Farm Poultry. 
77 
with the finger, the head being extended. About sis or eight 
of these crams are given two or three times a day to each fowl, 
care being taken to ascertain that the previous meal has entirely 
passed out of the crop before another is given. Should it not 
have done so, the beak should be opened and some warm milk 
poured down the throat. The fowls thus fatted are usually 
spoken of in the London market as Sun'ey capons, but the term 
is incorrect, as very few of them have been operated on, nor is 
the operation necessary. If the fowls are killed as described, 
after sixteen hours' abstinence from food, it is not desirable tc 
draw them before sending them to market, as they keep much 
better when not drawn, and consequently realise higher prices. 
No fowl should be killed until it has fasted fourteen to six- 
teen hours. Those birds that it is intended to kill early in the 
morning should have both food and water taken away not later 
than four or five o'clock the afternoon before. If this is not 
done, and they are killed full of food, it soon decomposes, turns 
the birds green, and renders them comparatively worthless. 
Even if the food has passed out of the crop into the bowels, the 
fowls will not keep long, as the half-digested food in the interior 
causes them to spoil, and gives them an exceedingly unpleasant 
flavour. 
"With regard to the mode of killing fowls intended for sale, 
the almost universal practice in England is to break their 
necks. This should be done by seizing the legs of the fowl in 
the left hand and the head in the right, the back of the bird 
being upwards, and the comb in the hollow of the hand. If 
the legs of the birds are then held against the left hip and the 
head against the right thigh near the knee, by strongly extend- 
ing the fowl, and at the same time bending the head suddenly 
backwards, the latter is dislocated from the top of the neck, and 
death results instantaneously, all the large vessels being torn 
across and the blood escaping into the skin of the neck. Mus- 
cular contractions, however, remain for some minutes, during 
which time the fowl, if put down, knocks itself about, bruising 
the flesh ; it should therefore be held in the hand or hung up by 
a string round the legs to a hook in the ceiling. The fowl 
having been killed should be plucked whilst warm ; in fact the 
professional killers proceed to remove the feathers immediately 
after dislocating the neck, as they then come out veiy easily 
and the skin does not tear. There is no cruelty in doing this, 
even if it be before the muscular contractions have ceased, as 
the head of the fowl is removed from the body, being connected 
only by tlie skin, and all sensation is at an end. AVhen care- 
fully plucked the fowls should be placed on their backs, the 
