76 



THE CHICK BOOK 



they make about one liundred per cent on the cost of hatch' 

 ing and raising a four to six pound soft-roasting chicken. 



The Breeds Preferred. 

 In nearly all cases it is found that the Asiatic, or crosses 

 of Asiatic a.nd American varieties are used to make these 

 extra fine soft-roasters. In the poultry section south of 

 Boston frO'm which so many roasters come to market the 

 Tjight Brahma is the breed used; in south Jersey It is gener- 

 ally a cross of Light Brahma-Partridge Cochin, or of Light 

 Brahma-Plymouth Rock. It is necessary that the birds be 

 of great size normally, then they will attain the desired 

 large size while still having the essential "soft" flesh of the 

 young chicken. A change in conditions is gradually coming 

 about, however, partly due to the farmers of south Jersey 

 taking thought of the profitableness of the egg side of the 

 Dueiness, which is bringing the better laying American varie- 

 ties into favor. Then, too, the introduction of improved meth- 

 ods of feeding, making it possible to grow a Plymouth Rock 

 chicken (for example) to as great size and more quickly than 

 an Asiatic, is causing a gradual change in front, even in the 

 great stronghold of the Brahmas south of Boston. In a 

 recen't number of Reliable Poultry Journal is an Illustration 

 of a pair of soft-roasters that made the astonishing growth 

 to twenty-three pounds, alive, at six months old, and the 

 larger one weighed eleven pounds dressed. Those chickens 

 were Barrea Plymouth Rocks, and that wonderful growth in 

 six months is an eye-opener. Those chickens were grown 

 by one of those south-shore poultry growers and dressed for 

 market by the great market poultrymen of that section, 

 Messrs. J. H. Curtiss & Brother.- The change of front in that 

 section was indicated by a remark made to me by Mr. Cur- 

 tiss a few days ago, when he emphatically stated thajt he con- 

 sidered the "White Plymouth Rock to be the best all-around 

 variety of fowls in the world. When we remember that he 

 is a life-long lover of the Light Brahmas, and has always 

 considered them the best market poultry variety, we may 

 well be surprised at such a change. The explanation lies in 

 the simple fact of the quicker growth of the Rocks by the 

 improved method of feeding the prepared (and accurately 

 balanced) ration. 



The Males Are Caponized. 

 All the males are caponized by these south-shore poul- 

 try growers, even though almost all of them are sold as soft- 

 roasters; but very, very few of them go to market as capons. 

 They are caponized at about three months old, and the gain 

 is in the fact of their more peaceful disposition. The unca- 

 ponized cockerel is of a most pugnacious and quarrelsome 

 disposition, and his quarreling hinders his growth, besides 

 the greater activity promoting the hardening of the flesh. 

 As it is essential that the flesh be "soft," it is easy to under- 

 stand that capouizing is necessary to the keeping of the 

 right condition. In the south-shore section of which we 

 hava been writing there are many thousand chickens raised 

 each year, and Mr. J. H. Curtiss, who is an expert caponizer, 

 caponizes the males for scores of the poultrymen. For this 

 service he charges four dollars per hundred chickens, and 

 is much in demand among his neighbors. The influence of 

 such a man as Mr. Curtiss, in promoting the growing of 

 "better poultry and more of it," is beyond estimating. With- 

 in a half dozen miles of his home there are from thirty to 

 fifty thousand chickens grown for market each year, all fine 

 Boft-roasters and capons, and the importance of that small 

 section of country as a poultry center is made manifest by 

 its having given a name to a superior quality of chickens 

 grown there; "south-shore" chickens are quoted as the 

 highest standard for quality! 



As a rarm-Product. 



The poultry growing above described is chiefly in the 

 hands of those who make a specialty of growing fine soft- 

 roa.sters for market, but that the business is highly profit- 

 able to farmers, who make the growing of two or three or 

 four hundred chickens for market annually an adjunct of 

 their regular farm work, there is ample evidence. In the 

 south Jei'sey section of which I wrote the chickens are al- 

 most entirely grown by farmers. In the Reliable Poultry 

 Journal not long ago, I described these south Jersey poultry 

 growers as follows: "It may not be quite fair to speak of 

 these poultry growers as 'poultrymen,' because, as a rule, 

 the birds are grown on the farms as a branch of farm work, 

 and are mostly grown by the women of the farms, while the 

 men are engaged in the regular farm occupations; two or 

 three hundred up to five hundred would be the usual yearly 

 product of a farm. It needs but a little arithmetic to dem- 

 onstrate that a branch of farm work which produces three 

 hundred (or even two hundred) roasting chickens which 

 bring one dollar to one dollar and twenty-five cents apiece 

 when sold is a quite important department of the farm; we 

 doubt whether any other one department produces so mucli 

 cash income for the amount of labor and capital expended! 



"Comparatively few of these poultry growers use incu- 

 bators; the bulk of the chickens are hen-hatched. Incuba- 

 tors were attempted here and there some yeai-s ago, but the 

 generally poor results discouraged their use; latterly, since 

 a better class of incubators is being put out, they are com- 

 ing to be used more. It is interesting, too, to know that 

 these choicest chickens are not artificially fattened — no 

 cramming machine is used. They are put into large coops, 

 that are four feet wide by six to ten feet long, with a 

 trough along the front to hold the food. The food is a corn 

 meal mash, mixed up with skim-mllk when it can be ob- 

 tained. Sometimes the milk supply is not equal to the 

 demand and then water is used. The fattening takes from 

 four to six weeks. 



That the profit is not all for the grower of winter chick- 

 ens Is also evident. I have before me the account of a poul- 

 try buyer, which shows the figures of the poultry sales of a 

 small farmer in Worcester county, Mass. These chickens 

 were hatched in the late winter, and sold alive during May 

 and June as soft-roasters of about four pounds weight The 

 farmer said that branch of his farm work had paid him 

 over fifty dollars a month net profit for the six months' 

 work. The figures of the sales, taken from the buyer's book, 

 are "as follows: 

 No. of Chickens. gum Paid. 



57 $ 52.90 



52 48.95 



104 94.87 



106 95.04 



106 98.72 



75 69.96 



^3 51.10 



68 58.50 



45 39.12 



51 27.79 



727 $636.95 



This is an average of about ninety cents per chicken, 

 and as the grower claimed that they cost to raise not far 

 from forty-flve cents apiece and sold for just about double 

 that, he made about one hundred per cent profit on them. 

 He dees not keep a hard and fast account with his chickens; 

 he knows they pay him a very substantial profit, and that 

 satisfies him! 



