DITISION OF POULTRY 977 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



EXPERIMENTAL FARM NAPPAN, N.S. 



REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT, W, W. BAIRD, B.S.A. 



POULTRY. 



A beginning was made this year in poultry work. Six colony houses of various 

 types were built in the fall of 1913, and into these fifty-seven Barral Rocks, forty- 

 seven White Wyaudottes, and twenty-two S. C. White Leghorns were placed. The 

 Barred Rocks and White Wyandottes were purchased in November from good utility 

 stock. The Leghorns are from eggs of a good laying strain that were purchased in 

 May, 1913. 



Owing to the fact that it was very late in the fall before we could get the colony 

 houses finished and ready for the fowl, it necessitated the birds being moved from one 

 place to another so late that they did not get to work laying as early as they otherwise 

 would, but the results would indicate that these types of houses should be quite satis- 

 factory for this climate. 



The houses all contain the same floor space but the fronts are constructed of 

 varying proportions of glass and cotton and the test is being continued throughout 

 the summer, and more complete data will be available another year. 



So far the indications are that the houses with two parts cotton to one of glass 

 are the dryest, and those having part of the front boarded contained the most moisture. 



The stock came through the winter in excellent shape, very healthy indeed ; though 

 the thermometer dropped as low as 27° below zero, the combs of the Leghorns were 

 the only ones that were touched with the frost, even then not to any appreciable 

 extent, and it did not appear to effect the production of eggs. 



Since last year two more incubators have been purchased, these at present are 

 being run in the cellar of the Superintendent's house. . 



The brooders being used are small individual hovers placed in colony houses. 



