FATTENING POULTRY. 



189 



them an extraordinary plumpness, to fat them, 

 not for their own, but for our advantage. 



Each different plan has its peculiar advant- 

 ages ; among others, that of leaving poultry to 

 forage and shift for themselves ; but where a 

 steady and regular profit is required from them, 

 the best method, whether for domestic use or 

 for sale, is constant high keep from the begin- 

 ning, whence they will not only be always 

 ready for the table, with very little extra at- 

 tention, but their flesh will be superior in jui- 

 ciness and rich flavor to those which are fat- 

 ted from a low and emaciated state. Fed in 

 this mode, the spring pullets are particularly 

 fine, at the same time most nourishing and re- 

 storative food. 



It takes several weeks to fatten fowls con- 

 fined in coops. All old writers on this subject 

 recommend cooping or penning them, and feed- 

 ing them with bread steeped in ale, wine, or 

 milk ; barley-flour mixed with milk, and season- 

 ed with mustard or anise seeds ; and some rec- 

 ommend cramming them three or four times a 

 day. They also recommend keeping them in 

 a dark place, and not allowing them any exer- 

 cise. 



"To fatten poultry," says Bradley, "the best 

 way and quickest is to put them into coops as 

 usual, and feed them with barley meal ; but, in 

 particular, to put a small quantity of brick-dust 

 in their water, which they should never be with- 

 out. This last will give them an appetite for 

 their meat, and fatten them very soon." He 

 thinks the brick-dust acts as gravel, as it is so 

 universally supposed to do, in bruising the food 

 in the gizzard. 



In an extensive establishment near Liverpool, 

 Mr. Wakefield fattened with steamed or baked 

 potatoes, given warm, which is indispensable, 

 three or four times a day. The fowls were tak- 

 en in good condition from the yard, confined 

 in dry, well-ventilated coops, and covered in, 

 so as to prevent the entrance of too much light. 

 This method was attended with the greatest 

 success. 



Paine Windgate, in the Maine Farmer, says 

 his experience tells him that the following pro- 

 cess is the best mode of fattening hens. Shut 

 them up where they can get no gravel. Keep 



corn by them all the time, and also give them 

 dough enough once a day. For drink, give 

 them skimmed milk. With this feed they will 

 fatten in ten days. If they are kept over ten 

 days, they should have some gravel, or they will 

 fall away. 



A writer in one of our agricultural papers 

 recommends the following: Oats ground into 

 meal and mixed with a little molasses and wa- 

 ter, barley-meal with sweet milk, and boiled 

 oats mixed with meat, are all excellent for fat- 

 tening poultry, reference being had to time, ex- 

 pense, and quality of flesh. 



Corn, before being fed to fowls, should al- 

 ways be crushed and soaked in water, or boiled. 

 It will digest easier, and go much farther. 

 Parched corn or oats is a kind of food poultry 

 are very fond of, and an occasional change of 

 food is found by experience and observation to 

 be highly important in promoting the thrift of 

 all kinds of domestic animals. Keep your fowls 

 dry and clean, give them good lodging, provide 

 them with some dry sand, ashes, or old lime- 

 mortar to dust themselves in, and give them a 

 plentiful supply of food, a portion of which 

 should be animal, and if fat all the better, and 

 you will not have to complain for their not 

 thriving. 



The food is a matter of much variety, as va- 

 rious articles are used for the purpose of fatten- 

 ing fowls. When fattening, care should be tak- 

 en not to feed them on fish, as it would give 

 them a bad flavor. In some parts of England 

 and France, oil, lard, and other grease is ex- 

 tensively used, mixed with barley-meal, oat- 

 meal, and other ground food. Arthur Young 

 says, feed on coarse barley-meal steamed until 

 quite soft ; steamed potatoes minced quite small, 

 and coarse wheaten flour; ground oats made 

 into gruel, mixed with hog's grease, sugar, pot- 

 liquor, and milk; or ground oats, molasses, 

 suet, sheep's plucks, etc. These precious mix- 

 tures are said to fatten them, in a fortnight, to 

 the weight of seven pounds ; but there are in- 

 stances of individuals attaining ten or eleven 

 pounds. 



Feeding-houses, at once warm and airy, with 

 earth floors, well-raised, and capacious enough 

 to accommodate twenty or thirty fowls, have 



