Who is a Chicken Farmer

Mortalis5509 · Oct 2, 2012

I'm thinking about being a chicken farmer and thinking is the key word. I'm currently a supervisor with Wayne Farms and have a degree in food science so I am not a complete idiot to say. I was told that Wayne is having to drive further and further out because a lot of the older farmers are getting out and their children are not picking up the biz. i work in pendergrass, ga.

I have worked in eviseration, debone, and further processing of poultry but not the live so my knowledge is limited for the live side. I know the chicken industry is growing and corn prices are killing things a little but but none the less it is a growing indusrty.

I would like to know what it's like, is the input worth the reward, how hard are the loans to get, I know they need attending to everyday but are you able to have hired help that you trust to help you, how are the companies to work with, do they help you out, and any important thing else I may have missed. If I have my choice I would like to take over where houses are already built.

Appreciate any help

gdf · Oct 2, 2012

My father-in-law has 9 broiler houses......He makes a DAMN good living at it......but at the same time he is in them 7 days a week and most of the time 10 to 16 hrs aday not to mention the occasional 2A.M. alarm calling that something has messed up.....He has 1 person that has been with him over 10 years and is very dependiable, and I help him with the electrical and computer systems and other maintenance....And the whole family helps out on those quick turn arounds to get chickens back...... but the other folks that he has hired and fired wasnt worth talking bout......as far as loans i dont think its a problem as long as you have the collateral..... He is always upgrading his and they seem to lend him the money..... again these are broilers...i CANT speak for laying or pullet houses..........IMO its all about what you want to do.. hope this helps some :dblthumb:

Mortalis5509 · Oct 2, 2012

Re: Re: Who is a Chicken Farmer

I was looking into boilers.

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smurfy90 · Oct 2, 2012

I have 4 new 54x500 broilers just now on my 5th flock. My mom has had 2 for 23yrs. I wouldnt trade it for nuthing else. Easy work. Work at your own pace. I only spend about 3hrs tops a day. Marshall durbin is the only way to go! They grow smaller chickens, i only keep them for 5 weeks. As for loans its bout a 6month process. You have to apply for ADEM and CAFO permitts. Thats what takes so long. Bank outa fort payne al is a ag/poultry bank and easy to deal with. And from my experence if you build new dont let smith poulty do anything at all! Moulton store is full of liars!

John Galbreath Jr. · Oct 2, 2012

Paging CSMITH.

Mortalis5509 · Oct 2, 2012

Re: Re: Re: Who is a Chicken Farmer

smurfy90 said:
I have 4 new 54x500 broilers just now on my 5th flock. My mom has had 2 for 23yrs. I wouldnt trade it for nuthing else. Easy work. Work at your own pace. I only spend about 3hrs tops a day. Marshall durbin is the only way to go! They grow smaller chickens, i only keep them for 5 weeks. As for loans its bout a 6month process. You have to apply for ADEM and CAFO permitts. Thats what takes so long. Bank outa fort payne al is a ag/poultry bank and easy to deal with. And from my experence if you build new dont let smith poulty do anything at all! Moulton store is full of liars!

5 weeks is short. At work we are in the 60 day range with weight in the high 7's to low 8's.

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biscuit · Oct 2, 2012

Gong to be intresting reading all of the information on this thread. I am in the hatchery industry and we service all of the big boys around the world. The company I work for is Hatchery Planning. I have never been in the houses or the proseccing plants but have been in I don't know how many hatcheries. We have a big puoltry show in January at the georgia world congress center every year that may be helpful to you.

It is cool to hear about other people talking about this industry. Normally you never hear about it.

TBItoy · Oct 2, 2012

biscuit said:
Gong to be intresting reading all of the information on this thread. I am in the hatchery industry and we service all of the big boys around the world. The company I work for is Hatchery Planning. I have never been in the houses or the proseccing plants but have been in I don't know how many hatcheries. We have a big puoltry show in January at the georgia world congress center every year that may be helpful to you.

It is cool to hear about other people talking about this industry. Normally you never hear about it.

x2

I work for JAX INC, we are a food grade lubricant manufacturer/supplier, I've been in every Tyson plant in TN and KY, and many of the other companies (Perdue, Pilgrims Pride, Koch, etc)

Always wondered about the "grow" side of the operations, since I've seen the Hatcheries, Feed Mills, and Processing Plants, but never the grow houses.

(btw, if anyone works in the food industry (meat, bakery, whatever) let me know if you are interested in Food Grade grease/lubes/hydraulic oil)

smurfy90 · Oct 2, 2012

Re: Re: Re: Who is a Chicken Farmer

Mortalis5509 said:
5 weeks is short. At work we are in the 60 day range with weight in the high 7's to low 8's.

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yea i only keep them for 35 days and out bout 14 days. I got my 1st flock in Feb and already at 14 days on my 5th flock. Last flock i got 1st place with a 4.15 lb chicken and a 1.63 feed conversion. average chicken is between 3.50-3.96lb. Choretime revolution feeders is where you grow the big chickens. Your able to control the feed level. But like is said earlier Smith poultry out of moulton and abertville has a set radius on the choretime equipment. And i by no means recomend them fools......... took them bout 5months of my intrest building up to do what they told me would be a 3 week job... I have a few buddies that grow with pilgrim pride and grow 9-10 lb chickens.. Ill stick with growing chicken nuggetts. :eat:

mna0121 · Oct 2, 2012

My brother-in-law works for a guy that has several houses in South Al. What ever the process is they use to rank growers, my B-I-L is always in the top 5-10 in the state. An alarm failed to alert him that a curtain didn't come down, the house got too hot and he lost a whole house of chickens. Be ready crap happens and chickend die real easy.

CSmith · Oct 2, 2012

there ain't any money in the chicken business. if you've got a good job , keep it!
new poultry houses are hard to pay for.
payment = $6000.00 a month
insurance = $900.00 a month
electricity = $1200.00 a month
water = $250.00 a month
gas = $8000.00 a year

it don't leave much to live on.

Mortalis5509 · Oct 2, 2012

CSmith said:
there ain't any money in the chicken business. if you've got a good job , keep it!
new poultry houses are hard to pay for.
payment = $6000.00 a month
insurance = $900.00 a month
electricity = $1200.00 a month
water = $250.00 a month
gas = $8000.00 a year

it don't leave much to live on.

Not to argue with you but you are the first person to say otherwise.

I'm bored with my job and looking at other things. Most are extreams of each other.

smurfy90 · Oct 3, 2012

CSmith said:
there ain't any money in the chicken business. if you've got a good job , keep it!
new poultry houses are hard to pay for.
payment = $6000.00 a month
insurance = $900.00 a month
electricity = $1200.00 a month
water = $250.00 a month
gas = $8000.00 a year

it don't leave much to live on.

Man chris your bills are half mine.. let me in on some secrets

B.DRAKE · Oct 3, 2012

CSmith said:
there ain't any money in the chicken business. if you've got a good job , keep it!
new poultry houses are hard to pay for.
payment = $6000.00 a month
insurance = $900.00 a month
electricity = $1200.00 a month
water = $250.00 a month
gas = $8000.00 a year

it don't leave much to live on.

You can take that payment off, because yours are paid for :****:

smurfy90 · Oct 3, 2012

I just wish my water bill was as low as yours.. mine is $2000 a month.

Neal3000 · Oct 3, 2012

Do you ever get out of debt as a chicken farmer?

smurfy90 · Oct 3, 2012

Neal3000 said:
Do you ever get out of debt as a chicken farmer?

;D

pkcole · Oct 3, 2012

The only person that makes any money in the poultry industry is the integrator. If you look at what u invest and the time it takes u are below poverty level if u have a good job keep it. We had 6 breeder houses soon as they were paid for we shut them down. I repeat you will not make any extra money. as far as broilers go I haven't raised them but I assure u I am very familiar with the chicks u get I know for a fact the company knows what spot u are going to come in on your grow out because of chick placement I have heard a million times i was 1 grower then a little while latter they can't understand what happens as they slip down the list. That is the reason the older farmers children are not getting in the business. I know several field men who thought they knew everything about growing that got in the business and got out as soon as possible since u work for wayne farms u should know this but hey give it a try.

Mortalis5509 · Oct 3, 2012

Re: Re: Re: Who is a Chicken Farmer

pkcole said:
The only person that makes any money in the poultry industry is the integrator. If you look at what u invest and the time it takes u are below poverty level if u have a good job keep it. We had 6 breeder houses soon as they were paid for we shut them down. I repeat you will not make any extra money. as far as broilers go I haven't raised them but I assure u I am very familiar with the chicks u get I know for a fact the company knows what spot u are going to come in on your grow out because of chick placement I have heard a million times i was 1 grower then a little while latter they can't understand what happens as they slip down the list. That is the reason the older farmers children are not getting in the business. I know several field men who thought they knew everything about growing that got in the business and got out as soon as possible since u work for wayne farms u should know this but hey give it a try.

I don't know much about it and that is the reason for me asking. I have only dealt with the birds when show up at the plant. I have no experience or knowledge of the field side. Anything else you shed some light on would be great.

Its crazy how some say, stay far away and others say it's good. I wonder what's making the difference.

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