FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



GETTING GOOD HATCHES 



Feeding and Management of 

 Poultry Important 



The following article from "Hints to 

 Poultrymen" from the New Jersey Ex- 

 periment Station, New Brunswick, N. J., 

 contains much information of value to 

 the poultrymen who believe in "hatching 

 their own." 



Feeding of Breeders 



The breeding hens, having completed a 

 year, or, in the case of early hatched 

 pullets, a partial year of successful lay- 

 ing, should be allowed to rest during the 

 months of November and December. This 

 rest does not mean starvation diet, how- 

 ever. Usually the birds have lost weight 

 during the summer and fall and to build 

 this up, heavy feeding of scratch grain 

 is necessary. Fourteen to sixteen pounds 

 of scratch grain daily for every hundred 

 birds will not be too much, provided the 

 birds will eat it. Any regular scratch 

 grain mixture will be found suitable, the 

 main point being to have the birds con- 

 sume as much as they can. Heavy grain 

 feeding will not only assist in the build- 

 ing up of body weight but will also help 

 the bird through the moult. 



In addition to the grain, the breeding 

 hens should be allowed continual access 

 to a regular laying mash. They will not 

 consume very much of this if the grain 

 is fed properly, but will obtain a sufficient 

 amount ordinarily to insure the bird 

 enough minerals and protein for the prop- 

 er development of feathers. If the birds 

 are in extremely heavy moult, it is often 

 a good plan to remove half the beef scrap 

 and replace it with an equal amount of 

 gluten feed or oil meal. If this is done, 

 5 pounds of a mineral mixture should be 

 added to every hundred pounds of mash 

 in order to provide for the lack of 

 minerals in the vegetable protein food. 



In addition to supplying the bird with 

 a proper balance of the feeding nutrients, 

 it is essential that one consider the vita- 

 min content of the ration. In some i-e- 

 search work done at the Wisconsin Sta- 

 tion by Halpin (2) and others it was 

 found that practically all of the offspring 

 from hens fed a vitamin deficient ration 

 died within 48 hours after hatchiTig. 

 Kennard (3) reports an increase of 25 

 per cent in the hatchability of eggs at the 

 Ohio Experiment Station in 1923 over 

 1922 and gives as one of the primary 

 reasons the fact that the breeders in 1923 

 were given access to free range and di- 

 rect sunlight throughout the entire win- 

 ter. This naturally meant that the birds 

 received more vitamins. Kennard (4) 

 again reports that the percentage of 

 hatchability of hens allowed bluegrass 

 range all winter was 60.5 as compared 

 with 29.2 for birds confined and denied 

 any direct sunlight. At the same time he 



reports that when cod liver oil was added 

 to the ration of confined birds the hatch- 

 ability was not improved but that when 

 chopped alfalfa hay or skim-milk was 

 added the hatchability increased from 

 29.2 per cent in the check pen to 39.2 per 

 cent and 44.7 per cent in the alfalfa and 

 skim-milk fed pens respectively. Atwood 

 (1) found that confined birds without 

 green food produced eggs that gave a 52 

 per cent hatch, whereas birds on range 

 in direct sunlight, without green food 

 but receiving milk, produced eggs that 

 gave a 94 per cent hatch. Sherwood (6) 

 found that the addition of some alfalfa 

 meal to a ration deficient in vitamin A, 

 increased the percentage of hatchability 

 from 56 to 73. 



What do all of these results indicate? 

 They indicate the necessity of supplying 

 the breeding stock with all the vitamins 

 possible. This can be done best by feed- 

 ing a Standard ration Supplemented with 

 a green food and direct sunlight. The di- 

 rect sunlight may be had best by allow- 

 ing the breeders free range all winter; 

 this should be done by all means. The 

 birds will not go out in inclement weather 

 and when the weather is good they will 

 obtain not only the benefit of direct sun- 

 light when out on range but also the ex- 

 ercise so essential to good health and 

 vigor in breeding stock. A good stand 

 of rye or wheat on the range will improve 

 the conditions. If this natural green is 

 not available, however, one will have to 

 supply it artificially. Sprouted oats fed 

 liberally once a day will be found to be 

 very satisfactory but, if this cannot be 

 produced, some alfalfa leaf meal may be 

 added to the ration. The best method is 

 to substitute the alfalfa for one-half 

 either of the ground oats or of the wheat 

 bran (preferably the ground oats) in 

 the ration. As much of the alfalfa meal 

 on the market is very high in fiber, care 

 must be taken to see that a good grade 

 of the meal is used. Mangel beets should 

 never be fed to breeders. They do not 

 contain any appreciable amount of vita- 

 mins A or B and are, therefore, valueless 

 as a green food (5). 



Lights 



If early hatches are desired, the breed- 

 ing stock may be placed under lights 

 about January first. This will bring the 

 flock into production, and hatching eggs 

 of good quality may be produced in rela- 

 tively large numbers before the end of 

 January — assuming that the stock has 

 been well taken care of during November 

 and December and is ready, physically, 

 to come back into production. Birds that 

 have been under lights since November 

 first, however, should not be used as 

 breeders. When the lights are used the 

 feeding schedule for breeders may be 

 changed. One similar to that used for 

 the laying flock will be satisfactory. 

 Free range should be allowed, however. 



iVlatings 



For best fertility it is well not to have 

 too many males in proportion to females, 

 because nothing is more detrimental to 

 fertility than the constant fighting of 

 male birds. For Leghorns and other 

 varieties of the Mediterranean class of 

 poultry, one male to every fifteen- or 

 twenty females is sufficient. With 

 heavier breeds such as Plymouth Rocks, 

 R. I. Reds, or Wyandottes, one male to 

 every ten or fifteen females will be suf- 

 ficient. Better fertility will be had if 

 half of the males are removed and alter- 

 nated with the other half, changing them 

 twice weekly. This is particularly im- 

 portant in case one is mating in the pro- 

 portion ©f thirty or forty females to one 

 male bird as is frequently done. The 

 male birds should be placed with the 

 breeders at least two weeks previous to 

 the time hatching eggs are to be saved 

 and fertility can usually be depended up- 

 on for one week after the male birds are 

 removed. If male birds are changed dui'- 

 ing the season, however, one will have to 

 allow 10 days after the removal of the old 

 male and the introduction of the new one 

 before eggs that have been fertilized by 

 the new male only can be depended upon. 



Care of Males 



Male birds should be deloused frequent- 

 ly in order to prevent as much as possible 

 the spreading of lice among the flock. 



In many instances the freezing of the 

 combs of Leghorn male birds, resulting 

 in inactivity on the part of the male, is 

 the cause of poor fertility in cold wea- 

 ther. This may be prevented by cutting 

 off the comb at the beginning of the win- 

 ter. Use a sharp razor and make the cut 

 just a trifle below the points but above 

 the ridge running through the comb. The 

 bird will bleed profusely but will soon re- 

 cover, and the suffering is infinitely less 

 than when the points are fi'ozen off. The 

 wattles may also be treated in the same 

 way. 



After the breeding season all male 

 birds not needed for another season 

 should be disposed of immediately. Re- 

 move from the hens any to be kept over 

 and feed on a grain ration throughout 

 the season, keeping them on range if 

 possible. 



Care of Females 



If the females show a tendency to be- 

 come too fat previous to the breeding sea- 

 son, the amount of feed may be reduced 

 and the birds forced to find more of their 

 food from the range. If range conditions 

 make this impracticable, the grain should 

 be fed in deep litter and the mash hop- 

 pers covered, thus forcing the birds to 

 exercise. 



In the case of some of the heavy breeds, 

 particularly Wyandottes, it is sometimes 

 necessary to clip away the fluff around 

 Continued on page 7, column 1 



