Anybody have experience with dry pluckers/pickers for on-farm poultry processing? I'm in the market for one, but there's not much information to be found. There are a handful of makers in the UK, where the design is a series of metal discs mounted vertically on a shaft, apparently in an offset pattern, that work to pinch and pull the feathers out. The discs are cleared with a vacuum hooked up to the back. Seems they're popular with game hunters and preserves and small butchers and whatnot.
As for American varieties, the makers of the tub-style pluckers (with rubber fingers) claim that they won't dry pick a bird, and I'm assuming they know what they're talking about. Otherwise, there are a few manufacturers that make small pluckers using the same type of rubber fingers, but mounted on a drum so that the bird is held against the spinning fingers for picking. Problem is, they're intended for use with waterfowl, and there's very limited information regarding their suitability for chickens or turkeys. I spoke with one manufacturer and was told that they have a customer in California who uses the plucker with chickens on a small scale, apparently just for his own table, and has been happy with it; he's supposed to be getting back to me, but I haven't heard from him yet.
So, anybody have any experience? Second-hand experience?
The two specific models I'm looking at are the
Pluka (from the UK) and the
FowlPlucker (USA-made), for reference.
