148 MAINE AGRICULTURAIv EXPERIMENT STATION. I9I3. 



the saving on any large poultry farm would in i to 3 years 

 easily equal the cost of a permanent shed similar to the one 

 here described. 



A Crematory for Dead Poitetry. 



On every poultry plant and around every farm there are 

 bound to occur from time to time a greater or less number of 

 deaths of chickens and adult fowls from disease or other natural 

 causes. The disposal of these dead bodies offers a problem to 

 the poultryman, the correct solution of which may in many 

 cases become a very important matter. This is especially true 

 in the cases of death from contagious diseases, which include 

 a considerable proportion of the deaths of poultry generally. 

 The method usually practiced by the farmer and poultryman 

 for the disposition of dead carcasses is insanitary in the ex- 

 treme. To throw the dead bodies on the manure pile is to in- 

 vite the spread of disease on the plant. Burying is far from 

 being a satisfactory way of dealing with the matter for two 

 reasons. Unless the grave is dug deep, which costs a good deal 

 of time and labor, there is considerable likelihood that dogs or 

 other marauding animals will dig out the carcasses, and, after 

 feeding on them, scatter the remains around on the top of the 

 ground. Furthermore, burying cannot be resorted to at all 

 during the winter months when the ground is frozen. 



The only really sanitary method of dealing with dead bodies 

 is to incinerate them. The difficulty of following this plan in 

 practice is that the farmer or poultryman usually does not have 

 any suitable source of heat ready at hand at all times. To be 

 sure, during certain seasons of the year, those poultrymen who 

 employ large brooder houses with a hot water heating system 

 have a furnace in operation, and the dead chicks can be burned 

 up in the furnace. This, however, covers only a part of the 

 year. At other times resort must be had to burying or some 

 other means of disposal, as the poultryman is not likely to 

 fire up a large furnace for the sake of burning a few dead 

 birds. 



At the Station plant it has been felt for some time that it 

 was desirable to have a small crematory conveniently located, 

 and so easy and economical of operation that dead birds could 

 be disposed of immediately, with a minimum amount of trouble 



