#deathdecayandmaggots

[jaketeachesdeath]

!! Gross Post Alert !!

Death, Decay and Maggots- Part 5

Step one is to find a good sturdy sealable box. It has to be good quality as itll be quite heavy and will contain water too. We use the Kis Bi Box, just cause it looks nice too.

Its been a while since we tried a different technique and this time required a bit of prep work. Today we'll go through creating a rot box with grass.

Next we added a layer of gravel and then a layer of sand. This should help retain water and heat. The sand will also stop smaller bones vanishing in the gravel.

Your box is now ready to go.

Its time to add your fresh cut grass, grass is used in this instance because as grass decays it produces heat and grass breaks down rapidly creating moisture too. The added bacteria makes processing pretty painless. It doesnt smell too bad (so long as you can stand fermenting grass) and the biproduct is completely compostable!

First layer of grass is added, due to the grass Al was cutting this is full of moss and it does slow the process down.

Now to add your specimen. For this we tried with Davey, an African Grey Parro.t who was kindly gifted to us.

Now cover with more grass and add water.

Just over 2 weeks later and the beak sheaths are removed, we dont want these to decay so they are cleaned and stored for later.

Time for a grass change. Add fresh grass when the grass starts going a dull colour and again, add more water, especially if its been dry for a while.

Four months after we began, Davey is complete. After a couple of months in the rot box, and the rest in marceration and peroxide that is.

Its not the quickest process, by any means but we did start feather and all and didnt change the grass very often. Davey was a big bird and was partially mummifed when we got him so it was a good challenge to start with.

Hopefully we'll try again in the spring and itll be quicker and easier next time. Skinning would be advisable too.

01/01/22

[jaketeachesdeath]

!! Gross Post Alert !!

Death, Decay and Maggots- Part 4

We finally tried a new method. Its not quite Oxidization but we will talk about that that later on.

We'd had a Goldcres.t for a long while and we'd always been too chicken to attempt it, we'd never used peroxide either. Here in the UK the Goldcres.t is our smallest native bird and the highest concentration of peroxide is 12%.

So this Goldcres.t had been in the freezer for over a year and it had dried out a little. Al tried skinning something for the first time too. It went near perfectly.

From there on we used the peroxide and pick method which is a common method used for smaller skulls. Firstly we removed the skull from the body, removed the eyes and the brain and then left the skull in the 12% peroxide with the beak sticking out.

Once the flesh was white the skull would be removed, swilled in water and the flesh would be carefully removed with tweezers. This proccess was repeated until all visable tissue had been removed. Unfortunately we lost a little colour in the beak sheaths.

Later on we did the same thing with a Wre.n with comparisons with a previously done skull that we didnt use peroxide with and difference was distinct.

We later moved on to a new project, a mummified Shre.w

Once again it didnt quite go to plan. This may be down to the fact it was previously mummified, the preparation of the specimens peroxide was too dilute initially or that we didnt use the correct oxidization method.

The correct Oxidization method requires a long soak in a 50% ammonia solution first after as much tissue as possible is removed. The body is then left in peroxide for another long period before further tissue removal and limb separation. At this stage a wire can be inserted to keep the vertebrae in place.

Then its just a matter of removing as much flesh as possible but leaving enough that all the joints stay connected!

15/12/20