334 



COMMERCIAL POULTRY RAISING 



of this kind we are obliged to deal with facts and not fancies. 

 Chickens are scavengers. Almost all fowls are scavengers to a 

 certain degree. Whether this is the result of intense domestica- 

 tion or a natural impulse, I am not prepared to say, but I do 

 know that fowls will eat dead animal matter at the slightest op- 

 portunity, and, what is more, they eat it with apparent relish. 



»&^f^f^' 



(.Courtesy Kansas Experiment Station) 



Fig. 217. — Growing coop for young stock constructed from piano cases covered 

 with tar paper. Note runway in front of right-hand window. 



In the early stages of decomposition, if the animal matter 

 has not been infected with a malignant disease, little harm will 

 result from eating it, unless eaten in large quantities, which will 

 bring about bowel troubles. But as soon as an advanced state 

 of putrefaction sets in, the carcass fairly swarms with bacteria — 

 microbes of one kind or another, not to mention worms and the 



