The Florida agriculturist., 1908-02-01
Selection Of a Breed.
By Charles F. Hi1ey.

Will Ily W WlIIC uItIc III lGSdlu 10
selecting a breed of chickens, which
will probably be in season as just now
many are dissatisfied with the chickens
they have, and are determined to
branch out anew. Now, I know this is
very ticklish question, and is general
ly got over by saying that all breeds
are equally good and so they may be
A pointer dog and a bull pup are
probably equally good, but if you took
the bull pup bird hunting, you would
not do much business, and vice versa,
And SO it is with chickens. Make up
your mind what you want chickens for
and then buy accordingly Some
breeds are stronger on one point, some
on another Make up your mind
whether you want eggs to be your
long suit, or broilers. If you want
fancy table fowls choose one Of the
American varieties; if you want eggs
to be your strong suit, choose one OF
the Mediterranean or nOn-sitting va
rieties. One mistake made in Florida,
by many people, is to look for some
thing that will mature very early and
lay at four or five months. WE'LL that
is probably desirable in the North,
where hatching is started late, but what
is the consequence here, where we
start early so as to get growth before
the hot weather begins? It means
that your early maturing pullet is lay
ing by July or August, and stopping
her growth and weakening her cOasti
tuition to produce eggs that are worth
probably 20 cents a dozen, while
slower maturing bird is building up q
constitution to lay for longer period
ir November, and the winter months.
when eggs are worth two and One-halt
times as muCh
Another mistake often made is tn cut
the feed when the chickens slack up,
One farmer will say, "Oh, feed is SO
high that 7 can't afford to feed like
you do" Well, what is the cOnse-
quence? He is probably keeping his
flock Of chickens at perhaps So week
and getting no eggs, while his neigh
hor is keeping the samc-s;zed flock for
S. and getting sufficient eggs to pay
for the feed I have seen this very
clearly illustrated in feeding hogs,
Two farmers having practically the
same amount Of corn and hogs, one
will say, ooh feed is so high in Flori
da, can't afford to feed much corn
So he will dole out about two pounds
a day per head in order thot his corn
will last long time. The Conse-
uuence is, at the end Of period, he
still has his hogs the same weight as
before, but has fed his corn. Whereas
the man who will feed his corn out
quickly. will get from twelve to fifteen
pounds gain for every bushel, by the
s1ow-feeding method he would make
no gain per bushel; in fact, his hogs
NAV lose little.
Now to close. I will saw if you are
not satisfied with what chickens you
have, try some other variety this spring,
and start by buying the best eggs or
chickens you can get. There are good
breeders of all varieties in the state
now. who have spared no expense in
getting the best Good stock is almost
sure to get little better attention than
scruhby stuff, especially when your
neiehbors begin to notice what nice
chickens you have, and this little extra
attention will at once begin to bring
better returns Then you will try to
do little more for your birds as they
are doing so we'll for you, and when
vou get to that stage look out, for
first thing you know YOU will be chick
en- fancier and nothing but the best
will be good enough for you. "Nutt
Sed."
L1