Chicken: The relatively cheaper meat

It’s a good time to be in the chicken business. Tyson Foods reports quarterly earnings Monday morning in a heady time for poultry.

“The chicken guys have never had it so good,” says meat industry analyst Len Steiner. “The margins for somebody that’s raising chickens, buying grain basically and selling chicken meat is very, very good, the best it’s ever been in history, ever, going back to the beginning of time.”

The boost for chicken has come from the rising price of beef and pork, which are at a historic highs. The cost has driven restaurants ranging from burger chains to barbecue joints to make chicken the special of the day.

Barry Pelts, who co-owns Corky’s BBQ based in Memphis, says he hardly breaks even when he sells his signature pork ribs.

“But I will tell you right now that everybody who walks into that restaurant and orders a barbeque chicken dinner, I’m tickled to death,” he says.