Chicken Pluckers under $100 that won't break?

[nao57]

So I just wanted to ask what's the best thing for a chicken plucker that I can still go cheap on, and won't break?

I'm kind of wary and jaded after several recent appliances from China broke before I even got to use them hardly. (Incubator, etc).

And what should I watch out for?

Thanks.

 

[TheChicken-nator]

The best chicken plucker you can get is yourself and some family. Those cheap ones always break after a few turns, so I just went back to doing it myself.

 

[RoosterML]

Pony up a few hundred and get a yardbird. Or get a drill plucker.

 

[pintail_drake2004]

Yardbird. my wife and I plucked by hand, then I built a cheap drill mounted plucker. it did OK but not the best. The yardbird has been hands down the best investment we made.

 

[RoosterML]

Last fall TSC had a yardbird sitting in the discount sections and kept marking it down. Was down to $250. I almost purchased it but then again how many pluckers does one need.

 

[Mtnboomer]

These guys haven't let me down yet.

 

[nao57]

So does everyone think mechanical pluckers don't last long?

How long do they last?

It does sound like hands are better in a lot of ways.

Does burning the feathers off just not work? I want to see if there are other options.

 

[iwltfum]

I think the key word here is cheap - A cheap plucker will not last long. I would say the answer to your question really depends on how far you want to take your meat bird endeavor.

It's a question of economy when it comes down to it. What do you value your butchering time at? How much time do you spend butchering in a season? If you had to pay someone to butcher your birds - how much would you pay them?

We butcher almost 300 birds a year on our farm right now including 40 turkeys. When you factor the time in that it takes to pluck one chicken (about 5 or 10 minutes for one person) - we would spend an equivalent of 25-50 man hours plucking each season. We pay our crew $15/hour so thats $150 dollars extra that we would have to pay out each butchering day - $750 per season. Looking at it from a slightly different angle, that's about $2.50 added to the cost of each bird. And that's assuming that a turkey takes 10 minutes to hand pluck, just to make the math easier. So for us, it was an easy decision. We spent a couple hundred bucks on a good plucker and it paid itself back within the first season.

That being said, if you're only raising a small batch of birds, one time per year, then maybe hand plucking is the way to go. It can definitely be a good family activity - the more hands plucking the chicken, the faster it will go. But i haven't ever seen a cheap alternative to a good plucker do anything, but cause frustration and dashed hopes.

Burning or "singeing" the feathers off will not work, that is a method for getting the small hairs off the skin after the bird is plucked.

 

[Mtnboomer]

So does everyone think mechanical pluckers don't last long?

How long do they last?

It does sound like hands are better in a lot of ways.

Does burning the feathers off just not work? I want to see if there are other options.

I use a torch to singe the fine hairs when im done plucking, but never the whole bird. Not sure how you would get quills out if you burned off the feathers.

 

[ChickyPG]

So does everyone think mechanical pluckers don't last long?

How long do they last?

It does sound like hands are better in a lot of ways.

Does burning the feathers off just not work? I want to see if there are other options.

Rent one in your area and try it out. If you only have a few chickens, it may be the wiser choice until you get more chickens or more money to purchase a nice plucker.