I never knew raising meat chickens would be so stressful

[mcdaid36]

Not sure if you have them near you, but I bring the birds to a live poultry market in the Spanish part of town, (there are 3 within 45 minutes of my home) for their processing. They only charge $2 a bird, are very quick, and the place is clean. Might be something worth looking into. The birds are pretty well done, I do have to pull a couple of pin feathers or clean them up here and there when I get home. I found mine in the Yellow pages under "poultry markets." I only process a few at a time though, you might have to work out some sort of deal if you wanted to bring in a large amount.

 

[MysticScorpio82]

Thank you for the phone number Steveo! I will have to give them a call tomorrow. I am getting dual birds (buff Orpintons) and I had to order 25 from mcmurrays, but I really only wanted 12-15 for laying eggs, so I figured I could process or have the rest processed for meat.

 

[jaku]

Quote:
It gets really expensive if you have a whole batch to do though, especially if you sell your birds. Adding $3 per bird to a price that's already double what people are used to paying for grocery store birds can be a tough sell.

Everyone should make a Whizbang Plucker and Scalder. Wow, what a difference they make!