IMPROVEMENT AND EVALUATION OF A DEFEATHERING MACHINE FOR CHICKEN

Abstract

A poultry bird defeathering machine was designed and fabricated in the Department of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, Federal University of Technology Akure for small scale poultry processors. The machine consisted of a feather plate on which plucking rubbers are arranged, a defeathering chamber on which plucking fingers are set in an array and was powered with a 2kW electric motor. The machine was tested at three operating speeds of 200, 280 and 360 rpm, which were obtained using belt and pulley drived over transmission systems. Isa brown chicken which were old layer birds (spent hens) were tested in the machine at five scalding temperatures which are normal room temperature, 30, 50, 70 and 100°C. In order to evaluate the effect of machine speed and scalding temperature on the feather retention on birds, the plucking efficiency, and the defeathering time of each bird. Data obtained were recorded and presented in tables and graphs. Results showed that the feather retention rate and defeathering time decreased with increased operating speed, while plucking efficiency increased with speed. However, an ANOVA test show the result of 0.72, 0.72 and 0.32 respectively indicated that the effects were insignificant. Furthermore, the scalding temperature had significant effect on the evaluation parameters as the feather retention was seen to decrease with increase in temperature, same with the defeathering time, but the plucking efficiency increased with scalding temperature up till 700C and reduce afterwards. The highest plucking efficiency of 98.5% was obtained at 360 rpm speed and 100°C scalding temperature. Based on physical evaluation and the results obtained speeds of 280 rpm or higher were recommended to operate the machine and the scalding temperature of 70°C is recommended