I've talked to the honey abt raising meat birds and his only question is what to do with all the entrails and stuff that you don't use. And what about the blood splatter? Do you create a place for execution day? I would think there would have to be some heavy duty clean up to avoid having vermin in the yard looking for leftovers. It seems the more I read about the processing day and the more pics I see talking about it, the more I seem to feel desensitized to the whole process. The first would be the hardest I'm sure but I'd like to know about where its all done, what to do with unused parts, and the clean up.
some parts are great for fishing, eating (FRIED!!!), or thrown into a compost pile...you could always put them in a trash bag and dump it
I now live in an area where there are great number and variety of predators. When we moved here 15 years ago, our 19 year old cat died, so we wraped her in a couple of plastic bags and buried her under an old oak tree about 2 feet deep. Two days later we found the grave site dug up and her body eaten. My next door neighbor buried a sheep that the coyotes killed about 5 feet deep, since he has a backhoe, 2 days later it was dug up by the coyotes and devoured. We used to compost all of the chicken guts and feathers in our previous home, but no more. We use garbage cans lined with large black plastic bags and dispose of them in the Garb'age. We also hose down the kill area for any blood spatter and then spray the area with Pinesol. Have fun.
I choose to go to a processor an pay $2.each and not deal with the mess. But if you really want to process on your own you could put the aftermath in the trash,far away in a feild(with permission of coarse)predators would love it.I don't think I would put it with your regular compost(rats). For the area you could put down a tarp(blood splatter),or I would do it when your grass is high then mow afterwards.If you had a bagger,that would be great.Then lime it too. Either way you'll have to deal with it if you process yourself.25 birds can be 2-3 five gallon pails worth. Will
I am still trying to find a processor in my area. I am a minimum 2 hours from Tarrytown, NY. I was told there was a place in Providence, RI which is much closer (abt an hour) but still a ride with 25 chickens.
Will, We do that at my folks ranch. If we have any meat scraps or bones, we put them out away from the house for the buzzards. Sounds strange, but they are so much fun to watch and they always keep an eye out for Momma coming out with goodies. We can hardly get back in the house before they come investigating. When we butcher at home, we put the entrails and skin and feathers in the garbage. It works best to time the butcher day for the day before trash day. That way your garage doesn't smell like something died. I just ordered 25 broilers from Ideal for next week. Their site says they don't have any, but that is for huge orders. If you want a small order, they can probably fit you in. My long suffering DH who loves me very much is going to put up with the "bird smell" in his garage. I guess he won't be going into the garage for the next 6-8 weeks.
I build a nice wood fire in my burn barrel before I start processing. Then I throw EVERYTHING into it- feathers, guts, heads, all of it. The key is to have a hot fire and throw it in in small batches as you go. It works great. I was worried that there would be an awful smell or black smoke, but there was no problem at all. WAY easier than digging holes or carting it all off into the woods, and less gross than saving it in garbage bags. I drain my birds into a wheelbarrow full of woodchips, then dump them into the barrel when I'm done. Then rinse the area down with a hose.
I've got to find a processor here in Phoenix or start selling birds. The older I get, the less I like the thought of processing birds... and I did hundreds when I was a kid... we didn't pluck, we skinned! We'd give the heart, liver, lungs etc.... to the dog. He loved processing day. And we had a little corner in our feed room that was always spattered with blood.
I put everything into the wheelbarrow and dump at the back of my woods. Wild animals eat everything except the feathers. It only takes a couple days and everything is gone, except the feathers which never seem to decompose.
what a good question!..i have a small yard and i was wondering about all the blood and such....thanks for asking this question!..i can get rid of the remains/extra organs...its the blood scent i am wondering about!!......., Wendy
