The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1914-12-18
U. S. Department Of Agriculture Tells
How Poultry Should be Pur
chased and Gives HTnts to
Housewives.
UNDRAWN BIRDS BEST
Advice is to Buy Chickens With
Heads and Feet still on, BulIe-
tin Insists and Gives
Reasons.

BUY chickens undrawn and with
their heads and feet still on" is the
advice OF the United States depart
ment of agriculture which has just
issued report Of special interest to
Keokuk housewives. An undrawn
chicken shows its lack Of freshness
or its unfitness for food much more
clearly than does a fully dressed bird.
Moreover, by actual government
tests as reported in circular No. 70
of the bureau Of chemistry, fully
drawn poultry with heads and feet
removed, decompose the most rap
idly, while undrawn poultry keeps
much better than does poultry either
wholly or. partly drawn. This is be-
cause once a chicken is opened for
cleaning, the delicate tissues in 1t are
open to the bacteria Of the air. which
multiply very rapidly and soon de-
stroy the flavor of the chicken even
If they do not bring about actual
qualification. The undressed chicken
is far less likely to be contaminated
in this way, as the skin is a protection
against the inroads of such bacteria.
When the feet Of chickens Z are re-
moved, the housewife loses one of the
easiest methods of determining wheth-
err the bird is young or old. Young
chickens have smooth, clean feet and
shanks. Old birds have scaley, rough
legs and buttons or spurs. The head
of dead chicken gives very clear in
dications Of staleness. The head of
a chicken that is not fresh will show
a greenish color below the bill, sunk
en- eyes, and darkening or discol-
Grafton on the neck, all Of which in
dictate decay.
Disease Is Shown.
The housewife should require that
the entrails OF chicken be not
drawn, or at least should have; the
butcher draw them in her preserve.
Moreover the entrails Of the chicken
often show disease conditions that
are not evident after the bird Is full
ly drawn. The appearance of the en-
trails will help her to tell whether
the chicken is fresh and whether it
has been properly handled. Fntrails
in good chicken should be almost
empty. round and firm in texture. and
show little red veins here and there.
If the intestines are full, the bird was
not starved twenty-four hours before
killing as it should have been, or
else sand was fed to 1t, increasing
its weight, and work a fraud on the
buyer. If the animal heat was not
removed quickly and completely. the
roundness Of the intestines will be
lost and the folds Of the intestines
will stick together. There, also will
be an undue amount of sliminess and
an unpleasant odor which is not
found in a properly chilled bird.
There is. OF course, some odor when
the body cavity of bird is opened
even If 1t is just killed, but this odor
is quite different from the pro-
nounced smell which comes from de
cay. An unscrupulous dealer can not
foist bad birds on the housewife who
dresses the chicken herself and knows
how to interpret what she sees and
! smells.
Skin Tells Tale.
The skin OF chicken will tell the
housewife whether the bird has been
properly dry" picked and "ail
chilled or whether it has beer