3 Keys To Raising Chickens For Meat And Money
Raising chickens for meat can be a profitable business for the rural property owner
. But only if you treat it as a business. If you follow these 3 keys to raising meat chickens, you can make a tidy profit, and put some delicious chicken dinners in your freezer as well.
Raising chickens key 1: Know your market. On a small farm, its essential that you don't grow anything before you know how you will sell it. Ideally you want all your chickens sold before you start raising them. Tell your friends, family and co-workers you will be raising chickens, in limited numbers, and they can get some if they hurry. Organic chickens raised on pasture are an easy sell; they taste so much better than the other kind. You should be able to get enough orders in advance to cover your start-up costs; in fact you could ask for as deposit to make sure your customers actually buy the birds.
Raising chickens key 2: Raise them organically. Chickens raised organically on fresh air, organic grain, and fresh pasture result in a better-tasting, healthier bird. Free-range organic chicken is a premium product, commanding a premium price. On a small farm it's always better to go after the top of the market rather than competing on price at the bottom. You can't compete with cheap imported food or mass-produced chicken from the battery farms, so don't try. You can promote your chickens as both healthier and tastier than the store-bought kind. And if you raise a better chicken, you can expect a better payback.
Raising chickens key 3: Keep your losses to a minimum. It's not how many chickens you start with, its how many you can successfully get to market. Chickens can be lost to predators, disease, and inclement weather. You have to protect against all these factors, because losses directly affect your profit. This start s right at the beginning, with your day-old chicks. Keep them dry and warm in a heated broody box or similar enclosure that is proof against predators. Feed your chickens good quality organic chick starter feed until they are about 5 weeks of age, then switch to chicken grower feed. Your little birds should be fed in the morning and the evening, and they need fresh water in front of them all the time.
Once your meat birds go out on pasture, you have to keep them safe from predators and keep them from wandering off. A movable coop should also be provided for night-time shelter. Electric poultry netting can provide a predator-proof day time yard. The electric poultry netting and the coop should be moved to fresh ground regularly.
Feed your meat chickens twice a day with organic chicken grower feed. Make sure they have fresh water continuously available, especially in hot weather. Carefully observe your birds at each feeding, to make sure they are thriving and growing steadily.
If you control your losses, you could make a profit of 60% or more on each batch of meat birds you raise. Start-up and operating costs are comparatively low; you might pay $700 for the equipment to raise your first batch of 100 meat birds. This would include an electric fence charger, poultry netting, the movable coop, and feeders and waterers. Much of this equipment can be reused for several years.
Profit on your first batch of 100 meat birds should pay for the equipment. Each subsequent batch will put money in your wallet, and food in your freezer. Since it takes about 12 weeks to raise chickens organically to market weight, you can probably do more than one batch a year with the same equipment.
Raising chickens for meat is a business you can start for just a few hundred dollars; in fact, if you take orders in advance and get a deposit, you could start up with no cost to you at all. And in about 12 weeks you will have your first profit. This makes raising chickens for meat a business any small property owner should consider.
by: Scott Kelland
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