Looking for a chicken processor in central Maryland

[Dville Chix]

Hi--
Does anyone know of a chicken processor near Anne Arundel County, Maryland? I have a few roosters to harvest and lack the time or equipment to process them myself. My daughter wants to keep the feathers if she can. I imagine that somebody who processes waterfowl could do it, or somebody who processes their own chickens. I am willing to drive a bit, but closer is better. Any help would be appreciated.
--Dville Chix

 

[Dville Chix]

Hi--
Does anyone know of a chicken processor near Anne Arundel County, Maryland? I have a few roosters to harvest and lack the time or equipment to process them myself. My daughter wants to keep the feathers if she can. I imagine that somebody who processes waterfowl could do it, or somebody who processes their own chickens. I am willing to drive a bit, but closer is better. Any help would be appreciated.
--Dville Chix

This is turning out to be a much more challenging problem to solve than I expected. I have not found anyone (via google searching) that says they process chickens. I thought maybe people who process ducks/geese for hunters might do it. It turns out those folks don't really want to process chickens because they collect all the feathers and sell them for down pillows, etc. They don't want chicken feathers to contaminate the collection bag. Furthermore, they only accept birds for processing during the waterfowl hunting season.

There are a few custom slaughterhouses in the area, but they only process large mammals (beef, pork, mutton).

After 2 days of internet research and lots of phone calls, I am no closer to finding someone to process my birds for me. It seems that somebody is really missing out on a business opportunity. I think there are probably a lot of us backyard flock types who would happily pay someone else to do the messy job of processing our birds for us! Those drum-style pluckers are a wonder, but I don't want to pay for one if I am only going to slaughter 2-4 birds at a time.

I also imagine that there are probably plenty of backyard folks who would happily process my birds for me along with their own, but don't dare say so on the internet because there are almost certainly state/federal licensing/inspections required to process animals for meat for consumption by any human other than one's own household.

I have already spent more time trying to find someone else to do this than it would have taken me to do it myself. Ugh.

 

[Dville Chix]

So this is interesting...
In the state of Maryland, one can process chickens and sell to the public without a license or inspections if they process fewer than 20,000 birds per year. If they sell at a farmers market or sell to restaurants there are more restrictions. HOWEVER, the information sheet says that the poultry "must be own production". I think that means they have to be your own birds. Thus--the state of Maryland gives no guidance what so ever on whether someone can process another person's birds (unless processing more than 20,000 birds per year--then the guidance is clear)

Here is the info sheet from the Maryland Department of Agriculture.
https://mda.maryland.gov/foodfeedquality/Documents/Processingandsellingvalueaddedproduct3.18.13.pdf

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I advertised on craigslist farm and garden section with no real luck... until one day a while later someone contacted me and I just said I didn't need it anymore because I was already burnt out and when he said he could do them any way I wanted... skinned or plucked... I figured liar.

He then asked if I had any roosters cuz they needed chicks for their broody sex link... and my response was I will sell him for $ or cash deposit refunded when carcass was returned ready for my pot (testing if they really process or not). We traded a frozen broiler he had raised the same season and one of my roosters got a flock of his own... It usually takes me at least 2 weeks for any good response. But maybe consider contacting the peeps who are advertising their's for sale and see if they can fit you in. Or maybe chatting some folks up at the farmers market. See that guy told me when he saw my add they were just processing a hundred and he was burnt out... but once he had recovered realized I had something he wanted, and it worked out for a while. So timing can be everything is my point.

You might try posting at your local health food or feed/farm stores.

Contacting the large game processors... did give me a lead to someone who was willing. So networking is always good... instead of just asking do they, don't forget to ask do they know of anyone.

When we first started out (me and my daughter), we skinned them as I had read horrible things about the hot water stinking and fear it would be difficult to pluck by hand... Then I found that guy... BUT we were happier with our own "cleaning" job in the end... There is something to be said for knowing ONLY your birds were processed and exposed to their own pathogen type stuff (or cross contamination), our chickens last 2+ weeks after processing in the fridge without any nasty smell or sliminess! and I got a brand new plucker on Amazon lightening deal for $269. It's SOOO nice not waiting for someone else's schedule! We can also only do a couple birds at a time. There are plucking drums that fit on the end of a drill as well as. And some places actually rent pluckers, though I suspect that's a bit pricey for just a few birds at a time.

The people I had found were only charging $4-5 and that is well worth it. But in the end, even though I don't like processing, if I wanna hatch.. that is the best solution I have found. Most wanted me to have at least 10 birds to make it worth their time if doing just my birds. So I tried but hatching that many and having them all ready was a hassle. I found we ended up having accidents or attitudes that required processing here or there... and my number often fell closer to 7 or 8 birds ready.

I even got contacted through my add by someone else who had a processor coming out and willing to add my birds in for a bit more, but timing was off for when my birds would be ready.

Lots of people here willing to help walk you through should you decide you can't wait any longer! Hope you do find someone though.

I was afraid we would become vegetarian... alas, we like meat and are just more conscious about our portion sizes with a greater appreciation to the circle of life.

 

[Dville Chix]

My husband really doesn't want to process the birds. He said he would rather give them away than slaughter them ourselves I am perfectly willing to do it, but he isn't. I am really hoping to find someone to do it since we have already raised the birds to slaughter weight.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

My husband really doesn't want to process the birds. He said he would rather give them away than slaughter them ourselves I am perfectly willing to do it, but he isn't. I am really hoping to find someone to do it since we have already raised the birds to slaughter weight.

I understand... my husband doesn't participate in processing either. It certainly isn't for everyone and that's OK!

Good luck finding someone.

 

[Maeschak]

My husband really doesn't want to process the birds. He said he would rather give them away than slaughter them ourselves I am perfectly willing to do it, but he isn't. I am really hoping to find someone to do it since we have already raised the birds to slaughter weight.

How many do you have to process?

 

[Geena]

This is turning out to be a much more challenging problem to solve than I expected. I have not found anyone (via google searching) that says they process chickens. I thought maybe people who process ducks/geese for hunters might do it. It turns out those folks don't really want to process chickens because they collect all the feathers and sell them for down pillows, etc. They don't want chicken feathers to contaminate the collection bag. Furthermore, they only accept birds for processing during the waterfowl hunting season.

There are a few custom slaughterhouses in the area, but they only process large mammals (beef, pork, mutton).

After 2 days of internet research and lots of phone calls, I am no closer to finding someone to process my birds for me. It seems that somebody is really missing out on a business opportunity. I think there are probably a lot of us backyard flock types who would happily pay someone else to do the messy job of processing our birds for us! Those drum-style pluckers are a wonder, but I don't want to pay for one if I am only going to slaughter 2-4 birds at a time.

I also imagine that there are probably plenty of backyard folks who would happily process my birds for me along with their own, but don't dare say so on the internet because there are almost certainly state/federal licensing/inspections required to process animals for meat for consumption by any human other than one's own household.

I have already spent more time trying to find someone else to do this than it would have taken me to do it myself. Ugh.

I would imagine that it would be difficult to find someone that would process such a small number of birds. It takes a lot of time to set everything up, then clean up and put everything away. Plus a lot of chicken people are not too keen on having other birds around due to the possible transmission of disease.
There are ways you can do them very quickly and with minimal equipment if you are interested. Perhaps you could do them when he's not around?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

My husband really doesn't want to process the birds. He said he would rather give them away than slaughter them ourselves I am perfectly willing to do it, but he isn't. I am really hoping to find someone to do it since we have already raised the birds to slaughter weight.

I've been networking for you... sometimes I can't find my way back though, luckily I did this time.

See if you can find anything using this link...
https://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/poultry_processors/index.php

I haven't checked it out yet, but another BYC'er paid only like $3 each even though they had to drive an hour each way they were ready in 20 minutes (and I think that was ducks which are way harder to process) Several of the processors I found did require me to drive 1-2 hours each way... but I'm rural so we could combine our shopping and such, which offset any extra cost of traveling.