Can one re-scald?

[Looking4ewes]

I attempted to process 3 turkeys last night. The scald temp dropped after dunking the first one and plucking became a chore! In fact, some feathers wouldn't come off at all. In frustration, I threw the birds on ice and went to finish my other chores. Now I have a cooler of cold, wet birds to deal with this am. Any ideas? I really don't want to skin.

 

[chicks4kids]

I would re-scald them for sure. I don't see why you couldn't or even shouldn't. I did turkeys this year and one didn't scald too well for me and I dunked it again. I just don't know about them being ice cold and scalding.

 

[PunkinPeep]

Well, you definitely have to do something, so it's certainly worth a shot. I don't foresee any specific problems from scalding while they're cold. Keeping that water the right temperature is so important.

 

[litterbitt]

I sure would. Maybe bring it closer to room temp first.

 

[chicks4kids]

I gotta add that spring loaded pliers are awesome on stubborn turkey feathers too!

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Man that's a tough one... you let it sit overnight in ice water whole? With feathers? The only real big problem I see, I don't know if you will be able to scald it now just because the bird is going to be so stiff. It will be very hard to work with, it might be best to just skin it. If you have the patience and the time you don't have much to lose by going and plucking it. Turkeys are really hard on the scalder and will bring the temp down extremely quick. What I do is I bring a turkey pot to boil then toss it in a blue 25 gallon tub and then bring the temp down with a hose. This gives me plenty of water to work with. Before I even scald I have another pot of about 2 gallons heating up. I bring that to a boil and when my water in the blue tub cools too low, I just add the boiling water and then adjust the temp with the hose. It's tricky but the water is everything when processing poultry.

 

[Looking4ewes]

Yes, I tossed them on ice whole. They were very stiff but loosened up upon re-scalding. It helped greatly, though I still didn't get all the feathers. I gutted them and rinsed well and now they are sitting on ice again. Not ideal, but I am trying to salvage 4 months of work. One tom's wing feathers were so tough to extract that I cut the wings off and fed them to the dogs. That one I will skin and part. I will work on completing the de-feathering today.

How does one extract the small feathers beneath the skin?

To be honest, I don't know if I'll do turkeys again. For the same amount of work, I can raise pigs.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Turkeys are a ton of work which is one of the reasons why we charge $4.00 / pound. They are a hassle to process. Are the birds white? If they are black you will have to squeeze out the little feathers like a pimple... or if they are the pin feathers use a small pair of needle nose pliers to do the trick.

Pigs are super easy and I'm a fan of them...