ARTIFICIAL INCUBATING AND BROODING 



10— GETTING THE RIGHT START 



and are never found on the same poultry plant. Care should 

 be taken not to overcrowd the poultry buildings and there 

 should not be more fowls in the pen than can find comfortable 

 roosting accommodation. As a rule it is a good plan to allow 

 about 10 square feet of floor space per breeding bird and not 

 to run more than 15 or 20 birds in a pen, according to the va- 

 riety. 



Bear in mind that exercise is of vital importance in keep- 

 ing the breeding birds in good condition and for this reason 

 they should receive a large proportion of their dry grain food 

 fed in deep litter. It is the active, busy, hustling hen who is 

 always scratching in litter and may be found at almost any time 

 buried tail deep, with straw flying in all directions, that pro- 

 duces the eggs that hatch best. Any good litter material may 

 be used, either straw, chaff, corn-stover or planer shavings, and 

 this should cover the floor of the breeding pens from 6 to 10 inches 

 deep. Leaves may be used, but they do not make as satisfac- 

 tory litter material as either straw or shav- 

 ings. 



After thje snow comes, breeding stock 

 should always be kept confined to poultry 

 houses until the weather becomes settled in 

 the spring. Dry earth floors, well littered, 

 are very satisfactory, but if there is any 

 tendency of the earth floor to be damp or 

 wet, a wooden floor is more desirable. Do 

 not allow breeding birds to nm on the snow 

 and ice or to eat frozen grass or weeds. 



FOODS AND FEEDING 



Given sound, healthy breeding stock, 

 well housed, the food and the manner of 

 feeding it plays a, most important part in 

 the getting of fertile, hatchable eggs It is 

 not necessary for the breeder to trouble him- 

 self with regard to the chemical composition 

 of the grains or the nutritive ratio of the 

 food fed so long as he supphes his birds 

 with an abundance of good, wholesome food 

 in variety. It is much better to allow the 

 birds a reasonable opportunity to balance 

 their own ration than for a breeder to 

 attempt to prepare a scientifically bal- 

 anced food, the formula for which is based 

 largely on guess work, haphazard reading 

 and theory. The average healthy fowl 



instinctively knows what it wants 

 and what its system craves and 

 can be trusted to balance its own 

 food ration if given an opportu- 

 nity. This should not be con- 

 strued to mean that the poultry- 

 man should entirely ignore the 

 chemical content of the foods he 

 supplies his flocks. The govern- 

 ment chemists supply us with am- 

 ple and authoritative information 

 as to the constituents of all the 

 foods available for poultry feeding. 

 We know that the grains like 

 wheat, barley, corn and oats are 

 well proportioned in regard to 

 protein, ca;rbohydrates, fats and 

 mineral matter. We also know 

 that clover and alfalfa are rich in 

 protein and mineral matters, pos- 

 sess health giving properties and 

 supply the necessary bulky food 

 without which the digestive organs 

 of the fowl will not work properly. We also know that in 

 beef scraps and other meat food we have a product rich in 

 animal protein, differing in some not thoroughly understood 

 way from vegetable protein, and very essential to the life and 

 health of the fowl. If we know this we have little need to 

 worry ourselves concerning the chemistry of foods, provided we 

 give the birds an opportunity to select what they need as 

 they require it. 



Wheat, barley and corn are named because they are the 

 most desirable and most easily obtainable grains, as well as 

 the most economical. Oats, if of good quality, may be sub- 

 stituted where barley cannot be obtained, but are not nearly 

 as satisfactory. Barley and corn can be made to answer if 

 wheat is scarce and high. Heavy wheat bran is desirable for 

 use in dry or moist mashes. The coarse light bran contains 

 more fibre and is of less value. Clover or alfalfa is necessary 

 to afford roughage and supply a substitute for the anti-scor- 



11— BLACK LANGSHAN CHICKS 



20 



