Chicken pluckers: do they work? Are they worth the $?

[21hens-incharge]

Since we aren't allowed to process birds where I live I had mine done elsewhere.

She uses a featherman plucker and it did a nice job.

She does hundreds of birds for us in town folk that aren't allowed to.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I am considering buying a used chicken plucker. I have only seen them work on youtube. Do they really work well? Do they damage the meat at all? Are they a worthwhile investment for killing 25 chickens each year?

I agree! I hand pluck or skin--I do not process enough to warrant the expense

No one I found mentioned the time and fuss of cleaning up, disinfecting, maintaining, and storing a mechanical chicken pluckier. With only 25 birds a year My advise is to stick with the 2 chicken pluckiers on the ends of your arms.

A short dip (say 30 seconds) in hot water and a quick dip in cold water to stop any cooking action and you can pick feathers by hand to beat the band.

A second deep tub full of cold water to pluck in will keep loose feathers to a minimum.

 

[Bigshooter]

I do anywhere from 25 to 100 chickens a year. By hand it takes me a couple of hrs to do 10 birds. With my plucker I can do 50 in a couple of hrs. It's well worth the money for me. I have better things to do than pluck chickens all day.

 

[aart]

CX are MUCH easier to hand pluck than heritage birds.

Probably because the are much younger.

Good points......makes me wonder if a layer breed bird would pluck as well and easily as a CX in one of these drum pluckers.

There are YouTube videos on making thouse.... Less than 20 dollars for material.
I would do an old washing machine conversion if I were going to build one.....

What I've read about washing machines, is that the motor speed and transmission needs changing for proper drum speed to pluck.

 

[perchie.girl]

Good points......makes me wonder if a layer breed bird would pluck as well and easily as a CX in one of these drum pluckers.

What I've read about washing machines, is that the motor speed and transmission needs changing for proper drum speed to pluck.

Oh well. I guess its a regular motor and a 55 gallon blue drum. I like the design basics. But you know US aart we gotto tweak it.... A little .... or maybe alot....

deb

 

[Mosey2003]

I really want a plucker, as I just hate doing it by hand. The feathers stick to my hands and it just seems like drudgery. I keep waffling back and forth, but I haven't been able to justify spending $400 yet. Even the used ones, I've never seen one under $400 on Facebook and the like. If I could get one for $200, I'd grab it.

I think they'd probably do alright with DP birds if you cut the legs off. Maybe the wing tips too. I wouldn't mind cleaning up a little bit if the majority of the feathers were off in less than a minute.

 

[lomine]

I bought a yardbird last year. I did a batch of CX and had a bunch of cockerels I hatched. It's just me doing all the work so anything to save time really helps. It really does save a lot of time and works well (though wasn't great with ducks). I did have the skin rip on a couple but I discovered the water in my scalding pot had gone up, probably because the heat source was the same but there was less water. I'm very glad I got it.

 

[aart]

a bunch of cockerels I hatched

Layer breeds?
How old were they ....and did they pluck as easily as the CX?

 

[lomine]

Layer breeds?
How old were they ....and did they pluck as easily as the CX?

They were home grown EE. An Ameraucana rooster over other breeds; some are considered dual purpose but as hatchery stock they aren’t very big. They were about 14 weeks old. Some of the wing and tail feathers didn’t come as easily but otherwise the plucker did well.

 

[perchie.girl]

I bought a yardbird last year. I did a batch of CX and had a bunch of cockerels I hatched. It's just me doing all the work so anything to save time really helps. It really does save a lot of time and works well (though wasn't great with ducks). I did have the skin rip on a couple but I discovered the water in my scalding pot had gone up, probably because the heat source was the same but there was less water. I'm very glad I got it.

I read with Ducks putting a little dawn dish-washing liquid in the scalding pot makes them pluck easier. Cuts through the natural waterproofing.
deb