ARGYLE - Chris James likes chickens.
Especially the Jumbo Cornish Rock Crosses he raises for his fresh frozen poultry business, Bigg Valley Broilers.
Chris, 14, raises 25 to 30 hens at a time on his family's dairy farm near Argyle. He starts by ordering day-old chicks from a hatchery in Beaver Dam. The chicks are kept in an addition to the farmhouse's basement, where they are given food and water and kept warm with a heat lamp.
When the chicks are two to three weeks old, Chris moves them into the "playhouse," a wooden chicken-coop type structure that once served literally as a playhouse for the James' children. They stay there until they are ready, and the weather is warm enough, to be moved into a stainless steel mobile chicken coop.
When the hens reach about 12 weeks and weigh about 9 to 10 pounds, Chris and his father Carl take them to Twin City Packing in Janesville for butchering. They have three slaughter dates per year, yielding the birds James then sells to family and friends.
The poultry business isn't anything new for Chris. He started helping his big brother Will, who is now 20 and attends Blackhawk Technical College, raise chickens six or seven years ago. Chris took over, and now has his 12-year-old brother Cody helping out. His family also includes mother Patty and sisters Danielle, 22; Hannah, 10; and Stephanie, 6.
But Chris has taken his operation to a new level by developing a business plan that allowed him to develop a baseline for measuring results against budgeted revenues and expenses.
"4-H taught me how to run and manage a business and write a business plan," Chris said.
He also participated in the 2007 Green County 4-H Entrepreneurship Project and was named a finalist in the Young Wisconsin Entrepreneur contest as part of National Entrepreneurship Week in late February.
Part of his plan is to keep his business small.
"We want to keep it small, and homegrown," he said, explaining the birds he raises are all natural.
"We don't vaccinate against disease," Chris said, because the birds don't live long enough to be subject to disease. The mortality rate is pretty low, and chicks that don't make it usually die within the first two weeks.
His customers tell him his birds are better than any from the grocery store.
"They taste better than normal store-bought chicken," Chris said. "There's more meat."
The chickens are relatively low maintenance, he said, requiring just food, water and a regular change of bedding. That's important for the Argyle High School freshmen: In addition to football and track, he's in the school band, pep band and chorus and participates in student council, 4-H and FFA.
Being his own boss is important to the teen entrepreneur.
"It gives me freedom to be my own boss," he said. "Other kids work for someone else."
And yes, his family eats a lot of chicken. But it doesn't much matter to Chris if it's fried, roasted or any other method of preparation.
"I like it any way," he said.
Especially the Jumbo Cornish Rock Crosses he raises for his fresh frozen poultry business, Bigg Valley Broilers.
Chris, 14, raises 25 to 30 hens at a time on his family's dairy farm near Argyle. He starts by ordering day-old chicks from a hatchery in Beaver Dam. The chicks are kept in an addition to the farmhouse's basement, where they are given food and water and kept warm with a heat lamp.
When the chicks are two to three weeks old, Chris moves them into the "playhouse," a wooden chicken-coop type structure that once served literally as a playhouse for the James' children. They stay there until they are ready, and the weather is warm enough, to be moved into a stainless steel mobile chicken coop.
When the hens reach about 12 weeks and weigh about 9 to 10 pounds, Chris and his father Carl take them to Twin City Packing in Janesville for butchering. They have three slaughter dates per year, yielding the birds James then sells to family and friends.
The poultry business isn't anything new for Chris. He started helping his big brother Will, who is now 20 and attends Blackhawk Technical College, raise chickens six or seven years ago. Chris took over, and now has his 12-year-old brother Cody helping out. His family also includes mother Patty and sisters Danielle, 22; Hannah, 10; and Stephanie, 6.
But Chris has taken his operation to a new level by developing a business plan that allowed him to develop a baseline for measuring results against budgeted revenues and expenses.
"4-H taught me how to run and manage a business and write a business plan," Chris said.
He also participated in the 2007 Green County 4-H Entrepreneurship Project and was named a finalist in the Young Wisconsin Entrepreneur contest as part of National Entrepreneurship Week in late February.
Part of his plan is to keep his business small.
"We want to keep it small, and homegrown," he said, explaining the birds he raises are all natural.
"We don't vaccinate against disease," Chris said, because the birds don't live long enough to be subject to disease. The mortality rate is pretty low, and chicks that don't make it usually die within the first two weeks.
His customers tell him his birds are better than any from the grocery store.
"They taste better than normal store-bought chicken," Chris said. "There's more meat."
The chickens are relatively low maintenance, he said, requiring just food, water and a regular change of bedding. That's important for the Argyle High School freshmen: In addition to football and track, he's in the school band, pep band and chorus and participates in student council, 4-H and FFA.
Being his own boss is important to the teen entrepreneur.
"It gives me freedom to be my own boss," he said. "Other kids work for someone else."
And yes, his family eats a lot of chicken. But it doesn't much matter to Chris if it's fried, roasted or any other method of preparation.
"I like it any way," he said.