I40 MAKING POULTRY PAY 



FATTENING POULTRY FOR MARKET 



The fattening or finishing of poultry by any special 

 process and feeding with this definite object in view, 

 is practically a new and almost unknown industry in 

 -the United States. The common plan has been to let 

 the fowls run at large and feed them all the corn they 

 would eat for a month or six weeks before marketing. 

 It is difficult to understand why the farmer, who has 

 every facility for properly finishing his fowls, should 

 waste this opportunity. He is very careful to see that 

 every steer, hog or sheep that he sends to the shambles 

 is carrying all the weight possible. He usually counts 

 that the poultry costs him nothing to produce it, and 

 all that he gets for it is clear profit. If properly 

 handled, a pound of grain can be converted into more 

 poultry meat of greater value and in less time than 

 through the four-footed channels. 



The farmer sticks to corn, which perhaps above all 

 ■other cereals produces the most unsatisfactory quality 

 of meat. As it produces weight and is the cheapest 

 -and most available grain, he supplies it, and where the 

 -supply is unstinted the weight is gained. Corn has a 

 special tendency to deposit a soft, oily fat in layers 

 under the skin, and in masses in the abdominal cavity, 

 instead of depositing this fat in globules throughout 

 the tissue where it belongs. If oats, barley or a suita- 

 ble mixture of these and other grains ground had been 

 ■used as a base, these globules would not waste, but 

 would soften in cooking, therebv rendering the tissues 

 soft and juicy. 



If the fowls are confined in small pens and Kept 

 -quiet they will fatten much quicker than if allowed 

 their liberty. Give all they .'k'ill eat three times a day 

 and provide plenty of pUr^"i^ater to drink. In a half 

 liour remove the drinking''-^nd feed vessels. Separate 



