In some packing houses, ducks are steamed before picking. Where this is done they are picked clean and the wing and tail feathers are pulled before steaming takes place. Six or eight ducks which have been bled are hung at the same time in the top of a steam box or barrel which can be made air-tight and the steam turned on until the soft feathers of the breast come off easily. The length of time to steam depends on the temperature of the steam itself and varies from one-half to 2 minutes. In some cases the ducks are hung in a steam box with the heads outside so as to prevent the steam from coming into contact with the heads, possibly discoloring them. On Long Island women are used very largely for picking and they secure for this service 6 cents per duck. A good picker should do 75 ducks or even more a day. The value of the feathers will slightly more than pay for the cost of picking. Picking usually begins early in the morning about 6 o'clock and is generally finished by noon or soon after. Most duck raisers figure on doing their killing and picking during the first half of the week and do not like to kill if they can help it during the latter days of the week. [Illustration: FIG. 46. Picking the ducks. (_Photograph from the Bureau of Animal Industry, U. S. Department of Agriculture._)] _Dry Picking._ Where the market requires it, the ducks must be dry picked. In doing this the procedure is the same as in dry picking chickens. After the cut is made to bleed the ducks, the point of the knife is plunged through the roof of the mouth until it reaches the brain when it is turned to cause a paralysis of the muscles which enables the feathers to be plucked more easily. The duck is then struck on the back of the head with a club to stun it and make it easier to handle when picking. The picker seats himself by the feather box, with the duck on his lap, holding the head pressed against the outside of the box and held there by the picker's leg. He then proceeds immediately and as quickly as possible to pluck the feathers. It is necessary to accomplish this without delay, for the feathers soon set and are then much harder to pluck and are more likely to result in tears in the skin. When removing the down, the hand is moistened when much of the down can be rubbed off. Pin feathers are removed by grasping them between the thumb and the edge of a dull knife and any which cannot be gotten in this way are shaved off with a sharp knife. After picking, the carcasses are cooled in cold water the same as the scalded birds.