To help off set your costs of heritage breeds I sold the feathers to several fishing shops for fly tying. Of course another difference was I raised 800 chickens for personal consumption per year (a lot was turned to burger and sausage ). The last year I did it we sold a lot of the birds at farmers market... they were skinned and cut up. My customers liked the flavor and I only had 1 customer complain about no skin.... these are just a few thoughts. I ultimately sold the homestead to care for my mother until she passed. One day I will buy another homestead here in michigan. .. good luck. ..God bless you. ...curt
I have 2 rules for work. 1. It must be fun. 2. I earn $50 per hour. I keep very accurate records. My Cornish Cross hens and roosters average 7.5 pounds dressed rate at 8 weeks. I have raised chickens, ducks, pheasants, and turkeys for 33 years. In 33 years I have not lost one bird to a predator.
@@SarahPerine We have one simple strategy - a few strands of very hot electric fence around the base perimeter of the building and run area. The same is in place on insulators in the open eve area where soffit would normally be placed.
Excellent video and content! Thanks for sharing the numbers. Those numbers are very different for us. We get an average 4 lbs out of the Cornish Cross in a mere 6 to 6.5 wks. Our red rangers yield more like 6.5 to 7 lbs at 12 wks. We also don’t buy feed in 50 lbs bags as that’s an expensive way to go. As for dual purpose, we raise them until week 16 and sell them live for $25 each as laying hens thereby cutting the processing and inventory cost.
I just found your channel today and I have to say I'm loving all the "here's the numbers" videos. I love that nitty gritty nerdy numbers aspect of this and these videos are so helpful.
I only wish I had seen this about 4 years ago. I had never raised birds strictly for meat. We had always raised standard breeds and dressed off the previous year's hens for meat. Some friends asked me to raise some chickens for them for meat. I agreed to do it at cost simply as an experiment. All I tracked was feed and processing cost. I didn't factor in labor or materials or any other things. I didn't even use organic/non-gmo feed. I raised a batch of 25 standard breed roosters. And it was HORRIBLE. I was using hoop coop chicken tractors that were way over built and tough to move. Consequently, they didn't get moved as often as they should and my pasture really has never recovered. My feed costs were astronomical. At the end of the summer, I was embarrassed to give them the bill. It was a MAJOR fail and I gave up on raising strictly meat birds until this year. This year I am trying the Cornish X and so far, have been FAR happier with them. Can't wait to see how they taste!!
In my part of the Europe the Dual Purpose or our versions of these breeds are preferred meat for a traditional chicken soup and some other dishes and since they are seldom farmed commercially you have to know someone who knows someone and pay premium (they are sometimes pricier than beef because the usual form of payment for these is a bottle of alcohol... and to be clear it is not the bottom shelf kind of alcohol).
Enjoyed watching you crunch the numbers. I’m having the same discussion with myself. This year I used my dual purpose eggs and incubated my chicks for pasture raising. That saved on hatchery expense and I got really heathy chicks with low mortality and got a 3.5 carcass at 12 weeks. I did this for my own freezer. But I can see the CX would be more marketable if I wanted to bring in cash.
Really appreciating your videos! This one is has great $$ information! I've raised all three types (just for our family) but never did the numbers. Something I've learned...a tip for those going with the Cornish but wanting better forage activity from them... include a few instinctive dual purpose birds that encourage, by example, them to eat more greens on pasture. I stick with the Cornish cross (yes indeed the highest and most tender meat producer) and the dual purpose Chanteclair breed. Living in Canada, I've discovered them to be the best laying bird to deal with the cold and the roosters dress a descent weight in the fall.
Interesting seeing the numbers. I'm working on a duel propose breed. At the moment I'm raising some Dark Cornish/ Rode Island Red crosses just to see how they grow out and their egg production levels. Otherwise I'll go for a standard duel propose breed. 95% of my reason for raising birds is for the eggs. But recently, now that I built my second coop. I want to raise birds for their meat. BUT I do not want to have to buy new chicks every time. So I would like to keep the best rooster and 3 or 4 of the best hens (Fastest growing/egg production) to pass their genetics to the next batch. Goals are to have a 5 pound (dressed) bird in 14 weeks or less. I may keep my Dark Cornish rooster. He's already 2 years old, a bit smaller than the RIR hens but built like a bulldog, he's dense and far heavier than he looks. He's also very docile and I would like to keep those traits in my future roosters. The only down side is that it's illegal to Free range in my area and I live in the desert anyway so there is very little to forage for. so 100% of their feed would have to be bought.
Excellent I see so many people coming up short without ever looking at the math in a reasonable way. Many discount the labor as sunk costs but people forget they have a life. I have neighbors that said "if you count the labor you will never make nuthin'." Thanks for this very enlightening.
We've raised Cornish X and the leg problems and mortality rate are the biggest problem on pasture. They're just unable to walk very well, especially when they get older. So we switched to Cornish Roasters for a couple of years now and they are outstanding. They take about 9-11 weeks to get to the 4lb size but if you let them go to a full 12 weeks, they can be 6-8lbs. Way bigger return than Red Rangers. The males are especially big. They forage well and have no leg issues, low mortality rate. I think they are a good compromise between the efficiency of Cornish X and the pasture suitability of Red Ranger.
Your base labor cost is off on the Duel Purpose because they can free range once established home base ( I would venture to say the same for Red Rangers)....labor for them is about 15 minutes max a day because they free range vs tractors...that's letting them out...putting them to bed, tossing scraps, changing nest box litter, observing, changing feeders - I always enjoy your videos - thanks! :)
I expect his costs are for what he actually DOES. He may have high predator numbers in his area, and has probably already tried this method. I know I would!
You are dead WRONG about the Cornish Cross being poor foragers. I just raised 3 I bought from Rural King. And they got 85% of their feed from foraging. I let them go 10 weeks and they finished at 9-9.5lbs dressed. So I do not know what you are doing wrong, but a 4lb bird is unacceptable. And my birds were healthy, great bright white coat of feathers. They could run, and they did not have any problems with being heavy. Though they would sit on occasion to eat, but I did notice they did rest more. And my birds are free range. And my 2 year old hens, one Silkie and some other random hen lay 320 eggs a year easy. So my best guess is, whatever you are feeding them is no good. And half of the feed they got was cracked corn, the rest was just scratch grains. EDIT: I just calculated the actual feed I used to get them up to weight in 10 weeks. And I used 1.85 lbs of feed per pound of growth.
WE free range our cc, and they do wonderful, and get about the same size as a small turkey, i dont want a four pound chicken, living traditions just did a comparison also, i think the cc won also
We raised 100 each of the C. Cross and Rangers. We had a plus 47 cents per pound gross additional cost Ranger vs. C. Cross. We are sticking to C. Cross from here on. . . Pasture raised birds. Supplemented with our own hand mixed feed. . .
For people who are raising their birds for food and not for sale I can't recommend red rangers enough. We have a vegetable farm and raise eggs on pasture for our CSA program. Last year we raised a small batch cornish cross for ourselves and are raising rangers this year and will never go back. In my opinion they look and act like a chicken should, and in my context it's well worth it.
I think, and I might be a Lil confused, but, Cornish cross are higher priced per bird than red rangers, I checked on a few different breeders and the prices vary, yes but, not by much. Also not all websites provide the same kind of birds, that been said, I'm giving you an example of prices that I personally pay for my meat birds, Cornish cross (ordering 250 birds on one shipment) is $1.95 per bird, and on red rangers (same quantity) is $1.15 per bird, that is a difference of $0.80 per bird times 250 bird = $200, that been said, yes the Cornish cross grow faster than red rangers, but at the end with the money you saved per bird end up been either the same or pretty close. Good luck and me and my wife love watching your videos
I'm getting a meat breed called Robust whites from Moyer's chicks in PA. They are suppose to do well on pasture and grow at a rate somewhere between a Cornish X and Red Ranger. I plan to process at 10 weeks.
John thank you for the video. I appreciate the fact that you went into depth about cost as a whole. I don't raise for production but for therapy and normally I enjoy a longer-lived bird. What you showed me is that a mixed flock will provide me with all the benefits and (costs) but also allow me to cull for what meal I am making. thank you again very informative video.
Awesome breakdown. One thing to note is that not only does faster = for profit per bird, but overall profitability goes up the more birds one can raise in a single year. The longer they take to grow, the more time and space they take from the next run. Assuming one has all 52 weeks of the year, that means raising six (and a half) runs of CXs, a little over four runs of RRs. and just barely more than three runs of DPs. Even assuming you have the market for a %100 markup on all breeds (maybe more, at approx. $5 per pound on the CXs) your annual profits might be: CXs - $54.42 times birds per run RRs - $54.04 times birds per run DPs - $43.45 times birds per run that puts RRs much closer to CXs, but multiplied over 240+ birds each run, it's still a BIG difference. Thanks for the food for thought, maybe one day I may turn this into real food😁.
This is our first year raising cc. We haven't lost one bird. Really, our next go around we'll be processing sooner than 8 weeks. We have a large family but these guys get huge.
THANK YOU so much for this! I really want to raise Red Rangers, and knowing that the cost difference is less than a latte, I'm all in! THANKS SO MUCH!!!
Wow. This video is Outstanding! Subscribed... I've been neglecting other things as I'm binge-watching your videos all day. You provide great detail and are also in the same zone of the US as I am [and are looking to settle down in]. Very happy I found this content.
Your videos are always very helpful and educational. Thanks to you i have 20 Cornish cross going from the brooder into one of your chicken tractors next week!
The cost of loss ( high mortality with Cornish cross) should definitely factor into cost per bird. If you lose 25% of your Cornish but 0% of your Rangers, that makes a huge difference.
Excellent walk through. It would be hard to raise heritage birds for a profit but I’m just starting to work towards that. My plan is to use them in the gardens for the 16-18 weeks so I get them to work for me. For you there’s no question on what you can raise being a big farmer. I gotta say if anyone got at you for raising the Cornish cross you definitely raise them the way they should be. Oh yea I’m still working for 100 chickens this year. I’ve hatched 10 with 22 more in the incubator.
Brian Philbrook , he left out the most important part of raising a duel purpose breed is you won't make anything on them till they have layed a few dozen eggs. Every $4 dozen you sell comes off of the price it cost to raise them. There's not much difference eating a 16 week bird or a 30 week bird other than more meat and flavor.
What is the cost per chick? How many of the 240 originals will you have at processing (genetics)? How much feed do the "real" chickens eat vs forage? What percentage rate would you use for accidental (weather/predator ect.) death? How many batches can you run each year for the different types?
The final cost on the heritage breeds should have included a deduction for the value of the eggs. My guess is they would end up at least comparable to the rangers, or possibly even better depending on which breed.
One thing I didn't see in the costs was the initial purchase cost of the chicks which can be $2.50-$4 per bird depending on the breed, quantity etc. With Cornish Cross you will always have this expense.for many heritage breeds you will have that initial cost, however, you may wish to keep a rooster or two so you have fertile eggs which can be hatched by broody hens or in a small incubator which would mean the costs would decrease on future years for any heritage breed.
Thanks for sharing those numbers. For me, taste is more important as this is for everyone on our ranch. But it's good to know. We do have laying hens specifically for their high production.
John thank u 4 this video man u break it down 2 where someone has simple minded as me can UNDERSTAND love ya bro keep up the awesome work and videos u r ALOT OF HELP bc I'm starting a homestead/farm
Your videos are super cool. What it taught me most of all is that it's extremely expensive to raise organic cornish birds. You sure know your chickens. I don't care if my cornish birds don't forage, they def don't. But you teach a new aspect to all of that pasture business. Thumbs up to cornish birds! They are also very tame and easy to manage!
What would be interesting to see is the Feed\Labor cost with the animal loss figured in say in a batch of 100 birds vs per bird basis since cornish cross mortality is a factor. I don't know what those numbers would look like, but if I started between cornishX and red rangers, and lost no RR, but lost 10% of the CornishX at say the midpoint process, what then becomes the price difference? I'm not even sure what the average "high" mortality rate would be to figure this out
Good on you buddy. Do your research, and here is a good place to start. Start small and with your parents permission. You will learn a lot even with just a couple of hens. Good luck! Everybody starts somewhere.🤜🏽🤛🏽
Just started with the American Bresse and am liking them a lot. Still raise Cornish Cross for meat here but have cut down on the number we will consume. Looking forward to trying the American Bresse to compare flavor our selves....
Nice Video buddy. We appreciate a concise assessment of the facts. An interesting experiment would be to compare cc's in a tractor and cc's in a coop on feed.
Great video. One other thing yo remember, if you are raising for profit. in a six month raising season you can raise 4 batches of c cross as opposed to only 3 rangers or 2 dual purpose.
Great video...with the mortality rate of Cornish cross...what is the true cost divided among the birds that make it to market? It will raise the overall cost of the project per bird. Do you have any numbers?
Heritage breeds can bring a premium price. Of marketed right am not saying a chicken is worth 6.75 a pound or that you can sell a chicken for 34 dollars but their are people that do.
Very well thought out! Very good presentation, better concepts than the sales/marketing funnel! But I'm a numbers guy! They don't lie, the people cooking them lie! Not the chickens, the numbers! I really enjoy your enthusiasm for the topic, I'm glad you are too! Looks like The Friday before memorial day will be my next KF brew tasting. .. you are open Fridays?
What about the purchase price of each bird? The ones that lay eggs you get for free if you have your own incubator🤷♀️ right? Do you pay more or less for Cornish cross?
Just one thing to remember is that not all feeds or forage are equal. In a pasture mix of at least twenty or more green varieties, along with bugs and quality high fat and protein grains and seeds, pretty much any chicken will grow quickly and beautifully and are not tough at all if processed at their best age for each breed. I restrict their movements to a happy square footage and move them each day, rather than allow them the full range of acreage freely as the layers are given. I strive for consistant growth rate, bright shiny feathering, and listen for those happy chicken sounds- unhappy birds just don't produce well.
I realize you made this video a while ago but I have a question. If the Rangers can have a 0% mortality rate and the cornish cross die both in the brooder and also when on pasture, how many of them are dying later in life? I am wondering if the cost of the dead birds and the labor/feed invested in those dead birds can help off set the additional cost of the Rangers, given that you arent likely to have a loss of investment along the way since they live? Does that make sense? Do you answer that somewhere already and I missed it?
Profit can be increased by reducing cost, obviously. One place for reduction would be labor. Possibly Coops that have more square feet per bird, so they don't have to be moved every day. Maybe once every 3/4 days can be possible. That would reduce labor substantially. Also reduce the frequency that you have to address their water and food reservoirs in the coops. Don't use water or feed containers on the ground. A gravity filled water system using drip nipples prevents contamination of water supplies and a gravity fed feed system would reduce the time spent monitoring and filling them. keeping bird water and feeders off the floor would reduce their waste. You could possibly reduce your commercial feed costs, by finding ways of producing your own varied feed material on your homestead. If you have a pond ( like I see from the drone view)could be used to farm fish. Periodically drag the lake with a net of specific design to allow only the large fish to be removed. It might be possible to process whole life fish into a pulp, have it dried and pelleted for feed. Maybe all you would have to do is scale them and cut their fins off you can grind up the whole fish into a paste. Not saying this is all possible but certainly some of it is and should be considered. Cheers
John, do you have a video that has plans for showing us how to make the Chicken Tractor Houses you have the chickens pictured in at the very start of this video? (22 second mark). I love this design of pulling a tractor this big with a rope. Of if not, do you know where I might go to learn how to make this?
Excellent comparison video especially for people just starting out or for those that are interested in raising their own chickens in the future. Appreciate you sharing this information as I've noticed other channels attempting to promote the Rangers by knocking Cornish Crosses. If a hatchery (selling Rangers) sent my family free Rangers I may say something nice on my channel too! I may even convince or scare my children or grandchildren that the "monster/Frankenstein" bird on the other plate is not as nice tasting as this healthy scrawny bird on their plate. We raise Cornish Crosses for our family's consumption and will continue to do so for all the reasons you've indicated. Out of that 4lbs on the X's the weight is mostly thick white breast meat and we like that! Another plus is: in two months we've raised our chicken meat for the year. If one wants chicken tender size breast meat then by all means go for Rangers.
Hi John, very good video, thks ! as meat quality is better for DP breed and red rangers, wouldn't you sell the birds at higher price ? wich would balance the labour and feed cost Regards from France Valentin
meanwhile...... a chicken costs $7.00 at the grocery store. i don't recommend anybody follow these practices for raising chickens. the dual purpose birds also produce eggs which weren't factored into your profits. i raise new hampshire reds. they are a solid dual purpose breed averaging 4lb carcasses conservatively and almost an egg per hen every single day. fodder feeding drastically reduces feed costs throughout the warm seasons and then i butcher my flock back in the fall to reduce winter feed costs and cold weather mortality rates. $9 a bird is unacceptable and unsustainable in my neck of the woods. $14 a bird would bankrupt me. still a great video demonstrating the very important process of factoring in costs versus gain. i just don't know how you make it work with that kinda overhead.
To each their own. We are heritage dual purpose on a commercial scale. We don’t buy chicks, and we don’t incubate eggs, they totally self propagate, and being a grain farmer, I’m feeding them what would be considered shrink / waste. That’s where stacked and complimentary enterprises comes in to play. The real value of poultry and fowl is the pest control. They knock down good and bad bugs the same way a pesticide would, but they leave behind the best fertilizer on the planet. I’m moving them with GPS guided linear irrigation that we’re wind damaged that serve as the main framework for the structure.
Even with the daily move, my CC still had poo on their chests from just being lazy. Any way to prevent them from laying in their own poo? Or is this just normal from them being so lazy? I have thought of adding a ground roost bar to the bottom section of our tractors for them to roost on and out of the filth.
William Pellant, I do that with mine and I have very clean birds that are fully feathered. They will not roost very high but anything to keep them off the ground will help. I just stand up a 2x4 and most will roost on it.
William Pellant they’re kind of famous for laziness and lacking self preservation instincts, like getting out of the sun or walking to the side of the tractor with water. -Whereas RRs raised side by side won’t have any issues. Their is a penalty for big breasts and no brain.
exactly, these people who say they get them to forage well are rare exceptions. if you raise them for a few years, you find they are a productive but quite joyless bird to raise. they take way more labor to train to forage and you have to get lucky and have one bird that is smart enough to lead and get the other birds competitive for forage. this usually requires pulling away grain or mash as if they have a chance to sit and eat all day they will do it. they bore me badly. if you raise a heritage breed for a few years you will see the differences are night and day once you get more overall experience and increase the sameple size. i think the RR are a good compromise bird and worth the extra costs involved, but i actually think the best value for the consumer is easily the heritage slow growth chickens.@@SLFYSH
Susan Hamilton me too. Kind of interesting, especially considering he’s not pushing the DP’s to forage as hard as he could and not giving them access to a high quality high protein mixed pasture forage.
It all depends on how you want to raise your birds. You can raise a RR for less than a CC if you have an actual pasture instead of feeding them "grass".
Only if you're counting every minute of labor and including it into "cost" Most of us enjoy our farm chores. I sell my birds at $2.25/lb And somehow manage profit.
You failed to calculate the mortality rate and the cost to buy. RR are about $1 while CX are $2 to buy. If you have a 4% mortality rate, say 2% brooder and 2% field, that also tightens the gap.
You're fcr seems a bit high are they a bit stressed when you move them around or whatnot. I found that stress effects the bird from 1 to 1.5 base on up to death.
I'd say the best way to grow Dual Purpose Birds is to let them lay for a year and then butcher them a year-and-a-half as stewing hens because you've already made your money back on the eggs and the price of the chick itself then all you have to worry about is the price of butchering
Your labor prices are a bit low. You didnt account for processing time. Im not sure if you hire it out or not though, those missing numbers do affect your margin. Just guessing but say add around 8 hours for processing and packaging 240 birds?
Raised my first 300 broilers this year. Mostly Rangers, but also Cornish, Kosher Kings and Sassos. Something the video doesn’t mention which was a very practical concern for me, is tgat the slower growing birds can cause problems because they become sexually mature and the males can injure anyone they mate due to size, strength and claws. This makes me reconsider my Cornish next year… I might do a majority Cornish next year. I also raised on pasture with tractors and had 0% mortality with my Cornish!!! I did lose 1-2% Rangers.
Great video. Like your new updated format( not saying I didn’t like it before). Interested in hearing debate about raising the different meat birds. My experience with s much smaller group of meat chickens (25) is right on track with your experience. I just go with the Cornish cross and they do very well on pasture for me. Just have to provide shade for them in the summers hotter days.
23 dollars for 50 lb bag of your non gmo. 14 to 15 dollars for regular chicken feed. How is 23 dollars" 3 times the feed cost to raise" your saying of the regular?
Thank you for the nerdy chicken math :) I'm lost when it comes to math. Words make sense to me. Numbers don't :( I have a question..... How did you come up with the ratios like 5:1 etc.? I'm sick so I may have missed that part. I watched the video twice and I missed it both times. So let's blame it on being sick 😉
Great video. I’ve been tough on you in my comments here, but I want you to know that I appreciate and respect your experience based opinion and your honesty. You do a great job on your videos and your tracking, and your brewery in general looks awesome. Keep up the great work!! :-) check out Gene Logsdon books, in particular, his “Letter to a Young Farmer: How to Live Richly without Wealth on the New Garden Farm.” It May change your life.
2022 $28.50 per 50 lb crumble. Everyone Raised by ten bucks per bag. Tasty chicken. The best chicken. But expensive. Best if supplimenting with all the grass around.
To help off set your costs of heritage breeds I sold the feathers to several fishing shops for fly tying. Of course another difference was I raised 800 chickens for personal consumption per year (a lot was turned to burger and sausage ). The last year I did it we sold a lot of the birds at farmers market... they were skinned and cut up. My customers liked the flavor and I only had 1 customer complain about no skin.... these are just a few thoughts. I ultimately sold the homestead to care for my mother until she passed. One day I will buy another homestead here in michigan. .. good luck. ..God bless you. ...curt
I hope you find another while you still can. The real estate market is crazy
Did you ever find any other homestead?
You sound like you really knew what you were doing and enjoyed it hope you find another Homestead
I have 2 rules for work. 1. It must be fun. 2. I earn $50 per hour.
I keep very accurate records.
My Cornish Cross hens and roosters average 7.5 pounds dressed rate at 8 weeks.
I have raised chickens, ducks, pheasants, and turkeys for 33 years.
In 33 years I have not lost one bird to a predator.
What are your strategies to protect from predators?
@@SarahPerine We have one simple strategy - a few strands of very hot electric fence around the base perimeter of the building and run area. The same is in place on insulators in the open eve area where soffit would normally be placed.
There pretty safe in tractors
Crazy how much feed has gone up since you made this video. Thx for all the great info👍🏽
Excellent video and content! Thanks for sharing the numbers. Those numbers are very different for us. We get an average 4 lbs out of the Cornish Cross in a mere 6 to 6.5 wks. Our red rangers yield more like 6.5 to 7 lbs at 12 wks. We also don’t buy feed in 50 lbs bags as that’s an expensive way to go. As for dual purpose, we raise them until week 16 and sell them live for $25 each as laying hens thereby cutting the processing and inventory cost.
May I suggest True Blues or True Greens? The roos are raised for the feathers for fly fishing.
I just found your channel today and I have to say I'm loving all the "here's the numbers" videos. I love that nitty gritty nerdy numbers aspect of this and these videos are so helpful.
I only wish I had seen this about 4 years ago. I had never raised birds strictly for meat. We had always raised standard breeds and dressed off the previous year's hens for meat. Some friends asked me to raise some chickens for them for meat. I agreed to do it at cost simply as an experiment. All I tracked was feed and processing cost. I didn't factor in labor or materials or any other things. I didn't even use organic/non-gmo feed. I raised a batch of 25 standard breed roosters. And it was HORRIBLE. I was using hoop coop chicken tractors that were way over built and tough to move. Consequently, they didn't get moved as often as they should and my pasture really has never recovered. My feed costs were astronomical. At the end of the summer, I was embarrassed to give them the bill. It was a MAJOR fail and I gave up on raising strictly meat birds until this year. This year I am trying the Cornish X and so far, have been FAR happier with them. Can't wait to see how they taste!!
In my part of the Europe the Dual Purpose or our versions of these breeds are preferred meat for a traditional chicken soup and some other dishes and since they are seldom farmed commercially you have to know someone who knows someone and pay premium (they are sometimes pricier than beef because the usual form of payment for these is a bottle of alcohol... and to be clear it is not the bottom shelf kind of alcohol).
Enjoyed watching you crunch the numbers. I’m having the same discussion with myself. This year I used my dual purpose eggs and incubated my chicks for pasture raising. That saved on hatchery expense and I got really heathy chicks with low mortality and got a 3.5 carcass at 12 weeks. I did this for my own freezer. But I can see the CX would be more marketable if I wanted to bring in cash.
Really appreciating your videos! This one is has great $$ information! I've raised all three types (just for our family) but never did the numbers. Something I've learned...a tip for those going with the Cornish but wanting better forage activity from them... include a few instinctive dual purpose birds that encourage, by example, them to eat more greens on pasture. I stick with the Cornish cross (yes indeed the highest and most tender meat producer) and the dual purpose Chanteclair breed. Living in Canada, I've discovered them to be the best laying bird to deal with the cold and the roosters dress a descent weight in the fall.
Interesting seeing the numbers.
I'm working on a duel propose breed. At the moment I'm raising some Dark Cornish/ Rode Island Red crosses just to see how they grow out and their egg production levels. Otherwise I'll go for a standard duel propose breed.
95% of my reason for raising birds is for the eggs. But recently, now that I built my second coop. I want to raise birds for their meat. BUT I do not want to have to buy new chicks every time. So I would like to keep the best rooster and 3 or 4 of the best hens (Fastest growing/egg production) to pass their genetics to the next batch.
Goals are to have a 5 pound (dressed) bird in 14 weeks or less.
I may keep my Dark Cornish rooster. He's already 2 years old, a bit smaller than the RIR hens but built like a bulldog, he's dense and far heavier than he looks. He's also very docile and I would like to keep those traits in my future roosters.
The only down side is that it's illegal to Free range in my area and I live in the desert anyway so there is very little to forage for. so 100% of their feed would have to be bought.
Excellent I see so many people coming up short without ever looking at the math in a reasonable way. Many discount the labor as sunk costs but people forget they have a life. I have neighbors that said "if you count the labor you will never make nuthin'." Thanks for this very enlightening.
We've raised Cornish X and the leg problems and mortality rate are the biggest problem on pasture. They're just unable to walk very well, especially when they get older. So we switched to Cornish Roasters for a couple of years now and they are outstanding. They take about 9-11 weeks to get to the 4lb size but if you let them go to a full 12 weeks, they can be 6-8lbs. Way bigger return than Red Rangers. The males are especially big. They forage well and have no leg issues, low mortality rate. I think they are a good compromise between the efficiency of Cornish X and the pasture suitability of Red Ranger.
Your base labor cost is off on the Duel Purpose because they can free range once established home base ( I would venture to say the same for Red Rangers)....labor for them is about 15 minutes max a day because they free range vs tractors...that's letting them out...putting them to bed, tossing scraps, changing nest box litter, observing, changing feeders - I always enjoy your videos - thanks! :)
I expect his costs are for what he actually DOES. He may have high predator numbers in his area, and has probably already tried this method. I know I would!
Do you soak your grain? Justin Rhodes said he cut his feed cost quite a bit by soaking his grain.
You are dead WRONG about the Cornish Cross being poor foragers. I just raised 3 I bought from Rural King. And they got 85% of their feed from foraging. I let them go 10 weeks and they finished at 9-9.5lbs dressed. So I do not know what you are doing wrong, but a 4lb bird is unacceptable. And my birds were healthy, great bright white coat of feathers. They could run, and they did not have any problems with being heavy. Though they would sit on occasion to eat, but I did notice they did rest more. And my birds are free range. And my 2 year old hens, one Silkie and some other random hen lay 320 eggs a year easy.
So my best guess is, whatever you are feeding them is no good. And half of the feed they got was cracked corn, the rest was just scratch grains.
EDIT: I just calculated the actual feed I used to get them up to weight in 10 weeks. And I used 1.85 lbs of feed per pound of growth.
WE free range our cc, and they do wonderful, and get about the same size as a small turkey, i dont want a four pound chicken, living traditions just did a comparison also, i think the cc won also
You grew a chicken 9.5lbs in 10weeks?
Thank you for this! As someone who plans on starting a small farm when I move, this information is so appreciated.
We raised 100 each of the C. Cross and Rangers. We had a plus 47 cents per pound gross additional cost Ranger vs. C. Cross. We are sticking to C. Cross from here on. . . Pasture raised birds. Supplemented with our own hand mixed feed. . .
For people who are raising their birds for food and not for sale I can't recommend red rangers enough. We have a vegetable farm and raise eggs on pasture for our CSA program. Last year we raised a small batch cornish cross for ourselves and are raising rangers this year and will never go back. In my opinion they look and act like a chicken should, and in my context it's well worth it.
I think, and I might be a Lil confused, but, Cornish cross are higher priced per bird than red rangers, I checked on a few different breeders and the prices vary, yes but, not by much. Also not all websites provide the same kind of birds, that been said, I'm giving you an example of prices that I personally pay for my meat birds, Cornish cross (ordering 250 birds on one shipment) is $1.95 per bird, and on red rangers (same quantity) is $1.15 per bird, that is a difference of $0.80 per bird times 250 bird = $200, that been said, yes the Cornish cross grow faster than red rangers, but at the end with the money you saved per bird end up been either the same or pretty close. Good luck and me and my wife love watching your videos
These are great. I’m going to raise some ducks this year. I want to try to get this much good data. Unreal inspiring, dude.
This is a gold mine / time capsule of a comment. Not only did you do ducks but you have done a tone more. Great job!
I'm getting a meat breed called Robust whites from Moyer's chicks in PA. They are suppose to do well on pasture and grow at a rate somewhere between a Cornish X and Red Ranger. I plan to process at 10 weeks.
Elle Mietitore cool. I’d like to hear how it works out. Some of the most successful breeds start as a hybrid.
You'll do well with these. Expect numbers closer to cornish x than red ranger, all things equal.
How did you do with those birds? Curious to know. Thx
John thank you for the video. I appreciate the fact that you went into depth about cost as a whole. I don't raise for production but for therapy and normally I enjoy a longer-lived bird. What you showed me is that a mixed flock will provide me with all the benefits and (costs) but also allow me to cull for what meal I am making. thank you again very informative video.
One other thought, do you ever use mortality rate as a factor for profitability? A 5% vs 1% would matter if you’re doing big numbers.
Awesome breakdown. One thing to note is that not only does faster = for profit per bird, but overall profitability goes up the more birds one can raise in a single year. The longer they take to grow, the more time and space they take from the next run.
Assuming one has all 52 weeks of the year, that means raising six (and a half) runs of CXs, a little over four runs of RRs. and just barely more than three runs of DPs.
Even assuming you have the market for a %100 markup on all breeds (maybe more, at approx. $5 per pound on the CXs) your annual profits might be:
CXs - $54.42 times birds per run
RRs - $54.04 times birds per run
DPs - $43.45 times birds per run
that puts RRs much closer to CXs, but multiplied over 240+ birds each run, it's still a BIG difference.
Thanks for the food for thought, maybe one day I may turn this into real food😁.
This is our first year raising cc. We haven't lost one bird. Really, our next go around we'll be processing sooner than 8 weeks. We have a large family but these guys get huge.
THANK YOU so much for this! I really want to raise Red Rangers, and knowing that the cost difference is less than a latte, I'm all in! THANKS SO MUCH!!!
Wow. This video is Outstanding! Subscribed... I've been neglecting other things as I'm binge-watching your videos all day. You provide great detail and are also in the same zone of the US as I am [and are looking to settle down in]. Very happy I found this content.
Your videos are always very helpful and educational. Thanks to you i have 20 Cornish cross going from the brooder into one of your chicken tractors next week!
The cost of loss ( high mortality with Cornish cross) should definitely factor into cost per bird.
If you lose 25% of your Cornish but 0% of your Rangers, that makes a huge difference.
Exactly what I was going to add!
I'd add a couple notes that I understand bring more nuance than an appropriately short TH-cam video can provide:
There are 2 red breeds I know of that far outperform all generic Red Rangers: Freedom Rangers © from Freedom Ranger Hatchery and Rolin S from Metzer. In 10 weeks you're getting 4.5lbs reliably, with way more American breasts than the generics that always looked to me like a selected Rhode island red on the table.
Then there's also the birds that are halfway between the red and the Cornish x: Robust White from Moyer and the now discontinued Big Sur from Metzer. In 9 weeks, you should be able to get to 4.5lbs.
FWIW On a batch in early spring with members from both of these groups I had lower mortality on the whites than reds. i think the higher body mass out of the brooder helped with some chilly nights. So that might not replicate in summer. But I had almost no leg or heart problems on either group.
Excellent walk through. It would be hard to raise heritage birds for a profit but I’m just starting to work towards that. My plan is to use them in the gardens for the 16-18 weeks so I get them to work for me. For you there’s no question on what you can raise being a big farmer. I gotta say if anyone got at you for raising the Cornish cross you definitely raise them the way they should be. Oh yea I’m still working for 100 chickens this year. I’ve hatched 10 with 22 more in the incubator.
Brian Philbrook , he left out the most important part of raising a duel purpose breed is you won't make anything on them till they have layed a few dozen eggs. Every $4 dozen you sell comes off of the price it cost to raise them. There's not much difference eating a 16 week bird or a 30 week bird other than more meat and flavor.
What is the cost per chick? How many of the 240 originals will you have at processing (genetics)? How much feed do the "real" chickens eat vs forage? What percentage rate would you use for accidental (weather/predator ect.) death? How many batches can you run each year for the different types?
The final cost on the heritage breeds should have included a deduction for the value of the eggs. My guess is they would end up at least comparable to the rangers, or possibly even better depending on which breed.
One thing I didn't see in the costs was the initial purchase cost of the chicks which can be $2.50-$4 per bird depending on the breed, quantity etc. With Cornish Cross you will always have this expense.for many heritage breeds you will have that initial cost, however, you may wish to keep a rooster or two so you have fertile eggs which can be hatched by broody hens or in a small incubator which would mean the costs would decrease on future years for any heritage breed.
Thanks for sharing those numbers. For me, taste is more important as this is for everyone on our ranch. But it's good to know. We do have laying hens specifically for their high production.
John thank u 4 this video man u break it down 2 where someone has simple minded as me can UNDERSTAND love ya bro keep up the awesome work and videos u r ALOT OF HELP bc I'm starting a homestead/farm
Your videos are super cool. What it taught me most of all is that it's extremely expensive to raise organic cornish birds. You sure know your chickens. I don't care if my cornish birds don't forage, they def don't. But you teach a new aspect to all of that pasture business. Thumbs up to cornish birds! They are also very tame and easy to manage!
What would be interesting to see is the Feed\Labor cost with the animal loss figured in say in a batch of 100 birds vs per bird basis since cornish cross mortality is a factor. I don't know what those numbers would look like, but if I started between cornishX and red rangers, and lost no RR, but lost 10% of the CornishX at say the midpoint process, what then becomes the price difference? I'm not even sure what the average "high" mortality rate would be to figure this out
John i am 11 and mw and my friend want to stat are own chicken farm
Cole Piercey skies the limit brother
jsheridan02 thanks
I'd wait till you're at least 12.
Good on you buddy. Do your research, and here is a good place to start. Start small and with your parents permission. You will learn a lot even with just a couple of hens. Good luck! Everybody starts somewhere.🤜🏽🤛🏽
Do it
Just started with the American Bresse and am liking them a lot. Still raise Cornish Cross for meat here but have cut down on the number we will consume. Looking forward to trying the American Bresse to compare flavor our selves....
Nice Video buddy. We appreciate a concise assessment of the facts. An interesting experiment would be to compare cc's in a tractor and cc's in a coop on feed.
Thanks for making these videos man!
Cory Snyder th-cam.com/video/fxOVSr9Zr54/w-d-xo.html
We went with Red Rangers for our birds. They are solely for us not to be sold.
Great video. One other thing yo remember, if you are raising for profit. in a six month raising season you can raise 4 batches of c cross as opposed to only 3 rangers or 2 dual purpose.
ANOTHER GREAT BREAKDOWN...Now can we get a course on the brewery???Would love to see facts and figures on how it plays a role on the farm income..
Great video...with the mortality rate of Cornish cross...what is the true cost divided among the birds that make it to market? It will raise the overall cost of the project per bird. Do you have any numbers?
5-8% mortality, so roughly $0.50 per surviving bird. Might be less if the mortality is early (less feed wasted)
Great presentation John, your numbers were spot on.
Great video. I raise chickens. And never broke things down. Normally I do my chickens I hatch out and process my roosters . But it's expensive
Heritage breeds can bring a premium price. Of marketed right am not saying a chicken is worth 6.75 a pound or that you can sell a chicken for 34 dollars but their are people that do.
Very well thought out! Very good presentation, better concepts than the sales/marketing funnel! But I'm a numbers guy! They don't lie, the people cooking them lie! Not the chickens, the numbers! I really enjoy your enthusiasm for the topic, I'm glad you are too! Looks like The Friday before memorial day will be my next KF brew tasting. .. you are open Fridays?
You didn’t mention you get to harvest 6.5 times a year with the Cornish per year and 4.4 with rangers and probably about 3.8 for mixed
Tougher meat depends on the heritage breed. La Flèche or Bresse Goloise have tender, tasty meet.
What about the purchase price of each bird? The ones that lay eggs you get for free if you have your own incubator🤷♀️ right? Do you pay more or less for Cornish cross?
Just one thing to remember is that not all feeds or forage are equal. In a pasture mix of at least twenty or more green varieties, along with bugs and quality high fat and protein grains and seeds, pretty much any chicken will grow quickly and beautifully and are not tough at all if processed at their best age for each breed. I restrict their movements to a happy square footage and move them each day, rather than allow them the full range of acreage freely as the layers are given. I strive for consistant growth rate, bright shiny feathering, and listen for those happy chicken sounds- unhappy birds just don't produce well.
I realize you made this video a while ago but I have a question. If the Rangers can have a 0% mortality rate and the cornish cross die both in the brooder and also when on pasture, how many of them are dying later in life? I am wondering if the cost of the dead birds and the labor/feed invested in those dead birds can help off set the additional cost of the Rangers, given that you arent likely to have a loss of investment along the way since they live? Does that make sense? Do you answer that somewhere already and I missed it?
Let’s have the discussion....
Very Helpful Video as I am currently considering options.
I see that Hoover Hatchery has a Red Broiler. Supposed to be between the Cornish Cross and the Red Rangers. Do you have any knowledge about them?
I’m doing them right now and would happily tell you my progress in 12 weeks. Got them 5 days ago.
@@heidenhomestead9048
How'd it go?
Is that 8 weeks after they leave the brooder and get put on pasture, or is that from chick to processing?
Profit can be increased by reducing cost, obviously. One place for reduction would be labor. Possibly Coops that have more square feet per bird, so they don't have to be moved every day. Maybe once every 3/4 days can be possible. That would reduce labor substantially. Also reduce the frequency that you have to address their water and food reservoirs in the coops. Don't use water or feed containers on the ground. A gravity filled water system using drip nipples prevents contamination of water supplies and a gravity fed feed system would reduce the time spent monitoring and filling them. keeping bird water and feeders off the floor would reduce their waste. You could possibly reduce your commercial feed costs, by finding ways of producing your own varied feed material on your homestead. If you have a pond ( like I see from the drone view)could be used to farm fish. Periodically drag the lake with a net of specific design to allow only the large fish to be removed. It might be possible to process whole life fish into a pulp, have it dried and pelleted for feed. Maybe all you would have to do is scale them and cut their fins off you can grind up the whole fish into a paste. Not saying this is all possible but certainly some of it is and should be considered. Cheers
None of that varies between breeds, though. You can do these things for all breeds.
Update this video it would be interesting to see what labor feed and chick cost would be.
I would love to see the whole 50 minute video and would make the time.
Whats the sale price per pound of free range cornish cross?
John, do you have a video that has plans for showing us how to make the Chicken Tractor Houses you have the chickens pictured in at the very start of this video? (22 second mark). I love this design of pulling a tractor this big with a rope. Of if not, do you know where I might go to learn how to make this?
Excellent comparison video especially for people just starting out or for those that are interested in raising their own chickens in the future. Appreciate you sharing this information as I've noticed other channels attempting to promote the Rangers by knocking Cornish Crosses. If a hatchery (selling Rangers) sent my family free Rangers I may say something nice on my channel too! I may even convince or scare my children or grandchildren that the "monster/Frankenstein" bird on the other plate is not as nice tasting as this healthy scrawny bird on their plate. We raise Cornish Crosses for our family's consumption and will continue to do so for all the reasons you've indicated. Out of that 4lbs on the X's the weight is mostly thick white breast meat and we like that! Another plus is: in two months we've raised our chicken meat for the year. If one wants chicken tender size breast meat then by all means go for Rangers.
Hi John, very good video, thks !
as meat quality is better for DP breed and red rangers, wouldn't you sell the birds at higher price ? wich would balance the labour and feed cost
Regards from France
Valentin
What about the cost in ordering CX chicks from hatchery... Heritage would be more desirable if you consider that cost, right?
Dig the blues, very relevant issue and delivery! Concise to the max. Well done.
Real nice video, gives me a lot to think about before my trip down chicken lane!
meanwhile...... a chicken costs $7.00 at the grocery store. i don't recommend anybody follow these practices for raising chickens. the dual purpose birds also produce eggs which weren't factored into your profits.
i raise new hampshire reds. they are a solid dual purpose breed averaging 4lb carcasses conservatively and almost an egg per hen every single day. fodder feeding drastically reduces feed costs throughout the warm seasons and then i butcher my flock back in the fall to reduce winter feed costs and cold weather mortality rates. $9 a bird is unacceptable and unsustainable in my neck of the woods. $14 a bird would bankrupt me.
still a great video demonstrating the very important process of factoring in costs versus gain. i just don't know how you make it work with that kinda overhead.
The farm I get my chix from uses Cornish cross the heritage bread would be excellent for broth..
I get them for $4.50 a #
I found this video to be very thought provoking. Thank you for the information, thanks for posting. A very good presentation form.
To each their own. We are heritage dual purpose on a commercial scale. We don’t buy chicks, and we don’t incubate eggs, they totally self propagate, and being a grain farmer, I’m feeding them what would be considered shrink / waste.
That’s where stacked and complimentary enterprises comes in to play. The real value of poultry and fowl is the pest control. They knock down good and bad bugs the same way a pesticide would, but they leave behind the best fertilizer on the planet. I’m moving them with GPS guided linear irrigation that we’re wind damaged that serve as the main framework for the structure.
John,
When do the farm tours open. How can I see when they are?
Even with the daily move, my CC still had poo on their chests from just being lazy. Any way to prevent them from laying in their own poo? Or is this just normal from them being so lazy? I have thought of adding a ground roost bar to the bottom section of our tractors for them to roost on and out of the filth.
William Pellant, I do that with mine and I have very clean birds that are fully feathered. They will not roost very high but anything to keep them off the ground will help. I just stand up a 2x4 and most will roost on it.
William Pellant they’re kind of famous for laziness and lacking self preservation instincts, like getting out of the sun or walking to the side of the tractor with water. -Whereas RRs raised side by side won’t have any issues. Their is a penalty for big breasts and no brain.
exactly, these people who say they get them to forage well are rare exceptions. if you raise them for a few years, you find they are a productive but quite joyless bird to raise. they take way more labor to train to forage and you have to get lucky and have one bird that is smart enough to lead and get the other birds competitive for forage. this usually requires pulling away grain or mash as if they have a chance to sit and eat all day they will do it. they bore me badly. if you raise a heritage breed for a few years you will see the differences are night and day once you get more overall experience and increase the sameple size. i think the RR are a good compromise bird and worth the extra costs involved, but i actually think the best value for the consumer is easily the heritage slow growth chickens.@@SLFYSH
I will try to breed them with a more forage breed to promote competition on forage
Was surprised that the red rangers cost slightly more to feed then the dual purpose heritage birds!
Susan Hamilton me too. Kind of interesting, especially considering he’s not pushing the DP’s to forage as hard as he could and not giving them access to a high quality high protein mixed pasture forage.
It all depends on how you want to raise your birds. You can raise a RR for less than a CC if you have an actual pasture instead of feeding them "grass".
Only if you're counting every minute of labor and including it into "cost"
Most of us enjoy our farm chores.
I sell my birds at $2.25/lb
And somehow manage profit.
Kevin Austin true. There’s definitely something to be said for being able to wake up everyday and enjoy going to “work!” ;-)
Thanks for putting this together.
You failed to calculate the mortality rate and the cost to buy. RR are about $1 while CX are $2 to buy. If you have a 4% mortality rate, say 2% brooder and 2% field, that also tightens the gap.
You're fcr seems a bit high are they a bit stressed when you move them around or whatnot. I found that stress effects the bird from 1 to 1.5 base on up to death.
Excellent demonstration and analysis!
Could you breed cornish cross to a red ranger so you always have chicks?
I'd say the best way to grow Dual Purpose Birds is to let them lay for a year and then butcher them a year-and-a-half as stewing hens because you've already made your money back on the eggs and the price of the chick itself then all you have to worry about is the price of butchering
Your labor prices are a bit low. You didnt account for processing time. Im not sure if you hire it out or not though, those missing numbers do affect your margin. Just guessing but say add around 8 hours for processing and packaging 240 birds?
I believe that goes into his first bit about things that are the same across the board.
I would like to see his broiler processing video. Has anyone seen it? I can’t find it.
Raised my first 300 broilers this year. Mostly Rangers, but also Cornish, Kosher Kings and Sassos. Something the video doesn’t mention which was a very practical concern for me, is tgat the slower growing birds can cause problems because they become sexually mature and the males can injure anyone they mate due to size, strength and claws. This makes me reconsider my Cornish next year… I might do a majority Cornish next year. I also raised on pasture with tractors and had 0% mortality with my Cornish!!! I did lose 1-2% Rangers.
Where I live I can get day old heritage cockerals for 70c each, but cornish are almost $5 each 😬
Quick question for you. What is your rule of thumb for square foot per bird for the broilers?
So a dual purpose would be good for egg laying and then later a meat bird?
Great video. Like your new updated format( not saying I didn’t like it before). Interested in hearing debate about raising the different meat birds. My experience with s much smaller group of meat chickens (25) is right on track with your experience. I just go with the Cornish cross and they do very well on pasture for me. Just have to provide shade for them in the summers hotter days.
23 dollars for 50 lb bag of your non gmo. 14 to 15 dollars for regular chicken feed. How is 23 dollars" 3 times the feed cost to raise" your saying of the regular?
Great job John!!!
Very informative , if you will add of the cost of day old chicks, its make more plateable. Its really a nice work. Thanks
Thank you for the nerdy chicken math :) I'm lost when it comes to math. Words make sense to me. Numbers don't :( I have a question..... How did you come up with the ratios like 5:1 etc.? I'm sick so I may have missed that part. I watched the video twice and I missed it both times. So let's blame it on being sick 😉
Cornish Cross are definitely the way to go
Great video. I’ve been tough on you in my comments here, but I want you to know that I appreciate and respect your experience based opinion and your honesty. You do a great job on your videos and your tracking, and your brewery in general looks awesome. Keep up the great work!! :-) check out Gene Logsdon books, in particular, his “Letter to a Young Farmer: How to Live Richly without Wealth on the New Garden Farm.” It May change your life.
No one cares what you think
You are an amazing guy your family should be very proud of you
!!!
thanks for the info! perhaps someone who really wants to do heritage chickens and couple it with egg production might do okay?
Is worming necessary?
If so, how, when and what products do you use?
2022 $28.50 per 50 lb crumble. Everyone
Raised by ten bucks per bag.
Tasty chicken.
The best chicken.
But expensive.
Best if supplimenting with all the grass around.
thank you for providing detailed knowledge this is very useful