This is tentative right now because I need to talk to a guy when I go to work Saturday. He apparently has butchered before and had been wanting some birds for that purpose.

Sooo...being the brilliant :lol: schemer that I am, I have decided (and convinced DH! ;)) that we should get some birds for our family, afte seeing that Tyson is now starting to outsource to China :drop: and also the fact that we don't really KNOW where those birds come from.

BUT I don't think I can do the butchering myself. Well...I think I could...but don't think I could take all of the stuff out, etc.

Anyway, I'm going to talk to this guy Saturday and see if I raise them (cornish x, I think), if he'd consider butchering and keeping part of the birds. I'm just not sure what to offer in terms of how many birds or if I should offer $ instead/as well?

One thing I know is that I have to get a freezer if I'm going to do that! hehe

I WOULD like to watch him do at least a few, though just in case I decide to do it later...but not sure.

Maybe this is just a completely bad idea. I dunno. :eyes:

OK, totally just lurking here.

But what would make it a bad idea? Sounds brilliant to me!

Well...for one thing, I kinda feel like if I'm going to eat it, I should learn how to do the deed myself.

Then the whole if I'm not doing it myself, I don't know how fresh/good it is, etc., etc.

Plus I don't want anything to happen so either of us feels we didn't get a good deal since we work together.

BUT this is a work mate and actually believes in a lot of things that I do farm wise so I honestly think it would all be good.

If I am understanding, you would do the purchase and raising and he the butchering? It depends ont he quantity you re talking I think, but my initial thought was he gets one out of every three birds butchered. See what that would work out to per lb for you and what the total dollar value of his payment would be, and see if that works for you.

If you're going to assist and i think you should just cuz well, I dunno, maybe he's dumb about it. lol.

I mean I've heard stories that are just....gah. My own il's bought 50 birds that were butchered....uh, no, they were gutted and missing heads. Geezzz, who knows if they even bled them out and the feather's at that stage must have been a nightmare.

oh, I took it off topic....who me? Anyway, if you're going to assist, I'd add that into the equation too.

I like the 1 of every 3 birds...Or if you're assisting, 1 of every 4.

For me, it's the kill that's inhibiting my meat bird purchase at the moment. so yeah, I'd raise a bird for someone if they'd kill 3 or 4 for me.

Typical rate around here is $3.50 per bird for processing. In another thread I started I have all our calculations - we went through more feed but the birds are bigger than we thought so I'd say maybe $1.50/lb is a generous estimate for Cornish x raised organically on pasture. At typical weight of 5 lb that means $7.50 per bird is your cost. So one out of every 3.

I'll sound like a horrible homesteader here, but the price is honestly not even a factor for me. I have learned (mostly) with raising birds that I'm not going to really save money. hehe It's all about the health part for me and just the knowledge that I know where it came from, how it was treated, etc.

So...a guy I know has offered to do it with me. I think I'll still ask the guy at work what he thinks since he definitely wanted some. BUT we'll see. I am shocked DH is all thumbs up about it because normally he absolutely does not agree or support me getting more birds! hehe Thanks to whoever (cannot remember!) posted about them bleaching birds before they sell them. You should have seen his face! hehe And then the possibility that they are outsourcing Tyson to China? Yeah...it's time to do things close to home!

I posted that. And yeah, talk to Marina about Tyson's practices here at home. She lives next to a Tyson chicken farm. :shudder:

Dh did 12 birds yesterday. :) I'm very proud of him. I was at work.