Ok, so if I won't do it, and hubby won't do it, who will?

[chikadeedoodah]

Hi all,
We have had our little chickadee's for just about a year now and we just love them. However, I want to be able to expand the brood, and after seeing the way our supermarket chickens are treated I feel like we should actually either become vegetarians

or be able to process our own birds. So here are some questions for all of you experts out there!

* If I hatch out my own chickens I would assume that we should "process" the extra roos.
* How old would a roo need to be (we aren't doing specific "meat birds" that have a life expectancy of 6-8 weeks).
* If I won't do it, and hubby won't do it.... where would I find someone to process? Any ideas what the going "rates" for that would be?

I hate to think of it, but I know my husband and I are not ready to process anything that has a "face"....

Maybe some day, but that day isn't coming any time soon.

 

[teach1rusl]

Haven't a clue! I guess if I was looking, I'd ask around at my local feed stores for such a person. I wonder what someone would charge for processing a few birds? I'll have to keep an eye out for responses...

 

[easttxchick]

Some people suggest your local 4H-I don't know if they charge or not, but maybe you could call your local high school and check on that option.

 

[dawg53]

You might want to check with a local butcher. Someone at a feed store might know someone who does it. You can also ask anyone in the meat department at a grocery store if they could do it ,"on the side " for you. Perhaps a local farmer in your area could do it also.

 

[chixie]

If your local school had future farmers of american ... they may do it. or maybe they can point you in the right direction

 

[Sunny Side Up]

You might want to have this moved to the Meat Birds Etc section. There are a lot of folks there who can help instruct & support you if you decide to learn this skill on your own. You may also find someone who lives near you, who would do your processing for a share of the meat, or could come give you hands-on instruction. I would, if you're in South Florida!

Another option is to find a professional processing place, there are many communities with places that will process your birds for a small fee.

 

[ThePamperedPullet]

Where do you live? Maybe there is someone on here that is close to you that can process for you.
You will want to cull them out at under a year for the best taste and most tender.
Don't make pets of the extras.
Processing will depend on how you want to process. We went from plucking for a whole chicken down to two breast filets and two hind quarters because we don't care for the skin and we dont ever eat the back meat. So now I can process one out in under two minutes and don't even have to gut it.

 

[chikadeedoodah]

I will definitely look into these options, thanks! Any idea how to "move a post" since I may get some more help in the meat birds section?
Thanks again, just love this forum. So many people eager to help and supportive!!

 

[chikadeedoodah]

Quote:
I wish we lived closer! 2minutes!!! I'm impressed. The next group cannot be "pets" because seriously I'm going to end up with an little retirement home for chickens if we keep this up!

Edited to say:
BTW, I live in Northern Virginia - in case there are any local experts out there!

 

[scarter]

I've only heard though word of mouth. There is a lady that does it around me if you get on her calendar when you actually have your birds. She charges 2 dollars per bird. We've never used her because we're cheap and do it ourself. If we actually had more than 10 at a time we'd probably get someone else to do it that could go faster than us.