My first meat birds

[Missceegee]

I am hopeful he will let me come to help or even watch. We’re recent acquaintances, so I have to ask. I do want the stock parts. He likes gizzards so I’m happy to leave those with him.

My setup for these guys changed today leading up to moving them out onto pasture. Meatbirds loose in the coop with a plate style heater. It was over 98° today so they weren’t Interested. Maybe now with the downpour. Will see in a few when nightly rounds come. 6 new babies moved into the brood box in the same coop with their own essentials. Hopefully both will move out of the brooder coop in a couple weeks. Meatbirds to pasture. Others in a mini coop with the big hens.

 

[Mtnboomer]

Good price but if you have a pot, cutting board, knife and a sink you can do it yourself for free.

When butcher day comes here I do 10 a day. My wife and i can slaughter, pluck, dress, and singe a bird in 12 min all by hand. Thats 10 birds from yard to refrigerator in 2hrs.

 

[MissE]

I would gladly pay someone $2/bird, even if I was helping them. I have a plucker, but even then, it takes me a while.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Good price but if you have a pot, cutting board, knife and a sink you can do it yourself for free.

When butcher day comes here I do 10 a day. My wife and i can slaughter, pluck, dress, and singe a bird in 12 min all by hand. Thats 10 birds from yard to refrigerator in 2hrs.

I also do my own but I'm not nearly that fast. Mine are not Cornish X so they are older and thus slower and I part mine as I go. Just differences.

Does your 2 hours include set-up, heating water, teardown, and cleanup? Does the OP get them back bagged, vacuumed-packed or shrink wrapped? Not sure yours is an apples to apples comparison. But assuming it is, how much per hour would you charge to do this for someone else? Would you do it for $10 per hour using your equipment and materials? For you and you wife that would be $40 for two hours to do 10 birds. $4 per bird. For this kind of comparison it doesn't matter how fast I can do it or how fast you and your crew can di it, it matters how fast the OP can do it. I think $2 per bird is a good price.

@Missceegee said she doesn't have the equipment and it sounds like maybe not the expertise yet, though wants to learn. It sounds like a reasonable way to start.

 

[Mtnboomer]

I also do my own but I'm not nearly that fast. Mine are not Cornish X so they are older and thus slower and I part mine as I go. Just differences.

Does your 2 hours include set-up, heating water, teardown, and cleanup? Does the OP get them back bagged, vacuumed-packed or shrink wrapped? Not sure yours is an apples to apples comparison. But assuming it is, how much per hour would you charge to do this for someone else? Would you do it for $10 per hour using your equipment and materials? For you and you wife that would be $40 for two hours to do 10 birds. $4 per bird. For this kind of comparison it doesn't matter how fast I can do it or how fast you and your crew can di it, it matters how fast the OP can do it. I think $2 per bird is a good price.

@Missceegee said she doesn't have the equipment and it sounds like maybe not the expertise yet, though wants to learn. It sounds like a reasonable way to start.

I said $2 is a good price. I keep brahmas. That time does not include set up or clean up but there isn't much to it other than waiting for the pot of water to boil for plucking. Clean up is just loading the dishwasher and wiping the counter down and discarding the waste.
I let the birds rest in the fridge for 2-3 days before piecing or packaging whole. Piecing a bird out takes less than 2 min once you get the hang of it. I then vacuum seal all the meat.

I would charge more than $2 per bird. The cost of vacuum seal bags is more than that. Add in electricity or propane for heating the water etc. and the price goes up.
There is pride in doing things yourself and comfort in knowing that it was done properly. Ever heard the saying "you get what you pay for?" Its not just the speed the task is performed, its ultimately the quality of the end product.

 

[Mtnboomer]

I also do my own but I'm not nearly that fast. Mine are not Cornish X so they are older and thus slower and I part mine as I go. Just differences.

Does your 2 hours include set-up, heating water, teardown, and cleanup? Does the OP get them back bagged, vacuumed-packed or shrink wrapped? Not sure yours is an apples to apples comparison. But assuming it is, how much per hour would you charge to do this for someone else? Would you do it for $10 per hour using your equipment and materials? For you and you wife that would be $40 for two hours to do 10 birds. $4 per bird. For this kind of comparison it doesn't matter how fast I can do it or how fast you and your crew can di it, it matters how fast the OP can do it. I think $2 per bird is a good price.

@Missceegee said she doesn't have the equipment and it sounds like maybe not the expertise yet, though wants to learn. It sounds like a reasonable way to start.

We did not start out this efficient I assure you. We started only 4 yrs ago and the 1st attempt took nearly 30 min per bird and was a mess.

I have butchered my own deer and wild game since i was a kid and can field dress and skin a deer in under 30min (25yrs experience). My wife is a vet pathologist. Although she is well versed in the anatomy of a chicken, there is a BIG difference between a necropsy and butchering for meat that she had to learn.

The only equipment needed is a big pot to boil the water, two hands and a sharp knife. Standard kitchen stuff. Dont waste money on a plucker, drum or whatever until you learn the basics.
I was not boasting about my speed but only trying to imply that it is not as difficult as one may assume. Sometimes our perception of the unknown can make the task more intimidating than it really is. Everything gets easier with experience. If it takes you an hour per bird, who cares. The benefit to doing it yourself is sure you save a little cash but mostly its the skills you learn.

If one doesn't know how, its ok. Find someone to walk you through it with hands on experience (always best), read a book, YouTube it, or just dive in. You'll never learn until you do it.

Just remember, don't pop the crop or the pooper!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have butchered my own deer and wild game since i was a kid

You might like this story. It's kind of a hijack but it's about experience and doing things yourself so maybe not that much.

An anthropologist friend was teaching at college. One of her students tried dressing a deer with a flint knife and told her about it afterwards, about how long it took and how hard it was. Stone age man could not have been very efficient with flint tools. The were not practical for dressing a deer. After some discussion she asked him how many deer he had dressed. This was his first. No wonder it was a slow process.

So she and a buddy professor decided to dress a deer with flint knives, they had experience in dressing deer. She said they could dress a deer with a flint knife as fast as they could with a sharp metal knife, but there was secret to it. She did the skinning and he spent the whole time sharpening. Flint knives get dull pretty quickly. As long as the knives are sharp they work pretty well. There are different ways to do things but there are tricks to make them work. If you don't know whose tricks or have experience it can be challenging.

 

[Mtnboomer]

You might like this story. It's kind of a hijack but it's about experience and doing things yourself so maybe not that much.

An anthropologist friend was teaching at college. One of her students tried dressing a deer with a flint knife and told her about it afterwards, about how long it took and how hard it was. Stone age man could not have been very efficient with flint tools. The were not practical for dressing a deer. After some discussion she asked him how many deer he had dressed. This was his first. No wonder it was a slow process.

So she and a buddy professor decided to dress a deer with flint knives, they had experience in dressing deer. She said they could dress a deer with a flint knife as fast as they could with a sharp metal knife, but there was secret to it. She did the skinning and he spent the whole time sharpening. Flint knives get dull pretty quickly. As long as the knives are sharp they work pretty well. There are different ways to do things but there are tricks to make them work. If you don't know whose tricks or have experience it can be challenging.

I agree, but through the challenge you can develop your own tricks along the way.
Thomas Edison - "I didn't fail. I just found 2,000 ways not to make a light bulb; I only needed to find one way to make it work."

 

[Missceegee]

Good price but if you have a pot, cutting board, knife and a sink you can do it yourself for free.

When butcher day comes here I do 10 a day. My wife and i can slaughter, pluck, dress, and singe a bird in 12 min all by hand. Thats 10 birds from yard to refrigerator in 2hrs.

Years ago I helped process. I was the plucker and the first time was by hand. After that we had a plucker available. World of difference. I don’t have the know how yet to do my own but hope to learn by watching and helping. I’ll have 20 to do at once plus probably a hen from my layers which keeps laying shell less eggs.

 

[Parront]

Years ago I helped process. I was the plucker and the first time was by hand. After that we had a plucker available. World of difference. I don’t have the know how yet to do my own but hope to learn by watching and helping. I’ll have 20 to do at once plus probably a hen from my layers which keeps laying shell less eggs.

This might apply to the learning process: