THE POULTRY AND EGG INDUSTRY EN EUROPE 25 
usually sit on boxes or benches. Each one may kill and completely 
pick the whole bird or one may kill and remove the coarse feathers 
and another remove the pin feathers. 
The killing and bleeding are done in one operation. The picker 
takes the bird from the coop, which is usually on the floor by In- 
side, draws the wing feathers down to the feet so that the wings 
and feet are held in the left hand, and stuns it by hitting its head 
against the coop. Then grasping the head between two fingers of 
the right hand in such a way that the back of the head is in the 
palm of the hand, the bird is stretched tautly across the lap and a 
quick turn of the hand severs the head from the neck and pulls 
it away about an inch. There is no break in the skin. The blood 
settles in the space between the head and neck, none escaping from 
the body. 
This method of bleeding the bird, whereby the blood is not re- 
moved from the body but concentrated in the neck, has but two 
advantages to the packer. One is that the method of dressing is 
cleaner, as no blood is spattered on the pickers, the feathers, or 
the body of the bird. The other is that there is less shrinkage in 
dressing, as the bird weighs more with the blood in it. It would 
seem that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. When ex- 
posed in the market the neck of the bird is the first portion of 
the bird to decompose and the gteenish decomposition running up 
the neck toward the shoulders can not be considered as giving an 
appetizing appearance. This large mass of blood in the neck pre- 
vents the birds from being carried in cold storage, because of the 
very rapid decomposition which takes place when the bird is re- 
moved and thawed for sale. 
After killing, the bird is picked in more or less haphazard fash- 
ion while held in the picker's lap. A good picker dresses from 10 
to 12 birds per hour. 
When the feathers have been removed, the bird goes to the fore- 
man who inspects it and removes any pin feathers which may have 
been overlooked by the picker. He then squeezes the butts, ties 
the hock joints together loosely with string, and breaks the breast 
and coracoid bones by hitting the carcass with a short club in the 
region of the wishbone. The flesh is then drawn forward toward 
the front of the bird with the hands. Xext the stern is struck 
against a wall or a post to flatten it and the body is placed in a 
shaping trough. 
These shaping troughs are made of two boards approximately 
seven-eighths inch thick and about 3 feet long, with edges nailed 
together at right angles. The back board is 6 inches wide and the 
front board 5 inches, making a shelf 5 inches wide. The troughs 
may be used singly or made into racks by nailing boards on each end 
of the troughs, so that there is a space of about 10 inches between the 
shelves. The shelves are set at an incline, sloping toward the back, 
with the front edge about '2 inches higher than the rear. 
The birds are laid in the troughs breast down and feet doubled up 
under the breasts, stern against the back board, with the head and 
neck hanging over the front edge. The birds are packed closely, side 
by side, and are prevented from falling over by a brick placed against 
07730°— 26 1 
