THE EGG AND ITS GERM 



eggs which will bring forth chicks that will live, thrive and make 

 a profit. In this connection it is safe to remember that appear- 

 ance, although a good indicator of health, is by no means infal- 

 lible and a bird may be in the best condition, apparently, yet un- 

 able to produce a fertile egg. Supply the food and conditions 

 required and trust to nothing less, whatever the appearances, 

 to bring about the desired results. 



Every effort should be made to conserve the energy and 

 maintain the strength during the winter when conditions are 

 largely artificial. This does not mean that all profit from the 

 birds in a practical way must be lost or that a hen may not lay 

 well during the winter and produce strong, fertile eggs in the 

 spring. It is only necessary to build up day by day the vitality 

 which egg production tears down, that the hen shall not be the 

 loser. The best rule to follow during the winter is this: pro- 

 vide as well as possible the exercise, fresh air and foods that 

 the hen would get if allowed her freedom on a grass range in 

 summer. 



Of these, exercise is the most difficult to obtain. The dry 

 grain may be fed in the scratching material and the methods of 

 dry feeding now becoming popular enable the feeder to get the 

 most exercise for the grain fed. As the hen cannot range wide, 

 she must dig deep and the scratching material upon the floors 

 therefore should be deep and frequently renewed to keep it 

 light and clean. 



Fresh air is easy to obtain and costs nothing; yet it is rig- 

 idly excluded from some poultry houses where the moisture 

 from the birds' breath, condensing upon the cold walls of the 

 building, keeps the interior damp and the fowls unhealthy and 

 the caretaker condemns the house as unfit, and the birds as deli- 

 cate. But let the windows on the south side be opened wide 

 whenever the temperature outside is not below twenty-five de- 

 grees above zero, Fahr., or open less in proportion as the cold 

 increases and the moisture will disappear as fast as it collects, 

 leaving the house dry and comfortable. 



In severely cold weather or when winds drive snow or rain 

 into the house, light frames filled with cotton cloth may be fit- 

 ted into the space made by dropping or raising a window a few 



15— CHICKS FEEDING FROM A HOPPER 



inches, admitting plenty of fresh air, but preventing a draft. 

 The use of these frames will make it unnecessary to entirely 

 close the house even in the coldest weather. There is but httle 

 danger from the cold so long as the birds are at work and exer- 

 cise not obtained in fresh air loses half its value. 



These are important factors. Feed as carefully and as 

 scientifically as you may, you cannot achieve success without 

 them. 



We cannot lay down a rule for feeding. What will pro- 

 duce good results in one yard will not always do so in another, 

 because of varying conditions. Sufficient information upon the 

 feeding values of all commercial foods and their effects upon 

 the birds imder various conditions has been published so that a 

 little experience and intelligent observation will enable one to 

 compound the ration best adapted for his use. 



The problem of supplying green food in cold weather has 

 been practically eliminated; clover and alfalfa cured green, and 

 mangel wurzels and cabbage may be had throughout the winter 

 and furnish the required elements in an acceptable form. 



Birds constitutionally strong, provided with the foods and 

 surrounded by the conditions intended for them by nature will 

 produce offspring that will live and thrive. 



VIGOROUS STOCK: GOOD HATCHES 



J. B. HEABERLIN 



IT SEEMS to be a very hard matter for an amateur or any 

 one for that matter, who has had no experience in 

 the poultry business to believe anything but that an 

 "egg is an egg" and should hatch a good, strong chick, 

 not for a moment considering whence it came, and this 

 very ignorance is what causes most of the complaints against 

 good incubators. The writer is fully aware that there are 

 some incubators on the market that would not hatch anything 

 but trouble, for he has had this sad experience with a machine 

 that turned out more egg fertilizer than chicks. 



But that was years ago and I have fully recovered 

 and further wish to say that I did not become discouraged 

 and conclude that no one could do any better than I. I 

 said to myself, the papers are full of advertisers who are 

 doing all their hatching with incubators, therefore it can be 

 done, and I am going to be one of them, for the novelty 

 of hatching chicks artifically was just what tempted me to 

 enter the business. The next month I found an article 

 from the pen of one of our shining lights in the poultry 

 world, giving the per centage he had hatched in incubators 

 during the season just closed. I wrote him asking what 

 make of machines he was using and also remarked that any 

 information he would give me in the matter would be 

 highly appreciated. 



I received a prompt reply, giving me the information 

 asked for, and he said: "Be sure that your breeding stock is 

 healthy and vigorous and properly mated, and you will have 

 no trouble." That set me to thinking. I went out into my 

 chicken yard and sat down on a stump and began to scru- 

 tinize my flock in general. Now, right then and there it 

 dawned upon me that one must know his fowls or he 

 doesn't know his business. I then began to get better ac- 

 quainted with my chickens and about the time I got 

 pretty well acquainted with them I found out that I had 

 no chickens worth breeding. 



I must admit I felt somewhat discouraged, but I 

 straightway passed a resolution in my mind resolving to 

 get into the right pew. The next spring I bought first-class 

 stock and eggs from the very best breeders in the country 

 and with hard work and perseverance I have learned to know 

 a good bird when I see it, and that when good birds are 



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