24 New Hampshire Experiment Station [Bulletin 241 



( )n the whole, it would seem that the market for dressed poultry is 

 availahle for local men at a premium price when they actually satisfy 

 the demand. 



Possibilities of Development 



Every year more local men in the summer hotel section are dressing 

 poultry and are not only marketing to large hotels on a wholesale basis 

 but are doing more retail selling. Several stewards stated that they were 

 able to purchase more local dressed poultry now than ever before. This 

 was more true in regard to fowl than broilers because the former class 

 was used for fricasse purposes which do not require as rigid attention 

 to grading as do broilers. 



A number of local poultrymen were visited and questioned as to their 

 future intentions. One man stated that he expected to put in a re- 

 frigerator the following year so as to be able to supply a number of the 

 large hotels with dressed poultry in his immediate section. Others were 

 planning to increase their business. However, many of the men were 

 frank enough to admit they could not afiford to dress poultry and sell at 

 wholesale prices. These remarks were usually the result of costly ex- 

 perience in attempting to dry-pick and dress poultry after approved 

 methods. They were not made by those who had become proficient and 

 reduced such costs to a minimum. 



In order to test out the possibility of supplying from sources within 

 the state, arrangements were made with three hotels to receive trial ship- 

 ments of dressed broilers. The briolers were supplied by R. B. Thurrell 

 of East Wolfeboro. A. W. Lohman of the Poultry Department had 

 charge of the dressing and packing. All of the broilers were full-feather- 

 ed and well-meated birds, weighing around 2^4 pounds alive. After 

 dressing, wrapping heads, and packing one dozen broilers in a box, the 

 net weight varied from 22^ pounds to 23^4 pounds per box. These 

 boxes were placed immediately in a refrigerator and held at approximately 

 35° until thoroughly chilled. 



The broilers were inspected on arrival by the stewards. Two ship- 

 ments gave complete satisfaction. One steward volunteered to pay two 

 cents premium per pound over the Boston wholesale price if he could 

 get this quality of broilers regularly throughout the season. 



The success of these few shipments and other instances cited does not 

 mean that New Hampshire poultrymen can profitably supply the White 

 Mountain hotels on a large scale. The investigation has shown it is 

 necessary that all dressed poultry be carefully graded as to class, weight 

 and quality ; also, that only the best grades are wanted by the hotel trade. 

 Any future development would have to compete with the fresh killed 

 poultry from the Middle West. Many of these packing houses are ac- 

 customed to making fifty grades of dressed poultry at one time.* One 

 company which operates many plants where one to three thousand head 

 are dressed daily rei^orts average operating costs as $3.57 per cwt. of 

 dressed poultry. Distribution of these costs are as follows : Supplies 

 $.69; labor $1.50; fixed expense $.13; other expense $1.25. 



*Marketing Poultry Products — Benjamin, E. W. — Page 116 



