Our broilers are bought from Ideal as 'day-old' (really hours old) and are raised and processed under my control from birth to your table. Our special brooder house allows for them to be on grass (depending on weather) in a few days, which is important, since many chicks spend a month or more in the brooder and broilers are processed at 8-9 weeks old (that means regular broilers, even as pastured, spend half their life inside). This way the birds are getting natural inputs from the very beginning, which makes the meat more nutritious with better muscle tone.
Their feed is specially crafted, using non-GMO feeds (organic is not sustainably available in this part of Texas yet, but I am developing contacts) and nutritional balance. However I cannot emphasize enough that the most important part of their diet is fresh pasture and sunshine; this makes the biggest difference between pastured birds and factory birds (organic or otherwise).
Processing is the biggest issue for clean birds. Most USDA processing plants use machinery to 'mechanically eviscerate' the birds, which breaks open internal organs and contaminates the birds and machinery. This is simply unacceptable to me. I work hard to raise the cleanest birds possible and will not have them ruined in the eleventh hour. Processing the birds one at a time by hand does not compromise the organs (intestines and gallbladder) and for a small operation like mine is not time or labor restrictive. The laws are problematic in this regard, although I am working to build a inspectible facility that does not compromise my ideals. Ironically the main problem is that inspection dictates a closed in facility, when darkness and dampness are the biggest problems for disease in processing. Making an open air building would eliminate this, but it is against the current laws. You need not worry, I will make sure the integrity of our birds is kept up so that you have the cleanest bird possible.
Here is our processing system: Upper left is Kirby, who bleeds out the chickens. Since chickens do not have nerve endings on their neck, they do not really know anything is happening, the blood just stops coming to their brain. Next, upper right, Mark scalds the chickens to loosen feathers and puts them in the plucker. He also removes the heads and feet. Lower left shows yours truly pulling out organs and preparing the birds for final inspection. Lower right shows George, Annie and Joey making sure everything is right. The birds then are chilled in ice water to bring body temperatures down close to freezing for about 90 miutes, followed by bagging and freezing. You can see by these pictures that processing can be a natural and fun adventure!
For more information on factory type farming, along with an entertaining video, see http://www.themeatrix.com
