Poultry Farm School at Gambais. 



wooden billet employed for the purpose. This is kept 

 constantly replenished. 



Other feeding stuffs are added, such as crushed buck 

 wheat and delicacies, such as bread soaked in coffee, butter 

 milk, and green food. They are not allowed to drink 

 before they are two days old, and then only milk 

 and water, administered in special appliances which prevent 

 the chickens getting wet. After the first month plain fresh 

 water is given. It is claimed that chickens liberally 

 fed in this manner will at the end of three and a half or 

 four months weigh 4~| lbs., give a delicate white meat, and 

 fetch on the market from 4s. to 5s., while if a less generous 

 dietary is adopted, the result at the end of six months will 

 be a lean, dark-fleshed fowl worth about half-a-crown. 



Barley, maize, or buckwheat meal, from which the bran 

 has been extracted, are used as foods, but no wheat or rye 

 flour. 



Instead of waiting, as is usual in the Bresse and Maine, 

 until the birds are six to eight months old, the operation 

 of fattening for the table begins at Gambais as soon 

 as the pullets have reached the age of three and a half 

 months. 



Cages containing 50 birds are arranged along the walls of 

 the building devoted to this purpose, which is kept warm in 

 winter, and, as far as possible, cool in summer. The 

 floor of these cages is covered with a thick layer of straw, 

 which is renewed every morning. Three meals are given 

 every day for a fortnight. The first and second consist of 

 lukewarm liquid mash, composed of barley meal and water, 

 but for the third the mash is made with milk or whey. At 

 the end of a fortnight the fat begins to make its appearance. 

 In order to give the finishing touch, 10 grammes of lard are 

 now given at each meal. This is continued for four to five 

 days, when the bird will be so fat that if the same regime 

 were maintained for two days more it would succumb. If it 

 is sought to attain the extreme limit of perfection, for the last 

 three days eggs are added to the mash in sufficient quantity 

 for each bird to have at least one per day. The food is given 

 by means of a funnel specially made for the purpose. A 



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