I just skinned a Pearl Grey Guinea a couple days ago... another of my free range flock that flew the fence into my dog's 1/2 acre yard, and he paid the price for it (at least it wasn't a Hen this time). I have 3 high energy/high prey drive dogs that I do not trust around my birds, and 2 that could care less about the birds (1 is lazy/docile, the other is old and blind). If I am not around when a bird flies over the fence, the birds are toast. If I am out there, or anywhere outside the 3 BAD dogs ignore the birds like they are invisible. Sneaky jerks. The meat was so badly bruised I just ended up just stripping most of it off the bones and simmering it with some garlic for my old blind dog (he was thrilled and the other BAD dogs sat drooling while he got to feast). Not a total loss of a bird, but just about. Infuriates me tho, I need those free range birds out ranging my land eating ticks.
When I found the bird (because the rest of the flock alerted me by squawking their heads off) it was fresh and warm, but dead, with blood and feathers everywhere. I skinned it whole the best I could but it was a bloody mess, and the body was missing lots of feathers and torn pretty badly under one of the wings, so it is not the prettiest looking skin, even after I cleaned it up some. Too many feathers missing to look pretty. I hung it on my gate and took a couple pics of it after I was done, but skipped taking pics of all of my skinning steps and how I deal with curing and drying the inside of the skin since it was all so bloody/messy and there were lot of tears/holes in the skin from the dogs' teeth. Not worth using for any how-to pics. (The wings are flipped forward in these pics, it hung on the gate better that way).
Skinning is a summer time project for me... with the cool and damp weather right now, the drying isn't going so well with this one. There is still a little meat in the wings and the tail area, and that all needs to dry/dehydrate quickly (think jerky)... it definitely dries much better and quicker in 90-100 degree weather (OUTSIDE). I don't scrape the skin, but I do use a mix of salt and and cornstarch pressed into the skin to help it dry quick. It's not soft and supple like leather, it stiffens so I need to lay them flat or nail them to a board with the wings spread while they are drying. (I don't really consider the salt and cornstarch step as curing, it just helps with the drying.. and maybe odor control). I just brush it off after 3-4 days of drying and they skin's ready to sell. I didn't have an issue with any of them going rancid or smelling with this drying method. I'm planning on doing an article with good detailed pics and a step by step descriptions of my method for getting the skin off in one piece, (for that thing) as soon as the weather warms up...
Hmm, I only charge $30-35 for my dry skins depending on the color, (or $15 for fresh/raw)... maybe I should jack up my prices a little, lol.
When I found the bird (because the rest of the flock alerted me by squawking their heads off) it was fresh and warm, but dead, with blood and feathers everywhere. I skinned it whole the best I could but it was a bloody mess, and the body was missing lots of feathers and torn pretty badly under one of the wings, so it is not the prettiest looking skin, even after I cleaned it up some. Too many feathers missing to look pretty. I hung it on my gate and took a couple pics of it after I was done, but skipped taking pics of all of my skinning steps and how I deal with curing and drying the inside of the skin since it was all so bloody/messy and there were lot of tears/holes in the skin from the dogs' teeth. Not worth using for any how-to pics. (The wings are flipped forward in these pics, it hung on the gate better that way).
Skinning is a summer time project for me... with the cool and damp weather right now, the drying isn't going so well with this one. There is still a little meat in the wings and the tail area, and that all needs to dry/dehydrate quickly (think jerky)... it definitely dries much better and quicker in 90-100 degree weather (OUTSIDE). I don't scrape the skin, but I do use a mix of salt and and cornstarch pressed into the skin to help it dry quick. It's not soft and supple like leather, it stiffens so I need to lay them flat or nail them to a board with the wings spread while they are drying. (I don't really consider the salt and cornstarch step as curing, it just helps with the drying.. and maybe odor control). I just brush it off after 3-4 days of drying and they skin's ready to sell. I didn't have an issue with any of them going rancid or smelling with this drying method. I'm planning on doing an article with good detailed pics and a step by step descriptions of my method for getting the skin off in one piece, (for that thing) as soon as the weather warms up...
Hmm, I only charge $30-35 for my dry skins depending on the color, (or $15 for fresh/raw)... maybe I should jack up my prices a little, lol.
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