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Anyone here ever produce chickens commercially?

Whitewing said:
I have questions. :D
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Let's see: Hay production, some interesting looking cattle and now chickens? There's gotta be something better than chickens, Whitewing.
 
woodsman said:
Yes I raise butcher chickens commercially. Go ahead ask away.
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For those of you who've commented about goats, yes, I've actually consider goats too.....milk goats no less. :lol:

Okay, I never thought I'd get into chickens except that the profit margins are so good, and the turnover is so quick that it's hard not tot take a serious look. That, coupled with the fact that the climate in this zone seems to be ideal for chickens, make it a tempting business.

So far I'm just fooling around and learning, both with baby chicks and adult birds and have been at it just a few weeks now.

I'm buying about 150-200 mature broilers a week, some for immediate resale on a wholesale basis (live) and some that I keep on hand to fatten a bit more and then sell retail, live and butchered. I gross 30% on the wholesale resale birds without ever unloading the birds at my place...they go straight to the butcher shops.

Retail live bird sales gross 50% before I add in the extra weight gain while I have them on hand. Butchered birds have even higher profit margins.

I've also had on hand for 14 days now, 300 baby chicks. They're supposed to be ready for market between 35 - 40 days of growth. It's amazing to see how rapidly they grow though I guess I shouldn't be surprised as right now they're going through a sack of feed every couple of days. :shock:

Here at the house I've got enough under roof area for 1,000 adult birds but don't know if I' ll ever try produce that many at this location. They're a lot more work than I thought though I admit I'm doing things on a fairly primitive basis....like hauling water by hand.

I got interested in the birds when I was delivering bales to a couple of my clients who farm about 30 minutes from here. One produces about 50,000 birds per cycle (2 structures) and the other about 20,000 (a single structure). Both are adding more capacity. In that particular area, there's probably 30 structures in total with most of that production heading to a major city to the east of here.

Here in this area the meat markets are finding it hard to buy cattle for slaughter and for that reason I've seen many of them close for several days a week. I figured fresh chickens might be a good alternative, and so far so good. I've actually opened a "bodega" here at the house for sales of chicken (live and dressed), fresh eggs, cheese, casabe, and other stuff. On Monday mornings I do the local open-air market.

Oh, almost forgot. My hogs dine on the chicken guts and seem to prefer them to ground corn. :D

Tomorrow, after making another chicken run, I'll post some questions.
 
You might want to have a few 330 conibears around for when that half couger/fisher thing you posted pictures of comes back through.
 
starvin'dog said:
You might want to have a few 330 conibears around for when that half couger/fisher thing you posted pictures of comes back through.
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I imagine they make good chicken-killing machines. :D

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woodsman said:
Yes I raise butcher chickens commercially. Go ahead ask away.
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Thanks for the offer woodsman. And while I know many of your growing conditions won't related to mine, I'd still like to compare notes.

1) What kind of chickens do you raise? When you say "butcher chickens", are you talking about broilers? What variety? I'm working with what I believe are White Cornish.

2) How many days from receiving the chicks until they go out the door?

3) What is their approximate weight when they reach market size?

4) Mortality rates?

5) When do most mortalities occur...ie, at what stage of development?

6) What causes most mortalities in your opinion?

7) Do you have an idea how old a chick is when you recieve it? I ask because I've been told everything from, "hatched last night", to several days old before they're shipped.

8- Ever produce your own chicks via incubators?

Thanks in advance for your responses. I'm sure I'll have more questions.
 
Hello Whitewing may i start with I love your pictures and what you have done with your ranch absolutely beautiful.


1-What kind of chickens do you raise? When you say "butcher chickens", are you talking about broilers? What variety? I'm working with what I believe are White Cornish.
These are the typical F1 hybrid Cornish cross available at most hatcheries (butcher chicken)


2- How many days from receiving the chicks until they go out the door?
0 days to 10 days Depending on weather conditions


3-What is their approximate weight when they reach market size?
5-8 pounds

4) Mortality rates?
Typically early in the season 1 bird per 36 and as high as 10 per 36 if a varmint gets in there

5) When do most mortalities occur...ie, at what stage of development?
At 2-4 weeks sometimes they will pick up a "cough" be ready with oxytetracycline

6) What causes most mortalities in your opinion?
Varmints form day old to 8 weeks you need to be vigilant for coons, bears, fox, dogs, barn cats you name it be ready and have a gun in hand

7) Do you have an idea how old a chick is when you receive it? I ask because I've been told everything from, "hatched last night", to several days old before they're shipped.
Hatcheries claim day old but post marks tell otherwise. my local hardware sells chicks on Monday and i can typically stop in Thursday or Friday and clean up the unclaimed birds and work them into my system

8- Ever produce your own chicks via incubators?
Yes the kids 4-h projects are all done like this as are our laying hens


I want to add a little about my "system". My birds are raised in cages in a pasture or lawn system that allows them green grass. I like the yellow fat. I also like to use electro netting with a shelter this helps with predators. I direct market my birds to my customers and butcher weekly from June to Oct 1. I like to be done by deer season, wean my calves and start with winter chores. A big mistake i made was to over produce early on.[/img]
 
Thanks for the comments woodsman. Sounds like you really enjoy what you're doing and, to me, that's very important. While I work hard, I enjoy what I'm doing.

It's almost 10 PM here and I'm just finishing butchering a few birds and having another 140 that I bought tonight get settled in. Tomorrow is market day here in the pueblo and I hope to sell about 50 live birds.

Today I had a long discussion with a guy managing 100,000 birds. He said his mortality rate runs about 3 - 4%. Based on how his hands handled the birds, I don't doubt it. They'd not work for me and the next time I buy birds from him, he'll know I wasn't pleased with how rough they were.

Anyway, he commented that when he did his last sale in December, which is a good chicken month here, he cleared 12 bolivares (the local currency) per bird. If my calcs are right, based on an average weight of 2.3 kilos/bird, he made about 30% profit.....again, with 100,000 birds.

Tomorrow I'll be selling birds I bought a few days ago at 20 bs/kilo. My asking price will be 30/bs per kilo so with an average weight of 2.5 kilos, I'll earn 25 bs per bird or 50% in just a few days. If I can keep those kinds of profit margins, it's hard to see why I should take the risks of raising the birds by the thousands. Of course, I'm working with only a few hundred birds at a time versus 100,000.

I'll let you guys know how the market turned out. :D
 
There used to be a notice on the bulletin board in a local feed store: FOR SALE - Good Used Henway. Someone would invariably ask, "What's a henway?" The feed store proprietor always had the same answer, "About four pounds." :-)
 
Several neighbors of mine have 2-3 50,000 capacity chicken houses each.

They grow the chicks off in 6 weeks. No wonder chicken is cheaper than beef.
 

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