CHAPTER TEN 



MARKET POULTRY AND EGGS ' 



HOW TO PREPARE POULTRY FOR MARKET 



SELLING STOCK ALIVE AND DRESSED— METHODS OF DRESSING— SHIPPING CRATES AND BOXES— HIGH 

 PRICES OBTAINABLE FOR FANCY HIGH GRADE POULTRY AND EGGS— FEATHERS ARE VALUABLE 



FRED HAXTON 



|HE sure road to success in raising poultry for 

 market purposes is quality. It is immensely 

 more profitable to produce a small number of 

 birds and sell them at higli prices than it would 

 be to raise a large number and sell them at 

 the ordinary market rate. From five to fifteen 

 cents a pound premium is paid for strictly 

 fancy dressed poultry — in fact, the best goods 

 command almost their own price, and are seldom to be found 

 in the open market, generally being sold by the poultryman to 

 fine hotels and clubs and markets in exclusive neighborhoods, 

 without allowing a middleman a share in the profits. To 

 illustrate the adage that "fancy goods bring fancy prices," it 

 may be stated that a club in Chicago pays SO cents a dozen 

 the year around for its eggs, and takes all the capons a large 

 poultryman can raise at 40 cents a pound. 



After making his name on a box of poultry a synonym for 

 quality, the market poultryman will find no difficulty in dispos- 

 ing of all the stock he can raise at a good premium. Private 

 trade pays best, if a regular supply can be given. In nearly all 

 markets, however, the best dealers wiU agree to pay a certain 

 bonus on every pound of fancy poultry. The requirements of 

 practically all the markets for poultry are similar. 



SHIPPING LIVE POULTRY 



A standard poultry crate is used in all the large markets, 

 and to secure highest prices the birds should be shipped only in 

 these. The fowls look much better in crates of uniform size, 

 and are more easily packed in freight or express cars and handled 

 in the markets. These coops may be bought £||t a low price in 

 any large poultry market, or may be easily constructed by the 

 shipper. The crates should be 4 feet long, 30 inches wide, 12 

 inches high for chickens and ducks, and 18 inches high for tur- 

 keys and geese. The corner posts are of 2 by 2 inch stuff and 

 two of these also are used in the middle of the coop. Six pieces 

 of 2 inch stuff 12 inches long and six pieces 30 inches long are 

 cut and nailed into three rectangles, one for each end and one 

 for the middle of the crate. Ten-penny nails are used. Half- 

 inch boards are nailed on the bottom, which is made tight. 

 Strips J inch thick and 2 inches wide are nailed on the sides 

 and top, about IJ inches apart. Two strips are left loose on 

 the top for putting in or removing poultry, or a hinged door 

 is applied. Laths are nailed around the coops at the ends and 

 in the middle to keep the strips from coming off. The coop for 

 broilers should be 10 inches high and 2 feet wide. These crates 

 are both light and strong and being open prevent the smothering 

 of the birds if they are not crowded too tightly in the crates 



Care should be taken to ship birds of about the same size 

 and color together. A crate of fowls of uniform color and size 

 will bring two or three cents a pound more than would a case of 



black, white, speckled and large and small chickens mixed in- 

 discriminately. Young fowls should not be shipped with old 

 ones, for then the chances are that the whole shipment will be 

 sold as old stock. 



Most of the loss in shipping Uve poultry is due to suffoca- 

 tion, some crates arriving on the hottest days containing three 

 to a half dozen dead birds. In hot weather do not put more 

 than 100 pounds of adult birds in a coop, but in cold weather 

 120 pounds may be shipped. Of spring chickens when small, 50 

 to 60 pounds may be sent in the regulation coop' and when large, 

 70 to 90 pounds. It is best to ship the hens, pullets, cockerels 

 and cocks in separate crates, but when a shipper has not suffi- 

 cient birds, mixed lots may be sent. It is seldom profitable to 

 send to market live spring chickens weighing less than a pound, 

 as the supply is immense and the market is often glutted. It 

 is better to send these dressed as broilers. Chickens weighing a 

 pound and a half to two pounds sell best early in the season; 

 late in the spring two-pound weights are preferred. In the early 

 spring when young birds first come in, some small ones will 

 sell well, but as soon as the stock begins to be plentiful the small 

 chickens are not wanted. Along in June and July, when chickens 

 are bought to place in cold storage, two pounders are preferred. 

 As a general thing, two-pound stock sells best the year around. 



Live poultry- should be shipped so as to reach the market 

 from Tuesday to Friday. As receipts increase toward the end 

 of the week, enough stock is left over to supply the trade on 

 Monday, and late in the week dealers prefer to sell the fowls at 

 a sacrifice rather than carry them over Sunday and have the 

 trouble and expense of feeding them. Monday, is usually 

 a poor day to sell poultry. 



Just before shipping, the birds should be fed and watered 

 liberally, whole corn and wheat being the most sustaining foods. 

 If the trip is to be a long one it is a good plan to provide a few 

 handfuls of grain in a corner of the crate. Some shippers tack 

 half a cabbage to the top of the coop. 



The large dealers have special cars for shipping live poultry. 

 The coops are built right into the coaches, the sides of which 

 are covered with wire netting. A car will hold 5,000 birds, 

 and an attendant travels with the shipment, sometimes as far 

 as from California to New York, to feed and water the stock. 

 These cars are rented to the dealers who pay a certain rate in 

 advance of the regular freight charges for the use of them. The 

 rental for a thousand mile trip is $42, and at the end of the 

 journey the birds weigh more than they did when they started. 

 Five hundred of these cars are in use on the leading railroads 

 and more are being constructed. 



Express and freight rates on live poultry are low. The 

 coop weighs about forty pounds, and is returned when empty 

 for 10 cents, nearly all the railroads making this special rate. 

 Shipments of around 400 miles generally cost about $1.25 a 



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