324 POULTRY CULTURE 



in a refrigerator car. Natural ice is better for packing poultry than 

 artificial ice, because it melts faster, and the cold water percolating 

 through the layers of poultry keeps them at a uniformly cool tem- 

 perature. If the ice melts too slowly, the poultry may arrive at its 

 destination in poorer condition with much ice remaining than if 

 the ice has all melted. 



Feathers. Wherever a considerable quantity of poultry is dressed 

 it will pay to save and sell the feathers. The feathers of ducks 

 and geese, if handled and disposed of properly, should pay for the 

 picking. Other feathers are less valuable but still worth taking 

 care of. Stiff and soft feathers, white and colored feathers, and the 

 ifeathers of each kind of poultry should be kept separate. The 

 feathers from dry-picked stock are usually in better condition than 

 those from scalded stock, but with a little care scalded feathers can 

 be cured so that they will sell well, though not as prime feathers. 

 The wing and tail feathers require no curing ; the body feathers 

 should be placed in bins or in a loft and forked over at intervals 

 until the quills are thoroughly dry. 



Shipping live poultry. Ventilated coops with solid bottoms and 

 open sides and tops, made of slats or wire netting over a frame, are 

 used for shipping live poultry. Standard coops used by large ship- 

 pers are made of hardwood strips reenforced with twisted wire, — 

 for fowls, 2x3 feet, 1 2 inches high ; for turkeys, 2x3 feet, 

 16 inches high. A coop with a 2 x 3 feet bottom is large enough 

 for a dozen medium-sized fowls, and for from one to two dozen 

 chickens, according to size. Filled with live poultry it makes as 

 large and as heavy a package as can be easily handled by one man. 

 This is the size preferred by commission men and expressmen ; 

 but many shippers make a larger coop, with floor from 30 to 36 

 inches wide by 4 feet long, usually with a partition in the middle. 

 These coops are usually homemade. Poultry is not often shipped 

 in coop lots over distances so great that the birds must be fed and 

 watered in transit. Long-distance shipments are usually made by 

 middlemen either in cars especially fitted for poultry, or with an 

 attendant to feed and water on the journey. 



Sorting and grading. Uniformity is as important with live as 

 with dressed poultry. The birds shipped in a coop (or in a com- 

 partment of a double coop) should be of the same kind and as 



