DUCKS AND GEESE 



the breast or body and thus determines whether the 

 scalding is sufficient or whether more is required. 

 Care is taken not to dip the feet or head in the 

 water as this might discolor these parts. Practically 

 all market ducks from Long Island are scald picked 

 at the present time. Dry picking which is demanded 

 in some markets such as Boston makes a somewhat 

 better looking carcass and also increases the value 

 of the feathers, but is generally considered too slow 

 and too highly skilled a process for use on the aver- 

 age duck farm. 



Picking. After scalding the picker starts remov- 

 ing the feathers. In doing this the duck is held either 

 on the lap or on a board nailed to the side of the 

 feather box. The feathers on the breast are picked 

 first, then working down toward the tail, pulling the 

 feathers with the grain. The soft body feathers as 

 plucked are thrown into the feather box, the coarser 

 feathers being thrown on the floor. The main wing 

 and tail feathers are left on as are likewise some of 

 the feathers of the neck next the head. 



The most troublesome part of picking ducks is re- 

 moving the down. This may be removed to some ex- 

 tent by rubbing with the hand although care must 

 be taken not to bruise the skin severely. In some 

 cases the down is shaved off with a sharp knife. In 

 some of the commercial packing houses the duck's 

 body is sprinkled with powdered rosin and then 

 dipped into the hot water. This melts the rosin so 

 that the down and rosin can be rubbed off easily 



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