But only small time for this year. Picked up 15 at the local feed store that are already almost two weeks old. Want to see what my cost is to raise just the 15 this year. If its decent I may expand my operation next year. Don't know the legalities to selling to the public so would probably only offer it to friends/family for coverage of expenses and small donation (if they so wish to do so). I would imagine it would be difficult at best to have a large sustainable market just due to the fact that store bought chicken can be got relatively low vs what I'm guessing the home raised will come out to be.

Any tips/tricks?

It will be more profitable for you to raise more chickens than 15. I know you said you want to see what your costs will be for the 15, but it will be cheaper the more you raise.
I know some guys that raise 500 at a time. Feeding 500 takes the same amount of time as feeding 15.

You’ll never be able to sell a chicken at the price of the grocery stores and still make a profit. But yours will be “better” so charge $3-$5 per pound.

It’s easier for you to do because you guys have the human population on your side.

Good Advice from JP^^^

Don't under sell them

If you look at bottom line only at first, you'll probably be disappointed. But I do 50 a year for immediate family only and really find it worthwhile. Excellent, plump nutritious birds, year round. Not mystery meat packed in Styrofoam from Walmart. I make complete use of the carcasses for a constant supply of stock for health beverage and base for all kinds of recipes. I don't sell it but there's a movement towards home grown organic products and folks will pay for it. Enjoy the experience and ignore the nay sayers you're likely to hear from here.

I raised some pandemic poultry last summer. I got the chicks when they were on sale for chick day around Easter time when it was warm enough. The start up for lights and waterers hindered the price but I bought all my feed at one time when it was on sale. There is a great chart for meat birds on line and I went to the IA State Extension for other information and feed charts/ growth charts. I would stick with raising White cornish crosses because they grow like crazy. Find a gardener to get rid of your manure because they really pile it up. Feed them 12 hours and shut them down for twelve and they will not get bad legs. Feed them too much daily and they will crawl to the feeder by the time they are ready for butcher. Get you a killing cone to butcher them in. Less mess and they do not bruise. Scold them in 145* water and they clean right up. Hotter water will make the skin tear as you pluck and too cold of water makes for tough plucking. I raised 60 birds in a 8'x10' area in my shop. I built two foot tall panels with chicken wire which is all you need because the Cornish rocks don't fly very well. I killed at 6 weeks and they were right at 4.5 lbs. and let a few go to nine weeks and they dressed at 7. It was fun and I may do it this year. I sold several to friends for 2.00 a pound which was about cost but they really enjoyed them and the flavor is way better than store bought. I put them in my uline bags I used for coon carcasses and then used my shop vac to vacuum pack them. I duck taped a piece of 1/2" pvc water line to the hose ,stuck it in the bird, turned the vacuum on, sucked the air out, spun the bag while pulling out the pvc and then tied it off close to the bird. I still have a few that are as good as the day I processed them. Hope this helps. They are fun to raise. Just make sure they have enough room under the lights until about three weeks old because they will smother each other. LLL

Raised some pandemic poultry myself last year also. I made a "tractor" for 24 birds. Moved it every day. You are right about the manure, a 4x7 run had about an inch in 24 hours the last few weeks. We butchered at 7 weeks, birds ranged from 4.5 to 6.8 pounds. We used Texas Poultry bags, which are hot water shrink wrap. They worked great.
We used a newspaper mail box for a kill cone. Just cut a 3 inch hole in the closed end and put vertically on a post, big opening up. Slide the chicken in and pull the head through the hole. A single knife cut is all it takes. No bruising, no broken wings, no blood everywhere.

Here's the "tractor" I built. About 4 and a half by 9. Lamp socket in the brooder end for heat, worked fine in the summer. Cooler temps I have to run a heat lamp. All the roof panels hinge open. I can move it by hand, but its a bit heavy. Lawn tractor moves it easy.




About 3 weeks old

Nice k snow^^^

I turned my fur shed into a poultry house. LLL

Nice setup LL. I like your bucket feeder setup.

We have done both Cornish Cross (white) and Freedom Rangers(red). Prefer the Rangers. They graze more, and we have a big weedy pen for them to roam and hunt. Our chicks are better eating than store bought. Agree with recommendations for killing cone. We skin rather than pluck our birds now. Easier and we don't miss the skin. I'd still pluck, though, if I had one of those plucking machines.

We use an 8x10 tractor that gets moved every day. Twice the last few weeks.

We sell to my wife's csa customers amount others.

Last year was our experiment year and selling at $4 per lb. We covered our expenses, the cost of a $600 plucker, made a few hundred and all we kept for us was free.

I don't remember how many birds we raised per batch but I think under 40 per on 2 batches.


For us it's been the most profitable fastest return farm project to date.

The last two batches I’ve had a fox dig under the tractor and really lay waste to the chickens. A piece of used tin under all four sides solved the problem and its light and easy to move when you move the tractor.

I've been doing them for 8 years or so with a couple friends. We each grow our own, then process all at once. This past summer was extremely hot. I lost or culled half my flock before processing. My two friends put a fan on theirs, and one didn't lose any, the other lost two. Common sense solution, I was the one with no common sense I guess. Now I know.

Predator management is a necessary part of any livestock operation. My permanent run gets hardware cloth buried around the perimeter to stop diggers.

We have very little fox/coyote sign around us, more cats, possums and mink. That said, next go around I will add flip down panels on the bottom edges of the tractor.

How bad did that stink up the shed? Broilers can be stinky and messy animals which is why I was contemplating the tractor route.

Been raising cornish cross for a few years now for our use to much hassle to sell and most would balk at the price anyway I built a 8x14 barn and my son picked up a large chain link dog run for free when they outgrow that I open the door and leave'em go

feeding them out is the easy part a friend and I were doing runs of 100

I built a plucker and a set of killing cones , if we did another run 4 killing cones rather than 2 woud speed it up

killing is easy we had the kids catch and kill , the scalder needs to be the most experienced person watching the temp and pulling wing feathers a good scaled not to hot or too short makes the rest of the process better , the plucker need to be able to turn on a valve and a switch then 2 evisorating worked out about right.


lots of ice made up for the chill tank. then bag and weigh once we had them all in the chill tank and cooled

it takes a bunch of labor

If you have some acreage or have access to it from a local farmer, I'd lookup Joe Salatins system.