CHAPTER XVI 
TABLE POULTRY 
LTHOUGH this work is primarily addressed to those who 
A engage in egg-production, no book on poultry would be 
complete that did not contain a reference to table poultry, 
and more particularly to fatting. After all, the egg-farmer has to 
get rid of his old hens sooner or later, and while in some instances 
he may sell them as they stand for what they fetch, in other cases 
the farmer will prefer to fatten them before seeking a market. 
There are still other poultry-keepers who prefer to run what are 
called general purpose fowls, birds that will serve the double 
purpose of eggs and table, and for this purpose he will breed birds 
that can lay eggs in the first place and put on flesh quickly in the 
second. He will not, for this branch of his business, choose any 
light breeds, but he may with profit cross a light breed with a 
heavy breed in his efforts to get layers and table birds. 
I find, for instance, that a cross between a Leghorn and Buff 
Orpington results in a good layer and a handsome bird of some 
weight. Both Leghorns and Buffs are excellent layers and the 
progeny are noted for their good-sized tinted eggs and a certain 
absence of broodiness not usually associated with the Buff 
Orpington. 
Having established a good layer with a big plump carcass, the 
poultryman will have something to work upon when it comes to 
the fatting process. I may remark that the Leghorn Buff Orping- 
ton Cross has a body of the make and shape of the Orpington with 
the white flesh so much desired for table. Like most crosses it is 
a particularly hardy bird, and the young are easily reared. They 
grow quickly, and as a rule the cockerels are fit to sell for the table 
in twelve to fourteen weeks, while the pullets will mature and lay 
in favourable cireumstances in six to seven months. 
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