Poultry Harvest

Pre-Harvest Visit
After scheduling a harvest day with us, we will request the opportunity to pay a brief visit to your farm for a quick confirmation of the necessary logistics for processing day.  We will go through a short checklist of items to confirm that water, electricity, and access to livestock are all readily available.

Harvest Day

We will arrive before dawn to set up our equipment and begin the slaughter.  Birds are less active in the early morning hours of the day when the setting is typically quieter and more tranquil, which results in less stress for the birds.  Our process includes slaughter, scalding, plucking (de-feathering), evisceration (cleaning), and bagging.  Birds are packaged as whole birds (unfortunately we cannot perform any parting out of birds with our mobile services).  During evisceration you may also choose to keep any portion of the offal which includes the heart, liver, neck, gizzard, head and feet.  These items will be bagged separately from whole birds.  

Scheduling
Our poultry processing season runs from early spring through late fall.  Poultry processing is by appointment only and is typically conducted on weekends.  We can process batches as small as 5 birds or up to 50 birds in one day.  Batches of more than 50 birds will require additional days to process.  Please contact us as early as possible to schedule a harvest date.

Logistics
We are a mobile unit that provides custom processing at your location.  Each farm, homestead, and backyard are unique in their own way, however no matter the location we must have your cooperation to provide a few basic essentials to allow us to operate efficiently at the time of processing.  Below is a checklist of the items that we ask that you secure as part of our agreement:

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• Feed Withdrawal - Please withhold feed 18 hours prior to slaughter (maintain water supply!).  Doing this will significantly decrease the amount of excrement and result in a clean, safe product. Please set yourself a reminder to do this as it is easy to forget and by the time you remember it may be too late.  As we typically begin processing in early morning on appointment day, a good rule of thumb is to remove feed at 12:00 noon the day prior.

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• Water Supply – Our processing equipment requires a supply of running and pressurized water.  An outdoor water spigot is sufficient, as long as it is located within a reasonable distance from the location where the birds are contained.  We will supply all hoses.

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• Electricity – Access to a standard 110V electrical outlet located within a reasonable distance to the birds is required to operate our plucker and vacuum bagging equipment.  We will supply all extension cords.

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• Containment – Birds must be contained for ease of accessibility.  Normally free-ranging birds must be corralled and caged prior to our scheduled service time.  This is key not only for our operating efficiency, but it also ensures that birds have been restricted from feed (free-ranging birds cannot be guaranteed to have been restricted from feed or from foraging).  Please pre-plan to ensure that on the day of your scheduled harvest that your birds are contained in an area that will be accessible for our mobile slaughter trailer and will have access to pressurized water and a 110V electrical outlet.

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• Plan for Storage – Your freshly processed birds are now beautifully cleaned and bagged.  Now what?  Do you have a place to store and cool your birds?  After processing, it is critical that your birds be refrigerated at 40F to ensure rapid carcass cooling and inhibit bacterial growth. You DO NOT want to freeze your birds immediately after processing.  The carcass will undergo a period of rigor mortis (muscle contraction/tightening) and you do not want to freeze during this stage or the meat will be noticeably tough.  It is recommended to immediately chill birds after processing and then to transfer to the freezer only after a period of 24 hours (after rigor mortis), which will yield a more tender tasting bird.  We ask our customers to please plan in advance to have a means of refrigerating your birds as each bird comes off the bagging line of our process.  

For more information or to schedule processing, please contact:

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Jason Brake - Owner/Operator

​248.321.6548

Northern Path Meatworks

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