BULLETIN OF THE 
U»«I0FA«IM! 
No. 21 
$ Contribution from the Bureau of Animal Industry, A. D. Melvin, Chief 
January- 15, 1914. 
THE COMMERCIAL FATTENING OF POULTRY. 
By Alfred R. Lee. 
Junior Animal Husbandman. Animal Husbandry Division. 
INTRODUCTION. 
The fattening experiments described in Bureau of Animal Industry 
Bulletin 140, entitled "Fattening Poultry," are continued in this 
bulletin, which represents the results of two more years' work covering 
the feeding seasons of 1911 and 1912. The methods and equipment 
at the four feeding stations are the same as described in the former 
.bulletin, except for slight changes in equipment which are noted in 
this publication. The present experiments cover wider conditions 
and include larger numbers of buds than the previous work, and so 
permit of much better comparisons being made. The rations were 
varied at some of the stations, thus giving good comparisons of the 
value of different feeds under the same conditions: while the differ- 
ences in equipment, methods, and rations at the various stations 
allow comparisons of results secured in several different ways. 
The extent of the experiments, the numbers of birds included in 
each test, and the opportunity for comparison with the previous 
season's work eliminate largely the possibility of error that is liable 
to occur in dealing with small numbers, which give very variable 
results in fattening tests. The danger of deriving wrong conclusions 
by not properly allowing for the influencing conditions is aiso reduced 
to a mininium. 
THE FEEDING EXPERIMENTS. 
A full description of the four stations where the feeding was car- 
ried on will be found in Bulletin 140, before mentioned, as well as a 
number of other details concerning the equipment and methods of 
fattening in the large poultry packing houses of the Middle West 
which are not included in the present paper, as it is considered un- 
necessary to repeat them here. 
The work of 1911 and 1912, herein described, is composed of four 
experiments, designated A, B, C, and D. These are summarized and 
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