POULTRY. 



573 



incubators, we may have chickens in December, as well as in June. W hen hatched in the 

 winter, they will be more hardy, less liable to become diseased, and may be taken care of 

 with less trouble, when there is a warm place provided for them; but if warm quarters are 

 not provided, it will not prove worth the while to attempt it. 



When chickens are hatched in warm weather, the sun burns them, unless there is an 

 abundance of shade provided, while the excessive heat checks their growth, but not their 

 appetites; hence, it will cost more to raise them, although they will not be ready for market 

 or for exhibition in the fall when they should be fully feathered and nearly grown, to be best 

 suited to either place. 



Fattening Poultry. If fowls are constantly kept in good flesh, it will not take 

 long to fatten them. Most of the chickens found in the market are taken directly from the 

 yards without extra feeding, but it will be found more economical generally to fatten them 

 for from fifteen to twenty days before marketing. For this purpose they should be confined 

 in a darkened coop, or pen, and fed three or four times a day all they will eat. The place 

 of confinement should be kept as clean as possible, free from draught, and dry. It is better 

 to pen them in small numbers, say from eight to a dozen in a pen, putting such together as 

 have been accustomed to run together, otherwise they will be liable to quarrel, which will 

 prevent their gaining weight. A coop with a barred floor, so designed that the droppings 

 will all fall through, is very good for the purpose. 



FATTEXING COOPS. 



The coop should be so arranged as to afford good ventilation without draught, and to be 

 kept partially dark, with but little room for moving about much. The times for feeding 

 should be regular, and the fowls given all they will eat. Corn meal made into a thick mush, 

 thoroughly cooked, and fed cold, is excellent for fattening. A little corn may also be given. 

 An excellent food for fattening fowls, whether old or young, is equal quantities of barley 

 meal and corn meal scalded and fed warm. Fresh food should be given at each time of feed 

 ing, and only just what they will eat up clean. Keep clean water by them constantly, also 

 gravel. Feed all they will eat, then darken the coop until the next regular time for feeding. 

 Bits of fat meat will also hasten the fattening process. 



By carefully watching, the proper time for sending them to market will be determined, 

 which will be in from fifteen to twenty days. When the proper point in the fattening process 

 is reached, they should be marketed immediately, as they will soon begin to shrink in weight. 

 For home use there is probably no fowl meat equal to a chicken that has never been fattened 

 at all, but having been well fed from the time of hatching, is taken directly from the yard. 



The flesh of fowls that have always been well fed, will be much more juicy and rich 

 in flavor than those fattened from a low state, and &quot;crammed&quot; just before killing. Poultry 

 should never be permitted to range where they will pick up food unfit for them to eat, for it 

 flavors their flesh and taints the meat. Chickens that have been obliged to pick up their 



