﻿BULLETIN OF THE 



No. 21 



Contribution from the Bureau of Animal Industry, A. D. Melvin, Chief 

 January 15, 1914. 



THE COMMERCIAL FATTENING OF POULTRY. 



By Alfred R. Lee, 

 Junior Animal Husbandman, Animal Husbandry Division. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The fattening experiments described in Bureau of Animal Industry 

 Bulletin 140, entitled "Fattening Poultry," are continued in this 

 bulletin, which represents the results of two more years' work covering 

 the feeding seasons of 1911 and 1912. The methods and equipment 

 at the four feeding stations are the same as described in, the former 

 bulletin, except for slight changes in equipment which are noted in 

 this publication. The present experiments cover wider conditions 

 and include larger numbers of birds than the previous work, and so 

 permit of much better comparisons being made. The rations were 

 varied at some of the stations, thus giving good comparisons of the 

 value of different feeds under the same conditions; while the differ- 

 ences in equipment, methods, and rations at the various stations 

 allow comparisons of results secured in several different ways. 



The extent of the experiments, the numbers of birds included in 

 each test, and the opportunity for comparison with the previous 

 season's work eliminate largely the possibility of error that is liable 

 to occur in dealing with small numbers, which give very variable 

 results in fattening tests. The danger of deriving wrong conclusions 

 by not properly allowing for the influencing conditions is also reduced 

 to a minimum. 



THE FEEDING EXPERIMENTS. 



A full description of the four stations where the feeding was car- 

 ried on will be found in Bulletin 140, before mentioned, as well as a 

 number of other details concerning the equipment and methods of 

 fattening in the large poultry packing houses of the Middle West 

 which are not included in the present paper, as it is considered un- 

 necessary to repeat them here. 



The work of 1911 and 1912, herein described, is composed of four 

 experiments, designated A, B, C, and D. These are summarized and 

 7636°— 14- 1 



