IO MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. IOX>2. 



The use of meat meal in chicken fattening — Late in the season 

 40 chickens that were 161 days old, and averaged in weight a 

 little over five pounds each, were divided into 10 lots. Each lot 

 of four birds was put into a small fattening coop and fed for 28 

 days. Those in coops 1 to 5, constituting group 1, were 

 fed from a mixture of 100 pounds of corn meal, 100 pounds of 

 wheat middlings and 50 pounds of meat meal. Twice daily as 

 needed for use, porridge was made from this meal mixture with 

 cold water. Those in coops 6 to 10, constituting group 2, 

 were fed on porridge made from equal quantities of corn meal 

 and wheat middlings, without meat meal. This porridge was 

 also made with cold water. 



The average increase in weight of each of the 20 birds fed 

 without meat meal was .72 pounds, and the average increase of 

 those fed with meat meal was .92 pounds. Where no meat meal 

 was fed, 14.96 pounds of dry meal was required to make a pound 

 of gain. Where meat meal was fed, 12.07 pounds of dry meal 

 produced a similar gain. 



This indicates that where one fifth of the food used was meat 

 meal, a pound of gain in the live birds was made by the use of 

 about one fifth less weight of food than where no meat meal was 

 used. The mixture containing the meat meal cost 1.15 cents per 

 pound, while the mixture without meat meal cost 1 cent per 

 pound. Where meat meal was fed, a pound of live weight of 

 chicken was made at a cost of 13.88 cents. Where no meat meal 

 was used a pound of gain cost 14.96 cents. 



These tests were made with birds that were advanced in age 

 and growth, and the gains were slow and expensive. In other 

 feeding tests that we have made with chickens that were from 

 100 to 130 days old, the gains have been much greater and the 

 costs per pound as small as 5 to 8 cents per pound, when 

 the meal used was reckoned at the same price per pound as in 

 this test. The data of the test is shown in the tables following : 



