130 POULTRY PEEDING AND FATTENING 



cliickenSj with a partition in the center, six fowls on a 

 side, packed heads and tails. The Dorking is the 

 standard fowl of England. Canadian chickens weighing 

 five and one-half to six pounds each bring eighty cents 

 apiece, while those from the United States, which are 

 much smaller and not specially fattened, bring but 

 fifty-two to fifty-four cents. (See Figure 30.) 



Killing and Dressing Squabs — The squabs should 

 be killed before they get so large that they leave the 

 nests. The standard size is eight pounds to the dozen. 

 With properly kept birds this weight is usually attained 

 in four weeks with straight Homers, and five weeks 

 with Dragoons, says William E. Eice in Farmers' Bul- 

 letin Fo. 177 of the United States department of 

 agriculture. The squabs should be caught in the 

 morning before tlie feeding and watering is done. This 

 assures empty crops. Judgment must be used in select- 

 ing the squabs, or some which are too light may be 

 taken, causing a cut in the price. As caught, the 

 squabs should be placed in pigeon hampers and taken 

 to the killing room, which in cool weather should be 

 heated to be made comfortable for the picker. Place 

 the hampers within easy reach of the chair in which the 

 picker is to sit, and have a basin of water close by. 

 Directly in front of the picker, suspend in a horizontal 

 position a ring of wood or iron, about a foot in diameter, 

 and hang from the ring four cords eight inches long, 

 terminating in slipnooses. 



Killing the Squabs — Catch a squab from the ham- 

 per, and suspend it by passing one of the nooses around 

 the legs, tail and wings, letting about two inches of the 

 ends of the wings project beyond the noose, and tighten 

 it well. Insert the killing knife (sold for such pur- 

 poses) well into the back of the mouth and draw it 

 forward, cutting clear into the brain. Hang a weighted 

 wire in the bill and let tlic bird bleed. The wire is six 



