Doing it yourself as opposed to sending them away?

[Mosey2003]

If I had more than 5 to do and the place was within 30 minutes, I would totally have them done. It's an enormous pain to get everything set up, do them all, then store them to rest before freezing.

We have a place about an hour away and I went with my friend to take some ducks (I hate doing ducks). The place was horrifying, like paddle faster territory. I won't go there again myself, even though they did an okay job on the ducks. They left her crate next to the kill cone all day and it was covered in blood, had to beg them to even hose it off. But most places aren't that bad.

 

[Morrigan]

If I had help here, it might be different. As the only person who would be doing the work, it ain't happening.
Mary

Totally understand. I'm lucky that there are two of us committed to this lifestyle.

 

[jdw]

For the life of me I can not understand why anyone would put all the goodness into their birds whether it be chickens, ducks, turkeys, game birds what have you. Feed them the best feed and have them forage on the best pasture grass I can grow. Supplement with garden grown veggies, table scraps, home grown meal worms, from the time they hatch or come to us day old until they are whatever magical number of weeks you've told yourself is the magic date and then pack them up into plastic crates and send them, across town, across state or state lines to a place we have convinced ourselves that this is the place or people I want handling my food/friends/source of entertainment I have put my heart and soul into. And let them handle them in an industrial setting that I have been told is USDA inspected and is the best or only place I can get my birds done. This way of thinking is entirely foreign to me. The idea behind raising your own food isn't just a breed that someone has deemed the only breed worth growing for meat because it came from Blah, blah, blah. its about the life, health and goodness that has been put into the bird that makes it worth growing. All that is taken away when you send it to a processor. The idea behind a sustainable food source is completing the task from start to finish. All of the off farm/property processing causes stresses to the bird/animal and is shown in the quality of the final product.just my observations.

 

[Erin80]

To each their own I suppose. The place we will take our birds is small, run by a husband and wife. They are equipped to get it done quickly, can vacuum seal them for us, etc while we wait. It’s just the way we will do it.

 

[jdw]

you asked

 

[red horse ranch]

I think it was Bill Cosby who said this a long time ago;
"I Brought you into this world and I can take you out!"


I think it's my responsibility and I know my birds will be treated kindly as they are taken to the chopping block.

 

[Mosey2003]

I think it's good to know how to do your own, and a plus to do them yourself if possible. But being realistic, if you're raising 50+ birds to fill your freezer for the year, that's one heck of an undertaking. I don't see anything wrong with having a professional processor do the deed. They do it all day every day, which means they're generally very good at it. Yes, the trip and waiting can be stressful, but I don't think it's the worst thing on Earth, either. We each do what we can do.

 

[teriz1091]

My dad & I just butchered my first batch of meat birds a couple weeks ago. The 2 of us did 19 birds in one day. It was a long day, & by the end I was definitely done. But I wanted to do it. My husband & I raised them, spent lots of time caring for them. I felt it was my responsibility, since I wanted to raise them, that I be the one to butcher them. I know that they had a good life, & a humane death.

On the other hand, if someone is raising a large number of meat birds, I completely understand sending them to a butcher. I do believe you have a responsibility to be sure that they are treated well and given a humane death at the butcher’s, too.

I wouldn’t judge someone for either preference. Neither are wrong.

 

[Northern.Ontario]

Definitely sending ours to the local butcher to be done. I have 2 toddlers and not much extra time to spend processing 100 meat birds this summer. In Ontario, Canada it's going to cost me $4.50 to have a 7-10 pound chicken processed and returned whole. Add another 2.50 to $3 for a 9 piece cut