OULTRY not intended for breeding 
or for laying stock should be fattened 
and sold as quickly as possible. The ideal 
temperature for fattening is 60 degrees; 
when the weather becomes cold, more feed 
and greater care will be required and the 
process will be slower. Turkeys are an 
exception, as they seem to fatten better after 
frosty weather sets in. Prices are likely 
to be lower, too, after the holidays. 
In putting extra fat on a bird, there is 
not only a gain in weight, but an improved 
appearance and quality of flesh, which means 
a higher price. An increase of 50 per cent. 
in weight is not unusual, and there have 
. been cases where very thin but vigorous 
birds doubled in weight. From two to three 
weeks is about the limit of time that chickens 
may be profitably confined for fattening; 
after that, appetites are liable to become 
cloyed, and deterioration begins. 
The best sized chickens for fattening 
are those weighing from three to four pounds 
of such breeds as Rocks, Wyandottes and 
Rhode Island Reds. Brahmas, Langshans, 
and Cochins are extremely large-framed 
birds and grow the large frame first to be 
covered with flesh and fat later. They 
make much heavier roasters. Leghorns 
and the lighter breeds are not so satisfactory 
to fatten; they are best turned off as broilers 
when young, but whenever sold should, of 
course, be made as fat as possible. 
Three leading methods are practised — 
yard or pen fattening, where the fowls or 
chickens are kept in small yards or pens; 
crate fattening, in which the birds are con- 
fined closely in small coops or crates; and 
cramming, where the birds are fed by hand 
or by machines especially made for the pur- 
pose. A fourth method might be added to 
these, where the birds run at large and are 
fed at random, mostly on corn; but the 
exercise runs off the fat, develops the 
muscles, and the carcass is likely to be tough. 
Cramming is largely practised in Europe; 
in France and Belgium hand cramming 
has long been in vogue, the food being made 
into pellets and forced down the birds’ 
throats by hand. Another variation in this 
system is the use of a long funnel specially 
made, which is inserted into the bird’s crop, 
and the semi-liquid feed is poured down. 
But the modern method is with the cram- 
ming machine, which will feed from 300 to 
4oo birds per hour. 
In England finely ground oatmeal (which 
is sometimes one-fourth barley meal) forms 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
a large part of the feed. Corn is little used, 
as it gives a yellow tinge to the flesh, which 
is disliked. It is also too heating for birds 
in confinement, and is not relished by them 
for any length of time. One of the leading 
feeders in this country gives a ration con- 
sisting of roo pounds of ground oats, 10 
pounds corn meal, 5 pounds mealed clover, 
5 pounds blood meal, and 1 pound salt. 
After being thoroughly mixed dry, it is wet 
to the proper consistency with sour milk or 
buttermilk. This is good for crate fattening, 
and sometimes the two systems are com- 
bined, the chickens being fed for a week or 
ten days in troughs, until their appetites begin 
to fail, when the machine is brought into use. 
In crate fattening the birds get little 
exercise, and as the muscles are not 
developed, softer-meated carcasses are pro- 
duced. ‘The flesh of chickens thus fattened 
is fine grained, with the fat well distributed 
through the tissues, which renders the 
flesh tender and juicy when cooked. ‘There 
is also a much larger proportion of edible 
meat on chickens so fed. 
After placing in the crates, let the chickens 
get hungry before feeding; then scatter a 
little feed in the troughs. After this has 
disappeared give a little more, but do not 
give them all they will eat. Feed three 
times a day, and after the first week or ten 
days, give them as much as they will eat, 
although it is sometimes better to cut down 
to two feeds daily. Clean the troughs a 
half hour after each feeding, as nothing will 
upset appetites more quickly than stale 
feed left lying in the troughs. 
Feeding a ration of two parts corn meal, 
one part each of ground oats and buckwheat 
produces yellow flesh; for white flesh feed 
ground oats, sometimes part barley, or 
buckwheat, with some wheat middlings and 
bran. The addition of a small portion of 
corn meal is allowable. The proportions of 
these ingredients may be varied according 
to their availability or cheapness. Sour 
milk or buttermilk is best for wetting the 
mixture; make it crumbly and not sloppy. 
If sweet milk or water is used, green stuff 
must be supplied. If milk is not obtain- 
able, beef scrap (possibly one-tenth of the 
whole amount) will also help to fatten. 
Mix the feed several hours before feeding; 
Give 
In crate fattening, do not crowd the chickens. 
them plenty of light and air 
NovEemMBER, 1908 
certain changes will then take place, and 
the birds will get it partially predigested. 
After ten days, add a small portion of tallow, 
which is melted and made into a paste 
with corn meal so that it will mix readily 
with the feed. Give plenty of drinking 
water. Add finely granulated charcoal to 
the feed occasionally, and a little clean sand 
mixed in now and then will do for grit. 
Dust the chicks thoroughly with insect pow- 
der before putting them into the crates, and 
repeat the operation in two weeks. 
The regulation fattening crate is six 
feet long, about sixteen inches wide and 
twenty inches high. A frame is made of 
1 x 2 in. lumber, planed, covered with slats 
planed smooth. The front slats are put on 
perpendicularly two inches apart, the others 
lengthwise one and one-half inches apart. 
This forms a slat floor which is self-cleaning. 
Laths will do for the slats. Two tight 
wooden partitions divide this crate into 
three compartments, each holding about 
four chickens. Of course, the size of the 
crate and the number of chickens may be 
varied, but too many in a compartment are 
not desirable. The most convenient door 
is made by cutting the top slats over each 
partition, and nailing the ends of each set 
to 2-inch strips. These doors are hinged 
at the back. Such a crate is intended to 
be used singly on stands about eighteen 
inches from the ground. Where a large 
business is done, they are placed one above 
the other, sometimes four or five high, 
but a floor or pan of some kind must be 
slipped under all but the bottom crate in 
order to catch the droppings. 
The feed trough is a simple V-shaped 
affair, about two and one-half inches deep 
inside and the length of the coop. It is 
supported two or three inches in front, and 
a few inches above the bottom of the coop, 
by cleats nailed on the ends and projecting 
in front. When only a few chickens are 
to be fattened, an ordinary packing case may 
be utilized. Remove one side and replace 
with slats for the bottom, slatting over the 
top of the box for the front. 
In yard or pen fattening, the birds are 
confined in small pens generally with small 
yards attached. They have more freedom 
than in crates and a much larger number 
are placed together, yet pens and yards 
are small enough to prevent any great amount 
of exercise. The feeding is much the same 
as that for chicks in crates. 
The highest priced chickens in this 
country are the South Shore roasters, sold 
in the Boston market to a select trade which 
has been built up by the producers. These 
are fed, after they are too old for chick 
feed, mostly on cracked corn and beef scrap, 
with grass range in summer and steamed 
clover or other green feed in winter. The 
cockerels are caponized. The pullets are 
sold just before ready to lay. .All are con- 
fined in yards while fattening. The highest 
prices for these are in the spring when 
roasters are not so plentiful. Some of those 
sold then are hatched in fall and early 
winter, and forced through the cold months. 
New Jersey F. H. VALENTINE. 
