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.

  • MapleEngineer@lemmy.caOPM
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    Hi.

    If the bird is well scalded it is rendered naked including the stubs. If I don’t get the scalding quite right it can leave the stubs and some big fathers on the wings. Big birds often don’t turn well in the plucker and their backs tend not to be plucked very well. Most of those fathers can just be pulled out or rubbed off by hand. Even so it is a huge time saver.

    I kill by beheading with a single stroke of a very sharp knife. The man who owned it local abattoir showed me how to do it years ago and I use that method to this day. I have considered adding a stunner but they are expensive and we don’t do enough birds to justify the cost.