FAEMEES' INSTITUTES. 667 



THE PARMER'S POULTRY AND ITS CARE. 



C. B. MILHOXTS, MANAGER POULTRY DEPARTMENT, EPITOMIST EXPERIMENT 



STATION, SPENCER, IND. 



[Read at the Annual Farmers' Institute, Owen County, December 4, 1901.] 



The question, what kind of poultry, or, what breed of poultry Is best 

 suited to the farmer? is a 'question not easily answered. Especially so if 

 all are to be satisfied with the selection. This being the case, we will 

 only give the general characteristics of the different breeds for different 

 purposes. From these the farmer must select the breed best suited to 

 the conditions to which they will be subjected. 



The success or failure then depends entirely with the one in charge. 

 In speaking of poultry for the farmer, only thoroughbred poultry will be 

 considered. Not that all farmers have thoroughbred poultry, but from 

 the fact that they should have and could have, much easier than thor- 

 oughbred cattle or hogs. 



Years of experience in crossing one breed with another has always 

 proven a failure. The first cross may make better layers of the one, but 

 a poor laying hen of the other. The second cross is only a dunghill, 

 scarcely fit for anything. Do progressive farmers cross their cattle to 

 produce stronger stock, or their hogs to make more meat? By no 

 means. The farmer's poultry is the last stock on the farm to 

 be improved. And yet no stock pays as good a dividend as does 

 the hen for the amount of money invested if given only half a 

 chance. True, a flock of poultry may be improved by breeding to 

 thoroughbred males. But it takes time to accomplish much of a suc- 

 cess in this way. It is much cheaper to buy of a reliable breeder who 

 has spent years in perfecting his stock, a trio of fowls and raise your 

 owii thoroughbreds. We consider it time and money wasted to try to 

 improve a flock of mongrels. As to the breed best suited to the farmer, 

 we can only say it depends upon the farmer. 



If a farmer has bred Plymouth Rocks for years, it is pretty hard to 

 convice him that the Wyandotte is a better breed. Yet in the last few 

 years the White Wyandottes have taken the place of Plymouth Rocks. 

 For this there is some cause. 



For market poultry the demand is for a quick maturing, quick feath- 

 ering, plump breasted chick, with as few dark pin feathers as possible. 

 The Plymouth Rock possesses a part of these, while the White Wyandotte 

 possesses all of them. \ 



The Plymouth Rock Is lacking in the full breast, has dark pinfeathers 

 and can not be forced as rapidly as the Wyandotte. This fact of being 



