CHAPTER XX 



FATTENING AND PREPARING FOWLS FOR MARKET 



It is not uncommon to hear people say they have some poultry 

 ready for table purposes, and they are sold for that purpose, when 

 they are but just in good condition. There is a good deal of difference 

 between being in good condition and being finished, or prepared for 

 market. 



Before fowls are really fit to sell for table fowls, they must be 

 confined to a limited space where exercise is limited. Then, again, 

 there must be a proper food; if we only want to fatten them that is 

 easily done with corn, as corn will fatten anything. But if we want 

 to get flavor and quality with the weight it is necessary to go to a 

 little more trouble than throwing down some corn. 



First of all, the chickens must be cooped up, it matters little what 

 kind of a coop is used so that it can be cleaned and so that the birds 

 can be fed from the outside. This is the most important feature, the 

 keeping of the chickens out of the feed they are to be finished on. 

 After cooping it is best to just give water and feed very light for a 

 few days. Get them hungry in the start and never spoil their appetites 

 by feeding too much. That is the whole secret of putting flesh on 

 cooped chickens, no matter what age or anything about it. 



Sour milk or buttermilk if it can be had at reasonable prices will 

 pay a good dividendy not only as a flesh maker but it keeps the 

 chicken toned up to its appetite. 



Among the foods that are best known are ground barley, ground 

 oats (these do better if the hull can be taken out) ; good wheat mid- 

 dlings and cornmeal or ground corn and bran. It is not really neces- 

 sary to feed all of these at one time, but take one as a base and add 

 any one or more to it and feed for that day. Pea meal is a very 

 old fattening diet that makes good meat, but ours is not a pea- 

 growing country, so our fowls are not likely to get it. If bean meal 

 can be had, this is a great addition to the list. The fowls being cooped 

 and starved until ready to eat anything, should be fed, sparingly at 

 first, of feed mixed about as thick as batter and mixed with either 

 water or milk as it can be got. After the fowls have eaten, the troughs 

 should be taken away and washed, put in the sun to dry and left 

 until the next feeding time. Three times a day is considered about 

 right and at each feeding the fowls must be left just so that they 

 could eat a little more. If they once get stalled, it is hard to get 

 them back. Feed all the green feed they will eat about twice a day 



