best age to process Pekins?

[hennyjenn]

I know there is a line between big enough and hard to pluck. Anyone know when that is with Pekins?

 

[classroomducks]

i think...i think. I read on here some said they shoot for 7 weeks and 2 days (i remember that cause i thought the 2 day thing was funny) and if you miss that one 12 and 1/2 weeks otherwise the pin feathers are hard to deal with.

I think that is what i saw...

 

[Red Maple Farms]

You should ask the moderator to move this post to the meat birds. etc section where the crowd is more receptive.

To repeat an earlier post, we process pekins on a regular basis, and tend to shoot for 7 weeks and 2 days. If we miss that, then we will try 12 1/2 weeks because pin feathers can really be a problem. I tried that once, and it was a nightmare.

I have added a reference from Metzer Farms.

From http://www.metzerfarms.com/ProcessingWaterfowl.cfm?CustID=40751

As waterfowl have so many feathers, you want to pluck them when it is the easiest to get them all out. This is when the feathers are all mature and there are no pin (or immature) feathers. For ducks this is at about 7, 12.5 or 18 weeks of age. For geese it is normally at 9, 15 or 20 weeks of age. If you try to process between these "windows of opportunity" you will encounter large numbers of pin feathers that may double or triple your processing time and effort.