386 POULTRY CULTUEE 



Marketing Dressed Pigeons. — In dressing squab pigeons 

 for market they are selected at 3.5 to 4.5 weeks of age or just 

 at a time when they will leave the nest. Up to this time the 

 parent birds have fed them and they are fat, plump and the 

 flesh tender. 



On the day squabs are to be marketed catch them in the 

 morning before they are fed by the parents, so that their 

 crops will be empty. 



Squabs are killed in the same way as poultry, that is, by 

 cutting the veins in the back of the neck and piercing and 

 destroying the brain. They are then picked and cooled and 

 shipped, iced in barrels. 



If they are to be shipped unpicked they are usually killed 

 by wringing or breaking the neck. This is done by' placing 

 the thumbs against the place where the neck joins the head. 



In picking all feathers are removed except those on the 

 head. 



Squabs should be graded according to size, quality, and 

 color of the skin. The carcasses should be packed with 

 breasts up. 



TRUSSING 



For local trade it is often necessary to prepare the fowl for 

 the oven. This preparation is called trussing. In trussing 

 roasters the carcass is washed and singed, then the tendons are 

 removed by making an incision 2 inches long in the back of the 

 shank, and the tendons one by one are pulled out by aid of a 

 strong hook. This removal of the tendons from the leg greatly 

 improves the quality of the meat of the drumstick as it re- 

 moves the gristly tendinous portions. Cut the shanks off 

 about 1 inch below the hock-joint. Cut the skin on the back 

 of the neck from a point directly between the wings down to 

 the base of the skull. Separate the bony part of the neck 

 from the "gullet" (esophagus) and "windpipe" (trachea) and 

 cut off the neck just in front of the wishbone. Pull the "wind- 

 pipe" and "gullet " out and cut off the skin at a point just back 

 of the head. This leaves onlj'- the skin of the neck, which is 

 rolled back from the front part of the carcass to expose the 

 wishbone. Scrape the breast muscle from the wishbone and 



