STUDIES OF POULTRY. 15 



will follow the discussion of the environment of the fowls during 

 their transportation in refrigerated cars, which may take them to the 

 cold-storage warehouse, \vhere they will sojourn for a number of 

 months before they reach the hands of the middlemen ; or, if they are 

 to be consumed without storage, the railroad haul will take them 

 directly to the commission men and thence they will go to the retail 

 merchants. The discussion of the handling of eggs will proceed 

 according to a similar plan and will follow that on poultry. 



Before the days of mechanical refrigeration the shipper of dressed 

 poultry killed and sold most of his stock in the fall and winter 

 months, when nature could generally be depended upon to remove the 

 animal heat. Even now the small, or conservative, packers frequently 

 adhere to this old-time principle, w r hich is most excellent when the 

 weather conditions are just right ; that is, when the air is dry and of a 

 temperature between 30 and 35 F. (1 and 2 C.) . Unfortunately, 

 however, such conditions can not be depended upon in so variable a 

 climate as that of the United States. The temperature may suddenly 

 rise, in which case the animal heat is not removed and decomposition 

 will follow with undue haste ; or it may fall below the freezing point of 

 the flesh, w r hen the external parts will cool too rapidly, so prevent- 

 ing the radiation externally of the animal heat and resulting in a 

 rapid putrefaction of the viscera. 



CHILLING POULTRY. 

 CHILL ROOMS. 



That an equable desirable temperature may be maintained continu- 

 ously, the most progressive poultry dressers have now adopted an 

 artificially cooled chill room, in which they place their poultry im- 

 mediately after killing and dressing and hold it there until the tem- 

 perature of the body cavity of the fowls is the same as that of the 

 surrounding atmosphere. 



The construction of these rooms commonly includes a wooden 

 lining, though cement is coming more and more into favor. Either 

 must be kept scrupulously clean, since it completes the inner surface 

 of a system of insulation which may be composed of cork, felt, or 

 any other suitable material. 



Two chill rooms are not only far more desirable and more effica- 

 cious in their results, but after the first cost of installation they are 

 more economical to operate than is 'a single room if any quantity of 

 fresh poultry is to be handled on successive days. The advent of 

 freshly killed stock into a room containing partly or wholly chilled 

 poultry means a rise in the temperature and a consequent warming 



[Cir. 64] 



