to dunk or pluck?

[BarneyChick97]

Hey all.... I posted this earlier under "Turkeys", but it seems like the chicken folks answer more and faster!!! And I know some of you have turkeys too...so here goes.

Okay people!! I need opinions!!! We need to process a large turkey within the next 12-24 hours due to an injured leg (from hopping out of her house during a molt--too heavy). Has anyone did the 'dunk in the hot water' to get the feathers off? Last time we processed a bird, we pulled feathers. No one really liked doing it. They ended up tearing the skin a few times. My husband heard somewhere if you dunk them, then the meat won't last as long in the freezer.

Thanks

 

[Life is Good!]

Not sure why dunking would shorten freezer life...only if you over-dunk and start to cook the meat!

Dunking makes it a whole lot easier....

 

[BarneyChick97]

maybe that's why? over-dunked?? the other problem is that the bird is very large.... she's got to be at least 30LBS after she's done? how long to do you dunk for? (I'm asking, but its sounding like we'll be doing the plucking this time---because we really can't afford to buy a 25 gallon pot that's $80+ right now)

 

[ZooSD]

When I was a kid we raised chickens and turkeys. We used a 50gal barrel set up on cinder blocks and built a fire under it to boil the water. We processed 30+lb turkeys.

 

[BarneyChick97]

We bit the bullet, and bought a huge pot. We have one of those huge camp Chief burners from Costco. We dunked her twice, and had 4 people pulling the feathers. What a difference!!!

I think we may of scalded the skin a little. The first layer looked like it was coming off-but other than that, looked fine. It took us maybe 10 mins at the most to get her cleaned up. She ended up being 27lbs when we were done. I thought that was small!! The largest turkey we've ever done was 44LBS, and the smallest, 22. I think we might try a brine before we cook her. She went straight to the freezer.

 

[redsoxs]

Congratulations! I'm going to have to be making the same decisions as you in a few months as I have turkeys coming in the spring - my first try with them. Hope I can pull it off as successfully as you did!

 

[BarneyChick97]

I would also recommend investing or making a kill cone!!