We are harvesting 44 white rocks today. I mount three cones on my tractor bucket. I have cut them down to widen the mouths. I put the tractor between the chicken house and processing area.
On the left, a homemade scalder. It’s an electric water tank cut in half with the thermostat replaced with a commercial thermostat (the temperature can be set higher than a residential one) and a replacement element (110V versus 220V.)
In the center is our homemade plucker. It has a spray bar around the top and a solenoid valve that turns the water on when the plucker is turned on.
We process the birds through to ready for the freezer 9 at a time.
I can post detail pictures of the plucker or a video of anyone is interested.
The hose with the nozzle is an absolute must. This one is permanently attached to the plucker.
What are the plucker knobs from? I’d imagine they would have some give to them or you’d chowder up the chicken pretty good. How much post-processing do you need to do to get the pinfeathers off?
They’re made of vulcanized rubber. They’re called plucker fingers and I bought a box of them on Ebay.