Contrary to a common belief and to the custom in the poultry books of classifying the Asiatics as meat breeds, the Brahmas and Cochins are among the very poorest fowls that can be used for farm production of poultry meat.  At the age spoken of these breeds are lanky and unsightly and not wanted by poultry packers.

Consecutively with and perhaps responsible for change of sentiment that demands that broilers be allowed to grow into four pound chickens, we find the development of the crate fattening industry.

Crate-Fattening.

The introduction of crate-fattening into the Central West occurred about 1900.  The credit of this introduction belongs to the large meat packing firms.  At the present time the business is not confined to the meat packers, but is shared by independent plants throughout the country.

The plants of the West range from a few hundred to as high as 20,000 capacity.  They are constructed for convenience and a saving of labor, and in this respect are decidedly in advance of the European establishments where fattening has been long practiced.

The room used for fattening is well built and sanitary.  A good system of ventilation is essential, as murky, damp air breeds colds and roup.  The coops are built back to back, and two or more coops in height.  Each coop is high and wide enough to comfortably accommodate the chickens, and long enough to contain from five to twelve chickens.  The chickens stand on slats, beneath which are dropping-boards that may be drawn out for cleaning.  The dropping-boards and feeding-troughs are often made of metal.  Strict cleanliness is enforced.  No droppings or feed are allowed to accumulate and decompose.

As is a general rule in meat production, young animals give much better returns for food consumed than do mature individuals.  With the young chicken the weight is added as flesh, while the hen has a tendency, which increases with age, to turn the same food into useless fat.  For this reason the general practice is to fatten only the best of the young chickens.  The head feeder at a large and successful poultry plant gave the following information on the selection of birds for the fattening-crates: 

“The younger the stock the more profitable the gain.  All specimens showing the slightest indication of disease are discarded.  The Plymouth Rock is the favorite breed, and the Wyandotte is second.  Leghorns are comparatively fat when received, and, while they do well under feed and ‘yellow up’ nicely, they do not gain as much as the American breeds.  Black chickens are not fed at all.  Brahmas and Cochins are not considered good feeders at the age when they are commonly sold.  Chickens in fair flesh at the start make better gains than those that are extremely lean or very fat.  But, contrary to what the amateur might assume, the moderately fat chicken will continue to make fair gains, while the very lean chicken seldom returns a profit.”