FATTENING FRIES 



211 



Vessels for soft feed should consist of troughs with wire grating to 

 prevent waste, and galvanized iron or wooden tops (Fig. 89). 



Lettuce heads and cabbage or beets may be placed in little open racks 

 where they are accessible, or suspended on a string or wire to prevent 

 waste from soiling. 



Dry feed can be supplied in self feeders. 



Water may be supplied in automatic water bottles (Figs. 91, 92). 

 Flat, open vessels are too liable to become filled with dirt. Feeding and 

 drinking vessels should be cleaned daily. Fresh water should be pro- 

 vided at least once every day. About 2 quarts of water are required 

 daily for 10 hens on dry feed. 



Hens and chicks thrive best on open ranges, pastures and stubble fields, 

 etc. Even under these conditions extra feed should be supplied. 



Fig. 90. Self feedei 



Fig. 91. Automatic water bottle. Fig. 92 



For fattening young chickens or "fries," porridges made of ground 

 barley or buckwheat, or barley meal with milk, are suitable. The birds' 

 should be kept in subdued light. 



For fattening chicks, give buckwheat gruel with sweet milk, beginning 

 on the second or third day after hatching, followed with barley meal 

 or ground buckwheat after one or two days, or a mixture of 4 parts 

 ground buckwheat and 1 part of cracked corn with sour milk made into 

 a thin porridge. On the following four or five days some oatmeal mush 

 may be given. Beginning with the seventh day, finely chopped little 

 fish, including scales and entrails (cooked), about 1 pound daily for 

 100 chicks until three weeks old (2 pounds from 3 to 6 weeks old), or 

 fish meal (fat extracted), or a mixture of ground dried shrimps and 

 fresh ground bone. No water. Feed every few hours from 6 a. m. to 

 10 p. m. Keep feeding vessels clean! 



So-called "masting" (fattening) consists in part of "free mast" (vol- 

 untary feeding) and in part of "cramming." Lean birds are prevented 

 from taking exercise and subjected to a preparatory process of feeding 

 with nitrogenous food (ground buckwheat and barley, or barley meal 

 and oatmeal with curdled milk or curd, meat scraps and potatoes). In 



