Doug,

We had one broken leg, that was all. 1 chicken wasn't good, nor was 2 or 4. It turned out that 3 birds worked great in the plucker.

We had an issue with the first few scalds, ripped skin, but we lessened the scald time and got that under control.

My traffic cone works well, but small birds will fall out. I think that if you do a large volume of birds, investing in some sheet metal and rivets would be a good idea, making your own cones.

The feathers went into the compost pile.

I pressure cooked the gizzards for 30 minutes, then fried them. They turned out fine, and not too chewy. Any trimmings like necks, backs, and other items removed in the final clean-up went into chicken stock. I tossed the other guts, including liver, pope's nose, intestines, etc. we had about a half of a 5 gallon bucket, so there wasn't too much waste.