How many should I attepmt to butcher in one day?

[malia]

So, assuming I can do "the deed" and kill my 20 meaties, how many do you think I could get done in a day? I will be killing and cleaning the birds all by myself. I was hoping I could get at least 10 done tomorrow so that I can kill the other ten next weekend. P.S. I have never killed anything before and have only gutted fish. I am trying really hard to psych myself up but am really dreading the killing part. I keep telling myself I can do this and then I go look at them and the courage slips away.

 

[LarryPQ]

Set up and clean up are the worst parts. I mean, that take the longest.

If you can do them all at once, then do them all. It took us (2 peeps) 3 hours to do 11 meaties. But that is with 2 people, so...

 

[bigredfeather]

If you have never butchered a chicken before, I may take you quite a while, especially the first couple. Gradually you will get better at it. I think that if you can get 10 done in a day your first attempt, you will be doing good. The first 6 my wife and I did took us well over 2 hours. Now we can do one in less than 2 minutes. Of course we didn't have a plucker then, but point being, there is a learning curve. Don't get frustrated if you have problems. Everyone on here has had some sort of issue the first time. One of the most important things (and this may sound silly) is to make sure you have very sharp knives. Doing that alone will be of great help. You should be proud of yourself for taking on this job. The percentage of people these days that can butcher a chicken is very low. Welcome to an elite club and goodluck.

 

[onthespot]

Do one today, that will tell you how many you can do tomorrow.

 

[flowerhippie]

When I butcher my birds I use a cone method and let the bird bleed out while this is taking place I work on my bird cleaning. If I am plucking heating the water and dipping takes a while to have the temp. just right. I also just skin out the bird this is real fast and to be cleaner with out dipping. I think the time you want to put in your dinner is to be considered. I would not rush this process. the more prep time the better the bird tastes . I carefully pick the birds up without struggle to keep the blood from giving off any fear hormones.

 

[dsqard]

I just did my first two on Tuesday. I did two extra cockerels that I had hatched out. The first one is the hardest when it comes to courage. The second is a little easier and so on. Once I got to the plucking it wasn't hard at all. It took me a couple of hours to do two but it was my first time and I hand plucked the birds so take that into consideration. I have to agree with Laree, set up and clean up took the longest and definitely agree with bigredfeather a very sharp knife is a must! Good luck, you can do it!

 

[silkiechicken]

Yeah, as your first time, follow the advice in start slow. My first bird probably took an hour.

Earlier this month... I did 25 in 5 hours all by my self, but I did skin them.

 

[Chicken Coach]

Get er done.My wife ,my girl and i would do 20 or so a day, We did both wet plucking and skinning. It's messy and somewhat tiering so it's good to do as much as you can stand or you will keep putting it off,I know i do.Home grown chicken and noodles you just can't beat it.

 

[LarryPQ]

I should add we just skin them, and don't bother plucking.

 

[KenK]

Quote:
I agree with this.

If you have never dressed chickens, I would highly recommend not killing the second one until you have the first one done.