I find plucking difficult too. I always skin my cockerels and old hens. Never had the problem you describe and and I am wondering if you soaked the meat in ice water between the eviscerating and the refrigerating? The idea is to chill the meat fast, but it also leaves it moist. I drain it for a few moments in a colander and them package it, label it and age it in the fridge. Works for me.

Incidently, while the topic of cockerels for eating is open, I will share what I do with them. Like you, I cull three or four at a time. Once they are skinned and cleaned, I remove the wings, drumsticks, thighs, and neck. Then I filet the white meat from the breast. The wings, neck, giblets and drumsticks I slow-cook together for a meat pie. The carcasses are cooked together to make a big pot of soup. There is enough meat clinging to them to make a good meaty soup. The thighs I cook in a sauce to ensure tenderness. And the breast meat can be used for stir-fries, breading or however else you would use chicken breast. I like this method - easy, no waste and it gives us a good variety of dishes. Hope you find it useful.

Thanks for the advice, maggie. No, I didn't try the ice water chill. After cleaning them off in the sink I just set them on paper towels on the counter to dry. I'll be sure to do that next time. Also liked the way you cook yours up. Good idea!

Do you not dunk the birds in hot water before you pluck? That is part of the instructions given in the books I have on poultry. It makes plucking much easier. I would think the skin would tear if I tried plucking without the hot water to loosen the feathers.

Turkeys "must" have a hot water dunk, or you will be spending all day pulling out feathers with pliers!

An ice water soak is also part of the standard processing. It firms up the meat nicely, and cools it faster than just putting them in the refrigerator or freezer.

We hated butchering so much, that we gave away our Turkeys as pets. They were tame and gentle creatures. I only have laying hens now, no more butchering for this softie...

But homegrown birds are so much healthier for us to eat, and have better lives than the poor commercial meat birds..

Lisa

Maggie, your making me hungry!

I've heard that after dunking the bird to pluck, if you use rubber gloves the feathers come out much easier? worth a try.

-Sheila

ps. mine are still in the freezer :(

Hi Sheila! The rubber gloves sound like a good idea. I won't have any cockerels to butcher this year because I ordered sexed chicks. But there are some old hens to cull and (and this is going to be really hard for me) the seven mutt goslings. I will keep my two adult geese and the two Pilgrim goslings I ordered, but the others - fathered by that horrid gander - are for the table. I hope they stop being cute before then.

As for your birds being still in the freezer... they'll keep! You might start looking for a special recipe to use... and maybe plan a menu, with wine and all the festive touches, and post it on your fridge. Suzie gave you good advice there! Desensitize yourself and make a slow transition to regarding them as meat you can be proud of raising and processing yourself.

Hi Maggie,
well don't laugh.... I actually bought chicken at the store today! I am just not ready, thank goodness it will keep! it might be a while. Glad to hear your goslings are doing well! I hatched three out for my friend and handed them over the day after they were born. I felt like an adoptive mom giving up her babies! goslings are truly the cutest creatures on earth. I hope your table bound birds turn nasty on you so it will be a little easier come processing day.

As for a recipie for my home grown chicken, any ideas? you sound like such a good cook!

-Sheila

If you scald them, the plucking is not hard at all. After they are bled, take them by the feet and dunk them in scalding hot water (140-160 degrees F) for about 30 seconds. The feathers just come off in clumps. A turkey fryer works great for this as you can keep the water hot while you are processing your birds and it is big enough to process just about anything.

Then, I sort of combine the cooling process with the final cleanup. I keep a garden hose nearby (I get cold water with my well) to hose down the chicken and my hands. The wet feathers start sticking to everything. After the first quick rinsing, I can see what feathers remain to be plucked - usually not a lot. When I am totally done plucking, I rinse the bird and my hands off thoroughly. That helps to start cooling the meat off.

Aloha,

A lot of the feathers can be dry plucked but that needs to be done immediately after killing them. I usually leave the bird hanging and start with the big wing and tail feathers and pull a few out each time with sort of a quick sharp pull. At this point getting the most feathers off is more important than getting them all. Then the body feathers can be pulled off in little snappy movements. If you grab too many feathers at once it is possible to tear the skin. If that happens just go to the different area and continue. Sometimes I can get all the feathers off before the carcass cools so much that the feathers don't pull off anymore otherwise a hot water dunk will finish the job. In my estimation, you get a better carcass from a dry plucked bird, but it takes a bit of practice to be able to get all the feathers off before it chills too much. Other than dry plucking for a better carcass, hot wet chickens are much smellier than dry chickens.

Whether there are a lot of pinfeathers or not depends on the age of the bird and where it is in the feather/moult cycle. If there are loads of pin feathers, sometimes it is just easier to skin them and the skin can be salted on the back and pinned out to dry so you end up with "flat" chickens if you like. I do that with barred rock cockerels since their hackle feathers are nice for fishing lures.

The meat does need to be chilled for a day or two to tenderize. My grannie used to put the whole cleaned carcass in salt water, but I usually put mine in a plastic bag.

If the meat is a bit dry, perhaps the first several chickens could be soup? If it was dark discolorations, it could have been bruised in the slaughtering process, but I dunno about white discoloration unless it is freezer or refrigerator burn?

It does get easier with practice.

A hui hou,
Cathy