How to Butcher a Chicken

Start first thing in the morning, the colder the better.  We have a spot set up on the other side of the barn so the chickens can't see what we are doing.

Start with warming a large kettle of water  up to 150ºF.  We use our 9-jar canner.  You'll use this to scald the bird and loosen the feathers.  The temperature is important.  If it's too cold the feathers won't loosen.  If it's too hot, it will cook the skin and come apart.

Other set up includes a table with a waterproof table cloth, two really sharp knives, a trash can for feathers and guts, and a cooler filled with ice water and some vinegar.

The hardest part for us, and the fastest, is the actual kill.  We use a killing cone that holds the chicken upside down and secure.  With a thumb on their chin bone and holding the neck secure, make a fast and deep cut.  They die instantly but don't thrash around like they would if the spinal column was severed.  They'll shake naturally for about two minutes, but don't worry, they're not alive.  After about two minutes of bleeding out, cut the head off completely.

If you don't have a killing cone, you can tie up their feet and hang them upside down.

Holding by the feet, swish the bird around in the hot water for a minute or two.  Swish it around so the water gets down into the under feathers.

The longest step is plucking feathers.  They come out easily, but there are lots of them. 

I don't think butchering chickens smells that bad.  It's not pleasant, but it's not terrible.  My daughters disagree so part of their butchering garb is nose covering.

Evisceration is next.  Start by cutting off the feet. First make a cut right on the joint.  Then bend backwards to break the joint and slice through.

Holding the neck toward you, slice along the collar bone, through the skin, but be careful not to cut any of the guts inside.  Better to make several small cuts than one too deep.

With the windpipe and crop exposed, slide your knife in between the tubes and the neck, near the collar bone.  Slice upward.

Free all the tissue from the body and pull the neck skin back and all the way off.  Throw away.  Cut the neck off by slicing, bending back to break the joint, and cutting straight through.  Keep the neck.

Time to work on the other end.  With the butt pointing toward you, slice along the base of the rib cage, through the skin and into the cavity but be really careful not to puncture any guts.  If you puncture guts, it can be messy, or worse, it could ruin the meat.

After you've opened a hole up big enough for your hand, reach inside and pull everything out in a neat ball.  You have to reach way in and pull hard.   Some of the organs will stick to the back pretty tenaciously. 

Keep rolling it back until the guts are out of the cavity and it's only attached at the bottom.  Slice very closely along the pin bones on each side, releasing them.  Finally you'll have a ball of guts out on the table only attached by the tail bone. 

Cut through the tail bone and it's all out.  The goal is to get everything out without spilling any poop or gall.   

The chicken goes promptly into the ice vinegar water in the cooler.

There are some giblets that can be saved.  We cook them up and give them to the cat.  The heart is triangular shaped and needs a small slice at the top to release it.

The liver is dark colored in the center.  As you slice it away, be very careful not to knick the gall bladder (green) and release gall.  If any of the green liquid gets out, throw everything away it touches.  It is extremely bitter and quickly flavors anything it contacts.

The gizzard is the large, hard organ that the chicken used to chew its food.  Slice the guts away from it.  Later, slice it open like a peach, empty out the contents and peel away the inner layer.

We can get about 30 chickens done in a morning.  When you're all finished, bag up each chicken and pop in the freezer.

The last step in our family is to take a shower and leave the chickens be in the freezer for at least a week while the memory fades.

I strongly recommend timing your butchering so it is freezing at night and the bugs are gone.  That hasn't happened yet for us and it only took the wasps and flies about two chickens to figure out what we were up to.  They were way too close for comfort. 

The first time we butchered three years ago it was pretty difficult emotionally, but we got through it.   Now we know what to expect so it's not as bad.  I also think that we do a better job now of not upsetting or hurting the chickens because we're not so upset ourselves.