Foods and Their Adulteration / Origin, Manufacture, and Composition of Food Products; Description of Common Adulterations, Food Standards, and National Food Laws and Regulations

by Harvey Washington Wiley

—There is a larger increase in the weight of artificially fattened poultry over those fed in the ordinary way and allowed to run free than is usually supposed. It is stated by some authors that the average increase in weight of artificially fattened birds is as much as 35 percent. There is no secret connected with the method of artificial fattening as is sometimes supposed. There are perhaps proprietary methods for preparing foods for fattening purposes but there is no secret in the mechanism of the process. In fact the process is so simple that it might be easily taught in a general way so that the farm hand would become an expert in its use and the farmer’s poultry instead of being sent to market in a half-emaciated condition might be offered to the public in the best possible shape. Poultry running at large use up a large part of the value of their food in the heat and energy developed in the ordinary search for food. When confined and fed artificially this excess of heat and energy is naturally stored as fat.

Experience has shown that the artificial feeding must be a limited one and the bird must be sent to market as soon as it has reached its maximum of perfection under the process. Experience has also shown that in the artificial feeding it is best to have each bird in a small compartment to itself with the cage so arranged that the bird can put its head through a slat in front and thus receive the food from the machine without disturbing any of its neighbors. That the birds are perfectly willing to take the food in this way is evidenced by the fact that they voluntarily put their heads through the apertures to receive their food. Each individual coup must be kept scrupulously clean and disinfected and the air in the room kept perfectly fresh and sweet. Lime should be used freely in all parts of the coup house in the form of whitewash or sprinkled about the floor or upon the floors of the coups. Gypsum or ordinary land plaster is also highly prized as another form of lime which is found to be very valuable. The whitewash must be freely indulged in and at frequent intervals.

There are various forms of fattening food used in this country. Indian corn meal forms an important part. The presence of certain animal products must not be neglected in the food as it has been shown that fowls thrive better when given, in their food, a certain amount of animal matter, both of flesh and finely ground bone. The fattening food must be in the form of a finely ground paste of the proper consistency to be handled well in the machine. It is a universal practice which custom has shown to be necessary to mix with the food a certain quantity of finely pulverized charcoal, usually about three pounds of the charcoal to 97 pounds of food. Some feeders prefer to mix the paste about twenty-four hours before it is administered, believing that the slight fermentation thus produced is beneficial.

The Cramming Machine.

—Various forms of machines are employed for introducing the food into the craw. The tube carrying the food is introduced into the esophagus of the bird in a manner to avoid any pain and the apparatus is so adjusted that with a single movement of the machine, usually operated by the foot, the proper amount of food is injected. The birds should be arranged according to size so that all of a certain size may have exactly the same quantity of food administered. The operator would thus be saved the difficulty of guessing the different sizes. The arrangement of the coups and the kind of the cramming machine vary greatly. In the beginning of artificial feeding the birds should not be pushed to their full capacity. An increasing quantity of food should be given up to the end of the first week or ten days before the full maximum dose is administered. In general it is found best to take the bird out of the coup for feeding, holding it under the arm so that the neck can be made perfectly straight and gently inserting the flexible tube which carries the food and thus with the single movement of a lever, filling the craw. The use of the machine, however, is found to be advantageous from a point of economy although it is claimed that the cramming of birds by means of a funnel has been found very efficacious. With a good machine an expert operator can feed about 250 birds in an hour. An important point in the fattening is that the food should be given regularly.

Slaughtering Fowls for the Market.

—It is important that a uniform and proper method be used for killing fowls intended for the market. There are two methods in common vogue, namely, by bleeding and by dislocation of the neck. The method of killing is important in order that the proper method of dressing for the market may be secured. A fowl which is offered for sale ought to be attractively dressed and any brutal or defacing method of slaughter makes it impossible afterwards to render the fowl attractive to the customer.

In killing by the dislocation of the neck the operator takes the bird by the thigh and top of the wing in the left hand and the head in the right and then draws it steadily until dislocation takes place. The skin remains unbroken and no bruised effect is produced but all the blood in the body drains into the neck and remains there. This method is one especially practiced in England (Journal, Board of Agriculture, 1904-5, page 306). Where the bird is very large, as is the case with turkeys, it may require the full strength of a man in order to produce the dislocation in the manner mentioned. In this case it is often necessary to first hang the bird up by the leg to secure the best results.

In killing a fowl by bleeding it is strung up by the legs with its head hanging downward. The operator then gives it a sharp blow with a stick on the back of the head and when he has stunned it by this means he inserts a sharp knife into the roof of the mouth, penetrating the brain. He also severs the large artery of the throat by rotating the knife and the bird rapidly bleeds to death. This method of killing, it is seen, is not a very humane one. If, for instance, the sensation of the bird is not destroyed by the first blow the other process must be needlessly painful. This process, simplified somewhat by omitting the hanging, is the one commonly followed by professionals in this country. In England turkeys which are prepared for the market are plucked but not drawn. One of the newest methods of plucking is known as the Devonshire style and consists in stripping the feathers clean off the breast and thighs but leaving the neck, back and wings covered. The fowls are then tied around the legs with a strong cord in such a manner as to show the plumpness of the breast prominently.

The methods of preparation of the fowls depend largely on the demands of the market to which they are going. Some require the fowls to be clean plucked and others prefer some of the feathers left on.