The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-01-15
HOW TO DRESS AND SHIP POULTRY.

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HOW TO DRESS AND SHIP POULTRY.
In the first place, poultry should be
kept without food twenty-four hours;
full crops injure the appearance and are
liable to sour, and, when this does occur,
correspondingly lower prices must be ac-
cepted than obtainable for choice stock.
Never kill poultry by wringing the
neck.
To dress chickens kill by bleeding
in the mouth or opening the veins Of the
neck; hang by the feet until properly
bled. Leave head and feet on, and do
not remove intestines or crop. Scalded
chickens sell best to home trade, and
dry picked best to shippers, so that either
manner of dressing will do, if properly
executed. For scalding chickens, the
water should be as near the boiling
point as possible, without boil
ing; pick the legs dry before
scalding; hold by the head and
legs and immerse and lift up and down
three times; ii the head i simmersed it
turns the color of the comb and gives the
eyes shrunken appearance, which leads
buyers to think the fowl has been sick;
the feathers and pin feathers should then
be removed Immediately, very cleanly,
and without breaking the skin; then
"plump" by dipping ten seconds in wa
ter nearly OF quite boiling hot, and then
Immediately into cold water; hang in
cool place until the animal heat is entire
ly out. To dry-pick chickens properly,
the work should be done while the chick
ems are bleeding; do not wait and let the
bodies get cold. Dry-picking is much
more easily done while the bodies are
warm. Be careful and do not break and
tear the skin.
To dress turkeys observe the same
instructions as given for preparing chick
ems, but always dry-pick. Dressed tur-
keys when ry-picked, always sell best
and command better prices than scalded
lots, as the appearance is brighter and
mere attractive.
Ducks and geese should be scalded
in the same temperature of water as for
other kinds CT poultry, but it requires
more time for the water to penetrate and
loosen the feathers. Some parties adj
wise, after scalding, to wrap them in
blanket for the purpose of steaming, but
they must not be left in this condition
long enough to cook the flesh. Do not
undertake to dry-pick geese or ducks
just before killing for the purpose of
saving the feathers, as it causes the skin
to become very much infamed, and is a
great injury to the sale. Do not pick the
feathers off the head: leave the feathers
on for two or three inches on the neck.
Do not singe the bodies for the purpose
of removing any down or hair, as the
heat from the flame will give them an
oily and uusightly appearance. After
they are picked clean they should be
held in scalding water about ten seconds,
for the purpose of plumping, and then
rinsed off in clean cold water. Fat,
heavy stock is always preferred.
Before packing and shipping, poultry
should be thoroughly dry and cold, but
not frozen; the animal heat should be
entirely out of the body; pack in boxes
or barrels; boxes holding 100 to 200
pounds are preferable, and pack snugly;
straighten out the body and legs so that
they vii not arrive bent and twisted out
of shape; fill the packages as full as pos
sible, to prevent moving about on the
way; barrels answer better for chickens
and ducks than for turkeys and geese;
when convenient, avoid putting more
than one kind in package, mark kind
and weight of each description on the
package, and mark shipping directions
plainly on the cover.-Farm, Field and
iStockman.