42 



MRS. BASLEY'S WESTERN POULTRY BOOK 



The crate used for fattening fowls can be four or six feet long. 

 Mine were composed of lath six feet long; the frame of the crate 

 is 6 feet long, 18 inches wide and 18 inches high, divided into six 

 little stalls or compartments. The frame is covered with lath, 

 placed lengthwise on the bottom, back and top the width of one 



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Three-compartment Fattening Coop and Trough. 



lath apart. The first lath on the bottom should be two inches from 

 the back to allow the droppings to fall through, otherwise they 

 would lodge on the lath at the back. The lath are placed up and 

 down in the front, the spaces between them being two inches wide 

 to enable the chickens to feed from the trough. A "V" shaped 

 trough is made to fit into two notches in cleats in front of each 

 crate. The crate stands 15 inches from the ground; the droppings 

 are received on sand or other absorbent material and removed daily. 

 The coop is large enough to hold 12 or 18 young chicks (2 or 3 in a 

 stall) or six full grown fowls. Fowls are fed three times a day all 

 they will eat in 15 minutes. 



See cut of fattening crate. 



Formulas for fattening: 



(1) Equal parts of bran, cornmeal and oat meal (rolled break- 

 fast oats) mixed with skim milk, fed three times a day. 



(2) Buckwheat flour, pulverized oats, cornmeal in equal parts, 

 mixed thin with buttermilk. 



(3) Equal parts barley meal and oat meal and a half part of 

 corn meal, mixed with buttermilk or skim milk. 



(4) A favorite French combination is two parts barley meal, 

 one part cornmeal, one part buckwheat flour. 



A little salt and coarse sand should be added to their food.* 

 Three weeks is the length of time to continue the feeding. Chick- 

 ens do not seem to be able to stand the confinement for a greater 

 length of time. The last week of the fattening process, five per cent 

 of cotton seed meal and a little tallow may be added to any of the 

 above formulas. 



