FIEST LESSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 159 



Sticking with the Fowl Held Under the Arm. 



In one of the most popular methods the fowl is held under the left arm, breast up, the mouth 

 held open with the finders of the left hand, while with a knife held in the right hand a cut is 

 made first across the roof of the mouth at the base of the brain, then the knife is turned and a 

 deep cut made to penetrate the brain. The first cut severs an artery from which the fowl 

 begins to bleed to death. The cut into the brain produces insensibility, and causes the 

 feathers to relax so that they may be easily removed. 



Then the picker sits down and begins to remove the feathers. This process is rapidly or 

 more slowly performed according to the skill of the operator and the condition of the fowls. 

 A fowl in good condition with full plumage, is generally easy to pick, but the impression given 

 by some writers that if the fowl is properly stuck the feathers come out easily, and if feathers 

 do not come easily the fault must be in the sticking, is wrong according to the testimony of 

 professional pickers. The pickers say that the same lot of fowls may pick hard in the morning, 

 easy in the afternoon, or vice versa, and this when the sticking is the same and several pickers 

 are working together, so that it is not reasonable to suppose that they are all sticking wrong, 

 even if there were any probability of a single expert doing so. I emphasize this point because 

 a novice who tries sticking and dry picking and finds it not so easy as from the books he got 

 the impression that it was, is likely to puzzle himself over the method of sticking, concluding 

 that be must be at fault there. He may be, but it does not follow necessarily, and he should be 

 able to understand the situation better if he knows that even with experts picking is sometimes 

 hard and slow, and that when rapidly done it is done by skill and hard work. A skillful 

 picker will remove most of the feathers from a fowl with a few sweeping motions, but it will 

 take him longer to get the feathers that remain, and if the fowl is full of pin feathers their 

 removal takes some time, no matter how skillful the picker. 



The New Jersey Method. 



To kill and pluck a fowl by the New Jersey method, Dr. P. T. Woods gives the following 

 directions in "Profitable Market Poultry," published by the Cyphers Incubator Co., a book 

 which contains much of interest and value to those growing poultry for market: 



" Provide two barrels, one for blood and waste feathers, and the other for the feathers that 

 are to be saved. Place these against the side of the wall of the killing house. Have a good 

 sharp knife with a medium sized blade, an ordinary pocket knife will answer. * * * 



" A nail should be driven in the wall above the center of the barrel intended for blood and 

 wHste feathers, at a point a little higher than the head of the picker. A noose of stout cord a 

 few inches long is attached to this nail. The fowl's feet are secured in this noose, so that the 

 fowl hangs up by its legs against the wall, on a line about level with the operator's shoulders. 

 The fowl Rhould hang in such a position that the operator can readily grasp the head and neck 

 with the left hand, the arm in an almost horizontal position, with the elbow against the side of 

 the body. * * * 



" Grasp the neck of the fowl with the thumb and forefinger of the left hand, draw the hand 

 gently downward until it strikes the angle of the jaw, forcing the fowl's mouth open without 

 choking it. Hold the mouth firmly open with the third finger. The knife is first introduced 

 into the throat, and with a couple of quick motions up and down, the larger arteries at the 

 side of the neck just below the ear, are severed so that the bird bleeds freely. Now, hold the 

 knife at an angle with the bird's bill, pointing toward the back part of the roof of the mouth 

 in a line with the eye; with a rapid movement drive the knife through the roof of the mouth 

 into the base of the bird's brain, and give a quick half turn to the blade." 



As has already been said, sticking may best be learned by personal demonstration. If that is 

 out of the question, and it is desirable to learn to kill that way, and to dry pick, practice ou 

 fowls to be consumed at home until sufficient skill is developed to enable you to turn off a 

 good looking carcass. Meantime pick by any method you know, or hire someone to pick for 

 you, but don't botch the killing of a lot of fowls you want to go to market and bring good 

 prices. Badly dressed poultry will not bring first class prices. 



