75 chicks arrived this morning; the most I've raised at one time. I have them in 2 seperate brooders as I've got 2 breeds: Cornish Rock for meat birds and Rhode Island Red as bonus chicks. I was very excited to see the free bonus chicks were all the same breed, and I breed I love. I found a great deal at a competing hatchery where if I buy 50 chicks I get 25 surplus chicks free. It was hard to pass up. I was figuring I'd get a mystery assortment but they gave me all Reds. Everyone arrived alive and healthy.

We had baby bunnies born yesterday morning. Mama is snarly with me if I handle the nesting box too much, so I briefly inventoried by touch. From what I could tell there is at least 9 bunnies. I had her bred a little later this year because of the cold spring, now we have 80 degrees and I have to make sure all the various babies don't get overheated.

I'm raising the broilers for our freezer, as well as some for another family. The extra broilers I have a buyer for when they're butchered. But I don't have any idea what to charge for them. Does anyone know what local, fresh free-range chicken is going for in the store? I just plan on selling them as whole fryers or roasters, not cut up.

Cinnamonhuskies:

Does anyone know what local, fresh free-range chicken is going for in the store? I just plan on selling them as whole fryers or roasters, not cut up.

I can't find them in the store here, but they're $2.50 a pound for fresh whole, free range chickens at the farmer's market. They're naturally raised but not certified organic. 

Congrats on your baby chicks & bunnies!!

When I got chicken at the market about a month ago, it was also between $2-$3 a pound (can't remember the exact price).  You might stop in at an organic food store if you have one around, see what they charge per pound for chicken, then price yours accordingly by pound.  If you go to a Farmer's Market in your area and someone there sells chicken, you might ask the price for whole fryers.  Besides chicken, I've also seen rabbit meat for sale at the Farmer's Market.  Do you sell rabbit meat also?

Typically i don't sell rabbit meat, except once last fall we had a relative that wanted to buy dressed, whole rabbit. We sold him 6 at $5 a piece I think.

Pat:

Cinnamonhuskies:

Does anyone know what local, fresh free-range chicken is going for in the store? I just plan on selling them as whole fryers or roasters, not cut up.

 

I can't find them in the store here, but they're $2.50 a pound for fresh whole, free range chickens at the farmer's market. They're naturally raised but not certified organic. 

wow. I was thinking $7.50 a bird, and the birds will dress at 6 - 8 lbs. I'm trying to butcher before they get 8 lbs this year! I had some the size of small turkeys last year.

So I'll have to find a organic store and check prices. There aren't any sellers at the farmers markets near here. At $2 a lb, a 6 lb chicken would cost $12. I wouldn't pay that for a chicken, but I guess ALOT of people would, or there wouldn't be a market for it.

Cinnamonhuskies:

At $2 a lb, a 6 lb chicken would cost $12. I wouldn't pay that for a chicken, but I guess ALOT of people would, or there wouldn't be a market for it.

They seem to do well. With recent food scares and a move to back to more natural eating, there are quite a few people around here willing to pay the price. I don't think it's too much to ask if you can assure that the meat is safely grown and safely butchered and handled - things our cheap food system can't seem to do. 

If it was cheap to ship... I'd buy a $12 chicken from ya!

I had a relative in MN who used to sell natural chickens for about that price at farmer's markets... right after butchering, they froze them. People always lined up. He sold about all of the chicken... the feet, necks, and other "strange" things since ethnic groups will eat them. After doing over 20,000 a year for several years, he's now "retired".

Well we've lost 14 out of 50 broilers so far...but all the free Rhode Island Reds are thriving! Most of the broiler chicks died over one night when it got down to 45 and the heat lamp thermostat went out. They all crowded in a pile on top of one another and smothered a bunch.

anyway, there went the extra chickens I was going to sell.

When they get moved out to the large mini-coop house, I may order more broilers in September. I didn't plan on going into the chicken business.. hmm.

We had a group of 8 adults and 4 kids yesterday, and fixed 2 of the chickens from last year....we still have leftover chicken in the fridge!

Baby bunnies' eyes opened yesterday.

We got rid of most of our layers because it was costing more to feed them than they were producing. I need to get the young layers moved into the coop this week. I saved out 6 hens, but there are days I don't get any eggs at all. I think I should've weeded those hens out too!

 Oh, no! Sounds like you're having a run of bad luck with chickens. It's a shame that so many chicks died, but things like that can't be helped. Are the hens you kept molting? 

no, I kept the most healthy looking hens...the rest looked like they were molting...for a long time. We thought maybe they actually got mites, so I ordered some dust and dusted the healthy looking chickens, then cleaned and disinfected the chicken coop, then dusted the nesting boxes. Dh thinks the remaining hens are just stressed from turning their world...and their bottoms...upside down.

Broilers seem to be finicky birds to raise. The only plus to those hybrids are that they are fully grown in 8 weeks versus 6 months for a typical chicken.

I found where I can get 200 surplus chicks for $36 plus shipping. We may be doing that next year, but my brooder needs to be bigger, right now 50 is the max.