290 



PRACTICAL POULTRY PRODUCTION 



are packed in crates as described under "packing" on page 

 287. Care should be taken to protect them as much as 

 possible from the sun while en route to stores or stations or 

 while they may remain on station platforms. 

 TABLE POULTRY 

 While the production and marketing of broilers, fowls, 

 or capons for table use is secondary to the production of 

 eggs, at the same time it is a branch of poultry keeping from 

 which considerable revenue is derived. This revenue as 



well as that for eggs, can 

 in most instances be con- 

 siderably increased, if the 

 birds are properly pre- 

 pared for market. 



BROILERS 



As previously suggest- 

 ed in the chapter on 

 brooding, an effort should 

 be made to dispose of all 

 cockerels other than 

 those to be kept for 

 breeding purposes or to be caponized. 



Pullets should not be marketed as broilers unless they 

 are deformed or poorly developed. 



Market classification. Broilers are divided into three 

 classes: Squab broilers, broilers, and fryers. Squab broil- 

 ers range in size from ^ of a pound to 1 pound in weight, 

 broilers from 1 to 2 pounds in weight, and fryers, or, as 

 they are sometimes called, "large broilers" or "small roast- 

 ers," from 2 to 3 pounds. Usually it is more profitable to 

 dispose of the cockerels when they range from 1 to 2}/^ pounds 

 in weight. 



Time to market. The time to market broilers is in the 

 early spring, as the prices are highest during that period. 



Figure 2S3. — A crate of cockerels being taken 

 from the range to be fattened for market. 



