Pastured Poultry Processing Equipment & Setup

If you are planning to raise chickens for meat, having the right processing equipment will make your life much easier. Before you learn how to butcher a chicken, it's a good idea to have a solid plan and know what chicken processing equipment you need. On our farm we raise Cornish X meat chickens and process them here on the farm every week.
In this video, we first cover our chicken processing set up and all our equipment we use as well as recommendations for other equipment based on the size of your operation, be it a small homestead or a pastured poultry farm.
Make sure you subscribe to our channel as I will also show you in an upcoming video how to process a chicken humanely and how to process your chickens. This is great for homesteading or if you are after those pastured poultry profits!
Equipment:
Cones
Single Cones - amzn.to/3vCbwGT
Group of 4 - amzn.to/3EedVv8
Cone Stand with 8 Cones - www.feathermanequipment.com
Scalder
For small scale use a turkey fryer and thermometer - amzn.to/37bO37f
Larger homesteads and farms - www.feathermanequipment.com/s...
Chicken Pluckers
To pluck just a few chickens use a drill attachment - amzn.to/3JB1XwI
For small homesteads - amzn.to/3uHdwy9
For large homesteads and farms - www.feathermanequipment.com/s...
Knives
Boning Knife - amzn.to/3OfIdCu
Breaking Knife used for evisceration and parting out - amzn.to/3OegCl2
Electric Bone Scissors - amzn.to/3JUNoo1
Meat Grinders
For small homesteading - amzn.to/36cB2tl
For large homesteading and farms - amzn.to/3EeSOIX
Chill Tank
For large homesteading and farms - www.feathermanequipment.com/s...
For small homesteads, you can use coolers. A 100 quart cooler can chill 16 birds.

[@beckymason0924]

This video couldn’t have come at a better time. We are looking to build a processing room for our ducks and you answered so many questions. Thank you!

[@regenerativehomesteading4538]

You are very welcome! Thanks for watching! One thing to note for ducks, they are waterfowl and have waterproof feathers. So be sure to use dawn in your scald water.

[@rmdevore]

Thank you for the great content and tips. The suggestion to wait on freezing until at least 24 hours so the meat is more tender is great!

[@regenerativehomesteading4538]

Thank you! Really I should add to that suggestion, don't eat it either within the first 24 hours. If you process a chicken, and cook it that same day, the meat will be tough. Letting it chill and rest before freezing or eating it and it will yield more tender meat.

[@ronmetz9172]

If cutting the chicken into parts, do you use shrink bags or a chamber vacuum sealer to package the breasts, legs, thighs etc?

[@audreyhlaletwa3169]

Hi I don't see the stand that drain the water before packing

[@foreveronamission]

This is similar to our set up, we're just a little smaller scale. I'm gonna try the victorinox boning knife. I've been frustrated with all the knives I've tried. Any tips on checking knives for sharpness and keeping them sharp? Also curious, how many birds do you process in a day, with how many people, and how many hours does it take (field to chill tank)? We've done up to 100, but it took forever even with 10ish helpers... I'm wondering if I'm missing something, or maybe speed will come with experience? Is the way you have your equipment lined up in the video the same arrangement that you use when butchering? I haven't had any issues with tough meat even though our birds go in the freezer after only a few hours of chilling. Side note for your future instructionals: you might want to check, but I think KZbin doesn't allow you to show the kill. Sorry for so many questions/comments, and thanks for the great content!

[@regenerativehomesteading4538]

I am no sharpening wiz, so I use an idiot proof sharpener. It's a belt sharpener which you can find here: amzn.to/37oJTZO And use these belts on it: To fix damaged edges - amzn.to/3Mg2juh To finish an edge and maintain - amzn.to/3L0poRE We can process about 20 birds per hour with 3 people, once we get going. 1 on kill scald pluck, one removing pin feathers, cleaning gizzards and QC, and 1 everserating. This is actually slow compared to most. The equipment you see can handle 200 birds an hour with a full crew. But this is just myself with my mom and aunt who are both 60+ years old. Field time, add an extra 30 minutes for catching the birds, setting up the equipment and cleaning. The only difference from how the equipment is set up is the kill cones are moved outside. The grey table is where the pin feathers and QC is done. We have another stainless steel table on the opposite wall where the everseration takes place. I am curious, with the next chickens you do, maybe chill one for 48 hours, freeze one the same day you process and eat one same day you process. I would be curious to hear your results. There may be another variable I overlooked. But in our experience, we just waited longer for freezing the meat was much more tender. I have seen some other videos on here showing the everseration, but I will double check those rules. Thank you!

[@foreveronamission]

@@regenerativehomesteading4538 thanks! I've never eaten one on processing day. I'm guessing that I don't have issues because it takes a bit for the birds to get frozen once they go in the freezer. 20 birds per hour with just 3 people isn't too shabby! Keep up the good work!

[@SJA-ox3hs]

When you process the chickens can you go real slow and close camera footage of the process.

[@regenerativehomesteading4538]

Sure can. The only part we don't want to slow down is the kill cut. But we can shoot that in slow motion so it'll be slowed down in the video.