Farmers provide food for both humans and animals everywhere. Their efforts are richly rewarded economically, with many commercial-scale farmers making thousands in revenue per year. Chicken farmers are some of the busiest all year round, but are they profitable?
How much do chicken farmers make? Chicken farmers make, on average, $68,090 a year. This annual wage depends on many factors, such as the size of the farm and the number of chickens. On smaller farms, some chicken farmers may earn as little as $35,090, but larger operations have been known to reach upwards of $130,000.
The rest of this article will discuss whether a chicken business is profitable, how chicken farmers make money, and how much they make per house. We’ll also discuss the different types of chicken farming and how each compares in terms of profitability.
Table of Contents
Is Chicken Business Profitable?
If you’re considering starting your chicken farm, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is if it’s profitable and if it’s worth it. Poultry products are on the rise as more people choose white meat over red meat to stay healthy. Therefore, chickens are in high demand.
The chicken business is very profitable, as people can use chickens for various purposes, such as meat, eggs, and even feathers. Poultry production is one of the most profitable sectors in the United States economy, bringing in around $35.5 billion in 2020.
Poultry production includes all types of poultry, including broilers, turkeys, chickens, geese, ducks, and eggs. However, the poultry production profit of $35.5 billion recorded in 2020 only covers revenues from chickens, turkeys, broilers, and eggs.
How to Make Chicken Farming Profitable?
To make your chicken farm profitable, you have to consider several factors, such as the kind of farming you intend to do and how much time you can dedicate to the farm.
Selling Eggs
The easiest and one of the most common ways to make a chicken farm profitable is to raise chickens for their eggs.
Selling eggs, especially if you prioritize organic and non-GMO, is an excellent way to start a chicken farm and become profitable quickly, as you can easily branch off into other types of farming from farming eggs.
Chicken farmers make money by selling meat, selling eggs, breeding chickens, or even selling feathers or manure. When selling whole birds, farmers are paid for the weight of their chickens. This means they must take care of them and feed them adequately to make a profit.
Some chicken farmers may participate in every aspect of chicken farming, while others may only sell eggs or meat.
However, a chicken farmer will make the most money by adopting the major chicken farming approaches commonly seen on large chicken farms.
What Are the Different Types of Chicken Farming?
The different types of chicken farming include broiler farms for meat, pullet farms for breeding, layer farms for eggs, and breeder farms for broiling. Broiler farms are the most common type of chicken farm where a chicken farmer works.
Read below for more information on each of the types of chicken farming.
Broiler Farms
Broiler farms are the most common chicken farms. The main purpose is producing meat. Broiler farms may also consist of other poultry, such as turkey.
Chickens on broiler farms may tend differently than other chickens, as they tend to be bigger and bulkier than others.
Known as Broilers, these chickens grow faster than other breeds, and you can have a 10 pound (4.54 kg) chicken in as little as 10 weeks.
Some common Broiler breeds include:
Cornish Cross: Harvest time is 4-6 weeks.
Jersey Giant: Harvest time is 16-21 weeks.
Bresse: Harvest time is 16-20 weeks.
Orpington: Harvest time is 18-24 weeks.
FreedomRangers: Harvest time is 9-11 weeks.
Pullet Farms
Pullet farms are the least common chicken farms. It produces pullets (a female chicken, less than a year old) and delivers them to breeder farms.
Essentially, pullet farms are the first step into breeder farms. Breeder farms may purchase pullets from pullet farms for breeding purposes.
Layer Farms
Layer farms focus on egg production. These hens are typically raised from a day old and can start producing eggs by the time they are 18 weeks old.
The White Leghorns chicken breed is most common for egg production. Layer farms are not as common as broiler farms, as the demand for meat is far higher.
Plymouth Rock: Can produce up to 200 eggs per year.
Australorp: Can produce over 300 eggs per year.
Breeder Farms
Breeder farms are used for breeding chickens.
Broiler farms and breeder farms often get confused, as they are very similar. But while broiler farms produce the meat you see in supermarkets, breeder farms produce eggs sent to broiler farms after they’ve hatched.
Chickens that are good for breeding are known as brooding, and they include:
Brahmas
Sussex hens
Cochins
What Is Required for a Chicken Farm?
To run a chicken farm, you will need essential items such as cages, coops, crates, lighting instruments, nests, perches, and egg trays. Depending on the number of chickens will determine how much room is required. On average, a chicken needs around 2-3 sq. ft. (0.18-0.27 sq. m.).
While the number of chickens is an important consideration, you may need more or fewer materials depending on the type of chickens and the planned type of farming. For example, chickens in a breeder farm might require more room than a layer farm.
How Much Do Chicken Farmers Make per House?
Chicken farmers make around $28,000 to $35,000 a year per house. This number depends on the number of chickens in each house and the size of the house. Typically, a house will be around 36,000 sq. ft. (3,344 sq. m.).
Big chicken farms for mass production of meat or eggs will make more due to their massive size. Although smaller chicken farmers make less, they still can make a good living.
How Much Does It Cost to Build a Chicken House?
It costs $650 to build a chicken house on average, according to HomeAdvisor. You can build a chicken house for as low as $180, while more complicated options can cost up to $8,000.
Factors that can influence the cost include the size of the chicken house, the number of chickens the house should hold, and the standard of living in the area. Other factors can also come into play.
For example, you might need to pay for landscaping to build a chicken house. This can significantly increase the cost of the project.
The design you choose for the construction can also affect the overall cost. The smallest structure, or an A-frame, will only cost about $200, while more convoluted designs can cost up to $3,000.
You can also choose to look online for a chicken house. For example, this Best Choice Products Outdoor Wooden Chicken Coop from Amazon is a simple, straightforward design. It’s 80 in (2.03 m), made of durable materials, and is an excellent and secure place for chickens.
Chicken farming is a profitable business, and that isn’t likely to change. Chicken is always in high demand, and there are different ways to make money from chicken farming and accrue profits.
While most chicken farmers choose broiler farming, they can still yield profit from the other types of chicken farming.
Contract poultry production is not for everyone. It's hard work that lasts 24/7 for weeks or months at a time, depending on how long each flock is on the farm.
If you wanted to get about a dozen eggs per week, you would need between 3 to 5 laying hens. For two dozen eggs a week, you would need to double those numbers for a flock size of between 6 to 10 laying hens.
200/365 = 0.55 eggs per chicken per day. Rounding this off makes the math a little simpler. I'll just use the figure that 1 hen lays about 1/2 egg a day (or more sensibly, we can expect 1 egg a day for every two hens).
Dairy Farming: Dairy farming is one of the most profitable agricultural business ideas. Aside from milk, it also produces manure. There is a high demand for organic dairy products all year round such as milk, cheese, curd, cream and so much more.
Keeping chickens and other poultry can be a wonderful way to supply yourself with fresh chicken and the best tasting eggs around but you'll find but chickens can also be a great source of revenue.
Many people start keeping flocks of chickens as a way to make a little extra cash. Whether you have a stall at the farmer's market every weekend or know a few friends and neighbors who will pay for your flock's products, backyard chickens are great sources of side income.
poulterer. / (ˈpəʊltrɪmən) / noun plural -trymen or -terers. Also called: chicken farmer a person who rears domestic fowls, esp chickens, for their eggs or meat. a dealer in poultry, esp one who sells the dressed carcasses.
Depending on the size of bird produced, five to seven flocks per year may be grown per house with flock sizes ranging between 22,000 and 26,000. Gross income per house will generally range from $28,000 to $35,000 annually.
Raising chickens is profitable - if you can control your losses (we'll show you how later) you can expect to net 40-50% of your sale price. In other words you can just about double your money in 10-12 weeks.
How Many Chickens Should I Keep? Chickens are sociable creatures, so plan to keep three to six birds. With this amount, you'll always have a steady supply of eggs, since an adult hen lays about two eggs every three days, on average.
A general rule, unwashed eggs will last around two weeks unrefrigerated and about three months or more in your refrigerator. If you're experiencing an egg boom, it's smart to refrigerate any unwashed fresh eggs you aren't planning to eat immediately. This will help them last longer.
These hens can be expected to lay up to 300-350 eggs per year. That's almost one each day of the year. Many Isa Browns even start laying earlier than most other breeds. A good Isa Brown hen may start laying as soon as 16 weeks.
Chickens are busy sleeping at night, and they will not wake up to lay an egg, but gather the strength and energy they need to lay the egg first thing in the morning. With an average production cycle of 26 hours, you can see that your hen will not lay at the exact same time from one day to the next.
The Rhode Island Red is perhaps the world's best-known fowl. It is the most successful dual-purpose bird, and remains an excellent farm chicken. The Rhode Island Red is known for its hardiness and its ability to handle marginal conditions while still producing eggs.
Chickens provide 93 percent of world egg production. At regional level, non-chicken poultry species lay 10 percent of eggs in Asia, 1 percent in the Americas (3 percent in Latin America), 0.6 percent in Oceania and 0.5 percent in Europe.
Poultry, without a doubt, are the easiest animals to raise on the homestead. Starting with this small livestock will give you the confidence to explore other livestock options. Chickens are the quintessential livestock for every farm and homestead.
At the median, household income from farming was $210 in 2021. Given the broad USDA definition of a farm (see glossary), many small farms are not profitable even in the best farm income years. Median off-farm income in 2021 was $82,809, while the median total household income was $92,239.
For a minimum, figure on at least half-an-hour of chore time twice a day—and more if you're spending quality time observing and checking your chickens thoroughly. More complex non-daily chores, like deep cleaning the coop, will require more time.
Raising chickens appeals to many who want to know where their food comes from and take pride in self-sufficiency. But does it make financial sense? The answer is a qualified yes, but the cost of keeping chickens can go up quickly depending how it's done — and it matters what kind of eggs you would otherwise buy.
1. Ayam Cemani. The Ayam Cemani is a rare chicken breed from the Indonesian island of Java. They are beautiful black chickens, and even their bones are black.
While the cost of raising chickens for eggs is slightly more expensive, most backyard chicken owners would agree that it is worth it. Owning chickens for eggs allows one to produce and harvest eggs from their own backyard.
Local chicken can be profitable if you run your chicken farming enterprise like a business, with a proper chicken business plan. It is very easy to start rearing local chicken business. No much initial capital is required, especially if you are doing it as a hobby or trial.
This is due to the sheer number of chickens raised globally for consumption. Chickens make up 94 percent of the world's farmed poultry. There are two different classifications of chicken raised in the poultry farming industry: broiler chickens and laying hens.
Chicken waste, called chicken litter, is a natural part of poultry production. While it can be used as a fertilizer, it must be stored and treated properly.
Between 20,000-50,000 chicks may be confined in one building. While each farm is different, many have several sheds on site with hundreds of thousands of birds.
Table 4 shows that poultry production is not land extensive, and the average farm with poultry and egg production operated 134 acres, compared with more than 400 acres for the average U.S. farm.
Salatin recommends one acre per 500 birds per this method to be sustainable and profitable. This rotational grazing allows chickens to forage the ground naturally while gaining access to fresh grass.
Many areas get between $3-5 per pound or $15-25 per whole bird. If you already are raising chickens for eggs, you probably already have the brooder, run, and coop space to try out the meat bird business in your area. What is this?
Compared to other types of animals, chickens are fairly easy to care for. Of course, they require feed, water, and regularly cleaning of their coop. The coop should be kept clean, dry, and well ventilated. When their coop is regularly cleaned, chickens will not smell.
The average supermarket chicken weights between 3.5 to 5 pounds. If you are eating the whole bird then you'll have between 1.8 to 3 pounds of “meat”. (That will include even the skin). Remember this numbers are raw meat only considering the weight loss from the bones.
(However, you can't ever deduct the costs of chickens and plants used as food for your own family.) Capital Expenses – While capital expenses related to improvement of your property or business are not usually deductible (the depreciate instead), you can possibly deduct costs related to: Fertilizer, lime, etc.
With enough space and hens, two or three roosters can be very happy. Many farmers who keep multiple roosters have them in completely separate flocks, with their own runs and shelters. This is ideal if you are planning to breed your chickens, keeping each breed separate to ensure a purebred result.
Chickens are extremely flock-oriented, so a good starter flock size is no fewer than three chickens. You should collect about a dozen eggs from three laying hens. A flock of five or six hens is a good choice for slightly larger families.
Wash hands, utensils and equipment with hot, soapy water after contact with eggs. Never eat raw eggs. Outbreaks for Salmonella illnesses have been associated with undercooked egg whites and yolks. To avoid illness, cook eggs until yolks are firm.
Here's a fun fact, the eggs you buy in the store are usually 6-8 months old before they hit the shelves. You may not realize it, but as time passes the egg becomes less nutritious. Many of the differences between store bought and farm fresh eggs all comes down to the nutrition and maturity of the chickens.
Do Fresh Eggs Need To Be Washed? Undoubtedly, yes. Eggs ALWAYS need to be washed before being consumed. Washing farm fresh eggs or backyard flock eggs helps to remove debris, dirt, and bacteria that can accumulate on the shells.
So the results were clear: For the best tasting eggs, go for pastured chickens. Barring those, choose whichever eggs have the highest levels of omega-3 fatty acids. Where flavor is concerned, it doesn't matter if the eggs are organic, cage free, or from a cage battery.
Light Sussex, Mottled Javas, Australorps, Buff Orpingtons, Silkies, and Faverolles all lay a pinkish-cream egg. As noted above, some Easter Eggers will also lay cream or pink eggs, while others will lay green or bluish eggs.
Pullet eggs are the first eggs laid by hens at about 18 weeks old. These young hens are just getting into their egg-laying groove, meaning these eggs will be noticeably smaller than the usual eggs you come across. And that's where the beauty in them lies — quite simply, they are delicious.
Remember, chicken feathers are merely water-resistant. A hard rain or a long time out in wet weather can saturate the feathers beyond their ability to repel the moisture. And if that dampness is combined with prolonged chilly weather and damp ground, it can be a recipe for potential health issues.
After hens lay eggs at a farm, they get graded by the USDA and put into cartons, sold to retailers and then purchased by you, the consumer. All told, eggs are an about $10 billion dollar industry, with nearly 13% growth annually in profit from 2017 to 2022, according to IBISWorld.
Cost Aside, Meat Chickens Are a Great Starting Point. If you're looking to add greater self sufficiency to your life, raising chickens for meat is a great way to grow your own source of protein. They require minimal space, equipment, and infrastructure, and you can fill your freezer in just a couple months!
The majority are capital costs, meaning they shall not be incurred in subsequent production. In total, you need at least ₦418,060 to rear 100 broiler chicks for 8 weeks. You do not need all this cash at a go to start a broiler farm, maybe you even need a quarter to start. Start now!
What is this? Selling chicken eggs from a small homestead is more than likely not going to produce a profit. If you figure the costs of your inputs such as the cost of feed, labor for chores, and start-up costs, you could probably charge $7-8 a dozen for fresh farm eggs.
Once a cycle is established, most hens will lay one egg per day. It takes 24 to 26 hours for a hen to create an egg, so it's rare to have more than one egg per hen per day. Of course, hens do not need roosters to lay eggs, unless you want to raise a baby chick.
The other big variable in the consumer price of eggs is the retailer's gross margin. Retail margins in the egg case, range from 0-30 percent. Across the store, retailers typically subsidize low priced mass market items through higher prices on premium products.
This statistic shows the category share of chicken sales in the United States in 2022, by cut type. Chicken breasts made up about 57.5 percent of U.S. chicken sales in that year.
Once again, Easter Eggers are at the top of the list! They have been our all-time best-selling breed year after year, with good reason! Easter Eggers are super friendly; they are great layers of large eggs in shades of blue and green.
Cornish Cross chickens are the most popular choice among commercial chicken meat producers, with good reason. Bred specifically for meat production, Cornish Cross chickens grow faster and produce a tastier product than dual-purpose breeds.
Introduction: My name is Edwin Metz, I am a fair, energetic, helpful, brave, outstanding, nice, helpful person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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