Tub type chicken plucker build

[PHPaul]

I did a search and most of the posts on this topic are 4+ years old, so I thought I'd start a new one.

Wife and I put about 60 chickens a year in our freezer, but we're not getting any younger and the thought of standing out in the August heat and hand-plucking 5 dozen birds is just more than we could face. So much so, that we skipped raising chickens last year and tried store-bought.

Ewwww. :barf:

So, we're back to raising our own, and decided that it was time to make the investment in a mechanical plucker.

DANG, they're expensive! And I'm cheap...

I also love to tinker and have a good stash of jun....uh...."undesignated inventory", so decided to build my own.

Surfed around and found Herrick Kimball's site and bought the plans for his Whizbang Tub-Style Plucker.

The blow-by-blow and picture are here.

 

[dave1949]

Certainly a worthy project. I have priced chicken pluckers and they are ridiculous.

 

[mddorange]

Well Paul, I am sorry that you didn't ask first as my daughter and her husband built one a couple of years ago and all it cost them was for the fingers ($49.99+shipping), a light switch ($.79), light switch box ($.50), a metal cover ($.29) . They pulled a tub (drilled the holes for the fingers) and motor and wiring from an old washing machine and put it on wooden legs (old 2x4s we had in the barn), added a longer V belt ($19.99 at Napa) and put it all together. They did over 50 chickens the first weekend.

 

[DrRod]

The video is totally impressive. But as someone on the site asked, does it bruise the meat? Also, how do you kill the chicken [still has its head on]?

 

[TnAndy]

Same boat here.....we raise 50 or so a year for ourselves, and after years of it, I got tired of hand plucking. I order the 'whizbang' kit, and used a 3/4hp motor I stripped out of a fan/blower, and a plastic barrel obtained local. Works GREAT....scald, drop it in and 30-45second, you have a really clean chicken. Few tail feathers are all that have to hand plucked.

Does not bruise or beat up the meat.

As for killing, I use a cone. I made mine up out of some light gauge sheet metal, looks just like the commercial versions. The cone is the only way to go for killing. You stick them in it, let them settle down a bit, and their head comes out the lower end. Then use a real sharp knife (I use disposable surgical scalpels, one per session is all you need), and cut their jugular artery right below their 'ear'. The heart keeps beating, and they bleed out real peacefully. Cutting the head off stops the heart, and you end up with a lot of blood still in the chicken you don't want.

If you do build a Whizbang, one suggestion. He has you cut both the top and the bottom out of a barrel....using just the center section. Doing that, all the water and feathers will fall down on your motor pulley and get flung all over the place.

I left the bottom in mine (he did list that as something people do), and simply cut a small slot in the edge of the barrel, then attached an angled chute made up out of sheet metal for a drain/exit. The finger plate he sends (already pre-drilled for the rubber fingers) I drilled 6 more holes (3 on either side of center) and mounted 6 fingers UNDER the plate so the 'sweep' the bottom of my barrel, and keep the feathers swept into the chute. All the feathers and water comes out that chute, and I simply put a 5gal plastic bucket (with hole drilled to let the water run out) to catch all the feathers. Works good.

While you CAN build your own out a lot of things, I give the guy credit....he has "thunk" it out, and buying his kit looks like a whole lot easier way to go than re-inventing the wheel.....especially if you wait until about a week before your chickens need processing like I did....ahahahaaa


Hole on the left is for the shaft from the motor to the feather plate. I came over 3" from it to start my slot for the chute.

Then I cut the slot 4" wide, plus a bit on either side:

Here's the chute. I used some scrap aluminum trim coil stock I had around:

This is the feather plate, with the fingers installed. The marks are where I drilled for fingers to point down.

I used a "uni-bit" to make the holes the size needed for the fingers. Also used it to drill the holes in the barrel side.

Then pulled 6 fingers thru the bottom of the feather plate to sweep out the feathers. I used a pair of channel lock pliers to pull all my fingers into their holes (feather plate and barrel side)....works good.

Mounting the feather plate in the barrel, I left about 1/4" of clearance between the down pointing fingers and the barrel bottom. You can adjust it by the locking collar on the bearing down under the barrel bottom.