Question about plucking feathers.....

[ElCerritoPlace]

So I butchered 3 welsummer cockerels yesterday, 10 weeks and getting too mean. Plucked them out, but they have a lot of blood feathers coming in yet. Which are dark and short and very hard to get out. How on earth do I get them out? I did the dip in hot water and all the feathers came out really easy, but some of them are so short that they are just under the skin. Yes I'm plucking by hand, so I don't know if that makes a difference. Is it necessary to get them out?

 

[foreverlearning]

It's all really in your taste. If the feather is facing away from you then you want to push on the skin just before the closest part of the feather away from you. Much like squeezing out a splinter it will just pop out. Sometimes I leave some in sometimes I don't, it hasn't effected the taste at all so I don't worry about it.

 

[ElCerritoPlace]

Thanks! I'll see how many are left in, it didn't seem that bad yesterday but I stuck them in the fridge over night. My biggest concern was if it would affect the taste.

 

[foreverlearning]

It's easiest when the skin is still warm from being scalded for plucking. It doesn't effect taste but the male parts do so make sure you get those out. They look like small pink black eyed peas stuck to the back inside the bird. They can get larger as they get older.

 

[ElCerritoPlace]

Those I know I got out. Luckily we had to necropsy birds last fall in the class I was teaching so I was refreshed on what the anatomy looked like.

 

[bobbi-j]

Pinfeathers are hard to get out, especially in younger birds. I scrape mine out with a knife blade. I start at the bottom of the feather and push in the direction that the feather is facing and it kind of slides out. Not always. Sometimes I will put the back of the blade under the feather, grab with my thumb, pinching the feather between the knife and my thumb and pull it out that way.

 

[ElCerritoPlace]

Pinfeathers are hard to get out, especially in younger birds. I scrape mine out with a knife blade. I start at the bottom of the feather and push in the direction that the feather is facing and it kind of slides out. Not always. Sometimes I will put the back of the blade under the feather, grab with my thumb, pinching the feather between the knife and my thumb and pull it out that way.

Ok, so just so I'm on the same page, pin feathers being blood feathers? At least that what they are called in the biology field. The feathers that are still growing in, body contouring feathers, or flight feathers it doesn't matter but they are still growing. I thought pin feathers were the tiny hair like feathers that are so thin thats its difficult to grab so those can be burned off. Just looking for clarification.

 

[bobbi-j]

To be honest, I can't answer that. We've just always called them pin feathers. I know which ones you mean, though. The thick, tough, under the skin ones? Those are the ones I use a knife on as described above. I'm not in the biology field, so I probably misspoke. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[ElCerritoPlace]

Thanks! Just wanted to make sure! There are different terms used in different areas of interest, thats all.

 

[foreverlearning]

Pin feathers are the hair like ones whereas the ones you are trying to pull out are blood feathers.