498 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



SOME EXPERIMENTS WITH POULTRY. 



liY CLINTON D. SMITH AND C. S BROOKS 



Bulletin 158. — Farm Department. 



SUMMARY 



The hen bouse being located on a dry, preferably sandy, knoll, and fac- 

 ing the south, the windows should be exclusively upon the south side 

 and of good size. Where the floor area of the chicken house was 19.5 by 

 11.5 feet, a window 6 feet wide by 5 feet and 8 inches high did not cause 

 severe freezing in the pens except on the very coldest days of winter 

 and afforded an abundance of sunshine. A window one foot narrower 

 is recommended. 



Where the incubator is placed in a room whose temperature is reason- 

 ably even and is properl}' managed a high per cent of hatch may be ex- 

 pected only (a) when the hens have plenty of exercise, (b) when the eggs 

 are fresh laid. 



In an experiment involving the feeding of 86 chickens it was found 

 that finely ground grain was slightly better than coarsely cracked and 

 that corn was somewhat better than wheat, later when the chickens were 

 approaching maturity. A second experiment shows that where the chick- 

 ens weighed nearly five pounds apiece it cost very much more to put on 

 a pound of gain than when they were younger. 



Young ducks gain much more rapidly than chickens of the same age 

 and put on their gains more economically. They sell better than chickens 

 and, at the present market prices, bring in a greater profit. 



Where three pens of thirty-five hens each, matched as to breed, rela- 

 tion to the laying period and in all other known respects are fed alike for 

 six months the number of eggs laid by the pens were 2228, 2362, 2288, 

 a difference large enough to be significant had the conditions been varied 

 in any one respect. 



A pen, each of twent} 7 pullets and five yearling hens, of the P.rown 

 Leghorn, Barred Plymouth Rock and Golden Wyandotte breeds respect- 

 ively was fed for a year and the number of eggs counted and weighed. 

 The Wyandottes laid in the year 3555 eggs weighing 151.3 pounds, the 

 Leghorns laid 3225 eggs, weighing 322.5 pounds, and the Plymouth Rocks 

 3360, weighing 419.2 pounds. The hens were fed alike and consumed 

 approximately the same quantity of food. The extract from the College 

 record shows a marked difference of breeds in the number of eggs laid. 



