Patent ID: 7367284

Claim:
A method for processing poultry, the method comprising: loading individual poultry into each poultry carrier of a plurality of poultry carriers to provide a plurality of loaded poultry carriers, wherein each loaded poultry carrier is capable of restraining only one individual poultry at a time; assigning an identification tag to each poultry carrier; determining a processing sequence in a processing system comprising a plurality of processing stations for each loaded poultry carrier, wherein determining the processing sequence comprises selecting two or more of the processing stations at which the poultry will undergo processing; processing the individual poultry in each of the loaded poultry carriers in the two or more selected processing stations of the processing sequence; and transporting each loaded poultry carrier between the two or more processing stations using an automated conveying system connecting the plurality of processing stations; wherein the processing sequences for two or more of the loaded poultry carriers are different.