ii80 
THE COTTAGE GAllHENEil. 
FEliUUARY lU. 
sheltered, and lionscd, and moreover fed most liberally at 
very short intervals. If a chick receives a check in its growth 
at an early age, it never afterwards attains a large size, as 
the bony frame becomes set, and a stunted growth is the 
inevitable result. 
^^ ith good and abundant feeding, and the advantage of 
a free run, in favourable weather, iJorkings will become fit 
for the inirpose of fattening at the age of three to four months 
in summer, and four to five or si-v in winter. In order to be 
in the highest perfection, fowls must be killed before they 
have arrived at their full dovelopement: the male birds 
should be taken when the sickle feathers of tlie tail begin to 
show; or, as tlie country women say, “when tlieir tails 
begin to turn ; ” and the females, wdiilst still pullets, viz.,— 
before they have laid. 
Skci'ION hi.— House, Coops, Sc. 
The house in wdiich poultry are fattened should be free 
from draughts of cold air, and kept at a moderately warm and 
uniform temperature ; the roof, therefore, if of tiles, should 
be thickly lined with straw. (Quietude being so especially 
desirable, it should be .so situated as not to be, accessible to 
those fowls at liberty ; and it should be partially darkened, if 
2 mssible. It is also important, in the highest degree, that it 
should be x)erfectly dry, as it is scarcely necessary to add, 
that a fow l sulfering from cold and inflammation is not likely 
to fatten. 
Tlie fatting coops should be two feet six or eight inches 
high in front, and about two feet deej), with a bt>arded roof 
sloi)ing backwards, as shewn in the end view'; the back and 
ends should be closed, and the bottom made of flat bars with 
rounded edges, two inches wide at the top and narrower 
beneath (as shewn in tlie section), so as tojirevent the dung 
sticking to tlie sides. Those bars should run from end to 
end of the cooj) (not from back to front), and they should be 
two inches ajiart on the upper sides. Tlie front of the coop 
should consist of rounded bars, three inches ajiart, and two 
rods connected together belowg and sliding tlirough holes 
made in the roof, w'ill be found more secure than a door. 
Before the front should run a ledge to support the feeding 
troughs, which are best made by'joining two pieces of wood 
at a right angle, and securing the ends liy letting them into 
grooves in stout end pieces, as shown in the sketch. 
Enlarged View of portion 
of a bottom Bar, shewing 
its shape. 
End View of Fatting Coop and 
Trough. 
Arrangement of Sliding Bars in place of Doors. 
The fatting coops should stand on legs, to raise them a 
convenient height from the ground, so that the dung may 
be removed daily; the tnost scrupulous cleanliness must be 
observed, otherwise disease will be produced. The cooiis, 
therefore, should bo frequently lime-washed (with freshly 
slaked lime and w'ater), and then thoroughly dried before a 
fresh batch of fow'ls are introduced. 
In cold weather, the front should be covered up with 
matting, or some other w'arni material, at night. 
The length of the coop must depend on the number of 
fowls that it is required to contain ; but it is never advisable 
to jilace more than ten or a dozen together; and if strange 
fowls are jmt up, care must be taken that they agree well 
together, as otherwise the constant excitcjucnt would jirevent 
their fatting. 
It occasionally hniipens, that fowls arc infested with lice 
to such a degree that they become irritable, and refuse to 
fatten; in these cases, a little flour of brimstone dusted 
under the feathers, before cooping them, immediately expels 
the vermin. 
Sectiox IV.— Food. 
The food usually selected for fattening poultry is oatmeal 
mixed either with scalding milk or water; the cause of the 
superiority of this meal over that of barley has already been 
stated. Cooped fowls should be supplied with fresh food 
three times daily, namely',—at day break, or as soon after as 
possible, at midday, and again at roosting time; as much as 
they can eat shoidd be given on each occasion, but no more 
than can be devoured before the next meal; should any be 
left, it shoidd be removed and given to the other fowls; as, 
if kept, it is apt to become sour, when the birds will not eat 
it freely. The troughs for the soft meat should bo scalded 
out daily, which can only be done conveniently by having a 
supply of spare ones. 
In addition to soft food, a supply of fresh clean water 
must be constantly present, and a little gravel must be given 
daily, otherwise the grinding action of the gizzard, which is 
necessary to the due digestion of the food, does not go on 
satisfactorily ; the supply of a little green food will bo found 
very advantageous to health ; a little sliced cabbage, or some 
turnip-toiis, or a green turf to peck occasionally, being all 
that is required. 
A variation in the diet will be found very conducive to an 
increased appetite, and therefore the occasional substitution 
of a feed of boiled barley, for the slaked oatmeal, is 
desirable. Some feeders have a division in their troughs, 
or, still better, a small extra trough, which always contains 
some grains for the fowls to peck at. 
Should the birds be required very fat, some mutton suet 
or trmulings of the loins may be chopped up aud scalded 
with the meal, or they may be boiled in the milk or water 
preparatory to its being poured over the food, and the fat of 
fowls so fatted will be found exceedingly firm. 
An objection to this mode of fatting will probably be 
made, namely,—that it is expensive, owing to the cost of 
oatmeal. In the yard of the writer, this objection has been 
removed by the partial substitution of fine middlings for 
oatmeal. The plan adopted, is to bake the middlings dry, 
and when made as hot as possible, without burning, cold 
water is added, so as to make the whole a crumbly mass. 
When it is borne in mind that the constituents of fine 
middlings are nearly the same as those of oatmeal, its 
value as a fattening food must be admitted ; and the w'riter, 
from long experience, can speak very decidedly as to its 
utility when used in conjunction with oatmeal, 
j In the course of about a fortnight to three weeks at the 
I utmost, a fowl will have attained, under this system of 
j feeding, the highest degree of fatness of w'hich it is capable, 
I and it must then be killed;, for if the attempt be made to 
■ keep it any longer in that state, it becomes diseased from an 
* inflammatory action being established, which renders the 
flesh hard and even unwholesome. 
Wdien the fowls have arrived at a state fit for killing, they 
j should be kept for twelve hours without food or water, in 
j order that the intestines may be as empty as possible, other- 
j wise the bird turns green and useless in a short time; this 
is readily managed by killing the bird before feeding time in 
the morning. 
The ivriter has never found it requisite to have recourse 
to the unnatural practice of cramming ; but as a description 
I of the process may be supposed to be essential to an essay 
on fattening fowls, an account is inserted. 
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