3o6 POULTRY CULTURE 



Birds of low vitality and weak digestion are difficult to fatten, as 

 they are to develop in any way. Fattening such birds is, if any- 

 thing, more difficult than growing them. The explanation of this 

 may be that in the natural course fat is not produced unless every 

 other existing need is supplied. If not demonstrable, it is still a 

 reasonable theory that on a ration supplying all the material for 

 growth that it can use (forcing development at the highest rate of 

 which the organization is capable), a bird of high functional power 

 could store up some fat without expense to growth. Many rapidly 

 growing birds do this even while on range and taking all the exer- 

 cise that they need. On the other hand, undersized birds are usually 

 poor in flesh as well as small until growth is completed, and are 

 not profitable feeders at any age or for any purpose. 



Not only should birds undergoing the finishing process be re- 

 stricted either by confinement or by circumstances, but particular 

 care should be given to protecting them from alarms, annoyances, 

 and disturbances of all kinds. These may affect a fattening bird 

 more seriously than one growing under more normal conditions, or 

 than a laying hen, because the general effect of the conditions of 

 the finishing process is physically demoralizing to the bird, which 

 becomes more and more sensitive to disturbing influences, as the 

 process continues. Not infrequently poultry being fattened are con- 

 fined where they are constantly exposed to annoyances. Under such 

 conditions good results are impossible, except, perhaps, with very 

 phlegmatic birds. Constitutional tendency has much to do with fat- 

 tening. In general, the medium-weight and heavy breeds fatten 

 more readily than the smaller and more active ones, but even in 

 the breeds with a marked tendency to put on fat many individual 

 specimens are difficult to fatten, and sometimes whole stocks with 

 the type and characteristics of such birds will prove veiy unsatis- 

 factory when subjected to a finishing process. 



Special fattening plants using ordinary methods. Goose-fatten- 

 ing farms, developed by poultry buyers for finishing geese raised 

 . principally on pasture, are the only special fattening establishments 

 using ordinary methods of finishing. Some of these farms have 

 fattened from ten thousand to fifteen thousand geese a season. The 

 profits are sometimes very large, but the risk of disease in buying 

 birds from many sources, and in using the same land year after 



