The Cost to Butcher Chickens

Hey, I got an idea.  Let’s talk about some chicken!!!

Okay, this is the last one, I think, maybe, probably.  Really, this post is to answer some of the questions you all had.  Now, let’s talk turkey, I mean, chicken!

Pot O Meat

Clay and I figured our expenses for the birds tonight.  The only thing missing is their weight.  I know, I’m still learning.  Bad farmer, bad, bad farmer.  Must have scale to weigh chickens….dur.

Shopping List:

1. Bread

2.Milk

3.Chicken Scale

We bought 20 birds

We raised 18 birds

We butchered 17 birds

(two died as chicks, one was too sick to process probably a heart problem)

We also had to purchase a new waterer, feed trough and heat lamp and bedding material (pine shavings).

We started our birds on chick starter then purchased one ton of grain from a feed mill.  We used it to feed our four pigs, 18 meat birds and 20 pullets.  I did my best estimate of how much I fed them since I was feeding all the animals out of the same feed.  I know, I know, I should separate the bags and keep track of who is eating which bag.  Bad farmer, bad, bad farmer, when will she learn?

Here’s what we don’t know:

What the birds weighed or how much meat on the bone we have.

The exact amount of feed the birds ate and therefore we don’t have the exact price of food they consumed.

However; I can make a pretty darn close guess.

And the final number is…..$127.00 to raise and process 17 chickens (including the three losses) or $7.47 per bird.  You can see the size of those suckers, right?  I think we did okay.

This ends your course in chicken butchering.  Please fill out the instuctor’s survey and hand it into the office on your way out of the classroom.  You’ve been a great bunch of students, if you need to speak with me, my office hours are posted on the barn door.

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