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Rite Farm Products Plucker

New brand of feature rich products with lower price tag than competitors. This Large plucker says...
Pros: Works well, discharge chute.
Cons: Sharp edges, no instructions, Even though a lower price tag than most, the item is still too costly for most BYC flocks














This brand seems like a recent entry into the poultry market, however CoopsNMore have been around a little while. From a phone call with them I found out 4 Front Inc owns CoopsNMore and Rite Farm brands. (For the record, I am not associated with them and this is only my second purchase from them, the first being a Treadle Feeder.)
I ordered the Large model for $415 with roughly $165 freight delivery/shipping charges for a total of just under $600. Not a purchase to take lightly. It was delivered within a week (including the July 4 holiday).
The first thing to note is how well it was packed for shipping. The truck driver deliveryman was very impressed, as was I. At 164# shipping weight, I'd say the plucker itself is maybe 100#, so there is quite a bit of "padding" around the item. (I'll try to upload photos).
Unpacking involved the usual cutting of skid straps and removal of plastic wrapping. It has two handles for carrying which you could possibly carry yourself; moving it across a floor is easily a one person job.
Before I get in to how it worked, I wanted to point out my cons:
No instructions - While this is certainly by no means a deal breaker, I had no idea how long to leave a bird in the machine. Most people would be able to view online videos of similar pluckers, but hey, where are the videos showing this pucker in action?
Some sharp edges - While I feel they did a good job preventing injury and smoothing sides of the stainless steel, there are ample spots to get cut and scratched on. The only incident I had with injury was reaching into the chute to remove the feathers when we were cleaning up - don't do that! I can see some other spots that could catch clothing and skin. The manufacturer does clearly state:
Each plucker is hand made one at a time using hand tools and a welder. [Expect] Scuffs, scratches, dings, and sharp edges

None of my cons would prevent me from recommending this item on BYC.

How well did it work? It worked well. I did have a few issues that were my fault or lack of proper instruction such as I left one bird in too long and it got broken and bruised and the insides started falling out. My other issues come from cold/dry plucking and are no fault of the machine.
The machine ran awfully quiet. It did tend to drift on the wooden surface when running so someone always had to keep an eye on it. Birds came out as plucked as expected (see my dry plucking notes below). It appears to be a sturdy, well built machine, but only time will tell.


Dry plucking?
I have only ever dry plucked or skinned, and I have processed many ducks and quite a few chickens. I use a method of bleeding and then poking the hind brain to release the feathers. When hand plucking using this method, you have to start with the wings and other extremities before the body parts get cold. This plucker, through no fault of its own, left some feathers on the wings and neck. I ended up cutting off either the body part or the skin depending on how much meat was there.
Purchase Price
415.00
Purchase Date
2015-07-02
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