PREPARING TABLE POULTRY

Taranaki Daily News, 27 November 1926, Page 6

PREPARING TABLE POULTRY

SOME HINTS FOR NOVICES. The chief aim of most small poultrykeepers is the production of eggs, but since tire best method of producing the laying birds is to raise them from the egg one's self, there is always a certain proportion of cockerels which, if rearing is to 'be made profitable, must be marketed at a paying price, and it is a common experience of the small producer that sending small lots to market alive results in a poor net return, because the cost of transit and market commission are relatively higher than with large lots of birds. The small producer, therefore, turns, very naturally, to a consumer, who pays a better price, and really gets a more satisfactory article than can be purchased at shops. At the sa.me time the consumer requires that the birds should be killed, plucked and dressed, especially as this results in a little saving in carriage, owing to the useless parts having been removed.

Now this is where, to put it plainly, many people make a mess of it. It is, of course, the most unpleasant part of of the business since few people enjoy killing things. and dressing them. If this method is to be followed, however — and there is no doubt that it is a paying one—the unpleasantness has to be faced. Like many other things, it can be made much lees unpleasant if certain little dodges are practised, and the object of this article is to try and simplify the matter for the novice. In the first place, a fowl should never be taken direct from the chicken-house and killed. If a lot of food is left in the digestive organs it commences to ferment, and a disagreeable odour pervades the carcass all through subsequent operations. A fowl which is to be killed should be shut up in a clean coop away from all food for twenty-four hours, during which <;me the food will be completely 7 digested and the organs emptied. In hot weather plain water may be\ placed in the coop in case the bird is thirsty, and the coop should be dark, so that it may not be unduly agitated by being shut up. Killing and plucking are practically one operation, for the feathers come out much easier while the bird is still warm. In order that the feathers may not be wasted, procure a good grain sack and nail three laths together into a triangle about a foot in diameter. This should be put in the mouth of the sack to keep it open, and one corner should rest on the tabic and be kept down by a weigh or email clamp. Take the fowl by the legs with the left hand, grasping it round the thighs, and put the tail and the tip of the wings into the same hand. Fold all together quite firmly. Take the head in the right-hand, placing the thumb and finger behind the bones at the back, and, holding it lightly, place it so that the neck rests upon your own right thigh. Bend the head back at right angles. Up to tin's point the bird is not injured or hurt in any way. Now holding the lege and wings quite securely, give the head a firm and determined pall, stopping only when a sudden jerk shows that the joints have parted. It takes much longer to escribe than to perform tiie operatiton, which takes a second. Do not be alarmed if the fowl flaps about for some time aftewards—it would do the same if its head were quite off—but start plucking the legs, holding the bird head downwards to allow the blood to flow 1 into the head and leave the flesh clean and white. When the legs have been plucked, put the bird on the table, as a novice will need both hands to pluck the wings and breast —one to hold the skin down, the other to pull out the feathers. If care is taken not to pull too many at a time, and always to pull in the direction in which they grow, there is no fear of tearing the skin, but a beginner must proceed carefully, as nothing spoils the appearance than a torn breast. The feathers will be put, into the bag as plucked, except the long pinions of the wings and tail, which should be kept separate. They are the least valuable, but a certain number may be used for various purposes, pipe-clean-ing, for example. The others may be used at home for stuffing pillows and cushions, or if sufficient are collected to make them worth selling, they fetch quite a good price. The feathers should be baked in a not too hot oven before being used in pillows. When every bit of quill has been picked out, the bird should be singed to remove the hair, a flashy fire of straw or a taper being the best for the purpose. Next cut off the feet at the knees.

Then sever the. head at the place where tha joints are broken, and separate the gullet and windpipe from their attachments. Cut a slit down the side at the rear of the bird, as small as possible, consistent witli being able to introduce one’s hand. Carefully detach all the entrails from the body by passing the hand all over inside, and it will be found that the whole of the interior can be removed in one mass. If neatly done there should be no blood inside or out, but if there is it should be .sponged off. The heart,' liver, gizzard, etc., are carefully detached from the rest, the gall bladder being cut out of the liver, and the gizzard opened and washed clean.

These choice parts are then put back in the body, together with the neck which should be cut off close, leaving sufficient skin to cover the opening. A piece of thin twine should be tied to the end of the lege, both of which are doubled forward and pressed against the sides, the twine being then passed round to. keep the legs and wings close against the body. A better finish is given if the bird is placed in a shallow trough with a weight on the breastbone and allowed to remain till cold and stiff.

For despatching nothing is more suitable than a handbag lined with straw, wrapping the bird in a sheet of grease-proof paper before placing in the bag. HOW EGGS BECOME STALE. The effect of age upon an egg is to dry its contents and reduce them to a small compass. If eggs are not occasionally turned the yolk and white are liable to adhere together. That i« why with eggs in an incubator turning is essential. An egg that is exposed to the weather, but protected from lie eun, rain and frost, will lose more than half its original weight in twelve months. In other words, kept under similar conditions, twenty-seven eggs at the end of eix months will weigh less than twenty two newly-laid ones. Under these adverse conditions it has been found that an egg will lose daily on a yearly average from .05 to .08 of a gramme. During cold anddamp days evaporation falls to .o'3 of a gramme, and in dry and warm weather it rises to .12 of a gramme. Evaporation is half the annual daily average in winter, and double the annual daily average in summer. That means a daily loss four times greater in hot weather than in cold. It is, therefore, safest when storing eggs for hatching purposes to keep them in a temperature of from 50 deg. to 55 degrees. The shell of an egg is porpus, the air can permeate it, and there is constant evaporation going on from the time the egg is laid.