PROGRESSIVE POULTRY CULTURE 245 



chicks should be recorded daily. The temperature 

 within and without the brooder or hover may also be 

 recorded according to the plan used for incubators, li 

 the poultryman is testing or comparing systems of art- 

 tificial brooding he may also record the conditions of 

 humidity and ventilation, of fuel consumption and any 

 other pertinent matters. 



COLONY RECORDS. After the chicks are in the fields 

 or yards, in colonies, the daily or at least the weekly 

 deaths and losses should be recorded and notes made 

 of any conditions of weather, housing, feeding or care 

 that might bear upon the matter of mortality of the 

 chickens. 



FEEDING RECORDS. In working out a system of ra- 

 tions or method of feeding for a given purpose, such 

 as egg production in late autumn and early winter or 

 molting in mid-summer, the poultryman often tests 

 different kinds of feeds, tries different proportions of 

 certain feed-stuffs, or varies the method of feeding for 

 given periods. In these tests he may wish to deter- 

 mine also the cost of food and of labor. Records may 

 be kept on special forms adapted to the purpose of the 

 tests. 



NEW FEED-STUFFS become available from time to 

 time and the progressive poultryman wishes to com- 

 pare them with the feeds which he has been using. 

 For example dried buttermilk which has been used 

 for making paste is offered as a poultry food and the 

 poultryman desires to learn how well it will take the 

 place of beef-scraps in his fowls' rations. Again the 

 question of feeding dry grain food or of moistening it 

 with water before feeding is an important one. 



The poultryman who experiments to solve these or 

 other problems in their relation to his circumstances 

 and purposes will arrange particular forms for record- 

 ing the conditions and results. 



LABOR RECORDS. Experimenting with different plans 

 of housing or methods of feeding and management to 

 determine the relative cost of the labor involved, un-' 

 der local conditions, are ofttimes desirable. 



