Need plucker spacing help and Q's- In the middle of a build

We're trying to build a 'whizbang' style plucker. We have the frame, barrel, fingers, and motor.

What spacing do you use for placing the fingers in the barrel? How far apart and how far from the bottom of the barrel?

How far up from the bottom do you place the bottom plate? How close are the fingers on it to the edge?

How close should the fingers from the plate be to the fingers on the side when assembled?

Our motor is a new HF 1hp farm duty 1725 rpm. What reduction do I need with the pulleys? 10:1?

How do you keep the motor clean? Do I need a splash guard at the top or bottom of the barrel?

We have made the frame from flat steel bar scrap we had here.

Currently, the frame is 90% complete, the barrel is mounted, the motor flange is drilled and mounted. We have the fingers, motor, even a couple of wheels. Two pillow block 1" bearings are coming today for our 1in shaft. We have a tensioner pulley to be assembled from an old mower deck once it's ready.

Sorry for so many Q's. We are butchering 25-50 this Sat for our first Cornish X flock, so LOTS of things to get ready and work out before then

Thanks in advance.

- JC

Hasn't anyone built one of these?

From the bottom of the finger plate I measured up 3 1/2 inches and drew a line all the way around the barrell. Then I drew a second line 1 inch above that one. Then I drilled 3/4 inch holes 2 1/2 inches apart one the bottom line. I did the samething for the top line I just staggered the holes though. Each of the four corners I drilled holes for 4 fingers in each corner 2 1/2 inches apart. As far as pulleys I used a 14 inch and a 2 inch on the motor. For a splash gaurd I just use a small mop bucket over the motor. Any more questions?

From the bottom of the finger plate I measured up 3 1/2 inches and drew a line all the way around the barrell. Then I drew a second line 1 inch above that one. Then I drilled 3/4 inch holes 2 1/2 inches apart one the bottom line. I did the samething for the top line I just staggered the holes though. Each of the four corners I drilled holes for 4 fingers in each corner 2 1/2 inches apart. As far as pulleys I used a 14 inch and a 2 inch on the motor. For a splash gaurd I just use a small mop bucket over the motor. Any more questions?

Thank you! That is *very* helpful.

I have a 12" and 2" pulley. The largest TSC had instock.

As near as I could tell from the pics I could find, I was going to go 2.75" between the fingers to make 27 fingers around the 73.79" circumference (23.5" diameter)

I was also unsure how far to make the bottom plate from the first row. You have greatly simplified my evening!

THANKS!

Just a couple Q's, if you don't mind.

1. How much of a gap do you leave between the edge of the feather plate and the inside of the barrel for the feathers to fall through?

2. How do you protect the belt from wet feathers and stuff, or is it not really a problem?

Butchering is Sat am, so gotta try to finish as much as possible tonight. Still have an underground electric and water lines to run

- JC

I've built two pluckers in the last month or so. My first one i left the bottom of the barrell on. What i did was turned three fingers in a row upside down on the plate and cut an 8 inch opening in the barrell oposite side of the motor that way the 3 fingers sweep the feathers and water out through the opening into a bucket. Works well!!! My second one i built for a friend and he wanted the bottom cut off. so we did and the plate on both pluckers was only 2 1/2 inches from the bottom of the barrell As long as you installed a idler pulley or have a really tight belt the water and feathers doesnt bother the belt at all. I would really look into getting a larger pulley a 14 15 or 16 inch. It will give you lower RPMs. Check eBay search whizbang chicken plucker and alot of parts will come up. Any more questions?

Opps no more than an 1 1/2 inch and no less than 1 inch works for me on the edge to the barrell. You dont want a big gap the chicken may get caught in it.

Thanks again! Your info is quite helpful

All the preps for our first butchering (tables, water, electric, etc) have been taking more time than expected (surprise!), so going to finish it tomorrow eve. It will *really* help having measurements instead of trying to figure everything out. We're butchering again next Friday for the balance of this flock, so I may have to make some adjustments to our setup after Saturday

I really appreciate your help!

- JC

PS- The self-cleaning version with the 8" hole sounds interesting, especially since it is working.

I made mine with the clean out hole in the bottom ot the barrel, put a little feather chute on it as well, I used a chain and sprocket set up, with double reduction, definately slow it down, it will rotate too fast. do not let them in too long, wing bones will poke through the skin.

Update!

Well, finished up the plucker about 1230am Wed and started butchering Wed am.

It works great, but the scald and procedures are CRITICAL!

Scalding 145F-155F for 20 secs, then 20secs, then either 20 secs or 10 secs (check by pulling pin feathers), put in running plucker, count to 8, lightly mist the bird a little, then spray the sides up to about 20 secs, then head for cord (I didn't get a switch on in time) to turn off at 30 secs. No feathers! Occassionally one or two or a wing feather left behind, but definately worth it!

When scalding, keep moving the chicken up and down in the pot (keep it under the water with only the bottom of the legs exposed where you are holding it). Let the chicken drip/drain about 5-6 secs between dunks.

Things that DON'T work:

1. Scalding over 155F and/or over 60 secs (tears up the skin)
2. Scalding under 145F (Feathers don't come off)
3. Spraying bird as soon as you put it in the plucker (I think it cools off too quickly and the feathers don't come out)
4. Running plucker over 30 secs (broken wings/legs more likely)


We were really surprised how sensitive the scalding is to temp and how much that affected the plucker effectiveness.

We butchered 26 chickens and will finish the other 18 tomorrow. We put them in heat shrink poultry bags. Generally happy with them, but need a new set of heavy silicone gloves as mine are wearing through inside and tend to burn my fingers


I ended up switching out the pulleys for 1.75" drive pulley and keeping the 12" pulley on the feather plate- mostly due to availability and cost. I agree with the posters above that this lower rpm is better for the plucker. BTW, 2" + 14" pulleys are essentially the same as 1.75" + 12" pulleys. Added a spring loaded tensioner pulley from an old mower deck.

I'll get some pics up in the next day or so. Chicken feathers and butchering don't mix well with digital cameras!

- JC