Nice! Looks like mine. I liked your solid barrel idea, so I made mine the same. 2 birds, one water hose and about 15 seconds = 2 clean birds. I really like the shrink bags Herrick Kimball sells, they are awesome. Absolutely no freezer burn. We processed 50 birds in about 6 hours four weeks ago. All possible with the chicken plucker.
It sure makes all the difference, I'm not sure if that the same bag I use, mine are from "Texas shrink bag" I really like them, especially since you don't have to pole a hole in them like the ones I used to get ...thanks for watching!
Great demo Aaron... works very well and it would work well with many different kinds I bet! William the Bigland Trapper would have some competition with this unit! Haha Take care!
Aaron, your amazing creativity is in evidence here! It's obvious that you invested much thought and planning into this. This is a wonderful invention that produces awesome results! Congratulations!
That's amazing how that works...Who ever invented this was either really smart or nifty...There is a guy from a few towns over by me that goes around plucking peoples chickens with his machine like this...I'm not sure what he charges but I hear he is busy...My Sgt. at work has him do his chickens every year...Good show...
Thanks Gonzo, it sure it nice not to hand pluck them. I've did the rental/butcher service last summer a bit and I'm pretty sure it was never worth the money. I had one couple that I help with three batches, for what they paid me they could have built their own. Then again no one ever said people are smart :)
Really enjoying your videos. we have just started a homestead from the beginning and will be raiseing all of our meat. your videos are vey informative.
Say backyardmeat , do you dip the chickens in hot water first or just throw them in dry? We have a plucker that has a horizontal drum of fingers. You hold the chicken legs and hold it over the fingers, works well but we dip the birds first. Did lots of turkeys too with it.
I just plucked 3 chickens by hand in about an hour then I ended up skinning them because there were too many pin feathers. This thing is ingenious..... Good on ya... What are the rubber fingers made out of?
It only took a couple of batches of hand plucking and skinning until I knew I need to build one and it's been well worth it. The rubber fingers are just that, rubber... they are a commercial plucking fingers but you can buy them online or on ebay
Do you mind if I ask about what your total costs were? I understand some parts you already had, as I'm sure we have the majority of parts (electrical, motor, drum, metal for plate, etc) laying around, hopefully would only have to purchase the fingers.
I don't have a formal list but here's a link to the "kit" and it basically a part list minus a motor and 2x4's whizbangplucker.blogspot.com/2010/04/time-and-cost-involved-in-packaging-and.html
I noticed in your response to another commenter that you used a gear ratio that geared the motor down to ~270 RPM. Would gearing it down further to say, 100-150 RPM, cause less damage to the meat overall or do you think that the 270 is a good sweet spot for accomplishing defeathering with limited damage? Thanks.
It sure seems to work for my set up, I know if the belt loosens up and it slows down it does more damage to the birds because you have to leave them in the plucker longer
+Leandro De Medeiros Passos I'm not sure I understand what you're looking for....RPM? if so it's 1725 rpm...if not let me know and i'll try to get you back a answer
I thought the feather plate would be hard to make but maybe not, There for sale on ebay but expensive and shipping is a killer for me, More than doubles the price, That's is they well ship at all. One day I well build one. I found a nice one in China but they well only ship 2 at a time, I sure don't need 2.
The feather plate is just a piece of stainless cut in a circle and the bottom fingers are spaced 2 inches part so the bird doesn't get tangled up. They sure are handy and it makes butchering so much cleaner and faster ....two pluckers just means you have a rental :)
I do a lot of ducks, There very hard to do by hand, I need something, I well see what happens. I have a few idea, That might be my biggest mistake. lol
if you don't mind answering another question, how tall is your barrel? made mine 20'' and with it raised off the bottom for the 2 fingers, i only have around 12" of wall left. just doesn't look like enough height.trying to figure out the best plate height. Thanks.
I have an old rockwell drill press I'm going to try and use to build one of these with. I need the shaft and aluminum plate and I'll be all set.. I hope 😁 Where did you get your plate from? If you don't mind me asking.
Stop talking and get to work Aaron!! hahaha Good stuff buddy... I should make you a metal stand someday... Man that thing is impressive, could you do a turkey in it? Or a duck? Very cool my friend...
I'd take a metal stand in a heart beat :) it will pluck up to about a 8#'er, but with a bigger motor and gear down I bet a turkey or goose would pluck just the same
Nice! Looks like mine. I liked your solid barrel idea, so I made mine the same. 2 birds, one water hose and about 15 seconds = 2 clean birds. I really like the shrink bags Herrick Kimball sells, they are awesome. Absolutely no freezer burn. We processed 50 birds in about 6 hours four weeks ago. All possible with the chicken plucker.
It sure makes all the difference, I'm not sure if that the same bag I use, mine are from "Texas shrink bag" I really like them, especially since you don't have to pole a hole in them like the ones I used to get ...thanks for watching!
That thing is awesome I have hand plucked chickens and if I was going to start raising them again I definitely would build one of these.
Jason
I wish we had built it earlier, I had some really long terrible days plucking and skinning chickens
Great demo Aaron... works very well and it would work well with many different kinds I bet! William the Bigland Trapper would have some competition with this unit! Haha Take care!
It I could pick as fast as BLT....I wouldn't need the plucker :) ....hope all is well and the black flys aren't packing you off
Aaron, your amazing creativity is in evidence here! It's obvious that you invested much thought and planning into this. This is a wonderful invention that produces awesome results! Congratulations!
Thanks John, I was born out of laziness, plucking chickens is hard :) ATB to ya
That's amazing how that works...Who ever invented this was either really smart or nifty...There is a guy from a few towns over by me that goes around plucking peoples chickens with his machine like this...I'm not sure what he charges but I hear he is busy...My Sgt. at work has him do his chickens every year...Good show...
Thanks Gonzo, it sure it nice not to hand pluck them. I've did the rental/butcher service last summer a bit and I'm pretty sure it was never worth the money. I had one couple that I help with three batches, for what they paid me they could have built their own. Then again no one ever said people are smart :)
Amazing setup there! Can't believe how fast and well it works!!!
Thanks Garrett it sure beats plucking by hand!
Really enjoying your videos. we have just started a homestead from the beginning and will be raiseing all of our meat. your videos are vey informative.
Thanks for taking the time to check them out. Our homestead started with 2 scruffy hens 20 years ago and has never looked back.
Brilliant machine, well done **************
What an awesome machine. That's a must have for the fowl hunters.
It seems to pluck everything up to about 8#'s and it sure beats hand plucking
I will MOST CERTAINLY make one of these VERY soon!!
You won't be sorry!
Very slick! I have done many chickens, ducks, and turkeys.. all by hand. And yes I do know what your talking about, haha.. Nice job bud.
Thanks John, I feel your pain on the hand picking.....what a long horrible process. Atb to ya!
got to make one for sure, wonder how it will work on wild birds, great job
It works good, you just have to scald at a slightly lower temperature and for longer to get the pin feathers
woaaa! really learnt a lot here. I can try out one if I could get the rubber feather pluckers.
Thanks man
Nnamdi Anthony you can find em online man that’s about all of I done so far haha
Great video awesome heck of an idea.
Thanks, it's a really cool piece of equipment
backyardmeat Yeah seems awesome and sure beats pulling feathers by hand lol...
Hello Aaron, how have you managed to make some of them move clockwise on the plate and the other counter-clockwise?
a great plucker you got there.
I pretty sure I would have gave raising my own meat chickens along time ago if I didn't have it
this is great stuff
have an idea of reusing old washing masine...
Cool feather remover..worked great!!
It always amazes me that it work so well!
Say backyardmeat
, do you dip the chickens in hot water first or just throw them in dry? We have a plucker that has a horizontal drum of fingers. You hold the chicken legs and hold it over the fingers, works well but we dip the birds first. Did lots of turkeys too with it.
I like your feather discharge chute. What did you do to prevent the water from running down the shaft and onto your bearings or does it matter ?
It does run down, but it doesn't seem to make a difference
I just plucked 3 chickens by hand in about an hour then I ended up skinning them because there were too many pin feathers. This thing is ingenious..... Good on ya... What are the rubber fingers made out of?
It only took a couple of batches of hand plucking and skinning until I knew I need to build one and it's been well worth it. The rubber fingers are just that, rubber... they are a commercial plucking fingers but you can buy them online or on ebay
Very nice!. Just a question. ...would it work for larger birds? Say a Canada goose or 2?
Mine only work on birds up to 8#'s, but a slightly larger motor with a gear reducer would work (so it wouldn't spin to fast)
Nice feather remover! I think I saw you use this on one of your butchering videos. Take care Aaron!
It sure is a life saver on butchering days
bravo , john
Thanks!
the feather trough is a good idea
Ya, it keeps everything cleaner for sure
Just bought one today for 120 just like yours .
Really good macho certainly would be helpful
Do you mind if I ask about what your total costs were? I understand some parts you already had, as I'm sure we have the majority of parts (electrical, motor, drum, metal for plate, etc) laying around, hopefully would only have to purchase the fingers.
I spent just under $300, so far ebay is the best source I've found for the fingers
What size pulleys? And what speed do you need?
Can you post a material list from your design Like what ya did here!!!
I don't have a formal list but here's a link to the "kit" and it basically a part list minus a motor and 2x4's
whizbangplucker.blogspot.com/2010/04/time-and-cost-involved-in-packaging-and.html
Thank You!!!
How did u make the round pan on bottom?
Is there a use for the feathers?
I noticed in your response to another commenter that you used a gear ratio that geared the motor down to ~270 RPM. Would gearing it down further to say, 100-150 RPM, cause less damage to the meat overall or do you think that the 270 is a good sweet spot for accomplishing defeathering with limited damage? Thanks.
It sure seems to work for my set up, I know if the belt loosens up and it slows down it does more damage to the birds because you have to leave them in the plucker longer
What kind of prep work is done with the chickens? Chop the head off then soak them in hot water?
Yes, remove the head, scald at 140 for 20 seconds, pluck and gut
Really nice your chicken pluker. Do you know the relation of transmission between the moved pulley and the motor pulley? Thanks in advance
+Leandro De Medeiros Passos I'm not sure I understand what you're looking for....RPM? if so it's 1725 rpm...if not let me know and i'll try to get you back a answer
Hello, I'm looking for the RPM of the driven pulley, or the dimensions of the pulleys.
Thank you
the drive axle pulley is 2.5" and the tub pulley is 16" this gear it down to around 270 rpm's
Thank you a lot, I'll try to build one of this in my home
I want to know if there’s a measure between the fingers
well done!
Thanks!
I thought the feather plate would be hard to make but maybe not, There for sale on ebay but expensive and shipping is a killer for me, More than doubles the price, That's is they well ship at all. One day I well build one. I found a nice one in China but they well only ship 2 at a time, I sure don't need 2.
The feather plate is just a piece of stainless cut in a circle and the bottom fingers are spaced 2 inches part so the bird doesn't get tangled up. They sure are handy and it makes butchering so much cleaner and faster ....two pluckers just means you have a rental :)
I do a lot of ducks, There very hard to do by hand, I need something, I well see what happens. I have a few idea, That might be my biggest mistake. lol
i would think u could use acrylic plexiglass for the feather plate which is a bit pricey but much lighter on shipping
if you don't mind answering another question, how tall is your barrel? made mine 20'' and with it raised off the bottom for the 2 fingers, i only have around 12" of wall left. just doesn't look like enough height.trying to figure out the best plate height.
Thanks.
Mine is 20" ...for my plate height I did the length of the downward facing fingers + .5"
Thank you.
I have an old rockwell drill press I'm going to try and use to build one of these with. I need the shaft and aluminum plate and I'll be all set.. I hope 😁
Where did you get your plate from? If you don't mind me asking.
I made it out of aluminum, 1" smaller than the barrel
cool idea
Thanks for checking it out,
What did you make the plate out of and how much did it cost? Where did you buy it?
It was just a piece of aluminium cut to fit the barrel, I don't really have a cost it was just a scrap from some other project
The backyard chicken plucker upper
Strapping a motor to a plastic tube, sometimes crazy works
will it work on ducks? Will I have to scald them first? How long do you scald them, at what temp? THX!
Yes, you'll need to scald ducks longer 30-45 seconds at 140-145 degrees
Looks good to me
It sure is a winner on butchering day
what did you use do your feather plate?
Just a piece of aluminum cut to fit the barrel with 1/2" holes drilled for the fingers . I made it so it had a inch space away from the walls
My question is, how badly does it bruise the meat?
They don't bruise at all, no blood and dead makes it harder for them to bruise
did you put them into hot water first?
We scald them at 145 degrees for 20 seconds
what things are Needed to make this chicken Plucker at home? ?
basic power tools and the parts is all you need.....saw, drill, etc..
This black things what's is it call
Aantaya Giri chicken plucking fingers
Is your aluminum plate flat ?
yes
Stop talking and get to work Aaron!! hahaha Good stuff buddy... I should make you a metal stand someday... Man that thing is impressive, could you do a turkey in it? Or a duck? Very cool my friend...
I'd take a metal stand in a heart beat :) it will pluck up to about a 8#'er, but with a bigger motor and gear down I bet a turkey or goose would pluck just the same
Cool, well we will have to talk design... That thing is awesome... I couldn't get to the build until fall, but I could make you one...
can you use this on quail?
I would set my plucking fingers closer together in the build if I was running quail through it
There are different fingers sizes, and one is for quail
where can i order the parts
wizbang planet dot com
genious.
Agreed! I copy cat'ed it, but who ever thought it up was brilliant
Machine
:) thanks man it's great to have around!
FRANKTH AND BEANSTH
It's a official backyard meat uniform :)
Tu meke
Poor chickens #savethechickens
Glad you liked it!