FEEDING POULTRY 357 
on grain and dry mash until it is desired to pen them up to fatten 
for market. ; 
Crate-Fattening Ration.—Crate-fattening is used where it is 
desired to produce choice milk-fed fowls-that are as tender, juicy 
and toothsome as possible. Birds under nine weeks of age should 
be pen-fattened. Fowls three-fourths grown will crate-fatten best 
(Fig. 105). ‘The following formula is a good example of a suitable 
crate-fattening ration: 
2 pounds barley meal ‘or oatmeal, 
1 pound, cornmeal, 
1 pound shorts, 
8 pounds buttermilk. 
This ration should be fed two to three times a day, being allowed 
to sour six to twelve hours before feeding. Charcoal and’ grit are 
kept in front of the birds between meals. Birds are fed from ten 
days to three weeks and starved for twenty-four hours before start- 
ing the fattening process. 
Crate-fattening should not be carried on longer than from ten 
to twenty-one days, or the fowls will go off feed and die, since the 
process is such a forcing one. Large broilers and fryers can be 
nicely finished off in this way. For roasting carcasses, fowls that 
are not quite mature make rapid gains when crate-fattened. Cocker- 
els that have matured and become staggy do not make as profitable 
gains as those that have not yet fully matured. Crate-fattened, 
‘milk-fed fowls are always in demand at fancy prices, because the 
milk ration and close confinement produce such a choice, jpicy meat. 
Literature on Poultry.—Lewis, “Productive Poultry Husbandry,” 
Phila., 1913; Pearl, Surface and Curtis, “ Diseases of Poultry,’ New York, 
1915; Kaup, “ Poultry Culture, Sanitation and Hygiene,” Phila., 1915; 
Wortley, “Diseases of Poultry,’ New York, 1915; “Twenty Lessons in 
Poultry,” Phila., 1916; Woods, “ Open Air Poultry Houses,” Chicago, 1912; 
American Poultry Journal Yearbooks 1913, 1914, 1915; Basley “ Western 
Poultry Book,’”’ Los Angeles, 1912; Fiske, “ Poultry Feeding and Fattening,” 
New York, 1908; Lewis, “ Poultry Keeping,” Phila., 1915; American Pekin 
Duck Company, “ How We Make Ducks Pay,” Boston, 1907. 
Haperiment Station Circulars and Bulletins.—California ec. 99, 142, 
145, 150; b. 164; r. 1907, 1908. Colorado, b. 164, 213. Delaware, r. 1901. 
Indiana, b. 71, 76, 182. Iowa, ext. b. 19, 36, 37. Kansas, b. 164; r. State 
Bd. of Agr. Sept., 1908, b. 107. Kentucky, b. 197; ¢. 38. Maine, b. 64, 79, 
100, 117, 130, 179, 184. Maryland, b. 157. Massachusetts, b. 106 r. 1897, 1898, 
1903, 1905; State Bd. of Agr., b. 1, 1908. Minnesota, b. 119.’ Mississippi, 
b. 162. Missouri, c. 76, 79; b. 57. New Jersey, c. 2, 23, 79; b. 57, 265; r. 
1905, 1906. New York (Geneva), r. 1888, 1889, 1890, 1892, 1895, 1901, 
1908; b. 29, 38, 39, 53, 90, 106, 126, 149, 171, 222, 259, 271. New York 
