Pre-processing quarantine?

[deuce11705]

We have four extra roos that we have decided to dispatch. We were told that we should quarantine them in the coop for a week before processing them. That way, they would not have been eating things on the ground/dirt and their systems would be cleared of anything they might have "picked up" (our coops are housed in a refurbished single-wide mobile home with the runs outside). Is quarantining them really necessary? This will be our first processing and I would like it to go as easy as possible. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have never heard of that. Many people keep the birds thay are going to process locked up where they cannot eat anything for several hours (like overnight and just a little bit in the morning until you are ready to process) so the crop and intestines are empty. They do give water, just no food. That way, you have less chance of getting stuff on the meat you don't want there.

You have to lock them up where they cannot eat anything for this to do any good. If they can get to bedding or dirt, they will eat that and you have not accomplished anything.

Not everyone does this. I don't. If I get something on the meat I don't want, I just rinse it off well. It is going to be well cooked anyway so nothing is really going to hurt me, but I do try real hard to not get it messy to start with and I do, I rinse it well if I have an accident during processing.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I like to put my candidates in a cage the night before butchering, like Ridgerunner said, with water but no feed or access to anything to eat like grass. First of all, it's so much easier to catch them at night, and having them confined makes it easier to remove them one at a time to process. Why upset them by chasing them around to catch right before you dispatch them? Why make extra work for yourself?

Second, I do like to have their crops empty & hopefully most of their intestines. Sure, it's not the end of the world if you spill something on the carcass, but it's so much nicer if you don't.

And finally, why waste $$$ giving feed to a bird that he won't have time to convert to meat? Yeah, I'm that much of a cheapskate.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Quote:
You mean you don't recycle the contents of the gizzard and crop to the flock?

They can use that grit again, let alone the feed!!!