MARKETING 



Saving the Feathers. The feathers from the ducks 

 form quite an important source of revenue to the 

 duck farmers. As stated before the value of the 

 feathers will a little more than pay for the cost of 

 picking and since this is a considerable item of ex- 

 pense the grower cannot afford to neglect the feath- 

 ers. The soft body feathers are kept separate from 

 the coarser feathers, the latter being thrown on the 

 floor as they are plucked. These coarser feathers 

 are later swept up and are commonly spoken of as 

 sweepings. Feathers from dry-picked ducks are su- 

 perior in quality and bring a better price but most 

 of the duck feathers now marketed from commercial 

 duck farms are scalded feathers. The feathers after 

 each day's killing are gathered up and spread out in 

 a loft where they can be placed in a layer not over 3 

 or 4 inches deep. This should be an airy place so as 

 to give the feathers a good place to dry out. On the 

 second day they are scraped up in a pile and then 

 spread out again, thus turning them over and chang- 

 ing their position. They are then left until they are 

 dry enough to sack which should be in a little over 

 a week. Unless the feathers are thoroughly dried 

 out they will heat when sacked and this will seri- 

 ously hurt their market quality. When dry they are 

 packed either in the large special feather sacks 

 made for this purpose or in smaller sacks, about as 

 big as two bran sacks, which will hold from 60 to 80 

 pounds of feathers. The feathers are shipped . to 

 regular feather dealers or manufacturers. 



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