PROFITABLE BROILER RAISING 



They must be in perfect health and be fed a food ration that 

 supplies the elements of which good eggs are made. In addition 

 to the food (which must include a sufficient supply of green food 

 to "balance" the grain and animal foods), the fowls must be 

 kept in clean quarters, must be kept free from vermin, must have 

 an abundance of fresh air to breathe and must have sufficient 

 exercise to keep the circulation active and promote good diges- 

 tion. This looks formidable at first, but is really nothing more 

 than common prudence dictates, because "the hen that lays is 

 the hen that pays," and the hens must have good food and care 

 if we expect them to lay. 



The term "quality of the eggs" means much more than the 

 average reader will reaUze. It is most important that eggs for 

 market be of good quality, be strong bodied and full bodied; 

 if less than this they are seconds or thirds and sell for a lower 

 price. Of how much greater importance that they be strong- 

 bodied and full-bodied if they are to be incubated. If weak and 

 watery they cannot hatch good, strong chicks. There may be 

 sufficient body to the egg to nourish the embryo to (and beyond) 

 the critical period of exclusion, but the infant chick will be so 

 weak and feeble it cannot "make-alive" of it; or it may be still 

 poorer and the embryo die in the last week of incubation; and 

 some eggs are so poor the germs die in the first few days of in- 

 cubation. When eggs are very poor in quality there will be 

 many of these dead germs found in the incubator at the end of 

 the hatch, or thrown out at the second test; it is perhaps un- 

 necessary to say that such poor quality eggs are the most un- 

 profitable and most unsatisfactory for the market poultry raiser 

 to buy. 



THE HENS THAT LAY THE EGGS 



The witty "Autocrat of the Breakfast Table" said that the 

 education of a child should begin twenty years before the child 

 is bom, and, similarly, the strength and vigor of our broiler 

 chicks must be planned for one or two or more years before 

 the eggs are laid- from which the chicks are hatched. The 

 lajring hens must be birds with strong constitutions and them- 

 selves descended from birds that had strong constitutions. 



How to get the desired strong constitution is an important 

 consideration, and it is evident that we should both breed for 

 it and "select" the breeding birds for it. Prof. Graham, of the 

 Ontario Agricultural College, Guelph, has given much study 

 to this subject, and in an excellent article has discussed the ques- 

 tion of the constitution of the breeding stock, and illustrated 

 his points with photographs from birds of both the desired and 

 undesirable types. We have reproduced these illustrations on 

 pages 76 and 78. Mr. Graham says: 



"I am of the opinion that one of the most important points 

 to be considered is constitution. This may have no actual mar- 

 ket value, but it certainly has much to do with the bird's ability 

 to grow and put on flesh. What we want is a good feeder and 

 an economical producer. Generally, a bird with a short, stout, 

 well curved beak, a broad head, not too long, and a bright, 

 clear eye, will have plenty of constitution. Furthermore, I have 

 noticed that when a bird has a long, narrow beak, a thin, long 

 comb and head, and eye sunken in the head, it is lacking in con- 

 stitution. It also has a narrow, long body, and in many cases 

 legs which are long, and upon which the fowl seldom stands 

 straight. There are some exceptions to these points, yet, upon 

 the average, if a bird has a good head, the chances are favor- 

 able for a good body, and if a poor head, the opposite may be 

 said. I have frequently noticed in Rose Comb breeds, such as 

 Wyandottes, that you seldom see a good shaped one that has 

 a long, narrow comb. 



"The neck of the market fowl should be moderately short 

 and stout, indicating vigor. The breast is the most important 

 point in a market chicken. It should be broad, moderately 

 deep; and, if fairly long, will present a fine appearance and 

 appear well fleshed. It is quite possible that a broad, deep 



breast will carry more meat than a moderately deep breast of 

 the same width, yet there is no doubt but that the latter will 

 present much the better appearance and thereby sell quicker, 

 and at a higher price in the market. 



"When considering the length of breast, we must try to get 

 it to come, well forward (see III. 1), and not cut off at an angle, 

 as seen in 111. 2. The body, in general, should present the 

 appearance of an oblong, when the head, tail and neck are re- 

 moved. We frequently see birds that are very flat in front and 

 cut up behind as seen in 111. 3. This class of chickens gives a 

 very short breast; and if it happens to be deep, as it is in this 

 bird, you will have, when dressed, about as poor a looking 

 chicken as one could wish to see, there being a lack of width 

 and length of breast, with excessive depth. (Notice the head 

 is narrow and long, the body is narrow, the eye is bright, but 

 slightly sunken, the legs are long and not straight under the 

 body.) In 111. 2, note the very flat breast, the length of back, 

 the long neck and head, the narrow comb, the sunken eye, and 

 the length of legs. The breast comes fairly well back, but not 

 well forward. In 111. 1 the bill is short and stout, but not as 

 well curved as I should like. Note the breadth of the head, the 

 prominence and brightness of the eye, the short and stout neck, 

 the great width of the breast, the fullness caused largely by the 

 breastbone extending well forward, the short, stout legs that 

 are straight under the body, and the width between the legs. 

 There is an expression about this chicken that impresses one as 

 being the essence of vigor. 



"The back should be broad to give lung and heart capacity, 

 and, further, this width should extend well back to the tail-head. 

 Avoid the wedge-shaped back as seen in some fowls that have 

 great width at the shoulders and taper rapidly tojvard the tail- 

 head. I 



"It is much easier to get good shaped market females than 

 it is to get good cockerels. * * * The farmers have gone to 

 raising big chickens and are asking for large, overgrown cockerels 

 for breeders and, further, birds that have excessive depth. 

 The result is, we get chickens when dressed weighing four to 

 five pounds each that have immense, high breast-bones and very 

 long legs. These are not attractive to the buyers and sell at 

 a less price per pound than plumper birds. For example, if 

 given two birds of the same width of breast, one is one and a 

 half inches deeper in the breast than the other, the result will be, 

 the one bird looks plump and sells readily, the other lacks plump- 

 ness and sells slowly. This can be bred out by using such males 

 as 111. 1. 



"I wish to have birds as well built as we can get them. 

 111. 1 is as near the ideal market chicken as I have seen in the 

 breed he represents. The hen as seen in 111. 4 is of a good 

 market type. Note the width and fullness of breast. As a 

 breeder she is a. little fine in bone, and rather too small. She 

 has, however, that blocky appearance that is desirable." 



There has been far too great a use of big, coarse breeding 

 males, the thought appearing to be that size (mere "bigness") 

 indicated a strong' constitution, and the note of warning sound- 

 ed by Prof. Graham is most timely. In broiler chickens, too, 

 fineness of bone is most important. The fineboned carcass 

 gives a, larger proportion of meat to bone (waste), and the 

 coarser framed bird has the knife-edge breast, rather than the 

 round, plump breast which has so attractive an appearance. 

 Then, too, the finer boned birds take on fat more readily; it 

 will generally be found that the birds which will not fatten 

 and that it is seemingly impossible to get in good, marketable 

 condition, are the long-legged, thin-bodied, angular birds be- 

 gotten by the big, coarse ancestors which have come to be used 

 because of this craze for mere "bigness!" If we will but take 

 heed to the suggestions given us by Prof. Graham there will be 

 a notable improvement in the "type" of bird we send to market; 

 the improvement in type resulting in a bettering of quality, 



77 



