How To Become A Live Hanger: What It Is and Career Path

What is a live hanger and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

It takes a lot of work to get delicious drumsticks and chicken wings onto a consumer's plate. Chickens need to be raised, slaughtered, and then processed. Live hangers are some of the many people who work in a chicken processing plant that turns chickens from fowl to food.

Live hangers are one of the first steps on the chicken production line. They handle live birds and place them in a device that straps their feet to the belt. Although the live hanger prepares the birds, they don't actually have to kill them or handle the carcasses. Live hangers need to work quickly because the work rate in a chicken processing plant is pretty fast.

Besides physical stamina, there aren't many other special skills required to be a live hanger. The equipment is relatively simple, and most people learn on the job. Most live hangers only have a high school diploma. It also helps if they have a strong stomach--even though live hangers don't slaughter chickens, they still have to spend a lot of time around smelly birds.

ScoreLive HangerUS Average

Salary

2.4

Avg. Salary $30,484

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

6.3

Growth Rate 3%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.9

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 2.19%

Asian 1.08%

Black or African American 9.30%

Hispanic or Latino 31.88%

Unknown 3.61%

White 51.94%

Gender

female 7.63%

male 92.37%

Age - 40

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40

Stress Level

6.3

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

7.7

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.8

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a live hanger

Explore live hanger education requirements

Most common live hanger degrees

High School Diploma

63.3 %

Diploma

21.6 %

Associate

7.4 %

Start to develop specific live hanger skills

Skills	Percentages
Shackles	47.87%
Live Birds	13.10%
Live Chickens	9.58%
Assembly Line	8.04%
DOA	6.40%

Complete relevant live hanger training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 2-4 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New live hangers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a live hanger based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real live hanger resumes.

Research live hanger duties and responsibilities

Meet all quality requirements, OSHA regulations and deadlines.
Cut openings into board for electrical outlets, windows, vents, or fixtures using keyhole see or other cutting tools.
Wear and maintain all PPE.

Prepare your live hanger resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your live hanger resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a live hanger resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Live Hanger Resume templates

Build a professional Live Hanger resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Live Hanger resume.

Apply for live hanger jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a live hanger job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do live hangers rate their job?

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Live Hanger reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on May 2021

Pros

The end result of the work in hanging drywall