I kind of want to say "SHHHH stop TELLING everyone" lol! You know hardly anyone is going to even raise their own broilers though let alone do this as a side business so... I guess that's fine. GREAT video as usual. Very grateful for your time and experience.
just found your channel. really appreciate this video. just knowing that there are people out there willing to pay what the birds are worth is encouraging. Thank you for the info, and the sources. You just earned another new subscriber! looking forward to more quality info.
Thanks for all the info. We are trying to make the transition from I guess what you would call hobby farming to homesteading\farming. We at least want our animals to be able to pay for themselves & then become profitable. My husband works fulltime and I'm home. Getting everything to come together is what has been our biggest challenge.
@@SheratonParkFarms Absolutely..I'm currently still living in Spain and have 40 + acres in Montana I bought last September just before the land rush. I want to do a little of everything including vegetables some cattle pigs chickens ect..will be there this summer for a month to get well septic done and pick spots where I want to set everything up..alot of work but looking forward to finally leave here after 20 years..
I’ve been binging on your videos for the last couple weeks. We’re moving from TX to Arkansas in a month, and plan to try our hand at broilers next spring. I’d love to visit with you guys some time!
@@baileyhodges2584 it went pretty well. Laws make it difficult to make sales here, but we did enough for 2 families to have birds all year. This year we’ll do 3x that.
Any tips on insurance for backyard poultry processing no one talks about that and insurance company give me funny looks just wanna be safe when selling
Hi there, at the end of the day do you think raising chickens are worth it? Another cost I didn't hear you mention is the opportunity cost of doing something else, such as beef or pork etc. I've looked at chickens from every angle I think possible. In my opinion, to be profitable you need to do all the things that you are doing plus you need to be incubating your own chicks. The problem with scaling chickens out is the processing involved. If you go over the size batches you're doing now, you'd make a full-time job out of slautering chickens and packaging them. If you go over your current volumn, then you must factor in your help (labor) as a fixed cost, as it (the labor) will grow considerablly(once again it depends on what you want to be spending your time on. Take what I say with a grain of salt if you like--I'm not a farmer or anything like that. I'm a person that has an interest in living off the land who is conducting rearch to figure out my life.
I've raised 12 so far. Lost a lot to predators. What lead me to this video was the fact that those three birds paid for all the birding just from the leg down.
I realize this video is several years old, but I've been paying 99 cents for thighs at the store for years (now $1.29). I always wonder how they make any money, let alone the farmers that supplies them??
How did you get started marketing your pork and chicken at the beginning? We are moving to our 131 acres at the end of the year and will move past our current homestead level and up to a for profit level
We started very basic. Telling all our friends, family and co-workers and asking them to share with their friends, family and co-workers. We also did a facebook page and started going to farmer's markets. Go ahead and start marketing now and don't wait until you are ready to sell your products.
Hello Chuck! Thanks for the video(s)! We have considered expanding our farm to include pastured poultry but prices keep us hesitant. Most folks in our area are not willing to pay the prices for pastured poultry raised the "right way" versus a $5-7 whole chicken from Wal***t. Last thing we need is a freezer full of chicken and our investment tied up in a product that we cant sell for a profit. How do you manage to get the product selling for the premium prices? Thanks!
So in all honesty, the Wal***t shopper is not my customer. If someone is that cost conscious they aren't going to buy from you if you are even a little higher than a big box or the grocery store. You have to market to and seek out customers that understand the value of your work as a farmer and want a premium product. The chicken we sell are NOT store chickens. They have a different flavor, texture and quality that comes from being cared for on a small farm. These birds are moved onto new grass each day where they can forage for a more natural diet of bugs, worms, grasses and other chicken goodies. They are put in a concrete house with 30,000 other birds that never see the sunshine and breathe particulated manure all their lives. Sell the value in the bird and in your work. Find the customers who want to buy from a local farm. They are out there.
@@SheratonParkFarms Thank you Chuck. Our local tailgate market does not have near the foot traffic or volume as larger cities. Youve given me much to consider....thanks!
I really appreciate the breakdown! I'm assuming with the costs of the birds and the feed for the birds that you ended up losing due to predators, you just piggyback that amount into the birds that you ended up harvesting as a part of the investment for that particular batch?
I always thought that to be able to sell you had to have them USDA processed. Where do I find that info? We have butchered for our family but are hoping to be able to offer to more people. Love the videos thanks.
One question I have and can't seem to find the answer to is the labeling requirements. My state has the 1000 bird exemption but I can't seem to figure out how I need to label the packaging. The requirements for honey, jams, etc are easy to find, but nothing on farm processed poultry
Can you sell chickens that are not processed by an FDA approved processing facility. I do chickens for friends and family, but I would like to try selling some chickens. Thank you, nice video.
do you have to have a license to sell meat heard of custom butchery exemption on usda site just not sure exactly how it works wanting to get into butchering chickens/other animals to sell but cant find right info on legally able to sell
Love the channel. Very informative and helpful. I live near your pig guy in SW Virginia. Don’t know him, but know of him (Tyler). Have a question....I know the rules regarding selling pork but are they different for selling chicken? Meaning, what involvement is there from the FDA with selling chicken? I realize it may vary from state to state.
Exactly. Rules for Poultry are much different than red meat. In most states (VA) included its regulated by the state dept of ag. Here is a map that may be helpful. www.farmtoconsumer.org/poultry-map/ Reach out to your local ag extension agent. They should be able to give you all the info. Thanks for watching
Do you sell retail at your own store, or how do you get those prices. I ask from ignorance, as I see the benefit of quality, but also the difficulty of selling at those premium prices.
We sell direct from the farm and at a couple of farmer's markets. We tell people about our growing methods and how the chickens are cared for and ask what we believe is a fair price for our work and the product.
@@SheratonParkFarms I remember when food had better taste. I can only imagine the quality of your product is well beyond anything store or mass produced. Price and Value are two different things. Value is the taste and that it's a healthier product was well. I asked because we are interested in moving, and I beleive you are in NC, which is one of the options we are entertaining. Thanks for the Video!
@@SheratonParkFarms eventually enough to make $2,000/month like you speak on in this video, but we are just getting started. I watched a Joel Salatin video from a homestead conference where he Recomended the equipment there which ran 4K-5k but the link no longer sold the equipment. I just can’t see myself plucking feathers. Lol I need a machine for that. He also had a machine that he put them in that washed them in hot water for a few minutes before going into the defeatherer.
Ok. Gotcha. There are 2 primary brands of what I’d consider commercial equipment. Featherman and Poultry Man. We have the Featherman because we found it used and it was a good buy. I think the Poultry Man equipment may be a little better quality. www.feathermanequipment.com/ thebirdnerd.biz/product-category/processing-equipment/
Questions....do you have to have a license to process? Is there a limit to how many you can process (legally)not due to personnel? How long did it take to process the 100 or so birds for this video and how many folks did you have helping? How do you sell? Onsite, farmers market, etc
