Thanks so much. Appreciate you watching. We'll be doing more videos in the future talking about how much we spend and what we expect to make on the selling side.
I’ve read that the processed birds need to “chill” 24 hours before freezing to alleviate rigor mortis or they end up tough. I’ve processed some that were tough. They were frozen immediately after processing/cutup. Trying to learn from others actual experiences.
for some reason, I thought if you were selling the processed chickens for meat, you had to have them processed at a USDA certified processing plant? or do you just have to have someone come out and inspect your setup? Have you ever taken chickens to be processed by someone else? I want to ask a question that may seem stupid, but I'm going to ask it just the same... When we do our first couple of batches of chickens, I was thinking of taking them to have them processed, even if they are only for our own consumption. We would probably do about 50 chickens. So I guess my questions are... if you have ever had chickens processed, in your experience, is it worth it to do just 50 chickens? and the other question is, I am wanting to do some experiments with open feed vs regulated feed and feeding the same amount of food over a longer time (while freeranging) vs the same amount of food over a shorter time to see what the processed weight is. But I am concerned about chickens getting mixed up. even just among ours if being brought to process at the same time. So I was thinking of banding their legs before taking them to be processed and asking them to leave the legs on so that we can weigh them after processing and get good results. But would that even work? Will a processor leave the legs on? and process them with tags on their legs? Btw, thanks for the great content!
Hey Richard. Great questions. So first off, every state has their own requirement around "on farm" processing. Here is a resource that gives you an idea of what each state requires. onpasture.com/2017/07/10/state-by-state-poultry-processing-laws/ We are in NC so we must have the NC Dept. Of Ag. come our and inspect our set-up, have a water test done and we can sell to the public in NC only. We can't sell across state lines. (Bootleg chicken so to speak! haha). NC had 1 USDA inspected facility that did poultry but they closed a couple of years ago. We did have someone process our birds for us in our first year. He had an exemption to process for other farms and about halfway through the first year, he got out of the processing business. We bought his equipment for a real deal so it worked out great in the end. Besides, I'd rather do them myself so I know that appropriate care and quality have gone into the processing. Now, to your other questions. First off on having someone do 50 birds for you, yes I would. If it is your first time and you don't have the equipment, I'd have someone do them. It is A LOT of work to process chickens and 50 chickens is A LOT of chickens to process if you don't have the right equipment. If you try to do it yourself, you will never raise another bird in your life. If you can find someone to do them, ask to help. You need to get the experience and learn how to do it going forward and you can't google experience. Jump in there and help. On your experiment question, you probably would be better to do individual groups at a time and only process one group instead of banding. A processor is going to want/need to move quickly and will probably be frustrated trying to keep bands on. Also they may be torn or broken off in the plucker. Honestly, we've tried a number of different feeding arrangement and they all actually work out about the same. If you want a big bird fast, feed it all it wants when it wants. If you want a smaller bird or slower bird, feed it less and feed it slow. That goes for Cornish X, Freedom Rangers, Red Rangers and Color Yields. I really appreciate the question. Made me put on my thinking cap and we absolutely LOVE helping other folks on their journey and in their farm enterprises. Keep me posted on how things go for y'all!!!
My wife and I started a small farm and wanted to raise some chickens in the same way. My state allows 1000 birds to be processed on farm with similar set up as yours I was looking for some advice on lability insurance to cover meat sold that was not usda inspected I have made some calls only to be laughed at Thanks
Love how informative & candid you guys are. Great for the start-up-ers
Thanks so much. Appreciate you watching. We'll be doing more videos in the future talking about how much we spend and what we expect to make on the selling side.
Volume isn't very good
Your really on it thanks for the info I hope one day I can be on your level
You can do it. If I can anyone can.
I’ve read that the processed birds need to “chill” 24 hours before freezing to alleviate rigor mortis or they end up tough. I’ve processed some that were tough. They were frozen immediately after processing/cutup. Trying to learn from others actual experiences.
Thank you for the video to learn from!
Thanks. Appreciate y’all watching
for some reason, I thought if you were selling the processed chickens for meat, you had to have them processed at a USDA certified processing plant? or do you just have to have someone come out and inspect your setup? Have you ever taken chickens to be processed by someone else?
I want to ask a question that may seem stupid, but I'm going to ask it just the same...
When we do our first couple of batches of chickens, I was thinking of taking them to have them processed, even if they are only for our own consumption. We would probably do about 50 chickens. So I guess my questions are... if you have ever had chickens processed, in your experience, is it worth it to do just 50 chickens? and the other question is, I am wanting to do some experiments with open feed vs regulated feed and feeding the same amount of food over a longer time (while freeranging) vs the same amount of food over a shorter time to see what the processed weight is. But I am concerned about chickens getting mixed up. even just among ours if being brought to process at the same time. So I was thinking of banding their legs before taking them to be processed and asking them to leave the legs on so that we can weigh them after processing and get good results. But would that even work? Will a processor leave the legs on? and process them with tags on their legs?
Btw, thanks for the great content!
Hey Richard. Great questions. So first off, every state has their own requirement around "on farm" processing. Here is a resource that gives you an idea of what each state requires. onpasture.com/2017/07/10/state-by-state-poultry-processing-laws/
We are in NC so we must have the NC Dept. Of Ag. come our and inspect our set-up, have a water test done and we can sell to the public in NC only. We can't sell across state lines. (Bootleg chicken so to speak! haha). NC had 1 USDA inspected facility that did poultry but they closed a couple of years ago.
We did have someone process our birds for us in our first year. He had an exemption to process for other farms and about halfway through the first year, he got out of the processing business. We bought his equipment for a real deal so it worked out great in the end. Besides, I'd rather do them myself so I know that appropriate care and quality have gone into the processing.
Now, to your other questions. First off on having someone do 50 birds for you, yes I would. If it is your first time and you don't have the equipment, I'd have someone do them. It is A LOT of work to process chickens and 50 chickens is A LOT of chickens to process if you don't have the right equipment. If you try to do it yourself, you will never raise another bird in your life. If you can find someone to do them, ask to help. You need to get the experience and learn how to do it going forward and you can't google experience. Jump in there and help.
On your experiment question, you probably would be better to do individual groups at a time and only process one group instead of banding. A processor is going to want/need to move quickly and will probably be frustrated trying to keep bands on. Also they may be torn or broken off in the plucker. Honestly, we've tried a number of different feeding arrangement and they all actually work out about the same. If you want a big bird fast, feed it all it wants when it wants. If you want a smaller bird or slower bird, feed it less and feed it slow. That goes for Cornish X, Freedom Rangers, Red Rangers and Color Yields.
I really appreciate the question. Made me put on my thinking cap and we absolutely LOVE helping other folks on their journey and in their farm enterprises. Keep me posted on how things go for y'all!!!
My wife and I started a small farm and wanted to raise some chickens in the same way. My state allows 1000 birds to be processed on farm with similar set up as yours I was looking for some advice on lability insurance to cover meat sold that was not usda inspected I have made some calls only to be laughed at Thanks
We have general liability for the farm. Not sure who the carrier is. Saundra is the manager of that side of the business.
You don't singe the carcasses (to remove the fine hair) after plucking?
How old were pigs? What breed? Thks for video!!
We process at 6 - 7 months old. They are a Berkshire/ Duroc cross. Appreciate y’all watching
Couldn't you feed the guts to the pigs? Good idea or bad?
I guess you probably could. We just compost them. Its easy and makes for good garden soil.