5 gallon buckets to control flapping.

[BirdsBeesTrees]

Just did 40 cornish X in large cones. Fit no problem. Need to get the large cones. These are what we use. https://www.amazon.com/Miller-Poult.../B076ZVZ9XP/ref=psdc_3238155011_t1_B009S9EZ3M

That's what we have.

 

[Mrs. K]

I just stick them in head first, and they wind up a bit sideways, while I am working with other birds. Five gallon buckets have a pretty flat bottom and wide enough, I do not have a problem with them tipping over. And they keep them clean.

No top

Butchering in deep snow, greatly decreases the flies, there are trade offs!

 

[NatJ]

I don't think I'd want to be butchering in deep snow, but that's a great idea.

I grew up in Alaska. Sometimes we had snow before we finished culling the old layers in the fall. When the snow was almost knee-deep, it worked really well to stomp a hole for the chicken. And it saved me trekking through the snow to get the body after it quit flapping, since a chicken can go across the top of the snow while I sink down into it. Also, blood is much more obvious on snow than it is on grass. This made the difference between one bloody area (where we butchered) vs. having the whole yard sprinkled with blood, that would stay VERY visible until the next snowfall covered it up.

I greatly prefer to butcher in pleasant weather: not too hot, not too cold, not too wet, not too buggy. But sometimes the weather just won't be nice when the butchering needs to happen.

 

[Ozarkoak]

If you can't fit a Cornish X in that cone you dont have Cornish X you have turkeys.
Maybe you just grow them a lot bigger than we do.

 

[BirdsBeesTrees]

If you can't fit a Cornish X in that cone you dont have Cornish X you have turkeys.
Maybe you just grow them a lot bigger than we do.

Disclaimer: It's my husband who says they don't fit.
He also says the rubber gloves don't fit his hands.
I say, "ok O.J."

 

[CNJ]

I think hanging a 5 gallon bucket will prevent it from tipping over.......

 

[CNJ]

What most of us think is the hardest part of processing birds, is the flapping at the point of death. A 5 gallon bucket helps immensely. I do the deed and drop them in the bucket. The bucket contains the bird, and while there is movement, it does not get as violent. Your birds stay much cleaner.

Mrs K

Do you pull the head out of its socket or do you slice its neck?

 

[Mrs. K]

I do both. Yesterday with the leghorns, I did the broomstick method. They are much harder to catch, and I was down there pre-dawn, while they were still roosted up. Faster than lightning, one got away.

But I do prefer the neck slicing for the Cornish cross. I just put them on a barrel so I can get a good hold, wait a few minutes, and then put them in the bucket head first.

I only do 4 or less at a time, as I do them by myself.

Mrs K