, 1888-01-18
HoosIER TURKEY FouNDRlEs."
How the Birds Are Gathered, Killed and
Pluoked In Indiana

How the Birds Are Gathered. Killed and
Pluoked In Indiana.
Turkey f~oundries'' are scattered over
the entire state. Six double mule teams
collect turkeys from within a radius of
ten miles and bring them TO this foundry
daily. No Hoosier farmer thinks of
dressing his own birds for the market,
but sells them on the hoof to the collect
ors, receiving six cents per pound for his
flock. The foundry, n building So by so
feet, without floor, in fact q mammoth
coop, holding 1,600 turkeys, is kept well
filled by these teams At one end is q
smaller building, the dressing ROOM,
about 90 by 10, where ten men, wading
almost knee deep in feathers, pick tur-
keys at five cents each from morning
until night. Each man dresses on an
average five an hour, or fifty cents for
the crew. Necks are wrung for Boston,
while Threats are stuck for the New York
market. They were dressing n la New
York today when visited by your CORE
spondent.
Entering the dressing rcom, attracted
by q tremendous gobbling from the
turks, there appeared ten men, each
with a bird suspended by tho feet by n
cord from n beam overhead, pulling
feathers for dear life. Beside each man
stood two barrels, one for large tail feath-
crs, and the broad, fiat wing feathers
that grow on the bend of the wing next
TO the body. This grade sells for feather
busters. The second barrel received all
soft body feathers, sold for many pur-
poses. As l entered, one picker finished
his bird, came and sat beside me; in
answer to inquiry rs TO how long it re-
quired to dress a bird, he said: 1--WE are
IN the last of a penful now just wait n
moment and time us; you will see some
fun"
Meanwhile fifty turkeys large and
small had been put into the cage, n pen
about eight feet square, but no picker,
even if he had finished his last bird of
the previous lot, might select one from
this and go to work; each as he finished
must wait for the last. Later develop
ments showed the justice of this. Con-
yersation among tho pnkers while
waiting the last man turned on the
number of good, fat, easy picking
hens among the new lot in the cage,
and one old twenty-five pound bull
whom nobody wanted. The mo-
ment the last man had finished and hung
up his bird. all made n grand rush for
the pen and in n moment returned carry
ing q large turkey by the feet. Arriving
at his station, each slipped both feet of
his catch through a moose in the cord,
and brings the bird down with force,
then grasps n sharp pointed knife and
runs it through the neck just back Of the
bill, cutting all the arteries, her the
wrestle with feathers begins.
One sweep of the hand takes every
tail feather into the barrel. Two
grabs do the same for the broad
feathers of the wings. With one down.
ward sweep a space large as the picker's
hand is laid bare from tail to neck. This
is kept up until the body is thoroughly
picked. Then the finger is hooked around
the large intestine and the bird is drawn.
Not a knife is used in the operation ex-
cept in killing the bird. The feet are
now freed from the moose, the head laid
on n block and chopped off, the skin of
the neck drawn back about an inch and
chopped OFF again, letting the skin of the
neck cover over the end where it is tied,
and our bird is ready for market. Do
you wonder that they sometimes acquire
n far away taste when served up at the
east? One picker from the time he stuck
his bird until he hung his bird up finished
oCCupleu just seven ana One-nalt MN
utcs. Finally he said he would tackle
the twenty-five pound bull" did so,
and finished him in just eight minutes
and twenty seconds.
l walked into the pen to sec them
caught. In would come n picker, cast q
critical eye over the lot in search of an
easy one, walk along, and with n never
failing swoop of the hand grab n turkey
by the thigh, then hold him up and blow
the feathers away from the under side of
the wing and rump. If no pin feathers,
o. K. if any, drop him and grab an
other, till q satisfactory one is found.
Consequently the last ones Of a lot Of
fifty are very hard TO pick, and as each
man finishes the last of the lot he is re-
quired to wait till all are done, thus Civ
ing each a fair chance to begin on the
easy ones.-Indianapolis Letter.