Begin feeding the birds with a very small quantity of food, usually about 2 oz. of 

 the mixture at the first feed, then increasing the amount gradually each day, keep- 

 ing the birds hungry at all times, though having the birds always eager to eat. 

 Oftentimes a good feeder can make the stock eat as high as 36 oz. of grain to the 

 twelve birds at a feed. The eighteenth or nineteenth day of fattening in the crate 

 is usually the last day when the birds, can be forced to eat a greater amount of 

 food. From this time on the birds gradually eat a smaller amount, so therefore 

 they should be starved, dressed, and marketed immediately. At this time some 

 English fatteners begin to use the cramming-machine on the stock for a week or so, 

 in order to put an even more prime roaster on the market than the crate method 

 has produced. 



EXPERIMENT 2. 



Experiment to show loss and gain in weights on relative days: 



Brown-Upton, University of Maine, 1910-11. 



When the above experiment was conducted, the experimenters wanted to see 

 exactly what happened during the fattening periods. The writer admits the results 

 are nothing alarming. Yet, considering the stock was handled over so much and 

 still put on good gains, one can readily conclude that good profits can be made 

 from crate fattening. 



The feeds which are generally employed in fattening are barley-meal, cornmeal, 

 low-grade flour, shorts, and white middlings. Ground oats are also used by many, 

 but they yield a larger profit for the amount fed when the hull has been sifted 

 out. The mash is usually mixed in the proportion of 1 Ib. of the mixed ground grain 

 to iy 2 Ib. of the sour, skim, or butter milk. It is well to mix the food about twelve 

 hours before feeding, thus letting the food cream, so to speak, which renders it 

 more easily digested, on account of the bacterial action which takes place within 

 the food. If skim-milk, or milk in any form, cannot be obtained, it is well to soak 

 some beef -scraps in hot water, and use the liquid in the place of the milk. Several 

 different rations have been used and given out as being profitable. However, there 

 are many detailed factors that the person engaged must give attention to when 

 he fattens the stock. The following rations are some which have been termed 

 successful by many: 



Ration No. 1. Cornmeal, 3 parts; ground oats, hulls sifted out, 1 part. 



Ration No. 2. Oatmeal, cornmeal, barley-meal, equal parts of each. 



Ration No. 3. Cornmeal, 3 parts; white middlings, 1 part; ground oats, 1 part. 



Ration No. 4. Ground oats, 2 parts; ground barley, 1 part; cornmeal, 1 part. 



Ration No. 5. Ground oats, 200 Ib. ; white middlings, 100 Ib. 



Notes on Rations. No. 1 is probably one of the most profitable rations to feed 

 in fattening when cornmeal can be got cheap enough. If the stock be well matured, 

 a person could afford to pay $2 a hundred for cornmeal, if there were enough birds 

 to make fattening a paying proposition at all. 



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