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 downThe 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 bought this kit thinking that for the price, it was too good to be true. However, I was wrong. This three piece set is ideal for backyard hen owners and worked extremely well.The cone fit all our hens - except for the two largest (which were probably 8 lbs. or so). Those two larger birds had to have their heads coaxed down to the bottom - not a big deal. The cone did a great job of relaxing the birds and holding them in place. We mounted ours with a plastic contractor's bag underneath it, which really helped with clean up.The knife is also excellent. My husband shaved the hairs off his arm with it easily and it held its edge very well.I was probably most skeptical about the plucker, but it also worked beautifully - exactly as advertised. We had no problems with it at all. As an alternate mounting method, my husband used the vice on his welding table, placing a towel between the vice and the electric dill to help protect his drill motor.