Poultry Shrink Bags: Why You Should Use Them

Poultry Shrink Bags: Why You Should Use Them

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If you butcher and process homegrown birds at home, you should know that poultry shrink bags are about the most awesome thing to come along since…well…I don’t know what. Poultry shrink bags are easy. They’re quick. They’re amazing.

I thought I knew a whole bunch about processing animals. I grew up in a hunting family and y’all, I knew how to wrap up a cut of meat. Freezer paper and I? We were totally BFF.

So, when my husband and I moved to a farm and started processing animals we’d raised, I was ahead of the game. I knew what I was doing.

But then my husband followed a rabbit hole on the internet and discovered poultry shrink bags and the folks at Texas Poultry Shrink Bags. After reading reviews and watching their video, we decided we’d try them out.

You guys, when it comes to processing chickens…I think I’m gonna have to break up with freezer paper.

Where do we get our poultry shrink bags?

We placed our order with Texas Poultry Shrink Bags, which is run by a gentleman named Tanner. It turns out that Tanner is a young gent—involved in 4H, FFA, and shooting sports—and Texas Poultry Shrink Bags is his business.

Tired of using freezer paper to wrap your home-processed poultry? I'll show you how to use poultry shrink bags for your next processing day.

You. Guys.

Support him and check out Texas Poultry Shrink bags.

The bags shipped fast. I ordered on a Saturday and had them Tuesday. We processed our birds the very next day and let me tell you, those bags are tough. We didn’t have to worry about puncturing through them or ripping them. Our biggest bird was nearly 7 pounds and it fit in the 10×16 bag.

Note: Poultry shrink bags are popular. Do not wait until the week before butchering to order them. In the height of butchering season, it’s very common to find these on back order. Plan ahead, farmish folk. Plan ahead.

How to use a poultry shrink bag:

So, here’s what you do with a Texas poultry shrink bag:

Put your clean bird into the bag, neck end in first.

Tired of using freezer paper to wrap your home-processed poultry? I'll show you how to use poultry shrink bags for your next processing day.

Place the tubing into the cavity of the chicken, twist the bag, and zip tie the bag closed around the tubing. (Zip ties and tubing included with order; we cut additional tubing so we could make an assembly line.)

Tired of using freezer paper to wrap your home-processed poultry? I'll show you how to use poultry shrink bags for your next processing day.

Dip the bag in 180-195 degree water for five seconds.

Tired of using freezer paper to wrap your home-processed poultry? I'll show you how to use poultry shrink bags for your next processing day.

Remove bag from the water and wait ten seconds while the bag shrinks around the chicken. After ten seconds have passed, pull the tube out, and tighten the zip tie.

Tired of using freezer paper to wrap your home-processed poultry? I'll show you how to use poultry shrink bags for your next processing day.

Dry the bags off, cut off the extra plastic near the top (by the zip tie), weigh, label (Tanner has those, too, but I forgot them), and stick them in your freezer.

Tired of using freezer paper to wrap your home-processed poultry? I'll show you how to use poultry shrink bags for your next processing day.

How to use poultry shrink bags…in action!

Here’s everything in action in our YouTube video: Using Texas Poultry Shrink Bags

We were so pleased with the results and have had many people tell us that our birds look so professional this year. They say, “my goodness…who processed and packaged them?”

I get to smile and say, “We did.”

…with lots of help from Tanner at Texas Poultry Shrink Bags.

Tired of using freezer paper to wrap your home-processed poultry? I'll show you how to use poultry shrink bags for your next processing day.

Butchering soon? Check out these other articles I’ve written:

Chicken Butchering Set Up: 7 Things You Will Need

10 Tips for Home Butchering

For the Love (and Butchering) of Animals

How to Butcher a Pig at Home

Do you homeschool? So do we! Check out my book — The Homeschool Highway: How to Navigate Your Way Without Getting Carsick.



11 thoughts on “Poultry Shrink Bags: Why You Should Use Them”

  • What a great idea! We had a lot of problems with pork freezer burning, so we recently switched to vacuum seal bags, but they are expensive! These seem like a great solution for chicken, and they’re so professional! Thanks for sharing.

  • Your wonderful customer service is greatly appreciated. The bags have saved us processing time and freezer space. I have recommended the bags to many people that raise and butcher their own poultry. I have butchered for years and haven’t ever had my chickens look as if a professional butcher had processed them. Again, thank you for making my job easier.

    • I think perhaps you meant for this comment to get to the people who actually supply the bags – Texas Poultry Shrink Bags. Aren’t they great?! I will make sure your message gets to them. Thanks for reading!

  • Any chance for a biodegradable option in the future? I hate all that plastic waste, but this is a fabulous invention! Go Tanner!

  • I recently butchered my first batch of chickens and used Texas shrink bags. They had a powdery residue inside the bags. Not sure what it was but I hope I didn’t ruin all of my chickens. Has anyone else had this issue or know what it is?

  • The shrink bags sound great but in what way is this superior to vacuum sealing? Just curious as Vacuum sealing is normally how I process chicken (in pieces–not whole birds).

    • I wouldn’t say one is superior to the other, it’s all in what you’re doing and how you choose to do it. The shrink bags tend to be much easier to do a whole bird (instead of pieces) and we prefer to do whole birds. With our set up and the number of birds we do at one time, the shrink bags set up is faster. I also tend to think the shrink bags are less expensive, although that depends where you’re getting your sealer bags/rolls. We do use our vacuum sealer when we do 3-4 hogs in Oct/Nov and it works great for that. 🙂

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