My rookie experience to butcher a chicken - video

[FLMomRN]

Excellent video. Thanks for sharing!

 

[kiwicampbell]

Good video. I echo many of the same things from my experiences. We ended up getting scalpel handles and blades. A new blade is small and extremely sharp and you can get in between the feathers easily and quickly and do the job very humanely.

For the smell when plucking, the best tip I was ever given was add dish detergent to the scalding water. It lets the feathers get wet through easier too but it also cuts that wet dead chicken smell so well.

And know it definitely gets smoother as time goes on and you do more birds. It is still hard to actually "do the deed" but you get better at it.

 

[the43k]

Good video. I echo many of the same things from my experiences. We ended up getting scalpel handles and blades. A new blade is small and extremely sharp and you can get in between the feathers easily and quickly and do the job very humanely.

For the smell when plucking, the best tip I was ever given was add dish detergent to the scalding water. It lets the feathers get wet through easier too but it also cuts that wet dead chicken smell so well.

And know it definitely gets smoother as time goes on and you do more birds. It is still hard to actually "do the deed" but you get better at it.

Great tips... Thanks for the advice. I posted a coop video too. check it out.

 

[the43k]

Thanks for sharing about the pvc pipe cutter - we might look into that. We tried a knife out of a "butchering kit" first and it just didn't do the job well, then tried a fillet knife and my husband felt that worked better, but still felt he could use something sharper - sounds like maybe too sharp but at least we know it would work in one cut!

So with the cutter you're actually "clipping" the head I guess, rather then cutting it.

 

[the43k]

Thats why i like to use an ax. Ive also used a bb gun then chop the head off to bleed them out.

 

[ChickenSkin]

Joel Salatin on youtube makes it so easy. He is a chicken killing, cleaning machine.

 

[the43k]

Joel Salatin on youtube makes it so easy. He is a chicken killing, cleaning machine.

Ha... No, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn last night!

 

[the43k]

I'm also big brother!

 

[ChickenSkin]

Nice, I'll have big brother on my coupe this spring. That way I can see which varmits are eating on my girls.

 

[katbriar]

One school of thought on using an axe or clippers to sever the head is that you are crushing blood vessels and tissue so you may not get as good of a "bleed out" as if you slice the jugular with a very sharp blade.

I have done both (sample size 10 birds) and found that the bird acted much calmer bleeding from the cut jugular. It was also easier to control the mess and there was less blood left in the body.

Hope that wasn't too graphic.

I appreciated your warnings at the end about the smell and feel while butchering. Really nice job.