“Made It Myself” Chicken Plucker Speeds Up Processing

“Made It Myself” Chicken Plucker Speeds Up Processing LIVESTOCK Poultry My husband and I raise a batch of Cornish cross meat chickens every year on our 6-acre Green Thicket Farm near Springfield Missouri for our own use and for our Omnivore CSA program I grew up on a farm and my parents also raised Cornish cross every summer so I have spent many years plucking chickens by hand This year my neighbors Sasha and Jimmy Rhea of Rhea Farm in Fair Grove Missouri came to my rescue and loaned us their homebuilt chicken plucker! After researching DIY plucker options online Jimmy decided instead of purchasing the plans to build one he would study pictures and design one of his own Using a plastic 55-gal drum he found on the side of the road and cut in half a 1/2 hp electric motor pulleys a belt 1/2-in shaft and ball bearings 2 by 4 lumber and rubber fingers ordered online he built a durable and handy machine The plastic drum with rubber fingers attached sits in a wooden frame fastened together with lag bolts – “I wanted it to be sturdy ” said Jimmy The motor is fastened to the outside of the frame with 7/16 all thread bolts; these were used to secure the belt tensioner as well The motor runs at about 1000 rpm’s but the plucker itself only needs to run at about 100 rpm’s so Jimmy used pulleys to get the ratio right A small pulley is attached to the motor and a large pulley is attached to the drum of the plucker Blocks of wood and rod iron keep the motor stable and a 1/2-in shaft and ball bearing keep the plucker turning Jimmy also installed an electric outdoor box switch to conveniently turn the plucker on and off We covered the motor with a 5-gal bucket to keep it dry during use The plucker works best with 2 to 3 chickens in it at a time two if the birds were larger and three if they were on the smaller side To operate it we put the scalded chickens into the drum and turned the unit on for approximately 30 to 45 seconds while manually running a hose over the chickens to wash the feathers off The tumbling action with the rubber fingers combined with the water from the hose made for nice clean birds with only a few feathers left to finish plucking! Using the unit cut our processing time in half gave us a much nicer finished product than plucking by hand and made us very grateful for our wonderful neighbors! Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Jimmy Rhea 1218 State Rd AA Fair Grove Mo 65648

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