EZ Plucker

[Oregon Blues]

Yes. Got it figured out. The plucker works well.

Good scald, put more than one bird in at a time, get them in and out quickly, process before rigor starts. Birds are coming out beautifully.

It will only partially pluck large geese. Can not fit in more than one goose, and one large goose barely fits. But every bit helps and the hand plucking wasn't too bad after the geese came out of the plucker.

 

[nmantime]

I bought the 151 about a month ago. We process just 15 birds (6 4-5 month roosters and 10 3-4yr old laying hens). I cannot express enough how much time it saves using this plucker. the birds came out perfect. I took every ones advice and had the scald temp and dunk time correct. I broke the skin and leg on just one bird. the last one. We bled scalded, plucked and eviscerated all of these birds in abut an hour, hour fifteen. We lost time just because our normal routine was slightly confused by the quick pluck. Oh the bird with the broke skin was the last one... DD kept in in the scald too long. She was a little tired. lol lol... Depending on the size of bird we did either 2 or 3 at at time. I was very close to building my own bought book and lining up parts but by the time i priced everything out the 151 was to good a deal to pass up. Good luck with your purchase.

Norm in N.CA

 

[momofpets]

Yes. Got it figured out. The plucker works well.

Good scald, put more than one bird in at a time, get them in and out quickly, process before rigor starts. Birds are coming out beautifully.

It will only partially pluck large geese. Can not fit in more than one goose, and one large goose barely fits. But every bit helps and the hand plucking wasn't too bad after the geese came out of the plucker.

Oregon Blues,

Do you still use the duck wax after the EZ Plucker? I am trying to figure out if purchasing the EZ Plucker is worth it when I am raising the ducks for my own consumption, maybe 50 to 120 ducks at the most per year. I don't think I can get away with raising more than 30 at a time on my city lot. I've plucked 2 ducks so far and the 3rd one got skinned because I was spending so much time on the 2nd duck and rigor mortis was beginning to set in. I don't think I did a good scald on the 3rd duck, so that didn't help. I just gave up and skinned it. My fingers were definitely sore and tired the next day.

Thanks!

 

[Oregon Blues]

Yes, for waterfowl I use both the plucker and the duck wax.

If you can butcher the ducks or geese at a point when they have no pin feathers, you don't need the wax. But the pins don't stick out far enough for the plucker to pull them.

You will want to save that duck wax for the next time. To make it easier to filter, I remove all the feathers that I can possibly get off before I wax the duck. The cleaner the wax is, the easier it will be to filter it and reuse it.

You are supposed to be able to put wax on a duck that has all the feathers and it will clean the duck up nicely, but I suspect that you would end up throwing the wax away if you did that.

 

[rick54]

I've read all the reviews, and it seems like a toss up on the EZplucker. I'm about ready to pull the trigger on a purchase of the EZ188, as they are $200 off the regular price this week.

Any new horror stories out there that I'm not aware of ?

Thank you

 

[LilyD]

I can actually leave feedback on this now. I have done 3 batches this year with my EZ Plucker 131. First batch was only 3 birds and I plucked them all together (about 5 lbs a bird) and the plucker was amazing.

Second batch was 31 birds and I had the same problem as Oregon Blues with broken legs, wings and in one instance the skin over the crop and breast tore. Found that 1 I was waiting too long after killing to scald and pluck it needs to happen fast kill scald pluck before rigor sets in and makes the body unpliable. Next the temp on my scalder has to get to 150 for chickens any less and it doesn't seem to pluck all the way. Thirds I need to do 3 to 4 birds at once rather than 1 or 2 as they don't pluck as well with less birds.

Third set was 13 birds and the plucker did amazing.

Question: Has anyone used their plucker for turkeys? Mine is supposed to be able to handle up to a 25 lb turkey but my turkeys won't be ready until end of October so anyone who has experience with this would be great.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Found that 1 I was waiting too long after killing to scald and pluck it needs to happen fast kill scald pluck before rigor sets in and makes the body unpliable. Next the temp on my scalder has to get to 150 for chickens any less and it doesn't seem to pluck all the way. Thirds I need to do 3 to 4 birds at once rather than 1 or 2 as they don't pluck as well with less birds.

I've never had any problems with our 188. As you said, you have to keep things moving. I load four hens in the kill cones, bleed them out for a minute or so, and as soon as they stop moving I take two in each hand and slosh them up and down in the scald water. The temp is never very exact, usually 140 to 160, but I test the birds for a good scald by pulling on the primary feathers. As soon as they slip easily it's straight unto the plucker for 5-10 seconds and then into a drum of cold water, then I'm back to the kill cones and repeat... The plucking is the easiest part. I usually average about one minute a bird, e.g., 30 birds in a half an hour or 60 birds in an hour. I usually have a few folks to help with evisceration and as soon as I am done plucking I jump in to help dress and package the birds. That's the time consuming part.

 

[rick54]

I made the mistake of letting the wife go alone to the farm store, as she came home with a couple dozen broiler chicks and thinking about getting more!

I'm seriously thinking of an EZ-Plucker, and wanted to know the best scalding process? Water temp? A continuous dunk/soak, or an up/down dunk, and for how long?

I was also going to weld up a cone stand to mount a 1/2 doz. cones to. Seems I've heard of folks who have gone this route and also mounted a plastic mortar mixing tub of some type to the stand to catch the blood (?). Can anyone produce a picture of such a design?

Thank you

 

[naillikwj82]

Rick54- look for pm

 

[Nupe]

I bought an EZ Plucker and it was wonderful. I used a turkey fryer as my scalder and checked the temp with a IR thermometer from Home Depot. I was aiming for around 150F to 170F. I had a chicken in each hand and dunked one down to the feet, swished for 2-3 seconds and then dunked the second. I kept going back and forth until the tail feathers pulled out easily. Tossed them both into the plucker and sprayed the feathers down from the walls with a garden hose. Naked chicken in seconds. I love that thing.