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?
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…