lottie
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novital esterina poultry pluckerBeen looking at this in the Ascott catalogue---anybody here got one or seen one in action?----my o.h. has been looking at them but I'm not sure how well it would work---chickens are o.k. but plucking a load of ducks can be hard work. 
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RichardW
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I have the stainless steel version. Not very good on ducks & turkeys. Brill on chickens. Takes longer to hot water dip them than it does to pluck them. Think about 3-10 seconds each bird after a dip of about 18-30 seconds dep on water temp. I think duck would be better if you got the dip temp/time right & used a water "wetting" agent.
Dont forget you cant use this with the under 10k units exemption.
Owch just looked at the price. Sure I paid about £200 notes for the stainless one.
Just checked & its was £260.99 inc VAT & del from Farm Store Online But they seem to be "Error 404" so I guess they have closed down.
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judith
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That's the one that I have, Lottie.
It isn't perfect, but I have never regretted buying it. Some random thoughts about it:
- You have to remove the big wing feathers and ideally some of the tail feathers manually.
- If you don't get the water temperature right, it does absolutely nothing, but if you do, it works very well indeed.
- The finished result doesn't look as nice as a dry-plucked bird - it can look a bit "scabby", but this makes no difference to the eating quality. If the water is too hot, it can also look a bit sunburnt!
- It never does a perfect job, there is always a bit of finishing to do, but rarely more than a couple of minutesworth. And you still have to singe off those hairlike feathers.
- With ducks, you have to be very thorough with the dipping, making sure that the water penetrates down to the skin properly. If you don't, you are wasting your time using the plucker.
- It helps to have two people to operate it - one to do the plucking, and the other to stand by waiting to switch it off if a wing gets caught up. (This isn't essential - I can use mine on my own - but I feel happier if there is another person on standby).
- It throws feathers over quite a large area in front of and behind the machine unless you use it in a confined space. Clean-up also takes 10 minutes or so, which means that it isn't really worth using for just 1 or 2 birds.
Now all that makes it sound as though it is rubbish, but I really wouldn't be without mine. It means that I can pluck half a dozen chickens in about 15 minutes (plus clean-up). I wouldn't want to tackle ducks without it - even with the disadvantages, it is much, much easier on my hands which get very achy if I have to do them manually.
So, all in all, is it worth buying in purely financial terms? Probably not. Is it the best machine for the job? Almost certainly not. But as it is the only one within my price range, it does a good enough job for me, and I know that my hands aren't going to get less sore as I get older, which is probably the biggest reason for having it for me.
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lottie
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Thanks-- they don't seem to do a stainless steel version now---if they did it would probably be beyond my pay grade  ----the one I've seen is £350--I can pluck chickens/cocks/turkeys fairly quickly but the Muscoveys can be a right pain when there are several to do---the speeds you mention look good.
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lottie
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Thanks Judith---I'll get one
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lottie
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Hi Judith
Thanks for such a full reply---we've alot of ducks to do for the freezer and family and they can be a pain to pluck. I should have asked you first---didn't realise you had that one---I'm going to get the Ascott site up now and blow the hatching egg money.
Cheers Jo.
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lottie
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Total techno incompetence mucked posts up--sorry 
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judith
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Would you like to borrow mine before you spend your money? Just to see how you get on with it.
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mochyn
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J's is smashing. She's been kind enough to bring it over here for slaughter days and once we managed to decorate the inside of the greenhouse in a fetching white feather design.
I'll have a few more to do before mid-winter...
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judith
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Always happy to travel for cake. 
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mochyn
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| judith wrote: | | Always happy to travel for cake. |
Aah: have plucker, will travel. Sounds like something from a very strange lonely hearts site...
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Chez
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| mochyn wrote: | | J's is smashing. She's been kind enough to bring it over here for slaughter days |
I miss Powys 
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sean
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| Chez wrote: | | mochyn wrote: | | J's is smashing. She's been kind enough to bring it over here for slaughter days |
I miss Powys |
You could put a small ad in the local paper or a card in the newsagent's window asking if anyone would like help slaughtering poultry.
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Chez
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I was thinking of joining a toddler group before I got my own social life sorted, though. You've got to prioritise, haven't you?
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sean
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You could join a toddler group and offer to bring chickens. Or not, maybe.
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lottie
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| judith wrote: | | Would you like to borrow mine before you spend your money? Just to see how you get on with it. |
Thanks--that would have been a kind and sensible idea-----but I ordered it as soon as I'd read your post It was only £6 for p&p which I thought was very reasonable. Quite excited in a saddo sort of way waiting to try it. 
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Chez
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It's brilliant, makes it really easy.
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Shan
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We have a neat little trick with the pin feathers and some of the fluffy bits, now I know this sounds bizarre but it really does work: Buy yourself a pack of disposable raizors for shaving and then sterilise them in boiling water. Use them to shave off the feathers. Sounds weird but works a treat.
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bodger
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Lottie, I'd take Judith up on her kind offer. Muscovies have got to be the hardest damned things to pluck. If it sorts a muscovy out and make it a drake, then its a machine thats well worth having.
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lottie
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I've been putting off doing a bunch of Muscovies--it felt like wading through treacle by the end last time  I can't wait for it to arrive---although we haven't "discussed" who does the plucking and who conrols the switch yet. 
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shadiya
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| judith wrote: | | Always happy to travel for cake. |
I suppose Oxford is a bit much to ask, even for Death by Chocolate?!
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judith
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Just a bit.
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lottie
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Well it arrived and we've done six young Muscovey drakes this morning---it's not perfect, and it didn't do tails and big wing feathers like Judith said but it was a huge improvement ---think it'll be better with more practice and much better with chickens and cockrells---glad I bought it.
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judith
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I'm glad you got on with it OK, Lottie. Muscovies are hard work however you do them.
But I think you will definitely notice a huge difference when you come to do chickens.
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