How to defeather a chicken

[cassie]

That would be true, except by scalding it you have just cooked it with the blood in there, thus permanently ruining the chicken from kosher status. Perhaps I should reword the question. What percent of the feathers would be removed if I put a chicken in a plucking machine without scalding it.

Scalding is not cooking the bird with the blood still in there. For one thing the chicken should be bled out before it is scalded. Therefore there is no blood left in the body to cook. Secondly, scalding temperature is nowhere near hot enough to cook anything. I don't know if this will help, but when I killed chickens I tied their feet together with baling twine, hung them up at a convenient height and severed the jugular veins and the carotid arteries on both sides of the neck with a very sharp utility knife. They completely bled out thoroughly and quickly.