I use a 30 gallon garbage can. It holds enough water that the temperature doesn't drop much and it's back up to 150 degrees by the time I'm done wiping the feathers off. To heat the water I put a weed burner in front of a stove pipe with an elbow on the other end. Turn the elbow up and it works great. The can sits on blocks but a metal grate would be better because the blocks can crack from the heat. When it's cold out a second layer around the can would be advised to save propane.

 

Initially I looked at the "Store Bought" options you are talking about. In the end I decided just to build my own stuff. I understand not everyone has the option to do that and to be honest, I do not have a good answer for that? I think even for one person you would have to be looking at 25 or more at a time to justify the time and expense of all of the equipment. Honestly, when I do less than 10 at a time I do not even bother getting my plucker and big scalder out, I just scald them in the TF and pluck them by hand, takes less time than using the equipment then having to clean it all. I will see if I can find some of my old threads and link them here for you. Maybe some of the info will help?

 

See if this post has some helpful information for you.

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/li...stock-forums/poultry/524882-first-broilers-freezer-camp-how-they-got-there.html

 

Scalder is top of 40 gallon hot water tank...cut with reciprocating saw. Picker is home made. Processing done outside. With this set up I've been able to process literally hundreds (thousands) of poultry over the years at the country stead....everything from 30 lb turkeys, geese, ducks, Muscovies, wild birds....many chickens....generally at least a hundred a year....real time saver....picker clears feathers off a chicken in seconds.

 

I should add:

1) I generally buy birds in batches of 50. I should have a better sense of the rate the finished product will sell at in the next couple of weeks as the markets really swing into gear.

2) I'm short on time and technical prowess. The guy who built the whiz bang is someone I would consider pretty mechanically inclined. And it took him days and cost $700. I will go into debt to buy a commercial product before I pay anyone around here to build anything. I'll have to dig up my thread about the last time I hired someone to build something. Lol.

3) I'll hand pluck one or two birds, but nothing more. I started getting carpel tunnel from doing the turkeys last thanksgiving. I teach voice and piano as well as farm. My right wrist already gives me problems when I do certain crossovers and reaches on the piano. Can't risk it getting worse. I also think you get a much cleaner carcass going through a plucker than anything done by hand. And it's so darn slow. I can do one an hour hand plucking. Even with the issues with the current set-up, I can get 5-6 done in an hour. I don't have help doing all the other chores and selling while I'm processing. I can't take 2 days every week doing this.

 

Just some useless information, but seems I read somewhere that the fastest chicken plucker (they used to have contest for this kind of thing) was a man who could pluck a chicken in 3 seconds. That is one I would really like to see. Still not sure how a person would do it?

Anyway, good luck with your purchase. Maybe later this fall you can let us know how this summer went for you over on the chicken forum here at HT.

 

Do any of you ever process other peoples chickens for them, and if so, what is a fair
Price to pay?

We want to raise our own free range meat chickens, but don't want to butcher and process them.

 

I have never done anyone else's, personally, I would not want to. I may would consider letting someone pay to use my equipment, but would not want to do it for them. I do not think a fair price from the bird owners point of view, would be worth my time. Having said that, if a person did not want to do their own, because they were unsure how. I would also help show them.

Normally here is what we do.
25 min. really to make it worth while. 50 to me is an ideal number with 2 -4 people.
Day one kill, pluck, clean and get in ice water.
I leave them in ice water overnight.
Day 2, cut up, package and put in the freezer. Then clean all equipment and put away.

 

Do any of you ever process other peoples chickens for them, and if so, what is a fair
Price to pay?

We want to raise our own free range meat chickens, but don't want to butcher and process them.

I've had mine processed for $2.50 each. They come back in shrink wrap and flash frozen.

There used to be a portable processing plant that would process chickens for people on site. With the number of people in this area starting to raise chickens I could see a market for that service now.

 

I have never done anyone else's, personally, I would not want to. I may would consider letting someone pay to use my equipment, but would not want to do it for them. I do not think a fair price from the bird owners point of view, would be worth my time. Having said that, if a person did not want to do their own, because they were unsure how. I would also help show them.

Same here....not in the processing business and don't want to be. But if you lived near me, I'd probably lend you (or rent pretty cheap) the plucker, and my scalder is just a big stainless pot on a turkey propane turkey cooker burner. I don't see any need in a more fancy scalder unless you get up in the hundreds processed range.

If you add several bucks a bird doing the processing, you really get in the expensive chicken price range if you ask me.

We bought 25 Cornish X for $1.99/ea, (local TSC) fed 465lbs of feed for another $170, (plus a pack of eletrolyte for the first week's water). 3 died along the way (higher than normal loss), so we have $9.65 per chicken in them now. They average a bit over 6lbs (dressed out) each (haven't done the last 10 yet, the hens, but we've let them go another two weeks, so I'm sure they will run over 6lbs) or 1.60/lb

In the past, I hand plucked (yeah, Muleman.....I'd LOVE to see one of those record plucker holders work ! ) but this year I built a Whizbang plucker, and have about $425 in it ($399 for the kit, I had a nice Dayton 3/4hp motor I bought years ago for 20 bucks, already had a barrel, so I got off fairly cheap)

We did a dozen (the roosters) on the first run week or so back. Clean up is always a major PITA no matter WHAT we process (beef, pig, etc).

Fortunately, our 'auxiliary' kitchen was built with meat processing mainly in mind. Has a 30gal water heater under the counter, with a hot water rated hose I can wash the whole thing down with, plus snake out the window where I do the scalding/plucking. Deep commercial (Craigs list) sink, walk-in cooler (home built), and this year, I found a small stand alone ice maker ($100, CL) that makes 20lbs in 24hrs, so we made ice for several days ahead and had PLENTY for the chicken processing. I quick cool in one compartment of the sink, drain, and put them in the walk-in cooler for 24hrs before we bag/freeze.

 

I've had mine processed for $2.50 each. They come back in shrink wrap and flash frozen.

There used to be a portable processing plant that would process chickens for people on site. With the number of people in this area starting to raise chickens I could see a market for that service now.

What a good price!
Was that at a large processing plant that specialized in chickens to be able to do it that cheaply?

 

We have a 55 gallon drum (big because we do turkeys as well), that sits on a metal frame. At the top is a motor, and an arm that holds the chicken. Turn the motor on, it drops the arm into the water and pulls it out repeatedly. dunking them. To heat the drum, it uses 2 hot water heating tank elements that are plumbed into the sides of the drum. bottom of the drum is filled w/ cement so the plastic drum doesn't melt. Electric is hooked up via 220v. Also there is a cheap thermostat wired in to maintain water temp.

I'll have to take some pictures, but I bet your friend could build it pretty easily.

 

What a good price!
Was that at a large processing plant that specialized in chickens to be able to do it that cheaply?

No. It is just a family run operation. I think they may hire part time help for big orders. They told me that they process 50,000+ birds a year if I remember right.

They do all kinds of birds from chickens to geese to turkeys. They are also licensed to process birds for resale.

 

Wasn't sure he was still in business, this is not far from me.

Several 100 machines out there, see them come up at auction once a year or so.

http://www.schweisswelding.com/sections/chicken_pluckers.php

Paul

 

Moonwolf - do you have other links that describe the building of your plucker? It seems different from others I've seen?

 

that sounds like a handy setup Moonwolf! I use a big old cast iron kettle I got at an estate auction, looks like a witch's cauldron or something. It sits up on blocks with a propane burner beneath it.

 

a food grade 55 gallon metal drum with the top 1/3 cut off , then made a wood handle for the lid to speed initial warm up , dug a bit of a hole and put a LP burner under it so that it was at a convenient height

a thermometer is an important tool 145-155 is ideal but so is experience and knowing just how wing feathers should pull , a good feel, I think the more experienced person should be running the scald tank , so that they can watch the temp , keep good rhythm and make the little adjustments they need to keep the line running 2 birds at a time with a thick rubber glove on is a good number to scald and check then pass along to the plucker

My brother makes brew kettles for beer making with electric hot water heater elements and a thermostat , if you had the 240 electric this would be a nice set up in a big pot , but if you watch the temp and time and have some experience you get a handle on it fairly easy

I built a whiz bang mine only has a 1/2 hp motor it could use a 3/4 but I had the half and if given 5-10 seconds to spin up before tossing in the birds 2 at a time it does fine it only runs with birds in for 20-30 seconds if the scald was right

4 killing cones , the scaleder , the whizbang , and a table at the right height with 2 people eviscerating , a lung scraper and a chest freezer bleached clean , rinsed and with a bunch of blocks of ice pre-made up flood the chest freezer about 1/3 full with water add several hand fulls if salt

set it up and recruit 4 family members and you can make an efficient line . 1 kill , 1 scald , 1 plucker, 2 evisceration and you can turn out right about 2 birds a minute to a minute and a half when you get going.

but if the scaleder lets that temp drop to low you can all sit around and wait

 

Do any of you ever process other peoples chickens for them, and if so, what is a fair
Price to pay?

We want to raise our own free range meat chickens, but don't want to butcher and process them.

$1/bird with a $25 minimum (aka $25 min +mileage). And 40 cents/mile round trip. ($1/chicken, $2/duck, $4/goose or turkey, guinea) So 25 chickens or 6 geese.
I kill and pluck, do not open the body cavity

I am busy pretty much year round.

I do give discounts to repeat customers, or to high volume customers (100+)

Client needs to have water and 110 volt electric available, and is responsible for the feathers and heads.

 

Do you pluck the waterfowl without using wax?

$1/bird with a $25 minimum (aka $25 min +mileage). And 40 cents/mile round trip. ($1/chicken, $2/duck, $4/goose or turkey, guinea) So 25 chickens or 6 geese.
I kill and pluck, do not open the body cavity

I am busy pretty much year round.

I do give discounts to repeat customers, or to high volume customers (100+)

Client needs to have water and 110 volt electric available, and is responsible for the feathers and heads.

 

Do you pluck the waterfowl without using wax?

Yup