How to Butcher and Process a Chicken

Make your slipknots

After growing your chicks up to at least 6 -7 weeks old, start your large pot of boiling water. Hang your board on a tree to tie your chickens upside down on. Ready your 18" -24" strings (one per chick) with slip-knots on each end, using one end around the board.

Gently swing the bird back and forth to calm it down

After the water is boiling, grab up your chicken and tranquilize if needed by holding it by the feet and gently swinging it until it calms down. Hang it upside down by the feet inserted into the slipknot at the bottom end of the string.

The bird will hang by the feet very calm

Using a very sharp butcher knife, hold chickens head with one hand and holding knife with the other, cut off head at neck using a very swift motion. The chicken will need to bleed out for 5 minutes or so. Don't be shocked when the chicken appears to be alive after it's head is cut off. Discard head in bag.

Dip deheaded bird into boiling water

Gather your chicken, and holding by the feet, dunk it into the boiling water for 6 seconds. This will loosen the feathers for plucking.

Pluck the feathers out

Have your bag ready, and start plucking feathers using a rolling motion with your thumb and fingers. Feathers will pull out easily, and sticking to your fingers may actually help the process. Continue over the entire chicken until every feather is plucked. This is the most tedious step. Grandma kept the feathers for making bedding, but you may discard in the bag. (We reused our empty chicken feed bags)

Cut opening to get all the guts out

You will now need to use your paring knife to cut an opening at the lower body to reach in and take out all the guts (don't cut the organs). Make sure to find the heart and liver and gizzards which can be kept for cooking or fish bait. Next you will take your butcher knife and cut off each leg right above the joint. Hold the knife over the area with one hand and with the other hand hit the top of the knife with one quick blow and the leg will cut off easily. Place fresh meat on ice if harvesting more than one chicken now.

Cut out the craw and continue cleaning with water

Wash your organ meats with running water and place in container for cooking later and refrigerate or freeze. Now, take your whole chicken and while washing inside and outside, check for any extra cleaning that needs to be done. There is always several quill ends left and by using a paring knife and your thumb they will pull out pretty easily. This step may take a while as it depends on how many quills there are. Continue cleaning until it looks like the ones you buy in the store. Remove and craw located in the neck area with your paring knife. I also prefer to cut off the neck as well. Take your bag of discarded parts and dispose of properly.

Bag in salted water

Your chicken is now ready to bag. Put it in a gallon zip lock bag and cover with water and add 1 teaspoon of salt. Seal, getting all the air out. We always wait until at least the next day to cook, as the salt will pull out any blood left in the meat overnight. You may keep in the refrigerator and cook within 2 days or freeze and cook within 6 months. You can cook this meat using any recipe just as any store bought whole chicken.