50 POULTRY FOR PROFIT 
Usually there are three classes of birds that 
are put on the market for meat purposes. They 
are roasters, broilers, and old hens. Roasting * 
chickens are very common on the market, and 
the object is large size with a tender carcass. 
These can be either pullets or cockerels, or 
capons. They are often put on the market dur¬ 
ing the late fall or early winter, and bring the 
highest prices at that time. 
Broilers are'birds about three or four months 
old, forced along to a rapid growth, but still 
possessing tender flesh. This offers an excel¬ 
lent way of disposing of the male birds, since 
usually the sex of the young birds can be’dis¬ 
tinguished at about two months of age. 
Old hens constitute the third division of the 
meat classes placed upon the market, and are 
generally composed of those birds that are 
through laying, or the ones that have been 
found to be unprofitable. Their meat is usually 
much tougher than the first two mentioned 
classes, and consequently used in city restaur¬ 
ants for meat pies, etc. 
In fattening birds for the market, a some- 
.what different procedure is followed than in 
feeding for egg production We found that in 
