Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
At this point, when the feathers are ready to come out, dip the bird into an ice bath using the
plastic tubs to help prevent tears in the skin. This is not necessary, but it may make plucking
easier. Now, pull out the feathers in the direction they grew. This may seem time-consuming,
but it is faster than some of the automated plucking machines available commercially. Once
you get the hang of it, the process will move quicker.
Featherman Plucker ( www.featherman.net ) and Schweiss Welding
( www.schweisswelding.com ) are two companies that sell automated chicken pluckers. Pluck-
ers are also available online at Fleming Outdoors ( www.flemingoutdoors.com ). Fleming
Outdoors has an expanded inventory of items that you may need. They have incubators, feed-
ers, waterers, poultry laying nests, wooden coops and hutches, electric poultry fences and
poultry catchers, along with poultry scalders and pluckers. Schweiss Welding sells several
pieces of equipment. Their products are more streamlined; they offer a chicken plucker that
promises to pluck your chicken in 30 seconds, including pinfeathers. It sells for $495 and ar-
rives already assembled. The Featherman Plucker retails for $975; it holds four or five birds
and plucks them in less than 20 seconds.
If automated pluckers are out of your price range, you may want to build your own. The topic
Anyone Can Build a Tub-Style Mechanical Chicken Plucker, written by Herrick Kimball from
Cumberland Books, is a guidebook on building a machine that plucks feathers. The cost of the
topic is $15 to $20 and is available on the websites Cornerstone Farm Ventures
( www.cornerstone-farm.com ), Amazon ( www.amazon.com ) , and Egg Cartons
( www.eggcartons.com ) . The topic details how to build the Whizbang plucker, and testimoni-
als claim that the machine can pluck your chicken in 15 seconds or less, including pinfeathers.
Building your own plucker is a fraction of the cost of purchasing a new, commercial plucker
and scalder. The topic contains plans on how to build your own plucker.
After plucking, examine your bird. Make sure the flesh does not have any sign of diseases. If
you have a small flock, you should have been monitoring your birds all along. But if you own
many birds, it may be hard to keep track of each one, especially if they have hidden lesions or
bumps on their bodies. If you come across a chicken with abscesses or lumps filled with pus,
do not eat the bird.
Other problems to look for are sores or open wounds and tumors. If you find them on a chick-
en, discard the carcass. These sores and wounds can be signs of something toxic for you if
consumed. When in doubt, throw it out. Throw out the carcasses if the butchered birds were
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