FATTENING CHICKENS. 53 



for execution its pen should be whitewashed all over inside, 

 and allowed to get perfectly dry before another is introduced. 

 This will usually prevent much trouble from insect vermin ; 

 but if a bird appears restless from that cause, some powdered 

 sulphur, rubbed well into the roots of the feathers, will give 

 immediate relief. 



In front of each compartment should be a ledge three 

 inches wide, on which to place the food and water-tins. The 

 latter must be replenished once, the former three times a day ; 

 and after each meal the pens must be darkened for half the 

 time until the next, by hanging a cloth over the front. This 

 cloth is best tacked along at the top, when it can be con- 

 veniently hung over or folded back as required. The two 

 hours' darkness ensures quiet and thorough digestion ; but it 

 is not desirable, as some do, to keep the birds thus the whole 

 time till the next meal If the chickens are fasted for a few 

 hours when first penned, they will start with, and keep up, a 

 good appetite. 



The best food for fattening is buckwheat meal, when it can 

 be obtained ; and it is to the use of this grain the French owe, 

 in a great measure, the splendid fowls they send to market. If 

 it cannot be procured, the best ordinary substitute is an equal 

 mixture of Indian and barley-meal ; at the prices since 1882, 

 however, wheat has been one of the cheapest and best of foods, 

 and as whole meal is one of the best for putting on flesh. 

 Each bird should have as much as it will eat straight off, 

 but no food left to become sour. The meal may be mixed 

 with skim-milk if available. A little minced green food 

 should be given daily, to keep the bowels in proper order. 



In three weeks the process ought to be completed. It 

 must be borne in mind th&tfat only is added by thus penning 

 a chicken ; the lean or flesh must be made before, and unless 

 the chicken has attained the proper standard in this respect, it 

 is useless even to attempt to fatten it. Hence the importance 



