International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering (IJRTE) ISSN: 2277-3878, Volume-8 Issue-3, September 2019 406 Published By: Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering & Sciences Publication Retrieval Number C4199098319/19©BEIESP DOI: 10.35940/ijrte.C4199.098319 Abstract: Poultry product have seen increasing consumers demand in recent times and processing of poultry meat is a pain staking process which is becoming extremely tasking and uneconomical given the increase in demand especially in the rural community where there is no ready access to sophisticated equipment. The Nigerian poultry sector is extremely fragmented as most poultry farmers dedicate a small setup space to satisfy small scale demand of less than 1,000 birds [1]. In commercial events, the development of a poultry de-feathering machine becomes of high priority to meet the demand for poultry products. This paper therefore advocates the implementation of the modified defeathering machine as a suitable substitute of the tradition system which is slow and tedious. This proposed system improves on the defeathering machine with the implementation of a boiling chamber for first stage scalding, and a hot spray channel directly in the plucking chamber. Keywords: Defeathering, Poultry, Scalding. I. INTRODUCTION Scalding and picking machines, which are used basically for the processing of poultry products, although exist in several forms including small and huge machine types, are still not very popular within the Nigerian poultry processing business/industry, where this is basically due to their high design cost. Most of the poultry products in the Nigerian market today are have been processed manually. The manual processing method, which is slow and tedious, has remained uneconomic for large scale production [2]. The Nigerian poultry trade is estimated at about $600 million, with approximately 165 million birds producing 650,000MT of eggs and 290,000MT of poultry meat as at 2013 data [1]. Poultry meat is popularly consumed worldwide due to its low fat and calorific content. The relatively increased choice for chicken over some other type of meat recently has generated a lot of interest in its farming and in the poultry industry in general [2]. With the growing Nigerian population and the need to meet the WHO protein, fat and calories requirements, it is expected that the poultry meat consumption rate will increase in the coming years, hence the need for low cost scalding and picking machines for processing of poultry products. Common challenges in poultry processing are the safety and health concern inclusive of tasks resulting in cuts or lacerations [3], exposure to cold and wet climates, repetitive motion disorders, slips, falls, dust, dermatitis, and noise [3] [4] [5]. Revised Manuscript Received on September 20, 2019. Omoniyi Ezekiel B, B. Tech in Mechanical Engineering from LAUTECH, Ogbomosho, Nigeria. Peter Oluwatosin Oyekola, Mechanical Engineering at Papua New Guinea University of Technology. Onoriode Ovaha B. Eng in Mechanical Engineering in 2017 from Bells University of Technology, Nigeria. Aezeden Mohamed, B.Sc., M.Sc., and PhD degrees in Mechanical and Manufacturing at the University of Manitoba, Canada. Nicholas Lambrache, MSc.and PhD from university Polytechnic in Bucharest. To avoid mishap and infections from poultry cadaver which may occur during some of the processing operations there is a need for a user-friendly, reliable and efficient poultry processing devises [6] [7]. Bird processing involves catching and transport, killing and bleeding, scalding and picking (feather removal) [8], removal of the head, oily glands, and feet, disembowel, chilling, dissecting and deboning, packaging, storage and finally distribution. And of all this processes feather removal are the most time consuming and chancy [9]. Various machines have also been developed for the de-feathering process which can process large or few numbers of birds [10]. However, their demand and acceptance differ regionally. The Mueller poultry picker [11] for instance is electrically powered using a driving pulley mechanism in rotating a cylindrical drum embedded with rubber fingers matrix. The design also incorporates a collection bowl for the plucked feathers. Gordon [12] however designed the plucker using an electric motor with an extended two pulley shaft attached which allows for counter-rotation of drums. The drum holds the rubber fingers which pluck the feathers upon the rotation of the as seen in figure 1. The fingers assume positions radial to the drums, due to the centrifugal forces on the holders and fingers. The wiping motion of the ribbed surfaces of the fingers removes the feather from the carcass. Fig. 1.Plan view of the Gordon poultry plucker T F schlicksupp poultry plucker [13] had an advantage over others as it introduced a fan (vacuum) for removal of a plucked feather. The design was also the electric-based rotation of the drive shaft. The fan is in a casing which communicates with the plucking chamber if to draw the feathers from the latter chamber for discharge those through an outlet spout to any desired point. Bird Feather Removal Machine: Design and Development Omoniyi Ezekiel B, Peter Oyekola, Onoriode Ovaha, Aezeden Mohamed, Nicholas Lambrache