Pricing whole birds and cuts from the same chicken batch

Selling chicken by the cut gives customers more choice. One household might want breasts for quick suppers; another might buy thighs or wings. With Underground Processing’s Retail Packaging, you can offer those cuts separately instead of selling every chicken whole.

That can improve your return—but the extra sales need to cover the extra work. Here’s how to compare whole birds, complete cut-up birds and separately packaged cuts.

Hypothetical pricing comparison: The selling prices below come from public pasture-raised chicken listings. Examples A, B and C keep the sellers anonymous; they are not Underground Processing customer records. Underground Processing’s charges are listed separately. Your results depend on actual cut weights, package counts, costs and sales—not assumed yields or promised profits.

Three ways to sell chicken

• Whole birds: Customers buy a complete chicken, usually for roasting or several meals.
• Whole cut-up birds: Customers buy the agreed assortment from a complete chicken together.
• Retail-packaged cuts: Breasts, thighs, wings and other cuts are packaged separately, so customers can buy what they need.

A whole cut-up order can also use several bags. The difference is whether you sell the assortment together or offer the cuts individually.

What the researched prices show

All prices in this table are per pound, not per package.

Example C also lists a $3.99/lb whole-bird preorder price and $5.75/lb for a whole bird sold cut up. The cut-up offer requires at least two chickens and includes separately packaged breasts, drumsticks, thighs and wings, with frames optional. Its price is $1.25 more per billed pound than the regular whole-bird offer—not $1.25 in profit.

These are advertised prices, not a regional average or a recommended price for your farm. Prices and availability can change. Taxes and delivery are not included. Example C’s thigh listing does not specify bone or skin status.

Breasts in Examples A and B sell for twice the whole-bird price per pound. But not every cut commands a premium: Example B’s thighs cost less per pound than its whole chicken, and its wings cost the same. The opportunity comes from selling the whole assortment well.

Include Underground Processing’s processing and packaging charges

Confirm the applicable charges for your order before booking.

One standard vacuum bag and a basic label are included in processing. Retail Packaging is $0.85 for every retail bag; the included standard bag does not reduce that charge. Extra standard bags and retail bags are separate charge categories—do not add both bag rates to the same bag. All deboning charges on the cut sheet are per bird, not per breast half or other individual cut.

Use the actual bag count, not the bird count. Deboning is a separate service and is not needed for every retail-packaged cut. Small-order, breed, age and weight adjustments, rendering/disposal and other requested work can also affect the bill. See our poultry processing options for the full schedule.

Compare the complete order

For whole birds or a complete cut-up offer, multiply the actual pounds sold by the agreed selling price. For Retail Packaging, do that separately for each product, then add the sales together.

Using Example A’s prices, your record would have separate lines for breasts, leg quarters, wings and any other products sold. Enter the actual weights—you cannot value an entire chicken at the breast price. If you choose separate thighs and drumsticks, do not also count leg quarters from that same meat.

Then compare:

Additional return = sales from the cut-up or Retail Packaging plan − sales from the comparable whole-bird plan − additional costs.

Include extra cutting, deboning, bags, handling, storage and selling work. Compare the same flock on the same cost basis so shared growing and base-processing costs are not counted twice. This shows the difference between plans, not complete net profit.

Keep unsold cuts separate from sales. Legs in the freezer may sell later, but their future selling price is not money already received. Give frames and other saved items a destination too.

Hypothetical Retail Packaging example: 50 chickens

Here’s what the comparison can look like using Example A’s advertised prices and Underground Processing’s charges.

This is a research-based illustration, not a promised yield or profit. A pasture-raised Cornish Cross study reported a 5.27-pound whole-bird average and the cut weights used below. The whole-bird and cut averages came from different flocks, so combining them creates a hypothetical budget—not a measured batch. This plan assumes bone-in, skin-on thighs and drumsticks; the study’s thigh row does not separately specify bone or skin. Use your actual weights and matching cuts when pricing your own order.

Selling 50 whole birds at that benchmark gives 263.50 pounds × $7.00 = $1,844.50 in sales.

For Retail Packaging, this illustration uses two breast halves per bag and four thighs, drumsticks or whole wings per bag:

*The thigh weight is the study’s published benchmark; keeping bone and skin on is this example’s stated cut assumption. Breast weight covers both halves together—not 1.58 pounds per half. Package counts are a selected plan, not a Underground Processing standard or measured customer order. Sales assume every listed cut sells at the full advertised price; amounts are rounded to cents after calculation.

$2,233.63 retail sales − $1,844.50 whole-bird sales − $231.25 added Underground Processing charges = $157.88 more return, or about $3.16 per bird, before additional farm costs.

Base processing is $237.50 for 50 Cornish Cross birds at $4.75 each in either plan, so it cancels in this difference. Growing costs and other unchanged charges also remain part of your overall costs. The $157.88 is what is left to cover extra handling, freezer space, selling time and transaction fees—not a net-profit claim. Added farm expenses above $157.88 would erase the illustrated gain.

No sales or bags for frames, skin, trim or offal are included. If you return frames in 25 additional retail bags, add $21.25, reducing the illustrated return to $136.63 before other expenses. Unsold cuts, different weights, prices or packaging can change the result substantially.

Choose the offer your customers will use

Retail Packaging can suit customers who want smaller purchases or particular cuts. Whole birds may suit customers who regularly roast a chicken and use the leftovers. A complete cut-up offer gives another option without leaving customers to choose each part.

Start with a manageable mix, record what sells and adjust the next order. Before offering meat for sale, confirm the appropriate processing and sales arrangements. Tell us which birds should stay whole, which should be cut up, and how you want the cuts packaged.

Related guides

• Planning poultry inventory around customer meals
• Getting your freezer ready