The original $6.00 chicken plucker

RedneckPete

Hatching
9 Years
Dec 25, 2010
2
0
7
Below is information that I originally posted on another poultry forum in 2006. I know many links exist between this forum and the original information. Those links and that information has become corrupted, and so I have re-posted this information on this forum for you to use. I hope it is helpful:

I had 14 birds I needed to butcher about 8 weeks ago, and wasn’t prepared to pluck them by hand, even with the help of my eager six year old helper.

I was thinking of making a plucker along the lines of the one in Backwoods about a year ago, but didn’t have the motor, and while I tried, the only plucker fingers I could find were three hours drive away, and almost three bucks each. So, I “invented” my own. Total cost - $6.00

I bought a PVC end cap (about $2.00) and drilled a 3/8” hole in the center, and installed a long carriage bolt I already had as the shaft. Then I drilled 3/8” holes all around the outside. I made the fingers out two bungie cords. (rubber straps with S hooks a both ends) I had a bunch around, but wanted to get the softest rubber I could, so I bought two long ones. (about $4.00) I cut the cord into three inch lengths, then cut the edge off both sides of each piece, except for a half an inch at the end. Then I pulled the fingers through the holes in the PVC cap, they couldn’t come out because of the half inch bump out at the end. The pictures will explain if the words don’t. Then I popped the shaft into my drill and tied the drill to the picnic table with bungie cords. A wire tie abound the trigger held it at a medium speed.

It plucks a scalded bird in about 45 seconds. It won’t pull the primary wing and tail feathers, and has trouble with the feathers along the leading edge of the wing, but works amazing for my purposes. I pluck the birds with the plucker, rinse it off and pull out the big feathers by hand. Total time is certainly less then 90 seconds a bird.

I’ve posted pictures, and have a thirty second video. The link for the video is below.

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=7968684598671806901&q=chicken+plucker

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Pete
 
Yeah, thanks! A couple of months ago, I also came across your video on the HomesteadingToday website, after doing a search for "homemade plucker." Since then, I have seen similar setups pictured on this website, so the word must have gotten out!
 
I had my dad make me one of these, I just got it in the mail this week. I'll be trying it out as soon as someone posts more free roosters to Craigslist!
 
Ours works great too, Cost about $15.00 for the pieces where we live bu still a bargain.

Thanks for posting again -- I had to look to offer the homesteading like to someone before Christmas.
 
I've got a drill press with a good bit of umph to it. I think I might try your idea but add a 6-8" piece of pipe to increase the finger area. Since we only process a few at a time, it shouldn't be so bad. How long does it take you to pluck a chicken with that?
 
So I tried this out with a 4 inch end cap and some chicken plucker fingers. It ended up being rough on my birds and quicker for my wife and I to double team a hanging bird and pluck. I wonder if it works out better with the straps for this design over the fingers?
 
Quote:
Not sure why it didn't work out for you. Perhaps the bird wasn't scalded right?

If you follow the video link, you can watch the 30 second video. The bird is pretty well clean at the end of 30 seconds, another 15 seconds or so and the bird is done with it's plucker date. I've hand plucked, and I'll take the time to set up the drill even for a single bird.

Pete
 

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