Yeah, there is an 80 qt scalding pot that loosens the feathers and then a plucker with about 80 rubber fingers that takes the feathers off. Plucking by hand takes 10+ minutes and plucking with the machine takes 20 seconds.
Nice. I have a free standing plucking machine. It’s drum style. And I agree, Hand plucking is for the birds!
My search for a walk in cooler has finally ended. Over the last few years I had plans to build one or use a reefer box but it just hadn't happened yet. Yesterday i find out that a friend of ours who's moving to WV doesn't want to take his walk in with him and needs it gone so the house can get listed. I made a quick phone call and they said come get it, it's yours! . Dad and I went over this afternoon to load it up and bring it to it's new home. He was cooling it with a 5k btu window unit and coolbot. He kept the ac and coolbot for his next project in WV but I'm not complaining. Couldn't beat the price (free!). I can't wait to get this thing set next to the shop and ready to hang some deer this fall. Can you guys recommend a good roll on coating that I could apply to the floor for easy cleanup?
Got the window unit installed in the cooler today and gave it a test run in the 90° humid air. I don't have the coolbot controller yet but it brought the inside temp down from 85° to 60° in about 45mins. The previous owner had a casement window ac unit installed but i had a standard 8k btu unit laying around. So i cut the hole to size and framed the extra space in order attach sheet metal and insulate. It felt pretty good being in a 60° box on a day like today .
Nice. Do you have this set up outside or in a garage? 5 weeks from NJ early bow season opener! I took advantage of the cooler weather earlier this week and organized the garage so I could get to the reach in cooler. I still have to clean the cooler out and give it a test to make sure everything's working fine.
BCB it's outside but right at the back of my shop. I normally take deer in the back door to where i butcher them so this will give me the opportunity to let them hang as long as I want until I'm ready to butcher. Then it's just a few feet out of the cooler and into the shop. I was hoping to fit it inside but it's 3" too tall .
Some painters plastic on the floor right under the critters would keep drippings contained for a temporary fix.
You could just use a good concrete floor paint then use a couple of those 3'X3' galvanized drip pans for under your car. Put these right under the carcass. Added benefit is you can take the pans outside and hose them out!
And we're in business! Got the coolbot hooked up and gave it a test run. I still need to clean all the wiring up but I was too excited to test it. It brought the inside temp down from 81° to 38° (the temp i set the coolbot to) in about 2hrs. The compressor shut off like it should and the fan stayed on high to keep the coils from freezing up. It was an expensive little gadget but IMO well worth it. The temp rose a few degrees after i had the door open of course. Can't wait for bow season!
jrider haha definitely. You know where I'm at if you need to hang one. BCB i used an 8k frigidaire that I had laying around. Thankfully it gets the job done. MikeInMa lots and lots of beer!
It's that time again! Put about 12 chickens in the freezer last weekend and will probably process another 13 or 14 tomorrow. I am real happy with the barred rock cockerals as meat birds. The are heritage breeds and still pretty chunky. The only complaint is that they are still fairly lean compared to the yearling birds with gobs of yellow delicious fat. This is pollo-loco. He is the biggest of the group and will keep him to be my new stud. Hopefully he makes it to the spring. The little hen there is a blue or green layer.
I was explaining to my 7yr old daughter that when we do eventually get chickens, some will be meat chickens, she says "not if I name them!" I said you can name them whatever you want but i'm still gonna chop their heads off. Her facial expression was priceless
Let her name them, call one Paprikash the other Marsala, don't forget fried, grilled, cacciatore...lol
