ARTIFICIAL INCUBATING AND BROODING 



to two pounds weight (apiece) in ten to eleven weeks, and 

 here we have eight weeks old chicks of full two pounds weight, 

 and ten weeks old chicks weighing three pounds apiece. That 

 difference of two to three weeks clipped off from the old time 

 ten to eleven weeks considered necessary to grow a two-pound 

 broiler makes a tremendous gain in profits. A saving of twenty 

 to twenty-five per cent in time greatly increases the capacity 

 of the brooder houses, as well as saves so much labor and food; 

 and this in addition to the practical elimination of the vexing 

 "bowel trouble" problem and the dreaded infant mortality. 

 Assuming that the business paid a fair profit as formerly con- 

 ducted, such a saving of time and labor will greatly increase 

 the profits. 



This most successful broiler raiser's method of feeding is 

 worth'quoting, by way of getting "a point of view." It was 

 given as follows: "The chicks are fed five times a day on 







b;^-'^'^'- 





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60— CONVENIENT CRATES FOR FEEDING 



hulled oats mostly, with a little cracked wheat and millet seed 

 added. The cracked wheat is changed to whole wheat when 

 they are about a week or ten days old, and cracked corn is fed 

 after they are a week older, which brings them to three weeks 

 of age. After this they are fed three times a day; a mash in 

 the morning, wheat at noon and cracked corn at night, with a 

 feed or cut fresh bone the middle of the afternoon. The mash 

 is made of either corn meal or gluten meal, and wheat bran, 

 with a ration of meat meal, light at first and more of it towards 

 the "finishing off." Green food they get each afternoon, in the 

 shape of lawn mower clippings when the grass is growing; later 

 in the shape of rape. In winter finely cut clover is steamed 

 and fed them." 



Feeding, he claims, is the crucial point. Said he, "A care- 

 less or indifferent feeder will do more harm and waste more 

 food than the profits amount to." The test of good feeding is 

 to keeps the chicks just a little hungry, and the best judgment 

 of the feeder should be brought to bear. His rule is to give no 

 food to a pen if there is any left uneaten from the last feed- 

 ing. Many chick raisers mistakenly think that one feeding 



missed is a step in growth lost. In a limited sense this is true, 

 but a greater loss in growth comes from the chicks overeating 

 and the appetite becoming cloyed. Not only does a careless 

 feeder waste the food, but he puts the chicks out of condition 

 and checks their growth by cloying them, by taking away their 

 appetite. If food is left before them all the time they wiU 

 actually eat less, and make a slower growth than if fed judi- 

 ciously and kept a little bit hungry. 



Another writer, describing the methods of a New Jersey 

 broiler raiser, says: "At first the chicks are fed the infertile 

 eggs, cooked, mixed with bread crumbs and rolled oats; then 

 gradually com meal and bran are added to the ration. After 

 a hatch is off everything left in the incubators, shells, chicks 

 that have failed to come out, whether fully grown or not, are 

 all cooked up; equal parts of com meal and bran, with about 

 ten per cent of beef scraps are added and this mixture is used 



to feed chicks that are two 

 weeks old. It is said to make 

 a perfectly wholesome food. 

 The chicks are fed all they 

 will eat three or four times a 

 day. 



"Fattening these small 

 birds is a difficult problem. 

 The natural tendency is to 

 make growth instead of lay- 

 ing on fat. For the last ten 

 days before killing the ration, 

 consists of two parts com 

 meal, one part bran, about ten 

 per cent cottonseed meal and 

 from twenty-five to thirty per 

 cent beef scraps. This seems 

 like a heavy feeding of meat,, 

 and of course would not do 

 for chicks that are to be raised 

 to maturity. The proper weight 

 for killing, twelve ounces, is 

 reached at about six weeks; 

 however, some reach that 

 weight sooner than others." 



This writer gives six 

 weeks as the time of raising 

 these twelve-ounce squab 

 broilers by that feeding meth- 

 od. The White Wyandotte 

 chicks which are described 

 here, and whose weights are 

 given above, grew to the same weight in exactly four weeks; 

 a saving of thirty-three and a third per cent of time, brooder 

 house room and labor. That saving would fully double the profits, 

 and that saving is made by the improved method of feeding, 

 by feeding a ready mixed ration of seeds and grains. 



MARKETING THE BROILERS 



Most broiler chickens are marketed "dry picked." This is 

 partly due to the fact that the people educated up to appreciat- 

 ing fine broilers are critical, and the better appearance of the 

 dry picked chicken both enhances its value and increases the 

 consumptive demand. Most of the picking is done by profes- 

 sionals, who are paid so much apiece, and who go from one 

 broiler plant to another as work is offered. The usual price 

 paid for picking broilers is three to four cents apiece, and the 

 picker engaged to pick them not infrequently employs "pin- 

 ners" to assist him. He does the killing and "rough-picking," 

 and passes the chicks on to the pinners to finish; the pin feath- 

 ering and cleaning up requiring patience and nimble fingers. 



80 



