I normally pluck my older birds and skin my younger birds. I find with my older birds, especially roosters, they grow some pretty strong membrane to hold the skin on. With my arthritic fingers I have trouble skinning an old rooster. I wind up cutting a lot of those membranes if I try to skin older birds. It's harder and it is a lot slower to skin old birds for me, especially old roosters.
Younger birds I can skin pretty fast. What slows me down on plucking is more heating the water and keeping it hot, but that is due to the way I have it set up. If I'd ever spring for that propane turkey cooker, I'd not have that restriction. We are all different and some of us are cheaper than others. If I have hot water, I can pluck or skin at about the same speed. Now if a bird is molting, plucking becomes a lot harder and slower. That weighs into my decision of whether to pluck or skin. All those new feathers growing in can really slow plucking down. I pluck by hand. I don't process enough at a time to justify a mechanical plucker. I'll refer back to my comment about me being cheap.
My wife can't handle the skin on the birds anyway, due to her digestive system. I'll go no further on that, but I wind up eventually skinning the pieces anyway, even when I pluck. When I process, I cut them into pieces, not keep the carcass whole. When I pluck, I skin the individual pieces at that time. That skin goes into the part that becomes stock. It is usually from older birds and really enriches the stock without putting out a lot of fat.
I don't raise meaties. I raise dual purpose mutts and process males and females as required. I only process a few at a time, partly because I don't want a freezer full of meat when the power goes out. I kind of like older chicken. The flavor is good, if you use the right methods to cook them they are great, and they make better stock. I mainly free range so it does not cost a lot to feed them. I don't see a reason for me to raise a bunch that have to be processed within a narrow time window. If I'm not careful that window might fall around my grandkid's birthday or Mom might have a medical problem. I like to be able to be flexible. Some people raise meaties for their own reasons. That is their business and none of mine. Meaties just don't suit me.
Younger birds I can skin pretty fast. What slows me down on plucking is more heating the water and keeping it hot, but that is due to the way I have it set up. If I'd ever spring for that propane turkey cooker, I'd not have that restriction. We are all different and some of us are cheaper than others. If I have hot water, I can pluck or skin at about the same speed. Now if a bird is molting, plucking becomes a lot harder and slower. That weighs into my decision of whether to pluck or skin. All those new feathers growing in can really slow plucking down. I pluck by hand. I don't process enough at a time to justify a mechanical plucker. I'll refer back to my comment about me being cheap.
My wife can't handle the skin on the birds anyway, due to her digestive system. I'll go no further on that, but I wind up eventually skinning the pieces anyway, even when I pluck. When I process, I cut them into pieces, not keep the carcass whole. When I pluck, I skin the individual pieces at that time. That skin goes into the part that becomes stock. It is usually from older birds and really enriches the stock without putting out a lot of fat.
I don't raise meaties. I raise dual purpose mutts and process males and females as required. I only process a few at a time, partly because I don't want a freezer full of meat when the power goes out. I kind of like older chicken. The flavor is good, if you use the right methods to cook them they are great, and they make better stock. I mainly free range so it does not cost a lot to feed them. I don't see a reason for me to raise a bunch that have to be processed within a narrow time window. If I'm not careful that window might fall around my grandkid's birthday or Mom might have a medical problem. I like to be able to be flexible. Some people raise meaties for their own reasons. That is their business and none of mine. Meaties just don't suit me.
