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                                                                  EXHIBIT (d)(4)

     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

                          GOLD KIST AND GOLDEN POULTRY
                            BEGIN MERGER DISCUSSIONS

     Atlanta, GA, January 23, 1997--Gold Kist Inc. began discussions with a
     committee of independent directors appointed today by the board of Golden
     Poultry Company, Inc., (NASDAQ:CHIK) about a possible merger of Golden
     Poultry with a subsidiary of Gold Kist.

     Gold Kist currently owns approximately 10,900,000, or 75%, of Golden
     Poultry's total of 14,624,000 shares of common stock outstanding.

     On January 13, 1997 the Gold Kist board authorized management to enter
     negotiations with Golden Poultry that could result in the acquisition,
     through a subsidiary, of the Golden Poultry shares it did not currently
     own, according to Gaylord O. Coan, Gold Kist chief executive officer and
     chairman of its management committee.  Results of the negotiations with the
     Golden Poultry committee must be submitted to the Gold Kist Board for its
     final decision about completing the transaction, Coan said.  The Gold Kist
     board indicated that, if the acquisition is completed, the former Golden
     Poultry facilities would become cooperative operations.

     Golden Poultry operates divisions in Georgia, Alabama and North Carolina.
     Fiscal 1996 sales were $600.2 million, including sales of Carolina Golden
     Products Company at Sumter, SC.  Golden Poultry owns 51% of Carolina Golden
     in a joint venture partnership with Gold Kist.

     Gold Kist is a diversified agricultural cooperative, based in Atlanta, GA,
     which serves approximately 30,000 members.  Fiscal 1996 sales were
     approximately $2.0 billion.  Gold Kist supplies farmers and agricultural
     products dealers in the Southeast, Midsouth and Southwest and purchases
     grain and other agricultural products for its own use and for sale to
     further processors.  Its poultry operations are located in Georgia, Alabama
     and Florida.
