Plucking?

[DuckBoy323]

Is there any other way to pluck broilers other than using the chicken plucker? No place seems to have those around here so im gonna have to do it the harder way. And also do y'all know how much the broilers should weigh each week and such? Thanks y'all!

 

[EggsnQuackers]

We use scalding water to pluck ours.
Get a HUGE pot of water add a squirt of dish soap and bring it up to about 180-190 degrees.
Stick the dead chicken in there, neck first, slosh it around a little for 30-45 seconds, remove it.
Try and pull out a wing feather if it doesn't come out easily stick the chicken back in the pot and slosh it around for a few more secods. Repeat.
Once the wing feather comes out easily you can start plucking. The feathers should come out by the handful. Be gentle because you could tear the skin, but if presentation isn't a big deal for you it's not a problem.
Use a propane torch to singe off the little hairs. And you're done.
If you can, time your butcher day for when they are molted out so you don't have to deal with pin feathers.

We have also tried melting parafin wax in the pot of water, that worked out ok but a couple of carcasses ended up with wax that would just NOT release from the skin. Probably needed a thicker layer of wax? I don't know.

 

[rhoda_bruce]

If its a broiler and I'm only doing one, I might not want to start heating up water and pulling out the plucker. My preferred method is dry plucking. I find its much cleaner and to tell the truth, I don't care for the smell of scalded chickens.
Its the kind of thing that you just aren't really good at until you have done it over and over, so I think it takes additude, determination and a certain amount of hard-headediness.
DH began telling me to order a plucker, when he saw that I was being consistant with slaughtering my unwanted roos and broilers, but for a long time I couldn't justify the $350 it would cost. I have since bought a plucker though. If you are going to slaughter several at one time, its nice to have a bird plucked in a minute....maybe just a few seconds more at times, but not much. In those cases.....yes, I do scald.
But I used to just hang my birds from an A frame, in the yard, with some twine, slice the throat, wait for them to bleed out and pluck or skin, cut off one of the feet, evisorate, remove head, clean organ meats and cut remaining foot. All I needed was twine, something to hang it from and a pairing knife.