WOW! This is going to be great!

Fowler wrote:I like the Chanteclers (of course) but the last few years I have tried Buff Orpingtons and Silver Laced Wyandottes and both have really impressed me.

The Wyandotte is a very pretty bird in my estimation.

Kim, go into your profile and under signature is where you can type in what you would like to appear after your post, hope this helps, smiling. Beautiful days, CynthiaM.

Thanks...did you get my email yesterday regarding the coup?

There are two licenced processors in your area. One is at Pitchard and the other at Pinatin. Both do good jobs.

Yes...Thanks...I met the lady in Pritchard when I went to the Farm2Chef gathering a week ago or so...I suggested maybe she could show me how to clean chickens...I don't think she was too keen on that...

Kim from Kamloops, yes we say words like slaughter, butcher, cull, kill, gutting, skinning, cleaning, plucking, cooling and order out for pizza. This is THE PLACE to discuss such things and often there is no 'delicate' way to say something and besides, the business of making your own food, while it must be done with the strictest ethics and eye to humane handling in every aspect, is often indelicate.

I do not think you can learn how to kill(process from living to bagged) a bird by watching youtube. Once I made a pillowcase from a youtube tutorial and I had to watch it 20 times and have the computer right beside the sewing machine. This is not likley to happen when you have a flapping bird in your hands! Your best bet, if you want to do it yourself, is to find some kind soul who will allow you to watch and then make you help! This will help you decide whether this is something you want to do yourself or forget it, you will truck your birds to a processor.

If you plan to sell your birds to the public you MUST take them to a processor, you have no legal choice. You must also know that in BC, as a non-quota holder, you are only allowed to raise X number of birds per year for your own use. This number changes province to province but I think BC has one of the lowest allowable numbers. I am not certain what that number is...someone else will know.

Hubby and I do our own birds. Hubby is a reluctant butcher, but very skilled at it. We shipped our birds off once years ago and were horrified by the careless and brutal way they were handled. Never again! I want to know how my birds die, and it better be quick and low key. We ensure this by doing it ourselves. You also have to know that panic and stress in ANY animal can negatively affect or even ruin the meat. So it is not enough to raise an animal well, if you stress it at slaughter time, you are shooting yourself in the foot. How they die is every bit as important to a good product as how they lived!

So ask any and all questions, none are stupid. We all started somewhere and this is about learning and doing!

Yes...I recently heard of this quota you speck of...have yet to find out what that is and I believe I need to contact the ministry of Agriculture to do that? I do know about the processor if selling to the public and also the way in which they are handled,humainly is very important to me...My intention is primarily to feed my family and maybe some friends to start and see where it takes us...I better get on the quota thing before I start buying chicks!

.

My goddness Tara, you do have a wealth of useful links. thanks.

I thought the non quota number was 200 for BC, but one chicken won't make much difference. It is 99 for layers.