' 10 



CHICK BOOK 



"(10) Failure to select breeding stock of recognized 

 superior physical vigor. The most vigorous breeding stock 

 is necessary if we are to maintain or increase the physical 

 vigor of our fowls. This selection is possible it the breeder 

 has a clear understanding of the physical differences between 

 the constitutionally strong and the constitutionally weak 

 fowls. Such differences exist and can be quickly recognized 

 by any one who will take the trouble to study the various 

 types of fowls." 



Conclusions 



"From the experiments we must conclude that there is 

 a relation between the physical characters of fowls and their 

 constitutional vigor, which will enable a careful observer to 

 select the weak from the strong, and also that these qualities 

 are transmissible from parent to offspring; we may also as- 



sume that, other conditions being equal, weak parents are 

 more likely to produce infertile or less hatchable eggs, which 

 will give weaker chickens, than are strong parents. 



^'Should we not, in view of these facts, practice a system 

 of rigid selection of the weak from the strong during all 

 stages of the life of the flock, and from the strong select only 

 a few of the strongest for breeding in order that we may 

 keep only the most vigorous fowls, with the object of secur- 

 ing larger production with less mortality and greater net 

 profit, and at the same time of insuring stronger stock each 

 succeeding generation? 



"If we are to succeed permanently we must so hatch, 

 rear, feed, house and breed our poultry that they will keep, 

 in perfect health.- Good health in the fowls is the founda- 

 tion of successful poultry husbandry." 



SELECTION OF BREEDERS AND LAYERS 



ELEMENTARY RULES OF HYGIENE MUST BE STRICTLY OBSERVED— STUNTED CHICKENSJSHOULD 

 NEVER BE KEPT FOR LAYING OR BREEDING PURPOSES— CULL THE CHICKENS THREE TIMES- 

 WEAKLINGS ARE ALWAYS UNPROFITABLE— LATE CHICKS NOT FIRST CLASS LAYERS 



VICTOR FORTIER 

 (Poultry Division of the Experimental Farm, Ottawa, Can.) 



IN ORDER 'to insure the rapid growth of chickens, proper 

 nourishment must be given from the start and until 

 the chickens are full grown. It is necessary to observe 

 strictly the elementary rules of hygiene at all times and 

 everywhere. Should these fundamental principles be dis- 

 regarded, growth is considerably arrested and a noticeable 

 proportion of the chickens remain stunted. These should 

 never be kept either for laying or breeding purposes. No 

 one can ever expect to get profitable returns from such fowls, 

 no matter how good the breed he has on hand. 



Chickens intended ±o be kept for laying or breeding pur- 

 poses should be carefully selected quite young, the first selec- 

 tion being made to the best advantage when they are about 

 eight weeks old. Those which have been kept back by ail- 

 ments, such as white diarrhoea (chalky diarrhoea), bilious 

 diarrhcea, leg weakness, or through any other causes, should 

 then be separated from the more robust ones and placed in 

 a separate pen, where they 

 can be fed and prepared for 

 the market as soon as possible. 

 The selected chickens on 

 reaching the age of four 

 months should be re-selected 

 and the weaklings removed. 

 A third , knd final selection 

 should be made in the fall 

 of the year, just prior to 

 placing the fowls in their 

 respective winter quarters. 

 There should be no reluct- 

 ance on the part of the owner 

 to sacrifice all the weaker birds 

 and use them for table pur- 

 poses, because such birds will 

 always eat more than the 

 profit they will give. 



Weaklings are Unprofitable 



Careful experiments have 

 most positively demonstrated 

 the fact that weaklings of the 

 same brood, of the same strain 

 and of the same age do not 

 lay as many eggs the first 



year, or, in fact, during the following years as those 

 which have rapidly and healthily developed. 



Unfortunately it has been too often the practice to pay 



little attention to the wise selection of birds which are in- 

 tended for egg laying. The farmer and amateur poultry 

 raiser are often heard complaining of the unproductive birds 

 in their possession, and they are unable to account for this 

 lack of production, but we are quite convinced it is due to 

 the fact that a proper and timely selection of chickens has 

 been neglected. 



Our remarks regarding weaklings, puny looking and ab- 

 normally developed birds, although hatched in good season, 

 also apply to other birds that have hatched too late, after 

 the 15th of June or at the beginning of July. The latter are 

 scarcely worth more as egg producers than the former; in 

 both cases the egg production will be very scant. 



In support of this theory, let us take, for example, two- 

 broods of Barred Plymouth Rocks, all of the same strain, of 

 which a certain number were hatched about the 5th of May 

 and the remaining portion about the 15th of June, or say six 



SOME SATISFACTORY BROOD COOPS. 

 queetTorinra?er'afp?oofa?nig£""*'"°''°""''''''^'"- The owner says he finds they have solved the cat 



weeks later, and let us winter them in poultry houses identl- 

 cally the same, giving them the same kind of food. The- 

 first lot' will invariably commence to lay during the months - 



