REPORT OF THE POULTRY MANAGER 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



RATIONS. 



The rations fed were the same as those shown in table 7, pen 32. 



243 



QUANTITY OF FOOD CONSUMED. 



Grain 1,338 pou 



Mash 321 



Cut bone 109 



Beets 263 



Ground oyster shells 45 



Grit 42 



ids. 



LATE-HATCIIED CHICKEXS UNDESIRABLE. 



The following experiment shows the inferiority of late-hatched chickens. It is a 

 continuation of the experiment described in table 21, page 260, of last year's report, 

 which showed the unsatisfactory egg-laying on the part of 8 Barred Plymouth Rock 

 and White Wyandotte pullets, hatched in July, 1907. The record of these fowls for 

 last year, when they were hens, is shown in the following table, and is almost as 

 unsatisfactory as that of the previous year. The experience gained emphasizes what 

 has frequently been stated in previous reports, that late-hatched chickens are not 

 likely to be profitable to farmers. Details are as follows: — 



Table 12 — Pen 22.— Warmed house. 

 White Wyandotte hens. 



Record of eight Barred Plymouth Rock and 

 They were late-hatched chickens. 



BREEDING FROM GOOD AND POOR EGG-LAYING STRAINS OF FOWLS. 



An experiment to find out whether good and poor egg-laying characteristics are 

 transmitted from parents to their progeny, was commenced in the spring of 1905. At 

 that time two small groups of good and bad layers — proved so by trap-nests — were 

 selected and put into separate pens, which were side by side. The results of the 

 experiment on these birds, as pullets and hens, for two years and six months are given 

 in the report ending March 31, 1908. Trap-nests were used to procure correct records. 

 Results for year ending October 31, 1908, are shown in the two following tables: — 



16— 16J 



