62 



POULTRY FOR PROFIT 



a neighbor, and the result of this out-breeding will 

 soon show in the increased hatchability of germs 

 and livability of chicks. 



The fact that the percentage of eggs hatched by 

 hens is hardly larger than the percentage of those 

 hatched by incubators seems to indicate that the 

 failure of eggs to hatch is due to something farther 

 back than incuba- 

 tion, and this 

 something is 

 probably care- 

 less breeding. 

 Very few ama- 

 teurs can resist 

 the temptation to 

 breed from a 

 large, well-colored 

 bird, whether it 

 is vigorous or not, 

 and here is prob- 

 ably the secret of 

 most of our trou- 

 ble. Careful at- 

 tention to the principles of breeding, though it seems 

 to entail present loss, will certainly lessen consider- 

 ably this deplorable loss of life in the shell. 



Marking Chicks 



In order to know the age of chicks, and also of 

 the adult fowls, and in order to know the parentage 

 of different broods, some method of marking is 

 absolutely necessary. After they are grown the 

 birds may be banded with leg bands showing a num- 

 ber, and a complete record kept by number, but 

 while they are small this is impracticable. 



The best method of marking is to use a punch, 



FIG. 20 DIFFERENT TOE MARKINGS FOE BABY 



CHICKS 



