Page 14 - Poultry Review June 2008

14 POULTRY REVIEW
seasons than in others. Only Omnis- we can reduce the feed biirto a certliiv^
cience could tell what it costs to keep an extent by the addition of table scraps,
individual hen a year. But the experi- stable sweepings, waste vegetables, etc.,
ment I suggest will show us near enough to the ration. The farmer is the most
for all practical purposes. fortunately circumstanced of all; for
Fifty-two hens in a pen will eat a bag six months in the year his hens may.
of cracked corn in a week, costing §1.50; range at large and need to be f^ only a^,^
or a bag of wheat costing $2; or a bag little corn night and mqi^iiji^, J,4j^?oq,
of barley costing $1.90; or a bag and a other six riionths waste fra9}^.^hc,iceil^;jjt
half of oats costing $1.95.
and stable keep down the co^^:^^ , ^ - j.,,j
Corn is the cheapest thing we can feed.
Let us now sum up.^^J^tipwaitiha/v^iJfss
If the grains mentioned were mixed
learned: It costs the average^ poultfy-'fiffT
together the cost would be $1.84.
man in the vicinity of $1,50 a year- tQi(n
Mixed feed, alfalfa and beef scraps, cost
keep a hen.
It costs the farmer; not nni
,
more than com. So if there were no
more than $1. '.'.;;;. I -ji'i ni
mitigating circumstances the cost of
In another article I shall further b&fitioq
keeping a hen a year would be from
sider the object, taking up a phase that -'IJ
$1.75 to $2.00, with the present .price of
is closely allied to the one I have beeu'"*^
feed.
treating.—American Poultry Advoe^t«'>'''-'
But most of us are in a position where
,i ,,1, ,?wi>i i-iJ.i ;U ii!;!.;>H 'hIT
' ' ,miij
. , ..i-ru Hi.Ki^. •>'vr(f.t h-n')Ttu Inu;
Strong And Weak Vitality.
3 ;^^;;;;j
6Y PROF. JAMES E. RICE, CORNELL UNIVERSITY, ITHACA, N.'"Y1''i ^"^
;., ii.iii 'nlj io.lB'n>
.
Before the Poultry Institute, O. A. C, Guelph, .Qnt^^t mvji isnq
, nurr
To my mind the most important should be fully developed and of normal"*-''^
problem to-day is for the poultryman size, laid by a mature fowl of ideal shape '"'
to have the ability to renew his flock. and vigor, an egg is perfect iil its shell, '"'!
More failures have occurred from that shape and size. It is pretty well proven ''•'''
one cause than from all the other causes that eggs that show weakness in any '-'^X
put together. The failure to renew the part show that there is a lack of health '"''
fiock has been due of course to many on the part of the hen. Fat nutriment ^'J*^
contributory causes, some of them due or some contributory cause produces a^'"'
to improper housing, some improper weak- shelled egg, and if the shell is weak '
methods of feeding, some improper .we have every reason to believe that the' ' *
methods of incubation, and some im- inside of the egg is usually weak, a.fid We''''i""
proper methods of breeding, but I be- should, therefore, get a weak chicken i"'-"'
heve.that much of the trouble has been so that we must begin by selecting the ' "*
due to; the lack of appreciation on the egg if we want a strong chick. If you 'V,
part pf the person collecting a breeding can see chickens improperly incubated 'I'^i
stocl^ and the importance of choosing and perfectly incubatedvybu- #il I see* { ^
,
fowls.of well known vitahty. Now the that some came out covered with' good 'i-^d
question of -selecting for vitality is all down, large and full of life, squirming"''9'>
the way through the whole history of and full of vigor, and they have httlei'»fls
the fQwl.from the egg to the baby chick, eyes that stand out like shoe-buttons,- 18
the chicken partly grown and the fully they are so black and bright, and this"*J^T
matured fowl. ,(,,; r;. is one of the best indications. And they I''*
To begin at the rbeginning the egg have shanks that are fat and plump as '
i