Fattening and Finishing Poultry for the Table 



Following Good Feeding for Growth Or for Egg Production, Finishing Processes May Be Easy Adaptations of 

 Rations Previously Given Simple Methods of Fattening Broilers, Fryers, Roasters, and Fowls, Best 

 in Common Practice Conditions Calling for Special Fattening Crate Feeding and 

 Machine Feeding and When These Methods Can Be Adopted 



TO make good table poultry, chickens must have 

 more fat than they normally carry while grow- 

 ing, or than is compatible with the highest 

 efficiency of all the physical functions. In feeding young 

 chickens for growth we do not usually pay. much atten- 

 tion to the possible fattening effects of the rations given 

 them, for under any conditions favorable to good growth 

 in chickens the possi- 

 ble effects of an ex- 

 cess of carbonaceous 

 elements in the ration 

 given them are neu- 

 tralized by green feed 

 and exercise. Hence 

 with all poultry that 

 is destined only for 

 the table, the practice 

 is to feed a good 

 growing ration under 

 conditions that make 

 for sound digestion 

 and thrifty growth, 

 until the bird has 

 reached the stage of 

 growth at which spe- 

 cial feeding to fatten 

 and finish can be com- 

 menced and the de- 

 sired result from that 

 process be obtained 

 before high feed- 

 ing affects the diges- 

 tion and the bird 

 begins to go back 

 losing weight and qual- 

 ity of flesh. 



Where poultry is 

 especially grown for 

 the table the best prac- 

 tice is to feed and 

 handle more with the 

 object of keeping the 

 muscles soft, without 

 going so far in this 

 that vigor and capac- 

 ity for growth are im- 

 paired. With ordin- 

 ary farm-raised poul- 



J. H. 



CURTISS WITH A PAIR OF CHOICE 

 ROASTING CHICKENS 



Mr. Curtiss was one of the pioneers in growing this kind of poul- 

 try, became an extensive dealer in it, and in the thirty odd years he was 

 prominent in the industry, probably handled more fowls and chickens 



try, and all stock 



grown for egg produc- of superior "table quality Than any man in America, 

 tion or for breeding or 



exhibition, the point of soft-meatedness is not especially 

 considered. The aim is to develop the strong physique 

 and the symmetrical organism that will be effective for its 

 purposes for several years. With all stock of these de- 

 scriptions the question of finishing for the table is not a 

 question of making superior table poultry, but of taking 

 the birds as they are when no longer profitable for their 

 special purposes, and making as good table poultry of 



them as is possible in the short period that fattening 

 methods can be employed to advantage. 



For the great majority of poultry growers, if they fed 

 always with a view to keeping their stock in good con- 

 dition, fattening for all ordinary purposes would be sim- 

 ply a modification of their usual feeding practice. It is 

 when young stock is poorly grown, or old stock is al- 

 lowed to get badly run 

 down, that the average 

 inexpert poultry keep- 

 er begins to take an 

 interest in special fat- 

 tening methods with 

 the idea that by using 

 them poor poultry can 

 be converted into good. 

 While as much fat as 

 can be put on it, with- 

 in a short time, im- 

 proves the poorest of 

 poultry, there is no 

 process or ration that 

 will make a first-class 

 fat bird cut of what 

 was an inferior one be- 

 fore fattening. We can 

 pdt on material of any 

 kind only such finish 

 as it is capable of tak- 

 ing. While special fat- 

 tening processes give 

 fine results when ap- 

 plied to proper materi- 

 al with skill and judg- 

 ment, they are often 

 detrimental when ap- 

 plied by unskilled per- 

 sons to birds that will 

 not sufficiently benefit 

 by them to justify the 

 trouble. Unless one 

 proposes to go into 

 fattening for market 

 thoroughly, and on a 

 considerable scale, it is 

 usually better to keep 

 to the simplest meth- 

 ods of fattening. 



Fattening Broilers 

 Broilers are killed at 



'SOUTH SHORE" 



from three-fourths of a pound to a pound and a quarter, 

 or for large broilers up to two pounds or over. The 

 chicken as ordinarily taken from the yard at that range 

 of weights is not really FAT, nor will any ration that it can 

 stand make it so. But by feeding a ration rich in fatten- 

 ing matter, and keeping the chickens quite closely con- 

 fined, comfortable, and quiet for from one to two weeks 

 before they are to be killed, a slight accumulation of fat 



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