4 ms·

It is not specified what they mean by "chicken" (age and breed and sex) but $5 seems like really expensive. I know that you can buy baby chicks from an incubat

It is not specified what they mean by "chicken" (age and breed and sex) but $5 seems like really expensive. I know that you can buy baby chicks from an incubator for egg laying purposes for like 3 euro or less in rural western Europe. Breeds meant to be harvested for their meat cost even less.

bryanlarsen 10y ago
I get the impression that's for a fully grown chicken sold for meat. I have no idea how big those chickens are. In North America live chickens sell for between 30 and 50 cents a pound. The chickens in the video look like small roasters, definitely under 10 pounds.
- newjersey 10y ago
  I see decreasing price of chicken/eggs as a good thing. If a fully grown chicken costs upwards of $5, why is it not a good idea to use better facilities? Wouldn't it be cheaper to keep the birds caged up? I guess it depends on our goal here. Is the idea to give a sense of "ownership" so the program partners feel empowered and can make decisions individually on whether to keep, raise, sell, or eat chicken and eggs? If it is not that, then I think we should explore industrial farming and some central planning. Five dollars for a small live chicken sounds like a problem which this project can help solve but I think we should welcome bringing down the cost (and keeping it stable at the lower sticker price) of nutrition be it animal-based or plant-based should be welcome. tl;dr I don't mean to say don't do this but rather we need to do more.
- pitt1980 10y ago
  how am I able to buy a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store for $5? seems like I've getting pretty much everything that's economically viable from the chicken, plus a fair amount of labor put into the chicken
  - Turing_Machine 10y ago
    Well, the rotisserie chicken is very likely grown on a massively capital-intensive assembly line, and quite possibly delivered frozen. Those options are likely not available to the people this is trying to help. Also: fresh, free-range, "organic" chicken costs more like $3.00-$5.00 per pound in most areas.
  - rnga1dco 10y ago
    Rotisserie chickens are often a loss leader for grocery stores[0]. 0- http://debtblag.com/why-rotisserie-chickens-so-cheap/ http://debtblag.com/why-rotisserie-chickens-so-cheap/
  - bryanlarsen 10y ago
    A rotisserie chicken is usually ~2 pounds.
  - rmah 10y ago
    US agriculture is extremely efficient. Agriculture in underdeveloped nations is, usually, inefficient. The retail price typically only costs less because there are less steps between producer and buyer. For example, in the US, only about 25% of the cost of bread is for the bread itself (wheat, baking, etc). IIRC, in egypt, about 50% of the retail price of bread is materials/production. Thus bread there costs 1/2 what it costs in the US. But egypt is an outlier in agriculture with an extremely high wheat yields for a nation at their economic situation. Probably due to the fertility of the nile.
djcapelis 10y ago
If the number of people raising chickens gets anywhere near that 30% goal, it seems very likely the price of chickens will drop much lower.
cwbrandsma 10y ago
Depends on the breed. Some are as low as $2 here in the States, others are $15 to $20.

bryanlarsen 10y ago

I get the impression that's for a fully grown chicken sold for meat. I have no idea how big those chickens are. In North America live chickens sell for between 30 and 50 cents a pound. The chickens in the video look like small roasters, definitely under 10 pounds.

newjersey 10y ago
I see decreasing price of chicken/eggs as a good thing. If a fully grown chicken costs upwards of $5, why is it not a good idea to use better facilities? Wouldn't it be cheaper to keep the birds caged up? I guess it depends on our goal here. Is the idea to give a sense of "ownership" so the program partners feel empowered and can make decisions individually on whether to keep, raise, sell, or eat chicken and eggs? If it is not that, then I think we should explore industrial farming and some central planning. Five dollars for a small live chicken sounds like a problem which this project can help solve but I think we should welcome bringing down the cost (and keeping it stable at the lower sticker price) of nutrition be it animal-based or plant-based should be welcome. tl;dr I don't mean to say don't do this but rather we need to do more.
pitt1980 10y ago
how am I able to buy a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store for $5? seems like I've getting pretty much everything that's economically viable from the chicken, plus a fair amount of labor put into the chicken
- Turing_Machine 10y ago
  Well, the rotisserie chicken is very likely grown on a massively capital-intensive assembly line, and quite possibly delivered frozen. Those options are likely not available to the people this is trying to help. Also: fresh, free-range, "organic" chicken costs more like $3.00-$5.00 per pound in most areas.
- rnga1dco 10y ago
  Rotisserie chickens are often a loss leader for grocery stores[0]. 0- http://debtblag.com/why-rotisserie-chickens-so-cheap/ http://debtblag.com/why-rotisserie-chickens-so-cheap/
- bryanlarsen 10y ago
  A rotisserie chicken is usually ~2 pounds.
- rmah 10y ago
  US agriculture is extremely efficient. Agriculture in underdeveloped nations is, usually, inefficient. The retail price typically only costs less because there are less steps between producer and buyer. For example, in the US, only about 25% of the cost of bread is for the bread itself (wheat, baking, etc). IIRC, in egypt, about 50% of the retail price of bread is materials/production. Thus bread there costs 1/2 what it costs in the US. But egypt is an outlier in agriculture with an extremely high wheat yields for a nation at their economic situation. Probably due to the fertility of the nile.

djcapelis 10y ago

If the number of people raising chickens gets anywhere near that 30% goal, it seems very likely the price of chickens will drop much lower.

cwbrandsma 10y ago

Depends on the breed. Some are as low as $2 here in the States, others are $15 to $20.