Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

How much did it cost to make the wiz bang plucker? We've plucked by hand so far.

I've heard duck is very difficult to pluck - but I did have some excellent duck breast the other day. It was boneless, skinless. Someone whose husband hunts too much gave it to me.

i will have about $600usa in it by the time i get a belt today or tomorrow...damm snow an ice but i do know i'm the only plucker for miles...and miles. having a deer processing set up ,and knowing about butchering i think i'll get to make some or all of it back. the wiz bang is not a toy it is a solid machine. will last for years.
reading on craigs list i seen an add looking for some one to clean 25 cornxrocks for halfers.
i see a need.....many folks are raising farm animals to off set the wicked world ,but once they have them they find its to hard to deal with the finish product....got no stomach for slitting "hennrys" throat much less know how to skin,pluck,dehoove,or cut him thats where i fit in bring ol "insert names here" and i'll call you when its wrapped and frozed
oh yea ducks require hotter/longer scalding and a drop or two of dish detergent.
i am a full time homesteader and i know what food looks like....lol

Sounds good big worm

went to town today and no belt untill tomorrow, but the wizbang is wired and ready, look out ducks ....it would suck to be one of the pool gang in about 3 days..hehehe
we have muscovy stew with knock off cheder bay biscuts for supper tonite.

True, but people are starting to learn - even me! I took a "backyard chicken harvest" workshop last summer and a few weeks ago a pig slaughtering workshop (don't even have pigs yet).

I did kill my own turkeys but... I'm drawing the line at my bull. In 2 weeks someone else is coming to do the deed - then off to the butcher.

In the fall, I'll probably have someone do my lambs but maybe do the butchering myself.

learn they will, till then i got the plucker

Beasts are dead easy cVT, The bigger the animal the easier it is all you need is a gun, sharp knife, two big rocks a chainsaw and a endless chain or frontend loader

I may have "mini" belted galloways but at 750 lbs someone else can do the heavy lifting!

Frontend loader is what's missing so someone else can do the block & tackle. Plus, no place to hang the carcass where it wont freeze. If Dennis were awake, this would be were he would start pining for his unbuilt garage & unpurchased tractor...

Did I mention my husband made sure he was "off site" the day of the turkey slaughter?

i have every thing needed for the slaughter and processing of meat. down to the walkin coolers and cutting room filled with stainless. my son and i processed 115 deer this season.
i know in my heart that the "butcher" will be a big part of the future in peoples needs.
during the great depresion...1920's not this one...lol. my great grandfather kept our family going by traping animals and selling meat. food became scarice then, sadly i think it will again.
my wife brought home tomatoes from the supermarket today, they were grown in mexico and dist from canada. to much of our food comes from other countrys.
the great sin of the united states was that we could have fed the entire world.....but we didn't.
soon we will not have the ability to feed our selves.....food for thought.

back on topic tho....seems a fella with a rooster could slip in and breed up all those girls who aren't allowed to have boyfriends within city limits. sorta like a part time stud....lol

Diversify, Big Worm, diversify.

Sounds like you are busier than a one-legged man in a butt kicking contest. And you are kicking butt!

How big is your chicken plucker? I'd like to see pics if available. I've got some girls about ready for the stew pot/roaster

not mine but its a wizbzng
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNvdWcED ... re=related

Big Worm: How goes the chicken pluckin? Built my Whizbang before my first batch of chickens ever left the brooder. Have plucked chickens, ducks and turkeys. Mostly trade processing services for meat or charge $2 a bird. Have 50 cornish cross and 30 assorted egg birds in the brooder now. Planning on butchering the big pig as soon as time allows. I think being able to process animals has become a lost skillset and will very soon become very profitable for those who have regained or retained it.

I feed the chickens a corn, oat, alfalfa mix that a friend grinds for me. I supplement with goats milk, (oystershell for the egg birds) and occasional scratch grain as a treat. Hopefully will get the worm bins started this year both for the AP grow beds and for the chickens.

We have got two, 4 month old rhode island reds who have begun crowing, and boy do they crow.... all day long. The plan is two kill them this weekend but having never done it im pretty nervous. I have seen some reference in books on laying the bird on the ground putting a broomstick over the bacl of the neck and stepping down on it while pulling up on the legs. Has anyone tried this method? think it would work all right for someone like me who has never done this?
Another question, is it better to cut the throat or remove the head if you kill the bird by snapping the neck?

Easier way would be to:
1. Hold the feet tight
2. Hold the head tight
3. Feet up, head down
4. Pull head down sharply

adding to vlt's list, tilt the head back as far as possible while pulling down.

I have found steady but strong when breaking their neck, speed not so important

If you slit the throat or cut the head off immediately afterwards the bird will still bleed out