For those who have made the $6.00 chicken plucker ???

[harleyjo]

I appreciate the poster who put this out here so I could see this.

We did make one of these and it worked great.... however I do have a few questions. We did have some of the rubber straps break and fly off. That one hit me in the chest and it did hurt. Then I had to stand off to the side. I do feel that this is a learning experience and the more you do it the better you get.

Here are some of my questions. Did you pull the big wing feathers first?

Did you you a variable speed drill or a single speed? We just had a single speed drill and wondered if we had a varible on a slower speed if that would help. That said, we did 13 birds in 4 hours. I still do a little more cleanup on them after they get out of the refrid from resting before I freeze them.

We were very pleased with how much it helped. My problem areas on the bird were the wings, which I think will be helped if I pull the large feathers before I even start it on
the plucker and the lower cavity near the vent.

ETA... it was just 2 of us doing these birds and that was with stopping to add new rubber one time. So if we could have plugged through with no breaks I would say 3 hours on these.

 

[Smoky73]

can you post the link to the thread for the $6.00 plucker please? I did not know one existed.

 

[Elite Silkies]

I would like to see the thread do you remember where it is? I would like to make one.

 

[harleyjo]

Here is the thread..

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=370037&p=1

 

[Winsor Woods]

I started with a similar plucker and initially used the rubber straps. Once I pulled those things out and installed plucking fingers I noticed a night and day difference. I have 6 fingers total on the plucker and I have them spaced so that when I hold the leg of a chicken in between the two rows of fingers, it plucks both sides at the same time.

I use a variable speed drill and have a zip tie to hold the trigger at precisely the right speed. This makes a big difference too. If the fingers fly off and hit you such that it causes pain, it's moving WAY too fast.

The scald is the key to the plucker. I scald my birds at 140-145 for 90 seconds. I pull the large feathers out by hand first. This lets me know if the scald is adequate. Then I pluck the bird with the plucker. The leading edge of the wings is always done by hand. That's a flaw with these small pluckers but it's no biggie.

The pin feathers are mostly removed by the plucker but any that remain are quickly removed by running the back edge of a knife back and forth over the pin feather. It comes out quickly that way. Then I spray the bird down with the hose nozzle to remove and feathers and pins that are just stuck to the bird but have been removed. A knife where the back edge is squared off rather than rounded over is better at removing the pin feathers.

Dan

 

[Dogfish]

Variable speed drill, pressure clamp to regulate speed.

I just use the straps, plucked a bunch of birds now, 10 or so, no breakage. You may be cutting across the strap too much, weakening the strap.

 

[harleyjo]

Thank-you for the input!