DiriSIOy OF POULTRY 983 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



EXPERIMENTAL FARM, BRANDON, MAN. 



REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT, W. C. McKILLICAN, B.S.A. 



POULTRY. 



In August, 1913, a start towards the establishment of poultry work on this Farm 

 W8S made. Four cotton-front houses 10 by 12 feet were built and placed in a new 

 location on the east side of the Farm. Two of these are double boarded round the 

 sides, and two are single-boarded with building paper on the inside. All four have a 

 single-boarded floor and roof consisting of sheeting, building paper, ar^d shingles. Ten 

 hens and fifteen pullets of the farm stock of Barred Rocks were placed in one of these. 

 On Kovember 18 a further twelve hens and thirteen pullets of the same breed wers^ 

 purchased and placed in another of these houses. The remaining two houses were filled 

 with twenty-five ^Vllite Wyandotte pullets. These houses are fitted with trap nests, and 

 a record is being kept of each hen's laying. 



During the winter these hens were not forced for egg production as winter eggs 

 were not as important this year as strong fertility and healthy chicks. On February 1, 

 three cockerels were placed with the twenty-five White Wyandotte hens in house No. 1, 

 three cockerels with twenty-five White fWyandotte pullets in house No. 2, two cockerels 

 and one cock with the ten Barred Rock hens and fourteen pullets in house No. 3, two 

 cockerels with twelve Barred Rock hens and eleven pullets in house No. 4. Commencing 

 the latter part of February, the hens received more and richer food, and a proportion of 

 meat meal was added to the dry mash. This, and the better weather, made the eggs 

 rise from a total of 123 for February to a total of 966 for March. 



The cotton-front houses seem satisfactory. Although the temperature dropped as 

 low as -16° below zero, the hens did not seem to suffer very severely. All the grain was 

 scattered in a deep litter and the hens made to work for every kernel. 



Two new incubators were purchased in the spring of 1914. Two more cotton-front 

 houses were built in March to be ready to accommodate the chicks when hatt-lied. 

 Adaptable hovers will be used in these houses to brood the small chicks. 



