86 
The Illustrated Book of Poultry. 
right hand, turning the thumb downwards at the same time, separates the vertebras, but it takes 
a rather strong arm to do it. Countrymen, and many others, attain the same object by taking the 
head in the right hand and swinging the fowl round by it ; one swing properly done will dislocate 
the spine. Another method is to strike a sharp blow on the back of the neck with a stick ; 
but any of these methods may cause much needless suffering in unskilful hands. It is true there 
is no “ instantaneous ” method of killing a fowl, the tenacity of life being very great ; but the actual 
operation should be only momentary, and we strongly advise all inexperienced amateurs to make 
sure of the matter by laying the neck on a block, and chopping off the head at a blow. What 
we have said as to the tenacity of life may be illustrated by saying that even after this capital 
operation the bird, if left to itself, will struggle violently all over the yard ; but this can, perhaps, 
hardly be called life in the true sense, and we may hope there is little or no conscious pain. 
The fowl should of course be first bandaged to prevent struggling, and, indeed, this ought 
to be done in all cases where the knife is employed, afterwards hanging up by the feet to bleed 
freely. When the head is cut off, the skin should afterwards be drawn neatly over the 
stump, and tied. 
Poultry should be plucked or picked whilst still warm, when the feathers will be removed 
with much less difficulty. Fowls are generally picked quite clean, but it looks better in the 
case of chickens to leave a few feathers about the tail. They will eat best if nothing further 
is done to them ; but it improves the appearance greatly for market to plunge the carcase, 
immediately after plucking, into a vessel of boiling water for a few moments, which will “plump” 
it a great deal, and make the skin look bright and clean. After scalding, turkeys and fowls should 
be hung by the legs, and waterfowl by the neck. For sending to market wholesale they should 
not be drawn, as they will keep much better without, and this is the proper business of the retailer; 
but in selling for consumption the birds should be properly prepared for table. Details of what 
is necessary in this respect, and other particulars bearing on the subject, will be found in the 
Chapter upon Table Poultry at the end of this work. 
Aged birds should, if possible, be hung for ten days or a fortnight before cooking, which may 
generally be done with the help of the charcoal just mentioned. If they are then half boiled, 
and the cooking finished by the fire, they will be found much more tender than if the roasting 
process alone be employed, and, indeed, if not over the age we have stipulated for, will be very 
good eating. Imwls over the two years and a half will hardly be worth eating at all. 
Passing from age to youth again, it may not come amiss to many amateurs to say a word 
as to the disposal of very young chickens. Where the space is very limited, and is all wanted 
for birds of first-rate quality, it is often impossible to keep the chickens till large enough for roasting ; 
they must be killed as soon as their comparative worthlessness from an exhibitor’s point of view can 
be determined. We have ourselves, when badly off for space, been thus obliged to kill to 
waste, where we should now make a chicken pudding. We cannot better describe this well-known 
Sussex dish than in the words of a correspondent of the Journal of Horticulture. “Take some,” 
he says, “according to the size of the pudding, of the least promising of your chickens, put them 
away to fast during six or seven hours, kill them [very young chickens should always be decapi- 
tated], have them picked quite clean, hang them in a cool larder for a day and night, and then 
proceed to cut them up, but do it properly. We have heard the cut of a coat criticised by its 
being said it looked as though it was chopped out with a spade, and we have seen chickens cut 
up as though the operation had been performed with a hatchet. First take out the crop, then take 
out all the inside ; cut off the feet, and put them in nearly boiling water (all the skin will then 
easily peel off), put them, the neck, the gizzard (having first taken out the inside), the liver, 
