188 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



should have slatted bottoms and be kept scrupulously 

 clean, — they will keep one another warm, and really create 

 an October temperature. 



All fattening poultry which do not have a free run must 

 have gravel fed to them every few days, and they should 

 have water daily. It is best to take the chill off in cold 

 weather, and charcoal is not to be forgotten. Salt, also, is 

 at times, in small quantities, highly beneficial. Feather 

 plucking and eating, which is noticed in some flocks occa- 

 sionally, is usually stopped by feeding small quantities of 

 salt with the soft feed. 



KILLING AND PICKING. 



A chicken is well killed when the tips of the wings and 

 the legs are held in the hand, the head cut off with an axe, 

 and the fowl held still until its struggles are over. It will 

 bleed well, and not be bruised. A much better way, how- 

 ever, is to hang several chickens up by the legs, which is 

 most easily done by drawing the legs down into long, nar- 

 row slots sawed in upright boards, so narrow that the feet 

 will not draw through ; and then, to cut the veins and 

 arteries in the back of the mouth or throat with a long, slen- 

 der knife, — a good-sized pen-knife will do, — the point of 

 which, as a coup de grace, is thrust into the l^ase of the 

 brain, which lies in close juxtaposition to the veius which 

 must be cut. The fowl is thus rendered instantly uncon- 

 scious, and may be plucked, or at least the plucking may 

 begin at once, without the least cruelty. 



Nothing is worse for the flesh than to chop off the head, 

 and then to throw the bird upon the ground to spring and 

 flop about until life is extinct ; bruises occur, which, though 

 at first they may not show, become discolored after a while, 

 and prevent the fowl keeping sweet a long time. 



Dry-plucked fowls are best for shipping, and best for 

 keeping. They usually bring a higher price, and always 

 ought to. The sooner they are plucked after they are 

 killed, the better. The feathers are much more easily 

 removed, and the skin looks much smoother and fresher 

 than when plucking is delayed until the fowl is nearly or 

 quite cold. 



