The Hillbilly plucker WOW it works great this is how you do it, Parts are only $79 dollars

[Thunderboltt]

My Plucker only cost me 79 dollars. I didn't like the way they have it set up so you have to buy $500 worth of parts to put your chicken plucker together, but i loved the idea of how it worked. So i got my 150 plucking fingers for $69 on ebay and a plastic drum for $10 at a local junk store. But this is the twist we had an old brush hog that no longer worked properly. We removed the blades and cut the brush hog unite in half with a cutting torch. Mounted the PTO unite up side down on the brush hog unite. Next I made the drum assembly with the fingers. We cut the bottom of the drum out and drilled hole for the fingers. We mounted the bottom plate with the fingers to the steel plate that the brush hog cutter blades had been mounted to. attached the plate to the PTO unite that was mounted upside down. Next we welded angle iron uprights to attach the drum with the fingers to. We hooked the PTO unite to the tractor and crossed our fingers it would work. I told my husband "fire it up" lets see what she dose. It worked perfect!. Finally to see if it would pluck chickens like the way i had seen plucker's do on Youtube. So i heated the water for scalding to 155 degrees, killed the 2 Cornish cross, let them drain, scalded them for 15 secs. Told my husband "fire it up" I tossed 2 birds in for 60sec our birds were plucked clean.
Took about 2 hours to assemble the plucker.
It took 1 hour to pluck and clean 25 birds not bad.

I will post pic later it was to dark to take good pics.

 

[Buster52]

Very inventive. I look forward to the pictures.

Pictures heck! Show us video!!

 

[Peruvian]

Great thinking. Using a motor/engine you already have is a huge savings.

My plucker build would have been less than $300 but I didn't have a decent motor to run it. I thought of using a belt drive off my garden tractor PTO but didn't like the exhaust running while processing. I bought a new electric motor since it came with a warranty, would last a long time, etc and that's what brought the total price over $400.

Of course about a year after I built mine, a local guy started selling plastic barrels for $20 which could have saved me a ton more money.

 

[Thunderboltt]

See on the track tor the exhaust is way far from were we are working goes straight up at the front of the tractor and we just turn the track tor off between sets. I just killed them, let them drain for a few mins, scaled for 15 secs, Then my husband fired the track tor up and gave them a spin in the plucker for 60secs, then he would turn it off while my son and I gutted the two birds and tossed them in the cooler. So we really didn't have a problem what so ever with exhaust. Also with the tractor you can adjust the speed of the plucker but idal seemed to work best lol.

Far as the barrel every junk store in the Ozarks sells them for $10 to $13 dollars

 

[the_great_snag]

Nice work making your plucker. They save a ton of work and actually make the whole job almost FUN.

I am starting from scratch, so I am going to use a motor and speed reducer like the high-end pluckers use. I'm also using a barrel for the drum, but will probably draw up a feather plate with my CAD system and have it plasma-cut. I can then weld it to a hub and mount it directly to the speed reducer.

 

[mama dixie]

hello, I hope it is OK to jump in. I have heard you can use an old washing machine motor and drum is that true? we just had to get a new machine because our sprung leaks in the hoses and my hubby said it is so old we need a new one, after one trip to the laundry mat and 30.00 later we bought a new machine toot sweet that same day. I love having a washing machine I love my washer so much.......anyway can I use my old motor and washing machine tub for this if I buy the fingers?

 

[Peruvian]

hello, I hope it is OK to jump in. I have heard you can use an old washing machine motor and drum is that true? we just had to get a new machine because our sprung leaks in the hoses and my hubby said it is so old we need a new one, after one trip to the laundry mat and 30.00 later we bought a new machine toot sweet that same day. I love having a washing machine I love my washer so much.......anyway can I use my old motor and washing machine tub for this if I buy the fingers?

If the motor is 1hp or stronger, you can use it. As for the tub, you will have to cut the bottom out as only the bottom 'plate' spins in a plucker. The 'barrel' sides are stable.

 

[ibcanchasr]

great idea

 

[wsmoak]

My plucker build would have been less than $300 but I didn't have a decent motor to run it. I thought of using a belt drive off my garden tractor PTO but didn't like the exhaust running while processing. I bought a new electric motor since it came with a warranty, would last a long time, etc and that's what brought the total price over $400.

Where did you get the motor, and what kind is it? I'm actually looking for a motor to turn a rotary plucker, as I really don't think abusing a drill is going to work long term.

-Wendy

 

[Peruvian]

Where did you get the motor, and what kind is it? I'm actually looking for a motor to turn a rotary plucker, as I really don't think abusing a drill is going to work long term.

-Wendy

I don't remember. It might have been harbor freight or TSC. I've had it for about 4 years now.