ed in some
markets such as Boston makes a somewhat better looking carcass and also
increases the value of the feathers, but is generally considered too
slow and too highly skilled a process for use on the average duck farm.
[Illustration: FIG. 45. Holding the head in one hand and the feet in the
other, the picker dips the duck in water heated nearly to the boiling
point and souses well to work the water into the feathers until they
pluck easily. (_Photograph from the Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S.
Department of Agriculture._)]
_Picking._. After scalding the picker starts removing the feathers. In
doing this the duck is held either on the lap or on a board nailed to
the side of the feather box. The feathers on the breast are picked
first, then working down toward the tail, pulling the feathers with the
grain. The soft body feathers as plucked are thrown into the feather
box, the coarser feathers being thrown on the floor. The main wing and
tail feathers are left on as are likewise some of the feathers of the
neck next the head.
The most troublesome part of picking ducks is removing the down. This
may be removed to some extent by rubbing with the hand although care
must be taken not to bruise the skin severely. In some cases the down is
shaved off with a sharp knife. In some of the commercial packing houses
the duck's body is sprinkled with powdered rosin and then dipped into
the hot water. This melts the rosin so that the down and rosin can be
rubbed off easily with the hand leaving the body clean. Pin feathers
are usually removed by grasping them between the thumb and a dull knife.
In some packing houses, ducks are steamed before picking. Where this is
done they are picked clean and the wing and tail feathers are pulled
before steaming takes place. Six or eight ducks which have been bled are
hung at the same time in the top of a steam box or barrel which can be
made air-tight and the steam turned on until the soft feathers of the
breast come off easily. The length of time to steam depends on the
temperature of the steam itself and varies from one-half to 2 minutes.
In some cases the ducks are hung in a steam box with the heads outside
so as to prevent the steam from coming into contact with the heads,
possibly discoloring them.
On Long Island women are used very largely for picking and they secure
for this service 6 cents per duck. A good picker should do 75 ducks or
even more a day. The value of the feathers will slightly more than pay
for the cost