Turkey Feather Stubs ... to pluck or not to pluck?

Put your tweezers away!

We choose bronze slow-growing breed turkeys for their award-winning flavour and texture, but this does mean that sometimes their feather stubs are visible. Each year we see seasonal variations because the weather and temperatures during the free ranging months impact the feather cover of our flocks. When they are processed for the oven our birds are dry plucked and finished by hand, we don’t blast them with water, so you might find a few more feather stubs than on commercial turkeys, but this is normal.

As you prepare your turkey for the oven please do not spend much time pulling the feather stubs out as most will burn off during cooking, and those that don’t are much easier to remove once the bird comes out of the oven. When preparing gravy do an extra sieve to catch anything in the juices, and if you are concerned you can remove the skin before carving which will remove any remaining stubs with it. Importantly the feather stubs do not affect the meat quality and eating experience at all, but are a reassuring sign that your traditional bronze turkey has been lovingly reared and carefully finished by hand.

For further cooking and carving advice watch our, tips, videos and recipes as you prepare your Christmas feast and leftover plans.

Merry Christmas!