Canada Goose/Chicken Plucker

[wannabeonetoo]

Hi folks;
Has anyone had any experience using a chicken plucker for Canada geese ??
I was given one by a fellow who got it for chickens many years ago and never used it,so he couldn't give me any insight .
It has a big drum that is spun by an electric motor with lots of these fat rubber fingers which I assume pull the feathers off.
It appears to be a comercially made unit .
Any info. on how to use it would be appreciated.
  Thanks
    Steve

[isawlogs]

Oh boy    Memory lane ..... 
After you get the plucky  ;D  Ya need to scold it ... I think that is the term , put the bird in real hot water , not hot enough to burn it , but if the heatid just right , the feathers from the tail end will be easily pulled by hand . Once this point is reached , the plucker can be real effiecient , make the drum spin and hold the bird over the rubber fingers , they will pull all or most of the featers out . You might end up with some broken tips , use a pair of pliers to pull the bristles out .

[pigman]

Marcel, I think the word you were looking for is  "scald".  When we did the chickens a long time ago, we scalded the bird and used our fingers to pluck the feathers . I have heard of the machine pluckers, but have never seen one operate.

[wannabeonetoo]

Bonjour marcel  ;)
I like the "scold" but pigman is right with "scald",your english is waaaaay better than my french,even with deux kids in french immersion at school ;D.
I've struggled with geese for years and couldn't pass up the chance to try the plucker.I gave up hand plucking years ago and just skin and "breast" them for skinless/boneless breasts :-[
They are great marinated and BBQ'd 8),or "kabobed" or made into stew or ...... you get the idea :D
  Thanks Marcel,are you getting ready for moose season or do you have one hanging already???
(I'm not sure when your season is)

     Steve

[SwampDonkey]

My uncle used one to pluck 11 turkeys one fall. The biggest one was 35 lbs, bigger than most roasters will hold. The turkeys ate up the profit and he gave most the meat away. I still get a kick out of that episode. :D

But, anyway with the geese it may be tougher to remove the feathers. Wish you luck, never seen anyone pluck goose or duck with one.

cheers

[isawlogs]

  I knew one or all of ya'all would figure out what da  ;D  I was trying to spell out .  :D

  Moose hunting season (where I hunt ) opens sun up on Oct, 11 for nine days . I aint sure yet as to wether I will be going  :-\ It rained so much here that I am far behind in my schedual , and I got no schedual .  :-\

  Pigamn , if you want , next year I will get a few birds , (under a hundred 100 ) and in the fall give ya a call and you can come up and have some fun pluckin'on a modern machine  ;D 

 

Bonjour marcel  ;)
with deux kids in french immersion at school ;D.

     Steve

   Steve , if they ever need any help I would be glad to help them out some ,
What made you put them in French immersion ???

[wannabeonetoo]

 Hello again Marcel,
We put the kiddies in FI because we thought it may offer more opportunities for them in the future ??? Also the teacher to student ratio is higher and when there is a problem student they don't tolerate the disruption and wisk them out of the programme if necessary.(Plus I think being bilingual is cool)Too bad I wasn't ;D ;D
   Funny thing, I have the same schedule that you have !!Even though I've been laid-off since spring I cannot seem to get all the chores done that need to be,Oh well as long as MAMMA keeps her job we're ok and it is nice to be able to spend more time with the kids (maybe I should enlist their help to learn french ha.. ha..ha).
The geese have been awful slow this year, I can't figure it out.Some days the skies are black with them and others you won' see a feather ?? Not much if any corn is cut maybe thats it, the grain has been off for a long time now.
Oh well ,good thing we don't rely completely on my "hunter/gatherer" skills :D :D
    See Ya
         Steve

[stonebroke]

I heard that you have to dip geese in wax to get rid of the pin feathers. Or maybe it was ducks.

Stonebroke

[iffy]

I read in Field and Stream many moons ago that if you put a little detergent in the water, it cuts thru the oil that geese and ducks have on their feathers. They are pretty hard to scald if you can't get thru the oil. Also, if you put them in boiling water too long, the skin cooks and comes off too. My mom used to bring the water to a boil, then dump in one glass of cold water, then scald her chickens. She said the glass of water made the temp just right.

[cheyenne]

I've plucked many a bird on one. Never scalded them just  plucked them.Works great......Cheyenne

[kderby]

I just built a chicken plucker using directions provided by the link below.  Here are a few thoughts:

Scald water temp 145f, then slosh for ten to fifteen seconds in soapy water.
If you have the scald too hot or too long you'll cook/damage/tear the skin.  If the temp is too cold the plucker will be less effective.  Mine takes about fifteen seconds to pluck three chickens.  It is pretty fun to watch the popcorn action as the feathers get stripped away.

The plucker may work better with two or three birds in it at a time.

Ducks and geese are famous for the challenge of plucking.

If you get tired of your plucker don't junk it, there are many small producers like me that would buy it or rent it.  I would be glad to answer other questions about the process.  We are taking 150 hens through the winter and just finished "processing 150 young roosters.

This internet site has good directions and stories about a good product.  I love my whizbang plucker!  Whizbangbooks.blogspot.com