Development of a Household Poultry De-Feathering Machine with Better Efficiency

Abstract

Removing feathers by hand is the traditional means and method of removing feathers from poultry species. For certain reasons, removing feathers by hand was becoming obsolete since the inception of industrial age. Development of a poultry de-feathering machine is a process of producing a mechanical means of removing feathers from scalded birds. This paper focuses on development of a household poultry de-feathering machine. Meanwhile, in this paper locally available materials were used for the development of the devise. Design calculations were done appropriately to ensure correct shaft diameter as this could affect the efficiency of the machine. The machine consists of rubber pluckers which do the actual picking of the feathers. The rubber pluckers are attached to a rotating plate against a stationary plucking basin carrying protruding rubber pluckers. Test was carried out on the machine with three spent layer chickens. The chickens were soaked inside hot water at about 70°c and held for about 45-60s. The machine removed feathers without any major damage to the chickens. The efficiency at each trial was calculated and average efficiency was calculated to be approximately 95%. In conclusion, the machine performed efficiently and effectively, leaving behind products that could meet market standard.