No. 4. J POn/IRV CULTrKK. 29 



their influence to excessive ventilation during the early stages 

 of incubation, the results are yet more rapid and deadly. 

 The incubation problem is one wiiich each j)oultryman has to 

 solve himself, according to his local conditions. That this 

 (juestion is not yet solved by many, is evident from the very 

 poor hatches and the heav^y percentage of death in the 

 brooders so commonly experienced. 



Feeding. 



Chemical anal3'ses and digestion experiments in connec- 

 tion with })()ultry feeds will aid in reckoning trial rations, 

 and the hens will show by testing how the rations may be 

 improved. 



The diet of the fowls must for best results include grains, 

 green food, animal food and mineral food. Costly protein 

 or "flesh-forming" nutrients should not be fed in excess, 

 when chea}) starchy constituents will answer for keeping up 

 the heat of the bird's body. 



A series of brooder feeding experiments in case of incu- 

 bator chicks, conducted at the Rhode Island Experiment 

 Station, gave the following results : — 



A flock of 46 chicks, fed on egg, liver and green food, 

 reached a death rate of (33.7 per cent, of which 85.8 per cent 

 showed bowel troubles. 



A flock of 58 chicks, fed on grain exclusively, showed a 

 death rate of 32.7 per cent, of which 76.5 per cent had 

 dio;estive troubles. 



A flock of 63 chicks, fed on gi-ain and green food, all 

 animal food being withheld, showed a death rate of 9.5 per 

 cent, of which 75 per cent had digestive disorders. 



A flock of 52 chicks, fed a complete and balanced ration, 

 including "infertile" eggs, liver, cracked corn, wheat and 

 barlej^ and green food in the form of oat sjn'outs and chopped 

 onions, had a death rate of 3.9 per cent, and not one chick 



showed digestive disorder. 



Exhaustive experiments, carried on by the New York State 

 Experiment Station, corroborate these results, and also em- 

 phasize the necessity of sufficient mineral food for growing 



chicks and ducklings. 



All of these experiments indicated that the increased 



