I have been reading the archives, but I'm only getting more confused. I want to start birds, but have a few questions. Any help would be very much appreciated. Here goes:
1. Do you leave your skulls intact? If you do, how do you prefer to clean them. Is Sal-Soda a good choice? If not, what do you form the head with?
2. Is Borax the only thing I need to preserve the skin?
3. Do you split the upper part of the wing to get to the muscle?
Any tips would be appreciated.
Again, just starting. Going to order some video, but would like to know how the pros do it.
Thanks for responding.
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PLEASE don't start anything until you get the video and talk to my "bird brained" friends. (Said lovingly, Nancy. LOL) Sounds as if you are quite confused about the simplicity of this undertaking and they will help you immensely.
(Nancy...read me email on the pussom. Its from Venom507@aol.com)
Sure leave the original intack but clean the brains and everything out and rub borax and build skull up and turn the skin right side out,make sure you split back of head...do not try mounting birds without splitting back of head...and always severe the base of the neck first instead of the tail butt and you'll never go wrong...and I hope that this solves everything?
You see here is what you do make a longer then normal belly incision carefully pry skin from body using borax to absorb body juices o.k.
Next severe leg joint...then wing joints..then cut base of neck and skin down to tail butt and cut.
Sure like you said you must clean the muscle under the wing just make a incision and clean the meat out using borax all the meat will roll up fast into a nice neat ball,then you can sew that shut again...and proceed per usual,get a video or a library book or buy a book
Everybody has a different way of doing things, but in answer to you questions ...
I normally use the real head when mounting birds. I don't use the entire skull though. I snip away the back of the skull right where the neck muscles connect and also quite a bit of the bone under the eye sockets in the upper palate area. I use a wire wheel to clean the skull - no sal soda is needed. I rebuild the missing parts with clay, except that I roll up some fiberfill or cotton to fill the bulk of the space between the jawbones. (Saves weight.)
Borax is all I've ever used as a preservative on the skin.
I use a wing incision only on very large birds like turkeys or big geese. Otherwise I prefer to turn the wings and use caulking over the wrapped cotton to secure the feathers in place.
My methods are fairly old-fashioned (as am I.)
If you are just starting out I would suggest that you try to learn about a variety of methods and then choose what you are most comfortable with. You might end up using a blend of several different approaches which will become your OWN method.
Have fun with it.
Nancy M.
Nancy M.
.... sigh.
To 'do like the pros do'...do what the pros do on the videos.
Meanwhile...back at the ranch...Nancy M is right on target...like this ole 1,200 Year Highlander Immortal teached her 600 years ago.
~ ETCC