ALFALFA AND POULTRY l8l 



third of the eggs used for incubation prove infertile. It 

 would seem that the same elements that contribute to 

 the growth of the hatched chicken should also add to the 

 vitality of the embryo, increasing the percentage of fer- 

 tility and adding to the vigor of tl.e newly hatched chick, 



AIDS IN PREPARING FOR MARKET 



The growth of young chickens is greatly aided by 

 alfalfa. One man reports an experiment with five hun- 

 dred capons, hatched early in March, that averaged in 

 December nearly eight pounds and sold in the city market 

 at nineteen cents per pound. They were given the run 

 of a patch of alfalfa for a time and ate little other feed. 

 Later they were put in the yards and fed with alfalfa cut 

 into short lengths, with a little grain; still later alfalfa 

 meal was added, with a little wheat. Then, finally, alfalfa 

 hay was cut and steamed and added to the ration. The 

 cost of maintenance and fattening must have been small 

 compared with the large returns. 



This item is from the Harper, Kansas, Sentinel: A 

 subscriber tells us that the mites and chicken lice were 

 completely driven out of his barn and hen house, as soon 

 as he had alfalfa hay put in his barn and used it in the 

 house for nests. He says that before the hay was cut, 

 it was impossible to keep a horse in the barn or to have 

 a hen hatch a nest of eggs, but neither mites nor lice can 

 be found now. This is a new use for alfalfa, but if it 

 does the work, it will be lots cheaper than buying poison- 

 ous decoctions and spraying pumps to get rid of lice and 

 mites, the greatest pests to poultry raisers. 



