how long does it take you or did it take you?

I'm slow. Once a bird is dry, it will take me about 4 hours to put everything in, sew him up & pose him flying. Standing takes me a lot less time. I fight wings on every pose I do mainly because I just haven't figured out a good way to do them yet.

 

I did a mallard standing, last week. I had him dry but frozen, I pulled him out of the freezer at 5. started mounting at 7:30, right after dinner. I was done and left him alone after grooming at 10. while he was thawing, I preped wires body and neck.

Now for me that was my best time, and the specimen was great.

 

X2 I washed and dried a pintail this weekend and ran out of time so i threw him back in the freezer
and finished him later the next evening after he thawed and turned out great.

 

It sure does help when that is the case. My problem is generally all those big burn holes I put in them when I'm fleshing. The last 2 birds I've done, I washed & dried them. I put a manikin wrapped in wet paper towels in the body & some wet paper towels in the head so it didn't dry out. Still took forever to mount, but it does help to break it up.

 

to answer your question about the fridge, yes it is fine to bag and put in the fridge for a day or 2 if its going to be longer then i would refreeze it, if you are going to go this route i wouldn't put any caulk in it (if you use caulk) until you are ready to finish the bird out and hang up to dry. as to your first question, when i was a beginner i could spend 12 hours or more on one bird from start to finish, now from dryer to the wall ready to pose will typically take 35 to 45 minutes posing another 10 to 15 minutes depending on pose, and grooming ??????? depends on the bird, condition, pose and how much time i spend paying attention to something else. in the beginning stages don't get hung up that much on time, this will come with experience, just like your full time job, i'm sure that you are much more proficient at it now than you were when you first started out. if you do have to place in the fridge or back in the freezer make sure it is bagged well, overnight in most modern fridges will dry out the skin to the point you will have to rehydrate it to do anything with it, especially the delicate head and neck skin.

 

Thats is what I like doing, breaking it up in sections. One day I was do it all at once I just need a career change.... maybe next year...

 

35-45 min! setting eyes wiring,sewing up.........I'm bringin the stopwatch...lol

 

One of the worst thing a beginning taxidermist, or any taxidermist for that matter, can do is get too caught up on time. I went through a spell several years ago where my quality went backwards because I was too worried about how long certain steps should take. Each speciman is unique, and each pose is unique. Put the time into it to get it right and before you know it you will be breezing right along. The answer to your question for me is approx. 5 hours per duck(skin,flesh,wash,dry,mount,and pose). Excellent specimans in simple poses a little less and lots of damage and/or tricky pose a little more.

 

When I was learning to play the piano, I slowed the tempo way down until I knew the notes, then increased the speed. I'm approaching taxidermy in the same manner. Learn the skills well, first, then the speed will come pretty naturally. My pieces are in and out of the frig. several times. I, also, have a full time 'real' job. I have to break it down into steps so I can do a little each evening (when I have enough poop after working all day!) LOL

 

bring the stop watch on over, lol, but be prepared for a sermon on anatomy. as i have stated on here hundreds of times if the anatomy is correct or as close as possible, the rest will take care of itself, my birds feet are (usually) already injected and finished ready to go, how long should it actually take to run a wire in each wing? if you measured the carcass and marked the form for the correct wing attachment points and measured and marked it for the leg attachment points it shouldn't take more than a few minutes to slide a body and neck into the skin run the wires through it and lock them in place, i spend 2 minutes or less on each wing sewing the secondaries and tertials back to the elbow joint, sewing up an average duck or pheasant making stitches 3/16 to 1/4 inch apart? glue the head in place on the neck, and setting the eyes (i'm not talking about competition perfection with precise angles) but again if you cast the birds head or compared the artificial to the real head then the eye sockets are already lined up right put the eyes in slightly looking down and forward glue skin around the bill (minute or less) pin the ear holes of the skin back into the ear opening of the head shape the eyelids around the eyes, (use reference here because a birds eye isn't just a round hole shaped to match the circle of glass, or plastic, that you put back in.)

posing a bird is no different, if you got the anatomy right and used the measurments you took then moving the parts shouldn't be anymore difficult than it was moving them before you skinned the bird, 2/3's of the posing is done on my birds before i ever put the body in it. i caulk my birds but do most of it through small holes i make from the outside and only us it in key areas--wings, wing/shoulder joint, scaps, neck/body attachment point, tail area, the only area i will caulk before closing the bird up is the leg attachment points. this isn't rocket science and it doesn't have to take forever once you get some experience at it. one thing that does really help me is that i (99% of the time) follow a pattern that is the same for each bird, can be monotonous but it is kind of the assembly line mentality, do the same thing the same way and over time it becomes a routine that moves along very quickly. once you get the mechanical aspects of it down then you can spend the extra time you need to grooming and fine tuning things and still not cut into your time/profit margin.

 

what about tanning birds...would that give you more work time. I noticed in some dvds that some tan them and in others they don't. What is the advantage and disadvantages of tanning birds?

 

depends on what you are calling tanning. in 36 years personally haven't found a need for it, bird skin is already so thin that preservation isn't really even necessary if it is prepared correctly, fleshed, cleaned, washed completely, it will dry on its own. the speed with which it driesw can be controlled to a point by where and how you place it to dry. i bird set where air can flow freely around it, especially warm dry air will dry very quickly, if you place it in a cool place it will dry slower if you can place it someplace to restrict the air flow you can get it to dry very slowly. some of my competition mounts i place in a plastic container with a snap on lid and take it out each day only long enough to check it and make any adjustments that need to be made, you can get several days like this to watch and make adjustments before it stiffens up to the point it is locked in place.

 

Thanks mark11, I learned alot reading your disertation on bird assembly.

 

a lot depends on what you mean by mounting time for me the head is ready except for epoxy sculp [last minute around eyes] feet are already injected dried painted wrapped so is neck form carved sanded wing wires cut ,then and only then Bird is washed rinsed dried boraxed so mounting time for me is greatly reduced UNLESS you figure in everything else ,for me dry to mount and groom [flying birds are easier except turkeys] 45 minutes to one hour depending on feather condition pinny or not