Chicken plucker: Machine or drill?

[Evan__66]

So this summer will be the first time I raise and butcher my own meat chickens. I have been doing allot of research on the butchering process and I was wondering, for a first timer, should I buy one of the expensive big machine chicken pluckers or buy a cheaper plucker that attaches to a drill? Thanks in advance.

 

[hysop]

Are you gonna be defeathering a ton of chickens per day?

 

[Evan__66]

Are you gonna be defeathering a ton of chickens per day?

No, I’m probably only raising like 15-20

 

[hysop]

Depending on how your finances look, I would just get the cheaper one or just use your hands. It’s not hard at all. If you’ll be plucking a lot of chickens per day then yeah a plucker will come in handy. I’ve only ever defeathered one per day (not every day ) and it doesn’t take long at all.

 

[hysop]

My husband wanted to get the real expensive one one day, but once he saw how easy it was to defeather birds, he chose to save himself all that money. Granted I’m the one that defeathers and he’s the one that removes the guts

 

[EggWalrus]

If you only do 4 or 5 per day, one or twice a week, I do it by hand or maybe buy the drill attachment. If doing them all in one day I'd definitely get the drill. Personally, I can't see spending money on a fancy chicken plucking contraption unless I was doing a lot, and every day of the week. Before investing in a fancy plucker, I would invest in extra freezers, canning equipment, or build a smoke house to put all the carcasses in.

 

[Molpet]

I say kill a few before you decide.
Drill throws feathers everywhere

I have a drum plucker, but I got it after a year and I was sure I could kill the birds I raised. I bought used cones off a guy who decided slaughtering wasn't for him.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I would butcher 2 or 3 and pluck by hand. See what you think of the process and if you decide you are going to process a lot of birds, buy the drum plucker. It is important to do some by hand so you know what a time saver the plucker is.
If you are only going to do a smaller number, get the drill type. With the drill type, you are still occupied the entire time. With the drum type plucker I've used, you do 2 at a time and don't have to do anything.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

One's first investment should be in a couple very good knives and a way to keep them sharp.
The feathers dull blades quickly and a knife that isn't super sharp will cause more injury to you than the bird.
You also want to decide how you'll store them. Vacuum seal and shrink bags are the way to go to prevent freezer burn and I prefer the latter.
The reason is, I've used a couple different vacuum seal systems and while they may be versatile for lots of different foods, they require a machine which can fail. If there is oily water from the chicken that gets sucked out, they don't always seal. You are also limited to the size of the bird that will fit into your machines product. With the shrink bags, you don't need a machine. They do all the work and they come in multiple sizes not restricted by the size of the vacuum sealer.

 

[mandelyn]

We went 3 years doing it by hand but the plucker came via UPS yesterday. I have a lot of cockerels coming up on being ready and it was daunting, knowing it would be hours and hours to get through all 30 of them over several weeks. It took me about 20 minutes per bird to pluck so we ended up skinning a lot of them unless they were big enough to be worth plucking for baking or frying.

We ended up going with the Yardbird, $300 less than the one husband wanted. Based on processing fees at a local place, it'll pay for itself after 110 chickens used in it. I'll hatch/grow that many boys this year.