long term freezing of birds

[Shooterschoice]

i have a couple of birds (golden phesants) i wont be able to get to them for atleast 7 months so i was wondering the best way to freeze them to prevent freezer burn. how do you freeze your birds for short and long term?

[txoutdoors]

Double Zip-Lock bag. Get as much air out as you can.

[byrdman]

use a bread bag,squeeze air out and wrap tape around bag at tail ,avoid paper towleing on feet,head,beak......7 months is not too long for a fresh bird  in a good freezer

[DL]

I use packing wrap. That's the industrial grade Saran wrap. I wrap them up tight and tape it. I have birds that I have frozen since 2005 that are in great shape when thawed.

[Shooterschoice]

sweet thanks everyone!

[silverwings]

and then you could fill the ziplock  bags with water and make giant icecubes with your birds in n them, which would guarantee no air will get to them until you thaw them back out (or the freezer goes bad!!!) 

[derbrans]

I use packing wrap. That's the industrial grade Saran wrap. I wrap them up tight and tape it. I have birds that I have frozen since 2005 that are in great shape when thawed.

When you say packing wrap, do you mean the shrink wrap stuff you can buy at Lowes on the big rolls?  The stuff by all the moving supplies?  I am looking for the best way to freeze birds for a long period of time too.

[DL]

Yes that's the stuff.

[derbrans]

Thank you.

[2wbdft]

bags get nicked... and if your not careful the air will get to the "whatever" is inside that block.

if youre looking for ultra long term and quite a bit more rugged, look into watertubing them. essentially its the very same thing as the zippy bags but a capped pvc tube of appropriate size.

skin the bird, make traceings/notes of body/neck size, maybe a note or two about a particular variation in bill/feet coloration, leave all the fat on it, prewash to completely remove clots/dirt/debris, rinse a little, roll the skin up folding the neck into the cavity section first then rolling from wing to wing. take a piece of pvc (capped at one end) and slide the birdy cigar into the pipe, fill with water... take another cap drill a tiney hole in the end and place on open end of water filled tube. stand it up in teh freezer overnight to freeze then the next day tape over that little hole with some ducttape.

The individual that showed me this has had various species frozen for 18 years with no ill effects...

[2wbdft]

bags get nicked, packing wrap has open pockets and seams ... if your not careful the air will get to the "whatever" is inside that block.

if youre looking for ultra long term and quite a bit more rugged, look into watertubing them. essentially its the very same thing as the zippy bags but a capped pvc tube of appropriate size.

skin the bird, make traceings/notes of body/neck size, maybe a note or two about a particular variation in bill/feet coloration, leave all the fat on it, prewash to completely remove clots/dirt/debris, rinse a little, roll the skin up folding the neck into the cavity section first then rolling from wing to wing. take a piece of pvc (capped at one end) and slide the birdy cigar into the pipe, fill with water... take another cap drill a tiney hole in the end and place on open end of water filled tube. stand it up in teh freezer overnight to freeze then the next day tape over that little hole with some ducttape.

The individual that showed me this has had various species frozen for 18 years with no ill effects...

[byrdman]

he's freezing for 10 months...not putting in a time capsule....lot of work ...and a wet(yuucch) skin to work with...sounds ok for long term....but for short term.....bag em up

[MRN]

he's freezing for 10 months...not putting in a time capsule

LMAO!  Though that's a great idea for long-term freezing, I was thinking the same thing.  You can put it in a low-end garbage bag for a year and it'll mount up fine.

[Jimmy Rimrock]

2005 ?!? is long term ?!!?

That's "just the other day" for some of my birds. 

I vacuum seal and manual stop before the eyeballs pop out.  I usually skin and prep prior to freezing, lets me get a longer backlog by saving freezer(s) space.

[bowerbird]

..and wrap some wetted cloth around the legs, and shoot the head and neck up with some water before freezing, more juice before equals more juice after....hadsome birds on ice for 25 years,,mounted up ok