It is a common practice to fatten poultry in coops by a process called "cramming," by which they are loaded with greasy fat in a very short time. But it is evident that such overtaxing of the fowls' digestive powers, want of exercise and fresh air, confinement in a small space, and partial deprivation of light, without which nothing living, either animal or vegetable, can flourish, cannot produce healthy or wholesome flesh. "Indeed," as Mowbray observes, "it seems contrary to reason, that fowls fed upon such greasy, impure mixtures can possibly produce flesh or fat so firm, delicate, high-flavoured, or nourishing, as those fattened upon more simple and substantial food; as for example, meal and milk, and perhaps either treacle or sugar. With respect to grease of any kind, its chief effect must be to render the flesh loose and of a coarse flavour. Neither can any advantage be gained, except perhaps a commercial one, by very quick feeding; for real excellence cannot be obtained but by waiting nature's time, and using the best food. Besides all this, I have been very unsuccessful in my few attempts to fatten fowls by cramming; they seem to loathe the crams, to pine, and to lose the flesh they were put up with, instead of acquiring flesh; and when crammed fowls do succeed, they must necessarily, in the height of their fat, be in a state of disease." Mr. Muirhead, poulterer to Her Majesty in Scotland, says: "With regard to cramming, I may say that it is wholly unnecessary, provided the fowls have abundance of the best food at regular intervals, fresh air, and a free run; in confinement fowls may gain fat, but they lose flesh. None but those who have had experience can form any idea how both qualities can be obtained in a natural way. I have seen fowls reared at Inchmartine (which had never been shut up, or had food forced upon them), equal, if not superior, to the finest Surrey fowl, or those fattened by myself for the Royal table."
If "cramming" is practised it should be done in the following manner: The feeder, usually a female, should take the fowl carefully out of the fatting-coop by placing both her hands gently under its breast, then sit down with the bird upon her lap, its rump under her left arm, open its mouth with the finger and thumb of the left hand, take the pellet with the right, dip it well into water, milk, or pot liquor, shake the superfluous moisture from it, put it into the mouth, "cram" it gently into the gullet with her forefinger, then close the beak and gently assist it down into the crop with the forefinger and thumb, without breaking the pellet, and taking great care not to pinch the throat. When the fowl has been "crammed" it should be carefully carried back to its coop, both hands being placed under its breast as before. Chickens should be "crammed" regularly every twelve hours. The "cramming" should commence with a few pellets, and the number be gradually increased at each meal until it amounts to about fifteen. But always before you begin to feed gently feel the fowl's crop to ascertain that the preceding meal has been digested, and if you find it to contain food, let the bird wait until it is all digested, and give it fewer pellets at the next meal. If the "crams" should become hardened in the crop, some lukewarm water must be given to the bird, or poured down its throat if disinclined to drink, and the crop be gently pressed with the fingers until the hardened mass has become loosened so that the gizzard can grind it.
The food chiefly used in France for "cramming" fowls is buckwheat-meal bolted very fine and mixed with milk. It should be prepared in the following manner: Pour the milk, which should be lukewarm in winter, into a hole made in the heap of meal, mixing it up with a wooden spoon a little at a time as long as the meal will take up the milk, and make it into the consistency of dough, keep kneading it until it will not stick to the hands, then divide it into pieces twice as large as an egg, which form into rolls generally about as thick as a small finger, but more or less thick according to the size of the fowls to be fed, and divide the rolls into pellets about two and a half inches in length by a slanting cut, which leaves pointed ends, that are easier to "cram" the fowls with than if they were square. The pellets should be rolled up as dry as possible.
The operation of caponising as performed in England is barbarous, extremely painful, and dangerous. In France it is performed in a much more scientific and skilful manner. But the small advantage gained by this unnatural operation is more than counterbalanced by the unnecessary pain inflicted on the bird, and the great risk of losing it. Capons never moult, and lose their previously strong, shrill voice. In warm, dry countries they grow to a large size, and soon fatten, but do not succeed well in our moist, cold climate. They are not common in this country, and most of the fowls sold in the London markets as capons are merely young cockerels well crammed. If capons are kept they should have a separate house, for the other fowls will not allow those even of their own family to occupy the same roosting-perch with them. The hens not only show them indifference, but decided aversion. Hen chickens, deprived of their reproductive organs in order to fatten them sooner, are common in France, where they are styled poulardes.
Fattening ought to be completed in from ten to twenty days. When fowls are once fattened up they should be killed, for they cannot be kept fat, but begin to lose flesh and become feverish, which renders their flesh red and unsaleable, and frequently causes their death.
Great cruelty is often ignorantly inflicted by poulterers, higglers, and others, in "twisting the necks" of poultry. An easy mode of killing a fowl is to give the bird a very sharp blow with a small but heavy blunt stick, such as a child's bat or wooden sword, at the back of the neck, about the second or third joint from the head, which will, if properly done, sever the spine and cause death very speedily. But the knife is the most merciful means; the bird being first hung up by the legs, the mouth must be opened wide, and a long, narrow, sharp-pointed knife, like a long penknife, which instrument is made for the purpose, should be thrust firmly through the back part of the roof of the mouth up into the brain, which will cause almost instant death. Another mode of killing is to pluck a few feathers from the side of the head, just below the ear, and make a deep incision there. Some say that fowls should not be bled to death like turkeys and geese, as, from the loss of blood, the flesh becomes dry and insipid. But when great whiteness of flesh is desired, the fowl should be hung up by its legs immediately after being killed, and if it has been killed without the flow of blood, an incision should be made in the neck so that it may bleed freely.
Fowls that have been kept without food and water for twelve hours before being killed will keep much better than if they had been recently fed, as the food is apt to ferment in the crop and bowels, which often causes the fowl to turn green in a few hours in warm weather. If empty they should not be drawn, and they will keep much better. Fowls are easiest plucked at once, while warm; they should afterwards be scalded by dipping them for a moment in boiling water, which will give a plump appearance to any good fowl. Fowls should not be packed for market before they are quite cold. Old fowls should not be roasted, but boiled, and they will then prove tolerably good eating.
The feathers are valuable and should be preserved, which is very easily managed. "Strip the plumage," says Mr. Wright, "from the quills of the larger feathers, and mix with the small ones, putting the whole loosely in paper bags, which should be hung up in the kitchen, or some other warm place, for a few days to dry. Then let the bags be baked three or four times for half an hour each time, in a cool oven, drying for two days between each baking, and the process will be completed. Less trouble than this will do, and is often made to suffice; but the feathers are inferior in crispness to those so treated, and may occasionally become offensive."