BYC members in Massachusetts?

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Wee Farmer Sarah said:
How are you chicken and your chickens doing during this bitter blast? I’m in north central Massachusetts and it’s currently 7F with a windchill of -12F. The sun has been warming up the coop so I’m hoping it hangs on to some of the warmth when the sun goes down and the temperatures drop to minus -15. Scary cold.
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Mine are running around in their run without a care in the world right now. Lol. I just went out to give them some scratch before they head in for the night. I have one that has been a brat lately and doesn't go up to roost but just heads to a nest box to sleep so will need to head out and put her on the roost once she heads in.
 
Mine took longer to come out in the morning (it was almost noon!) but once out, they enjoyed their run for the rest of the day. I have clear poly panels for wind breaks around the run, and it's actually not that bad in there, especially with the sun shining. I gave them an extra layer of clean shavings in the coop. They'll have to rely on their fluffy butts for the rest.
 
Those of you inside 495 are lucky. It’s been a little brutal out here. I’m hoping the warmth from today’s sunshine will keep the temps no lower than -5 inside their coop. It’s dropping to -14 to -15 F (actual temps, not windchill) for more than six hours after midnight. Best of luck with the deep freeze overnight.
 
Wee Farmer Sarah said:
Those of you inside 495 are lucky. It’s been a little brutal out here. I’m hoping the warmth from today’s sunshine will keep the temps no lower than -5 inside their coop. It’s dropping to -14 to -15 F (actual temps, not windchill) for more than six hours after midnight. Best of luck with the deep freeze overnight.
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Think here I saw -10 before wind chill and -43 with.
 
Chickens are all fine. Really wicked winds last night with the -15F temps before the windchill. After peeling back the vinyl shower curtains earlier half the chickens were in the run pecking up breakfast. I gave them warm water and scrambled eggs. They all loved it. The temperature inside their coop was only zero, no below numbers. At the time it was still -13F outside and windy. I went out again a little while ago and gave them more liquid water and warm chicken pellet mash. The temp inside the coop was already “warming” to 2F. And I got a fresh, warm egg. I didn’t see any signs of frostbite either. Good news. Hopefully everyone’s birds did as well.
 
I hope everyone's flock is well, I admit to feeling concerned about a neighbor's small flock, he has one of those teeny plastic coops you get from tractor supply that has no insulation and no ventilation and is sized with maybe a square foot per bird! Everything opposite of what I've learned from this community.

Anyway, I am progressing in my research preparing for backyard chickens and have gotten stuck at the possibility of processing at some point - I don't want to invest in any equipment or try to do it myself, at least at first, partly because I'm pretty sure having to do this early on would result in heavy resistance from DH about making any foray into chicken keeping at all!

I'd like to identify some viable processors for small numbers of culls if needed. I've looked up previous recommendations here, but it looks to me like Granite State in NH as well as Den Besten Butcher shop and Johnson and Sons Poultry here in MA are no longer doing such processing? Can anyone recommend places that are willing to do small-batch processing for backyard owners? If a bit of a drive that is still a viable option (I'm between Boston and Worcester).
 
Thank you @DaisyNoelle. I’ve not found anyone who processes chickens here in Massachusetts. I haven’t checked in the western Mass area. There was a place in New Hampshire just over the line, I think it was in Mason, however apparently they don’t process chickens anymore. I was contemplating raising some meat birds but I’m not crazy about processing them myself. Let me know if you find someone.
 
I will post it here if I do, I'm going to check with a farm vet that I know and also with Tufts and our town Ag rep. If we don't hear from someone in MA maybe I'll post on the NH, VT, and CT threads also, since those are driveable for me, although I bet you need a vet transport cert to take them there, you do when you take horses to another state for a show or just for a lesson or trail ride.

I'm also thinking of being able to eat some birds and maybe/maybe not eventually I might be able to process them, but certainly not from the get-go.
 

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