I just found a dead crow, but have no idea really how to process it. i don’t know how old it is, so i’m just gonna salvage it’s bones. is there an easy way to get remove all the feathers and meat and whatnot?
You could try burying it. But take a little care about where and how long.
I found a seagull head on the beach last summer that still had most of the muscle and feather attached, with a really beautiful beak. I brought it home & buried him in my yard, about 8 inches deep. After 3 weeks or so I dug him back up and the skull bones were actually decaying and falling apart! Don’t bones usually take forever to do that? I only have the beak and some skull bits left.
I buried it in a place where I’d sheet mulched and added lots of compost and compost tea, so I guess the soil in that area had loads and loads of scavenger-critters, to decay bone so quickly. Also, a bird skull just has such fragile, fine bones.
Penny Scout has some cool crow-feet earrings.
If there are ants out where you live put it on top of an ant mound.They dont take long to eat everything but the bones.No ants here where I live in Oregon now as it is too cold so if thats the case boil it for a long time and it will all slide off the bones.
hmm, yeah, i’m in WA, so now ants right now, especially not in my yard. maybe i’ll bury the body, and boil the skull, as that is for a present.
there’s always a few dead seagulls and other birds on the beach here, but i haven’t been able to find any ravens or crows until recently when i saw a beautiful, fully in tact raven on the side of the street a couple of weeks ago. alas, the person driving refused to stop the car for me to pick it up. i even had gloves and a plastic bag with me. 
i wouldn’t bury it, if you wish to keep the skeleton.
you could just throw it in the freezer 'til spring and then find your antpile, or alternately, a wasps nest will clean it slick as heck too.
burying the bones will soten and decay your bones. bird bones are hollow remember. they don’t have the mass to survive.boiling them will also soften them. animal bones are a lot more robust.
[quote=“bikerdruid, post:6, topic:1301”]i wouldn’t bury it, if you wish to keep the skeleton.
you could just throw it in the freezer 'til spring and then find your antpile, or alternately, a wasps nest will clean it slick as heck too.
burying the bones will soten and decay your bones. bird bones are hollow remember. they don’t have the mass to survive.boiling them will also soften them. animal bones are a lot more robust.[/quote]
hmm, saw this too late. buried the body, boiled the head. i was shocked at how long the head needed to be boiled, i think it boiled for 5 hours, before i finally took it out. there’s still a little bit of stuff in the brain area, but i couldn’t tend it longer, so just put it on a plate outside. there’s still most of the black on the beak, i couldn’t decide if it needed to be removed or not, and it looks really cool on there.
shit, i’m bummed, i came home yesterday, and had unfortunately left the skull on a plate on top of an old piano on our back porch, and it’s gone. i assume one of the squirrels or somebody hauled it off for the very minimal amount of meat left around the brain cavity. it was my first time attempting this kind of thing, and i blew it by not protecting the results enough. oh well, i hope whoever scavenged it as much as my lady friend would’ve enjoyed the necklace.