how many hours of no feed before process?

[momofchicks]

Please remind me is it 12 hours of no feed or 24 hours of no feed before processing? I am taking them Wednesday morning so when do I cut off food? Thank you all!

 

[Country Parson]

I'm planning on withdrawing feed (not water) 24 hours before processing.

 

[bigredfeather]

We withhold feed for 12-18 hours. If you withhold at least 12 hours, the crop will be empty, but not the bowels. Once you get above and beyond 18 hours, the bowels will be mostly emptied. We do let them have water as well. I usually put some apple cider vinegar in it to help clean them out.

 

[Keara]

The best, least stressfull, way to do this is to remove food in the evening and process birds in the morning. I let them have their water.

 

[mstricer]

I will be butchering tomorrow,I fed them last night and will be taking it away within the hour. I will let them free range the rest of the day.
Michele

 

[donrae]

It really doesn't matter to the bird

I was taught to hold feed to make the clean out easier, plus why waste that feed? We'll probably go for 12-18 hours.

 

[booker81]

I'm a weird one

I like to hold feed the 12 hours or so before, but then right before, I give them a few handfuls of scratch. It helps me get a better grip on the crop to remove, and gives it some gravity to swing away when I'm cutting the "tubing" into the chest cavity. I have a hard time sometimes with the empty crop - trying to locate it between the skin and the breast and peeling it off. If I have some scratch in there, it's a lot easier for me to grab and peel it out.

 

[DianeS]

I don't withhold feed from mine. I don't have a problem with full crop and/or bowels. And I don't think of it as wasted food because it goes back in the chicken run for the others to eat. Just a different way of doing it.

 

[peterlund]

Quote:
I agree. I let mine go a good 18 hours, and the crop was almost translucent and really hard to dislodge from the sides. The first time I let them eat up to 8 hrs prior to processing and the crop had some in it, but it was just cracked corn... Easier to grab.