i have only done one turkey, and the wings got banged up in the tumbler. how do you keep them from getting so banged up. my tumbler doesnt have baffles in it and it only turns 17 turns a minute. is it just that i need the baffles. also the bird seemed to move to one side or the other during tumbling. its just a little under 1/2 full of corn cobb grit. any help would be appreciated. thanks in advance.
bob
Return to Bird Taxidermy Category Menu
Bob, I'm no expert but I just did one and didn't have any problems. I do have baffles in my tumbler. Maybe that's the key. 17 turns a minute sounds about right.
My bird also wanted to move to the end of the tumbler. I just checked it periodically and moved it back to center.
Some take the wings off. I'm already taking the legs and tail off. I have enough "putting back together" to do so I doubt I'll ever do that.
Some don't recommend tumbling at all. They hang the bird up and blow dry all the way. That's an option.
Good luck
pat
That's about the only thing that could cause damage to your wings, especially when the tumbler doesn't have baffles. I always remove the legs and leg bones from turkeys because I always use the knee to knee incision. It makes working with the heavy wires and forms so much easier as well.
If there are no baffles in your tumbler, what's tumbling the bird?
...are you leaving it in the tumbler? If you over-do-it that might be the problem.
Crowd it a little more, add material so it cant move so much.
The odds are that you have a Burr somewhere in your tumbler. Any explosed bolt heads or screw heads. Look on the door and see if there are any screw or bolt heads. If you have wood baffles look for splinters of any sort. Give the entire inside and once over for any harsh edges. Make sure your tumbler is filled 1" below center line.
I used to use a old dryer for a tumbler. But now i use a big round cooler, but the turkey in add some corn cobb grit & roll around on the shop floor. No more damage to the wings . If you have kids they love to help out dad...
We do a slew of birds a year and about 90 turkeys and I don't tumble a single one of them. I don't like fixing split ends. Just take the skin out of the degreaser and let hang a while to dry. Place in a box or tub with corn cob grit and move around a couple times and then blow dry. You'll find that your birds are much slicker with a minimal amount of work.
the legs of the turkey are off. so is the tail. i do those separate. the tumbler doestn have baffles and turns 17 turns in a minute. i tumbled for 20 minutes. i will order more corn cobb grit for this next bird. any other ideas? as always on this great informational site, thanks for all the help.
bob
By the time you move the skin around a couple of times, change out tumble mixes that have become too wet, rehydrate over dried skins, clean up the mess that falls out when drying the bird, and fretting over damaged feathers; what's the big benefit in tumbling? When I used one, I never really saw it as saving any time. I'm perfectly aware of the 'to each his own' or 'different strokes for different folks' idea. And, I'm not trying to convice anyone to do things my way; I just genuinely want to know what the big attraction is to tumbling.
20 minutes is too long. Don't replace blowdrying with tumbling, I only tumble for 5 minutes, anymore than that and they'll get all busted up.