THE PEOPLE'S PRACTICAL POULTRY BOOK. 25 



quently changed, and great care taken to secure cleanliness, for fear of ver- 

 min. As we have before said, the coops should be well supplied with feed- 

 ing-troughs which should always be kept full of feed, and which can be got 

 at easily by the fowls. Perches should also be placed but a few feet from 

 the ground, so they can be reached without much effort ; those made in the 

 form of stairs, having the poles one above the other, (slanting,) are the best. 

 Fowls cooped in this way may be fattened in a short time and to the highest 

 pitch, and be preserved in a perfectly healthy state. There is no necessity, 

 in our opinion, to confine fowls in dark coops and practice the art of cram- 

 ming to fatten them properly ; this mode is an abomination, and should not 

 be followed by any breeder of common sense. 



MODE OF FATTENING FOWLS IN COOPS. 



In fattening fowls confined in coops, old writers recommend feeding them 

 with bread, soaked in ale, wine, or milk ; barley mixed with milk, and sea- 

 soned with mustard or anise seed ; while others recommend cramming them 

 three or four times a day ; also keeping them in a dark place, and not allow- 

 ing them any exercise. BRADLEY says, " the best way, and the quickest, to 

 fatten them, is to put them into coops as usual, and feed them with barley 

 meal, being particular to put a small quantity of brick dust in their water, 

 which they should never be without. This last will give them an appetite 

 for their meat, and fatten them very soon." Yet another writer says they 

 should be shut up where they can get no gravel ; keep corn by them all the 

 time, and also give them dough enough for one feed a day. For drink, give 

 them skimmed milk ; with this feed they will fatten in ten days ; if they are 

 kept over ten days, they should have some gravel, or they will fall away. 



The mode of fattening poultry, extensively practiced in Liverpool, Eng- 

 land, is to feed them with steamed or baked potatoes, warm, three or four 

 times a day ; the fowls are taken in good condition from the yard, confined 

 in dry, well-ventilated coops, and covered in, so as to prevent the entrance 

 of too much light. It is said this method is attended with the greatest 

 success. 



NO POULTRY SHOULD BE PERMITTED TO RUN AT LARGE 



for at least ten days before killing, for they are apt to range in the barn- 

 yards, and pick up filthy food, which permeates all through the bird, and 

 frequently they become so tainted that they are unfit to eat, after being 

 placed on the table. 



PROPER FOOD FOR FATTENING. 



In all cases in fattening fowls, whether old or young, we should recom- 

 mend that the food be cooked and fed warm. Barley meal, or mixed with 

 equal quantities of Indian meal, made into a thick paste or porridge and fed 

 warm, is about as good a feed as we know of, and seems to make flesh faster 

 and more solid, and give it a golden color and plump appearance after being 

 dressed. 



