Butchering Turkeys For the First Time ||How to Process a Turkey & Supplies Needed||

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Butchering Turkeys For the First Time ||How to Process a Turkey & Supplies Needed||

Today we slaughter and process our white broad breast turkeys. Hopefully this video helps you out and you can decide if this is something you want to do in the future.

Here are the links to the products you will need. If you use these links it we get a small commission but doesn't cost you any extra.

GasOne ST-32 Gas One Stainless Steel Stock 32qt/8 Gallon with lid/cover & Steamer Rack, Silver

Power Plucker Chicken Plucker Drill Attachment

TANSUNG Poultry Shears

KT THERMO Instand Read 2-Inch Dial Thermometer

UltraSource Boning Knife, 5" Curved/Semi-Flexible Blade, Polypropylene Handle

10 Turkey Shrink Bags 18" X 28" (10)

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[aaronerskine]

this is so inhumane. i only buy my turkeys from farmers who raise frozen turkeys so there is no slaughter involved.

[SlowPyYT]

The happy music in the background while the Turkey is dying 😂

[Macedmama]

Finally ! I found a good video on how to butcher with detail! Thank you!

[jackditlove]

Absolutely a marvelous instructional video. No cutouts or exceptions. Thank you. I cut a lot of big game but have never done birds. Now I can.

[KxemonPlayz]

"OMG THIS IS SO CRUEL"


When thanksgiving comes:

[wedoba]

I noticed that you let it slowly bleed out. Why not just kill it first and by that I mean strike to the skull a broken neck any of the things that actually put it down not let it slowly die and clearly die in fear and stress and agony? Just asking, I'm not against killing I'm just against suffering and even if this is the most efficient way to get the blood out of the body that's not at all without a 'huge' amount of suffering.

it's also pretty well known that meat from animals who die calmly is a lot better than animals who die full of stress. But seriously this is a question why do this?

[Falzee]

When I was a little kid my mother processed over a hundred turkeys every year for several years. She had a round spike looking thing that she would push thru the roof of their mouth then cut their throat. The reason for the knife thru the brain was to paralyze them and their muscles would relax. She then would dry pick them and it made a big difference in how they were killed on how easy they were to pick. She never once scalded a one of them.

[Fastlane]

Did 40 broiler chickens this past summer. The Roosters were about 12.5 lbs before butchered and 7.5 gutted and cleaned. That was a lot of work.

[Foxtrotth]

Thank you for showing the entire process with the cone others skip through it sometimes and we didn’t know what to expect after the cut

[fraagrindr]

It seems to me you could put a 2" screw into to bottom backside of that 2x4, then run your bungee under it to apply maximum downward pressure to hold the birds feet more securely against the 2x4 face - so you don't have to - after slitting the throat. I've yet to see a killing cone kill go smoothly.
When I was a small boy (5 yo) living in Pasadena CA in 1972/1973, a man next-door raised geese and chickens in the backyard on his 1 acre parcel. He was an older black man from Mississippi who'd settled in CA after returning from fighting in WWII. His name was either Irwin or Irvin - I can't remember. I would watch him butcher his fowl from an upstairs balcony of the home my mother rented. All he used was a large oak round, a broad-headed hatchet, two pots of water and a short stool. Holding the bird by the neck, he'd sit down and place the bird on the ground next to the oak round, pinning it against the round with his leg, then stretch out the bird's neck across the round and bring down that heavy hatchet. The bird would flap its wings frantically for a bit while under the man's leg then eventually stop, but sometimes the bird would break free and off-to-the-races that bird would run around the backyard without its head. The first time I saw this I was shocked and amazed, but later it would make me laugh hysterically. After he went and picked it up, he'd sit back down and start dunking and plucking occasionally alternating pots; in the winter I learned one pot was hot water because I could see the steam rising from one. It seemed like the bird was plucked clean in about 10 or so minutes, but I can't really say because I didn't time it. Then came the next bird.... fond childhood memories.
We'll see what system I come up with, as my wife has started raising chickens and I'm the appointed butcher, while she's the egg collector.

[Sc-xquv]

Thank you, butterball left the windpipe in my Turkey and I had to figure out what it was. Your video educated me and was very interesting!!

[toddy]

Why not cut off the head first and let it bleed out so there is no pain and suffering?

[abelkanego]

Wow, so thats how to clean a turkey. Good job!
However, I think if you prepared it in a big sink where you can wash and keep the blood away from the meat then it would be really good. This is just a personal thought, but really good so far!

[RealAugustusAutumn]

I personally disagree with this method. Much more humane, in my opinion, to just remove the head instead of cutting the throat.

[alexmaclean]

These cones, or even your rigged up bucket seems far easier than the way we used to do it when I was growing up. We cut a hole for the head in a feed bag, had a sharp hatchet and a maple log. It worked but it was still a mess as the flop around, but at least they didn't go far in the bag....

[Mike]

A couple of things that I didn’t understand is that since you end up discarding the head anyway, when you had the turkey upside down in the funnel, why didn’t you just cut off the head, rather than the slow bleed out that you did? Also, given that the turkey was plucked fairly soon after the slaughter, why did it need to be pre soaked in warm water? I’ve never processed a turkey, but I’ve processed many gamebirds, and the feathers should’ve been able to just come out really easily even by hand, without having to pre-soak the bird.

[whittkatt]

The cheerful music as you wait for the bird to bleed out, lol.
Anyhow, thank you for the informative video!

[milissiameacher]

You showed a cooler of ice in the beginning as supply’s but I did not see you use it?
Did you cool it after defeathering before butchering, as there seemed to be ice cubes on the table. Sorry if a dumb question I’m currently educating myself before jumping into birds. Thank you.

[michaelmeredith]

Thank you for the video! Just followed your steps with my two turkeys and it went perfect! I feel like I took our new homestead to the next level!

[McBabe]

I’ve found it’s better to use a thick straw down into the center of the turkey when sealing the bag… just a thick rewashable straw/tube that you put in the bird, pull the bag up around it halfway and then put the ziptie around that. Once the air is mostly released and the bag is almost shrunk completely, pull the tube and cinch the tie down the rest of the way 😊