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Weed 'em & Reap

Urban Farming. Healthy Living.

Chicken Plucker: The quickest way to get the job done.

Published: June 1, 2017 | Last Updated: October 7, 2019 7 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links from which I will earn a commission.

Washing machine turned into a chicken plucker

There are two kinds of chicken people in this world.

Those who pluck their own, and those who build themselves a chicken plucker because ain’t no way in hell they’re gonna pluck another chicken ever again.

I’m of the latter. (can you tell??)

It all started back in 2012 when I decided we were going to try to raise our own meat chickens. We had raised milking goats & laying chickens for a few years, so this meat chicken thing would be a breeze, right? Being new to the venture, we settled on raising only 10, feeling confident in our ability to handle the care & processing required to get the job done.

Raising them was fairly easy. 

Setting up the butchering area was a piece of cake.

Butchering them was tolerable.

But plucking? PLUCKING? It was downright horrible. Feather after feather after feather — too many to count, and more than you’d think a chicken has. More feathers than you’d think anything in the world could possibly have. 

One hour later we had exactly ONE chicken fully butchered and in the fridge. It was at that point that we all solemnly swore we would never pluck another chicken again.

The rest of the day was a blur, but we somehow were able to finish the entire job. But, never again, my friends. Never again.

Plucking vs. Skinning

Although skinning a chicken is MUCH, MUCH easier than plucking one, I’m not a fan of it because the skin not only is delicious, it also provides a good source of collagen. Also, after spending so much time raising a chicken, it definitely feels wasteful to throw all the skin away.

Type of Chicken Pluckers

Store-bought

If you’re not willing to make a chicken plucker yourself, you can definitely purchase a plucker online. The drawback is that they’re a tad expensive. One idea is to share the cost between fellow homesteaders or purchase one and rent it out so the machine can eventually pay for itself. 

Homemade

There are a lot of homemade plucker plans out there; some are incredibly complicated and others are as simple as mounting chicken fingers on a drill. 

Our DIY Chicken Plucker (from a washing machine)

We decided to go with a chicken plucker made from a washing machine. It works great, but it definitely was a learning curve considering there aren’t many tutorials out there for this type of chicken plucker. In the video, you’ll see the setbacks we faced when we tried to convert this old washing machine into an efficient chicken plucker. 

 

Whether you DIY a chicken plucker from a washing machine or you build one from scratch, trust me, it’s worth it! 

DIY chicken plucker made from a washing machine

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ABOUT DANELLE

DaNelle started to take an interest in a healthier lifestyle after suffering from two debilitating chronic diseases. On a mission to create a farm of her own, DaNelle forced, or rather 'lovingly persuaded' her husband to purchase a ranch home on an acre of land and transform it into their very own urban farm. DaNelle blogs at Weed 'em & Reap where she writes about the sustainable backyard farming, traditional food, & natural remedies.

Read More
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Comments

  1. diyagric says

    December 9, 2019 at 4:52 am

    This is pretty much interesting. I was looking for DiY chicken feather plucker and I kind of like the idea of using a old washing machine.

    Reply
  2. jessi says

    July 13, 2018 at 8:53 am

    When you say swamp cooler, can you tell me what kind? I think of the big black shop fans with the built in mister. They are maybe 5’x5′. thanks so much for the help again

    Reply
    • Bobbi says

      July 13, 2018 at 10:43 am

      Hi Jessi-

      Not sure exactly which kind, but from what we’ve heard, all swamp coolers have the right motors. I hope that helps! Thank you -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)

      Reply
  3. Tamaran Bardwell says

    June 21, 2018 at 6:11 pm

    Whoo! We have only 4 meat chickens rookie here cant you tell… we started small but should we do a plucker?

    Reply
    • Bobbi says

      June 21, 2018 at 8:35 pm

      Hi Tamaran-
      Personally, if I had the choice, I would always go with a plucker. It just makes the task go quicker and makes it more tolerable. I hope that helps! Best of luck with your chickens!
      Thank you
      -Bobbi (DaNelle’s Assistant)

      Reply
    • Megan says

      August 16, 2020 at 9:41 pm

      Yes!
      We did a lot of research on the washing machine and it had to many issues .. broke down and paid the 400$
      So glad I did! I can do a chicken by myself in Under 10mins. This isn’t packaging but everything Else

      Reply
  4. Larry Dunn says

    January 19, 2018 at 1:41 am

    The post and video are very interesting, I think I will follow the instructions. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

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HEY THERE!

I'm DaNelle. I'm a city girl who convinced her husband to buy goats. Because, goats. Growing my own food has been an amazing experience, and this is the place I share it all with you! READ MORE…

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