Sorting Market Ducklings. When a pen of ducklings which are being fattened are deemed ready to be killed they are driven up to the killing house and a few of them at a time driven into a small pen where it is easy to catch and examine them. Each duck as it is caught is examined to make sure that it is in proper market condition. The examination consists of feeling of the duck's body to see that it has a good smooth breast so that the breast bone cannot be readily felt. If it is in that condition it is ready to kill. Ducks which do not show this condition are thrown out and returned to the yards where they are fed for a longer period unless it is desired to ship them alive.
At the proper season of the year when breeders for the next season are to be selected, suitable birds for that purpose are picked out from the market lots as they are examined. In any lot of ducks there will be found some cripples. It is common practice to sort these out and group them together in a pen by themselves where they are held until they are in suitable condition for marketing. It is doubtful whether it pays to hold these cripples as they are hard to get in good condition and in many cases are probably kept and fed at a loss. Some ducklings will show twisted wings but as a rule they are thrifty and will fatten readily and be in good market condition.
Killing. As the ducklings suitable for killing are selected, 10 or 12 of them, depending upon the capacity of the killing room, are hung up by their feet, the head being fastened down by means of a hook or else weighted down by means of a blood can hung from a hook inserted through the bill. By means of a long, narrow bladed sharp knife the veins in the throat just beyond the skull are severed so as to cause free bleeding. The blood flows either into the blood can or into a trough above which the birds are hung. The birds are not stuck or brained unless it is desired to dry pick them nor are they as a rule stunned by hitting them on the head before bleeding. In some states, however, the law requires that all birds bled shall first be stunned in this manner. The bleeding of the ducks causes their death and they are allowed to hang until they are thoroughly bled out. They are then taken down, the blood washed off of their heads and placed on a table or on the floor convenient to the pickers, other ducks being hung in their places.
