River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-12-16
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FATTEN POULTRY FOR MARKET
To Do 1t Probably Must Be Done
QuickIy-Suitable Food Is Neces-
sary Requisite,
(By ISAAC MoTEs.)

(By ISAAC MOTES)
To fatten poultry quickly and profit
ably requires good judgment and prop
er management in the care Of the
fowls and proper feeding. The best
foods are bits of fat meat, mashes
of meal or fine grits made from yellow
corn, with skim-milk; boiled potatoes,
rice and oatmeal and milk. If any
thing, oatmeal is preferable because
of it's greater heating qualities and its
effect on color or fat.
The main point to keep in view is
to fatten your fowls in the shortest
time possible. To do this they should
be kept in a coop or pen, where they
cannot take much exercise, for by ex-
ercise they work off flesh and keep
down fat. A good way is to confine
them in small, light coops made OF
lath or wire netting. These may SIT
out in the back yard or barn yard,
on well-drained ground. In case OF
rain or damp weather cover them with
oilcloth. Keep che pen dark during the
daytime, except when the fowls are
eating, by throwing a thick covering
blankets or quilts This will prevent
the fowls from stirring about between
meals. In the morning give them
boiled potatoes, mashed while hot and
thickened with cornmeal, with lit
tie salt and pepper for seasoning.
They should be fed three times a
day, and their bill of fare varied as
muck as possible, but with a large pro-
portion of starchy, heat and fat pro-
ducing articles. Very little green stuff
should be given them, though pump
kin or squash may take the place OF
boiled potato occasionally.
Fresh bedding should be supplied
frequently, and the coop and spot it
occupies kept clean. The coop should
rest on cinders, or on gravelly or sandy
soil, with a bedding of hay or straw.
The coop being light, it will be easy
to move it to a new place occasionally
by man getting at each end and lift
ing it an inch or so off the ground
gently pushing the chickens along in
side the coop as it is moved, having
prepared the bed of hay on the new
place beforehand.
Unless a hen is a very valuable
breeding fowl it does not pay to keep
her after she is two years old. They
should be marketed just before their
second melting.
Whether or not you buy your feed
during the winter, it hardly pays to
feed chickens Matched the previous
spring, except, of course, the most
promising pullets for next springs
laying. Keep the others well fed and
growing until they weigh between
three and four pounds, then put them
in the fattening coop and give them
all they will eat for ten days to two
weeks and rush them to market. Both
young and old fowls should not be fed
within "a hours previous to killing.
Whether you ship dressed or alive
must depend upon your market and
the wishes of the parties to whom you
ship. If you ship to packing house
or commission firm it is customary
to ship in coops, but If you ship to
some retail grocer or market in the
city, it will perhaps be best to ship
| fowls dressed.
Dry-picked fowls bring a slightly
higher price in the open market. White
or buff colored sell best, as the pin
feathers do not show so much on the
dressed fowl, and this gives it neat
er appearance.