Using poultry shrink bags to package your meat chickens for the freezer is our favorite method of packaging. This method is quick, effective, and utilizes the scalder that we already have out from processing the chickens hours earlier. This is a very simple process, so let’s break down how to do it!

This is the fifth part of our 5 part How to Process Meat Chickens series, and in this post, I will be sharing with you:

• different methods for packaging chickens for freezer storage
• why we choose shrink bagging as our preferred method
• how to shrink bag chickens for the freezer
• supplies we recommend for this process

I highly encourage you to check out the other videos and posts in this series that I will be linking below for the full picture on how processing day works on our homestead!

How to Process Meat Chickens series

1. Meat Chicken Processing Set Up, Equipment, and Tools
2. How to Quickly Dispatch a Chicken
3. How to Remove the Feathers From a Chicken (Using a Scalder and Plucker)
4. How to Butcher and Gut a Chicken
5. How to Use Poultry Shrink Bags for Freezing Meat Chickens

This post contains affiliate links marked with an *, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thanks for supporting our homestead!

Methods for Packaging Meat Chickens

Using poultry shrink bags is definitely not the only option for freezing your freshly processed meat chickens! You can also use a vacuum sealer, butcher paper, or even freezer gallon bags. There is also the option to pressure can some or all of the meat right away for shelf-stable storage!

 

Why You Should Shrink Bag Your Chickens

As I’ve stated, using shrink bags is our preferred method for freezer packaging, and there are a couple of reasons for this.

1. It’s just quicker. The only other option we considered was using a vacuum sealer, but with the time it would take to cut the plastic material to size, heat seal one end, place the chicken in, and then heat seal + vacuum the other end, it just didn’t make sense. The poultry shrink bags are already the perfect size for a whole chicken, and we find the process to be super quick! If you were only doing a few chickens at a time, maybe vacuum sealing would be a decent option, but we are usually processing 20+ chickens.
2. In order to shrink bag the chickens, you only need the bags themselves, a straw and zip ties (usually included with the bags), and a source of hot water. Because the scalder is already out from the defeathering of the chickens just hours prior, this is another reason we choose to shrink bag them. We simply clean out the scalder, add fresh water, get it up to temperature, and we are ready to go!

How to Use Poultry Shrink Bags

If I haven’t convinced you yet that this is a simple process, get ready to be convinced! Before you package your meat chickens for the freezer using any method, you first want to ensure that they have had adequate time to chill in order for rigor mortis to pass. This post goes into a bit more detail on how to do that.

Once the chickens are done chilling, remove any ice or water from the chicken, and place it into the shrink bags* with the cavity facing up. Insert one end of the straw into the cavity, leaving the other end of the straw out of the bag. Use a zip tie to close the bag around the straw. Don’t worry about getting the zip tie super duper tight at this point, because you will be able to tighten it after the shrinking process when you remove the straw.

 

Submerge the bagged chicken into water that is 180-190 degrees F for about 10 seconds or until you can feel that all the air has left through the straw + the bag is tight around the chicken. Remove the chicken from the water, remove the straw, and tighten the zip tie with some pliers. That’s it!

Freezing Large Amounts of Chicken

There is one final tip that may seem very simple, but can’t go without stating. If you are processing large amounts of chicken in one day, it is not a good idea to place all the chickens in one freezer at the same time. Doing this has the potential to decrease your freezer temperature too much and spoil other food already inside. If you have multiple freezers, I recommend spacing the chickens out across those freezers or even placing some chickens in the refrigerator to add to the freezer in small batches over the following days.

Supplies We Recommend

Shrink Bags* – These come with the straw and the zip ties!

Scalder* – Any large stock pot will do, but if you already have the scalder out from processing earlier in the day, use that.

Pliers – These come in handy for tightening the zip tie after removing the straw.

Thermometer – A thermometer is necessary to be able to check the water temperature of the scalder to ensure it’s not getting too hot or too cold. Any meat thermometer you have should work just fine!

Learning to use poultry shrink bags to package chickens for the freezer is really a simple process, but hopefully these tips are helpful in making things go smoothly when you give it a try! We hope that this gives you the confidence to raise your own chickens for meat for your family! Comment below if you have any questions or things to add, and make sure to take a look at the other posts in this series!

1. Meat Chicken Processing Set Up, Equipment, and Tools
2. How to Quickly Dispatch a Chicken
3. How to Remove the Feathers From a Chicken (Using a Scalder and Plucker)
4. How to Butcher and Gut a Chicken
5. How to Use Poultry Shrink Bags for Freezing Meat Chickens