this would be my first time with meat birds was wondering how many to get i have room for many but i will be doing the butchering my self so i dont want to get in over my head. i would like to get them befor is gets too cold.
Its been a while since I butchered on even a semi-large scale, but traditionally you try to butcher right after the first hard frost, while the air is chilly but not freezing. This means few if any flies, cool temps but still comfortable. This is hard to gauge with meat birds, but hopefully you can come close. Are you going to be totally alone when doing this? I hope not, one or two other people will help a LOT! Totally by yourself, I dont know for sure what to tell you. A lot depends on where youre doing it, a well set up work area makes a huge difference, and if youve ever butchered a chicken at all before, Are you buying hatchery birds? If you need to order 25, start there, hopefully, you have two areas to raise two batches separately, and you can wait a few weeks, then order 25 more if you are sure you are going to do this . When the time comes, separate out 5 or so from the first batch, and start on those. (keeping them separated, somewhat isolated to keep the others calm) Test out your process, with just a few, then decide if you want to modify where youre work area is, how youre going to kill, hang, dip, pluck, clean, cool, freeze etc etc that will give you time between the two batches to get ready for butchering. Hopefully, others will have input here too, but thats how Id do it. DO TRY TO GET EXTRA HELP, esp after the first test run of 5 or so! Promise a few birds in return for the help. Youll appreciate it!
