# Raising Cornish Game Hens



## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

Lisa's thread about culling the deadbeats reminded me of something I was going to post about a year ago and never did....Raising Cornish Cross birds for "cornish game hen" and smaller. 

I was talking to a woman picking up her birds at the processor. She had 100 little round 1lb frozen "game hens" and another 50 8oz ones (I can't remember the name for that size). She said she makes more money on the small birds (2 weeks of feed, and a processing fee) than she does on the broilers and roasters. 

Because they're USDA inspected, she can sell to restaurants. They pay really well for these little things, particularly if you feed them something other than straight crumbles. (or go organic). She also sells at a farmer's market in the city (she's from Chicago) and get $8 a bid..that's 2weeks of feed and a processor fee + cost of the chick. 

Perhaps you could find a restaurant that would be interested in a small RIR cockeral processed at 1month...or those extra Brahmas. or any of the dual purpose cockerals. (as Artificer refers to them "the useless males" ) it's a niche market, and niche markets can be VERY profitable. 

Personally, I'm going to let a couple of the broodies hatch out some Marans eggs, then process the boys at 6weeks, and hand out a few to the higher end restaurants in the area to see if they'd be interested. 

"free range, naturally hatched Marans...a gourmet taste originated in France"  (and truthfully..the Marans really do have a "sweeter" taste for some reason)


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Bet if they ate organic grain and organic goat milk you could really get a premium price for them.


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## Wisconsin Ann (Feb 27, 2007)

You know...slap that "organic" label on something around a big city and you can double your price. 

eggs...:rotfl: Farm on the road I travel along used to have a sign out for "free range brown eggs" price $1.50 a dozen. Last summer it changed to "ORGANIC free range brown eggs" with a price of $3.50 a dozen. I finally stopped and talked to the woman at the house. 

She said they always had leftover eggs with the "free range brown eggs", but as soon as she added the "organic" and raised the price...she sells out every day.  go figure. she did have to get an organic certificate, but her costs have only gone up $1.00 per bag of feed, and she was already doing organic gardening, so....


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