Searching for butchering hacks

[siroiszoo]

I was about to butcher 20+ meat birds when I fell & fractured my right collarbone 2wks ago. I have got to get these birds off my feed bill & into my freezer. I can't get my dominant hand much higher than my waist so hanging them to skin is out of the question.

Any ideas? Suggestions?? What's the going price of 10 week old Cornish X ready for butcher?

 

[aart]

Man, that stinks!
Is there a processor near you?

 

[AprilWC]

Any friends or family members you can enlist to help? Maybe you can offer to let a helper keep a few birds in exchange for helping.

 

[Molpet]

I was about to butcher 20+ meat birds when I fell & fractured my right collarbone 2wks ago. I have got to get these birds off my feed bill & into my freezer. I can't get my dominant hand much higher than my waist so hanging them to skin is out of the question.

Any ideas? Suggestions?? What's the going price of 10 week old Cornish X ready for butcher?

I have skinned out turkeys by laying them on the ground on a feed bag. To be honest I have never hung a bird to skin. I usually lay on a table...or the top of my deep freezer

 

[FunClucks]

I've laid birds on a sturdy folding table to remove guts, and probably could skin that way if needed. 10 wk CX are still relatively easy to skin compared to older birds, use those razor blade knives. I suggest keeping the head on after dispatch, also the feet, tying the bird across the end of the table with flexible wire (around the head to beneath the table to one side of the table legs, then tie the birds' feet beneath the table to the other side of the table legs). I also make a hose holder out of wire that attaches to my folding table legs. I use spools of the wire you use to tie chain link fence fabric to the poles - that's flexible but strong enough to do most things with. I'd remove the head and feet last after you have it skinned and gutted. Then wash well and part out if needed.

You can do it if you have to, but honestly, I'd try to get someone else to help you. I did 21 CX by myself, from 5 weeks to 9 weeks, two at a time several evenings a week, and maybe 3-4 per day on weekends, and it was EXHAUSTING!!! That's without anything wrong with me, just battling the severely cold weather (frostbite on my hands was no joke). It took 1.5-2 hours per bird to catch, dispatch, skin, gut, part them out, and bag for fridge.

I know you put hours into these birds, but if you research the price per lb of chicken, you may be better off just selling this batch and trying again once you're healed up. You'd probably also come out ahead on the money spent. I had a batch of 3 month egger cockerels that I was growing out to eat, but they became a nuisance so I sold them at 3 months. Hatched them myself, and made a decent sum on them compared to what I put into them. That plus not having to butcher them all myself was a relief.

Wishing you luck!!!

 

[siroiszoo]

Man, that stinks!
Is there a processor near you?

Not sure.. I know of one or two taxadermy/ deer processors nearby. I should give them a call or just sell the birds.