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One of the big advantages of dressing the poultry at home is that there is no question of weight between the shipper and the buyer. Live poultry will shrink very considerably in shipment, more one time than another, and the farmer is nearly always disappointed in the weight allowed him by the commission man. Often the latter is wrongly accused of giving underweight in live poultry shipments. The shrinkage in live turkeys that are shipped any distance is usually exceptionally large.
The other big advantage of dressing before marketing is in the increased price received for the birds. The only exception to this is in the case of exceptionally old fowls to supply the Jewish trade. One of the government stations made some experiments recently in respect of shrinkage of live poultry, verifying the weights at both the shipping end and the receiving end. Here are the results:
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Table 1. Shrinkage in live poultry when shipped.
No.
Shipped
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Distance
Shipped, Miles
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Weight at
Shipping Point, lbs.
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Weight at
Receiving Point, lbs
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Shrinkage, lbs.
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Breed
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88
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46
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511
|
437
|
74
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R.I. Red
|
|
26
|
46
|
106
|
96
|
10
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Mongrel
|
|
22
|
182
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104 1/2
|
92
|
12 1/2
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R.I. Reds
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22
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182
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90 1/2
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78 1/2
|
12
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R.I. Reds
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24
|
153
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98 1/2
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85
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13 1/2
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Barred Rock
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38
|
125
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168
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154
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14
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Buff Orp'tons
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20
|
202
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134
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116
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18
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Barred Rock
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24
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295
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127 1/2
|
102
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25 1/2
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Mongrels
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21
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213
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102
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89
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13
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Barred Rocks
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18
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40
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86
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78
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8
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Barred Rock
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24
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198
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111
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100
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11
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Barred Rock
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12
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79
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68
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58
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10
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Barred Rock
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39
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39
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166
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156
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10
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Barred Rock
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18
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106
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101
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80
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21
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Mongrels
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14
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125
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85
|
75
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10
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Mongrels
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35
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239
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197
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161
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36
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Reds
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447
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2270
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2256
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1957 1/2
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298 1/2
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