#also further context. apricot killed himself on a fence and our birds have never been kept for the intent of consumption beyond their eggs

[pyrriax]

Ah, so tell me Sugar or Salt for better preservation?

salt! especially when you're working with dry preservation, which is what it's being used for typically. sugar will attract bugs and other things which will eat away at the specimen, along with not drawing out the moisture nearly as well / at all.

but if you're working with things like rabbits feet, which are intended to be dry at the end, you'd think that the process involves just drying them, right? but you'd be wrong! the process (at least that i've followed in the past) involves soaking them twice, once in a soapy water mixture to remove parasites, then in a high concentrate isopropyl alcohol, rinsing thoroughly between steps.

processes vary depending on what you're working on. another example is that for the rooster i'm planning to take the wings from, i'm going to need to both remove his wings, and go through the process of removing the flesh while also keeping the skin in tact around his bones, since i'm going to be effectively stuffing the void with cotton, so that everything lays properly when its all dried. those are actually going to be dried in salt, which is primarily because he was a domestic animal and i know where he'd been.