Having a butchering plan

We have learned that having a plan and the right equipment on butchering day really helps things go smoother than otherwise.

In particular with chickens and rabbits, due to the repetitiveness and small size. I'll speak to meat rabbits as an example here.

1-Having a chest freezer than can also be a fridge at hand. We get the combo chest units that can be both and keep one empty for the day. We get the 7CF on sale and put all the meat in on fridge mode to rest then freezer mode 48 hours later. Then we rotate the meat into the normal freezer and turn that butchering combo off until nest time. You can also just add a $20 programmable thermostat to a freezer to do the same.

2-Lots of sharp knives. My butchering limit is 10 rabbits per morning, I get a bad attitude if more than that. Having sharp knives saves a lot of time. We have an 8" butcher knife for the neck artery cut, removing the head and scoring the hips. A 7" cleaver for cleaving the remaining neck. 3 boning knives 5" and 3 paring knives 3". The multiples are identical. Depending on how I use them, I may still have to sharpen a few if I am butchering 10.

3-A rotation. We bop and bleed a rabbit. Skin, gut, hose off and remove the feet. I go get another to bop and bleed out, while we part out the first one or debone it. It becomes one constant 2 or 3 hour movement depending on quantity. We started with by making 1 small animal gambrel, we have multiple now.

4-Get the kids/spouse involved. We have the kids carry the guts to the chickens, hold the lower feet while the rabbit is still bleeding out, etc. Any help is welcome help in a large family. Large families = large quantities of food stuffs.

5-Have a good attitude. These rabbits get some time with us everyday as far as petting/rubbing and are well provided for. Even 2x a day mostly. Making the butchering day a cluster could be disrespectful to the animal and your own work. Practice thankfulness and be prepared.


What things help you to be more efficient and respectful? What are we missing?

Have you ever been irritated and not prepared for butchering day?

Here is a picture of the area. I set up a battery powered fan and pull the hose down to the sink.

It is located in between the coop/run and composting area. The other half of the counter that does not have the sink has hardware cloth instead of a solid counter top.