Butchering ducks - Pin Feather question

[protodon]

Today I butchered my first duck at exactly 7 weeks and 2 days. I had read that was the best time to do it because of pin feathers. Well this duck was covered in tiny pin feathers. So now I'm confused I know people say to butcher between 7 and 8 weeks but are the tiny down pin feathers unavoidable? Does anyone have some specific info about the stages of duck feather growth between 7 and 8 weeks? I still have about 20 other ducks to butcher but now I am waiting to see if this pin feather stage passes. At 7 weeks and 2 days most of the pin feathers were on the ducks front. I have no interest in skinning or using duck wax.

 

[Neil Grassbaugh]

The commercial production of Pekin ducks is based on breeding and management that dictates slaughter at 42 days. Pin feathers are at a minimum at this time to facilitate the most complete removal of the feather cover. Very specialized equipment is also used to defeather. It is modified from the usual configuration used for landfowl.

 

[protodon]

Slaughtering a duck at 6 weeks sounds like a waste. I would guess that grocery store ducks are older than that.

 

[uhuh555]

Wax them to remove the pinfeathers. Melt paraffin wax and dip them in it let it harden and re-dip them a 2nd and/or 3rd time letting it harden between dipping.

Be sure to re-dip quickly so as not to re-melt the first coating of wax. The idea is achieving a thick layer of wax making it easier to peel.

When harden (totally cooled) remove it by peeling from the tail toward head and it will remove all those troublesome pinfeathers.

Save the wax you peal off, re-melt it, screen it (while hot) to remove feathers from the wax. Let it boil about 3 minutes to sterilize it so it can be used again and again.

 

[exsia]

Hi Proton,

in a nutshell... yes, those pins feathers and down are pretty much unavoidable. I butcher at all ages, and the only time I dont have any issues is when i'm butchering them at 6months! If you can't wait that long, try again in 2 1/2 - 3weeks. The pin feathers are constantly growing and there's going to be another big surge of pin feathers at week 11 1/2 - 12

I've processed them everyday from 8 weeks to 12+ weeks and i can honestly say (with 4 yrs experience) that there are too many variables to give you an exact date of when the pin feathers and down will not be present. I've had batches who clean up beautifully one day and are just crap the next

If you prefer not to skin, singeing helps get some of the down off the surface

 

[homesteadapps]

A nice lady from Ridgeway Hatchery told us about an excellent way to remove duck feathers.


Dip them in 160 to 180 degree water for about a minute and then wrap them in a layer or two of newspaper for a few minutes.

We let them sit for about 10 to 15 minutes and the feather come out in handfuls, even the small down feathers

We were so glad find an easy way to do this.

 

[FootbridgeFarm]

It seems to me that with Pekins you just need to be flexible.

I process them at 10 weeks and after the picker is done with them I do one of 3 things:

1) If they are clean of feathers I clean and freeze them.
2) If they have a reasonable number of pin feathers I use a needle-nose to clean them up and then follow #1 above.
3) If they are just covered with down I don't bother and just breast them out at the table like a wild duck.

There's plenty of info on the Intertubes about breaking down a duck or chicken. You get most of the meat but none of that nice roast duck shape.

E

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
X2 ..duckwax is the way to go

 

[homesteadapps]

I used to use the wax but not after trying the newspapers -- never again for me. Just dip, cover and remove the feathers. It worked remarkably well.

 

[Ahab]

A final down- and pin-feather removal trick gleaned from Holderread's book: put a little rubbing alcohol in a jar lid, touch it off, and pass the carcass through the flames. Worked great for me recently. My grandmother used to do something similar when I was a boy, but that was 50 years ago and, like most things from 50 years ago, I only kind of remember it.