[cathangirl]

Hello Grannie Annie and Muntjac,
I was going to pm you, but thought the question may be of interest to others on here.

Do you withhold food from birds which are to be killed for the table, please?  If so, for how long?

Many thanks,
cathangirl

[GrannieAnnie]

Hi Cathangirl, Brian and I only withhold food from the turkeys for 24 hours, but they still have their water.  With the chickens, we just don't feed them the day Brian culls them.

Okay, so they may have a bit of food in their crop, but that's not a problem for Brian!

[cathangirl]

That's lovely, Annie.  Many thanks for your prompt reply.

They aren't ready yet, but doing my home-work whilst the brain is in gear, lol.

cathangirl

[SMD66]

we let ours go to bed then remove the food and kill them early morning.  The crop is usually pretty empty then.  I suppose the intestine will be more, 'cleaned out' after 24 hrs though.

[cathangirl]

SMD66,
I had never thought of withholding food from them, but had read somewhere that folk do, so thought I had better check.
cathangirl

[agapanthus]

We never bother! Munt say.....'even a condemned man gets a last meal!!!!' 

[Aunt Sally]

Do people withold food so that there is less in the gut and therefore making it easier to remove it without damage contaminating the meat ?

[SMD66]

we only withdraw food so they don't get breakfast that morning otherwise the crop is full and it makes a right mess!  It is true though that the gut is emptier too so less chance of contamination.
When we take our pigs we don't give them breakfast so that the intestine and stomach isn't full for the slaughter man.

[cathangirl]

Again, many thanks for all your replies.
cathangirl

[GrannieAnnie]

Good luck with it Cath!!!