With spring break a mere day away, students face the question of how they're going to eat without the Chic-fil-A in the Student Center or Salsarita's in Foy.
The Poultry Science club has a great option. The club is selling chickens. Dead, not alive.
The club has been taking preorders on the four-pound chickens, but ones not sold will be available for purchase until tomorrow.
"This year we started doing pre-orders for the sale," said Trey Tidwell, president of the Poultry Science club. "We also prepared enough to sell to the general public."
The chickens are sold at $7 each and are fully cooked.
The chickens are being sold in the Poultry Science Building, in the lobby, from 3-6 p.m.
The club will have tables set up where chickens can purchased.
Tidwell, senior in poultry science, said he thought the sale sold close to 600 pre-orders this semester.
"That's about average for this time of year," Tidwell said.
Tidwell said the fall semester sale usually sells a lot more than spring semester does.
"The sale is right before Thanksgiving, so we normally sell out real quick," Tidwell said. "We had almost 1,100 pre-orders last semester."
Tidwell said the process of cooking the chickens can take a while.
"Prior to smoking them, we soak them in a brine solution for about 12 hours, and then we hang them up in the smoker and cook them from there," Tidwell said.
Tidwell said the chickens are then smoked in a commercial smokehouse.
"We cook them for eight hours, and we use hickory wood chips to smoke them," Tidwell said.
Donald Conner, head of the poultry science department, said he buys a smoked chicken every sale.
"It's pretty unique because it has a real good smokey flavor and it's very moist and tender," Conner said. "It's a lot different than fried chicken or even barbecue."
Amanda Martin, poultry science coordinator of student services, said the club has this sale every semester.
"This is their fundraiser and part of the money they use to buy different things for students in the club,"
Martin said. Martin said some of the proceeds go to pay for trips. "They pay for their industry trip to go to the International Poultry Expo in Atlanta each year around January," Martin said. "Part of the money they raise pays for their hotel expenses and travel."
Other proceeds go toward club expenses.
"This is their fundraiser and part of the money they use to buy different things for students in the club," Martin said.
Tidwell said the Poultry Expo gives the club a chance to interact with other poultry science people.
"It gives the club members a chance to mix and mingle with industry people," Tidwell said.
The Poultry Science club has also used proceeds for charity work.
"The club has used part of those proceeds to go to a memorial fund at Virginia Tech," Conner said. "A poultry science student was one of the victims, and the club made a donation to her memorial fund."
Tidwell said he wasn't sure how long the Poultry Science club has been selling smoked chickens.
"We have a lot of industry speakers come back that have graduated from our department from 20-plus years ago," Tidwell said, "that always ask how the sale's going."
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