372 



POULTRY CULTURE 



birds an hour. The poultry packing plant usually pays about 

 one cent per bird to the sticker who pulls the larger feathers 

 and then passes the carcass on to pickers who finish picking 

 and pinning. To these latter three cents a piece is paid. An 

 average picker will finish fifty to one hundred broilers a day. 

 Some pickers remove first the breast feathers, then the thigh 

 feathers, then the back, and last the wing and tail. Others 

 remove first the tail and wing feathers, by grasping firmly and 



Fig. 130.- 



-Holding the bird until it 

 stops bleeding. 



Fig. 131.- 



-Removing 

 feathers. 



the breast 



giving a quick twisting movement, then the breast at the lower 

 portion, working upward. The breast is easily torn. Next 

 the feathers of the thigh. These feathers are removed by a 

 sweeping or striking movement (Figs. 130-133). 



If the neck is discolored and small specks of blood appear, 

 the bird has not been thoroughly bled, probably due to an 

 improper cut. If bleeding stops lief ore the process is complete, 

 scrape the blood from the mouth and stroke downward. 



