Culling Recommendations?

[Smuvers Farm]

I have never raised chickens. I have never lived on a farm, nor even visited one for more than a little tour when I was quite young. Having purchased my first home, AND home STEAD, in 2016... and at over the age of 40, everything has been exciting and daunting at the same time.

I currently have a flock of 13 laying flufferbutters that I adore. I had read voraciously about chickens for over a year prior to getting my little flock. Reading everything didn't quite cover my nervousness and fear of failure... but BYC certainly made it MUCH easier and understandable.

I am preparing NOW, for raising meat birds next year. With everything I have read, I feel cone culling would be right for me. DH has sworn off doing ANY culling whatsoever, so it falls to me.

I believe I can do it.

I haven't seen it *live*, but I've seen videos.

My requests are as follows:

1. What kind of cutter would you recommend? I require something that can be used by a single operator, can be screwed into a wall and cuts cleanly. I wish to do a complete head chop rather than attempt to find the jugular and let them bleed out.

2. Cone recommendation? I have a free pick of roadside (emergency type) cones... but I've noted that *kill cones* are sized. Should I wait until I pick the meat chickens to decide which cone to get/use?

3. I have the burner, boiling pot and table covered.

4. I've planned on 25-50 birds, so will get a plucker. I saw TSC has a Yardbird that would easily fit our budget. Anyone use it or find another type/brand better?

5. Dressing a chicken. Can someone recommend video from start to finish? Like, very elementary type, where someone doesn't *assume* things are common sense?

6. Packaging. Any special bags used? I would probably bag 5-10 full chickens, then break the rest down into white and dark meat.

Is there anything else I'm missing that I should prepare for?

 

[bobbi-j]

Wow! You have certainly researched and thought this through. I would recommend taking a mosey over to the Meat Birds section of the forum and taking a look around. Lots and lots of good information, advice and helpful people over there.

If I were killing my meat birds myself, I think I would do the cone method, too. Fortunately, my DH is a farm boy, raised processing chickens (I grew up a city girl - I hunted and fished and could clean a pheasant or duck, but never butchered something I had raised myself.) So he uses the hatchet and stump method to decapitate the birds. I keep saying I'm not coordinated enough to do that and would probably amputate one of my legs... So, if it came down to it and I had to do it myself it would be the cone.

 

[RUNuts]

Entrail disposal? Feather pile?
Save heart, liver or gizzard?
Compost, haul away or use to feed fish/dogs?
Clean gizzards like pheasants or ducks - same process.

Are you making broth?

Youtube joe salatin. He's got a couple instructional vids out. Step by step basics.

Accurate thermometer?

Cutter - garden pruning shears or snips. Kitchen scissors - professional, not the walmart kind.

Friends to help?

 

[Mrs. K]

I too, did not butcher my first bird until my 50's. So yes you can do it. My dear hubby does not do chickens, except to eat them at supper.

I am going to suggest, a much more modest beginning. It would be best to do about 2-5 birds, really 2-3 birds the first time. It helps if you can get a girlfriend to do the nervous giggles with you. A little moral support really helps. There is a learning curve, we just propped the laptop computer out on the bench and did it step by step. As learning anything, the first ones are mentally fatiguing, which is why I suggest just doing a couple, just to get your set up exactly right. Later you can do a bigger bunch at one time, although I have only done 4 by myself.

I went with a cone made out of a milk jug, and a banded razor blade. They will get dull amazingly quickly. A sharp blade is a must. I just followed the directions, cut where they said, and there was just a getting tired of the bird, with a few spasms. However, I have seen people use rose pruning shears. Single handedly, just my self, I can catch a bird with the fishnet, and slice the throat right there now, without a cone. My hands and talents are not good enough to hold a bird and swing a hatchet.

If you have to order more meat birds, and they generally HAVE to be butchered in a narrow time frame, see if you can go in with someone else, maybe someone else with a bit of experience. Helps a lot.

I am not familiar with the plucker you mentioned, but I did not want to spend a lot of money. I got one that attaches to a drill head and worked wonderfully, but is a bit of a mess, we had feathers on the ceiling of the garage. But the chickens looked wonderful.

I do distance myself from the birds I am going to butcher. I watch and enjoy the laying flock, but my bachelor pen, I just feed and water.

 

[aart]

Another 50's first timer here. First one is the hardest, you can do it!

I found this to be the best showing the jugular and vent cuts,
both of which were my biggest concerns.
http://ramblingredneckmom.blogspot.com/2011/04/how-to-process-chickens-at-home.html

A rather cathartic thread on my first slaughter:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/first-harvest-thank-you.870865/

 

[MartinsPoultry]

Most might not like how my fiance and i do the cull but to us its quick and painless.

We calm the chicken down as we zip the legs and wings to prevent flailing, and calm them down more as they lay on the ground. My fiance has my long rifle gets close to the head of the bird and pulls the trigger. Pretty much instant and the bird doesn't feel it. Once the bird is done twitching which comes with death we behead using an axe and fire wood. I hate trying to use an axe for killing as it doesn't always go through.

Dressing is pretty simple. I refuse to pluck takes way to long, i skin. I poke the knife into the skin on the abdomen but not to deep to rupture organs, then take the point of the knife and pull the skin back gently cutting the connective tissues from the muscle being extra careful not to take meat. Once the skinning is done i take a sharper pointed knife and cute the gut lining just enough to open the cavity, once open you or someone hold the carcass over a trashcan with a bag in it, stick your hand inside and pull everything out, some organs are easier than others. For me it takes 20-25 minutes per bird from time of death to skin and inner pluck cleaning inside and freezer bags.

It's never easy to cull an animal, but once its dead tell yourself its food over and over and it becomes easier as you do the next one. At least for me it works.

 

[Smuvers Farm]

Entrail disposal? Feather pile?
Save heart, liver or gizzard?
Compost, haul away or use to feed fish/dogs?
Clean gizzards like pheasants or ducks - same process.

Are you making broth?

Youtube joe salatin. He's got a couple instructional vids out. Step by step basics.

Accurate thermometer?

Cutter - garden pruning shears or snips. Kitchen scissors - professional, not the walmart kind.
hese
Friends to help?

Thank you VERY much for your response. These are things I have overlooked.

The offal is something I would definitely dispose and not use. I hate to waste however, the flavor/mouth feel/texture/smell is something I can't stomach. As a lifelong meat eater, if all I had was offal to eat, I would become a vegetarian.

Unfortunately, I have no local friends that could assist. I've spent the better part of my life as a military wife, having moved 8 times in the last 12 years. Of course, we bought a house/homestead kind of in the boonies. Then top it off with being an older person with a young child..... well, you see where this is going.

And a HUGE thank you to everyone who posted. I read @aart other posts, and appreciate everyone who responded. It's good to know I am not alone in the *older person first timer* boat!!

 

[lazy gardener]

I used the broomstick method until this year. We finally bought a good knife that would hold an edge. That is absolutely crucial IMO. My hubby is so not a farmer. He's a city boy with country bennies! He would reluctantly yield the axe in the past, and perhaps boil water. But, knowing how loathe he is to participate in the processing, I knew that if I was going to raise birds, I would have to process, so I had to pull up my big girl panties and figure out how to do it alone. First was the broomstick. Easy. Now, knife slit to the jugular/carotid. Easier still. I have yet to figure out what to use for a cone.

I bury the feathers and entrails any where on my property where soil enrichment would be a good thing. Keeping in mind that it often takes a pick axe to break through the rock hard clay, and move the underlying rocks. I swear that Maine is simply a rock pile that has a shallow covering of clay, and sometimes soil!

 

[Hawgfan]

I cut the throat, but don't use a cone. I let them relax, and hold them on the ground with the legs to one side. I place my left pointer finger under the beak and right thumb just below the back of the head, and gently tilt the head back. They close their eyes, and never seem to know a thing. After the bird expires, I hold by the legs, near the ground while they flap, then put in a bucket. If you do a small batch to start, I might recommend you try hand plucking. Just hang the bird upside down by one leg, and strip the feathers "downhill", or "against the grain" you might say. I was surprised by how easy it was.

 

[Mrs. K]

I cut the throat first, then did the broom stick method later on. Either will work.