[AT] Pluck chickens with a clothes dryer?

Wed Jul 13 12:47:09 PDT 2011

Ben,  I've been inside some chicken plants too.  I just never saw the entire 
process except on TV.  I don't know how those folks can stand there all day 
long and cut the left wing of a chicken every few seconds.  I'd go 
insane..... but then again maybe I am already.  LOL.

Charlie

-----Original Message----- 
From: Ben Wagner
Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 1:20 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: Re: [AT] Pluck chickens with a clothes dryer?

That's about how it goes in a major plant.  The only thing the TV couldn't
portray was the smell in the plants.

They say that the plants do a terrible job cleaning the birds.  I know I've
seen the "store bought" chickens with the kidneys and lights still inside,
since they take time to get out.  You can't beat an experienced
eviscerator's hand cleaned bird.

Ben Wagner

On Wed, Jul 13, 2011 at 12:27 PM, charlie hill
<charliehill at embarqmail.com>wrote:

> The operation I saw on TV went like this if I remember right.  The live
> chickens were set on a conveyor with their feet in a clamp.  They passed 
> by
> a device that made a high pitched tone causing the chickens to poke their
> heads up (don't believe it, whistle around a bunch of chickens).  Then 
> they
> passed through a cutter blade that cut their head off.  Immediately after
> that the chain attached to the foot clamp inverted so that the chickens
> were
> upside down.  Then they passed through the plucker which consisted of two
> spindles with rubber that the carcass passed between .    After that, if I
> remember right, they went through a spray down wash system and then to the
> cutting line.  Each person on the cutting line cut off one part as the 
> bird
> passed by.  The bird went from clucking to cut up in a matter of seconds.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ben Wagner
> Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2011 11:52 AM
> To: Antique tractor email discussion group
> Subject: Re: [AT] Pluck chickens with a clothes dryer?
>
> The plucker I saw still needs the feathers to be scalded.  I think ducks
> are
> dry plucked, and maybe geese too, but I'm not for sure.
>
> The process you mentioned is exactly the way I still process my chickens,
> except that I use a plate of alcohol to singe the pin feathers.
>
> The breed I raise is Cornish Cross, but I'm sure you grew up on real
> chickens.  Those Cornish Cross birds are useless for anything beyond 
> eating
> and sleeping.  They have heart attacks if they move too fast, and they go
> lame without supplements; the only advantage is that they put on the meat
> in
> two months.  The old "laying hens" live longer, but I think the flavor is
> the best.  You can't beat the flavor of gravy from a culled hen, or the
> quality of the meat.  People who say they've had chicken are wrong until
> they get a real bird.  We need folks to start raising chickens like you
> had.
>
> Ben Wagner
>
> On Wed, Jul 13, 2011 at 10:36 AM, Larry Goss <rlgoss at insightbb.com> wrote:
>
> > LOL!  I guess the question I have is a bit more basic, Roy.  I remember
> > seeing chicken pluckers for sale at Sears after WWII, but I never saw 
> > one
> > work.  The question I had then was, "Do you have to scald the chicken
> > first
> > just like we do for hand plucking?"  Scalding loosens the feathers so
> they
> > nearly fall out of the pores.  But plucking a chicken is messy -- maybe 
> > I
> > should say -- Messy, or MESSY!  It was amazing to me that some people
> > actually plucked chickens without getting the feathers wet.  There was a
> > specific process to be followed: chop off the head, bleed the carcass,
> > scald
> > the feathers, pluck them, singe the pin feathers with a rolled 
> > newspaper,
> > gut the body, and cut it up into precisely eleven pieces. Two wings, two
> > thighs, two drumsticks, wish bone, breast, back, tail, and neck.  The
> > gizzard may be fried or cut up with the giblets and added to the 
> > gravy --
> > it
> > all depended on how much mashed potatoes were going to be prepared.  Of
> > course, I'm talking about a CHIC!
> >  KEN, not a pullet.  Typically, one chicken would serve Sunday dinner to
> > 10
> > people.  The idea that one person would eat a 1/4 or 1/2 of a chicken 
> > was
> > unheard of.
> >
> > Larry
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Roy Morgan" <k1lky at earthlink.net>
> > To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <
> at at lists.antique-tractor.com
> > >
> > Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2011 10:47:11 PM
> > Subject: [AT] Pluck chickens with a clothes dryer?
> >
> > Tractor folks,
> >
> > On our local free/wanted email list a request appeared:
> > > My husband is looking for a dryer to convert into a chicken plucker.
> > >
> >
> > How on earth can a clothes dryer pluck chickens?
> >
> > Roy
> >
> >
> > Roy Morgan
> > k1lky at earthlink.net
> > K1LKY Since 1958 - Keep 'em Glowing!
> >
> >
> >
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