302 PRACTICAL POULTRY PRODUCTION 



their own gardens or dispose of it at a good price, thus in- 

 creasing the profits of their flocks. Market gardeners and 

 orange growers are big buyers of poultry manure and it 

 also makes a fine fertilizer for top-dressing grass lands. 



CARE AND VALUE OF POULTRY FEATHERS 

 Poultry feathers, if properly cared for, will bring fair 

 returns, especially white feathers and feathers from ducks, 

 geese, and turkeys. The feathers from ten chickens will 

 make about one pound of cured feathers. If any consider- 

 able quantity of feathers is produced, keep the wing and 

 tail feathers separate from the body feathers and white 

 feathers separate from the colored, if you have any white 

 birds. The feathers must be partly cured before they are 

 sacked for shipment. They may be cured by spreading 

 them not over two to three feet deep in a loft or bin. Work 

 the feathers over occasionally with a fork until the mois- 

 ture has thoroughly dried out. If only a small number of 

 feathers are produced, they can be placed in. small quan- 

 tities in loosely woven burlap sacks and hung up in the 

 loft of a building where they get good circulation on all 

 sides, but should not be laid on the floor or packed on top 

 of each other until thoroughly dry. 



Dirty feathers may be washed, put through a wringer 

 and dried in the sun, if one has enough feathers to pay for 

 this operation. Ordinarily it is better to try to keep the 

 feathers clean and to throw the dirty feathers in with the 

 poultry manure. The following prices were quoted on 

 different kinds of poultry feathers in the summer of 1919 and 

 clearly show the higher prices paid for white feathers and 

 for geese and duck feathers: Geese feathers, pure white 

 80c per pound; average white 65c to 70c; gray 55c. Duck 

 feathers, pure white 55c; dirty or scalded white 40c to 50c; 

 dark feathers 40c. Chicken body feathers white 14c to 

 16c; dark 6c; damp or scalded feathers 3c to 5c; hackles 



