We are harvesting 44 white rocks today. I mount three cones on my tractor bucket. I have cut them down to widen the mouths. I put the tractor between the chicken house and processing area.
On the left, a homemade scalder. It’s an electric water tank cut in half with the thermostat replaced with a commercial thermostat (the temperature can be set higher than a residential one) and a replacement element (110V versus 220V.)
In the center is our homemade plucker. It has a spray bar around the top and a solenoid valve that turns the water on when the plucker is turned on.
We process the birds through to ready for the freezer 9 at a time.
I can post detail pictures of the plucker or a video of anyone is interested.
That’s pretty impressive. Looks way easier than plucking by hand.
Here’s a video.
Warning, it’s definitely NSFV (not suitable for vegans.)
What the pluck?!? That is plucking efficient. I will have to show this to the missus. Last weekend she spent 2 hours on three birds from picking them from the roosts to cleaned, gutted and bagged. And she is faster than me.
How well does it do against small stubs of feathers or do you have to time it carefully with the feathering cycle?
How do you do the killing? I mean, I get that the bird goes head first down the cone, but do you knock the bird unconscious first? Do you behead it or just slit its throat?
Way easier. A well scalded chicken is rendered naked in about 10 seconds.
I have a video somewhere.