There has come into use within recent years a method of fattening birds by what is known as crate fattening. This is practiced considerably by some of the big packing companies. The birds are bought up from the surrounding territory and brought into the central fattening station. They are then placed in small pens, or batteries, as they are called, and fed a ration composed largely of skim milk and corn meal, with a few other feeds added, such as red dog flour, bran, etc. This is mixed into a thin, pasty feed, and fed the birds from a trough running along in front of the pens. They are fed this way for a period of two weeks or more, and are then taken out, dressed, and sold to the big city markets as milk fed chickens, and always bring several cents a pound more on the market than other poultry, because of the tenderness of the flesh. In this process, even greater care must be exercised in watching the feeding of the birds, and only feed that they will cleanup in about fifteen or twenty minutes. Crate feeding has appealed to many town lot poultry men, who have bought up culls of the neighboring territory, put them in small crates or pens, and fed them this milk feed for a few weeks and then marketed them, securing the top prices on the market. We have now discussed the most important items connected with the feeding of the birds for various purposes. Let us now examine the living quarters of the birds, and see if we can improve the housing conditions in which the birds live during the winter months. CHAPTER IX. COMMON FAULTS OF POULTRY HOUSES If you were to take a trip through the surrounding country, with the intention of inspecting the living quarters of farm poultry, in general, you would discover some of the most wretched houses imaginable. All of our intelligent feeding would be of little use if we penned our chickens up in a coop with little sunlight, poor ventilation, cold, damp floors, drafty sides, and foul, damp air. It doesn’t cost any more to build a poultry house with correct principles involved, than it does to build one that lacks these essential features. The birds care very little about the appearance of the house. They want fresh dry air, freedom from drafts, a warm floor, and plenty of sunshine.