Butchering in city limits?

[teriz1091]

My husband & I had to move from our quiet country home back into town last fall. We had butchered meat birds a couple times at the old house. I really like putting meat in the freezer myself, knowing where it came from & how it was killed/processed.

Has anyone butchered birds in town? Our yard is privacy fenced, not visible from the street. I get the birds from the state university’s poultry unit as ready to butcher 7 week olds, so I don’t have to raise them. I keep them a day or two until I can butcher them on the weekend.

My concern is someone calling animal control or the police if they were to see us butchering 25ish birds in the yard.

Should I still go ahead with putting meat in the freezer myself or give in & get the more expensive grocery store meat?

 

[PirateGirl]

I would look into your town ordinances. Some towns permit it and some don't. This would be a good starting point. If it is permitted, I agree that you are wise to take your neighbors into consideration. I would look into making it as private as possible. Considering your relationship with your neighbors, it might even be worth a chat with the closest one, perhaps offering to butcher a bird for their family if they wanted to purchase one from the university (not sure how it works) would smooth things over. You definitely wouldn't want to catch a close neighbor by surprise with this and if you are up front about it I like to think it would go more smoothly.

 

[itsmyguess]

Just don’t advertise what your doing . (Out of site out of mind).

 

[Mosey2003]

If nobody can see in, what's the harm?

 

[cassie]

It is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. When you butcher, make sure you do it out of sight, have a place to dispose of the innards, and do what you have to in order to keep feathers from flying around.

This last is general advice. If you ever find it necessary to learn what the laws and ordinances are about anything, don't just ask an official, any official, what they are. Insist on getting the code numbers and look them up yourself. I have learned that very often what the official tells me the law is and what the law is are very often not at all the same.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I'd want to look up the laws and regulations myself, not just trust what an official says. Your librarian could probably help with this.

Cassie brings up a good point too, disposing of the innards. Some garbage pick-up services have rules against disposing of dead animals or butcher byproducts in the trash. 25 birds would have a lot of innards. This could trip you up so have a plan.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Could you google your local ordinances? That way nobody has to know what you're doing until you've educated yourself. Privacy is a big issue in this matter; I'd encourage you to make certain no children are going to stumble upon the sight or sounds of the activities and possibly be traumatized by something they don't understand or aren't prepared for.

As for the offal, although we live out in the sticks and could toss our food scraps out into the forest and nobody would care, we bundle it up into the freezer until trash pick-up day instead. That way we don't lure raccoons or 'possums to our house and don't have to live with the smell ourselves from week to week. I learned this little trick from a city-dwelling friend who didn't like odors in his kitchen. Good luck!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I bury the offal in the garden. I just put it in places I won't be digging for a couple of months. That's not always feasible in suburbia though, a neighbor might call the cops and say you are burying something suspicious.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

I bury the offal in the garden. I just put it in places I won't be digging for a couple of months. That's not always feasible in suburbia though, a neighbor might call the cops and say you are burying something suspicious.

Lol!

 

[Mrs. Light Sussex]

I've been butchering in LA for years. Closed garage and no one was the wiser.