BROILERS AND ROASTERS. 87 



four or five pounds weight need not be caponized. As 

 market demands are now there is little advantage in capon- 

 izing except for cockerels that must be held beyond the age 

 at which their meat begins to harden. 



49. Spring Hatched Roasters. The small and 

 medium sized roasters marketed in summer and early fall 

 are mostly cockerels from the spring hatches of poultrymen 

 producing chickens* for laying or stock purposes, but a 

 proportion of those coming from nearby points to the large 

 markets is stock of both sexes either produced expressly 

 for roasters or started for broilers, and for some reason 

 carried over. The spring hatched roasters can be handled 

 just the same as the winter chickens after weaning, but 

 they are not caponized unless they are to be grown to full 

 size and sold the following winter, and little of that is done 

 except in a few localities w r here caponizing is quite general 

 among the farmers. The capons produced in this way are 

 much superior to old cocks and staggy cockerels, but do 

 not compare with the South Shore chickens or with the 

 best small and medium roasters from uncaponized stock as 

 marketed in the summer. The grower who sells cockerels, 

 as roasters must, however, look sharp in disposing of them 

 and let as few as possible stay in his yards long enough to 

 become " staggy." It is always advisable to work them off 

 a little small but soft, rather than have the weight gained 

 hard meat. 



