((<xtfcCi CacH&A 
PUBLISHED 
IN CONNECTION WITH POULTRY FEED 
PRICE LIST 
Vol. 16 
JANUARY 20, 1938 
No. 1 
Proper Feeding of Hens Important Factor 
In Determining Chick Quality 
By C. S. JOHNSON, Manager Poultry Department, Purina Mills 
The capacity to lay eggs in profitable quantities 
must be bred into hens. Housing, sanitation and 
proper feeding then creates the proper environment 
and supplies the material to take full advantage of 
good breeding. 
It has been definitely established that the hen 
cannot lay an egg and better from a food value or 
hatchability standpoint than the feed she takes into 
her system. The influences of feeding on hatch- 
ability and chick vigor, vitality and livability has 
been thoroughly proved. Therefore, as a poultry 
raiser having a right to expect profits from your 
birds, you must be interested in the feeding pro¬ 
gram back of the chicks you buy. Vitamins A, D 
and G must be present in the ration in proper 
quantities. 
Vitamin A is the growth promoting and disease 
resisting vitamin in feeds. Green feeds, alfalfa leaf 
meal of top grade quality and yellow com are high 
in Vitamin activity. Unfortunately, the Vitamin A 
activity in some of these ingredients is lost by time. 
In order to make sure that the ration would contain 
the proper amount of Vitamin A to protect the hen 
against colds and nutritional roup, Purina Mills 
added Puratene to its laying Chows. This revolu¬ 
tionary new ingredient is 760 times more powerful 
in Vitamin A activity than yellow com meal. Its 
Vitamin A activity is stable. It is not lost by time. 
The hen eating the rations containing Puratene 
receives the right amount of Vitamin A which she 
must have in order to have a reserve to put into 
the egg so that the egg can become a properly 
developed embryo and a live, profitable chick. 
Vitamin D found particularly in Cod Liver Oil 
and Sardine Oil helps to prevent Rickets, builds 
stronger bones and puts better shells on eggs. Fre¬ 
quently chicks develop rickets early in life. In many 
cases the blame is placed on the starting feed the 
chicks are eating. In altogether too many cases it 
is not the fault of the starting feed or of the manage¬ 
ment plan. It is directly the fault of the ration 
which the hen was fed. 
The lack of Vitamin G in the ration results in 
a distinct lack of hatching power. The result is 
that either the embryo dies during the 21-day period 
in the incubator, or it has barely enough strength 
to get through tne shell. But, if the absorbed yolk, 
which is one-fifth of the weight of the chick at 
hatching time, does not contain the right amount 
of Vitamin G, together with the rest of the vitamins 
necessary for proper health and strength, that chick 
will never be the profitable bird it could be had the 
ration given the hen contained the proper nutrients 
and vitamins in the first place. 
Because that baby chick is literally made from 
the white, yolk and shell of the egg, during the 
21-day incubation period, it is vitally important that 
these materials contain the right nutrients and 
vitamins if they are to be in the chick. They cannot 
be in the chick if they were not in the ration which 
the hen ate. The hatching egg, potentially life itself, 
the embryo, cannot contain these nutrients and 
vitamins necessary to strong vigorous development' 
if they were not in the ration. By the same line of 
reasoning, the chick cannot get the proper start in 
life if the absorbed yolk, its breadbasket on which 
it feeds for the first several hours after hatching, 
cannot supply it with the necessary nutrients and 
vitamins unless they were in the ration. 
Feeding for hatchability is just one phase of the 
problem and of the importance of properly feeding 
lens. If your chicks were of the proper breeding, 
lad the right sort of . a program of feeding back of 
;hem, and if all other factors were what they should 
)e, then your own management and feeding of the 
growing chick and pullet becomes the determining 
factor as to whether you have laid the foundation 
for profitable egg production. Then the proper 
laying mash fed to your birds can get eggs out of 
them. That is the function of feeding. Feeding 
cannot get eggs out of a hen that were not bred 
into her. 
Get good chicks. Know they are from stock of 
good breeding and standard type. Investigate the 
feeding program back of those chicks. Buy them 
from a responsible source that knows how to hatch 
chicks. Then follow such recommendations as those 
given by Purina Mills for starting your chicks, 
feeding them, and growing your pullets to develop 
the foundation for profitable egg production. 
When you buy chicks and start them on Startena, 
you build the proper foundation for future produc¬ 
tion. From the first to the sixth week, you will need 
only 2 pounds of Startena per chick. From the 7th 
to the 20th week, you can continue the program of 
starting your chicks to lay by feeding Growena. 
Growena is a highly specialized ration, designed 
to build strong, big pullets. The big pullets that are 
properly grown and developed become the big layers 
of big eggs, capable of long cycles of sustained, high 
speed production. 
Regardless of feed prices or egg prices or chick 
prices, the situation is always the same. The real 
reward goes to the poultry raiser who buys good 
chicks, properly starts them, and continues faith¬ 
fully a program of building pullets that will develop 
into strong, vigorous layers. 
On that sort of a foundation, it is possible for the 
poultry raiser to have his pullets ready for top speed 
production of full sized eggs during the periods of 
highest egg prices. 
Determine now to have your pullets ready to start 
earning for you. You can do that by starting with 
the right kind of chicks—and then—see the differ¬ 
ence S+artena makes. 
