Chicken Butchering in Ohio

Hi everyone,  

I am interested in learning how to butcher and process my own chickens (first meat birds wil be here this summer!).  I know there are a lot of online resources, but i was wondering if there was anyone who loves in Ohio that would be willing to provide some hand on experience.   I could provide some free labor for the day!    Let me know if anyone is interested.

Jimmie

Hi Jimmie, and welcome to Permies.

The stuff online is great but you're right, it's great to get some hands-on learning.  I'm not close but hopefully someone who is can help you get your hands dirty.  If you can't find someone, you could stop in somewhere they sell eggs and ask if they can get you a spent hen at some time and maybe dispatch her for you.  Then you could take it home and have a no-stress practice session.  No worries if you mess up.

If you can't find anyone nearby, what you could do is dispatch a few birds early and see if you run into any issues with the small batch first. What way are you looking at doing them? I've heard good things about using a concrete pouring funnel as a kill cone and just skinning instead of plucking. guy who told me his system says it only takes him ~90 seconds to go from live to halved and ready to go into the freezer.

Thanks Timothy, good thoughts.   We have about 14 egg layers who are nearing the end.  That may be a good opportunity like you mentioned.