I've used both a cleaver and a hatchet. The hatchet we had was small so we got a 7 inch stainless steel chopper cleaver. It worked better, I think. For one person to butcher without a helper, we pre-made a parachute cord so it was easy to quickly put it around the neck with one hand while holding the bird with the other hand, and hook the other end of the cord onto a nail that was pre-nailed into the chopping wood. The wood was a segment of 8 x 8 square wood. Perpendicular to the grain, FWIW, it was just fine, perfect results. I'm glad we did some walk-thrus (with no birds) to make sure we had the nails in the right position and that the cord was the right length given the nail's position and length of chopping block.
