42 METHODS OF P0U1,TRY MA>;aGEMENT, 



The number of pounds of grain required to produce i pound 

 of gain in fattening cockerels was ascertained in experiments 

 comparing (i) the effect of housing. (2) the effect of age, and 

 (3) the effect of skim milk. The grain mixture used in these 

 series of experiments was the same, consisting of 100 pounds 

 of corn meal, 100 pounds of wheat middlings, and 40 pounds 

 of meat meal. This was fed as a porridge thick enough to 

 droj) but not to run from a spoon. 



The French and English fatteners who make a specialty of 

 the business, fattening thousands of chickens each year, con- 

 fine the chickens in small coops. The coops used at the Maine 

 Station gave a floor space of 16 by 23 inches, in each of which 

 4 chickens were placed. The coops were constructed of laths 

 with closed-end partitions of boards. The floors, sides, and 

 tops were of laths placed three-quarters of an inch apart. By 

 simph^ moving the pens thus constructed the floors were kept 

 clean. V-shapei troughs ^^'ith 3-inch sides were placed in 

 frqnt and about 2 inches above the level of the floors of the 

 coops. Cockerels thus fed were compared with others kept in 

 small houses 9 by 11, feet in size, with an attached yard 20 feet 

 square. The yard was entirely free from anything that would 

 ser\-e as green feed. Twenty birds were put in each of these 

 houses. As a result of experiments with fattening 286 birds it 

 was found that on the average 7.9 pounds of grain were re- 

 quired to produce i pound of gain in the case of birds fed in 

 the coops, and 5.9 pounds in the case of those fed in the small 

 houses and yards. 



An experiment with 150 birds when they v\'ere 4 months old 

 showed that they required 4.9 pounds of grain to produce i 

 pound of gain, while birds from the same stock, when they 

 were 6 months old. required 7.4 pounds of grain to produce i 

 pound of gain. 



An experiment with 68 birds showed that when the porridge 

 was wet with skim milk only 4.3 pounds of grain were required 

 to produce i pound of gain, against 5.3 pounds when the por- 

 ridge was wet with water. Eight pounds of skim milk was 

 used with each pound of grain. 



These experiments warrant the following conclusions:' (i) 

 As great gains are made just as cheaply and more easily' when 

 the chickens are put into small houses and yards as when they 



