186 Farm Poultry 



operating this machine become very skilful. A 

 good operator can feed thirty dozen fowls per 

 hour. This cramming process is continued for 

 about ten days, when the fowls are dressed and 

 sent to market. During the major part of the fat- 

 tening season the coops are placed out of doors. 

 See Fig. 57. When the weather becomes too cool, 

 indoor coops are used. 



Before fowls are placed in fattening pens they 

 should be given a thorough dressing of sulfur or 

 some other insecticide to kill the vermin. This is 

 particularly essential, as the fowls kept in coops 

 have no opportunity to combat these pests. Lay- 

 ing hens and other fowls should be provided with 

 dust baths, but when fowls are placed in close 

 confinement for fattening, it is not feasible to 

 provide baths. Cleanliness is of the utmost im- 

 portance for these confined fowls. The coops or 

 cages of fattening fowls should not be allowed to 

 become filthy, neither should they be too hot in 

 summer or too cool in winter. 



The French and English use oats and buck- 

 wheat largely as fattening foods. They prefer 

 fowls having light- colored flesh, with white skin. 

 Americans prefer yellow skin and flesh. Corn is, 

 therefore, to be preferred in this country as a 

 fattening food to wheat, barley, or buckwheat. It 

 not only produces the desired product but is the 

 cheapest food that the market affords. 



