The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-06-20
PUMPED FULL OF FOOD.
How Chickens Are Artihcially Fat
tened for Market in England.
From dc scientiac American.

From the Scientific American.
A large party of ladies and gentlemen
interested in the poultry industry lately
visited the Iville Poultry Farm, at Bay
nards, near Horsham, Eng, the property
of c. E. Brooke, master of the PoGlters'
Company. The business Of rearing and
fattening chickens has been carried on
for Considerab BILE time in various parts
of Sussex and Surrey. and notab bly, in the
districts around Heathfield and Uck-
field. In some of the largest establish
ments as many as 5000 chickens may be
undergoing the fattening process at one
time; at the other extreme we find small
farmers or cottagers who only prepare a
few dozen birds at once. The district is
secured by higglers, who buy chickens
from the breeders, often giving as much
as IS. Cd. to As. in the spring for we'll
grown birds nine or ten weeks old. Quite
recently demand has sprung up for
birds of only month old, at which age
they can be served up as great delicacies
at table.
The Indian game and Dorking cross is
found to be the best for producing birds
for the table, as they readily lay on flesh
at the parts where it is most desired. The
fattening house is capable ofaccommodat-
ing total of 632 fowls, and the birds en-
ter upon this, the last stage of their ca
reer, al ages ranging from four to seven
months. The pens or cages are arranged
in horizontal tiers, one above another, all
round the house, which is kept scrupu-
lousy clean. Each pen holds one bird, an
arrangement which prevents any waste
of energy in Upseemly quarrels For two
weeks before killing the birds are
led solely by mechanical stuting. The
food consists Of q mixture Of barley
meal, oatmeal ard skin milk, together
with the best beef ana mutton fat obtain
Bile. the proportion Of fat being increased
day by day. The stutfing machine is a
light continuance which the attendant
can wheel along in front of the pens. To
feed a bird he takes it out of the pen and
places his, left hand on the crop into
which with his right hand he guides an
India rubber tube from the machine. BY
pressing a treadle with his foot, he forces
food into the birds crop, the contact of
his left hand with which enables him to
judge as to the amount which should be
allowed. A careless or inexperienced at
tendant might easily burst the crop by
Surcharglng II, but smart man will
safely feed 100 birds from the machine in
the space of 20 minutes. Feeding in this
house takes place twice day, at a. m.
and 4:30 p. m.
The birds show no aversion to the OPP
GRAFTON indeed, the clanor that is raised
as soon as the machine appears and the
number of hungry fowls to be seen
stretching their necks beyond the bars of
their pens raise in the mind of the on
locker suspicion that just once in a gen.
GRAFTON bird may lose its meal unless it
enters upon an audible remonstrance with
the attendant. AS soon as the feeding is
over the blinds of the skyllghts are
drawn down, and the birds are left in
quiet and semi-darkness to digest the
meal they have received, and to acquire
an appetite for the next. The pens are
only large enough to permit the birds to
turn round, so that the wear and tear of
muscle which would be involved in run
plump young birds which are thus fed
up, old and quarrelsome fowls are fatted
and sold for making soup. The output
of birds from this farm is about 5000 u
year.