Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1891-12-08
BROlLER6 By INCUBATOR.
Now Is the Timo to Begin Operations for
Spring Chickens.

Now Is the Time to Begin Operations for
Spring Chickens.
November will not be too soon to be-
gin operations for Matching the early
broilers. II requires three weeks for in
cubation, which will bring the hatch
down to about December, and ten weeks
more will be required for the growth of
ihe chicks, thus getting them into mar
ket in March. All the operations for
Matching should therefore be completed
before January, if early broilers are to
be speciality. As one can easily cal
culate the number of weeks required for
Matching and raising the chicks, the i'm
portance of beginning early cannot be
too strongly urged. 1t is an excellent
rule to allow three months from the
time the eggs are put into the incubator
until the chicks so to market, when
they should then weigh about one and
half pounds each.
Early chickens in large numbers will
be an imposibility with the use of hens,
as the hens are too uncertain and may
not begin to sit before spring. If the
broiler business is to be conducted with
view Of securing profit, the Matching
must be done with incubators in order
to have such work under control. With
mn incubator one can hatch out chicks at
any time and in as large numbers as
may be desired, while the hen is at
times useless. There are drawback
and advantages with incubators, and
the same applies TO hens. In the winter
l. =; 10 10 <, hot ol;
and may profitably employ time that
would be otherwise lost.
Quick growth and the heaviest weight
In the shortest time are matters of inn
portance in raising broilers, and the use
of pure bred males will add much to the
value of the chicks, 1t is not necessary
to discard the hens because they are
mongrels or cross bred, but it is very
important that no mongrel males be
used. The Wyandotte, Plymouth Rock,
Langshan or Brahma males will show
wonderful improvement in the size and
quality of the chicks, and rs single
male may sire a thousand chicks in less
than year. the use of mongrel males
is not economical. the addition of one
fourth of cent to the value of each
chick being more than thx value of the
sire if he has sired Sc, eral hundred
chicks. In the face Of this fact it is I'M
wise to an extreme to omit the pure bred
males.
If incubators are to be used it is not
too soon to begin. Much can be learned
with a trial hatcn. and now is the time
to experiment. The greatest drawback
is that of procuring the eggs. There
may be plenty Of eggs to be procured,
but all eggs are not suitable for lncuba-
ton, as the hens may be too fat, the
males impotent, or the eggs from imma-
ture pullcts. No eggs except those of
normal size shout! be used. Large eggs,
small eggs, rough eggs or misshapen
eggs should be discarded. 1t is best to
have your own hens from which to Sc
cure eggs, but if this cannot be done,
and eggs must be purchased let it be
from flocks that are known TO you. Any
attempt 10 hatch chicks from eggs pro-
cured proMiscuously. from all sources,
will fail to give satisfactory results, 10
matter how well the management may
be otherwise. - Southern Live Stock
journal.