Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1904-06-23
HATcHlNG TO ADVANTAGE.
Mr. Felch Takes Issue With the Al
vOcates OF March Chicks

vOc0tes OF Mareh ChhctSsS
1t is safe to say that. nine-tenths of
all the chickens raised in the northern
half of orr country are hatche,l be
tween April 10 and July 25 Of each
year: that the May hatch will come to
laying a full month younger in life
than the March and april Matched
chicks from the same pen Of ances-
tors, and that August Matched chicks
will lay at a younger age than either,
but of course are not desirable, be-
cause we have to mature them in the
winter months, and the spring intiu-
ence upon them brings them to lay
ing before they have fully developed.
and they never reach mature growth.
Again, how often have asserted
that March produces the chicks with
the weakest vitality, and ii they are
at all precocious in laying they usually
become broody early and many Of
them mott into premature old hens,
having grown three full coats of feath-
ers before they are year old, and are
reduced to culls and useless, as high
class breeders.
Chickens Matched in May and kept
growing, with no setback. until Christ
mas time form the majority of the ex-
hibition winners. The four most noted
Brahmas that / ever raised-birds that
won for no less than five different
breeders and grew to the large record
weights for the breed-were Matched in
June, and it is an absolute fact that In
all my years of experience in poultry
culture nine-tenths of all the Brahmas
I ever raised have. been Matched be-
| tween May 10 and June 20.
The best Brahma cocks ever exhibit
ed. and those that have made remark
able records as producers, have been
late Matched males that were kept
| through their cockerel period In cell.
bacy and in the following February
mated to pullets. yet in the face OF
all this do we see Asiatic breeders
force the season to secure extra early
matches that they may have early fall
| layers, and the consequence Is that the
pullets are exhausted before the sea-
son to hatch and rear their progeny
commences.
1t matters not what the locality, we
must adapt ourselves to its demands.
Were you in Texas, where the condi-
lions are favorable for growing fresh.
green vegetation every month in the
year. then you could produce chicks
| the year around.
/ The most vigorous and healthy chicks
come from the forty eggs pullet pro-
duces after the first eight or ten she
lays and from the forty eggs the hen
| lays after molting-whe the eggs are
large, firmly shelled and Of even color
From these we get the phenomenal
1 birds that lay the most eggs and be-
1 come the prize winners for us. Thus II
will be seen that the chickens chances
/ are controlled before it Is born, SO to
! speak, for its real birth Is the egg.
Chicks Matched from such eggs and
| fed judiciously from the time they are
| twenty-four hours old until ready for
| the show pen will be strong. vigorous
and hardy, providing the parent stock
| is properly bred and judiciously mated.
They should be fed good, clean cracked
corn. oats, barley and wheat, and
sweet ground beef scraps, and IL yard
ed should be furnished with green food.
4 The whole feed should be in the pro-
portion OF Is per cent sweet meat, 70
per cent grass or vegetable matter and
60 per cent grain. Milk is whole food
and drink, but 1t should be scalded FOR
| their use until they are two weeks old
and they will seldom have bowel COM
plant. a
we have before now hatched 1o3
Brahmas and raised 101 Of them,
among which were single specimens
that brought us 500. Clean water,
clean grain, clean quarters, cleanliness
everywhere and In everything, mean
/ clean profit and a pleasure in poultry
culture.-L *. Felch In Commercial
Poultry.