PROFITABLE BROILER RAISING 



NICE WORK IMPORTANT 



It is of great importance that the work be nicely (care- 

 fully) done, as a torn and marred chick is less attractive and 

 fetches a lower price. The most successful broiler raiser quoted 

 above pays five cents per chick for killing and picking, and 

 when we commented upon the rather higher price than is gen- 

 erally paid he said: "I would rather pay that price and have 

 the chicks carefully picked, the man picking fifty to sixty chick- 

 ens a day, than to have a man earn the same amount of money 

 by hurriedly picking one hundred a day. It is quite easy for 

 a picker to 'skimp' his work, and the broilers would be a cheaper 

 looking lot in consequence, shrinking the price perhaps four or 

 five cents a pound." In other words, quality pays in broilers 

 as well as in other things, and the fact that this 

 man's broilers frequently bring him five cents a 

 pound above the highest market quotations, ap- 

 proves the policy of paying the picker a good 

 enough price to insure having the chicks carefully 

 picked. 



A good many farmers and small poultry 

 growers ship their chickens alive to a commission 

 dealer, who, in turn, sells them to a picker, who 

 kills, dresses and markets them. Almost always 

 these chicks shipped in alive, are not really good 

 broilers; they 

 are usually 

 "lean" and thin, 

 not plump and 

 round, not well- 

 f at tened. A 

 good business is 

 done in buying 

 up these "range" 

 chickens, feed- 

 ing them a fat- 

 t e n i n g ration 

 for two to three 

 weeks, and then 

 dressing them 

 for market ; 

 which is some- 



Mr. Pollard says: "In dressing chickens for market, they are 

 killed by cutting the vein and penetrating the brain at a point 

 well back in the roof of the mouth. A deep cut at just the 

 right point will so paralyze the nerves of the bird that the 

 feathers will pick very easily, and much of the trouble in tear- 

 ing the skin will be avoided. The chickens are dry picked. All 

 the feathers are taken from the carcass with the exception of 

 the tips of the wings, and from these all the quill feathers are 

 picked. If the birds have feathered legs these are also picked. 

 The heads are left on, and the entrails are not drawn. After 

 picking and carefully pin-feathering, they are dropped into huge 

 tanks of water and left a suitable time to cool. In hot weather 

 this water is iced in order to more quickly remove the animal 



heat. They are then 

 rinsed and the blood 

 cleaned from their 

 heads, and are laid on 

 a bench for the water 

 to drain oflf. After 

 draining those that are 

 nearest alike are pair- 

 ed together, the legs 

 being tied with twine, 

 and they are hung in 

 a cool, dark room until 

 the following morning, 

 when they are packed 

 and shipped to mar- 

 ket." 



THERE IS 

 PROFIT IN BROILERS 



BLOCKING CHICKENS INTO SHAPE 



The u^per view shows a row of chickens in a right-anple trough or "shaper' 

 which rests on two barrels. The shapers are placed in convenient frames in th 

 middle and lower views. 



what similar to the fattening done in England and France, the 

 birds there being almost always bought from farmers and 

 small growers, brought to the fattening station and fattened for 

 market. There is a substantial loss to the grower who does 

 not fatten his own chickens;, selling them in the "lean" condi- 

 tion means that they are very poor in quality and sell at a low 

 price if marketed at once, if bought by a fattener and put in 

 good, marketable condition the fattener gets the bulk of the 

 profits; he gets pay for the increase in quantity of flesh and the 

 premium paid for the better quality. 



In an article written and published some few years ago. 



That there is good 

 money made in raising 

 broilers a careful study 

 of the business reveals. 

 There is a great de- 

 mand for this class of poultry meat, and of the best grade there is 

 never a sufficient supply; furthermore, the demand is constantly 

 increasing and will be still further increased by a better average 

 quality of broilers marketed. Another point in favor of broiler 

 raising is that the work-season of broiler raising for the high- 

 est prices comes at a time when other work is slack, hence the 

 time utilized in the broiler raising is not wanted in other de- 

 partments of the poultry work. Take advantage of the highest 

 prices of March, April and May, and produce the very best 

 quality of broiler chicks, and the resulting profits will be emi- 

 nently satisfactory. 



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