Chicken meat is one of the readily available and highly demanded meats. Due to its high demand, they are grown commercially with the implication of necessary technologies. Normally the chickens are grown for commercial purpose at the so-called complex. The complex is a system consisting of feed mill, hatchery, processing plant and the farms where the chickens are raised. This will be usually occupying an area of 48-64 km radius when measured from the processing plant.
Usually the chicks are bought from the hatchery and the contract farmers keep them is the chicken houses that are climate-controlled. These chicken houses may occupy around 20,000 chickens. The inside part of the houses is open with no partitions or cages. It is from this place the chickens grow until it is time for slaughter. When they are old enough, they will be transferred to the so-called processing plant.
The hatchery is usually an open space with large area like the houses in which the broilers are raised. The difference between a hatchery and chicken house is that the hatchery has a number of small houses like partitions inside. The small house like partitions resembles the traditional and the old chicken coop. When the birds become ready to lay eggs, they go to the coop for shelter.
The eggs when laid are collected and taken for the incubation. The breeder hens are considered to be productive only for 45 weeks or so. They will then be slaughtered and be used by the food companies or for the purpose of feeding the pet animals. Incubation is the process of keeping the eggs in a warm environment. The eggs are usually placed in large sized walk-in incubators and are rotated occasionally with the help of machine.
It takes around 20 days for the eggs to hatch. After the eggs are hatched, the chicks are taken in a tray to an inoculation area where they given vaccines to fight against some common diseases. These vaccines are given in the form of a misty spray. The research proves that the chicken grown commercially is healthy and disease free.
After this they are kept in grow-out house which is normally kept at around 85° F with the help of ventilation and heating controls. At around 6 week’s time, the chicks would weigh about 4 lb. Now they become ready for slaughter. The chickens are collected and put in boxes. They are then taken by the workers and are hung by the feet on the conveyor belt. This procedure is carried out at the processing plant.
The birds hung on the conveyor belt are then passed through electrified salty water which is known as stun cabinet. Around 20 birds can be passed through this procedure in the stun cabinet at a time. They are allowed to be in that water for about 7 seconds. This electrified salt water paralyses or stuns the birds. Finally, they are passed to the automatic neck cutter that has rotating blades.
The carcass would be kept hung until the whole of the blood has drained. The skin is then treated by immersing with hot water in order to make the removal of feathers easy. They are then moved to the automatic feather pickers. The wing feathers are removed by the machine specialized for it.
The last step involves the cutting of the carcass and removing all its internal organs. Using a multiple nozzle sprayer, the carcass is washed in and out making it clean. Now the cleaned carcasses are immersed in the chiller with chlorinated water for about 40-50 minutes. They are then cut according formats and stored in temperature controlled warehouse.
The above mentioned steps illustrate how the chickens are grown commercially and then are made available in the markets. Some restaurants are exclusively known for its chicken dishes and preparations. The world’s leading dining restaurant called Applebee’s is even popular for applebees coupons and applebees gift certificates for making the dining experience more exciting and cost effective.