THE COMMERCIAL FATTENING OF POULTRY. 23 
Corn chop and buttermilk were fed to hens held for live shipment 
during the summer months, but in very hot weather the birds did 
better on a ration of corn chop with 8 per cent of low-grade flour and 
5 per cent shorts, which was less heating than the corn chop alone. 
These lots were only held for a short time in hot weather, and the 
object of feeding was to prevent shrinkage rather than to produce 
gains. Some lots showed a slight gain, others held their own weight, 
while a few showed a small shrinkage. 
Corn chop is difficult to feed, as it can not be mixed with milk and 
poured from a feeding pail, so that the labor of feeding this ration is 
greater than with the other ration. The corn chop not mixed with 
other grains is fed by taking up a scoopful of grain and milk together, 
and stirring the mixture frequently to prevent the corn from settling 
in the mixing tank or feeding pail. If tallow is used in the chicken 
mixture, the corn-chop ration might prove as economical as the other 
ration. The regular chicken mixture prevents shrinkage better in 
hot weather, is cheaper, requires less labor, and produces slightly 
more economical gains in feeding hens than the corn-chop ration. 
LESS PROFIT IN FATTENING HENS THAN IN FATTENING CHICKENS. 
The average cost of the hens into the feeder was 7.7 cents a pound 
in 1911 and 10.3 cents in 1912, so that a pound of flesh can be bought 
more cheaply than produced in the feeding station. Therefore it 
only pays to feed hens under certain conditions. The object in feed- 
ing hens at Station 1 was to supply a trade for " milk-fed" hens and 
to dispose of the light hens, which are somewhat of a drug on the 
market in the ordinary grades of dressed fowl. At Stations 2 and 4 
the light hens and those which were covered with small pin feathers 
were selected for fattening. The latter kind would grow feathers 
rapidly, so that they would dress as fanc}^ poultry after a week or 
ten days fattening. 
A comparison of the results secured in fattening hens at these 
three stations is shown in Tables 10 and 11. The feeding was done 
in November and December. The average cost of fattening the hens 
in 1911 was 10.92 and 8.74 cents per pound of gain at Stations 1 and 
4, respectively, and 10.43 and 10.83 at Stations 1 and 2, in 1912. 
This is lower than the corresponding cost of fattening chickens at 
these stations during the same months, but higher than the average 
cost of fattening for the season. However, it may be stated that the 
cost for fattening chickens at Station 4 during the greater part of 
November (see Table III, appendix) was abnormally high. In gen- 
eral the difference in the cost, if any, would be more than made up 
in the selling price. Therefore, as hens are bought and sold at a con- 
siderably lower price per pound, it is, as a rule, much more profitable 
to fatten chickens than to fatten hens. 
