444 POULTRY PRODUCTION 



Grading. — Grading can hardly be spoken of as one of the 

 really necessary steps in preparing poultry for consumption. 

 In commerce, however, uniformity is so universally demanded 

 by middlemen and by consumers who purchase more than a 

 single carcass, that it has become an essential of successful 

 marketing and for practical purposes may be considered 

 among the necessary operations in preparing the products 

 for consumption. 



Market Classification of Chickens. — Grades and classes vary 

 somewhat in different parts of the country and with different 

 markets. The classification here given is that used by the 

 Seymour Packing Company of Kansas, the largest exclusive 

 poultry packers in the United States. 



The live birds are classified according to sex, size, age, or 

 hardness of bone, into (1) broilers, (2) springs, (3) fowl, (4) 

 stags, (5) capons, (6) slips, (7) roosters. 



(1) A broiler is a young chicken of either sex weighing 

 two pounds or under. (2) A spring is a young, soft-boned 

 bird of either sex that weighs over two poimds- (3) A fowl 

 is a hen (female over one year old), or a pullet that shows too 

 much hardness in the breast bone (keel) to be classed as a 

 spring. (4) Stags are cockerels that exhibit too much hard- 

 ness of bone, development of spurs or comb to be classed 

 as springs, but not enough to be classed as roosters. (5) 

 Capons are cleanly castrated male birds. (6) Slips are birds 

 upon which the operation of castration was not entirely 

 successful. (7) Roosters are cocks (male birds over one year 

 old). 



Classification of Other Live Poultry. — Turkeys are classified 

 as young (under one year) and old (over one year) toms, 

 young and old hens. Ducks are usually marketed as green 

 (young) roasting ducks. Geese are classified as young and 

 old, one year the dividing point. 



Grades of Dressed Chickens. — The same terms do not al- 

 always refer to the same weights of live chickens as they do 

 when the birds are dressed. The following are the grades 

 used by Seymour Packing Company. While this exact 

 classification will not hold in every section, it is given as 

 representative of the various grades under which dressed 



