dave1949
Super Star Member
I have heard, and used the method on chickens, that piercing the brain (up through the neck just behind the lower beak with an ice pick) causes the feathers to be released easier for plucking. What a gruesome lot we are.
What is it?
- Thread starter Egon
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I have heard, and used the method on chickens, that piercing the brain (up through the neck just behind the lower beak with an ice pick) causes the feathers to be released easier for plucking. What a gruesome lot we are.
whistlepig
Elite Member
We scalded the chickens in boiling water to make them easier to pluck. A dirty chicken dipped in scalding water is truly an unforgettable smell.
dave1949
Super Star Member
We scalded too, the brain thing is supposed to make the feathers release easier. I've not butchered that many chickens--about 100, or tried a variety of methods, so I really can't say how well it works.
Yes, that is a unique smell. The gut cavity opened up is no better.
MossRoad
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Wow. I started reading and apparently it was called "braining the turkey". There's discussion about a stick in the turkey's eye into the brain, a knife through the upper pallet into the brain, etc... so you apparently tortured the brain until it didn't function, which supposedly relaxed the muscles that hold the feathers, and then plucked it alive, before killing it. This method went away when they found out how to do it with electricity instead of a stick or knife. Gruesome! :yuck:
whistlepig
Elite Member
We shot the chickens through the eye with .22 rifles. These were free range game chickens. It was a fun until we had to clean the chickens. These chickens died instantly.
TomSeller
Super Member
I understand times were different back then, but there is no excuse for making an animal suffer. Any killing should be swift. Anyone making an animal suffer needlessly should experience the same fate.
OP
Egon
Epic Contributor
Pretty sure the knife in the brain killed the turkey. The spasms, muscle contractions, are quite common in brain killed animals. Shoot a hog in the head they spasm too.
Then along came large turkey farms, auto pluckers, new rules and regulations and the Mom/Pop turkey industry sorta fell by the wayside. Just like most of the other farm product methods.
Then along came large turkey farms, auto pluckers, new rules and regulations and the Mom/Pop turkey industry sorta fell by the wayside. Just like most of the other farm product methods.
Ken
Veteran Member
Egon can you locate a picture of a turkey that took 4 persons to hold while removing feathers. must be size of ostrich How long was the beard.
ken
MossRoad
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I think his description is three folks, not four. Gobble gobble
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Egon
Epic Contributor
Four people was often the case. The turkeys were twenty to twenty five pounds on average. The convulsions are of short duration so the more people involved to pluck feathers the better.
As for the two folks holding the wings let's say they had their hands full holding on and pulling feathers.
These turkeys were not to distant relatives of wild turkeys and could fly up to roost on trees. These were a lot different than the turkey's on the modern farm.
No idea on the beard size. They were sold by weight, not beard length.