﻿THE COMMERCIAL FATTENING OF POULTRY. 23 



Corn chop and buttermilk were fed to hens held for live shipment 

 during the summer months, but in very hot weather the birds did 

 better on a ration of corn chop with 8 per cent of low-grade flour and 

 5 per cent shorts, which was less heating than the corn chop alone. 

 These lots were only held for a short time in hot weather, and the' 

 object of feeding was to prevent shrinkage rather than to produce 

 gains. Some lots showed a slight gain, others held their own weiglit, 

 while a few showed a small shrinkage. 



Corn chop is difficult to feed, as it can not be mixed with milk and 

 poured from a feeding pail, so that the labor of feeding this ration is 

 greater than with the other ration. The corn chop not mixed with 

 other grains is fed by taking up a scoopful of grain and milk together, 

 and stirring the mixture frequently to prevent the corn from settling 

 in the mixing tank or feeding pail. If tallow is used in the chicken 

 mixture, -the corn-chop ration might prove as economical as the other 

 ration. The regular chicken mixture prevents shrinkage better in 

 hot weather, is cheaper, requires less labor, and produces slightly 

 more economical gains in feeding hens than the corn-chop ration. 



LESS PROFIT IN FATTENING HENS THAN IN FATTENING CHICKENS. 



The average cost of the hens into the feeder was 7.7 cents a pound 

 in 1911 and 10.3 cents in 1912, so that a pound of flesh can be bought 

 more cheaply than produced in the feeding station. Therefore it 

 only pays to feed hens under certain conditions. The object in feed- 

 ing hens at Station 1 was to supply a trade for " milk-fed" hens and 

 to dispose of the light hens, which are somewhat of a drug on the 

 market in the ordinary grades of dressed fowl. At Stations 2 and 4 

 the light hens and those which were covered with small pin feathers 

 were selected for fattening. The latter kind would grow feathers 

 rapidly, so that they would dress as fancy poultry after a week or 

 ten days fattening. 



A comparison of the results secured in fattening hens at these 

 three stations is shown in Tables 10 and 11. The feeding was done 

 in November and December. The average cost of fattening the hens 

 in 1911 was 10.92 and 8.74 cents per pound of gain at Stations 1 and 

 4, respectively, and 10.43 and 10.83 at Stations 1 and 2, in 1912. 

 This is lower than the corresponding cost of fattening chickens at 

 these stations during the same months, but higher than the average 

 cost of fattening for the season. However, it may be stated that the 

 cost for fattening chickens at Station 4 during the greater part of 

 November (see Table III, appendix) was abnormally high. In gen- 

 eral the difference in the cost, if any, would be more than made up 

 in the selling price. Therefore, as hens are bought and sold at a con- 

 siderably lower price per pound, it is, as a rule, much more profitable 

 to fatten chickens than to fatten hens. 



