DETERMINING THE AGE OF CHICKEN.–A wonderful means wherein to find out the age of a hen that has been dressed consists in feeling of the breast bone on the level the place it protrudes beneath the neck. In a really younger hen, a broiler, as an illustration, the purpose of this bone will really feel like cartilage, which is agency, elastic tissue, and could also be very simply bent. If the fowl is a few yr outdated, the bone will likely be brittle, and in a really outdated one it is going to be arduous and won’t bend.

If the pinnacle has been left on, the situation of the beak is a method of figuring out age. In a younger hen, it is going to be easy and unmarred; in an outdated one, it is going to be tough and doubtless darker in coloration. If the toes have been left on, they too will serve to point the age. The toes of a younger hen are easy and comfortable; whereas, these of an outdated fowl are tough, arduous, and scaly. The claws of a younger one are brief and sharp; however because the fowl grows older they develop stronger and grow to be blunt and marred with use. The spur, which is a projection simply above the foot on the again of every leg, is small within the younger hen, and will increase in dimension because the age will increase. Nevertheless, the spurs are extra pronounced in males than in females.

One other means of telling the age of dressed hen is to watch the pores and skin. After plucking, younger birds often have some pin feathers left within the pores and skin. Pin feathers are small unformed feathers that don’t pull out with the bigger ones. Older birds are often free from pin feathers, however have occasional lengthy hairs remaining within the pores and skin after the feathers have been plucked. These don’t pull out readily and have to be singed off when the hen is being ready for cooking.

DETERMINING THE FRESHNESS OF CHICKEN.–There are a selection of factors that point out whether or not or not a hen is contemporary. In a freshly killed hen, the toes will likely be comfortable and pliable and moist to the contact; additionally, the pinnacle will likely be unshrunken and the eyes full and vivid. The flesh of such a hen will give a bit when pressed, however no a part of the flesh must be softer than one other. As precise decomposition units in, the pores and skin begins to discolor. The primary marks of discoloration happen beneath the legs and wings, on the factors the place they’re hooked up to the physique. Any darkish or greenish coloration signifies decomposition, as does additionally any slimy feeling of the pores and skin. The odor given off by the hen can be a sign of freshness. Any offensive odor, after all, implies that the flesh has grow to be unfit for meals.

LIVE CHICKENS.–Often chickens are dropped at the market and offered alive. This implies, after all, that the birds are subjected to a certain quantity of fright and useless cruelty and that the work of slaughtering falls to the purchaser. The price, nevertheless, is decreased a couple of cents on the pound. Such birds have to be chosen initially by weight after which by the marks that point out age, which have already been given.