We are HONESTLY happy to hear if your Yardbird works for you and that you haven’t had problems with it. We wish we could have said the same, however… No return policy and no service department is a BIG DEAL! We were in no way expecting a $400 chicken plucker to work as well as a more expensive one. However, we did expect it to at least work. We bought one that we thought would fit our needs (about 100 chickens a year) and within our price range. I get it... I generally use the rule of thumb that, “you get what you pay for.” We simply didn’t have an extra $1000 laying around at this time. If we knew to take precautionary steps to protect the equipment before we used it, we would have. The company agreed with me about the flaws...So, If a company knows there is a flaw, why not take steps to address that issue or at least warn people about them? The wheels were actually mentioned as something that made us want to buy the plucker because we liked the idea of it being portable. Could they bigger? Yes... but no biggie. Something that was left out and not mentioned in the video (editing mistake on my part) was that the motor was making a horrible grinding noise and slowed the spin of the plucker dramatically. Our biggest complaints are this... The lack of responsibility on the part of Yard Bird. This was a brand new unit- right out of the box and it broke after plucking 7 chickens. We were responsible for diagnosing and fixing the unit. Which I tried and did everything they suggested, and it still didn’t work. They DO NOT provide a service center or any refunds at all. If they had either, there wouldn’t be any need for this video. Purchasing this through Amazon was the only reason we were able to get a refund.

I’ve Had a yard bird for 3 years now and have run over 500 birds through it w no problems. After the first year I did attach a pice of down spout tubing to the drain to help keep the water and feathers away from the motor.

Most companies take customer feed back seriously,the fact she said you could put one on yourself says a lot. Glad I watched this before I bought mine. Thanks

Thanks for taking a few minutes to gives us all a warning. Definitely need more folks willing to give true reviews and save others a few bucks!!!

I'm glad you were able to get your money back. Stay blessed!

Thank you for this review. I just bought one, spur of the moment decision, and didn’t open it yet. I’m returning it today or tomorrow based on this review. I work hard for my money and don’t want to waste it on sub par equipment that’s poorly engineered. Thank you again!

I have one and am very much happy with it

I had the same issue with 2 of these , did about 45 birds in each. I used it one day throughout the year, went to use it this year, motor just hummed. Called ardisam and spoke to customer service, at first they were very set on it being 2 months and 3 days past the 1 year warranty, I then explained myself about 4-5 different times to 3 different reps, finally I was getting to wits end and said look, I’ve spent $1000 on 2 pluckers used each one one time and had the exact same issue happen. I said I’m am not looking to get a freebee out of the deal, I just want a product that works for the money I’ve spent on your products. I’ve worked for ardisam back in highschool I graduated from Cumberland and only live 15 minutes away. I said if you want I’ll drive the whole plucker over to you guys or just the motor to test it apart and find what’s wrong. Finally they agreed to replace the motor and for me to bring the faulty one to their HQ. Got the replacement one and noticed the seal on the cover near the shaft was not seated correctly so I adjusted that and hoping this is the last plucker I’ll need to use. Very thankful for them replacing the motor, but come on guys!

I am VERY grateful for your video and commentary. I agree, when one buys a product you have the right to expect it to work perfectly without all the issues you encountered. Yardbird needs to pay your back 100% and any shipping coasts. They ought to pay you also for the quality control advice and suggestions you gave them. When I company refuses to listen to a customer, that company needs a wake up call. I hope you contacted Consumer Affairs and Better Business Bureau and YELP also. I will not buy a Yardbird unit because I am not as mechanically inclined as you obviously are. Thanks again!

Hi guys, appreciate your review. Someone might have spoken to the issue of the GFI tripping...if not, consider this thought. Many of the machines we use here at Under Our Care have these corded GFI breakers. These breakers are designed for a cord 6 to 10 feet long. If you run your Yardbird unit with an extension cord, this may be your issue. If you are plugging the unit into a 20 amp protected receptacle, you are likely to trip your corded GFI in short order. If you use an extension cord, consider a 25-foot 12 to 14-gauge cord. Just a thought, again, thank you for taking the time to do this review, it was very informative, yet not overly critical.

I have had great luck with my Yardbird! I use a 12 gauge extension cord and do not have GCFI issues. I use a five gallon bucket, with a side cut out and covered by a large mesh screen, to trap fathers and direct water away. I have not had a problem with the motor drawing up feathers or moisture. I don't like where the on/off switch is and am considering making some kind of modification, but all in all, it's not that big of an issue. While the wheels are small, I usually trailer it to the location and wheel it off the trailer. Last year we plucked a hundred chickens during a one half day of butchering and the unit used flawlessly. In two weeks we will be doing another large batch of chickens. I'll relay any issues if they arise, but if you don't see a follow up comment, the unit worked fine! So far I am happy with the unit and would buy a second one if needed!

GREAT review for a POORLY designed unit!! I'm looking to buy a plucker and this information is something I hadn't even considered to look at!! Thank you!! Subscribed!!!

Thank you so much for doing this review! Good to hear that you're not getting stuck with it! This helps my husband and I as we're making a decision on which one to go with for chickens.

We had the problem with the magnet misalignment shutting down the unit altogether. That was a hassle to figure out, but getting them aligned makes it work. Otherwise, it's worked well for us. About a hundred CX plucked so far. Removal of the drum for cleaning is a major plus. Largest bird plucked was 13.6 lbs, cleaned. I agree about the portability with the wheels. To move it out of the barn for processing, I pull the drum off before rolling it out. I also stuck a 4' bar clamp on the forward leg for the rolling, then take it off so it isn't in the way. Makes it very easy, even with the drum on. I've thought about picking up some cheap larger wheels, but it's easy enough with the clamp that it isn't worth it. For the chute, I stuck a contractor bag on the chute with a bungee, and leave the bag in the bucket. If too much water gets in the bag, I poke a hole in the bottom. The bucket has a drain hole, too. We haven't had any issues with feathers clogging the motor intake. I suspect not controlling the output chute is the reason why you had that happen. Overall, would I buy it again? Yes, but not if I wasn't willing to tweak it to make it work for me.

Thank you very much!

Thank you for the heads up. You gave alot of very detailed explanations that I found to be very helpful.

I am sooo glad to see someone put out an honest review of a product. I know that was possibly a big financial hit, praying God returns that money to you ten fold because I'm sure you just saved lots of folks some hard earned cash! Great job!! Love love love your logo and channel name.

Thank you for the review and your concerns we brought ours while back and we planning on trying it out this weekend maybe I do upgrades right away we have our chickens to do and plus in fall and have costumers to do all together maybe 200 for this year 🤔

Thank you for the review. We were looking at the Yardbird, but have seen several bad reviews

Thank you for your honest review. Save us the same headache

A BIG Thank you for the review. I was just going to place a order for this model and don't know what made me look but I found your comments and video a real eye opener. I since went to coops and more as you recommended and was more then happy with the quality of their construction. They are a little more money but by all indications they look built with more thought plus from their website-Satisfaction Guaranteed Selling Quality Products To Make Life Easier. That is what I like. A USA based company. Thanks again.

Hey, thank you for watching and commenting on the video I made about the Yardbird plucker. When I do my next batch of chickens I will do an update on my unit. I appreciate your insight on some of the issues you had. I completely agree with you, if I purchase something I expected to work. Also, you have my subscription.

Great video! Thanks for all the information

I built my own plucker based on the reviews for some of the boxed retail models. Cost was about $500 and it is all off the shelf parts. - Rick

Thanks for the review. We steered clear of this and bought a stainless steel one through Strombergs chicks and gamebirds. I ordered one of the veevor brand ones and whats a nightmare! Damaged in shipping, tried to re order and they sent through 5 charges of over $400.00. Spent all day working that out with the bank! Abandoned that one and found Strombergs.

Thanks For the Video, Happy St. Patty's day.

Thank you for this video I was just discussing this with some family members about getting one

Looking around for plucker reviews after processing 120 rainbow rangers with rented equipment. Still weighing my options, so this video is very helpful.

This was an excellent video, thank you!

Thank you so much for saving me pain and money!

Thanks alot for your time to make this reveiw i was thinking to buy one very similar but now i have to think twice again thank u very much

Video was indeed helpful.

Thank you for the review. We have been looking at purchasing our own chicken plucked and are on a budget also. We will steer clear of this one. Thanks again!

Thank you SO MUCH for this review. I almost bought one at Bidfta and I was outbid, fortunately. BTW NEW SUBSCRIBER NOW !!

Thank you so much for sharing Sorry for trouble

Thanks for an honest review!! I hope everything worked out for you, sounds like a headache, junk!!

I have the exact plucker, when got it I thought the same thing about how all the electrical components weren’t covered. We’re just extra careful with how we use water around it. Great review.

Thanks for the heads up.

Good job. Wow! I got one of those also haven’t used yet...

Awesome you just saved me a huge headache

🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧 I'm looking for one in the UK right now and I'm glad you made this review to help me stear clear of unsafe or mechanical properties! I'm going to avoid this one. It sells across The Pond over here but mainly through our eBay from USA sellers. And sending one of those back is a pain. Seeing the detachable tub is something I would never have considered, so thanks for that, but also just ta much for the video. You didn't have to do it, but for the benefit to others, you did. Cheers. 👍

The yardbird has really worked well for us. We have processed well over 100 birds by now and it’s going into its 3rd year. That stinks that yours didn’t work out. I guess it’s like anything else sometimes things happen and a bad unit will make it out the door. I agree yardbird should stand behind the product and provide a replacement if still within the warranty period.

So basically it's junk! Thanks for the honest review!👍

Thanks for the review. It's Real and Helpful.

I have watched several reviews and processing vids. None have had a problem like you did. Could be bad luck. I personally prefer the table top version that they sell. I am going to buy one this year. And I'm going to make a cart with big wheels for it and possible an extended chute for it to dump into a bucket for feather collection. Thanks for your honest review.

Luckily Amazon picked up the slack and you didn’t get stuck with that anchor. We will be looking for a plucker soon, possibly making one, we will be sure to steer clear of that brand. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for making this review. As you were describing each problem, I was visualizing a simple a simple redesign. This is the first chicken plucker I've ever seen but it doesn't look too complicated so I'm surprised they would sell a product like that; you can't be only person with those issues. Sadly, the no refund policy? Kind of a red flag.

THANK YOU FOR SHARING

Keeping water / feathers expelled by the unit away from the motor seems like it should have been the top priority when designing the product. You definitely should NOT have to improve your purchased product in order to ensure it doesn't break on you under normal use. Unfortunately, I already bought one of these and I'm hoping to be able to get through 100 birds with it.

Good to know! Great review! Very detailed! Thanks for the info! That will save us some time! Just subscribed after seeing you at the HOA on another post! 💙

Very good idea

We used to belong to a pheasant club and when we were done we would bring our birds to the club house to be cleaned for $2 a bird (totally worth it). The bird tumbler they had had to be like 3 feet across. I wish I’d had made an effort to find out the brand on their tumblers. They were probably older than me but boy did they work well. Man I miss that club:(

I had 100% the same issue. I got lucky though and it happened to me on the 4th year of use. my machine has processed somewhere around 100 birds. unfortunately the service department was horrible. they never even got back with me about getting a replacement part

We bought one this year, and so far so good. But I went into it, knowing that the plug was an issue. If ours goes, we will replace the plug. We also found that we couldn't do 2 cornish cross at the same time, it was too much for the machine and they just got stuck, but we have usually 5 people processing, so it wasn't a big deal. We did smaller turkeys as well, and had to take the feet off before plucking, or they got stuck.

Thank you for the information, I get ready for one I definitely not got with yard bird. I totally agree with you, when spend that kind of money ,you shouldn't have fix their mess. It was poorly designed

Good job! Thank you for the info - it definitely helped- for now I’m going to just pluck old school lol

Wow you just saved me $500 thank you very much

Appreciate your review. 😃👍

Thank you for the video you saved me from buying a plucker like that.

I'd cut that gfci plug off and put a regular one on. Those things fail and that's what you do. If you need protection plug it into a gfci protected outlet.

Good to know!

Wow! I learned something new today! Sorry your chicken plucker did not work so well!

2:30 - Yeah, I noticed you have to angle the whole thing about 45° before you can wheel it.

Over the past seven years I've gone through TWO Yardbird Feather Pluckers. Yr 1 2018 - the first Yardbird worked great out of the box. Yr2 Spring took out the Yard bird - didn't work! Stored in shed over winter. Fortunately I was within warranty and it was a hassle trying to get a replacement. They first wanted to send me a new cord that I would have to wire into the motor. WRONG. Yardbird knows they have issues with their GCFI cord. They also know they have moisture issues with their "sealed" motor. Yr 2 replacement came my meat birds two weeks older and much larger. I managed to process the 25 birds (I process myself no help which is why I spent $450 on the Yardbird in the first place). The wheels are pointless for dragging 88lbs across grass that is muddy after processing 25 birds spraying the drum with water. I can't drag the sucker amound and need help getting it into the shed EVERY FALL. I leave it covered in a UV protected grill cover over summer months - I remove the drum and cover the base/drive and motor. Yr 3 Yardbird worked the next year both Fall and Spring with the new plug I had installed. Spring yr 4 Spring Yardbird worked but Yr 4 Fall came and the Yardbird didn't work. AGAIN. So I replaced the GCFI plug for $15.00 (www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077FV6RQT/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) . The unit still didnt' work. I had 35 meatbirds to process so Yr4 Fall I bought a 2nd Yardbird. Yr 4 the new Yardbird worked fine that Fall. Yr 5 Sprng same story Yardbird didn't work replaced the GCFI plug and it worked fine. Covered over summer the Yardbird worked find Yr 5 Fall. Yr 6 Spring Yardbird did work but Yr6 Fall it did not. Replacing the GCFI did not help. I had a neighbor's handyman to maintains thier farm equipment take a look at it and the "sealed" motor was rusted inside. Apparently water/feathers can get into the top of the motor that not only prevents it from keeping cool, but water can actually get inside. The motor is the old fashioned electro magnet brushes which explains why it needs 1100W to operate. Between the poor electrical cord/plug and the poor design of the motor assembly with noting to prevent water getting in - the Yardbird is cheap China made low grade steel. BUT THEY DON'T TELL YOU THIS. It's now time to process a year later 2024 and I'm concerned the Yardbird will work so I'm already looking at an alternative plucker and ready to put Yardbird into the dust heap of history. These machines are a good idea, but there has been ZERO improvements since 2016 they sell the same unit with the same issues at an outrageous price. I agree with Celtic Roots Farm. Save yourself lots of headache, stress and spend the money on a better quality plucker. This is just my two cents - experience over 6+ years with a real POS unit.

Gfi's often times will pop when they get hot. They can also get hot, if you run a small cord a long-distance and the motors trying to pull power through that little cord

I dislike those government mandated GFCI breakers. I had one on an electric pressure washer. I cut it off and wired a plug.

Thank you.

I was looking one up just now thank you.

Same problem with cord gfi tripping so it will not start. It is over one year old so cannot use warranty. Total use about 30 chickens, and and stored in heated garage. Just more junk for the dump.

I guess I got lucky, I’ve had mine for 4 years now and have run over 500 birds thru it without an issue!

Just found your review, good job! I scanned comments and didn’t see either of the two main points that occur to me mentioned. First, if you used an extension cord your motor would heat up a lot faster. Second, all inexpensive pluckers like that are made overseas, thus the lack of service departments. I imported what we called the Featherman Junior from Indonesia in 1999. We sold all 55 and folks liked them but they were super light duty and probably a lot like these. Like you, I admire some of the cool Yardbird features. I’ve been watching them since they were a trade show item and I think they are a fabulous entry product for a start up enterprise. Did you go with Coops n More? 😉

I’m sorry this had happened to you guys. We have the same one and did 37 chickens and 3 ducks and ours worked great. No problems at all. So maybe you just got a lemon. Glad you got your money back.

You just saved me because i was just looking at this unit. I’ll look through your channel but what did you end up going with?

Good info! Merry Christmas to you and your family! God bless you!

Thanks

Thank you for making this. We’re searching for a good plucker now and many of the review websites I’ve looked at have the yardbird as their top pick. But a lot of Amazon reviewers said what you said. You answered many of my questions. Seems like some major design flaws. Have you reviewed the coopsnmore plucker yet? Thanks again!

We have the same plucker. We found the biggest issue was that we had a lot more plucking to do than we expected. We had no gfi issues…just more work than we expected to pluck meat birds. We found we needed to scale birds longer to get better results.not the greatest but not the worst. At least that is our experience.

I would get a used washing machine install the rubber spikes and set on high spin.

I've always wanted to build a whiz-bang! We usually just skin ours though. So I haven't built it! Hopefully you found a good one!

If you are ever interested in a custom made one by my company Midest Restaurant Equipment and supply out of Chicago. I would be more than happy to show you our design. Thank you!

That's weird...my husband loves this one

This plucker has now been fixed just an FYI. There is now a solid bottom with one large hole to the side for the feathers to come out into a bucket. The motor is covered. I will update when I use it.

Nuff said, it stopped once.

Nice review I almost bought one w while ago, but I wanted one of the bigger ones that shoots the feathers out, and the plug kept messing up ... I did not know there was a spout for the feathers to come out, so I was wondering how many birds you could do before emptying (another reason I didn't buy ...) Also subscribed to your channel thanks!!!

In there manual the relay states 120 to 120 this goes to your magnetic safety switch witch is impossible witch is no higher than 12 volts DC 24 volts goes into 240 AC volts .so much more.

Mine worked for 2 birds and then just sucked. It wouldn’t pluck anything. We tried different temps and times on the chicken when scalding and nothing worked.

Well you look like an intelligent human being to me so why don't you just get on KZfaq and look at all the homemade ones and build yourself one this way you won't have all these problems

Thank u for this detailed review! Sorry they are not supporting the defective product. Do you have any recommendations for another plucker? Post a venmo or cashapp link, i have $20 towards your next plucker! Your info helps us get our own independent lifestyle going. Thank u!

I bot mine during the pandemic just pulled it out of the box months later to process and ….. I didn’t Evan turn on ! Same issue ..junk

Great review/heads-up. I was leaning towards one of these units. Not now. What do you recommend, knowing what you know now?

We have and use this plucker without issue! I wonder if you got a lemon?

Which plucker did you get and how is it?

hi just curious how heavy are the individual birds that you are processing through there? my birds avg 6.5 - 7 lbs and did not perform well with them in it.

How long was your drop cord?

I want one that will do up to geese size.

I bought one about a year ago....complete piece of crap. It died within six months and I have tried to rebuild several times. Of course, the company takes no responsibility I plan to list my own KZfaq with the additional problems I have had. How stupid is it to put the motor on the on the bottom of the machine......where do you think the water is going to go????? I'm convinced this is a Chinese product....design could not be worse!!

Thank you so much for sharing. I would not buy from that company

Same issue the electrical Box was full of water when troubleshooting and now will only turn on long enough to trip the Test on the Plug. DO NOT BUY THIS .... we used it once on about 24 birds... Ridiculous for $469.00 that we paid for it.

I got this plucker. Used it one go around and just after the 30 days it stopped working. Amazon said I have to go with the yardbird warranty and they won’t refund me. Did you do it within the 30 days or they just agreed to after all?

It is easy to see it is bad design, why put motor at bottom? It is where all the water falls to, water and electricity don't mix