986 EXPERIMEXTAL FAHMS 



5 GEORGE v., A. 1915 



" The straw house is cheap and sanitary. If the house is kept sprayed, as any 

 house should be, there will not be any trouble from vermin, and up to the present 

 gophers have not interfered. The roof rests on a plate nailed to the top bales 

 with spikes, which is quite sufficient. The most satisfactory roof is the board and 

 shingle roof. The spaces at the ends of the building near the roof are stuffed with 

 parts of bales. Rough sticks or boards laid on the ground under the bales will 

 increase the life of the house. 



" The bales are laid like bricks and are not tied in any way, but if considered 

 advisable, wire might be run the length of the house and over willow or other 

 posts at each end and twisted up. 



" The perches, with nest boxes underneath, are movable. 



"Cotton is used in place of windows, and so far has proven fairly 

 satisfactory." 



STOCK AND BREEDING. 



The breeding stock in the spring of 1913 consisted of Barred Plymouth Rocks, 

 White Wyandottes, Buff Orpingt.ons, and Rhode Island Reds, a total of seventy-two 

 breeding hens; six Bronze turkey hens and one gobbler, and two Toulouse geese and 

 one gander. 



Fifty Pekin duck eggs were purchased, hatched in the incubator, and thirty-two 

 of these proved fertile; from this number twelve ducks were broug-ht to maturity. 

 About ninety-eight turkey eggs were set under hens, ten of which proved infertile. 

 From fhe eighty-eight fertile eggs, eighty-seven were hatched and were reared up to 

 several weeks old. Coyotes secured thirteen birds, and losses from other causes 

 amounted to twenty-two, leaving a balance of fifty-six for sale and breeding purposes. 

 The heavier birds weighed from 16 to 18 pounds for males, and 8 to 12 for hens at 

 the end of November. Throughout the growing season the young poults were very 

 thrifty, and this climate appears quite favourable for the growing of turkeys. 



The 1913 crop of chickens amounted to 488 birds, the cull cockerels and pullets 

 were crate-fattened on a ration of skim-milk and ground oats from which the hulls 

 were sifted. These birds when fleshed were worth from l^i cents to 224 cents per 

 pound wholesale f.o.b. Calgary or Edmonton, bled and rough-plucked. The local 

 retail price per pound was from 20 cents to 25 cents for well-fattened birds dressed 

 ready for the oven. 



The breeding stock mated for 1914 season consists of 170 Barred Plymouth 

 Rocks, 20 Wyandottes, 52 Rhode Island Reds, 24 Buff Orpingtons, 10 turkeys, 5 geese 

 and 8 ducks. 



Tlic> following prices have been agreed upon for breeding stock, eg'gs, and chicks, 

 v/hen such are for sale: — 



Bronze Turheys. — Young gobblers, 18 pounds and over, $6 each. Hen turkeys 

 (young) to $5 each, running in size from 10 to 15 pounds. Turkey eggs, 25 cents 

 each. 



Pelcin Duchs. — Young drakes, $4 each. Duck eggs, 15 cents each. 

 Barred Rods, White Wyandottes, S. C. Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orpingtons. — 

 Cockerels, $2 to $4 each. No pullets for sale this year without inspection; after 

 inspection, $1.50 to $2.50 each. Eggs from $2 to $3 per fifteen. 



Custom Hatching. — Day old chicks $10 for fifty. For hatching 100 eggs, $5, 

 carriage paid both ways by customer. Infertile eggs, if marked by customer before 

 sending consignment to be hatched, will be returned with the chicks if desired. 



The custom hatching is decidedly experimental, but a§ this will be an important 

 branch of poultry keeping, the work will be investigated so a-s to be able to furnish 

 definite information on this important phase of poultry work. 



Lacombe. 



