Opinions please. Waxing vs. Singeing

[CMV]

I am getting ready to process some waterfowl later this week. I generally just skin the ducks and geese I process to save time because the pin feathers are such a pain to deal with. This time I want to keep the skins on the birds, so I am forced to look at some alternate methods of pin feather removal.

So, which do you use? And why?

I'd love some input. Thanks.

 

[bigredfeather]

Not sure if it would work for ducks, but the oldtimers used a brown paper bag lit on fire to singe the pin feathers off. Never tried it, but have heard many people suggest.

 

[Rod W]

Waxing isn't hard to do but must be done right, in order to peel the cooled wax from the carcass it must be on thick enough. Sometimes it may take up to 4-5 coats of wax! Aprox. a 1/8 inch buildup of wax seems to be right. Depending on the size of the ducks, get a metal container large enough to easily imerse the bird, fill with hot water, and again depending on how MANY birds you wish to do at a time determines the amount of wax to put on top of the water. I would suggest only doing 2-3 the first time. Put about a pound of parafin wax into the bucket oF HOT water and heat until the wax MELTS. (WAX IS FLAMMABLE) Dip a bird into the bucket, competely submerging the bird, hang onnto the feet, withdraw and hang to cool (1-2minutes) dip and hang the second and third birds just as described until a thick layer of wax has built up covering the ducks. CAUTION: If the wax is to hot when you imerse the first birds the wax will be paper thin when it cools requiring MANY, MANY coats. After cooling, the wax can be easily peeled if it is thick enough. after peeling the wax, it can be put right back in the bucket and reused! The finished ducks will be the prettiest birds you will ever put in a roaster!!

 

[CMV]

What would you recommend the water temp be to melt the wax?

 

[Rod W]

I guess we never worried about the temp, we just left the container of hot water and wax on the burner until the wax was melted. Yes, sometimes the water would come to a boil and I guess that would be why the wax was so hot we had to let it cool.