Another what is it thread

[Rich Engelhardt]

There's one on Facebook Marketplace for sale at only $35.
I had to see a video of it in action to believe it was real.
It is real and it does a very good job!

Please - if you use Google to fin the image, let some others try guessing it.

It chucks in an electric drill - if that's any help ;).

[Jerry Bruette]

Looks like a chicken plucker......or a?

[Rich Engelhardt]

Dang! First one nailed it!
It's a chicken plucker.
I had to watch a video of one in action to believe it.

[Lee Schierer]

My cousin used to raise and sell Capons. She used a machine with one of those spinning inside a hood to defeather a chicken. It didn't take very long.

[Bill Dufour]

Looks like a bunch of those screw insert things used to attach euro hinges. Maybe IKEA uses it to pluck their chickens?
Bill D

[Richard Verwoest]

Kinky.....

[Rob Luter]

Yup. When I was a kid on the farm our annual chicken butchering got to be too much for me and Dad (mostly Dad) to do by ourselves. We found an old gal North of us that would butcher for $0.25 a bird (it was about 1975). She had one of those mounted on a pedestal grinder/buffer motor. It made short work of it. It took her about 3 minutes a bird from the swing of the hatchet to rinsing and wrapping. What a gory mess!

[Maurice Mcmurry]

It is a grizzly undertaking. I do not miss it. Many folks think meat magically appears on a styrofoam tray, shrink wrapped, with the blood discretely soaked up by an absorbent pad. I have not hunted or had livestock in years. We have a firm rule handed down from the Pioneers and Native American ancestors, "Anything you kill you must eat." My nephew has some interesting meals. We do love chicken and eggs. We may get chicks this spring.
Our Son and D.I.L. just finished a 3 year experiment being Vegan. It made family dinners a challenge. It was a challenge we learned to enjoy.

[John K Jordan]

It is a grizzly undertaking. I do not miss it. Many folks think meat magically appears on a styrofoam tray, …

I’ve had numerous Farm Days when a group of kindergartners and parents spend the day here: pet a horse, take a llama for a walk, collect eggs from the chicken house, pick a carrot and eat it, get stung by honeybee (optional). I can’t forget when one kid asked where the nuggets were on a chicken.

When our layers get tired of laying and it’s time for a new flock several times I have invited a couple of families with kids to come for chicken slaughtering afternoon. The kids learn where their meat really comes from and the details of the process. They usually get into feather plucking contests. Afterwards they learn what it takes to clean up and return the unwanted parts to the earth. The families go home with fresh chicken in the cooler and enough to put in the freezer. A good education.

JKJ

[Andrew More]

I was going to guess a paint stirrer, clearly in left field.

@Maurice I agree, and I find it odd to see how hunting has become demonized in media.

[Jim Koepke]

"Anything you kill you must eat."

We used to yell that when youngsters to anyone who stepped on a spider or swatted a fly.

jtk

[Rob Luter]

...."Anything you kill you must eat." My nephew has some interesting meals......

My Dad's side of the family had a similar rule. They were all hunters so that was the plan anyway. He told a family story about a hard lesson some kids learned growing up during the depression. They grabbed a shotgun out of the rack and shot up a bunch of crows in the adjacent field. The Dad was so chapped that the kids had wasted expensive ammo that he made them clean, cook, and eat the crows. Yuck.

[Alan Rutherford]

Looks like a chicken plucker......or a?

Yep. I have one I built from PVC plumbing parts and rubber bungee cords. You wouldn't believe how many feathers there are on a chicken, or how big a mess you can make with one of these and a few chickens. It's an outdoors-only tool.

[Patty Hann]

It is a grizzly undertaking. I do not miss it. Many folks think meat magically appears on a styrofoam tray, shrink wrapped, with the blood discretely soaked up by an absorbent pad..

I once came across a field of wild, (unharvested) spaghetti....interestingly, it reminded me of miniature bamboo.
So you can bet I KNOW where we get spaghetti and it ain't originally from a box!

[Patty Hann]

Yup. When I was a kid on the farm our annual chicken butchering got to be too much for me and Dad (mostly Dad) to do by ourselves. We found an old gal North of us that would butcher for $0.25 a bird (it was about 1975). She had one of those mounted on a pedestal grinder/buffer motor. It made short work of it. It took her about 3 minutes a bird from the swing of the hatchet to rinsing and wrapping. What a gory mess!

Yeah, I can imagine disposing of what was left was pretty offal.

[Lee Schierer]

Yeah, I can imagine disposing of what was left was pretty offal.

Groan.....

[Patty Hann]

groan.....

-----;)
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[Maurice Mcmurry]

John, those kids will remember their visits! Their education includes a glimpse of reality. I heard that McDonald's has engineered a square potato. Where the nuggets come from is still a messy mystery (I hope).

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Bugs smaller than a crawdad are not included. I have had a locust with a little honey. No thanks on seconds.

[Mike Henderson]

I’ve had numerous Farm Days when a group of kindergartners and parents spend the day here: pet a horse, take a llama for a walk, collect eggs from the chicken house, pick a carrot and eat it, get stung by honeybee (optional). I can’t forget when one kid asked where the nuggets were on a chicken.

When our layers get tired of laying and it’s time for a new flock several times I have invited a couple of families with kids to come for chicken slaughtering afternoon. The kids learn where their meat really comes from and the details of the process. They usually get into feather plucking contests. Afterwards they learn what it takes to clean up and return the unwanted parts to the earth. The families go home with fresh chicken in the cooler and enough to put in the freezer. A good education.

JKJ

I grew up on a chicken farm. I've killed and plucked a lot of chickens. I'll add a comment to John's post. Chickens that you can fry the meat - like Kentucky Fried Chicken - are very young. Back then, fryers were ready for market at 8 weeks and now I hear it's 6 weeks.

Chickens that have been layers and are a year old can only be used as stewing hens. The meat would be too tough if fried.

Baby chicks are sexed at the hatchery and farms that raise them for eggs only want hens. But half the chicks hatched are male and the other half are female. Have you ever thought what happens to those male chicks?

Mike

[Mike Henderson]

Yup. When I was a kid on the farm our annual chicken butchering got to be too much for me and Dad (mostly Dad) to do by ourselves. We found an old gal North of us that would butcher for $0.25 a bird (it was about 1975). She had one of those mounted on a pedestal grinder/buffer motor. It made short work of it. It took her about 3 minutes a bird from the swing of the hatchet to rinsing and wrapping. What a gory mess!

Killing and plucking is only about half the process. You still have to "gut" the bird and keep the usable parts - heart, gizzard, liver, neck. It takes a good hand to do this properly. There's a bile sack on the liver and you have to remove that and not puncture it.

Mike

[Wow, that was many, many years ago.]

[John K Jordan]

…
Chickens that have been layers and are a year old can only be used as stewing hens. The meat would be too tough if fried.
…

So true, and that’s the hens. For roosters any older than 8 weeks are stew pot also. We once tried frying one a little older. Just tried it once.

My bird nursery is mostly peafowl, guinea, and turkey but when I incubate chicken eggs I get the 50% male chicks of course but I never bothered to sex them. What I do is raise them all together until it’s easy to tell what they are then sell the roosters. They bring a pretty good price when you find the right buyer. (Not nearly as much as young turkeys though!)

I only incubate chickens when friends or I need some. Although they are very easy to sell I’m not the least interested in running a chicken farm!

JKJ

[Andrew More]

Baby chicks are sexed at the hatchery and farms that raise them for eggs only want hens. But half the chicks hatched are male and the other half are female. Have you ever thought what happens to those male chicks?

Sorry, I'm a little slow. Are you saying that they're friers, or killed during the sexing process?

[Rich Engelhardt]

Andrew - next visit to the super market - do a quick check for - capons.

Hint: It was so cold last night, the hen had a capon..

[Mike Henderson]

Sorry, I'm a little slow. Are you saying that they're friers, or killed during the sexing process?

No, the male chicks are not kept or raised. I'll let you do a bit of Googling to find out how the hatcheries deal with the male chicks. It's not pretty.

Mike

[Mike Henderson]

Andrew - next visit to the super market - do a quick check for - capons.

Hint: It was so cold last night, the hen had a capon..

The testicles of male chickens are internal. To caponize a rooster requires some surgery and you usually lose a few. That makes capons more expensive.

Mike

[This is assuming you do the caponizing yourself. If you have a vet do it, you won't lose as many (maybe none) but then you'll have some very expensive capons:)]

[Ron Citerone]

I’ve had numerous Farm Days when a group of kindergartners and parents spend the day here: pet a horse, take a llama for a walk, collect eggs from the chicken house, pick a carrot and eat it, get stung by honeybee (optional). I can’t forget when one kid asked where the nuggets were on a chicken.

When our layers get tired of laying and it’s time for a new flock several times I have invited a couple of families with kids to come for chicken slaughtering afternoon. The kids learn where their meat really comes from and the details of the process. They usually get into feather plucking contests. Afterwards they learn what it takes to clean up and return the unwanted parts to the earth. The families go home with fresh chicken in the cooler and enough to put in the freezer. A good education.

JKJ

That's awesome John. Most kids never see any of this these days.

[Patty Hann]

Probably more appropriate for the "levity" thread. Still....:D

494313494314

[Lawrence Duckworth]

Killing and plucking is only about half the process. You still have to "gut" the bird and keep the usable parts - heart, gizzard, liver, neck. It takes a good hand to do this properly. There's a bile sack on the liver and you have to remove that and not puncture it.

]

warning: very graphic chicken processing technology....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8EFGwd7GUM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8EFGwd7GUM)

[Patty Hann]

warning: very graphic chicken processing technology....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8EFGwd7GUM (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8EFGwd7GUM)

PASS! (blech!)

[John K Jordan]

That's awesome John. Most kids never see any of this these days.

Also, the local county ag people sponsor a farm day every year. They bring all the 3rd graders in the county to the county fair grounds then have a short hay ride to the pavilions. Local farmers set up displays, bring animals - I usually take a couple of alpacas and llamas and maybe a mini donkey. A ferrier trims and shoes horses, someone brings a demonstration bee hive, game wardens teach about wild animals, soil and water conservation people are there. People bring chickens, rabbits, goats, pigs, someone brings sheep to shear, usually some milking, wool spinning, etc.

The kids are always excited. Some seem surprised that llamas don’t eat pizza, hamburgers, and ice cream. (but love poison ivy!)

I wonder if they do this sort of thing all over the country. Seems it would be difficult to pull off in a large metro area like Atlanta or NYC.

[Alan Rutherford]

The good news for the male chicks, if there is any good news in this thead, is that the sex only matters if you want eggs. Meat chickens are not sexed because they are slaughtered long before puberty and the boys and girls are treated all the same.

It"s awesome how fast today's meat chickens put on weight. All they do is eat, drink, poop and get fat. "Free range" means nothing because they won't walk any farther than from the feed to the water.

[Mike Henderson]

The good news for the male chicks, if there is any good news in this thead, is that the sex only matters if you want eggs. Meat chickens are not sexed because they are slaughtered long before puberty and the boys and girls are treated all the same.

It"s awesome how fast today's meat chickens put on weight. All they do is eat, drink, poop and get fat. "Free range" means nothing because they won't walk any farther than from the feed to the water.

There are different breeds for laying and for fryers. The male chicks of the laying breed don't have a good future.

Mike

[Rich Engelhardt]

[This is assuming you do the caponizing yourself. If you have a vet do it, you won't lose as many (maybe none) but then you'll have some very expensive capons:)]I thought it was all done via chemical castration these days - just to increase the survival rate.
(I just read up on it and yes/no - it seems it's a divisive issue).

Poor birds....