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[Khris]

I'm still kind of a newbie, so I don't know if this is a bug or normal or if I'm doing it wrong.

My hunter dwarf keeps on killing ducks, geese, capybaras and sometimes eagles.
But I wasn't able to butcher one animal he has killed so far.
In the beginning he killed like 5 or 6 eagles, their corpses were laying around and the dwarves ignored them completely, they didn't put them on the nearby refuse stockpile and even left them alone when I told them to dump them on the garbage.
Later I saw bodies of hunted animals on the refuse stockpile, but they NEVER ever recognized any of them as a butcherable animal.
Even when I saw the hunter bringing a dead animal directly to the butchery, no butcher job was created, even when I put the stockpile for coprses directly next to the butchery and fresh corpses of a gander and a goose were laying there, the game insisted there was no unrotten butcherable item nearby.

In my last fortress this worked normally, although the animals there were bigger, like pandas and wolves.

What am I missing?

[NecroRebel]

By default, the standing (o)rder regarding outdoor (r)efuse is to ignore refuse (o)utside. Corpses and items marked for dumping are considered refuse, so if you haven't changed that, your dwarves will ignore any corpses outside.

Also, some animals are simply too small to butcher. Some, including ducks, geese, and capybaras, would only give a skull if butchered alive, so dwarves won't bother butchering them dead.

[Khris]

By default, the standing (o)rder regarding outdoor (r)efuse is to ignore refuse (o)utside. Corpses and items marked for dumping are considered refuse, so if you haven't changed that, your dwarves will ignore any corpses outside.

I have already changed that so that they're collecting them now from outside.

Also, some animals are simply too small to butcher. Some, including ducks, geese, and capybaras, would only give a skull if butchered alive, so dwarves won't bother butchering them dead.

I thought that too, but e.g. the wiki lists some stuff you can get from geese, mainly meat and fat, so it should be butcherable: http://df.magmawiki.com/index.php/Goose
I also had a tame hen succesfully butchered, but it doesn't work with hunted animals. Like I said, I have a fresh corpse of a goose next to the butchery and the game doesn't recognize it as butcherable.

[Sphalerite]

Geese, capybaras, and eagles should all be large enough to butcher (provided they're wild animals).  Double-check your Orders screen to make sure you haven't disabled gathering of refuse from outside.  Make sure the corpses are not forbidden, and also that the material the butcher's shop is made from is not forbidden.

[Astronomygoon]

By default, the standing (o)rder regarding outdoor (r)efuse is to ignore refuse (o)utside. Corpses and items marked for dumping are considered refuse, so if you haven't changed that, your dwarves will ignore any corpses outside.

This is correct for the other corpses but the hunter kind of ignores that order when s/he has a fresh kill. But for the other corpses this would be true. I think the real question would be is "Why doesn't my hunter pick up his/her kill?" And the only reason I could think of is that the hunter has no ammo and decides that getting bolts is more important and goes rushing off.

[_DivideByZero_]

The hunter will often return the kill to the butcher shop from my experience. Maybe your hunter ran off to get bolts like Astronomygoon suggested?

[Girlinhat]

Build a refuse stockpile.  Dwarves chronically ignore corpses in the open, but will pull a corpse from the refuse stockpile to the butcher shop.

[Khris]

Yesterday I witnessed my hunter carrying a corpse to the butcher shop. However no job was created, the corpse simply vanished, and the order to automatically create jobs is on.
And like I said, I have a refuse stockpile only for corpses next to my butchery, it has two geese on it which are neither forbidden nor rotten. My dwarves collected them from the outside after I had changed my orders to collect refuse outside. Yet trying to create a job at the butchery results in the message that nothing butcherable is around even with the geese corpses just two blocks away.
Seems like the butchery itself is bugged.

and also that the material the butcher's shop is made from is not forbidden.

Wait, what does that mean?
The dwarves couldn't build a butchery from material they're not allowed to use, right?
Or could the problem be that I have all my stone on some garbage dump zones?
From time to time I claim everything on them, but could this still be the source of a bug like this?

[kotekzot]

Forbidden workshops come from forbidding stuff in the stocks menu. Use t to make sure the workshops' parts are not forbidden.

[AutomataKittay]

and also that the material the butcher's shop is made from is not forbidden.

Wait, what does that mean?
The dwarves couldn't build a butchery from material they're not allowed to use, right?
Or could the problem be that I have all my stone on some garbage dump zones?
From time to time I claim everything on them, but could this still be the source of a bug like this?

You can easily accidentally forbid the workshop if you forbid the material it's made from in the stock menu. More reason to use stone blocks instead of rough stones 

I'm not sure if d>b designations would do it if you did it over the workshop, myself, but it always pays to check. Use t key to check the workshop's built material.

[Girlinhat]

d-b-d will forbid a workshop, if you pass over the center tile.  If you d-b-d the 8 outer tiles, nothing happens.  Same for trade depot and screw pumps.  The "working square" is the one that counts.

[LuckyLuigi]

Another thing that had me stumped for a long time

"A tame animal that is not killed by your military cannot be butchered. This includes tame animals killed due to age or due to goblins."

This is a bug.

[Khris]

Okay, lol, the stone with which the butchery was made was marked to be dumped.
On another note I realized that some butchering must be taking place since I had Capybara leather and bones.
It seems that only certain birds, mainly ducks, just can't be butchered and land on the refuse pile instead.
I'll observe it some more, but I guess it should be fine somehow, I unmarked the stone in the butchery, so maybe this helped.
Thx for the help.

[Thaeris]

Hate to necro an old thread, but I've got a relevant issue here.

Due to sieges and population loss, I've got a major food shortage. As such, my population, slowly starving to death, can do things about this predicament by gathering corpses and butchering animals. However, they're all set on hunting small game, regardless of whether they've got the hunter tag or not. There are quite a few corpses lying around, including a pretty fresh forgotten beast corpse that would more than likely satisfy the appetites of my very hungry populace. How can I get the populace to use the butcher shops rather than just get angry, starve, and generally act incredibly stupid?

[krenshala]

If they get hungry enough, dwarves ignore their listed orders and perform the "Hunting Vermin for Food" task instead.  If they manage to find enough to eat they should do something useful.  That's a big "if" however ...