A Business Lesson Learned Raising Chickens for Meat

A Business Lesson Learned Raising Chickens for Meat

Reading Time: 4 minutes

By Joel Yourdon – My two oldest boys Brodrek (10) and Wyatt (9) decided they wanted to start a business raising chickens for meat. They saved their Christmas money and the money they earned from doing odds and ends around the house over a 10-month period. It was enough to pay for the birds (25 total) and most of the feed for them. They also borrowed $80 from me.

I thought this would be a great opportunity for them to learn about business, hard work, and for us to learn how to raise meat birds. I decided that the family, aside from the boys, would raise 50 birds for our consumption as the boys planned on selling theirs for a profit. So we ordered 75 broilers from our local hatchery.

One morning, we received a call from our post office. The birds were ready to be picked up. Waiting at home, we had a brooder made of a metal 6-foot stock tank and some chicken wire. We also had four 55-gallon drums of soy-free, non-GMO half starter and half grower feed. The boys and I picked them up in a double-stacked box with a crazy amount of “cheeping” coming from it. We got them home and into their new digs, with some grit, food, warming lamp, and water.

Within the first four days, unfortunately, one of our curious cats killed about 25 of them, so I hurried and ordered another 25 chicks. We got them two weeks after the first batch, so we were back to 78 (they sent us three extra). Over the next few weeks, our cat ate another 10 to 15 of them. We figured out how she was getting in and fixed it to prevent the cat from getting into the brooder so we wouldn’t have that problem. I didn’t order any more. I figured it was too late now since we’d already had them for almost a month.

Raising Chickens for Meat

The plan was to keep them in the stock tank for four to six weeks, then move them out to pasture. We built a chicken tractor that was two feet tall, 12 feet long, and 10 feet wide, with 75 percent of the roof covered and half the sides covered. One of the covered quarters on top was a lid to access them. A friend of mine built me a “tractor dolly” that we could slide underneath the back side of the chicken tractor, flip it to the ground, and pull the rope on the front side to move them each day.

Raising Chickens for Meat

The boys did all the work feeding and watering them and changing the bedding as needed. Moving day came and we put them outside early in the morning so they could get used to being outside. They had a little to get used to with moving each day, but after a while, it was old hat to them. Some days, a few of them didn’t want to move and would pop out the back, so we’d collect them and put them back in their home.

Raising Chickens for Meat

The boys and I sat down to talk the “business” of raising chickens for meat. We discussed how there were three equal parts of this business: management, labor, and sales. The management makes the purchasing decisions: how much feed to buy, what kind of feed to buy, how much to sell the birds for, etc. The labor is the physical work: day in and day out of feeding, moving, protecting the birds, etc. The last was calling the people they thought would be interested in a home-raised, well-loved chicken; free from any chemicals, hormones, GMOs, and checking in with those who had asked to order. So they could get an understanding of it all, I told them they needed to help with every aspect of the business.

I also told them that they couldn’t name any of the chickens because we would be butchering and eating them. They all agreed that they wouldn’t until Wyatt got the bright idea of giving them names like Nugget, Chicken Enchilada, Snack … you get the idea. They thought this was hilarious and all joined in.

We didn’t lose any more birds to our cats. However, we did have a night when we found a neighbor’s dog dug under the coop, killing several of them. While they didn’t like losing the birds, the boys loved the adventure of raising them.

They ended up selling their 25 chickens and one of mine for $4 a pound. They made a total of $420 from raising chickens for meat; they put back all the money they needed to reinvest and pay for the next round of 35 chickens (10 more than this time), pay me back, give some to charity, and, of course, spend some for themselves. Wyatt bought a guitar, and Brodrek bought a Red Ryder BB gun.


Originally published in Backyard Poultry magazine and regularly vetted for accuracy.

3 thoughts on “A Business Lesson Learned Raising Chickens for Meat”
  1. What a great story. Wholesome! Nice to see parents teaching their children something practical. Well done!

  2. Hello Yourdon family!
    Hey boys……I enjoyed reading about the beginning of your business adventure!! I would also be very interested to learn about the other aspects of your business!!!
    I am 61 years old and in very good health. My husband and I have been breeding and raising Nigerian Dwarf goats, assorted heritage turkeys and peafowl for many years! We have also bred and raised Silkie chickens for several years now.
    I would really like to know more about your decision making process and your business accounting!! AND, I will gladly pay you for all the information!!!! Again, at my age, if I don’t have to “reinvent the wheel,” so much the better!!! I’m really only interested in the information for myself and my husband…..I raise goats, that is my true love right now! I have other animals here on my little hobby farm but those are for my pleasure! I only have one horse left but he is best buds with my donkey, Jasper! I have my herd of goats, a miniature pig named Jasmine, geese, my peafowl, my turkeys (four color varieties!), and my emu, Tildy! People have told me I should open my home as a petting zoo but I’m really not interested in that! Oh, I forgot to mention the creatures I have in my home! I have 4 snakes and about 15 different species of tarantulas! I was a teacher’s aid in the local school district before I retired and I used to do presentations in classrooms to educate kids about the importance of snakes and tarantulas. When my kids were younger they used to go with me and help the kids hold the snakes and tarantulas! Anyway, some of the things I would like to learn from you are: why did you use soy-free, non-GMO feed? Is it organic? How did you learn to butcher and clean the chickens?! Did you use a book? If so, what book? Did you purchase an electric chicken plucker? If so, what brand? How did you settle on the specific type of chicken you wanted to raise for meat? I figure if two young boys can raise and butcher chickens for their family freezer, so can I!!! Any and all information you can give me would be greatly appreciated!! Please contact me if you can help me! Thank you and I wish you much success in your business!! Sheryl

  3. Eggcellent job, young men! Our 4-H club had members from a family farm that raised meat goats, freezer lambs, and meat chickens. They said the meat chickens were the most profitable, because they are on the farm only about 10 weeks!
    Good on you, for doing such a fine job!
    More Dads should take up this mantel and train their children how to run a profitable business!

    God Bless You in your future endeavors!

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