A broiler chicken's final day

In case you are curious.... there is a lot involved in the final day of the chickens' life

Day before slaughter:

At 4pm we gave the chickens one final bag of feed and inspected the flock for anything peculiar or out of order that might contaminate the flock as we transition them to the processing facility

At 9:30pm inspect the flock again.

Midnight - remove all feeders from the barn so the chickens have access to food. Chickens should not have eaten 12 hours prior to slaughter. This reduces the risk of the chicken's stomach exploding during processing and minimizes the amount of fecal matter being excreted during the slaughter. Both would contaminate the meat.

The food can't be removed too early or the internal cavity of the chicken will become either convex/concave (I can't remember which one, I just remember its not good) if they are too hungry.

Day of slaughter

5:00am Rise and Shine - we got chickens to catch. Its important not to stress the chickens as you are fielding them and prepping them for transport. Stress can traumatize a chicken to the point of death. Stress can also cause the meat to be more tough. Plus, caring and respecting these creatures is important. I have invested a lot of care and effort in to these lil guys.