Live Poultry Markets

[Carrot Top]

Before organic chickens came packaged in plastic to our chain grocery stores, there were live poultry markets in many cities where one could go to pick out a bird, have it killed and cleaned, then take it home to cook.

The flavors of those birds (whether organically fed or not) was rich, stupendous, fantastic, enticing.

I remember markets in Little Italy in NYC, out near the water in Red Hook, Brooklyn. . .one in Bridgeport, Connecticut and one (naturally) in Paris.

Do they still exist anywhere?

[Gifted Gourmet]

Do they still exist anywhere?

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Nick's Poultry in the Bronx

Live poultry markets thrive in the United States despite competition from supermarkets, increased state regulation and growing concerns about the spread of a lethal new strain of avian influenza.

Almost any American city with a large immigrant population will have at least a few live bird markets. New York City has more than 80.

Just don't ask me to name them all ...

Newsday article

In New York City, live poultry markets try to overcome fears of bird flu

[Daniel]

Los Ranchos

In Elizabeth NJ.

They have live turkey's,chickens, rabbits, quail, pigs, whatever you want..

[MelissaH]

We were lucky enough to be in markets in Brugge, Belgium, and Amsterdam last week. At both markets, we saw stalls selling live poultry of all kinds, as well as rabbits. I never did get up the heart to ask whether these were intended as pets, food...or both.

MelissaH

[thebaker]

I have a market a few blocks from my house here in NYC

I have never eaten anything from there but I see it is allways crowded

They can get you whole sheeps and goats if you like aswell

[KatieLoeb]

There's a live poultry market in South Philadelphia that's a few doors up from La Lupe, a favorite Mexican restaurant. One nice afternoon, I was eating outside at La Lupe and could have sworn I heard a rooster crow. Needless to say, crowing roosters are not a sound one hears often in downtown Philadelphia. I blew it off as having come out of the open window of a nearby apartment from a television set turned up too loud. Then it happened several more times. Then I finally looked up and across the street and saw the cages outside of the market with the live chickens and ducks. I have yet to get up the courage to go there and purchase something, but it's definitely etched in my memory now.

[Lady T]

I'm aware of two in Chicago: one (Halal) on Granville (6200 N), east of the L tracks, and one (Kosher...I think) on Western (2400 W), just north of Devon (6400 N).

[herbacidal]

There's a live poultry market in South Philadelphia that's a few doors up from La Lupe, a favorite Mexican restaurant.  One nice afternoon, I was eating outside at La Lupe and could have sworn I heard a rooster crow.  Needless to say, crowing roosters are not a sound one hears often in downtown Philadelphia.  I blew it off as having come out of the open window of a nearby apartment from a television set turned up too loud.  Then it happened several more times.  Then I finally looked up and across the street and saw the cages outside of the market with the live chickens and ducks.  I have yet to get up the courage to go there and purchase something, but it's definitely etched in my memory now. 

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That's still there? I coulda sworn that's not there anymore.

I remember that one there when I was a wee lad.

[rlibkind]

When I lived in Hoboken in the mid-1970s I frequented a live poultry market in Jersey City (I have no idea whether or not it's still there). Should you buy a very recently deceased bird, let it sit in the fridge for a day before cooking. A bird that's too freshly killed isn't quite as fine to my taste.

[Jmahl]

When I was growing up in the Bronx I remember visiting Bathgate Avenue and the live poultry market - here is a story from 1937 that gives you the flavor although I was there ten years later. Great Story about Bathgate Ave

Is it there any more?

[srhcb]

Great Story about Bathgate Ave

Is it there any more?

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Wouldn't it be great if the "little girl in the long sweater" from the market read the story and contacted the author?

SB (hopelessly romantic)(on all too rare an occasion)

[DTBarton]

My parents lived in Holland for 5 years and I have fond memories of going to Antwerp on the weekends (less than an hour's drive from their home in southern Holland) and going to the bird market. I must admit, we didn't buy any live birds to wrestle with.

http://www.myantwerp.homestead.com/market.html

[jkonick]

There's one in San Francisco's Chinatown called Neverending Quail or something like that. It's truly bizarre - it's in the back of a long corridor, which starts out just looking like a seafood market from the front on the street. You go in, and past the buckets of live frogs and tanks of crabs is a little store front, and a giant window - literally, with never ending quails. There are just stacks and stacks of them in cages. I'm pretty sure they sell other sorts of birds than quails, but I couldn't tell. I think there may've also been rabbits for sale up front.

[Oceangroveguy]

I walked past one in Long Island City a few weeks ago. It was on or within a block or 2 of 33rd street.

I was in Hong Kong and Beijing last year, and saw several, but don't know that I'd get as close to them again as I did.....

[adinfinitu]

Chase Road Poultry is right up the street from me in Dearborn, MI. I've never been in the store, as I like my meat to be good and dead before I see it.

Edited January 30, 2006 by adinfinitu (log)

[eje]

There's a truckload (literally) of live chickens every Saturday at the Alemany farmers' market here in San Francisco.

We always, say, "look at all the nice chickens going to their new happy homes."

They also sell eggs (including duck balut) and occasionally chicks. (People don't actually eat chicken chicks, do they?)

They weren't particularly cheap, especially considering all the extra work. We asked once, and I believe they said it was something around $5 a chicken.

[Daniel]

Hello Thebaker,

Where can I find this poultry market thats in Manhattan.

[Carrot Top]

One thing I also remembered is that sometimes these places *are* listed in the Yellow Pages under "Live Poultry", by the way. . .so if you haven't actually seen one in your city, searching the Yellow Pages may be a way to find them, too. . . .

Karen (who finds the library first in any new town, then the live poultry market )

[allister]

There are quite a few live poultry markets in Flushing. Don't know about Manhattan.

[I_call_the_duck]

Oceangroveguy, I think the one you're talking about is on 31st Street around 36th Avenue, right under the N/W.

[mizducky]

I vaguely recall fellow San Diegan eGulleteer kalypso mentioning to me that she'd found a live poultry seller here, and I even more vaguely recall it was somewhere out on El Cajon Ave. heading out towards La Mesa, an area with a whole bunch of little ethnic groceries. I haven't had a chance to explore that area in-depth yet. Hopefully kalypso will look in here sooner or later and aid and/or correct my flaky memory...

One of the many tales my mom used to tell me of growing up in Manhattan's Lower East Side in the 1930s was of going with her mother to buy live poultry. I'm not sure of the exact location of the shopping district they frequented, but from her tales, the scene was much like Bathgate Ave., complete with pushcarts and vendors of street food--my mom's favorite childhood street-vendor treat was little paper cones of hot chickpeas. What she didn't like: when her mom (my Bubbe) would go to pick out a live goose, she would send my mom around the back of the cages to poke the geese from behind, so they'd quit all cowering in the corners where Bubbe couldn't see them properly. My mom hated poking the geese--they'd get nasty! I'm sure that entire scene vanished years ago. Sic transit gloria mundi, and all that.

[TongoRad]

I've seen quite a few live poultry markets throughout portions of NYC myself. I can't recall any in Manhhattan, but there are definitely a bunch of 'em in Queens, Brooklyn and da Bronx.

Now you got me curious- do you suppose that they would be willing to do the slaughtering and de-feathering for a fee, or do they leave all that to the consumer? There is one place near a favorite lunch haunt of mine that I'll have to poke my head into next time I'm there.

ETA: from the article on Nick's Poultry that Gifted Gourmet posted in the beginning of the thread it seems as though they give you the birds prepped and oven-ready. I'm pretty sure that Nick's is the one near Hunt's point in the Bronx, on the corner of Leggett and Southern Blvd.

Edited January 30, 2006 by TongoRad (log)

[Carrot Top]

They take care of preparing the bird for you.

There is special equipment that allows them to quickly slaughter, de-feather, and blanch for pinfeathers within a few brief moments while you wait. It is a cost that is built into the "price per pound".

As noted earlier in the thread, it is a good idea to go the day before to allow the bird to rest in the refrigerator overnight for tenderness.

Someone also mentioned earlier being worried about going to these places "now" and I am assuming it is from a fear of bird flu.

Is there anyone out there capable of speaking knowledgeably upon this subject for us?

There are no markets near where I live, so the subject has not come up "personally", but certainly it is of some interest.

Naturally, these sorts of places do have to be licensed and I would imagine that they are regulated very closely. . .

Edited January 30, 2006 by Carrot Top (log)

[budrichard]

John's Live Poultry in Chicago has a couple of locations. I use the one on Fullerton. Everything from chickens to pigeons(squab?) is available. Before Thanksgiving, a large cart extends out the doors full of live turkeys.

The poultry is purchased from local farmers and I see no difference between this source and any other interms of health risks. In fact since you can pick out your own bird and verify that it is healthy, it is a better bird. The turkeys we have had are much better than a fresh store purchased bird that is minimally processed. Rabbits are also available and they are excellent. Many of the store rabbits are now coming frozen from China!

Bring a cooler with ice to chill down your bird for the trip home and then be ready to soak in very cold water. You can call ahead and pick up your bird chilled during Thanksgiving but i prefer to pick out my own.-Dick

[KatieLoeb]

There's a live poultry market in South Philadelphia that's a few doors up from La Lupe, a favorite Mexican restaurant.  One nice afternoon, I was eating outside at La Lupe and could have sworn I heard a rooster crow.  Needless to say, crowing roosters are not a sound one hears often in downtown Philadelphia.  I blew it off as having come out of the open window of a nearby apartment from a television set turned up too loud.  Then it happened several more times.  Then I finally looked up and across the street and saw the cages outside of the market with the live chickens and ducks.  I have yet to get up the courage to go there and purchase something, but it's definitely etched in my memory now. 

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That's still there? I coulda sworn that's not there anymore.

I remember that one there when I was a wee lad.

←

Herb:

It's just north of Federal Street on the west side of 9th. This was about four or five months ago so I don't think it was tied to Thanksgiving or anything, but the actual date is certainly fuzzy. But yeah. A live crowing rooster in the middle of the afternoon in South Philly. To say it freaked me out a little would be an understatement.