ARTIFICIAL INCUBATING AND BROODING 



fine, "gilt-edged" quality they not only sell quickly, but fre- 

 quently command a premium above highest market prices. 



These broilers are in greatest demand in April, with a 

 good demand in March and May, and a moderate demand from 

 August to New Year's. In the best markets, which are those 

 of our greatest eastern cities, the prices range from about twen- 

 ty cents a pound in January up to fifty cents a pound in April, 

 then gradually falls off to about twenty cents again in August. 

 Not all two-pound 

 chickens, however, are 

 "high-class" broilers 

 a n d command t h e 

 highest current prices; 

 to command the high- 

 est prices they must 

 be of "the best" qual- 

 ity, must be plump, 

 full-breasted, yellow- 

 skinned and fine-boned 



58— TYPE OF UTILITY IN FOWLS 



and the quicker a 

 chicken can Yia grown 

 to broiler size the Ijet- 

 ter in quality it \vi\ 

 be. The better tlie quality the 

 higher the price and consequent- 

 ly better profit to the grower. 

 If a, two-pound broiler costs 

 twelve and a half cents a pound 



to raise and is of such fine quality that it sells for forty or 

 fifty cents a pound, there is a profit of twenty-seven 

 and a half or thirty-seven and a half centsa pound; 

 if, however, it is "off" in quality and sells for ten 

 cents less per pound, there is but seventeen and a half 

 or twenty-seven and a half cents a pound profit. This one point 

 of poor quahty and consequently lower price has discouraged 



(or disgusted) not a few broiler raisers, hence the importance 

 of getting eggs from stock of the much desired fine-boned, 

 plump-breasted, yellow-skinned class of fowls, to the end that, 

 if fed right and cared for as they should be, they grow (and 

 grow quickly) into broilers of the very best class. 



EGGS FOR HATCHING BROILERS 



The first problem, and one of the most • important to the 

 broiler raiser, is the eggs from which to hatch 

 the chicks. It is November, December and 

 .January eggs that produce the December, Jan- 

 uary and February chickens, and eggs in those 

 months are scarce and high. Eggs in the 

 winter months frequently sell at forty -five 

 cents a dozen, wholesale; nearly four cents 

 apiece. We once paid a visit to a large practi- 

 cal poultry f ami early in December, and found 

 the owner just closing a case of fine looking 

 eggs he was sending to market. We asked 

 him if he was selling any eggs to market poultry 

 raisers and he replied, "No, sir! It don't pay to 

 bother with tliat trade. I'm getting forty-five 

 cents a dozen \\holesale for these eggs, and the 

 most that market poultry raisers will pay is 

 five dollars per hund- 

 red; that isn't differ- 

 ence enough to pay me 

 for packing them to 

 ship by express and 

 pay for correspon- 

 dence, time, etc., that 

 it takes." As we had 

 visited a market poul- 

 try raiser only a 

 couple of days before, 

 and he had exclaimed 

 about the difficulty of 

 getting good hatching 

 eggs to fill his incuba- 

 tors, a comparison of 

 the two differing points 

 of view is interesting. 

 The one man had the 

 eggs in good supply, 

 said he was getting a 

 hundred and over a 

 day, and could, no 

 doubt ship five or six 

 hundred eggs a week 

 if the other would 

 offer a price which 

 would make it worth 

 while taking care of 

 the orders. Fi\e dollars per hundred did 

 not tempt him, possibly six dollars per hund- 

 red would. 



"GOOD HATCHABLE EGGS" 



Next to getting eggs to put in the incubators the most 

 important matter is tlie q\iality of the eggs, is the getting of 

 good, strong-bodied eggs that will hatch out strong, vigor- 

 ous chicks. Indeed, it may well be stated that the quality 

 of the eggs is the mostj important point; it isn't an im- 

 possibility to get one [or two or. three thousand eggs, 

 but to get eggs which'fwill turn out a reasonable pro- 

 portion of sturdy, "bound-to-live" chicks is more difficult. 

 This brings us to "the hens behind the eggs," as it is 

 irr possible that eggs be in the best shape to hatch good 

 chicks unless the hens that produce them[are in high-condition. 



76 



