MARKETING 



with the hand leaving the body clean. Pin feathers 

 are usually removed by grasping them between the 

 thumb and a dull knife. 



In some packing houses, ducks are steamed before 

 picking. Where this is done they are picked clean 

 and the wing and tail feathers are pulled before 

 steaming takes place. Six or eight ducks which 

 have been bled are hung at the same time in the top 

 of a steam box or barrel which can be made air- 

 tight and the steam turned on until the soft feathers 

 of the breast come off easily. The length of time 

 to steam depends on the temperature of the steam 

 itself and varies from one-half to 2 minutes. In some 

 cases the ducks are hung in a steam box with the 

 the heads outside so as to prevent the steam from 

 coming into contact with the heads, possibly dis- 

 coloring them. 



On Long Island women are used very largely for 

 picking and they secure for this service 6 cents per 

 duck. A good picker should do 75 ducks or even 

 more a day. The value of the feathers will slightly 

 more than pay for the cost of picking. 



Picking usually begins early in the morning about 

 6 o'clock and is generally finished by noon or soon 

 after. Most duck raisers figure on doing their kill- 

 ing and picking during the first half of the week and 

 do not like to kill if they can help it during the latter 

 days of the week. 



Dry Picking. Where the market requires it, the 

 ducks must be dry picked. In doing this the pro- 



107 



