WHEN TO HATCH 57 



were being fed the ration for fertility, and he would be perfectly 

 satisfied with a forty per cent fertility, for he knew the difficulty 

 of getting fertile eggs at that season. I let him have several set- 

 tings and he was more than satisfied with the results. 



I made a practice of hatching every tgg that I could in the 

 fall, commencing toward the end of September or first of October, 

 and my reasons for so doing were, first, that it paid. 



My object was to get cockerels that would be vigorous breeders 

 at eighteen months of age or in the early spring, when they were 

 about that age, while those that were culls would be in good con- 

 dition either as broilers or fryers in the winter and bring high prices 

 then, as there would be but few then on the market; so I was after 

 cockerels first, and here I made some rather interesting discoveries 

 which year after year were confirmed by a long series of experi- 

 ments. 



I had read (as I sometimes still read) in poultry magazines that 

 the male birds ought to be entirely separated from the female dur- 

 ing the summer, or at any rate during the moult, or whenever the 

 eggs were not being used for hatching. I read that it was neces- 

 sary to give the birds a complete rest, in order that they might be 

 in a vigorous condition when they were wanted for breeding. Theo- 

 retically, this sounded plausible and I tried it, and to my great dis- 

 appointment I found that the male birds that had been my best 

 breeders did not regain their vigor for months, and some of them 

 never again. 



The organs of reproduction had become atrophied or dormant 

 by disuse, and it was not until the following spring (nature's own 

 season) that they became active again. Since making sure of this 

 from many experiments, I have never entirely isolated the males 

 that have been mated. I always leave two pullets with each. It 

 really made me feel sorry for the male bird ; he would at first fret so 

 for the customary society and even when put with cockerels to po- 

 lice them and prevent them from quarreling, he seemed out of place 

 and restless. 



To have fertile eggs in the fall we must again consult nature 

 and copy her rations at the time when she has fertile eggs — that is, 

 in the springtime. 



First — The rations then are tender greens just sprouting, and 

 grubs and worms with but little grain, for then the grain is all 

 sprouting. Then, again, by the springtime the fowls will not be so 

 fat as they were in the fall, when nature provided a liberal supply 

 of grains to give the necessary fat to keep them warm in the win- 

 ter. By the springtime they will have lost that, still they will be 

 vigorous and active. To have fertile eggs in the fall or at any time 

 we must duplicate the conditions of springtime. Give an abund- 

 ance of tender green, with sufficient animal food, and to induce 

 exercise the grain should be fed in deep straw, so the hens will have 

 to scratch and work for it. 



When I began hatching in the fall my object was to get fall- 

 hatched cockerels. It was cockerels I wanted. From past experi- 



