Contrary to popular belief…
Chicken doesn’t come in a package. At least not all by itself. And if you’re feeling the itch to be all homestead-y and curious as to whether you could raise meat chickens yourself, you’ve come to the right place.
Is it cheaper to raise meat chickens yourself? The answer is a little more complex than a yes/no. So let’s dive in, my fellow do-it-yourselfers!
Cost #1 – Buying your baby chicks.
Just as you’d expect, chicks from regular hatcheries will be cheaper while organic or heirloom chicks will cost more. The choice is yours. It’s a myth that chicks are given hormones at regular hatcheries, because although they do grow faster this is a result of breeding, not hormone-pumping.
Regular hatcheries will provide you with chicks that only take 6-8 weeks to raise to maturity, a time that many people believe isn’t natural. Those who opt for heirloom chicks should expect a 10-12 week time frame and be willing to cover the feed cost difference in exchange for a slower, more natural growth.
What’s my opinion? We’ve raised both regular and heirloom meat chickens and there are definite concerns with raising chicks from regular hatcheries. The biggest one is that they usually put on weight faster than their leg muscles can keep up with. You may notice that some chickens will have a hard time walking. I definitely prefer heirloom chicks. We also allow our meat chickens to wander our acre for the entire day once they reach about 4 weeks so that they can build up leg strength (we live in an urban setting and our dogs protect our yard, so we have the ability to do this. Not everybody has this luxury).
Learn how to raise baby meat chicks here.
Cost #2 – Buying your chick feed.
Because we choose to raise our meat chickens GMO, soy, and corn-free, we purchase our feed from Blue Sky Organics, through my local co-op here in Phoenix. One meat chicken will eat about 15 pounds of food in the course of their life. Hopefully that will help you plan ahead as you estimate how much chicken feed you’ll need.
When providing for the protein requirements of a baby meat chick, most people will start with a chick starter feed (about 22% protein), then move to a chick grower feed (about 20% protein), and finally finish with a chick finisher feed (about 18% protein). Because the only way to provide 22% protein feed is with soy, we decide to just feed our chicks on the grower for about 8-9 weeks, then move them to the finisher.
If you’re struggling with finding the right protein percentage, you can raise chicks solely on 18% protein for their entire lives. The one time we had to do this, they grew just as fine as the last batch.
Cost #3 – Building a shelter
Let me begin by saying you ABSOLUTELY don’t have to have some fancy-shmancy structure to raise meat chickens. We built this small chicken tractor ourselves. The purpose was to have it on wheels so we could move it around the yard.
It DOES work, but this 8×4′ chicken tractor can only house 12-15 full-size chickens, so we decided we would only keep it for night time and we pack in 30 at night, and let them free-range in the day. They don’t mind going in together because when they sleep, they like to cuddle with each other. In the morning, they are more than happy to run out and start pecking at the ground.
P.S. My friend Claire from The Happy Chicken Coop wrote an excellent guide to sheltering and tending chickens in the winter. I highly recommend it!
The Breakdown: How much does raising meat chickens cost?
Just to give you an idea, here is an example of the breakdown of when we raised 30 meat chickens.
Chick Cost: $34.50
30 heirloom freedom ranger meat chicks at $1.15 each + $85 shipping. (or you can purchase cornish cross chicks here for $2 each, but shipping is free)
Loss: 3 died in a rainstorm. Sad times…
Feed Cost: $232.85
5 bags of 18% Big Sky Chick Start Gro, (corn, soy and canola free) – 50lb bag – $28.75
3 bags of 20% Big Sky Chick Start Gro, (corn, soy and canola free) – 50lb bag – $29.70
(from Phoenix Organic Feed)
Yield: 76 lbs. meat
TOTAL COST: $3.52 per pound for Organic, NON-GMO Chicken.
What kind of factors influenced our costs? Well, for one, letting our chickens roam around in a larger space throughout the day meant they ate more bugs and grass in their diet, overall reducing our feed costs. Also, we purchased our chicks with other crazy chicken people to reduce the cost per chick.
We do butcher our chickens ourselves, which saves the cost of having to pay a butcher, but paying a butcher is totally an option for you if you want to go that route! Learn how we butcher our chickens here.
Think you’re ready to raise meat chickens yourself? Then go for it! Really, it isn’t as hard as it sounds and the taste of a home-raised chicken is DIVINE!
Hi, my name is Dave. When I grew up in the suburbs of Long Island, my father raised chickens in our 1/4 acre yard because he felt they were good for his lawn and we ate & gave away the eggs. I’m looking to buy a home with a large backyard in Danbury, CT. To be able to raise broiler chickens what kind of license or business registration do you need to be able to sell the eggs and chickens for meat?
Thank you!
Dave
[email protected]
Hi Dave-
It depends on what your state’s, county’s, and city’s rules and regulations are. It would be best to contact your state department of agriculture, your county extension office, and your local city office.
Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
In Wa it is much different. I am doing cornish cross a week out my cost is about 4.00 per bird. We raise on game bird feed at 28% protein. They are out on pasture at 4 weeks to 6 weeks. Considering the poor quality or commercial chicken I would raise my own no matter what they cost.
How many pounds of feed does one meat bird eat from get go until butcher day? im getting 20 chicks and would like to know how much money im spending just in feed for one meat bird
One meat chicken will eat about 15 pounds of food in the course of their life.
Have you looked into black soldier fly larvae as a cheap source of high protein chicken feed? Love your site. We’re planning on moving to southern Colorado and I’d like to have both meat chickens and layers and a small flock of goats/sheep (possibly a llama) on a couple acres and I’m already an avid gardener.
Hi Nikita,
I have heard of this, but haven’t incorporated it yet:) How exciting to move to Colorado!
Hey I’m getting ready to get some meat chickens and some layers and I’m wondering if you think the meat chickens could be raised on fodder?? 🙂
Hi Gabby! As long as the protein is high enough 18-22%, then you should be good!
Hi DaNelle! I live in Mesa and we plan on buying a small farm in Tucson soon. I’ve looked into lots of different heirloom chicken breeds and I really want to hatch my own chickens for meat (as well as eggs). I’ve discovered that freedom rangers, if allowed to grow to maturity, will lay eggs quite well and also reproduce. My only concern is the heat tolerance of a full grown meat bird. I would hate to get a whole flock established only to lose it to the Summer heat. Opinion?
Hi Trista,
The only problem with that is that you’ll need to purchase sexed freedom rangers so you’re sure to get all females. The other problem is that the freedom rangers are ready to eat at 12-16 weeks of age, but won’t start laying until 24 weeks and won’t be consistent layers until 1 year old. So, the longer you let them lay eggs, the tougher their meat will get. We raise laying hens that start laying around 6 months of age and live 4-5 years, and then we’ll raise meat birds for 12 weeks or so, then butcher them.
You could get a bird like White Plymouth Rock, or one of the other varieties of Plymouth Rocks. These were the main meat bird in the US until they started using hybrid chickens like Freedom Ranger and Cornish Cross. They get big and they are really good egg layers! Cold hardy and disease resistant. They take 8-12 weeks to mature and the cocks get up around 9 pounds.
Dont forget to factor in the price of those who don’t make it. That is a huge deal breaker. I know lots of people who lost most of their chicks before they became chickens. We have chickens, but they shall soon be executed, and we will let our muscovy ducks multiply. Chickens are more prone to disease also, whether you got them small or keeping them as layer hens. We had one start sulking, then when we slew it, we saw it had the egg producing system all dried up and deformed. Apparently some kind of chicken cholera. Anyways, we will stick to self raised goat meat (whatever thats called), self raised potbelly pork, and the muscovies. Chickens will have to be out of the menu. As sad as it maybe.
Not sure…in English
In Mexico goat meat it Cabrito (cab reel toe)
Great article Danelle! What season here in AZ do you raise your chickens??? Also, where do you get the heirlooms that you like??
Thanks!
Hi Lori, I link to the chickens I purchase above in the article. We raise them typically in August (so it’s warm enough that there’s no need for a light) and then we butcher in November (when it’s cool enough to do the job outside)
I have been fortunate enough to have a place where I can buy chicken feed 30% protein for $140 for 500 lbs. Has been a big relief on my pocket that’s for sure. But before I was paying the same as you for feed.
ACK! $25-$30/chicken is tough to swallow. This has been extremely helpful though because that is the price I have been coming up with as well when budgeting for meat chickens. The feed is just so expensive! I even priced sourcing my own organic mix and it wasnt much less. Part of becoming a homesteader, other than control of my own food, is pricing and its just so hard to justify the expense when places like Trader Joes are selling organic chickens for $15. I just wish I could figure out the feed issue.
Thanks for posting…this has been more helpful thaan you know!
:/
Hi Jaime,
Not sure where you got the $25/30 per chicken number. Like I said above, it came out to about $3.06 per pound, and each chicken was about 3-4 lbs., so that’s about $9-$12 per chicken. Definitely cheaper than Trader Joes 🙂
Jamie wants to do this with only 10 chickens. She will let them run around until they weigh 11 – 12 pounds each (Obviously NOT Cornish Cross birds) then at that weight they should dress out at about 7.5 pounds and that would be the outrageously high 25 – 30 bucks per bird! Still about 3.50 per pound of meat though.
Did you forget to add in the shipping cost? Looks like it and that is a huge difference
Hello-
Yes, if you add the shipping in it would make it about $4.64/pound. However, if you bought the chicks local and did not pay shipping the cost would be lower.
Thanks for checking!
-Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)
Search YouTube for diy chicken feed. You can farm flies, larvae, worms. Another plant source is duckweed, you can grow it in a kiddie pool and I believe it’s high in protein and can double everyday and it’s good for humans too 🙂 When I get my land I hope to produce all of my own feed in this way for chickens and talapia.
The $34.50 was for all 30 chicks at $1.15 each.
76 pounds of meat divided by 27 birds nets less than 3 pounds each bird – is that correct? That seems very low compared to other things I’ve read.
That is correct. We actually butchered 2 weeks early and so they didn’t reach the full 5 lbs. You can definitely let them go a little longer to get a higher weight, it will just cost a bit more in feed:)
Hi, I discovered your blog a few weeks back and sent you an email. If you didn’t get it, I was just wondering where you get your beef from. Coincidently, I live in the same city. We just moved here and am looking at different options for filling a freezer. Thanks!
I get my beef from the local farmer’s market here in Gilbert and get it from https://www.doublecheckranch.com/
Just discovered this website and am entirely intrigued and seriously interested in reading more! PLEASE!!!
We raise regular broilers. We get them out on grass asap, and have yet to have the typical broiler health issues. We also feed 12 hours on and off by about 3 weeks. Our last batch we butchered 70 and our price was 1.50ish per pound (it was spring, for the life of me I can’t remember the exact price!) I do plan to try freedom rangers at some point just to see the difference. I did notice an error with your chick price though, did you mean 2.15? Thank you for sharing!
We got the 1.15 price because we ordered over 100 with a group of friends:)