POULTRY FOR PROFIT 53 
a method of fattening birds by what is known 
as crate fattening. This is practiced consid¬ 
erably by some of the big packing companies. 
The birds are bought up from the surrounding 
territory and brought into the central fattening 
station. They are then placed in small pens, 
or batteries, as they are called, and fed a 
ration composed largely of skim milk and corn 
meal, with a few other feeds added, such as 
red dog flour, bran, etc. This is mixed into 
a thin, pasty feedj and fed the birds from a 
trough running along in front of the pens. 
They are fed this way for a period of two 
weeks or more, and are then taken out, dressed, 
and sold to the big city markets as milk fed 
chickens, and always bring several cents a 
pound more on the market than other poultry, 
because of the tenderness of the flesh. In this 
process, even greater care must be exercised 
in watching the feeding of the birds, and only 
feed that they will clean up in about fifteen 
or twenty minutes. 
Crate feeding has appealed to many town lot 
poultry men, who have bought up culls of the 
neighboring territory, put them in small crates 
or pens, and fed them this milk feed for a 
