1920.] 



Incubating Stations. 



1229 



order, since the methods employed are taken as a pattern for 

 guidance to small poultry keepers in the county, and advice is 

 soaght by visitors and by correspondents on all matters relating 

 to poultry. 



Fresh male birds are introduced annually. Trap-nesting 

 is carried out for six months in most cases, and has at times been 

 continued for twelve months with special birds. The Station 

 stock are hatched in March and April. The distribution of 

 chickens commences in February and ends on or about 31st 

 May. Sittings are distributed throughout the season and 

 stock birds between June and October. 



The food of the adult birds has in every instance consisted 

 of wet mash and grain. In one case dry mash to supplement 

 this food was used in addition, and the results were particularly 

 good in this instance from the point of view of egg production. 



Meat meal, or fish meal has been used in limited 

 amounts, but no spice is given. Food is obtained through the 

 ordinary channels and at no time have the Stations had any 

 special advantage in this respect over other poultry keepers 

 in the district. 



Surplus eggs and birds fit only for table purposes have been 

 disposed of in the local markets. 



Ans^lesey Station. — The site at Lledwigan, at which the work 

 was started in 191 6, was unsuitable for a permanent Station, 

 and the stock was transferred to a complete holding of 2 J 

 acres with a cottage within a mile and a half of the market 

 town of Llangefni. Incubator and food rooms were added to 

 the cottage. 



The holding is very exposed to the heavy gales to which 

 the Island is subject. The bleeding pens occupy about three- 

 quarters of an acre of ground, three-quarters of an acre is left 

 for rearing in the spring and summer, and one acre is sown down 

 to crops. Very good crops of oats have been obtained from 

 this land in the last two years, and after harvest the birds have 

 been tmned out on to the ground. 



The records of the birds — some of which have been pub- 

 lished* — have been exceedingly good under the local conditions. 

 \^'yandottes have done better than the Leghorns, and it was 

 at one time under consideration whether the latter breed 

 should be dropped ; a small proportion of Leghorns has been 

 retained in the stock, however, as the demand for them is 

 as large as for the Wyandottes, and the vigour of the stock 

 should make them valuable under less severe conditions. 



♦ See this Journal, December, 191 8, p. 1106. 



