364 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



more prolific of eggs than her wild counterpart, she is also an expense 

 to her owner, and his profit upon her is measured not by the number of 

 eggs she may lay but by the difference between the value of her produce 

 and the cost of her keep. In the matter of eggs, it would be no great 

 advantage to the owner of hens that they were great layers if their eggs 

 were lost or destroyed. So it is usual for poultry keepers on farms 

 either to make provisions for the poultry which compel the hens to 

 lay in the places provided for them, or to keep close watch on all places 

 within the range of the flock where hens might lay, and collect all eggs 

 while in good condition. There may be a percentage of loss between 

 the laying and collecting of the eggs, but it is not often a very large 

 one. 



In the hatching and rearing of chicks come the heaviest losses of 

 most poultry keepers on farms, and to a very great extent these losses 

 are not necessary and could easily be avoided. To make separate 

 special provision for the losses from all possible different sources is not 

 practicable. The practical and effective way to avoid losses and make 

 the most of natural facilities for hatching and growing chicks is to 

 systematize the work, and make the same sort of provision for getting 

 full results from natural methods as is usual when artificial methods 

 are used. 



The incubator operator provides for his machines a place where, to 

 the best of his judgment, conditions are favorable. The poultryman 

 hatching with hens too often provides no suitable place, or sets hens 

 any way and in any place. The brooder operator provides very care- 

 fully for his chicks and for his own convenience in caring for them, 

 but when hens do the brooding, there is apt to be too great variety in 

 accommodations to admit of uniformity in treatment, and, while that 

 may mean some saving in cost of equipment, it usually means also an 

 increased cost of labor, and whether it is labor he does himself or labor 

 he pays for, the increased cost of labor comes out of the poultry keeper, 

 either in the form of harder work or as diminished product and profit. 



Provide for the setting hens exclusive quarters, and for the hens with 

 chicks coops of substantially the same size and type, and a piece of 

 land of such extent and character that the chicks have all the ad- 

 vantage of range and freedom without being so much scattered that 

 the work of looking after them four or five times daily is too laborious. 



If this is done, and a reasonable amount of attention given the chicks 

 up to the weaning age, losses up to that point should be small, and the 

 stock on hand at that stage much better developed than when the work 

 is not so thoroughly done. 



When any considerable number of chicks is to be hatched by hens it 

 is advisable to set as many hens as possible at the same time, and 

 preferable to have a certain day of the week for setting hens, and set 

 none at other times. This simple little point of practice introduces at 

 once an element of regularity in the work which would have a marked 



