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2. Lack of sanitation, and the overcrowding of the birds in the 

 damp, dirty, ill-ventilated houses, when the concensus of experimental 

 evidence on the matter would indicate them clean, dry, open, or cur- 

 tain-front houses, with an abundance of fresh air, were necessary, on 

 account of the peculiar anatomical structure of the fowl. 



3. Faulty methods, of incubation and brooding. 



4. Inroads of disease, and the presence of lice and mites. It is 

 generally recognized that diseased birds should not be bred from, 

 but too many people overlook the fact that but very indifferent re- 

 sults can be obtained from stock which is infested with lice and mites. 



5. Unskillful feeding. On many farms and poultry plants where 

 a real genuine interest has been taken in poultry, probably the vigor 

 of the birds has been depleted as much by the excessive feeding of 

 too rich rations as by any other single cause. Poultrymen interested 

 in late fall and winter egg production have been rather too prone to 

 look upon the hen as a machine ; in fact, many good laying strains 

 have been popularly called egg-laying machines. No doubt a hen 

 does respond for a time to the feeding of rich protein foods and other 

 stimulants, but these can be used to excess, and often are to such an 

 extent that the reproductive organs have lost the power to produce 

 an egg that will hatch a chick, to say nothing of the possible death 

 of the bird itself. It does not pay to treat a living, animate object 

 as one would a machine. 



The poultry business works in a circle, and this lack of vigor is 

 apparent on the whole circumference, for in many cases the chickens 

 that just lived would have been better dead, for they are often worse 

 than dead. They are weak and senemic. They do not respond to 

 good treatment and good food. They do not thrive, they are slow to 

 mature, remain stunted, and often, in the general scarcity of pullets, 

 they find their way into the laying house, and there they remain, 

 failing to respond themselves, and casting a derogatory effect on the 

 rest of the flock; and, if, perchance, they should get into the breed- 

 ing pen, the effect of their lack of vigor will be passed on, with in- 

 terest, to their progeny, if they have any. 



In fact, poultrymen and others the country over do not lay suffi- 

 cient stress on the individual itself. Ask a number of people con- 

 gregated together in an institute meeting or a class room, "What is 

 the first essential in the production of winter eggs?" It is rather 

 surprising the number who will answer that it depends on the care, 

 on the feeding, on the housing, or on any one of the several other 

 things. They seem to lose sight of the fact that a hen is necessary 

 not an ordinary hen, but a large, healthy, vigorous, substantial, well- 

 grown pullet that will respond to good treatment, even under rather 

 untoward circumstances. 



Selection or, rather culling, should be practiced all along the 

 line from the time the egg is laid until the birds are dressed for the 

 market. The exterior of an egg does not give much information con- 

 cerning the vigor of the germ, but, nevertheless, it is well to discard 

 all abnormal eggs. Extreme care should be taken in the selection and 

 management of the hatching medium, for even the progeny of the 

 strongest stock can be greatly injured by faulty incubation. All 

 cripples and weaklings should be killed as soon as apparent. All 

 poultrymen are familiar with the short, round, shrunken body; pale, 



