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?
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
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.
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.