Earliest time to butcher a Wyandotte??

[LizzzyJo]

Ohhhh my goodness. I will not have any more feather plucking in my future. Skinning is 100% easier. OMG. game changer. If your family doesn't prefer skin anyway (like mine) then holy moly. It cuts the time and equipment by more than half. He dressed to 1.5lbs and I am very happy with the food and the peace. Thank you guys for your help!

 

[ladybrasa]

Just curious, what was your procedure for skinning? I will have extra Roos, and if I can make my self process (friends will do the actual “deed”), I am seriously considering skinning. Not a whole lot of videos and such that I came across. If I understand, I can get away with not fasting them, too, as I’m not too interested in giblets.

 

[Parront]

Just curious, what was your procedure for skinning? I will have extra Roos, and if I can make my self process (friends will do the actual “deed”), I am seriously considering skinning. Not a whole lot of videos and such that I came across. If I understand, I can get away with not fasting them, too, as I’m not too interested in giblets.

The guy on here who always skins is @Compost King so I hope he will chime in here.

 

[MarkJr]

I rip a hole in gut cavity, put a few fingers on each side, then open like a bag of chips. Opens to wings easily. Grab skin and base of wing on flesh side and pull. Use a pair of shears at last joint and do other side. Legs same way. Up the back and use shears at base of head. Eviscerate and you’re done.

 

[3KillerBs]

Since we like skin I've only done skinning once but once you've got the gutting done it's just like skinning a grocery store bird except for feathers and feet. Get hold of an edge and start turning things inside out.

 

[Compost King]

Skinning is so much less work, less set up time, less clean up time, less tools needed etc. No need to dunk them in hot water to loosen up feathers. I just use 2 knives and a table, Bleach and paper towels. I also use a Killing Cone made from an old plastic container and if I do the dirty deed just before a rain it cleans itself lol. The skin is nice but I would not do all that extra work just for a skin. Besides I never eat a whole chicken I usually cut it up and make it part of a recipe not the focus of a meal so doing extra work to keep a skin is not justified to me.
Keeping a nuisance bird alive longer to get more meat is a waste in my opinion. They do not convert feed efficiently to justify having a big bird unless you absolutely need one. You can make a big meal out of a small amount of chicken if chicken is just part of a the meal and not the meal itself.

 

[Compost King]

Youtubes best kept secret. This hidden gem of a video has less than 700 views and half of them are probably me rewatching it as I watch this video before I skin a chicken every time. She also has a great video on Deep Litter Composting or Bedding etc... Not many subscribers and not a whole lot of videos however she has great ones.

 

[LizzzyJo]

Just curious, what was your procedure for skinning? I will have extra Roos, and if I can make my self process (friends will do the actual “deed”), I am seriously considering skinning. Not a whole lot of videos and such that I came across. If I understand, I can get away with not fasting them, too, as I’m not too interested in giblets.

100% agree with @Compost King

I took off the head, bled, then sheared the skin down the neck and chest first. Then stripped it off the wings (cut off the tip section). Then I stripped it down the back and off the legs. Cut off the feet. The whole thing took about 90 seconds and it was my first time. It came off like a jacket - please excuse my callous tone.

 

[Compost King]

I plucked my first 2 meat birds almost a decade ago, it was another 5 years before I processed another chicken again because plucking was such a chore I didn't want to do it ever again. Then I figured I would go against what everyone told me about skinning and started processing chickens again. Now I actually enjoy processing a chicken. Sounds odd but I enjoy doing productive things when I am not being swarmed by fly and covered in sweat as the tiny feathers just won't come off unless I single them out one at a time. I would rather not have a plucker because they take up space when not in use and need to be cleaned. I do not like setting up a giant pot of scalding hot water and cleaning it when its bigger than my kitchen sink. Just skin'em and move on to the next task to do that day.

 

[LizzzyJo]

I plucked my first 2 meat birds almost a decade ago, it was another 5 years before I processed another chicken again because plucking was such a chore I didn't want to do it ever again. Then I figured I would go against what everyone told me about skinning and started processing chickens again. Now I actually enjoy processing a chicken. Sounds odd but I enjoy doing productive things when I am not being swarmed by fly and covered in sweat as the tiny feathers just won't come off unless I single them out one at a time. I would rather not have a plucker because they take up space when not in use and need to be cleaned. I do not like setting up a giant pot of scalding hot water and cleaning it when its bigger than my kitchen sink. Just skin'em and move on to the next task to do that day.

That was a HUGE benefit. The deed and the skinning was less that 4 minutes then I just went inside on the counter for the rest of the butchering. No bugs, no problems.