OK How do you pluck

[chiknwhisperer]

I went halves on cornis x's with a neighbor of mine and today is the day to process. We were going to do it together but she has a dog she is boarding and she doesn't trust it, so she can't be here to help. Anyway, She wanted all thirteen of her birds left whole and plucked not quatered and skinless. Those darn birds stink!!!!! It is raining and haas been raining since yesterday and they just stinnk awful.

So I plucked the first one a little while ago and some of the skin came off and most of the feathers came out but there are still a bunch of small ones. I did scald the bird first and that really helped but I just can't get those little ones. Any tips from people who do this themselves?

 

[jenjscott]

If the skin is tearing, the water is too hot, or you dipped too long. Considering the situation, I would do the best you can quickly and if she wants the pinfeathers out, let her pull them! Otherwise, a pair of pliers or large hemostats work well.

Has she ever heard of a dog crate?

 

[arlee453]

Burn the small pin feathers off.

My mom used to use a lit match. Others use a small propane torch. My MIL used a lit tightly rolled up piece of newspaper.

Just burn enough to singe off the feathers, but not to burn the skin.

 

[jenjscott]

Oh yeah, I forgot about that, it gets rid of the feather part outside of the skin anyway, but leaves the little piece under the skin. The old lady that use to live across the street called it "swinjing "(spelled wrong for pronunciation). We use to do it over a butane burner.

 

[chiknwhisperer]

Thank you!! I probably did leave it in the water a hair to long. And I should have thought about the burning part. I did last year during duck and goose season. The first one I did still has soom of the small feathers but I washed it off and shoved it in a frezzer bag. The dog howls all day if its locked up and when its not locked up she has to keep a good eye on it. Its one of those dogs that doesn't know what it wants and you don't know what it wants either. I'm the only one it hasn't barked at.

 

[arlee453]

Will you come be MY neighbor??? Your neighbor owes you big time, ya know?

I have 5 dark cornish chicks that I am going to process but haven't done it before and wish you were closer to me to show me how...

 

[chiknwhisperer]

DH says I'm practicing for hunting season. Usually all I do is breast out the birds. I do want to roast a few whole ones though. It would be sooooo much easier to just skin it and quater it. None of this awful stuff. Pulling the insides out is the worst because of the smell. And I scared the crap out of myself earlier. I forgot what ducks do when they still have air in their lungs. Of course chicken would do it to. It made a noice at me! Like it was going to cluck. I let at a little yelp and then remembered what was happening. I'm so happy hubby wasn't around to see that. He would make fun of me till next year.

 

[PineBurrowPeeps]

DH and I used those rubber coated work gloves while plucking and it worked GREAT! We didn't get the thick ones, just thin ones coated in some sort of anti-cut rubbery grippy stuff.
Most of the pin feathers came out just by rubbing the skin with the gloves on after we got out the main feathers.

The skin ripped on my first bird too, I scalded it too long.

 

[chiknwhisperer]

The second one went worse

I guess I just need to find my grove or whatever. If I wasn't good friends with her I would go skinless.

And I swear I smell like dead chickens!!! Will I be smelling this for a while???

 

[Salt and Light]

Quote:
What a hoot, my ex-FIL (from S. Carolina) called it swinjing!!! Too funny!!