Plucking a duck.

[miss_thenorth]

The other day we butchered 5 coockerels, and 3 ducks. I recent'y acquired a chicken plucker that you mount on a drill. It worked great for the cockerels, and one duck. but two of the ducks--the feathers just would not come off. Water temp was correct, they were dipped for the same amount of time that the other duck was, and we did put dish soap in the water. Why would one come out clean, and the other two be absolutely horrible to pluck--even by hand it was a total pain in the derriere. they were all the same age.

Any ideas as to what went wrong or tips for next time?

(We will be super busy the next week or two. 5 lambs to go, 9 spent hens and then deer season will be upon us, and then the frankenbirds-25 of them need to go)

 

[Beekissed]

Could you try dry plucking the ducks next time? For the bulk of the feathers on the body, I've found its easier to dry pluck a duck. Then dunk and hand remove the stiffer feathers?

 

[miss_thenorth]

Well, I guess it couldn't hurt. I have two more that have to go. I've had it with muscovies. One was just sitting on eggs, and yesterday, two hatched and she killed them. The other 7 eggs were duds. I wil not put up with them pooping all over my patio if they are not going to give me ducklings.