Preparing Bird Skins

[tjd]

Great job and photo essay, Chris!

I like to prepare my own materials, and if you have any questions please drop me a line.

Sorry I couldn't attend the OOFS demo, I had to get some school work done...after I finished thawing out. That Ray Tucker is one tough hombre!

Best,

Tim

[Mataura mayfly]

If this is your first time tackling such a task, I reckon you did great!

I tend to do things a little different, but that is just the ways I was taught and the techniques I have developed. Animal hides I tend to salt before fleshing, bird skins I do not bother with the salting.
If everyone is comfortable with a possible "blood & guts" photographic essay of stripping the hide from an Australian Possum and the preparation of the pelt for possible overseas postage, I will run a similar series.
In regard to "fleshing" the removal of fat and flesh membrane, I like to use an old metal spoon, teaspoons work well for smaller birds, dessert or soup spoons work well for larger birds and small game (Hare- Possum sizes) and tablespoons for anything larger. I do not like a sharp blade for the reason I tend to be a bit impatient and "bull at a gate" when it comes to stripping flesh from hides and it is a technique of rolling the flesh membrane from the hide more than cutting it off that leaves the hide cleaner (for me anyhow) and lessens the chance of cuts to the pelt. The animal hides flesh a lot easier if they are salted and rolled flesh to flesh for a couple of days after skinning.
Wings can be a challenge. I like to try to roll the skin back over the flesh, not unlike rolling ones sleeves up. If you are lucky the skin can be coerced up to the mid joint with manipulation and thumb pressure rather than blade cutting. Once at the mid joint of the wing the joint can be separated- small pruning garden shears are ideal for this. Borax can then be packed inside the skin "tube" where the muscle and wing bones were.
I tend to skip the washing stage..... unless there is an amount of blood or membrane on the hair/feather side of the pelt. I feel the borax treatment works a little faster and better on "dry" bird skins and the tanning formula I use is a chemical bath that thoroughly wets and washes the skin during soaking- for animal hides likely for overseas sending.
If borax treating either bird or animal pelts I tack the hide skin side up on a flat board with either small galvanised flathead nails, or a staple gun, slightly stretching the still pliable hide in the process. Liberal coating of borax powder to the flesh side and store somewhere out of direct sunlight for a few days.

That is just how I do it, all you have done and shown so well with your photographs will do just as well and leave you with a plethora of wonderful tying materials.

[cassady]

Thanks all for the kind comments.

If everyone is comfortable with a possible "blood & guts" photographic essay of stripping the hide from an Australian Possum and the preparation of the pelt for possible overseas postage, I will run a similar series.

That'd be great!

The wings had been removed from the hide before I got them -- I suspect it was how the fellow I got them from was taught to skin a bird, although I'd have to ask to be sure. And speaking of wings, if you were really paying attention (I was waiting for a comment from Ray), there are two pelts but three sets of wings. Rather than being a prehistoric pheasant (I recall reading somewhere that early birds had two sets of wings), there was a set of teal wings that my friend had been saving in the freezer for training his new bird dog, but gave them to me instead.

I'm curious how to best deal with the head so as to save the feathers there -- as I think I mentioned, I removed the skull (and beak), but, if I recall correctly, most of the full skins I have include the beak... what's the best way to deal with that important area?

Oh, and besides a disastrously failed attempt before my teens with a squirrel when I was about 10, this is my first effort at a task like this.

Thanks again for following along,

Chris

[Kelly L.]

Great tutorial. I am a bit squeamish on this kind of thing. But it is good to know stuff, just in case....

[Mataura mayfly]

Chris,
In my mind there is no great advantage to retaining the beak..... not like we are going to use it as a tying material, so no real need for it to be there. Retaining the beak can help prevent the head skin from curling on drying if you do not pin the hide to a board. As any pelt dries it shrinks and tends to pull the outer edges in toward the centre, the extremities often curl and the head skin can do a complete circle. If really dry this section can snap/tear if you try to unravel it. This is where the smallest feathers are, so it is a nice piece of the pelt to keep in good condition.
Retaining the beak can also give you a "hold" point to grasp the top of the pelt and pluck the wee small feathers from the skull region.

In regard to head skinning (after splitting the neck underside from the breast to the underside of the beak with a sharp blade) use your thumbs between the skin and flesh to roll/pull the skin off the neck to the skull, again a teaspoon can be a great tool to help pry the skin from the flesh/bone region. Pushing the bowl of the spoon between skin and flesh is often easier than trying to slip your thumb in there and being thinner in section than the average thumb it is less prone to splitting/tearing the skin.
Try to coerce the skin from the skull around the eye sockets, then using a small pair of scissors, (similar to your tying scissors), snip the skin as close to the eye opening as you can. This is not taxidermy, so you do not need to retain all the detail like eyelashes, but snip it in close. Roll the skin down to the beak root and sever the beak so that all soft fleshy membranes stay connected to the carcass and the beak is retained on the pelt.

It is all easy to see in my mind, harder to explain by typing! I have been doing this kind of thing, or have been watching it be done since before I was of school age. It is kind of second nature to me.
For a first attempt, you should be proud. You beat my early attempts hands down!

[Ruard]

If you do not want to use Borax then alcohol is a good alternative.

Greeting

Ruard

[William Anderson]

Wonderful post, Cassidy. I have not gone down this road, but it's great to see those who have. Thanks for such an informative series. I'll check back to see how this turns out.

w

[cassady]

After roughly 48 hours:



And here's the head. I'll definitely go with the spoon (and the mason jar cap - that's a great idea) next time.



After these shots, I gave them another rub of borax and put them to bed for the night.

I had a lid on the tupperware container they were in, mostly to prevent the cat from getting into them; I've now removed the lid. I figure the moisture is supposed to get out, right?

[Mataura mayfly]

Yes, lid off the tupperware would be a good idea. The borax will absorb and dissipate the moisture, but it should be able enter the atmosphere rather than be contained in the container. If you feel a lid is required, use a breathable membrane like a brown paper bag or tyvek building wrap paper.

[Boris]

Nice thread Cassidy. Love seeing home prepared stuff and methods.


Jeff,

if you show some of what you did with those hares we took a few summers ago that would a good example because the hides are fantastic. Not sure if you have the photos to go with it but I endorse your tanning skills!