Money in Broilers and Squabs. 17 



Squab broilers may be grown in eight or ten weeks in brooders, 

 kept in a room where the temperature is about seventy degrees. 

 The Rhode Island Experiment Station found that when marketed 

 at this age, they could be successfully raised without any outdoor 

 exercise. 



The following interview between the editor of the Poultry 

 Monthly and a large New York commission firm, contains valuable 

 information : 



"What size broiler will be mostly in demand during Septem- 

 ber?" I asked Mr. Van Ostrand, of the firm of Knapp & Van 

 Ostrand. "About two pounds each. That is a very popular size at 

 almost any time of year ; a broiler of that size enables a restaurant 

 to serve a half chicken and give a goodsized portion to a patron. 

 From one and one-half to two pounds is the best all-around weight." 

 "How about the demand for squab broilers?" "There is little de- 

 mand for them now. The greatest demand is in Spring when game 

 birds are scarce, and a small bird is in demand in restaurants. They 

 should weigh from three-fourths to one pound. There would be 

 no sale for them now at prices that would make it profitable to make 

 a specialty of them, because there ar^ so many chickens coming in 

 from the West, and among them can be found all the small chick- 

 ens required, at low prices. Many who ship squab broilers make a 

 great mistake in sending such bony, poor ones. I have seen many 

 of them that were tut skin and bones. They must be plump, with 

 some meat on the bones." One has only to go through the markets 

 to have these facts about the shipment of poor stock verified. I 

 have seen many a coop of live chickens that would not weigh more 

 than one-half pound each, and were miserably poor and thin at that. 

 The same is true of dressed broilers. Many people hear that some 

 people have sold chicks weighing less than a povmd each tor what 

 seems like an extra price, and immediately a lot are sent without 

 any knowledge of the demands of the market, or the prospects of 

 sale. The demand for anything out of the usual order is always 

 limited, and it is usually supplied by some one who is thorous:hly 

 posted, and is situated so close that he may watch the market. How- 

 ever, it pays to study up these special products and demands, and 

 then study tie question as to what can be done towards supplying 

 them. But d Dn't go it blind. 



