Description
Complete Your Grilling Tools with Our Kitchen and Poultry Shears
A Knife Can Spatchcock a Chicken. Poultry Shears Do It in Half the Time.
You can split a chicken with a knife. Find the backbone. Work the blade down one side of the spine, then the other. Wiggle through the ribs. Try not to slip.
Or you can grab poultry shears. Two cuts. Ten seconds. The backbone is out and the bird is flat, seasoned, and ready for the smoker before the knife crowd finds their cutting board.
Poultry shears are the tool you reach for when the job calls for cutting through bone, cartilage, and joints — and a knife is the wrong answer.
Through Bone. Through Joints. Through the Work.
The blades are built to cut what a chef's knife bounces off. Chicken backbones. Turkey ribs. Pork rib tips. The joints on a whole bird where the thigh meets the body and the knife wants to slide sideways. These poultry shears close with leverage, not force — the pivot does the work, not your grip.
The handles are long enough for two hands when the bird is thick, and comfortable enough for one hand when the job is quick. The grip handles wet work. You can spatchcock a chicken, trim a rack of ribs, clip wing tips, and quarter a bird without stopping to dry your hands or reposition your hold.
Beyond poultry, these kitchen shears trim brisket fat where a knife feels clumsy, snip herbs into the injection pot, and cut butcher twine without grabbing another tool. They earn the drawer space.
How to Use Them
For spatchcocking, stand the bird on its neck end. Cut down one side of the backbone, then the other. Pop the breastbone flat with your palm. The bird lays open, ready for rub and the smoker, in less than a minute.
For ribs, snip between the bones to separate individual ribs for a party tray. For wing tips, one cut at the joint. For herbs, hold the bunch over the pot and shear it straight in.
Wash by hand. Dry the pivot joint thoroughly — that is where rust starts. A drop of food-grade oil on the hinge every few months keeps them smooth.
How It Fits in the Kit
The Trimming Knife handles fat caps and silver skin. The Chef Knife handles slicing and chopping. The Slicing Knife handles the finished brisket.
The poultry shears handle everything with bones. Spatchcocking. Jointing. Snipping. Trimming. The tool you grab when the knife is not right for the job and you know it. Every cook who processes whole birds should own a pair. This is the one.
Here are some great articles to read on our blog to learn on the Poultry Shears:
Ask the Pitmaster
Why use dedicated poultry shears instead of a chef knife or kitchen scissors for breaking down birds?
A chef knife can break down a chicken, but it fights you on the joints. The blade stalls at the hip socket. You rock it back and forth looking for the gap between the ball and the cup while the chicken slides around the board. A pair of kitchen scissors will cut through the skin and maybe the rib cage, but the handles flex and the blades separate under load — and kitchen scissors are not built to pop a thigh joint. The Butcher BBQ Poultry Shears are built for exactly this job. The blades are shorter, thicker, and curved to follow the contour of a bird. The pivot is reinforced so the blades do not spread apart when you bear down on a leg joint. The handles are long enough for a full-hand grip — not two fingers in tiny scissor loops — so you can generate the force needed to shear through cartilage, rib bones, and the spine. Spatchcocking a turkey for the smoker takes less than ninety seconds with poultry shears. Doing it with a chef knife takes five minutes, three repositionings, and a prayer that the knife does not slip. Poultry shears are not a convenience. They are the right tool for the anatomy of a bird.
What can you do with poultry shears besides spatchcocking a chicken or turkey?
Spatchcocking is the headliner, but the Butcher BBQ Poultry Shears handle every cut on a bird that a knife struggles with. Remove the backbone on a turkey to lay it flat for faster, more even smoking. Cut out the wishbone before roasting or smoking a whole chicken so the breast slices clean without a bone in the way. Trim the excess skin and fat from chicken thighs before seasoning — the shears cut through skin without pulling it the way a knife drags. Split a whole chicken into halves for a direct-grill cook where you want char on the bone side. Clip the wing tips off and toss them in the stock bag. Remove the tail and excess fat from a whole duck. Open the cavity of a game hen for stuffing. Outside of poultry, the shears cut butcher twine, open vacuum-sealed packaging, trim herbs, and snip the corner off a sauce bag for a clean pour. They earn their spot in the knife roll by doing the jobs that a blade cannot do without risking a finger.
How do you clean poultry shears properly after handling raw chicken or turkey?
Disassemble them. The Butcher BBQ Poultry Shears open at the pivot — pull the blades apart so you can clean the hinge and the inner face of each blade where they rub against each other. Raw poultry juices collect in the pivot joint. If you wash the shears assembled, the outside looks clean but the inside of the hinge still carries whatever was on the bird. Hot water and dish soap on both blades, both handles, and the pivot pin. Scrub the serrations on the inner edge of the blade — fat and connective tissue pack into the teeth and harden. Dry immediately. Do not let them air dry in a dish rack. The pivot pin and the spring mechanism will rust if they sit wet. Reassemble when dry. Once a month, put a drop of food-grade mineral oil on the pivot before reassembling. The shears will open and close smooth instead of sticking halfway through a cut. The worst thing you can do is wash them assembled and let them drip dry. The second worst thing is the dishwasher — the heat ruins the spring tension and the detergent pits the blade steel. Hand wash, disassembled, dried immediately. That is the fifteen-second routine that keeps the Butcher BBQ Poultry Shears cutting clean through hundreds of birds.
Why does the Butcher BBQ Poultry Shears blade have a serrated edge?
The serrated edge on Butcher BBQ Poultry Shears grips bone and cartilage during the cut rather than sliding off the surface the way a smooth blade does. When cutting through a chicken backbone or turkey rib, the serrations catch the bone surface at the start of the cut and prevent the blade from deflecting sideways — which is the primary cause of slipped cuts and hand injuries when using smooth-bladed shears on bone. The serrations also maintain cutting performance longer between sharpenings than a smooth edge, because the teeth continue to grip and cut even as the edge dulls slightly from regular use. For the specific task of cutting through poultry joints and backbones — where the material is hard, curved, and slippery — a serrated blade is the correct edge geometry.
What does the safety lock on the Butcher BBQ Poultry Shears do and when should you use it?
The safety lock on Butcher BBQ Poultry Shears holds the blades in the closed position during storage and transport, preventing the shears from opening accidentally in a knife roll, a cook bag, or a kitchen drawer where an open blade is a cut hazard. Engage the lock after every use before storing — the spring-loaded design means the shears will open on their own if the lock is not engaged, which creates a blade exposure risk in any storage situation where the shears are not in a dedicated sheath. Release the lock before use by disengaging the latch — the spring then holds the shears open between cuts, so you do not have to manually open the blades between each snip. The lock is a storage feature, not a cutting feature.
How do you spatchcock a turkey with poultry shears versus a chicken?
Spatchcocking a turkey with Butcher BBQ Poultry Shears follows the same two-cut backbone removal technique as a chicken, but requires more cuts and more hand pressure because a turkey backbone is significantly thicker and the ribs are heavier. Stand the turkey breast-side down on a stable surface. Cut down one side of the backbone from the tail to the neck — this may require three to four repositions of the shears rather than the single continuous cut a chicken allows. Cut down the other side of the backbone and remove it. Flip the turkey breast-side up and press firmly on the breastbone with both palms until it cracks flat. For a chicken, the same process takes under a minute. For a 15-pound turkey, allow three to five minutes and use two hands on the shears for the thicker sections of the backbone. The spring-loaded design returns the blades open between cuts so you can reposition without manually opening the shears.
How do you use poultry shears to separate individual ribs for a competition or party tray?
Butcher BBQ Poultry Shears work for separating individual pork ribs from a rack after the cook — a task that a slicing knife handles awkwardly because the blade has to navigate around the bone rather than cutting through it. After the rack comes off the smoker and rests, position the shears between two rib bones and cut through the meat and any cartilage connecting the ribs. The serrated blade grips the cartilage at the rib tip end and cuts cleanly without tearing the bark on the adjacent ribs. For a competition party tray or a backyard presentation where individual ribs are served rather than a full rack, the shears produce cleaner individual portions than a knife because they cut perpendicular to the bone rather than at an angle.
How do you maintain the pivot joint on the Butcher BBQ Poultry Shears to prevent rust and stiffness?
The pivot joint on Butcher BBQ Poultry Shears is the most maintenance-critical point on the tool — it is where the two blades cross, where moisture accumulates after washing, and where rust starts if the shears are stored wet. After every use, wash by hand and dry the pivot joint thoroughly before storing — a paper towel worked into the joint area removes moisture that a surface wipe misses. Apply a drop of food-grade oil at the pivot every few months to keep the spring action smooth and prevent oxidation at the joint. Do not put the shears in the dishwasher — the high heat and moisture cycle accelerates rust at the pivot and can damage the spring mechanism. Engage the safety lock before storing to keep the blades closed and the pivot protected from contact with other tools in the drawer or knife roll.
Your Reasons To Buy
- Stainless Steel blade with easy to hold handle
- Serrated blade
- Safety lock to assist while in storage
- Spring loaded for easy control
- 4 inch blade
Let Me Tell You More
Butcher BBQ understands that a quality, sharp knife can make all the difference in the kitchen. That's why they've crafted these shears with performance in mind. With their excellent cutting abilities and precise design, you'll be spatchcocking chickens and prepping turkeys like a seasoned chef in no time. So, if you're ready to level up your kitchen game, equip yourself with the Butcher BBQ Poultry and Fish Shears. Don't just settle for ordinary shears when you can have a cutting essential that's witty, clever, and perfect for all your poultry and fish prepping needs. Grab yours today and let your culinary creativity take flight!
