Featherless Meaties?

[punk-a-doodle]

Huh, interesting. So their featherless...ness didn't seem to help at all with the heat? That's a shame. I can definitely think of areas (poor rural or hot and poor countries) where something that would keep die offs from happening during heat waves (I just read about one guy recounting how he lost over a hundred birds!) could be very useful. Areas that can't afford artificial cooling basically. Shame that.

 

[LadyinRed]

I wouldn't mind naked necked meat birds, simply for the ease of neck access to make the butchering job quicker and less stressful on the bird. Being compleetly featherless I imagine they could easily harm each other by accident with claws and beaks.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Good point. Kind of like needing to be careful with nude rats!

 

[Bossroo]

Quote:
Hmmm ! A RED piece of chicken meat on green grass chasing after a black bug.

I prefer my chicken yellow when featherless then morf to a golden tan after their visit on the BBQ.

 

[Ms.Frizzle]

I thought the whole point of featherlessness was so that the bird would put more effort into growth rather then sparing the proteins for feather development.

 

[Tam'ra of Rainbow Vortex]

I, being a feather crafter, am apalled by the idea of naked chickens! The feathers are one of the best and most valuable parts of a chicken!
I skin mine and preserve the pelt, but I have scalded (the smell isn't too much worse than a wet dog) and dry plucked. All I can say on the dry plucking subject is that you have to do it when the bird is... fresh... once it cools it gets hard to yank out wing and tail feathers. But if you skin them you get a lovely pelt full of valuable feathers...how could that be bad?

 

[Oregon Blues]

I would think that they have to be kept in a climate controlled environment. The cost of that would be more than the cost of plucking. There are machines to pluck.

Sunburn would make the skin unattractive on the dressed bird. They would chill very easily, have no protection from rain.

They are probably intended to be raised in battery buildings.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Mrs. Frizzle: I believe that there were several reasons given by the people working on the project such as growing faster, no producing as much waste, not using as much water, reducing plucking/processing time, and being available to hot regions where water and electrical cooling are not available. Course, there could be many benefits or drawbacks that aren't immediately present, but I think those were some of the original reasons given.

Tam'ra: Neat, I'd love to see some of your work! Haha, definitely not a bad thing to skin them feathers and all, but not ideal for some. Mmm...crispy roasted chicken skin....
I'll really have to look into dry plucking. Scalding does not sound appealing to me on any level honestly. Since I'll just be butchering for two mainly, dry plucking may work since all birds would be fresh and sparsely killed. But no plucking...I like that. More time to work on other things I'd rather be doing. Like riding bikes, building model airplanes, breeding legless chickens...

Oregon: I think they are meant for hot climates only, where heating isn't needed and where electrical cooling is problematic or unavailable. But, I think if they do end up on the platter, it'll unfortunately just be to further industrial farming. Or possibly nudist colony awareness.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Quote:

 

[Minniechickmama]

Tam'ra: I looked on your page, the masks are wonderful! I am going to start saving my rooster capes and maybe some of the suitable hens' feather capes for fly tying to sell. There is a shortage of feathers for the fly tyers due to folks like your

. It is okay, the higher the demand the more product I can move! The feathers can be more valuable than any other part of raising a chicken if they are the right color.