Best power drill plucker attachment?

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

We do small batches of meat birds so we can't justify (and can't afford right now) buying a nice drum plucker. We are gonna get the power drill attachment one to save a little time. For anyone who uses these, what brand do you use and do you recommend it?

I was looking at this one but there are many other designs that have different amounts of fingers. Idk what's best. Any input is appreciated.

 

[Geena]

We do small batches of meat birds so we can't justify (and can't afford right now) buying a nice drum plucker. We are gonna get the power drill attachment one to save a little time. For anyone who uses these, what brand do you use and do you recommend it?

I was looking at this one but there are many other designs that have different amounts of fingers. Idk what's best. Any input is appreciated.

Sorry, I don't really have much input as I've never used one. One thing I would worry about with the drill attachment is hand fatigue. Or are you planning to mount the drill somehow?
I was going to give you a link to the table top plucker I have that works really good, but it doesn't seem to be available ATM. And it also went from $375 when I got mine to $850 now! Geesh.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Both the number of fingers and the length/rigidity of the fingers matters. The ones with more and shorter fingers will feel smoother when you're messaging the chicken carcass with it. A solid drill clamp or stand is a must. A variable speed dril that can be run at slower speeds will make the whole thing more controlable, less freaky and with less mess. I'm not a fan of those things because the clean-up is difficult unless you can just walk away and accept feathers strewn everywhere. It takes a while for them to just go away on their own. Don't do it in the living room.

Thank you!! Yeah, I'm not looking forward to the mess, but I'm trying to find a solution. We may put up a tent this time to do the plucking (we live in close quarters with our neighbors and city code says slaughter processing must be done out of sight) and I wonder if I could put a tarp down on the ground so the feathers would be there and I could just drag the whole thing over to the compost pile and spray it into the pile when I'm done. Idk. Still thinking it through.

Anyway, thanks for the advice about the shorter fingers at a slower speed. I assumed shorter fingers would be rougher on the skin, but I trust your exerience. Do you have a certain brand you can link me to?

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

Sorry, I don't really have much input as I've never used one. One thing I would worry about with the drill attachment is hand fatigue. Or are you planning to mount the drill somehow?
I was going to give you a link to the table top plucker I have that works really good, but it doesn't seem to be available ATM. And it also went from $375 when I got mine to $850 now! Geesh.

Table top plucker sounds great! Wish that was available for a good price.

And yes, we plan to mount the drill to a table with a clamp. I have seen people on Youtube do it freehand, but I agree it sounds like it would get tiring to be holding up the bird with one hand and the drill with the other for so long.

 

[Geena]

Table top plucker sounds great! Wish that was available for a good price.

And yes, we plan to mount the drill to a table with a clamp. I have seen people on Youtube do it freehand, but I agree it sounds like it would get tiring to be holding up the bird with one hand and the drill with the other for so long.

I got it on amazon but it doesn't seem to be available there anymore. But I just found this site that still seems to have them at a reasonable price!

https://www.shop.home-processor.com/Deluxe-Picker-with-Motor-PP0052.htm

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

I got it on amazon but it doesn't seem to be available there anymore. But I just found this site that still seems to have them at a reasonable price!

https://www.shop.home-processor.com/Deluxe-Picker-with-Motor-PP0052.htm

Thanks! But actually it seems for about that price I can get a drum plucker. Unfortunately we're just not able to dish out that much right now.

I did go on eBay and was able to find some tabletop pluckers, but it seemed like they were all for smaller birds. I doubt my Cornish X would fit in there. I wonder why they don't make a bigger size of that.

 

[Geena]

Thanks! But actually it seems for about that price I can get a drum plucker. Unfortunately we're just not able to dish out that much right now.

I did go on eBay and was able to find some tabletop pluckers, but it seemed like they were all for smaller birds. I doubt my Cornish X would fit in there. I wonder why they don't make a bigger size of that.

With the one I linked to above you don't put them in it, you just rotate them around on top of it. I've used it to pluck turkeys too, no problem. I got it mostly because it's much more portable and easier clean and store. I might get a drum plucker one of these days if/when that one ever bites the dust, but the good drum pluckers are quite expensive.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

With the one I linked to above you don't put them in it, you just rotate them around on top of it. I've used it to pluck turkeys too, no problem. I got it mostly because it's much more portable and easier clean and store. I might get a drum plucker one of these days if/when that one ever bites the dust, but the good drum pluckers are quite expensive.

Oh okay, I misunderstood how it worked. Well, it's something to consider.

 

[FunClucks]

I haven't tried the drill attachment or drum plucker (due to lack of funds). Hand plucking isn't too bad, and is pretty fast if you get the scalding correct. Takes maybe 10 minutes? Of course the drum or drill would be done in a minute or two. Unless you're doing large amounts of birds, hand plucking isn't too bad for CX, at least it was fine for me. I did 20 by myself just recently.

The time saver for me was going from plucking to skinning. The time to heat the water up for scalding, and then to pluck on top of that is what slowed me down. I could save half an hour processing time by skinning instead of scalding and plucking. For the birds I was parting out anyway, and wanted boneless skinless breasts, it made sense to skin them.

Also, for scalded vs skinned birds, the skinned ones had less smell - the wet feather smell didn't get all over me when processing like when I scalded them. The scalding water would get dirty and then the steam would get all up in my clothes and stuff and in my nose. For the skinning, even when I washed the carcass well with cold water and dish soap prior to skinning (they were not good at keeping their rears clean no matter what I did), the smell didn't get up in my sinuses and refuse to go away like when scalding. So that's something to consider.

Definitely have a good plan to deal with splatter prior to use, and how to sanitize and clean your equipment and work surfaces prior and during use, and whatever you're standing on. I ended up standing on a large area covered in mulch, and seeded it with compost starter once I was done. A few good rains, a bit more mulch, and the smell is pretty much gone, but some small bits are probably still composting.

With hand plucking I could pretty much put all the feathers in the 5 gallon bucket as soon as I pulled them off, and the mess stayed contained pretty well. With skinning, there was almost no feather mess at all because they all stayed on the skin, which came off as pretty much one large piece. When you use a drill plucker, you'll need a good plan for feather cleanup.

Good luck figuring out what works for you.

 

[HenriettaPizzaNolan]

I haven't tried the drill attachment or drum plucker (due to lack of funds). Hand plucking isn't too bad, and is pretty fast if you get the scalding correct. Takes maybe 10 minutes? Of course the drum or drill would be done in a minute or two. Unless you're doing large amounts of birds, hand plucking isn't too bad for CX, at least it was fine for me. I did 20 by myself just recently.

The time saver for me was going from plucking to skinning. The time to heat the water up for scalding, and then to pluck on top of that is what slowed me down. I could save half an hour processing time by skinning instead of scalding and plucking. For the birds I was parting out anyway, and wanted boneless skinless breasts, it made sense to skin them.

Also, for scalded vs skinned birds, the skinned ones had less smell - the wet feather smell didn't get all over me when processing like when I scalded them. The scalding water would get dirty and then the steam would get all up in my clothes and stuff and in my nose. For the skinning, even when I washed the carcass well with cold water and dish soap prior to skinning (they were not good at keeping their rears clean no matter what I did), the smell didn't get up in my sinuses and refuse to go away like when scalding. So that's something to consider.

Definitely have a good plan to deal with splatter prior to use, and how to sanitize and clean your equipment and work surfaces prior and during use, and whatever you're standing on. I ended up standing on a large area covered in mulch, and seeded it with compost starter once I was done. A few good rains, a bit more mulch, and the smell is pretty much gone, but some small bits are probably still composting.

With hand plucking I could pretty much put all the feathers in the 5 gallon bucket as soon as I pulled them off, and the mess stayed contained pretty well. With skinning, there was almost no feather mess at all because they all stayed on the skin, which came off as pretty much one large piece. When you use a drill plucker, you'll need a good plan for feather cleanup.

Good luck figuring out what works for you.

Thank you. Yeah, I don't want to skin because we like to eat the skin and I like to use the feathers for compost.

We did hand-pluck last time but it took us FOREVER. The main feathers came off so easily. I think I got the scald right. But those darn pin feathers were just so time consuming!!! We spent so much time getting them out during processing, and even now when I pull meat from the freezer and thaw it, I still have a little bit of pinning to do before I cook it. Am I being TOO thorough or something? With the amount of pin feathers we had, I don't see how anyone could pluck the bird in 10 minutes. Our birds were 8 week old CX btw. I feel like I never hear anyone talk about having this much trouble with pin feathers, so idk what is wrong with us.

That was my first time processing anything, so I'm sure no matter what we will be better this time, but I just still see plucking as an issue. But now I'm wondering: would the drill plucker really do anything to help my pin feather problem anyway?