Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1892-09-26

short space Of life he is allowed In the
commission house he is urged to eat
heartily and drink to his fill. But for
twelve hours before killing he gets
nothing to eat. For this treatment he
is plumper, whittier and altogether bet
ter.
When killing time comes the chicken
is disposed OF in very short order In
one Of the big coops in the second floor
there is a big pipe. This leads TO q
small coop down in the basement, where
the killing is done. After filling the
big coop full a man begins TO pitch
chickens In the chute. They go down
fluttering, scratching and squeaking
and come out with look OF bewilder-
ment that is very ludicrous.
In the basement one man stands by
the coop and hands the chickens to the
killer. He doesn't do like the house
wife-wring the head of and then stand
about and watch the chicken flop
around. This takes too much time. He
grabs the chicken by the head, forces
open the mocth and sticks a broad
bladed knife up through the roof Of the
mouth. All the veins in a chicken CEN
ire right there, and with one shove Of
the knife they arc cut. There is one
other advantage IN cutting them there.
They are not dsfgured in any way, and
as corpses look perfectly natural
something always to be desired.
The sticking doesn't take great deal
of time. Only one man does IL, but he
dan keep good many cleaners busy.
In trial the sticker killed dozen In
twenty-three seconds, or thirty chikens
to the minute. This is not an unusual
high rate, either When he gets
through with these they are not per-
mitted to flot all around the floor. He
throwe them into q big barrel by his
side. They flop for a moment or tw
and then are quiet.
After this comes the picking. In the
busy season twenty men are kept busy
cleaning the poultry. They are picked
in two ways. There is wet and dry
picking. The latter is much more
troublesome and comes considerably
higher. For wet picking there is big
tank of boiling hot water. The cleaner
takes the chicken by the feet and
souses 1t In head down. Then he steps
to broad table over against the wall,
and seems just to dust the feathers of
it is done so quickly. There is no pull
ing or jerking. The cleaners hands
seem to be moving very gently and ten
derby, but he is taking of all the feath-
ers just the same. After the feathers
are off the chicken Is chucked into the
hot water again. This is done TO plump
him up, and it is about the only thing
that will improve the looks OF picked
chicken. After this ducking the fowl is
thrown into big tub Of cold water and
kept there until he is removed to the
ice chest or sold to city customers.
The killing aud cleaning trke very
short time, and after a chicken takes
the tOboggan slide down the chute he
hasn't time to recover his presence OF
mind before his long legs. bare Of
feathers, are sticking up out OF the
cold water tub.
Dry picking is altogether different.
The plan is TO steam the fowl. After
being stuck with the knife the chicken
is hung up by the bill In a big box. At
the bottom Of this is a perforated pipe.
The top is put In the box and the steam
is turned Cd. The chicken is left In the
box twenty seconds, and thennthu
feathers pull out so easily that pi lf-e
is a pleasure. The skin is lecking
broken, and the chicken look mhuos
better than when scalded. Dry picked
chickens are sent only on special order.
and command from two to four cents
per pound in the market The East,
which wants the best Of everything,
seuds a great many orders for dry
picked fowls.