Whiz Bang Chicken Plucker

You've seen pics of the chickens scratching about in the yard in previous posts and I've mentioned the fresh eggs we receive daily. As the days grow shorter and the temperature colder, chickens lay fewer eggs. We went from an average of 15 eggs a day to two a day as summer turned to fall and fall to winter. Chickens also produce fewer eggs as they get older, with egg production dropping significantly after the first year. That means that we were feeding a flock of nearly 40 chickens every day and only receiving eggs from a few of them. They stopped being cost effective.

Thus, it was time to build a Whiz Bang Chicken Plucker. In case you've never heard of a Whiz Bang Chicken Plucker, here is a video clip of one in action.



Crazy isn't it? Definitely a redneck contraption, but also a very effective and efficient way to pluck a chicken in the shortest time possible. When you are butchering several dozen chickens, speedy plucking is a priority. I sat out the construction of the chicken plucker, but dad and a few friends spent two days building one.

First, they built the frame for the plucker out of a few 2x4s.

They had to drill holes in the industrial barrel and pull the rubber "fingers" through. Dad told me that this was the hardest part of the job as the holes had to be smaller than the fingers so that they would stay in place.

The bottom of the barrel was also covered with fingers, then attached to a circular piece of wood the same size of the barrel bottom. This would act as the moving component that would ensure the chickens would be plucked.

With the barrel in the frame, it was time to install the 3/4 hp electric motor and piece together the gears.

Completed, it looks much like the one in the video at top. We covered the motor with an old cat litter bucket so that it wouldn't get wet and screwed a cover on the switch to keep water out of the switch box too.

As this post is already quite long, I'll save the pics of the butchering and plucking process for the next post. Until then, stay green!