PREPARING POULTRY PRODUCTS 441 



should be dry-picked and graded to size. Turkeys and ducks 

 should be picked clean except where special markets desire 

 it otherwise. 



Geese should be picked clean. They should weigh 10 

 pounds or over and be of good quality. Under that weight 

 they are likely to be very red-skinned or dark-colored when 

 dressed. Geese should be packed as soon as properly cooled. 

 If left exposed to the air they take on an oily and disagreeable 

 appearance. 



Different classes of chickens are frequently dressed in 

 some special style, as leaving certain of the wing feathers 

 on fowl. Such a means of dressing acts as a means of quick 

 identification of certain classes of fowl not readily distin- 

 guished from other classes by the unskilled purchaser. 



Feathers. — A by-product of dressing any class of poultry 

 is feathers. There is ready market for all prime feathers 

 that have been properly cared for. As will be seen by the 

 quotations given below, white feathers are by far the most 

 valuable. They should therefore be kept from the colored 

 feathers, and wing and tail feathers should be kept from the 

 body feathers and may be sacked at once. Body feathers 

 should be placed in bins to dry and forked over every few 

 days to keep them from matting. Duck and geese feathers 

 bring a much higher price than the other classes. 



Comparative Pkices pee Pound on the Different Classes of Feathers. 



