62 CALIFORNIA POULTRY PRACTICE 



whether it be dry or moist mash, if it is fed in quantity to breeding 

 hens it is harmful to the chicks that are hatched from the eggs. It 

 will produce eggs, yes, and eggs that will hatch, but if fed in such 

 quantities as to over-stimulate the egg organs, the chicks will be 

 hard to raise, many of them will die, no matter what care is given 

 them, and nearly all of them will have some form of diarrhoea. 



Having gone so far, it is now my place to go farther and tell you 

 what constitutes a proper ration for breeders, that will not prove 

 harmful to hens or chicks, nor unprofitable to the breeder. 



Hens must be treated as you would other animals, that is as near 

 to a natural condition as is possible for us to go without losing out. 

 That is our part of the deal, to watch the financial end. And I claim 

 that if we take care of the quality of the eggs the breeders lay, that 

 the financial part will adjust itself. 



How much profit can we make by hatching one hundred chicks 

 and only raising fifty of the one hundred? We have taken up the room 

 in the incubator that might have been used to hatch good chicks; 

 we have spent some of our own time turning eggs that could have 

 been spent in better and more profitable ways; we have used up oil 

 that costs money, vegetable feed that could have been used other ways 

 besides energy and patience galore to hatch fifty chicks that would 

 not, or could not live, no matter what you did for them because the 

 vital spark was too weak. I learned the lesson many years ago and 

 have done my best to tell others, but the method of mash feeding is 

 too alluring to give up after once getting started with, so each one has 

 to learn from experience. 



A short time ago a Pomona poultry man came to ask me what was 

 the trouble with his chicks, he said the first hatching did finely, then 

 they commenced to die like flies and yet he gave them the same care 

 and everything that was possible, yet he could not raise them. I 

 told him the trouble was in his feeding system and that during the 

 early spring, when he got his first lot of eggs, the hens had been 

 having a rest and were in better condition than later, so that the 

 chicks inherited a little more of the parent energy. 



He said, "I believe you have the right idea, but why don't you say 

 more about it in the journals?" 



I have said it more than once, 'but few people want to wait long 

 enough to get results, mash feeding brings quick results and that is 

 why it holds favor. They look at the present and forget the future. 



My Method of Feeding. This is no get-rich-quick scheme, but it 

 will give you fertile eggs from which you can raise, with proper care, 

 at least 95 per cent of the chicks hatched and the difference between 

 95 per cent and 50 per cent is quite large, so that it ought to make 

 you some money, if not make you rich. 



