Chickens Bred Without Feathers
In Search For Cheaper Dinners
Featherless chickens are nervous
birds, but they might mean cheaper
dinners.
Raising chickens without feath
ers eliminates one step in proces
sing the birds for market. And
since a fourth of the protein in a
broiler goes into its feathers, a nude
bird would yield more meat.
Research into featherless chick
ens began in 1953 when Ursula
Abbott, a professor of bird genetics
at the University of California at
Davis, found one in a batch of
chicks she had ordered from New
Hampshire.
Since then, scientific breeding
has produced hundreds of the
genetic freaks, the National Geo
graphic Society says. Entire flocks
in laboratories wear only an
occasional wispy feather.
But there are several reasons why
none of the smooth-skinned birds
have appeared on supermarket
shelves. Whether from embarras
sment or whatever, the denuded
fowl are extremely nervous and
prone to develop stomach ulcers.
Without their protective coats,
they also are susceptible to chills.
Their feathered brethren can sur
vive even freezing weather, but
naked chickens shiver if the
henhouse temperature dips even
slightly.
"They get so miserable that they
stop eating and simply waste
away," reports Dr. Ralph Somes,
Jr.. who is studying the mutants at
the University of Connecticut.
Although pre-plucked broilers
could save processing costs, the
birds use up so much energy
rushing about trying to keep warm
that they eat more than other
chickens their weight.
Any profits to be made from
featherless chickens are further
reduced by the added cost of the
fuel needed to keep their quarters
adequately heated.
But the strange-looking birds
may have a future. Scientists are
experimenting with economical me
thods of fattening them for market
ing.
At the University of Maryland.
Drs. Max Rubin and Daniel E
Bigsbee have found that under the
right temperatures feed bills for
featherless chickens need not be
higher than for ordinary birds.
When slaughtered, the feather
less birds weighed up to six percent
more than conventional chickens
fed the same test diet. When
cooked, the mutants provided up to
16 percent more meat.
The researchers believe that
because denuded chickens are
more energetic they develop less
fat. which leads to less shrinkage in
the oven. Added servings delivered
to the dinner table might more than
make up for those higher heating
bills. And the featherless chickens
might thrive in sunny, southern
regions.
Science has drastically altered
poultry raising before. As late as
1934, more than 90 percent of the
chickens on American tables were
former layers, slaughtered after
their egg production declined. Chic
ken was a costly meal reserved for
holidays and special occasions.
Today, chickens are specially
bred to be layers or broilers, raised
in "factories" on assembly-line
feeding for quick results. A chicken
dinner now is an inexpensive meal.
In 1973 a four-legged chicken
was hatched near Indianola, Iowa.
Someday, scientists may turn their
attention to this phenomenon, for
the benefit of drumstick-lovers
everywhere.
I *
r^ffT ro
?TrTTr"fTf tw.v
'U". in ;y""'
?> >? ~ M* *?X .? |
By W?nf*W P?r*t <S M?t?on?l G?oflraph.c
THE CALL of Allah turns an automobile showroom into a
place of prayer in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Even in the midst of
an oil boom that looms ever larger in their lives, these Mos
lem faithful take off their shoes, unroll their prayer rugs, and
kneel devotedlv toward Mecca at sundown.
Magic Wand Of Money
Transforms Arab Lands
The once-poor and still little
known lands of the Arabian
Peninsula are riding a magic carpet
of petrodollars to undreamed of
prosperity and influence.
To many they symbolize a world
turned upside down, in which
formerly destitute desert sheikh
doms threaten the prosperity and
power of the industial nations.
Following a three-month journey
to the oil rich states around the
Persian Gulf, author John J.
Putnam attempts to answer three
vital questions in the October
National Geographic: What are the
Arabs doing with their money?
Who are the decision makers?
What can be expected of them?
Smaller states on the Arabian
Peninsula seem to have been
transformed almost overnight by
the oil boom. In Abu Dhabi, once
just a cluster of fishermen's houses
and an old fort. Sheikh Zayid has
been spending millions paving,
planting, and raising a modern
highrise metropolis.
Like a great suction pump, Abu
Dhabi's wealth has drawn in
workers from poorer lands; Paki
stanis to lay concrete blocks for new
office buildings. Indians to man
offices and hotels. Baluc)iis to dig
ditches. Omanis and Yemenis to
drive cars and trucks.
They are joined by a number of
other nationalities, including A
mericans and British who staff the
oil companies and rigs. Foreigners
now comprise two-thirds of the
sheikhdom's 140.000 people.
Not all the money is spent at
home. Overseas investments are
crucial, for Abu Dhabi has little
hope of providing for the nightmare
every Persian Gulf state fears -? the
day the oil runs out -- except
through income from wise invest
ments in other countries.
Some cl?im the frantic activity in
Abu Dhabi has made Sheikh Zayid
less accessible, but the same
complaint is never lodged against
Sheikh Rashid. ruler of Dubai. The
local telephone directory lists a
dozen numbers where he can be
reached, including one for the royal
bedchamber.
Like his neighbor Zayid, Rashid
has transformed a former fishing
settlement into a thriving boom
town.
"Today." writes Putman. "Du
bai is a modern city with every
amenity, perhaps the loveliest of
Gulf cities. Dhows line the harbor,
taking on goods for Iran. Pakistan.
India. Old Persian houses thrust
square wind towers into a Canaletto
sky . . . There is in the air, in the
sound of voices, in the faces and
strides, a pleasantness and ease
seldom matched in the Gulf."
Unlike some of its neighbors,
Dubai prospered even before the oil
boom through a lively exportimport
trade and a deepwater port. The
sheikh still encourages trade by
allowing importers 20 days' free
warehouse storage and charges only
a moderate fee thereafter.
Per capita. Dubai is today among
the world leaders in external trade
-- $28,000 of trade per man. woman
and child a year.
Sultan Qabus of Oman, liktf
Zayid of Abu Dhabi, came to the
throne when a predecessor, his
father Sultan Said bin Taimur, was
unable to handle the problems of
increased wealth and demands for
change.
Qabus quickly set about coming
to terms with the 20th century. In
1970 the country had only three
schools, all male; today there are
176, including 47 for girls and 31
coeducational. In 1970 there were
three hospitals, today 15; in 1970,
six miles of asphalt-surfaced road,
today 335.
As one Arab minister sums h up:
"Nobody cared about us before the
oil came, nobody will care about us
when it is gone."
H?f j 0 Ittrt? ntifflbw
ttll Keep you warm and
tile chicks will to* it
/
? NATIONAL SEOOtRAPHiC NEWS SERVICE
PLANNING TO BUY AN APPLIANCE?
Be Sure To See General Electric Appliances
AtMcLauchlinCo.
Before You Buy...
Pay Cash and Get
10% Discount
You Owe It To Yourself To Shop Us First!
We have the model to fit your need and budget.
Small Appliances
Before You Buy .... See General Electric At . .
McLauchlin Co. Inc.
Main St.
Raeford, N.C.
McLauchlin Co.
of Red Springs, lac.
201 W. 4th St.
Red Springs, N.C.