20 



STUDIES OF POULTRY. 



packers whose plants are equipped with mechanical refrigeration, but 

 usually for low-grade stock only. 



The prevailing method at the present time, "where facilities for 

 refrigeration are available, is to pack the chickens in small boxes 

 holding a dozen each. If the birds are of the broiling type, they are 

 commonly packed with the breast up and the feet hidden (see fig. 3) ; 

 if fowls or roasting chickens, they are packed two layers in a box and 

 ]aid on the side (see fig. 4) ; while the chickens for export trade to 

 England are . u squatted," though this is an undesirable position in 



FIG. 4. Roasting chickens, side-packed. 



that it pushes the bird into a compact mass, thereby delaying the 

 radiation of the animal heat. 



The tendency is- now to use smaller and smaller packages. Two 

 layers of chickens in a box, even in the case of fowls, are being dis- 

 carded for a single layer, it being recognized that refrigeration is 

 more perfect if flesh is not superimposed on flesh and if pressure on 

 such a tender tissue as chicken muscle is eliminated as far as possible. 

 On this account heads are wrapped in parchment paper and turned 

 back, where they rest against the bony structure rather than against 



[Cir. 04] 



