So after they are all prepped all you do is rinse a final time right?
We do the kill, rinse for blood and dirt, skin or pluck the bird, then just a quick rinse to check that carcass is clean of skin/feathers, open bird up and gut them, rinse body cavity at cleaning table and double check that organs are all out and place bird in cold water/ice bath.
Then I do a final rinse under running water (with hands cleaned and/or fresh gloves from the first half of the process) and inspect for missed feathers, bones, blood, or anything else. Then we place in a large post and stash bird in spare fridge to set for a couple of days before quartering or packing whole.
Some of the rinsing could be done with 'dunk buckets' also, just make them big enough to swish the bird in. But water would have to be replaced often to avoid the yuck.
Should I Vaccinate MEAT BIRDS? if so which vacines?
We didn't have ours vaccinated... I would go with same thing you do for your other birds. Remember most are only going to be around for 6-12 wks, and most of that time probably in a 'meaty pen' rather than your regular coop area.
If you plan to house them with your other flock, then go with the quarantine and isolation precautions you normally use and are comfortable with.
I see a lot of images with people wearing Rain COATS!!
is it really this bloody? or are they the chopping heads flopping birds processors?
I would wear old clothes, and probably an apron or something like that just to make it easier to keep the feathers under control. Wet feathers stick to you like glue!! A plastic apron or covering of some type can just be rinsed off when it gets splattered with feathers or anything else.
Another benefit to apron... get one with a couple of large pockets... last thing you want to do is try to get into your pants pockets or jacket pockets with a messy glove on!
it sounds like some people don't isolate the birds before processing day. should I isolate or not? I have my rooster bachelor pads that I was going to isolate them in for a couple days and then set up processing around the corner from them. Also I don't have a sink that I could dedicate to cleaning. (I have OCD issues and it involves sanitized kitchens) So could we just use buckets. I have several buckets in mind for the various cleaning stages. Then a quick sanitize and refill for each bird. I would not want to do this with lots of birds.
We plan to place the birds into large crates the night before butchering after they settle down for the evening. They can sleep in them that night and in the morning we carry the crates to a staging area near where we will process. But out of sight of the activity or covered with a sheet or something...
Rinse buckets work... another option is setting up two or three medium coolers with ice water in them, dunk and swish in the first, then move to next and do it again. When the first gets pinkish or fouled then dump it and refill, place it into position 2 and swap cooler 2 into position one and continue.
The coolers work nice because they have a larger opening, keep the water cold and you can close the lids when they aren't needed to keep them clean and cold.
you metioning isolation just made me envision and think about something! no really I am thinking........
When I drop my roos off, wont they all fight each other in the cages? I know they will be dead soon so who cares but still that would suck!
I wouldn't put a bunch of roos together in a cage if they don't know each other, ones who are used to each other in the coop probably won't fight much, if at all. If the cages are covered so they stay darker it will help keep them calmer also.
