FEEDING OF FOWLS 73 



increase their weight to some extent before they are 

 killed for market. In yard fattening, fattening foods 

 are given to fowls as in range fattening, but, as their 

 exercise is materially restricted, there is a greater 

 gain in weight, and the quality of the flesh is also 

 improved by the softening of the muscles. The very 

 best grades of market poultry, however, are finished 

 by crate fattening. By confining fowls in crates, or 

 coops, exercise is almost wholly prevented. All the 

 fattening food that they will consume is given to them, 

 and, as a final step, forced feeding is sometimes re- 

 sorted to. 



Feeding of Fowls in Fattening Yards. Fowls confined 

 in fattening yards should be fed three times a day 

 and should have all the food they will eat up clean. 

 The food should consist of mash, cracked corn, wheat, 

 and some animal food. The mash should be made of 

 2 parts of finely ground oats or barley from which the 

 hulls have been removed, 2 parts of corn meal, and 1 part 

 of wheat middlings, all mixed with hot milk or boiling 

 water. Milk is preferred to water for mixing, and the 

 mash should always be fed while moist and warm. 



A full meal of the mash is fed in the morning and 

 at noon. At night the fowls should have a grain mixture 

 consisting of equal parts of cracked corn, wheat, and 

 hulled oats. No meat will be needed during the first 

 week if the mash is mixed with milk. After the first 

 week, 5% of the mash should consist of meat, and 

 some fat can also be added to it. The meat must 

 always be sweet and clean and free from bad odors. 

 Green food is not needed. Water and grit must be 

 kept before the fowls continually. 



Feeding of Fowls in Crates. In crate fattening, the 

 methods of feeding most generally followed are: 

 trough feeding, hand stuffing, funnel feeding, and 

 machine cramming. The last three are methods of 

 forced feeding, but machine cramming is the only one 

 of importance to the poultryman who is producing a 

 large number of well-fattened fowls. 



