Market Farming

["Shelley Pasco" <whistle AT halcyon.com>]

My butcher didn't do chickens until last year. They don't slaughter, just
cut & wrap meats for their customers, including game animals. They do my
pigs. I guess they got enough interest in poultry processing that they
decided it was worth their while to do chickens and turkeys.

They charge $1.25 to kill/pluck/gut fryers, $1.50 for stewing hens, $1.75
for roosters. Add 25¢ for bagging each bird, and 50¢ if you want your bird
frozen. They did a pretty decent job on the 30 cull hens I sent them last
fall. You have to give them 100 birds per batch, so if you have less birds
than that you get put on a list until they collect 100 birds to justify the
setup.

I wouldn't be raising fryers this year if my butcher hadn't gone into the
poultry processing business, because I don't have the time or inclination
right now to get into the processing end. You might pester your butchers to
do the same thing. USDA plants are a different story. I wouldn't want any of
my animals in a USDA processing plant anyway.

Shelley
Whistling Train Farm
Kent, WA