Just thought I'd give people a heads-up -
I've had a nightmare of a time finding a poultry slaughterhouse in Kentucky that will process egg-laying breeds after 12 weeks of age. They claim that the new USDA regs have something to do with it, as well as the differences in digestive systems of egg-layers and meat birds after the age of 12 weeks causing contamination issues. This is totally new information to me. I'd had an appointment set up for my roosters since mid-May for mid-August only to get a call last week about the changes and their cancellation of my appointment to bring the birds in. Given the overpopulation of boys that I have, leaving things "as is" wasn't an option as they've been tormenting my girls - and myself, now - so I ordered a kill cone and set out to buy the rest of what I needed to process my birds here at home. We used to have a mobile processing unit in the state that was run by an older couple, but from what I've found out they're no longer in service. Only one poultry butcher that I've found in my state will still do kosher slaughters of egg-layers over 12 weeks of age, but they're about 4-5 hours away from me.
Has anyone else in other states heard of these changes as well? I'm rather interested why, all of a sudden, egg-layers older than 12 weeks are no longer being accepted. Even more interesting is that these businesses are pointing fingers hesitantly at the USDA.
I've had a nightmare of a time finding a poultry slaughterhouse in Kentucky that will process egg-laying breeds after 12 weeks of age. They claim that the new USDA regs have something to do with it, as well as the differences in digestive systems of egg-layers and meat birds after the age of 12 weeks causing contamination issues. This is totally new information to me. I'd had an appointment set up for my roosters since mid-May for mid-August only to get a call last week about the changes and their cancellation of my appointment to bring the birds in. Given the overpopulation of boys that I have, leaving things "as is" wasn't an option as they've been tormenting my girls - and myself, now - so I ordered a kill cone and set out to buy the rest of what I needed to process my birds here at home. We used to have a mobile processing unit in the state that was run by an older couple, but from what I've found out they're no longer in service. Only one poultry butcher that I've found in my state will still do kosher slaughters of egg-layers over 12 weeks of age, but they're about 4-5 hours away from me.
Has anyone else in other states heard of these changes as well? I'm rather interested why, all of a sudden, egg-layers older than 12 weeks are no longer being accepted. Even more interesting is that these businesses are pointing fingers hesitantly at the USDA.