organic chicken meat

Discussion in 'Breeding, Raising, Feeding and Caring for Animals' started by clairec, Oct 21, 2010.

  1. clairec

    clairec New Member

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    After attending a recent sustainability workshop in our area (Nimbin Bioregion), it came to light that various small scale organic farmers would like to be selling their chickens for meat, but to our knowledge the nearest place we could get them slaughtered is Macksville - about 4 hours drive away. Is there anyone out there who may know of a mobile abattoir in this area or anyone selling organic chicken meat etc would love to hear from you. We eat our own chickens on the farm but it is illegal to sell them at farmers markets etc. Any advice would be welcome. Thanks
     
  2. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    Are you saying you have to get them slaughtered in an abbattoir to sell them? Not that i want to sell chicken meat but i am curious.
     
  3. clairec

    clairec New Member

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    Yes it seems to be so. This is difficult for small time producers who just want to sell a few chickens a week. Most abattoirs wont process chickens not raised in large commercial operations due to the risk of disease. Also, for chickens to be sold as certified organic, the water used in processing must be free of chlorine. Seems ironic as us small organic farmers have strong healthy stock! Also finding it very hard just to navigate the labyrinth of Govt rules and regs on this one which is why I posted this thread in search of any useful info.
     
  4. JoH

    JoH Junior Member

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    I have also been seriously thinking of raising some meat birds but am not sure if I can bring myself to "do the deed". The Macksville abbotoir is close to us - has anyone used an abbotoir for their chooks? do they have a minimum number of birds they will do at one time? Is the killing as humaine as it would be by a mobile butcher at home (or if I could get over it and do it myself). Really for me, I want to eat something that has had a happy healthy life that ended quickly and with minimum stress (for the bird not me!). Does anyone know of a mobile butcher in the coffs area? Once we get a bigger peice of land (hopefully next year) I want to raise pigs and "grass fed cows" (very hard to come by these days!)...... From the reading I have done it seems that abbotiors are closing all over the country in favour of the bigger more "American Style" killing factories - not something I want to support. I just watched the doco "Food Inc" and it made me so sick to the stomache that I am currently boicotting all supermarket meat, grain fed beef, chicken full stop and pork (untill I get to macksville where one of the butchers stocks free range!).
     
  5. sun burn

    sun burn Junior Member

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    I think boycotting is a good idea. I've been doing it for years, especially with pork and non-free range chickens. In short i gave up eating meat almost all of the time. Now i've given up on fish too due to the fish stocks problem.

    What about taking your chickens into a butcher shop? Would that suffice?

    The regulations are probably not fair. I've been thinking about the law against selling lately. They say you might get a bad egg for 1 in 30 000. Food legislation tends to go too far in this country and just serves to reinforce cruel practices. Although there are individuals who would also make a bad job of things, that's why i am not going to be the one chopping off my poultries head until i've watched it a few times. I would rather not do it at all but there won't always be someone else around to do it for me.
     
  6. JoH

    JoH Junior Member

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    I wouldn't have thought that a butchers shop would take live chickens or ones that still have their feathers as they would have very stringent food saftey regulations. If I am wrong, please let me know as that would be a fantastic option. I should ask my local butcher.
     
  7. clairec

    clairec New Member

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    To the best of my knowledge no butcher would take live chickens due to health & safety reg. A mobile butcher may do it but have only heard of them doing larger animals, not poultry. My research continues! Going to the local business enterprise centre next week - a govt dept to help small business operators negotiate the maze of govt depts!
     
  8. BobDa

    BobDa New Member

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    Hi Everyone,

    I know this is a very old thread but does anyone know if it is possible to sell organic chickens and whether abattoirs accept small numbers (a few chickens a week)? There seems to be a lot of laws around chickens and unless you are willing to factory farm them under contract for the large companies it is quite difficult. I'd be particularly interested to hear from anyone who knows about Victorian rules and abattoirs.

    Thanks in advance
     

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