CHAPTER XLIII 



KILLING POULTRY 



After killing leave it to bleed and get your water ready if to be 

 scalded, but dry picked poultry is much better flavored. The water 

 must be near the boiling point, but not quite boiling. The bird must 

 not be dumped in wholesale, but the head must be kept entirely out, 

 and a cloth tied around it helps to keep it clean. 



Cleanliness in preparing for market is a great drawing card. 

 People will always pay a little more for something that is clean and 

 properly prepared. 



Unless the customer asks for it to be done, it is not customary to 

 draw poultry in this State. What is called dressed poultry is being 

 killed and the feathers taken off, wash the body and put in ice cold 

 water to cool off. The fowl is weighed before being drawn, and the 

 customer pays for the gross weight. 



When sold to commission men or produce men, they prefer to 

 have them shipped alive. The fowls, to bring the best price should 

 be about all of one size and age and be in good condition; it goes 

 without saying that they should be perfectly healthy, because the 

 time is gone by when diseased fowls can be sold at any price. Remem- 

 ber that if a crate of fowls is shipped, the shipper gets the price for the 

 whole crate based on the condition of the poorest fowls in it; if he 

 mixes them to pass off a few scarescrows, they are all in sight, all 

 are handled by those who buy and no tricks can be played on these 

 men; they are up to all of them. This is a sure enough case where 

 "honesty is the best policy" for the shipper. If the dealer tries any 

 tricks you can come back at him full of righteous wrath and make 

 him come across with the goods. 



Killing And Dressing Turkeys. — Turkeys are always dry picked 

 anywhere, so all that is to be done in killing turkeys and shipping to 

 market is to kill in a similar manner to killing chickens, only killing 

 what there are pickers to work at one time. When a bird gets cold 

 the feathers come hard, so just kill as needed for pickers and have 

 thein in a fairly warm room, so that the birds will not cool ofl; too 

 quickly. Leave a few feathers around the head, but pick clean as you 

 go, taking the feathers the way they have lain. Be careful not to 

 break the skin, for one break causes another, and the bird does not 

 look attractive when covered with broken skin. 



If the turks are to be shipped, cool off in cold water, but don't 



