How to make a $6.00 chicken plucker

[Hippie3]

How to make a $6.00 chicken plucker

I had 14 birds I needed to butcher about 8 weeks ago, and wasn’t prepared to pluck them by hand, even with the help of my eager six year old helper.
I was thinking of making a plucker along the lines of the one in Backwoods about a year ago, but didn’t have the motor, and while I tried, the only plucker fingers I could find were three hours drive away, and almost three bucks each. So, I “invented” my own. Total cost - $6.00
I bought a PVC end cap (about $2.00) and drilled a 3/8” hole in the center, and installed a long carriage bolt I already had as the shaft. Then I drilled 3/8” holes all around the outside. I made the fingers out two bungie cords. (rubber straps with S hooks a both ends) I had a bunch around, but wanted to get the softest rubber I could, so I bought two long ones. (about $4.00) I cut the cord into three inch lengths, then cut the edge off both sides of each piece, except for a half an inch at the end. Then I pulled the fingers through the holes in the PVC cap, they couldn’t come out because of the half inch bump out at the end. The pictures will explain if the words don’t. Then I popped the shaft into my drill and tied the drill to the picnic table with bungie cords. A wire tie abound the trigger held it at a medium speed.
It plucks a scalded bird in about 45 seconds. It won’t pull the primary wing and tail feathers, and has trouble with the feathers along the leading edge of the wing, but works amazing for my purposes. I pluck the birds with the plucker, rinse it off and pull out the big feathers by hand. Total time is certainly less then 90 seconds a bird.
I’ve posted pictures, and have a thirty second video that video google is clearing. I will post a link to the video once it clears.
Pete

[slummunky]

I love me some chicken!

[boots420]

i love chicken with a passion. yet i could never see myself plucking my own. although, im a city boy whod love to live in the country.

[Mushrooms201]

sweet idea!

[s0mer4ndom1diot]

hmm... is it just me or is anyone else having trouble seeing how that would be able to pull out feathers?

[Hippie3]

once scalded in hot water
the feathers come out fairly easily.
this does work,
it's similar to the whizbang plucker
you can see it in action on youtube

[bugs]

Man, that brings back memories. When I was a kid we'd do around 100 chickens at a time. We had a big scalder and a drum-type plucker, and for some strange reason it was really fun.
It sure beat hoeing out the roosts!

[LargeMarge]

Originally Posted by s0mer4ndom1diot

hmm... is it just me or is anyone else having trouble seeing how that would be able to pull out feathers?

the feathers stick to the soft rubber and are pulled out when the move past.

[TastyBeverage]

I love ghetto tek!

Seems like that would make a helluva mess though.

[s0mer4ndom1diot]

wow! just watched a vid. really cool