2y ago

My chicken thighs were covered in pinfeathers. Is this common or did i just get a bad batch?

I had bought about 5 lbs of free range foster farms chicken thighs and every thigh was covered in feather quills. It was in 4 different packages so I'm not really convinced it was a one off.

I usually buy a different brand and have never had this problem before.

Do you guys usually spend the time to pluck the feathers yourself or just bin it?

34 comments

Mechanical pluckers are not perfect, probably had a few too many fingers break off and nobody caught it until after the batch was finished
I'd pluck them and cook it anyway. No need to waste the meat over what's ultimately a cosmetic only problem.

I would never just ‘bin’ 5lbs of chicken that’s insane! Either deal with the feathers, take it back where you got it or give it to someone else. That’s like $40 worth of chicken
- It's one chicken Michael, what could it cost, $800?
  
  Here's ten dollars, go see a Star War.
  
  It was actually about $700

It's happened to me before, but I would just pluck the feathers. Can't waste meat like that. As annoying as it might be to hear, do remember those chickens were alive before.
- I couldn't bring myself to pluck the thighs. There was just too much to do and it was going too slow.
  
  You could have frozen them until you do have time to either a) fool with it yourself or b) find someone to give them to. I get wanting to be mindful of how our time is used, but binning them is wasteful of money, of resources, and of those lives.
  
  Can't you just skin them and throw away only the skin?
  
  Just pull the skin off, it takes just a few seconds
  
  A bunch of chickens died for you to throw them away over some feathers, shame on you.
  
  What did you do with them?

If you don't want to pluck the feathers and you are still considering binning it- please give it to someone else instead. A neighbour, a relative, a friend, etc.

Not a "bad" batch, just imperfectly plucked.
Just pluck the pin feathers yourself. It's not that big a hassle.

OP has never slaughtered and plucked a chicken so he doesn't know that's not abnormal for a chicken. That's how chickens be, that's just how it do. Whatever mechanism (or employee) they have doing this, didn't do a good job this time.
Either pluck the feathers with tweezers, or just rip off the skin and eat the chicken without skin. I know the skin is delicious, but hey, better than binning the whole thing, right? By the way, if the fat is yellow, and/or the meat is dark, that's also normal for a full-on farm chicken. IMO it tastes better.
- I've butchered chickens before, admittedly a long time ago. I've never bought chicken with pinfeathers on it still though.
  
  Then you gotta know, that's gonna be some good chicken. Don't chuck it over some feathers...

Get a pair of tweezers and pull them out, just like your ancestors did!
- My ancestors had more time than i do ig.
  
  And yet you waste your time here.

That's a lot of birds that had to die for you to toss perfectly good meat. Just pull them yourself and switch brands next time.

You're buying the corpses of animals. Don't be grossed out when your corpses are dead animals.

Just cook the chicken and eat it. You won't notice the feathers.

34 comments