284 



OUR DOMESTIC BIRDS 



it into a box or a barrel, ship it to a market where the prices are 

 high, expecting to get the highest price for it. A large part of 

 such poultry arrives on the market in such a condition that it is 

 hard to sell at any price, and much of it has to be thrown away. 

 Birds that are to be marketed should be kept without food or 

 water for from twenty-four to thirty-six hours before killing. 

 The object of this is to have the crop, gizzard, and intestines 



entirely empty. The killing is 

 done by making a small, deep 

 cut, that will at the same time 

 penetrate the brain (making the 

 bird unconscious) and sever one 

 or two veins, thus letting the 

 blood flow freely. This cut is 

 usually made in the roof of the 

 mouth, but sometimes in the 

 neck. The former method is 

 preferred because it leaves no 

 wound exposed to the air. The 

 common practice in picking poul- 



try for home use is to scald the 



FIG. 230. Barrel of dressed poultry 



opened on arrival at its destination. 1 



(Photograph from Bureau of Chem- bi ' rd j n water gt bdow the 



istry, United States Department of 



Agriculture) in S temperature. When this is 



done just right, the results are 



very good ; the feathers come off easily and the skin is not 

 damaged. But if the bird is not held in the scalding water long 

 enough, the feathers are hard to remove and the skin may be torn 

 in several places in the process. If the bird is held in the water 

 too long, the skin will be partly cooked. If it is scalded before 

 it has been properly bled, the hot water will turn the skin red. 

 The defects in scalded poultry do not show badly at first, and if 

 it is packed and shipped at once, the shipper may think that it 



1 Note the large piece of ice remaining. If the ice should give out on the way, the 

 poultry would spoil. 



