Search

IT’S great to be back on a Poultry Science Association Program again, even if it is as a representative of the Geritol Generation. My wife says that I don’t look my age and I can get around about as well as I could back at the Poultry Science Association meeting in Massachusetts some forty-three years ago. I will admit to a few slow-downs; for example, instead of Wine, Women and Song it’s now Metrical, the same old Gal and listening to Lawrence Welk. I can even remember when the wonder drugs began to appear. The first two, I think, were aspirin and iodine. But seriously, my collection of poultry literature was started a little over fifty years ago for the purpose of building a working library for myself. In a comparatively short time, however, it became a hobby that generated life-long interest. Each rare-book find led to added interest in . . .

THE volume of dressed poultry sold through retail channels is influenced by the manner in which it is displayed. Dressed poultry presents a difficult display problem as it is a highly perishable product that must be protected at all times. This condition gives rise to many problems, such as: 1. How long can poultry be held under retail conditions? 2. What type of display is best from a quality and merchandising point of view? 3. How much will poultry change in weight during the display period? 4. How should poultry be held when it is not on display? The project here reported was undertaken for the purpose of studying problems of this nature. Wagoner, Vail, and Conrad (1947) tested the effect of premortal fast on deterioration of dressed poultry and found that starving tended to increase the storage stability only slightly but to the extent that it was statistically significant. . . .

THE Del-Mar-Va Peninsula comprises the southern parts of Delaware, the eastern shore counties of Maryland, and one county in Virginia contiguous to the eastern shore of Maryland. The rapid growth of commercial broiler production on the Del-Mar-Va Peninsula since 1925 has taken place despite the fact that broiler prices on the New York Market have generally been at lower levels each succeeding year. This is shown in Figure 1, which gives New York quotations on May 1 for both live and fresh-killed broilers since 1913. Increased production has caused this decline in prices because the product of the area has met a very favorable consumer demand. It is estimated that at the present time from 65 to 75 percent of all the broilers raised in the area are sold to local dressing plants, of which there are seven now operating on the Peninsula. In the future the percent of total . . .

THE effect of fasting broilers and fryers has been studied to determine a fasting period best suited to commercial operations. Many current poultry texts and bulletins recommend the withholding of feed from birds for twenty-four hours before slaughter. Commercial processors, and especially those in the broiler areas, follow the practice of slaughtering birds that have been full fed (fed up to time of slaughter) or have had feed withheld for periods of from only one to six hours. Many commercial processors operate without definite knowledge or rules relating to the proper length of the fasting period. They often follow the established commercial practice in their area without definite data to support their opinions. Many producers and small processors follow the long-established recommendation of a twenty-four hour fasting period, which, according to the results reported herein, indicates that it is an uneconomical practice and a much longer time than needed to . . .