How to Do: Bird Taxidermy (WARNING:CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT.)
Intro: How to Do: Bird Taxidermy (WARNING:CONTAINS GRAPHIC CONTENT.)
This is an instructable inspired by canida's mouse/rat taxidermy. For more information on detailed taxidermy, go search "mouse taxidermy" and you'll probably find it.
to start off, I would like to say:
THIS IS GRAPHIC, THIS HAS GUTS, THIS HAS DEAD (and live) ANIMALS, so please, keep the comments on topic and dont stray into arguments.
thankyou, and enjoy. :)
STEP 1: Getting Your Items
oh, and chickens. but they're optional. you'll see later.
STEP 2: Find the Non-feathered Patch
.... -_-;; my chickens keep getting in the way....
STEP 3: First Incision
STEP 4: Open Up!
now you need to separate the skin from the torso.
this step should be easy because the skin should automatically begin to peel away from the lower membranes.
warning: try not to cut through the feathers, and try to keep the feathers as dry as possible. when they get wet, they get sticky.
note my thumb.
STEP 5: Peeling the Skin Away
now, here's a good picture of the skin versus the inner membrane. note the "gaping" hole in the throat is the inner membrane tearing. try to avoid this. also, fat resides between the inner membrane and skin, try to keep that attached to the inner membrane.
note: older birds will have more fat than younger ones.
STEP 6: Taking Out the Neck
note: see the big black glob?.. this bird died because of a car, and its neck broke. leaving a blood clot in the neck and leaving the face all bloodied.
STEP 7: Brain Surgery
STEP 8: Legs
peel away the skin around the legs the best as you can, then pop the leg throught the skin from the back. (the feathered side)
when you got it mostly through up to the scaley part, snip the leg with the scissors and repeat on the other side.
STEP 9: Wings
STEP 10: The Back
be WARY, there are tendons around the spinal cord and this is where you sometimes tear a hole in the skin...
eek. ... I tore a hole through the skin.
you'll see the severe affects of this later.
STEP 11: The Tail
you then snip off the tail (trying to keep meat at a minimal) fom the body, but still attaching to the skin.
the first time I did this, I messed up and cut the WHOLE tail off.
... then my chickens almost ate it.
you'll see my FIRST bird taxidermy at the end...
man, it was horrible.
STEP 12: Preparing
should look like this.
STEP 13: Stuffing
then put it into the bird's neck snugly.
make sure you dont overstuff and be wary of feathers getting in the way.
when you have it in the bird's neck, begin sewing the neck up.
now, once you have the nek sewn up, add another cotton ball for the torso.
depending on the shape and size of the bird, you can stuff them differently. but always keep the neck slim.
STEP 14: Stitching Up!
stitching the bird up.
be EXTREMELY cautious about feathers getting in the way and try to keep near the edge of the skin.
STEP 15: Fixing Your Mistakes...
:) hey, its only m second try!
STEP 16: Clean Up!
they LOVE meat!!
STEP 17: Gallery1
STEP 18: Gallery 2
STEP 19: Gallery Part 3!
Update 2019:
THANKYOU FOR THE CONTINUED SUPPORT!! :D :D
UPDATE 2015:
I made the sparrow in january of 2008. He was sold, so I dont know what condition he is in today.
The pigeon I made shortly after in 2008.
I made the conjoined doves soon after. I only had one and a half dove. (the half was from my cat)
The parakeet I made in 2010. She was actually the reason why I wanted to learn how to taxidermy birds. She was born with some sort of condition that would give her short seizures. One day it was so bad and she died in my hands. I just sat there and held her for an hour.
She's currently in great condition! and as of a year ago, the conjoined doves were in great condition as well! no damage or wear. (they got lost in a house fire last year.) The parakeet however is safely in my room behind glass.
Thankyou for looking at this tutorial!
I originally made this tutorial in highschool, and boy is there a LOT of spelling mistakes amongst other things. I'm pretty much leaving everything "as-is" for posterity sake. I *may* redo the tutorial at some point, but I think this one with all it's flaws and such would just be better. As, this is a tutorial and its important to show how its OKAY to make mistakes! It also shows how to correct mistakes as well. Which I think is important. :) Thankyou for all your views! I never expected this to be popular!
167 Comments
Melcama 5 months ago
r1bc4ge_r0t 2 years ago
MeliQuee 3 years ago
Jessamatth 4 years ago
chrisr516 5 years ago
Micheller243 5 years ago
I was looking on how to prepare my birds for my beetles so I could obtain the skeleton, but your article has inspired me to try my hand at stuffing.
An extra thank you for making the article so relatable. Your mistakes taught me as much as your skills.
Jsoa 6 years ago
A flock of crows has moved in to the woods around my orchard. They are
all over the orchard and the fruit is not even ripe yet. Is there any
ways to get rid of them besides shooting them? I would hate to have to
net all my trees, normally the birds only go after the really tasty
ones, ut crows will eat everything.
Find only repellers here
https://stoppestinfo.com/402-how-to-get-rid-of-crows.html
tlelzy 10 years ago
hey im new to this but never seen a bird mounted this way how do you pose it with out bone or form or wire
bananabunny7 6 years ago
I don't think you can. I think this was more for skinning, not really to show you how to mount.
avalonp3 9 years ago
Will tis still work if the birds neck is broken? because the bird i have flew into a window and broke its neck....
bananabunny7 6 years ago
It will be okay, so long as you wire the neck.
Tzedik 8 years ago
Should work just fine, because you are removing the bird's neck anyway form the inside.
Cece z 7 years ago
bananabunny7 6 years ago
I have used stuffing wrapped with yarn and it turned out great. I have only done small mammals however, never birds because I'm afraid of the end result.(feathers are so hard to get in place! ', i )
Tzedik 7 years ago
yep! this is just a very basic tutorial to preserve skins and such.
Jess ChristianP 6 years ago
Can corn starch alone be a good substitute for Borax? I can't find Borax in any stores in our city
jackbrown 7 years ago
Need to figure out a way to eliminate bird mites from the feathers. After a couple of years you will likely have an eruption of them as they reproduce exponentially and start eating everything. Freezing? Waxes? There are a few possibilities.
Tzedik 7 years ago
feather mites typically die off when the birds die and dont damage the feathers further. not only that but soaking the bird in a mild detergent will get rid of them anyway. What usually eats the feathers away later down the road are moths or dermestid larvae.
If you're worried about feather mites in general, you can freeze the specimen 48 hours and it should kill them. If you dont want to freeze, you can always buy a permetherin based powder. aka "chicken powder" from your local feed barn or home depot.
Tzedik 8 years ago
Updated this a little bit for 2015 at the end! Keeping mostly everything else (including misspellings!) for posterity sake. Thankyou so much for over 8 years of views!
MiriamC6 8 years ago
Are you still selling some of your work? I am interested in doing some paintings, I have been collecting pictures and I would like to have one real model C: