poulters

Poulters are traders who specialize in the sale of live poultry and related products. Historically, poulters operated in urban markets and at street stalls, offering chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, eggs, and sometimes prepared poultry dishes. They commonly provided services such as slaughtering, plucking, or trimming, depending on local customs and regulations. Beyond selling to households, poulters supplied taverns, grocery markets, and other butchers, acting as intermediaries between farmers and consumers.

In many regions the term persists mainly in the United Kingdom, where poulter or poulterer remains in use, though the practice has diminished with the decline of live-animal markets and the rise of wholesale poultry companies, supermarkets, and licensed slaughter facilities. In North America, similar trades are usually described as poultry dealers or farmers who sell live birds directly to customers or markets. Nowadays many people who work with poultry are farmers, hatcheries, or processors rather than traditional poulters, but the historical occupation is well documented in trade histories and local archives.

The plural “poulters” may refer to multiple traders who sell poultry, or, as a surname, to people named Poulter. The term is primarily of historical use but can appear in historical texts and genealogies.