Let’s Look At Number of Blue Crabs in a Bushel and How Much They Cost
Knowing how many crabs are in a bushel is vital information any newbie crabber needs to know. States regulate the number of crabs caught by the bushel, crab vendors sell by the bushel, and commercial fishermen report their catch by the bushel. Needless to say, it’s very important to know how many crabs are in a bushel.
So, how many crabs are in a bushel?
Maryland’s DNR regulates that one bushel of blue crabs is approximately 84, or 7 dozen, hardshell crabs. Each crab measures 5 to 6 ¼ inches in shell width and is nicknamed a “Jimmy” by fishermen and crab vendors.
There’s your general answer. Keep in mind that this is dependent on the size and sex of the crab, but more on that later. Now, how much does a bushel of crabs cost?
A bushel of blue crabs will cost anywhere between $250 to $300. That will yield around 6 pounds of crab meat, bringing the cost to approximately $40 per pound of crab meat. The price of one bushel is dictated by the size and availability of crabs.
I’ll go over how many crabs are in a half bushel and so on, including how much they cost.
Generally, How Many Blue Crabs Make Up One Bushel?
Whether you’re going crabbing and you need to know how many crabs you can keep, or you’re planning a crab feast and you need to know how many crabs you are buying, don’t worry because I have the numbers for you.
Instead of citing the next blog or forum for information like other crabbing websites, I scoured the internet for a reliable figure of how many crabs are in a bushel.
After enough searching, I stumbled upon Maryland’s DNR commercial crabbing guidelines on how many crabs are in a bushel. These are set standards for how many crabs should fit in an 8-gallon bushel basket after an average day of crabbing.
While this rule of thumb may work for a person crabbing, but what about someone who wants to buy a crab dinner? With some simple math and my questionable counting skills, I came up with a few estimates.
So, how many crabs are in a bushel?
On average, one bushel of blue crabs will contain 6 to 8 dozen male blue crabs. This will give you approximately 84 crabs total, which will yield 5 to 6 pounds of lump crab meat.
How many crabs are in a half bushel?
One half of a bushel usually contains 3 to 5 dozen average-sized male blue crabs. The average amount of crabs per half bushel is 42, which will yield 3 pounds of crab meat.
Hardshell Blue Crabs in a Bushel
Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources set guidelines for the average amount of #1 and #2 hardshell crabs which go into a bushel. Below is an approximation of the number of crabs in a bushel and how much they weigh.
| Bushels | Weight | Amount of Crabs |
| 1/8 | 5 lbs | 10 |
| 1/4 | 10 lbs | 21 |
| 3/8 | 15 lbs | 31 |
| 1/2 | 20 lbs | 42 |
| 5/8 | 25 lbs | 52 |
| 3/4 | 30 lbs | 63 |
| 7/8 | 35 lbs | 73 |
| 1 | 40 lbs | 84 |
Keep in mind that these figures are an approximation of how many #1’s and #2’s are caught together by fishermen. If you buy a bushel from your local crab shack, you will most often end up with around 7 dozen crabs or so, but rarely that exact amount.
I realize I’ve been using terms like #1’s and #2’s. To clarify, a #1 crab spans from 5 ½ to 6 ¼ inches, and a #2 crab spans from 5 to 5 ½ inches across the two outermost tips on a crab’s shell. #1’s are nicknamed “Jimmies” among fishermen.
Jimmies are the most common crabs you’ll find for sale with crab vendors as they are usually plump with meat and taste great. On a scale from teeny tiny to colossal crab, Jimmies are right in the center. If you’ve ever attended a crab feast, you’ve most likely eaten a Jimmy or two.
These terms are important to know when buying crabs from vendors, especially local crab houses. If you call your local crab shop to order some crabs, they’ll expect you to ask for 1’s or 2’s and how many by the dozen or bushel.
For example, let’s say I ask for a half bushel of #1’s. I’ll end up with around 42 crabs (3.5 dozen) with shells 5 ½ and 6 ¼ inches wide.
The Size Effect
How many crabs go into a bushel largely depends on its size. A lot of large crabs in a bushel basket will make the total number of crabs smaller and vice versa.
Think about it logically. If you were to catch lots of colossal blue crabs (6 and ½ inches +), you would end up filling your bushel basket with fewer crabs altogether compared to you catching lots of 5-inch crabs.
Number of Blue Crabs In 1 Bushel (Based on Size)
Here are the most common three sizes of a male blue crab, the width of their shell, and how many make up one bushel.
| Size | Dimensions | Crabs Per Bushel |
| Jumbo | 6 – 6 ½ inches | 60 – 72 crabs |
| Large | 5 ½ – 6 inches | 72 – 84 crabs |
| Medium | 5 – 5 ½ inches | 84 – 96 crabs |
Because of this, one bushel of crabs is not dependent on the number of crabs in a basket, but instead on how full the basket is.
One bushel of crabs is however many crabs it takes to fill a bushel basket and still be able to fit the lid on top properly. If you’re ever out on the water and your daily limit is a bushel of crabs, keep crabbing until you fill that bushel basket. As long as you’re keeping correctly-sized crabs, you can fill a bushel basket with crabs and be within your state’s guidelines.
I Wrote a Guide on How to Buy Every Type of Crab
I just published an article on how to buy every type of crab whether you’re looking for Blue, Dungeness, King, or Snow Crabs. I include helpful information such as when they’re in season, how much you’ll need to feed your family, and so much more! Click here to read it yourself.
How many Soft Shell Crabs & Peelers are in a Bushel?
This information is more for the commercial watermen than the average joe looking to buy or catch crabs. Soft shell crabs sell by the dozens instead of the bushels because they are a bit harder to come by.
If you’re one of the few watermen looking for how many recently molted crabs fit in a bushel, here you go.
Soft Crabs & Peelers in a Bushel
Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources set guidelines for the average amount of soft crabs and peelers which go into a bushel. Here is an approximation of the amount in a bushel and how much they weigh.
| Bushels | Weight | Amount of Crabs |
| 1/16 | 2.5 lbs | 12 |
| 1/8 | 5 lbs | 24 |
| 1/4 | 10 lbs | 48 |
| 3/8 | 15 lbs | 72 |
| 1/2 | 20 lbs | 96 |
| 5/8 | 25 lbs | 120 |
| 3/4 | 30 lbs | 144 |
| 7/8 | 35 lbs | 168 |
| 1 | 40 lbs | 192 |
How Much Does One Bushel of Blue Crabs Cost?
This is a hard one to answer because it depends on where you live, what you’re buying, and what time of year it is.
I mentioned before that the cost of one bushel is usually between $250 and $300 dollars. That can go for cheaper if you buy locally at the right time of the year.
Crabs are priced differently throughout the country, especially when you are buying locally. This is due mainly to the availability of crabs. Crabbing season starts a lot earlier in more southern states than it does in the northern states. In fact, most of the crabs that you buy in the earlier summer are most often from the Gulf of Mexico.
It’s not until mid-summer to late fall that blue crabs make their way into colder waters north of the Delmarva area.
If you’re from Delmarva like myself, it’s best to buy your crabs around July. Crabs are fresher and sourced locally by that time of year. If you live further south, you can buy crabs earlier. If you’re in the New England area, you’ll have to wait for the late summer crab feast if you want your crabs caught locally.
If you wait for the right time of year, you’ll be sure to get the freshest crabs at the best price. At that time, the crabs will be most plentiful which will bring down the price. It’s also a great time for you to go crabbing yourself! Be sure to hit the water this summer for your own crab feast. You can’t be crabs fresh out of the water.
The Best Place to buy Crabs Online: Cameron’s Seafood
If you’re reading this article to research buying a bushel of crabs, or plan on buying crabs anyway, I struck a deal with the most trusted place to buy blue crabs online. The idea of buying crabs online may shock some people, but let’s be honest people buy some absurd things on the internet.
Buying from Cameron’s Seafood will be much easier and more reliable than calling up your local crab dealer. It has thousands of 5-star reviews and sells crabs nationwide every single day. They’re based in Maryland (naturally), and have an easily-navigable website.
Best of all, they ship crabs to your front door in less than 24 hours! That’s right, if you head to their website and order now, you’ll have crabs by tomorrow. It’s crazy to think about.
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Disclaimer: Crabbinghub will receive a small commission for any purchase we referred to Cameron’s Seafood at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting Crabbinghub.com.
How Many People Does One Bushel Feed?
It’s smart to plan ahead for your crab feast and estimate the number of crabs one bushel will feed. To do that, I put myself in my guest’s shoes. Personally, I will eat around a dozen crabs at a gathering. However, that’s a bit more than the average joe. I asked around and the average amount of crabs someone will eat is 6 to 15 at a time.
Based on that, this begs the question, how many people will a bushel of crabs feed?
TLDR
How many people does one-bushel feed?
Depending on the size of the crabs, one bushel of blue crabs will feed 8 people. The average person will eat 6 to 15 crabs in one sitting. If you assume each person eats about 8 crabs each, a bushel of 84 blue crabs will feed 8 people on average.
Before you move on with that estimate, I mentioned before that the size of crabs comes into play here. Estimating this is simple with the base of 6 to 15 crabs per person. I took the midpoint (10.5 crabs per person) of that estimate and divided that by the number of crabs in each size of crabs. Keep these figures in mind when
How Many People Will a Bushel of Crabs Feed?
| Size of Crabs | Amount of Crabs | Amount of People They Will Serve |
| Jumbo | 60 – 72 crabs | 6 to 7 people |
| Large | 72 – 84 crabs | 7 to 8 people |
| Medium | 84 – 96 crabs | 8 to 9 people |
How do you know you caught a bushel of crabs?
One of the most common reasons why this question pops up is because some states regulate the number of crabs a person can catch by the bushel instead of a set number. Recreational crabbers then wonder, how many crabs is a bushel?
Well, like I said before it depends on the size. My advice is to buy a bushel basket instead of trying to wrap your head around the numbers. Once you fill the basket with crabs and you can still place the lid on top, you know that you have one bushel of crabs.
A bushel basket is an 8-gallon woven wooden basket that fishermen use to collect crabs as they catch them. I use this bushel basket I bought from Amazon (Link to Amazon.com). It’s very durable and reliable, but it’s just as good as any basket you can occasionally buy at a bait & tackle shop during crab season [Disclaimer: as a member of the Amazon Associates Affiliate Program I will receive a small commission with your purchase].
