Cleaning Birds: Dry Plucking

Dry plucking is done in two stages. First, rough pluck the bird to remove the larger feathers. Keep your fingers dry so the feathers don't stick to your skin. The next stage involves removing the remaining down and pinfeathers by wax picking. Paraffin wax is melted in a metal bowl containing water. Once the water is heated enough to melt the wax (which floats on top of the water), the bird is dipped thorough the wax is then peeled or scraped off, taking with it the down, pinfeathers and any other feathers that remain after rough plucking. The few bristles of hairs that still remain after wax picking can be removed by singeing with a propane torch or brown paper.