Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

We processed 150 chickens this year using this plucker. Overall the plucker did a great job, I only have a few small complaints and thoughts 1. It can handle 2 pretty good sized birds without struggling. In fact, it seemed to perform better in some ways with 2 carcasses bouncing around inside the drum. With only one carcass, the bird would occasionally get stuck in one spot with the machine still running, which doesn't remove any additional feathers and risks tearing the skin. It is not a big deal at all to simply poke the chicken with your hand to get it moving again, but worth mentioning. 2. The motor will only turn on if you have attached the included contact switch to the bottom of the drum. We have had no issues yet, but I have noticed the cord tends to get beat on a little. Admittedly I don't treat it like a delicate flower, but I do wish the cord was a little more robust, or out of the way. 3. We processed both the standard Cornish X, and a slower growing Red Ranger variety. The plucker cleaned our Cornish Cross beautifully, but it struggled a little with the Red Rangers. Their feathers were denser and longer, and tended to jam up the drum unless we were vigilant about running water through every couple of birds. The plucker also tends to leave feathers on the tail and "elbow" in both bird varieties. I think that is probably normal for a non-commercial machine, so just be prepared do a tiny bit of post-pluck inspection. The quality of the plucking also improved exponentially as we learned how to scald more effectively. 4. The wheels tend to fall off. I lost one hitch pin and the other wheel shook loose while I was trying to replace the first. Irritating, but only a problem when moving the machine. I want to note that these are all VERY minor complaints. Overall I am very satisfied with this plucker and would happily recommend it to just about everyone. It should be noted that we really put it to the test with 150 birds, more than half of them Red Rangers with very dense feathers. We were also first-timers to the whole process in general. We were able to kill 50 chickens on the final day, and the plucker was absolutely not holding us back. For anyone processing a flock, this will absolutely get the job done.