Some concerns had been expressed over the success rate of the De-feathering machine (DM) in Nigeria. Therefore, it is imperative to evaluate DM in selected poultry farms in Ekiti State, Nigeria, and consider the factors that inhibit their viability. This study seeks to verify the success rate and identify factors that pose challenges to DM and provide a solution to their intercorrelations. Kendall Coefficient of Concordance (KCC) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was the design framework used to investigate the identified factors that influence DM. The KCC was used to analyse the data matrix generated by 12 Judges who ranked the twenty-eight identified factors that influenced DM in ascending order, upon which basis an index of concordance in ranking among the judges was computed as w = 0.70. PCA was used to further analysed questionnaires crafted with the twenty-eight well-ordered factors, purposively selected, using statistisXL version 2021.2 software. Also, the result obtained by PCA indicates that factor reduction was achieved from twenty-eight variables to seven clusters using a scree plot graph. Furthermore, Cost of Material cluster 5 (consisting of dual factors; ‘stainless steel’ and ‘material selection’) wielded the highest factors loading of 0.847 and 0.779 respectively. This study has helped to justify unsatisfactory DM operating costs among poultry farmers in Nigeria and clarify challenges associated with the high cost of material selection in DM design.
Poultry birds de-feathering has a daunting challenge. This study aimed at developing a low cost poultry de-feathering machine (DM) that will promote food hygiene; and the safety of operators. The machine consist of a hard plastic drum on which rubber pluckers were fixed and was powered with a 1.5kW electric motor. The DM was developed according to engineering design and principles. The test was achieved by considering the weight of the poultry birds (PB) before and after the de-feathering process. The de-feathered PB weight; and the time taken to de-feather PB were recorded. The feather was discharged through the DM outlet by gravity and weighed to determine the actual weight of the removed feather. The test was repeated five times and the outcome of the recorded results was presented in graphs and tables. Brown old layers (hens) were used for the machine performance evaluation at 7 different scalding temperatures (50, 55, 60, 65, 70, 75, and 80) °C. The DM was designed to de-feather 5 hens per batch. From the result obtained, 5 hens with a total average weight of 9.5 kg de-feather in 28 seconds at 92% efficiency average. The force required to de-feather hens decreased with an increase in the scalding temperature. At a scalding temperature >800 C, the bird skin will pill and give it a rough appearance.
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