Georgia members needed

[shdybrady]

Does anyone in georgia have a place they recommend to have their chickens processed?

[FarmboyBill]

How many thousand you talking bout??

[Sonshine]

We don't have a big operation so we just process ours ourselves.

[shdybrady]

thats the problem. it will be 10 at most. Im not above doing it myself i just simply just dont know how

[unregistered41671]

Originally Posted by shdybrady

thats the problem. it will be 10 at most. Im not above doing it myself i just simply just dont know how

Lots of youtube videos dealing with that. Just go there and type in chicken processing or other variations of that.

[Sonshine]

How to Butcher a Chicken: Step 1: Getting Ready To Butcher

This will give you step by step instructions. How far are you from Warner Robins?

[BoldViolet]

You can do it, shdybrady! We're butchering this weekend at my house - first time I've ever done it.

[livinzoo]

In GA we are very limited. Independent Poultry Farmers Need More Options - Growing Georgia

[SteveO]

you can do it. We did 23 and never had done it before.
Just start out slow we did 2 the first day start early
We used a box cutter from Wallyworld it came in a 3 pack and had alarge enough handle for me to hold. Water should be 165 not 140 as some say. Take a trip to the poultry side they have lots of info.
Do notexpect your chickens to look like the store bought. our last few were close however. Most likely you remove the skin anyhow so worst case you end up with a skinned bird.
And most importantly no matter how it go's your chicken will be 100% cleaner and better tasting than the store bought.
Have fun
Steve

[wood1963]

I recently cleaned two of my birds, and it was really easy. I didn't use hot water, just plucked them while still warm, and the skin peeled right off. I'm trying to loose the fat anyways so I was fine with it. They were a little smaller than store bought, but it was amazingly satisfying to know I raised dinner. I recently bought an incubator at tractor supply and hatched 14 birds in the first round, nine in the next and just put in three eggs. Oh, I also got 8 duck eggs, but only two hatched. I got these more as an interesting novelty, but who knows, maybey I'll really like duck. Anyways, I have a bunch of birds now, and the first 14 are big enough to eat now. I want to keep the hens for laying and eat the young roosters. My problem is, how do you tell which are which? It's easy when fully mature, but these birds all look alike. I was hoping that they would have spurs or something, but not that I've seen so far. I've Hearn that you can have a fifty percent rooster rate, so I'm ready, but don't want to accidentally eat the layers.
I also got set up with rabbits this winter. I started with two does and a buck, and now have three does and two bucks. So far I've cleaned 11 young rabbits, and eaten two. It was a little tough as I watched them from birth and got a little too attached, but was easier with the second batch. The meat was amazingly good and lean. I vacuume bagged the rest and have them in the freezer. I just bred two more females, and should have babies in two and a half weeks again. I'm pretty new to the idea of killing and eating my animals, but feel with the economy/times the way they are, I wanted to learn how to do it before I may be forced to. I've also learned that it takes a while to get set up and running before you have dinner on the table. There is a learning curve, and takes time for the animals to mature enough to be good breeders. My best advice to shybrady is try cleaning one, it may be a skill that will keep your family fed one day.

[Ramblin Wreck]

I've not seen any kind of mobile butchering services around, and I've looked. Not into chickens, but I wish we had mobile butchers like I've read about from forum posters in other states. I'd much rather dispatch a beef right here on the place than send it to the butcher, for lots of reasons.