Jacobs, have you seen the WhizBang Chicken Plucker that Deliberate Agrarian has?
I plan to skin my meat birds; I have boiled and plucked before, and if there's anything in the world that will turn my stomach in 2 minutes or less, it's the smell of warm, wet feathers. If I was ever to boil and pluck again, I would only do it if I had a plucker.
I agree with you about the start-up costs, though. Larger waterers, larger feeders, vaccuum storage (I lost mine in the divorce), and I even have to buy a small freezer (although since I hunt, I was going to need one anyway).
I also bought a "Chicken Dispatcher" from the UK http://www.chicken-house.co.uk/slaughter_equipment.htm
It was pricey, but I have killed chickens with a hatchet before, and at the end of a long day of killing chickens, I was beginning to feel like Lizzy Borden (plus, as I got tired, I didn't always get a one-wack instant kill, which made me want to cut my OWN head off). I'm hoping the chicken dispatcher will help that situation. I had to go to the post office to pick up the dispatcher; this was the same post office from whence I got my chicks. The lady remember me, and said, "Chicken dispatcher? Is that like if you want to call them?" (like a police dispatcher, is what she was thinking...). Then she said, "Man! That thing is so heavy you could hit someone on the head and kill them with it!"
Oy!
I plan to skin my meat birds; I have boiled and plucked before, and if there's anything in the world that will turn my stomach in 2 minutes or less, it's the smell of warm, wet feathers. If I was ever to boil and pluck again, I would only do it if I had a plucker.
I agree with you about the start-up costs, though. Larger waterers, larger feeders, vaccuum storage (I lost mine in the divorce), and I even have to buy a small freezer (although since I hunt, I was going to need one anyway).
I also bought a "Chicken Dispatcher" from the UK http://www.chicken-house.co.uk/slaughter_equipment.htm
It was pricey, but I have killed chickens with a hatchet before, and at the end of a long day of killing chickens, I was beginning to feel like Lizzy Borden (plus, as I got tired, I didn't always get a one-wack instant kill, which made me want to cut my OWN head off). I'm hoping the chicken dispatcher will help that situation. I had to go to the post office to pick up the dispatcher; this was the same post office from whence I got my chicks. The lady remember me, and said, "Chicken dispatcher? Is that like if you want to call them?" (like a police dispatcher, is what she was thinking...). Then she said, "Man! That thing is so heavy you could hit someone on the head and kill them with it!"
Oy!
