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CabinetCuriosities — Bird Skinning Tutorial Part 2
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Published: 2012-11-13 00:11:51 +0000 UTC; Views: 2338; Favourites: 43; Downloads: 11
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Part 2 of the bird skinning tutorial.Part 1: [link]
If you have any questions left, feel free to ask
I forgot to add that birds are nothing for skinning beginners! You should practise at least with some mice or rats to get a feeling for skin and how to cut and treat it
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Comments: 46
I've been itching to try taxidermy for ages now! I absolutely love it and I have many mounts but never the resources to do it myself ><
And classes are so expensive D: I have never skinned before but I have a lovely gold finch to work on so I feel this tutorial will be useful!
Any extra tips/advice I should be aware of before I start? Particularly including birds as small as finches.
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Did you saw part 1, too?
You should just be careful and if you can't get the eyes out without damaging the skin - just leave them in.
Right after skinning and removing the fat I'd recommend soaking the skin in alcohol for a few days. It dehydrates the tissue and kills bacteria.
After that you should wash it, dry it with a towel a bit (very gently again) and then dry it in any position you want it. If you want the wings closed you should use needles to secure it.
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I did yeah, I have them all bookmarked haha
What type of alcohol should I use? Something I can acquire without having to be a science teacher etc
Also when washing is there anything specific I need to use to clean the skin?
After the skin has been soaked and washed do I just air dry it? I understand the alcohol does the preservation but I just want to make sure incase I'm unable to find out later on c:
Thanks for taking the time to answer all my questions
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We use methylated spirit - we can purchase it as normal persons. No idea how that is in the UK though.
To be 100% sure that you don't damage the skin (sometimes the air is slightly to humid or other circumstances occur) use salt for the final drying process.
No problem
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Alright will do c: And I just checked out the alcohol and you can buy it in homeware stores so I'll do that
thanks for all your help !
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thank you ! i made the mistake of starting to skin with a bird, it didnt came out as well ( i left a bit of brain in and theres a tiny hole on the back ) but this is very helpful : )
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Glad it helped
You'll get better and better with each bird you're doing!
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Hmm I think I might be able to do this.. but Im worried that I will mess up because I've never skinned before, but don't have mice or rats around to just skin... any way to preserve the bird for beginners?
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I think you can do it quite well, although it won't be perfect. It's always better to practise, but not nessessary. What kind of bird do you want to do? Don't do a water bird!
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Wow, I envy you
A woodpecker should be fine, since it's not that fatty
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okay! I'll give that a try, then as soon as my grandmother leaves XD
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Good luck!
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I most certainly shall!
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When your done skinning a bird do you flesh and salt it like I would do with most other animals?
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Fleshing is not nessessary, since normally there is no flesh left to the skin if you skin the right way. Only fat (water birds are incredibly fatty). You need to remove that. Salting is a possibility, but I prefer throwing it into alcohol for 2-3 days, that does the same dehydrating job without salt everywhere and that strange smell.
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Thanks very much I've only done it with mammals and snakes
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It should be high-percentage. I mostly use 70% Ethanol. I work in a laboratory, so it's no problem to get it for me. But for "normal" people it's also really useful to use methylated spirit. In Germany you can get it nearly everywhere for low costs.
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My mom will probably be able to get it for me because shes a biology teacher. Thank you for helping me
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You're welcome and good luck!
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Hey, you know that crossbill I was talking about? I want to try to do this with it. I know it is tedious and not for beginners, but I at least wanna try.
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Did it turn out well?
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it did!!! Just a few tears in the skin, the rest is perfecto, lol
how long does it have to sit in the borax corn mix?
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I don't use borax (you can't get it in Germany as a private person), so I can't tell you, sorry
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that's okay!
aw that sucks 
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oh cool! How long does that take?
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Only about a day, but you can also leave it there for weeks, which is pretty useful when you don't have time to work with it.
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i should use that instead then!
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I don't now if you can get it easily and cheap in the US, I use 70% ethanol I get from the laboratory I work at.
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I will see...
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Thank you again! Looking forward to the preservation tutorial!
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Nice tutorial! I learned to skin my birds a bit differently. We'd do the same initial cut, only just from the breast bone to the crotch, and then cut the neck at the base of the body and skin the rest of the body, then cut the back of the head to get to the skull/eyes/ears (and cut the neck off/saw into the skull to get the brains out) because there's a lot more feathers up top so it's a lot easier to hide the stitching c:
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Thanks for the information
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You're welcome c: Maybe when I do my duck, I'll have my mom take pictures and I'll post a tutorial too! There's so many ways to skin a bird c:
But yeah, it was for mounting, so that's probably why it was so different c: Seems like you got yourself a pretty good method though 8)
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Yes, please do a tutorial yourself
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okie dokie! i shall c: not sure WHEN i'll be skinning/mounting the duck, but when i do i'll have my mom take pics for me (because i get in the mood and end up not stopping unless i really have to. when i skinned my pheasant it took me a little over four hours... no potty breaks, nothin'!)
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Und den Rest kann man braten und essen? 8D
Vielen Dank, ich werd beim nächsten Vogelfund Gebrauch von eurem Tutorial machen
Und ja, Fett ist böse. Ich kann einiges aushalten, aber wenn einem Fettgewebe beim Präppen entgegenquillt, ist das schon manchmal grenzwertig.
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Ich hab mal nen Birkhuhn gefunden, da haben ich und meine Eltern tatsächlich kurz drüber nachgedacht ^^
Ich finde Fett bei Vögeln geht noch, bei Säugern finde ich es um einiges widerwärtiger. Liegt vielleicht daran, weil ich schon soviele verfettetete Viecher da gemacht/dabei zugeguckt habe. Frag Lara mal nach ihrem Iltismännchen, welches der Boss vom ganzen Viertel gewesen sein muss - wir haben ihn auch während des Häutungsprozesses den Namen "Carlos" gegeben.
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Man, even having skinned a few birds before I found this tutorial very nice! haha Any tips for someone who has a hard time telling where to cut when it comes to the wings? I always make holes because at that point I lose focus of what is skin and what is that thin film that's nice to cut at (not that the feathers don't cover up the holes anyhow, lol).
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I fear that I don't have any tips. Unfortunately. I guess it gets better with more experience. You'll just get a feeling for it.
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It always surprises me how little flesh is under a bird's feathers.
Is it bad of me that I keep referencing this to small feathered therapods, and how they might look in a similar situation.
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If it makes you feel any better, you're not the only one. I'm currently taking notes for drawing troodons (it's not everyday you see that good pictures of bird back muscles).
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