UPDATE*** How to build process station CHEAP (pics)

[Gazinga]

***SEE POST #10 FOR UPDATE with pics*******

Ok, so thanks to all you great BYC'ers i got many tips and ideas on how to set up aprocess station with litel to no funds.

First off was the feather plucker, which i made out of 6 inches of pvc pipe and a pvc cap wiith a bolt through it to attach to the drill, THen i ran rubber luggage fasteners through the holes i drilled in the pipe, all costing me $5, not bad, and WOW DID IT WORK GREAT!

I attached it to the drill and fastened the dril down to the side of my makeshift bench via zipties

The rest of my procedss bench was built from scrap wood so $0.00 cost

You can see the bleed out bucket i use under the bench. On the bench you see the black flower pot which i used as a kill cone. which i hung over the bleed bucket via the metal rod thought the top, which also holds the chicken in the cone. I used the propane grill to heat a pot of water for scalding and then on to the plucker and then to teh bech for processing, then into the ice cooler with heavy salt ice water to cure for 48 hours, then into the freezer parted out.

All in all this was my first time processing and i can do a bird every 10 minutes thanks to all your instructions and tips. All for $5!

Thanks to all of you, it made a nervous moment easy for me and easier on the birds.

 

[Eggs4Sale]

If you could detail this all as a how-to, that would make a great sticky!
Cheap processing!

Show how to make the stuff...

I'd bookmark this for future reference if you detailed how you made the drill plucker more, and flowerpot killing cone.

NICE JOB!

 

[Gazinga]

sure! id be gald to! ill take detailed pics tomorrow and list a "how to" no problem

 

[honeydoll]

I will be looking forward to seeing the pics as well. This looks like a doable set up for just about anyone.

 

[AHappychick]

great job!!!

 

[beaken]

What are rubber luggage fasteners ? and where can I buy some ? Looks like a great setup ! I have to do my first ever saturday . 35 barred rocks

 

[Eggs4Sale]

Yeah, I'm really interested in the plucking machine, too. And I wonder how all those people carried their luggage out of the airport after Gazinga left.

 

[zephyrcreek]

I'd love to see to as I don't really understand how this type of plucker works. Do you just hold the chicken over the fingers? The hardest part I am having is the wing feathers on my colored range birds. Man are they a pain doing it the old fashioned way.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Looks great! I hope you enjoy many delicious home-grown chicken dinners because of it. I too would like to see how you put the birds in the flower-pot cone to bleed out. Do you cut them first then hang, or hang then cut?

Also, do you also use that table top to gut the birds? If so, perhaps you should put some kind of waterproof coating or cover so you can sanitize it well.

 

[Gazinga]

OK, so heres the best I can do. Wish i had know there would be interest in it prior to processing so I could have taken more pics of the birds in process, but here we go......

I tried to stay with free parts extra stuff we all have laying around or at least very cheap stuff.

Hillbilly process station

PLUCKER

parts youll need:
1- 6 inches of 4 inch wide PVC pipe
2- Matching PVC cap for pipe
3- bolt and matching nut for end of pipe
4- 2 rubber luggage straps

I bought all these parts at ace hardware for a total of about $5


take the PVC pipe....

......and glue it to the PVC cap......

drill hole in the center of the cap and run the bolt through, then put nut onto bolt tightly to hold bolt firmly in place.........

cut rubber cargo straps into 4 inch pieces and cut end of each piece into a point to make insertion easier........

...drill holes into PVC assembly and insert rubber pieces, make sure you drill holes one size too small for a tight fit of pieces into PVC....

the finished PVC plucker is then inserted into any common electric (not battery) drill........

it can then be fastened to your processing bench like so......

.......it goes through a pluck process in about 1 minute!

you can also hand hold the drill with plucker, but I've found the mounting process works much better.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

KILL CONE / BUCKETS

I used plastic flower pots because thats what I have plenty of laying around, as we all do im sure........

...........I took a 10 inch high flower pot and cut a 3 inch hole in the bottom for the head to go through........

.........next I drill two holes across the top for a plant stake rod to go through......( i also had alot of these laying around)......

........the rod holds the kill cone above the bleedout bucket, as well as holds the bird in the cone.......i put teh bird in the cone, put the rod through the cone, then cut the veins of the bird and lay cone into bleed out bucket........

I put a garbage bag into the bleed out pot to catch all the blood and I deposit all the bird parts in there as well during process, making for easy cleanup....I also cover the bench in saran wrap and use a plastic cutting board to aid in sanitary process, and i do process on the bench.......the finished set up looks like this.......

And as for the scalding of the bird after the plucking.....I just use my wifes menudo pot on the grill outside, and scald them for about 1 minute, works great.

......all the total parts needed are shown here.............

.......and when done, it all stores compact and neat like this for easy storage..........

When all done I wash down all parts and kill station with bleach and water.


Hope all this helps, if anyone has any further questions please just ask, ill be glasd to help best I can, tell me what you think...