458 POULTRY PRODUCTION 



bleedin,!;- is not tliorou};li enougli to make the birds l^eej) well, 

 and furtlier, it does not fit in with the rest of the dressing 

 operations, as practised commercially. 



For home nse it is convenient because there is no spattering 

 of blood. The bird may be held until the spasmodic actions 

 of the muscles have stopped, instead of allowing the fo^\l to 

 (lo[) about, bruising the flesh. The bleedinir is probably more 

 complete than with the old-fashioned methods of wringing 

 the neck or chopping off the head, in both cases bruising the 

 bloo(K'cssels and exposing them to the clotting action of 

 the air, and thereby checking free bleeding. 



For i)rivate trade wliere scalding is practised, the killing 

 is done by severing the principal bloodvessels of the neck 

 (see Mgure 217) and causing the bird to die by Ijleeding. 



In commercial dressing where dry picking is practised, 

 the birds are killed by "sticking," by which is meant the 

 piercing of the brain with a small-bladed knife, for the 

 double purpose of killinir the bird and at the same time so 

 paralyzing the feather muscles that dry picking is possible. 



Sticking may be accomplished " by ruiming the knife under 

 the eye at such an angle that its point will touch the skull 

 midway between the eyes and a little behind them,"' or 

 "by placing the knife about half-way down the groove in the 

 roof of the chicken's mouth, and then thrusting it up until 

 the knife reaches the top of the skull. "^ These two ways 

 of sticking are referred to as "outside" and "inside" sticking, 

 respectively. In both cases the point of the knife sliould 

 be moved about a little after it is thrust home, in order to 

 destroy enough brain tissue to loosen the feathers thoroughly. 



Bleeding. — Pennington and Betts' report that fully 30 

 per cent, of the poultry recei\'ed in the New York market 

 is incom[)letely bled. "Much of it is so badly bled that 

 it results in a loss of from two to five cents a pound, as com- 

 pared with the corresponding carcasses wliicli are well bled 

 and in good order. Aside from the bad appearance of 

 incompletely bled chickens, their kee])ing jtroperties are 



' Peimington and Belts, Bureau of Cliemistry Cireular No 01 



• Iljid 



' Bureau of Chemistry Cireular No. 61. 



