Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1914-12-22
HOUSEWIVES SHOULD
BUY CHICKENS
UNDRAWN
Government Tests Show that
Undrawn Chickens Keep Much
Better Than Those that Have
Been Fully Dressed.

Washington Dec. 21.-The poultry
handling specialists of the United
States Department of Agriculture are
urging housewives to buy their
chickens undrawn and with their
heads and feet still on. An undrawn
chicken, they say, shows its lack of
freshness or its unfitness4 for food
much more clearly than does fully
dressed bird, in the dressing of which
certain significant signs can easily be
removed by the crafty poultry Dress
err.
Moreover, by actual Government
tests as reported in Circular No. 70
of the Bureau of Chemistry, fully
drawn poultry with head and feet re-
moved, decomposes the most rapidly.
while undrawn poultry keeps much
better than does poultry either who'll
ly or partly drawn. This is because
once a chicken Is opened for cleaning,
the delicate tissues in it are open to
the bacteria of the air, which multiply
very rapidly and soon destroy the
flavor of the chicken, even If they 10
not bring about actual putrefaction.
The undressed chicken is far less like :
ly to be contaminated in this way, as
the outer skin is protection agains.
the inroads of such bacteria.
When the feet of chickens are re-
moved, the housewife loses one of the
easiest methods of determining
whether the bird Is young or old.
Young chickens have smooth, clean
feet and shanks. Old birds have
lan bv.t 50
The head of dead chicken gives very
clear indications of staleness. The
head of chicken that is not fresh
will show greenish color below the
bill, sunken eyes, and a darkening or
discoloration on the neck. all OF which
indicate decay.
The housewife should require that
the entrails of chicken be not drawn,
or at least should have. the butcher
draw them in her presence. More
over, the entrails Of the chicken orten
show diseased conditions that are not
evident after the bird is fully drawn.
The appearance of the entrails Will
help her to tell whether the chicken
Is fresh and whether 1t has peen
properly handled. Entrails in gooet
chicken should be almost empty
round, firm in texture, and showing
little red veins here and there. ],
the intestines are full. the bird was
not starved for "a hours before killing,
as 1t should have been, or else sano
was fed to it to increase its weight
and work fraud on the buyer. II
the animal heat was not remove
quickly and completely, the roundness
Of the intestines will be lost and the
folds of the intestines will stick to-
gether There also will be an undue
amount Of sliminess and an unpleas-
ant odor which is not found In a
properly chilled bird. There is, 81
course, always some odor when the
body cavity of a bird is opened. even
II 1t is just killed, but this odor is
quite different from the pronounced
smell which comes with decay. An
INSCRIPTIONS dealer can not foist bad
birds on the housewife who dresses the
chickens herself and knows how te
interpret what she sees and smells.
The skin Of a. chicken will tell tsthf
housewife whether the bird has been
| properly dry picked and ''air chilled
or whether 1t has been ''scalded" IN or-
Ger to remove the feathers The skid
OF dry-picked chicken is flexible
translucent, with the feather papillaf