Author: Anna & Mark

Randall’s waterer was a
close runnerup in the Ingenious
division of our 2012
photo contest. 
Since he explains the system so well, I’ll let him describe it for you:

“I wanted to build a nearly zero
maintenance watering system for my new chicken area. This is what I
came up with.



“There are six water nipples set in a 1 1/2 inch PVC pipe. The pipe is
connected to the tank with a flexible washing machine hose. This allows
me to adjust the height of the system as the chicks grow.



“Inside the tank is a simple toilet
tank filler, which is attached to a dedicated water line. When the
tank drops below a specific line, it automatically fills back up.



“It is kept in the shade, so the
water never gets too warm. I can also dump ice into the tank to give
the birds nice cold water on those extra hot days here in Arizona. The
cold water is more dense and sinks down to the watering tube.



“I have been running this system
for 2 months now, and have not had to do anything to it except check to
make sure everything is working correctly. This system has worked
flawlessly for my flock of 20.



“The other hoses in the picture are
part of the automatic high pressure misting system.”

I especially like
Randall’s notes on adding ice and having the cold water sink to the
bottom.  It’s been a very hot summer here too and I’ll bet our
girls would have enjoyed that treat!  Thanks for sharing, Randall.

Mark and I have used
everything from our bare hands (very laborious but free) to a Whiz-Bang
chicken plucker (very fast but very expensive) to process
poultry.  Lately, Mark’s been trying to figure out an option in
between the two, exploring pet
gloves
and a homemade
plucker board, both
of which speed up processing somewhat without breaking the bank. 
So when Eli Bruton offered to send us a Power Plucker to review, I couldn’t resist.



The Power Plucker is a
drill attachment (corded drills are supposed to work better than
cordless, so that’s what we used), a bit like the DIY
version you can make for $20.  Since the Power
Plucker is only $30 with free shipping (and is built to last), it seems
like a very good deal.



We’ve only processed ten
birds with the Power Plucker so far, so I suspect we’ll continue
working the kinks out of the system, but my first reaction is that the
device is a great time-saver and does a much better job than the DIY
options we’d come up with so far.  No, you won’t get a perfectly
clean bird like you will in a Whiz-Bang plucker (assuming you’re a
Whiz-Bang pro — beginners often have to do a bit of hand-plucking
afterwards there too), but I was impressed by how well the Power
Plucker took even the pin feathers off our well-scalded chickens
without tearing the skin at all.  I did go ahead and pull the big
wing and tail feathers by hand (which takes seconds), and am slowly
learning how to rotate the bird against the plucker to get the best
results.



We haven’t mounted the
plucker yet, which would turn plucking into a one-person job, so Mark
simply held the drill on the edge of the porch while I moved the birds
around.  Unlike with the Whiz-Bang plucker, there didn’t seem to
be any need to spray the birds with water while plucking (although they
did come wet from their dunking in hot water), but Mark was much
happier once he donned safety glasses since his position seemed to get
a lot more feather-splatter than mine did.



I suspect our plucked
carcasses will get even cleaner as we learn the best way to use the
Power Plucker.  That’s the one thing I think Eli should add to his
website — a longer video showing the plucker in operation so that our
learning curve would go a bit faster.  But I’m thrilled to have
been turned onto the product and would recommend it to anyone
processing one to a hundred birds a year.  Thanks for sharing, Eli!