I'm just finishing a flying drake American merg (gorgeous bird) and running into the same problem I've experienced numerous times with flying mounts of many mergansers. After degreasing and preparing the skin, the neck skin, which has to be large for these birds to eat their prey (this one had a 5 inch bluegill in its gullet), winds up very loose and hangs from my artificial neck. I've had this problem with hooded mergs also but seldom encounter the problem with other ducks. What I've done up to now is to do a loose wrap of the neck to bring the neck back to what would be a normal diameter. But doing so creates the potential problem of the skin drying with kinks and the feathers not lying smooth. So I'm curious if others have encountered this problem (I would imagine anyone doing a flying merg would have) and what good solutions might be.
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Bill, wrap your neck the same size as the original. Before pulling the skin over the head, place a thin layer of calk al oround the neck. The thing with these is you have to wathch the drying prosess. Taxi the skin down to fit your neck as it dries. You can even bag the bird and slow the drying time. These birds have alot of skin on the neck as they swell it in their displaying. There are also alot of fluids and fat around the neck, and you will need to replace that fat and fluid as to what you bird will be doing. You can call if you need more insite, 1-734-722-1224. Good luck J. Cart
If you're using DP, there's usually enough alum in it to take care of the problem as it dries. If you're using borax, there's a whole nuther set of problems to be encountered. You can't use glue as that's usually reactive to borax and wrapping the neck could possibly cause kinks though I doubt it. You could use epoxy hide paste or silicone caulk like they do in turkeys I suppose.
I have this problem with drake eiders to and mer. I usually use a foam neck just as I would for any duck and then I rap the crop with bating and i add some bating all around the neck to simulate the air and fluid there naturally. I also put some caulk to. Well hope this works email If you need
Cody you need to give credit to the person who let you figure it out on their birds.