So, I thought it would be a good idea to prep a duck head and feet set to display the bones. Sounds like a good idea, right? You can make comparative anatomy displays for the classroom. Fabulous!
I started with this:
Threw the lot into a pot and simmered it for about two days. It didn’t smell as bad as I thought it would. Kind of like soup.
5 things I learned about preparing bones for display:
- THIS KID is awesome
- Take as much of the skin, muscle and viscera off the bones as you can BEFORE you start. Now I have spent at least an hour picking bits of meat and skin off tiny bones and checking meticulously that I haven’t missed anything.
- Put the separate pieces into SOMETHING before you start. Bags made of old pantyhose would have done the trick. Now I have no idea which bones belong to the left foot and which to the right foot.
- Cleaning bones and laying them out on a tray made me feel just like Temperance “BONES” Brennan – even though I had no idea what I was looking at most of the time.
- It was a VERY good idea not to throw the chicken head and feet into the pot at the same time!
As this kid laments, there is next to no info on the web about articulating bird skeletons. I will definitely post a picture of the finished product with some more tips and tricks for you because you are going to be hard pressed to find it elsewhere. Stay tuned, Vivsters.
Mar 28, 2014
