RAISING CHICKENS 439 



inch mesh wire to keep out rats and cats. If this brooder 

 is kept dry it will serve outdoors also. 1 



((#) Finishing. If the chicks are intended to be layers, 

 the hatching should be done in early spring. When 

 twelve weeks old they should be placed in small colony 

 houses in a field and given a chance to run in the grass. 

 They should now receive much the same care as to feeding 

 as those raised by the hen. Broilers grown in the winter 

 are kept in the brooder house until they weigh from one 

 to two pounds. 



Spring broilers if in free range are confined to a small 

 yard or pen and are fed on a fattening ration including 

 corn and meat. Fryers are confined two or three weeks 

 before marketing. They should gain a half pound each 

 week. Roasters are usually carried a little farther in a 

 free range before fattening in the yard. The fattening 

 process can be finished more quickly by placing the roasters 

 for a week in a dark enclosure. 



(e) Marketing. Chickens may be started properly ; they 

 may be reared with care and economy ; and yet when their 

 products are placed on the competitive market, scant re- 

 turn can be shown for the labor and money invested. 

 While the raising of chickens may provide a high degree 

 of intellectual pleasure, yet the pleasure is usually not 

 complete unless it is rounded out with a handsome profit. 

 If poultry is shipped alive, little need be done except sort- 

 ing and grading. But when the poultry is to be dressed 

 it must be fasted, killed, scalded, picked, cooled, graded, 

 and packed. 



On each point much valuable experience need be ac- 

 quired. Often a seller is able to get several cents more a 



It is much better for pupils to make such things than to buy them. An 

 apparatus of this kind often serves the same purpose as the more expensive 

 articles supplied by dealers. 



