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THE CHICK BOOK 



one-half to six pounds, or don't they want birds of that size? 



Third — Should we have shipped them at four to five 

 pounds weight? 



We want to meet conditions which will give us top 

 prices; it is easy to get bottom prices any time." 



Replying to these questions: 



First — Cockerels of different varieties become "staggy" 

 at different ages, and as you fail to mention the variety you 

 raise we are in the dark. As most of the stock raised in 

 Maine is either Barred Plymouth Rocks, R. I. Reds or White 

 Wyandottes, we will assume that yours are of one of the 

 American varieties, and cockerels of those varieties begin to 

 get staggy when about six or seven months old, depending 

 on the treatment. The method of feeding has an influence 

 in hastening or retarding maturity. 



Why didn't you ship your birds all in at once, and so 

 be rid of them ? The dozen shipped November 12th brought 

 you twelve dollars and six cents, while the dozen sent in 

 December 9th brought you but eleven dollars and fifty-two 

 cents; you had fed them about four weeks longer and then 

 got less money for them. This is one of the commonest 

 mistakes of farmers, they don't market their stuff when it is 

 ready for market, but carry it along at a loss of the food 

 consumed, an'd at the risk of getting a lower price. 



Second — We think you didn't grow the birds fast 

 enough, when they only got to five and one^half to six 

 pounds at five to five and one-half months old, and they 

 would have been of a better quality of flesh, — would have 

 been "softer," if fed a quicker growing ration and brought 

 along earlier. That is another point on which many poul- 



try raisers do not discriminate; they raise all the birds ; 

 alike, feeding them the same foods, whether they are to be 

 killed for market or raised for laying-breeding stock. Then, ; 

 too, the amount of range allowed them is a factor. Free*^ 

 range encourages the growth of muscle, and muscle is 

 "hard" flesh. If you want to grow fine, "soft" chickens do 

 not let them run all over the farm,— keep them confined to 

 moderate yards, and feed them more heavily of corn meal 

 and beef scraps (or meat meal). 



You would probably have done better to have shipped 

 the birds at four to five pounds weight. The great bulk ol 

 the trade prefers chickens weighing eight to ten pounds the 

 pair although there is a good sale for larger birds, and in 

 the spring (say in March), the larger birds sell more read- 

 ily. If your local trade prefers large birds you should 

 caponize the cockerels, and then they are "soft" ever after, 

 and will grow to eight to ten pounds without becoming 

 "staggy." You are not obliged to sell them as capons be- 

 cause you have caponized them. The popular "south shore" \ 

 chickens of which you have been reading are caponized, 

 but dressed and sold as soft-roasters. 



Caponizing is so easily done, and is so great a benefit ' 

 in many ways, it is surprising that more poultry growers 

 do not adopt it. A set of special tools can be bought of 

 poultry supply dealers for about three dollars, and with it 

 the nagging, scrappy cockerels are easily turned into docile, 

 tractable birds, that have nothing to do but eat and grow. 

 They remain "soft," and their fiesh doesn't harden Into 

 muscle, as the cockerels do when they turn "staggy." Capon- 

 ize all the males not wanted for breeding birds. 



A. P. HUNTER. 



