Help! so frustrated with plucking I'm about to give up!

[yotetrapper]

I envisioned nice brown skin roast chickens and crispy skinned fried chicken for my meaties.,...but the first one took me over an houir to pluck, and still probably had a half hour of finish work.

I butchered, bled out, then dumped him in 145 degree water for about 30 seconds, then cold water. But when I trie to pluck, the feathers break off leaving the hard shaft under the skin which then needs to be removed with tweezers. I tried re-dunking him, but that didnt help either. I cant spend an hour and a half pluckng every bird! I'm ready to give up. Please help!!!

 

[chickabator]

When I pluck ours I dip in 160 water swoosh around for a few seconds lay on news paper for a few seconds to let cool down just a little then I pluck away. when you are dipping in the water and then putting in the cold water you are tightening up the poors again around the feathers. at least that is my guess. maybe someone else with more experience can help you more

 

[farmerlor]

I'd never heard about putting them in cold water after the hot water. You sort of bob them up and down in the hot water to make sure you get in all the air pockets and then start plucking. It IS a time consuming job though.

 

[Big George]

Everything I've read says to scald at 150 but I go to 160-165 degrees and have better success. I also put a squirt of lemon dish soap (JOY)
in the water. Knocks the smell down and helps with saturation. Scald and pluck one bird at a time, after the most feathers are out toss in cold water and continue, then finish the little pin clean up under cold running water. After you have a batch 6 or 8 ready gut them as the next step. Hope some of this helps.

 

[Lazy J Farms Feed & Hay]

No cold water!

30 seconds is too long.

Jim

 

[dancingbear]

I dunk in 150-160F and swish around. The dish soap, as suggested by Big George helps a lot. If the feathers don't come out easily, dunk again. If still not loose, your water's not hot enough. Raise it 10 degrees and try again. Remember that when you dunk the bird, the bird's body will cool the water a bit. Forget the cold water dunk. I know some have sworn it helps, but in my experience, when the bird cools, the feathers tighten up again.

If you get the water too hot, the skin will start to cook, and will tear when you pluck.

 

[bheila]

Cold water, no wonder your having issues. Get your water up to the right temp then dunk your bird up and down. I dunk mine at least 20 times then I pull on the feathers by the feet to see how easy they pull out. That way I know if I've dunked long enough.

 

[quercus21]

Some soapy ~150 deg water, dunking and swirling in the water and trying the leg feathers after about 20 seconds. When the leg feathers come out easily, time to pull the bird and get to plucking. I have heard of some people using those "dish washing" gloves (playtex(sp)) which they say help in pulling the feathers.

 

[yotetrapper]

Okay I added dish soap, then upped it to 160, and didnt use the cold water, and they came out much easier. Thanks everybody for helping. I'm only half done of my goal of 10 birds today, and it's taken me 6 hours to do five LOL. But those five are cut and soaking in brine, also. I'm taking a break, and am about to go and do five more. That will leave me 13 for another day. I'm just so aggrevated because I can skin and quarter a chicken in less than 10 minutes... wondering if the skin is worth it!

 

[jaku]

The problem is that there's no "correct" answer. Everyone has they're own method and temperature, from about 130-160. You just up the time as the temp drops. As for cold water, I use it- it stops the cooking and helps keep the skin from tearing while plucking. I also use dish soap.

I had the same problem when I started. I varied the temp, scald time, etc. and it still took forever to pluck my birds. I ended up building a Whizbang plucker, and a scalder that keeps about 20 gallons of water at a temperature range of only a few degrees. It's tough using a little pot and burner as a scalder because the temperature varies so much while you're using it.

A good rule of thumb is to scald until you can easily pull the feathers out of the wings and tail.