74 FEEDING OF FOWLS 



In trough feeding, the fowls are fed three times, 

 whereas in hand stuffing, funnel feeding, and machine 

 cramming, all three of which are finishing processes, 

 the fowls are fed twice a day. 



When first placed in the crates, the fowls should 

 remain without food for a day; then they are fed in 

 troughs as long as they retain an appetite for the 

 food; after this point is reached, they are usually 

 finished off by machine cramming. 



One ration recommended for trough feeding is com- 

 posed by measure, not by weight, as follows: 



Food Parts 



Ground oats 2 



Ground barley 1 



Ground corn 1 



Hand stuffing is very seldom followed at the present 

 time, particularly in America. It consists of pushing 

 boluses, or small rounded masses of food, into the crops 

 of fowls that are to be quickly fattened. Boluses 1 

 in. long and about y 2 in. thick are moistened with 

 milk and worked into the crop of the fowl by inserting 

 them in the throat or gullet of the fowl and then running 

 the thumb and forefinger down the outside of the 

 throat. This work must be done gently to avoid 

 choking the fowl. 



Funnel feeding consists in pouring liquid food or 

 gruel of the consistency of thick cream through a 

 funnel into the crop of the fowl. In employing this 

 method of feeding, great care must be taken to avoid 

 choking or otherwise injuring the fowl. Specially made 

 funnels with the ends turned over and so shaped as 

 to lessen this danger may be purchased. The funnel 

 is gently pushed down the throat or gullet of the fowl 

 into the mouth of the crop. The different positions of 

 the tip of the funnel as it passes down through the 

 gullet must be followed with the point of the finger 

 on the outside of the neck. After the tip of the funnel 

 has entered the crop, the gruel is poured into the 



