658 



FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



The first broilers of the season are 

 usually hatched in November or Decem- 

 ber and reach the market in January, 

 and hence for the production of these 

 an incubator is essential. The most 

 popular breeds for broilers are Wyan- 

 dottes, Plymouth Kocks and Rhode Is- 

 land Reds. When nearly ready for mar- 

 ket the broilers are put into pens or 

 shady runs and given all the fattening 

 food, such as cracked corn, corn meal 

 mash, whole corn, warm potatoes, milk 

 and some kind of beef scraps or meat 

 meal, etc. Where the chicks are marketed 

 as squab broilers when eight to 10 weeks 

 old, they can be safely raised in the 

 brooders without outside exercise. 

 Sometimes the broilers are fed celery for 

 a few days before marketing and sold as 

 celery fed broilers. Philadelphia broil- 

 ers are simply well grown broilers raised 

 in the vicinity of Philadelphia. 



FATTENING CHICKS 



In fattening any of the partly or fully 

 grown fowls, they should be confined 

 somewhat closely, and fed heavily on fat- 

 tening foods. Corn in its various forms 

 is one of the best grains for this pur- 

 pose. Beef scraps containing consider- 

 able fat or pork cracklings are excellent. 

 Much more rapid gains are made on 

 ground than on whole grains. Chicks 

 fed from birth on ground grains, with a 

 supplementary feed, at the New York 

 state station weighed 8.1 pounds each at 

 five months of age. Those fed cracked 

 or whole grain during the same period 

 weighed 7% pounds each. 



The advantage of finely ground over 

 coarsely cracked and whole grains for 

 fattening chicks has been proved in in- 

 numerable experiments. The various 

 grains, such as corn, wheat, buckwheat, 

 barley and oats, are practically inter- 

 changeable as regards feeding value for 

 fattening purposes. The best results are 

 secured on mixed grains in which corn 

 predominates, while oats are of least 

 value, especially light oats. Mashes are 

 considered of especial value in hasten- 

 ing gains. Where mash is fed and 

 milk eiven, the absence of green foods 

 for fattening chicks will not be noticed. 



Gluten meal was fed with ground 

 oats, wet with skim milk, at the Canada 

 experimental farm and produced 15 

 per cent better gains than when the 

 ground oats were fed with ground clover 

 and meat meal. Gluten meal is consid- 



ered a very satisfactory feed for poultry. 

 The dressed fowls were better filled out, 

 better colored, juicier and more delicate 

 on gluten meal than on the other ra- 

 tions. 



Skim milk has been found especially 

 valuable for chickens during the whole 

 period of growth, with or without green 

 food. It was particularly valuable when 

 chicks were small and confined to the 

 pen. 



At the Indiana station, chicks weigh- 

 ing 1 to 2 pounds each were fed light 

 meal rations and one lot was given all 

 the skim milk it would eat. At the end 

 of six weeks the chicks receiving the 

 skim milk had made double the gain of 

 the other lot. When the grains were 

 mixed with skim milk, at the Canada 

 station, 15 to 30 per cent better gains 

 were made than when the grains were 

 mixed with water. On the milk ration 

 the chickens dressed decidedly plumper 

 and had a much better appearance, the 

 flesh was plumper, juicier and had a 

 better flavor. 



Animal food — The necessity for some 

 kind of animal food in the ration .for 

 chicks is well brought out in experi- 

 ments reported by the New York Cor- 

 nell station, where chicks six weeks old 

 were fed for 125 days on a ration con- 

 taining meat in comparison with others 

 to which no animal food was given. On 

 the meat ration, the chicks doubled in 

 weight, were large, plump, healthy. On 

 the vegetable ration they increased in 

 weight only about one-third, and were 

 small, sickly in appearance and ragged; 

 some of them were almost destitute of 

 feathers. So eagerly did they crave 

 meat that they began eating one an- 

 other. The breaking strength of the 

 bones of chicks fed meat ration was 46 

 as compared with 31 on the all vegetable 

 ration. The flesh of both hens and 

 chicks fed the meat ration was about 40 

 per cent richer in albuminoids than on 

 the all vegetable ration and when cooked 

 was more succulent, tender and better 

 flavored. 



At the New York state station a like 

 experiment was made except that the 

 vegetable ration contained the same 

 amount of protein as the meat ration, 

 derived from such material as pea 

 meal, linseed meal and bran. The chicks 

 were less than a week old when the ex- 

 periment began and during the follow- 

 ing 20 weeks from 36 to 66 per cent bet- 



