How to defeather a chicken

[BBQJOE]

I wonder if you could take them to a local beauty spa, and get them to do a wax job on them?

 

[sarousi]

Okay, I guess that makes sense. You couldn't really soak/brine it while it's still feathered, could you? That just sounds   all around!

I guess I never thought about how much blood might be left in the bird after it's bled out, I assumed it all drained out. 

As a Christian, I have to admit I skip over a lot of the laws and restrictions in the first part of the Book, but when I do read them I'm amazed at how much is basic health and hygiene 101. God gave great guidelines for a people to not only live but thrive in a desert environment with no refrigeration!

Thanks for the clarification, I enjoy learning new things like this. I'll be interested to see how the cold plucking works for you. Do you already have the plucker?

It does make it more difficult removing the feathers without scalding it. But since there is blood still left in the chicken when you scald it you're really cooking it when you scald it even though it's not the intention.
I believe the verse says we can't eat the blood because the blood is the "life force". Hope I'm quoting it correctly, long book and translations from the original script is so easy always.
Technically I guess the chicken could be gutted soaked in salt, then it would be OK to scald it in the feather it. Something about that just doesn't sit right with me though. Not sure what.
I don't own a plucker yet, it would sure be a bummer if I spend $400 up in one and it didn't work without the scalding process, that's why I posted this question. I think I'll take my chances and buy it anyways. Once I see how things go I'll attach a new thread to this post tell what people know.

 

[BBQJOE]

I'm wondering if one of these might easily de-feather a chicken?

Ok, now I'm just being silly!

 

[donrae]

I wish you'd get a good answer before purchasing the plucker. However, if it doesn't work for whatever reason, I'm pretty sure you'd be able to recoup your money on it by reselling it.

 

[sarousi]

Interesting. Apparently it tastes better, didn't think it would affect the taste.

 

[NY Coturnix]

okay I'm not a processing expert by any means but if the issue is scalding prior to getting the blood out then just cut the head off and rather than plucking first process it and then scald and pluck. If if missing something I apologize.

 

[CNJ]

What is all the fuss about, just bleed the birds and pluck the feathers. The feather comes off when you pull them.

 

[Torinik]

Absolutely no need to fuss about...
Just when I think I've seen all the nonsense there could possibly be on this planet, I'm being educated there's still plenty more being made up where all the nonsense came from in the first place.

If your chicken is bled properly, there's no way in hell you're going to boil the blood inside the chicken.
Firstly, most of the blood is gone.
Secondly, you're scalding in such a way as to NOT boil the skin because it would rip when you're de-feathering.

There's quite a bit of trolling going on here by OP's, even as far back as 2016. A couple of weeks ago I read a topic where OP wanted a discussion on when something is animal abuse. An obvious post to disrupt people's common sense. If you're causing suffering for no reason other than your pleasure (all kinds of ego included) you're abusing. If you want/need to eat an animal the suffering you cause, while trying to minimize it, is not abuse. As simple as 2+2=4, but apparently in 2022 it's anything but 4, thanks to a certain kind of people.

 

[MildlyOffensiveChicken]

I have a dozen birds or so, and am using them primarily for eggs. Eventually, I do plan slaughtering them for meat. I know normally to remove feathers after the slaughter, they are scalded in hot water and then put in feather picker to remove the feathers. Here is my issue, due to religious dietary laws, I cannot scald these chickens. What are my alternatives? Can I skip the scalding step and put the chickens in feather picker drum, would that even work?

Can you skin them?

I skinned 13 chickens this year. It took a few to get an idea of best way to do it, but I got it down to a few minutes per bird.

 

[cassie]

I have a dozen birds or so, and am using them primarily for eggs. Eventually, I do plan slaughtering them for meat. I know normally to remove feathers after the slaughter, they are scalded in hot water and then put in feather picker to remove the feathers. Here is my issue, due to religious dietary laws, I cannot scald these chickens. What are my alternatives? Can I skip the scalding step and put the chickens in feather picker drum, would that even work?

Religious dietary laws? Haven't heard that one. However, you might learn how to pith. My grandmother used this method. You put a sharp instrument (she used a small knife) through the roof of the mouth into the brain. If done properly the chicken emits a characteristic squawk. Death is pretty much instantaneous and it causes the feathers to loosen. My grandmother lived on a chicken farm. Using this method she dry picked all the chickens that wound up on her table or went to market. I think if you look in the older poultry books (1940's and before) you ought to be able to find instructions on how to do it. You can find old poultry books on eBay.