost effective than chickens, at least in smaller numbers.

[LibraryLover]

This is us. I actually bought our chickens because I was sick of pulling ticks off my kids.

 

I free range my chickens, and buy their feed from a local farmer who manufactures feed at his farm.

 

I have 4 Delaware hens who just started laying, and I get one egg a day from them. They are LOVELY chickens. They come up to me and ask to be held! My kids carry them around the yard on walks. *g*

 

Altogether I have 14 chickens (7 kids-we need eggs!) and I actually just butchered my first. I had accidentally bought a Cornish Rock who matures at 8 weeks and this chickenzilla was almost immoveable at 13 weeks. So, with the help of my brother, and mother, we butchered our first bird (after a hilarious talk on the phone with a local organic meant farmer who said, "You're a farmer now, you need to butcher your bird.") :D It wasn't as hard as I thought, and Mom and I were truly empowered by it. Not the fact that we had to, but that we now know HOW to. And, there is a certain reverence to eating an animal you raised and butchered and cooked. A lot like what Michael Pollan says in Omnivore's Dilemma.

 

As for the eggs? They are AMAZING, and all of them cost me about 15 dollars a month to keep and seeing that free range organic eggs here cost 4 bucks a dozen and I buy 3 dozen a week ($12) I am saving $33 bucks, and Dr.s visits for Lymes tests. I feed them all my compost, (and boy can they mix a compost for you) and they eat all my ticks and bugs, the only cost is the feed.

 

If you want more info about chickens, you can visit the Back Yard Chicken forum!

 

http://www.backyardchickens.com/

 

LOL My sil showed me how to do it. We basically had a chicken processing gathering in her FL home. It was rather funny...all that granite, and plucking chickens. My MIL was with us as well, and was alternately impressed/surprised that an American city girl would want to do this. lol

 

We processed two. She hung the chickens upside down for a couple of hours after they were killed. (Her friend who raised them quickly snapped their necks while he held them) The blood drained to their heads/necks, so here was not one drop of blood during the process. It was very clean to do. I was shocked at how easy it was. Now. That was because we only did one each. I can't yet see myself doing a bunch of them. I like knowing I could do it. As it stands, there is an elderly gent near us who processes them for $1.50 each. So far, it's been worth it to me.

 

I am new to chickens. This is only the start of my third year. It's a been a learning process.

[NCMom]

Do you have to do Cornish X?

 

I've got a few Buff Orpingtons, a dual purpose heavy and they do not eat 1/2 of what you guys are talking. I don't use even 1 bag of feed a week for 14 chickens (7 buffs, 7 smaller breeds) that are pastured and get a LOT of garden produce, etc... Our full grown Buff rooster is ginormous, though not as heavy as a Cornish. Maybe they forage better since they can actually get around, lol. :001_smile:

 

I was hoping to let our hens set some more clutches next year and use those extra chicks for eating. The hens are very, very good moms and reliable layers, though the eggs are a bit smaller than some. The mom that set this year did a phenomenal job. Do you think that the the cost benefit ratio would be better in this scenario??

 

Pros

-No costs for chicks

-No heat lamps, no brooder, no need for a separate pen (we have one for moms already)

-Feed costs appear to be (much) lower per pound of meat

??

 

Cons

Smaller weight birds

egg loss during setting/raising time

??

 

I'm looking around for another dual purpose breed that is non-commercial, rare and self perpetuating ;), to start in the spring.

Georgia

[LibraryLover]

I have used the Cornish X because they are quick and foolproof for noobs. I prefer something self-sustaining. If you are in an area where you can't keep any roosters, this is more difficult. ;) I don't have a huge property, and I do have neighbors. I try to be a good neighbor. Roos aren't always great for that. lol

 

I am currently raising Brahmas, and some people have had good luck with these as a meat bird. They take time, however. Another bird I'm trying is the Barred Rock, another dual purpose bird. There are many dual purpose birds, but the art of this has been lost to many of as we have relied on Tyson & Purdue etc.

 

Of course, a BR will take more than a few weeks. The Cornish X is a bird that we've designed to have a big breast and to grow quickly. I would like to get to the point where I never use Cornish X. I'm not there quite yet. I am really hoping the Brahma's work out. They are cute and chubby and good layers. My roo is also a nice boy. Not too loud, and not aggressive. We eat chicken about once a week, so I don't need a billion of them.

[NCMom]

I have used the Cornish X because they are quick and foolproof for noobs.

 

I hear you there. We started w/Buffs 'cause they are easy. Feed them, house them and they pop out eggs and reproduce. lol.

 

Brahmas are on my list, though at this point we are leaning towards Dorkings, if we can find a non gigantic commercial source.

 

The Handy Dandy Chicken chart says Brahmas "have a tendency toward fatness." :lol: They look so adorable and fluffy!

 

Georgia

[BillieBoy]

Do you have to do Cornish X? ...........

I'm looking around for another dual purpose breed that is non-commercial, rare and self perpetuating ;), to start in the spring.

Georgia

 

I've done x's for "quick" meat but for an all round homestead chicken I swear by an Australorp. I've always had them for layers but they are dual meat. They are huge, hearty and are great foragers. We once (well, more than once but...) had our hen house raided by a raccoon and he had gotten the crops of 2 and I knew there was one more injured. It was 3am and knew that I'd have to put one down in the morning if it was still alive. I couldn't find her in the flock but instead found her in a nest box with a freshly laid egg. The raccoon had split her breast open, she had plucked it clean and went right on laying. :001_huh: I dressed the wound and she went on to lay for 3 more years at top production until a bobcat got her. :( I have a hard time butchering my Australorp ladies because they are very hard working hens. (world record egg layers) I do know they are good meat birds too.

[hillfarm]

I didn't get to read all of the above posts, but we raised Cornish crosses in a mobile pen and fed organic feed. We did our own butchering and our final cost came down to about $0.91 per pound of cleaned carcass weight for organic chicken. Our average size was a little over 5lb. each. We did 24 birds one day and then came back a week later and did the other 24. We took the largest ones first, which then gave the smaller, less dominant birds a chance to "belly up to the feeder" and they ended up weighing about the same. I think the process was about 10 weeks from start to finish.

[LibraryLover]

It's true. Australorps are big! But they are also incredible layers and very sweet & mild. I have several, but none I could consider eating. Yet. They are my best layers, and lovely. I am also wondering if will be able to eat the Brahmas. The Cornish X are so...not very cute. They are also incredibly smelly...much more so than other birds. You want to off them. :tongue_smilie: