Teaching how to process.....

[sunnyvera]

I would love to be able to process my own birds, my hubby would freak out, (I clean the fish in my family). We have a lady near us who charges $3.50 to process. I pick them up in a nice plastic freezer bag (not frozen, of course). That is a very good price - can't buy anything that quality in a store for 3X the price. I hope she keeps doing it. It is not worth it to me for that price.

 

[booker81]

Well, I contacted the Ag Dept for MI, and got a nice response back, AND a really cool PDF that really makes it easy to understand the licensing laws and exemptions.

Here's the pdf:

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/oppde/rdad/fsisnotices/poultry_slaughter_exemption_0406.pdf

(EDITED TO PUT THE RIGHT LINK!!!)

Here's the email I got:

On Tue, Mar 8, 2011 at 2:21 PM, Butcher, Tracy (MDA) <[email protected]> wrote:

Jennifer,

The Michigan Department of Agriculture does not regulate classes. I do not believe there are any laws against what you want to do. I've attached a document from the USDA website with poultry processing guidelines. If you have any more questions, feel free to call me or the USDA at 248-968-0230.

Thanks,

Tracy Butcher
Food Safety Inspector
Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development
[email protected]
Cell: 248-867-0050

________________________________
From: Loney, Bonnie (MDA)
Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2011 8:42 AM
To: Butcher, Tracy (MDA)
Cc: Walker, Sandra (MDA)
Subject: I-Jennifer XXXXX-Livestock question

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto[email protected]]
Sent: Tuesday, March 08, 2011 6:26 AM
To: MDA-Info
Subject: Michigan Department of Agriculture Feedback (ContentID - 85723)

name: Jennifer XXXX
phone:
email: [email protected]
subjecttype: Livestock Question
message:

Good morning,

I live in XXXXXXXXX Twp, XXXXXXXXX County. I have a few chickens for eggs, and raise a few for meat. I've also been picking up unwanted chickens from people in order to process and use them for personal consumption (for free). I do this to keep them from dumping unwanted birds (mainly roosters).

I would like to have an informal class at my home, with my meat chickens, and invite others to learn how to process a chicken at home, so others can learn how to do so, due to the demand I've encountered to learn how.

I would not supply the meat to the participants. I would like to charge (say $5) for coming, but no meat would be received.

I have experience in food safety and microbiology, and follow good food safety standards.

Are there laws against this? Is there a sort of disclaimer I could use? (I know the participants would need to understand if they process they CANNOT sell the meat. Only stock processed in a licensed facility can be sold).

I'm not a large operation. I'm only raising enough meat chickens for my family's consumption.

Thank you,
Jennifer
[email protected]​

 

[booker81]

Also, I'm thinking about having the class with my meaties, to just keep from any contamination coming in from people's feet etc.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

My neighbor first showed my friend & I how to process chickens. I had 3 surplus cockerels that day, we all did them together, my neighbor wouldn't even take one of the finished birds for himself when we were done. Since then, my friend & I have processed a lot of chickens by ourselves, and each time have figured out a way to make the next session go even easier & faster.

I am always willing to pay it forward by showing others how to process. I'm not that organized or ambitious to try to set up a class or advertise for business. But if you want to do that, it seems that there's nothing in the laws of your state to stop you.

I have had folks ask me how much I'd charge to process their roosters for them, or how much I'd sell a finished bird of my own to them. I always answer that they couldn't pay me enough to do all that messy work for them while they sat in the air conditioning waiting for their finished chickens. BUT, I am very glad to have them work alongside me and share the chore. I'll even do the killing part, if they're too squeamish to do that. I just ask them to bring a cooler of ice, maybe some cold drinks for us, plastic bags for the finished birds, and maybe a share of the meat if they've supplied the birds.

If you're in or near Palm Beach County, FL, contact me if you want to learn how to process a chicken!

 

[bluere11e]

Quote:
Carol,
You know I'm the first person in line when you ar ready! It's funny. In a passing conversation.. I was told" Killing your birds is illegal and cruel". This from a guy that goes fishing everyweekend and eats his catch??

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Yup, I do plan to contact you at the beginning of April. I have a pen of cockerels getting nice & ripe!

I tell folks that if you don't kill your chickens to eat them then they'll keep hopping out of the soup pot or running away off your plate...

 

[PurpleChicken]

A few of us have done processing demos at Chickenstocks. People seemed to enjoy them and learn a lot. I've also split chicken, turkey, and duck orders with some of those people and when they were ready for the freezer we had processing parties. It worked out great and we had a good time too.