Chronicles of Raising Meat Birds - Modern Broilers, Heritage and Hybrids

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

I pluck and ignore the little black specs. By the time the skin is crispy, it is all good and scrumptious. If there is someone who is sensitive, leave the skin on to cook and slice the meat for presentation with or without the skin. Gotta get that flavor.

These birds are part of my teen daughters business, so we’ve been selling all we can. I was a lot less nervous last year when I was giving the meat to my sister to eat. Preparing them to sell really ups the stress factor for me! I obviously can’t plan on plucking all of these pin feathers again though ... I was also just really slow at everything. With set up/clean up and crazy plucking, I think it took me about 7 hr for four birds, then my back was killing me and I was exhausted. I showered and went to bed at 7 pm!

 

[RUNuts]

These birds are part of my teen daughters business, so we’ve been selling all we can. I was a lot less nervous last year when I was giving the meat to my sister to eat. Preparing them to sell really ups the stress factor for me! I obviously can’t plan on plucking all of these pin feathers again though ... I was also just really slow at everything. With set up/clean up and crazy plucking, I think it took me about 7 hr for four birds, then my back was killing me and I was exhausted. I showered and went to bed at 7 pm!

Get a higher table. Helps immensely with the back pain. If you are on a banquet table, cut 1" or 1.5" PVC pipe to raise the table to a more comfortable height. I use a stack of pallets (bleached the top one) at chest height. What a relief! Don't torture yourself.

You will get faster with experience. I limit myself to 4-6 birds a day and between sun up and lunch, I'm done. I'm not selling. These are all mine. I will finish pluck if I run out of steam, or the flies swarm or I'm standing in an ant pile or other things because I'm lazy and not in a hurry. I also scald and hand pluck. Been a while and many birds, but I'm better at scalding and quicker at plucking. I also make a bigger mess.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Duck wax works on the little fluffy hairs and down. Really doesn't touch the pin feathers that are still in the sheath. Good idea though. Easier to butcher around the molt, but that is tricky on thick feathered dark birds.

I had some production black or Australorp cockerels from last year's hatch and as the hormones peaked, so did the pin feathers. Skinned the whole lot of them over a month. Tasty, but skinned. Good soup birds.

So, how do you butcher around the molt? I am thinking about skinning but have an order for another 4-5 birds and I think they expect skin on again... We are trying to sell as a premium pasture raised product. I am wondering if I can tell them that the small pin feathers will melt during cooking... Another idea I had was to sell as “preseasoned” with pepper and ...? Then the pin feathers wouldn’t look so odd. I’ve also been telling people that the birds should be cooked more like pheasant than grocery store birds, since a lot of people hunt around here.

The funny thing here is that I don’t eat meat, I haven’t cooked any of these birds, and I don’t really know whether the pin feathers will dissolve or be odd. Also don’t know what seasonings people would like! Current customer/friend likes my Cajun pickled eggs so maybe I could do a Cajun style rub...

 

[RUNuts]

So, how do you butcher around the molt? I am thinking about skinning but have an order for another 4-5 birds and I think they expect skin on again... We are trying to sell as a premium pasture raised product. I am wondering if I can tell them that the small pin feathers will melt during cooking... Another idea I had was to sell as “preseasoned” with pepper and ...? Then the pin feathers wouldn’t look so odd. I’ve also been telling people that the birds should be cooked more like pheasant than grocery store birds, since a lot of people hunt around here.

The funny thing here is that I don’t eat meat, I haven’t cooked any of these birds, and I don’t really know whether the pin feathers will dissolve or be odd. Also don’t know what seasonings people would like! Current customer/friend likes my Cajun pickled eggs so maybe I could do a Cajun style rub...

How to butcher around the molt? I'm still learning. For broilers, they are lightly feathered and not as big a deal. For the Barnyard Surprises, I went to first crow and butchered. 2 pound birds, so they weren't optimal. I have neighbors. No crowing. I read that you can look/feel/inspect and tell when a bird has pin feathers. They aren't on a schedule, so you may have to deal with it anyway. Sorry that I can't offer more guidance.

 

[Morrigan]

The juvenile molting does mess with butchering. It seems I'm always dealing with annoying little pin feathers.

I pluck and ignore the little black specs. By the time the skin is crispy, it is all good and scrumptious. If there is someone who is sensitive, leave the skin on to cook and slice the meat for presentation with or without the skin. Gotta get that flavor.

That's what I do. Once cooked, I can't say as I remember ever seeing or thinking about them.

Another idea I had was to sell as “preseasoned” with pepper and ...? Then the pin feathers wouldn’t look so odd. I’ve also been telling people that the birds should be cooked more like pheasant than grocery store birds, since a lot of people hunt around here.

I can see the challenge from a marketing perspective. Having an abstract idea of what "natural" and "heritage" looks and like, may end up differing greatly from the reality. I suspect some people envision something that looks like a supermarket chicken, only more healthy, or maybe just a bit more dark meat. Asking new customers to think about it more like a game bird sounds like a good idea. Have you been getting any feed back regarding the appearance or taste of your birds?

 

[Morrigan]

How to butcher around the molt? I'm still learning.

Me too! I guess I could try to monitor how many loose feathers I see around the coop to gauge how much molting is going on. But, for cockerels, I'm much more interested in trying to hit that sweet spot between reasonable size, tenderness, and how much chaos I can tolerate in my coop. Invariably, it has me butchering them in the 12 to 16 week range, and it seems there are always pin feathers at that age. There is more latitude with the pullets, I think, but I haven't butchered enough to pin-point when they are done with their juvenile molt. The one I butchered at 18 weeks, was pretty clear of pin feathers, if I recall.

 

[Molpet]

Nice! So you have dark feathered meat birds... Do you skin or pluck? I’m getting the idea that most people skin of feathers are dark...

I run them through the plucker and ignore the inky spots. Just for me and I'm not picky ... Or too lazy to pick them out

 

[jolenesdad]

My Imperial Broiler is molting and she is the saddest looking molter that I’ve ever had. She is 13 months old.

 

[aart]

My Imperial Broiler is molting and she is the saddest looking molter that I’ve ever had. She is 13 months old.

Should dub that first pics "Hostile Territory"
...and post it in the molting pics contest.

 

[Mixed flock enthusiast]

Should dub that first pics "Hostile Territory"
...and post it in the molting pics contest.

She looks like my 2 yr to old barnyard mix layer that I entered in the contest...