[AT] Pluck chickens with a clothes dryer?

[Ben Wagner]

The plucker I saw still needs the feathers to be scalded.  I think ducks are
dry plucked, and maybe geese too, but I'm not for sure.

The process you mentioned is exactly the way I still process my chickens,
except that I use a plate of alcohol to singe the pin feathers.

The breed I raise is Cornish Cross, but I'm sure you grew up on real
chickens.  Those Cornish Cross birds are useless for anything beyond eating
and sleeping.  They have heart attacks if they move too fast, and they go
lame without supplements; the only advantage is that they put on the meat in
two months.  The old "laying hens" live longer, but I think the flavor is
the best.  You can't beat the flavor of gravy from a culled hen, or the
quality of the meat.  People who say they've had chicken are wrong until
they get a real bird.  We need folks to start raising chickens like you had.

Ben Wagner

On Wed, Jul 13, 2011 at 10:36 AM, Larry Goss <rlgoss at insightbb.com> wrote:

> LOL!  I guess the question I have is a bit more basic, Roy.  I remember
> seeing chicken pluckers for sale at Sears after WWII, but I never saw one
> work.  The question I had then was, "Do you have to scald the chicken first
> just like we do for hand plucking?"  Scalding loosens the feathers so they
> nearly fall out of the pores.  But plucking a chicken is messy -- maybe I
> should say -- Messy, or MESSY!  It was amazing to me that some people
> actually plucked chickens without getting the feathers wet.  There was a
> specific process to be followed: chop off the head, bleed the carcass, scald
> the feathers, pluck them, singe the pin feathers with a rolled newspaper,
> gut the body, and cut it up into precisely eleven pieces. Two wings, two
> thighs, two drumsticks, wish bone, breast, back, tail, and neck.  The
> gizzard may be fried or cut up with the giblets and added to the gravy -- it
> all depended on how much mashed potatoes were going to be prepared.  Of
> course, I'm talking about a CHIC!
>  KEN, not a pullet.  Typically, one chicken would serve Sunday dinner to 10
> people.  The idea that one person would eat a 1/4 or 1/2 of a chicken was
> unheard of.
>
> Larry
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Roy Morgan" <k1lky at earthlink.net>
> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com
> >
> Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2011 10:47:11 PM
> Subject: [AT] Pluck chickens with a clothes dryer?
>
> Tractor folks,
>
> On our local free/wanted email list a request appeared:
> > My husband is looking for a dryer to convert into a chicken plucker.
> >
>
> How on earth can a clothes dryer pluck chickens?
>
> Roy
>
>
> Roy Morgan
> k1lky at earthlink.net
> K1LKY Since 1958 - Keep 'em Glowing!
>
>
>
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