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.

  • KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    Not gonna lie, was confused on why you were harvesting rocks, then confused on why rocks needed to be scalded.

    Took me till the plucker to realize what you meant.

    • MapleEngineerOPM
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      1 year ago

      Sorry…I forget that not everyone speaks chicken farmer.

      We raised Cornish x White Rock meat chickens.

      27 down, 15 to go.