how to remove the leftover quils from plucking?

[dragontamer56]

We just pluckled a turkey and we didn't pluck it right so there are like 70 leftover quill tops in the skin. How should i remove them. I was doing it with a needle nose pliers and its hard work is there any other way.

 

[4-H chicken mom]

Nope, or at least I haven't found one.

I do use a pair of forceps.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I haven't done a turkey before, but when I butcher a chicken that has a lot of pinfeathers I'll take a butter knife and sort of "shave" the skin against the way the feathers are growing. I'm talking about those spiky new unsprouted feathers that are growing in, they feel like hedgehog spikes. If I hold the skin taut and scrape the knife as if I'm shaving, most of those feathers can be removed to the bottom of the quill. I'm not just chopping them off at the skin, I'm removing the entire quill.

Another way to do it, especially useful for those really short ones that are barely above the skin, is to press with the butter knife behind the root of the quill and make it pop out. This way you're working in the same direction as the feathers are growing.

These 2 techniques should help remove most of those pinfeathers, you may still need pliers or tweezers to get them all.