Chicken Plucker Medium Killing Cone Swedish Knife (Home Processing Kit)

So far I've only processed 4 chickens with this setup, but it's made it much easier all around. The cone fit our average sized hens well, and made the hardest part of processing chickens much easier. Compared to the old stump and hatchet method the cone kept them calmer before and easier to handle death throes after. The knife is razor sharp, but did rust right away once washed - make sure to dry & oil it promptly if rust is a concern. I was having some issues with wind blowing out my scalder, so I had mixed results with the plucker - when I was able to dunk the chickens at 145-150 deg, the plucker worked beautifully. When the water was too hot or too cold, I had less superb results, but it still did 2/3 of the job for me. Even with the birds that turned out harder, it was still a 6-7 minute job, as opposed to 45 min to an hour by hand. My el-cheapo B&D drill did just fine with the plucker, and I can tell you those rubber fingers pack a punch if they meet your fingers, but that's to be expected. Once I clamped the drill to a pallet and used both hands to hold the bird the process became much easier (as opposed to holding the drill in one hand and the bird in the other). Definitely hold the bird so that the plucker flings the wet feathers down the the ground, NOT up into your face. The getup survived an amateur using it in high winds where the pallet blew over onto the cone and plucker twice, but both survived just fine, so they should hold up over the long run. For the price, a great setup.

This is the third year I've raised some chickens for the table, in addition to laying hens. The first year I let a hen hatch a little clutch of her own eggs and ended up with three cockerels that weren't interested in playing second (third and fourth) fiddle to our flock rooster. I butchered these three the old fashioned way with no problem. Last year I went a little nuts on eBay buying hatching eggs which I would then 'kill' by having issues with my cheap incubators... None the less I has about 70 birds that needed processed and after finishing a dozen or so myself I took the rest to a professional shop about 90 minutes away. This year my ambitions were a little better controlled, and I have about thirty birds I will process. The cone worked fine on the little cockerels (leg horns) and my midsized guys (home grown muts) but my biggest cockerel was too big for the cone. He was a mix between Plymouth and Cornish - not the factory bred mutants but a regular Cornish rooster over a flock of Plymouth rocks. I was able to use the cone- I just had to tug his head out the bottom by his comb. He was about five months old - It was fine for a one time thing but I don't believe it was humane due to the tight fit. It's possible I'm just anthropomorphizing due to my wimpy city kid upbringing? The one reason for a 4star is that the knife was stained by the blood? It seems a little odd that a knife sold to butcher animals would have a finish that is that sensitive? I wiped it off between birds but it must have gotten splattered at the end while I was cleaning up and when I washed it off later that night there were black 'shadows' under the dried blood. I tried steel wool but it wouldn't come off. The knife held it's edge- I used to to remove the heads and also on the legs of the last couple birds - it didn't need to be touched up during the process. Pros: I was able to mount the cone and a screw to hang the knife scabord on, in minutes- nice! It was pretty sweet having the knife hanging right beside the cone - I'd cut the throat then put it back and didn't have to worry about keeping an eye on it. The cone works great to restrain the bird and calm it down The knife is easy to hold and sharp - held it's edge through the eight birds fine (I would have resharpened it after no more than ten I think) the plucker is pretty cool - I don't really mind plucking when you use hot enough water (150F) but this made the job go much faster! Cons: The knife blade stained from blood splatters? The cone won't be large enough if you're raising BIG birds - fine for a duel purpose type bird. Overall - YES buy this if you're going to process some of your own birds! The cone and the plucker both simplified my evening and I was finished up and showering before dinner. If you need to process more than a dozen make sure you have a steel to keep an edge on your blade and keep an extra knife for breaking down the bird after it's plucked.

I should say, this is our first time EVER killing chickens so we are no expert by a long shot. 1) The Swedish knife came VERY sharp and works great. This was just a bonus item, i figured what the heck what's one more knife and it ended up being the most valuable of the 3 items. Note it is made from with a high carbon blade and will rust right before your eyes, it started to tarnish almost the moment I washed it after the first chicken; however, I simply put a light coat of olive oil on it and that helped. 2)The Killing Cone worked well; we were killing some old rosters which were on the large side and we had to pull the heads out the bottom because their upper body was pretty big (maybe that's just normal for all the cones); I think a larger one may have worked better but it got the job done. It would be nice if there were 2 holes on either side for a bungee cord because the chickens can (and did) come out when they start to shake. After the first one flopped out we kept a closer eye on that and kept them in with a stick but being new to this we did not want to touch them while they passed. I will probably drill a couple holes on each side to add a cord for hands free bleeding. It's nice to be able to leave the bird alone while it is bleeding out because that is about the only break for a few minutes to get a drink or what-have-you in whole the process. 3)The Chicken Plucker was almost more trouble than it was worth. No matter how you hold the chicken you are going to have some of the water splash back on you which has a "wet chicken" smell. It was also hard to get into the underside of the wings and some other places. We resorted to just hand plucking. The Plucker still worked ok for finishing off some of the lingering feathers, but knowing what I know now, I would not have bought it and just did it by hand. But since I have it, I will likely keep trying to get better at using it. The whole idea of this spinning plucker contraption cracks me up, but it is more amussing than functional for a newbie. So, overall 2 of the 3 items I would have bought again and the plucker I am happy to hold onto for the heck of it.