Chicken processing

Myke Russel and Kathryn Cody, owners of November’s Harvest Farm in Limington, preparing for a chicken processing workshop at the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association’s eighth annual Farm and Homestead Day in Unity. | Photo by Sam Schipani If you want to raise birds for meat, backyard chicken

Follow along on meat chicken processing day. Raising and butchering our own chickens isn't the easiest way to get good meat, but it is healthy and safe.

Processing chickens -- otherwise known as butchering chickens -- at home means putting healthier birds on the dinner table.

You’ve decided to raise and process your own meat chickens. Be prepared with this guide to all the poultry processing equipment needed.

Learn how to butcher a chicken so you can have food for you and your family this year. Basic tools for your own backyard processing day.

So tell me. What do you see here? "Well", you say, "I see a U-Haul truck that rolled off the assembly line sometime back when Milli Vanilli was a really cool music act, ole Ron Reagan was riding off into the sunset, and Freddy Kreuger was scaring the hell out of a whole generation of pre-teens. Oh yeah, and the aforementioned truck also looks like someone spent a little quality time gettin' jiggy with a DeWalt sawzall..." Um. Okay. Correct on all counts. But dude. Let's take a look in the…

Learn how to butcher chickens from your backyard for meat consumption. The step-by-step photos will guide you through.

We had our first experience slaughtering chickens on the homestead and it went down differently than what we had thought. Here's what it was like!

The rules for the exact day, weight, or age to slaughter a chicken. Here's what to consider when planning your chicken processing day.