Il8 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



Mr. TiLLiNGHAST. That has been my experience. I was 

 going- to say that I would not set an incubator with pullets' 

 eggs if you would give them to me. I will say this: I 

 would hardly accept eggs that were laid by hens that were kept 

 in little runs and had hot mash and all that. I would hardly 

 accept them as a gift, for I used to keep hens that way and I 

 could not understand why the eggs would not hatch. Some- 

 times if they did hatch, the chicks would die off like poisoned 

 flies. Die right off in a week or two. I would raise a very 

 small percentage of those hatched. Since I have given my hens 

 free range, I have had no trouble in that way. If I put fifty 

 chicks in a brooder I expect to take out about that number. 



Mr. Graham. You are raising a larger percentage of 

 chickens then within the last two or three years, since you 

 have adopted these methods, than you did before, that is, you 

 are raising a larger percentage of chickens that you hatch now 

 than you did four years ago? 



Mr. Tillinghast. If they die there is always a cause for 

 it. They do not die unless there is some cause. If we find 

 there is a considerable mortality among any lot of them, we 

 try to trace it, and to trace it back to its original cause. If 

 we look carefully we can generally find the cause and remedy 

 it. There is no trouble. To be successful in raising chickens, 

 you want first to give your breeding stock every care. There 

 is where the foundation of your success is laid. 



Question. What do you do with your surplus stock, and 

 stock that you want to work off? 



Mr. Tillinghast. Sometimes we sell it to some one for 

 breeding. It would be all right. Sometimes I would sell them 

 in a pen of ten or fifteen for breeding purposes to some one 

 who wanted thoroughbred stock, and they would get good 

 results. They would be all right for that purpose. If I had 

 anything that was not fit for breeding and wanted to get rid 

 of them, I would sell them to whoever would make the best 

 offer. 



