Arizona republican., 1910-11-21
A LECTURE ON POULTRY
BY PROFESSOR MONTE
Printed for the Benefit of Those Who
Were Not Present the Night II
Was Delivered.

A Talk on Poultry" in part, by
Prof McOmie, of the University of
Arizona at the high school last Thurs
day evening. The eggs you intend to
settle hens should not be forced.
You should give those hens plenty of
exercise, keep them separated from
the others and know that they are
getting plenty of exercise and wholse-
some feed. Select your eggs if you can
and select your eggs at the natural
, breeding season of chickens. They
mate along in the spring of the year.
! That is the natural br, eding season for
| chickens. At that time eggs are better
/ for breeding and Matching than at any
other season. Chickens that lay those
! eggs should not be crowded during the
/ last six months. Have one cockerel for
/ fifteen hens giving a high percent of
/ hatch. The parents of eggs should be
taken into consideration for the selec-
| ton and setting. Select pullets when
/ YOU want a collection of birds that YOU
are going to breed from. You do not
want a hen that has weakened vitality
/ because she has laid so many eggs.
! You can tell strong hen. They have
a red comb and elasticity of step. Get
a good active hen for breeding. You
! will find this will be 4 material help
to you in getting a high percentage of
/ hatch. You can see it will pay you.
! There are a great many eggs that are
not fertile. The chick is not able to get
out because there is something wrong
in the mating or breeding of the birds
That also depends on the food you give
it. it important to know why and I'M
derstand that mating of birds you in
tend to breed from. After you have Sc
lected. the eggs you desire to select eggs
of uniform size. Don't get big eggs,
take an average egg. The shell is porous
and circulation of air goes through it
all the time The porosity of the shell
should be taken into consideration
when selection is made. You want a
shell that is not too thick or too thin, a
medium shell The chicks will hatch
uniformly if the eggs are uniform. Be
! fore setting eggs test each egg. You
I have all seen an egg tester You can
tell if the egg is fertile by seeing a
small round spot in the middle. Do
not set an egg that is older than ten
1 days. If the eggs are older they are
not liable to hatch. Keep the hen con-
1 fined by building coop two or three
/ feet square around her nest. If the hen
| is lousy or has mites sprinkle the hen
with sulphur under the feathers. also
sprinkle the nest Your hen will set
very nicely under these conditions. She
may come off the nest every day. hen
wants fresh air to develop properly
She gets off the nest to air the nest
will turn the eggs over with her bill
We do the same thing in an incubator
Don't feed chicks for from AZ to 20
hours after Matching. You do not need
to be afraid they will want for food.
portion Of the yOlk is left and that is
taken into the stomach of the chick and
that is what it lives on for from IS to
20 hours. The sulphur in the yolk
should be used up before they are fed
anything. If it is not used up it some
times ends with the death of the chick
1t is important to let the chick use it
up before feeding. Just as soon as the
chicks are Matched you should put be-
fore them something in the way Of
grit by giving them the grit you are
putting in their gizzards. something for
them to chew the food with later on.
Put grit before them just as soon as
feed them by giving them grain which
has been chopped for the first two
weeks. Do not feed them wet food 1t
tends to chill them. They are very SEN
sitive to changes or temperature. Be
careful about removing chicks from the
incubator not to change temperature
Be careful about removing chicks from
the incubator not to change tempera-
ture suddenly. Have the temperature
in the brooder all regulated before the
chicks are Matched for three or four
days. It should be SO degrees for the
first two or three days after chickens
are put in and reduced from SO to 10
degrees gradually during two weeks.
Then keep the brooder at about 65 de-
grees till chickens are six or eight
weeks old. Sometimes changes of tenn
perature kill chickens. In Matching the
temperature must be between 102 and
1O3 degrees, not lower nor higher. /
prefer Cvphers incubator because the
temperature is NOSE easily regulated
Before putting eggs into the incubator
have it going a week so that it can be
regulated properly. Eggs, after the first
day or two, should be turned every
other day. Some people turn them
right over. others turn the crates
around. Most incubators have a pan
of water inside, to keep the air moist.
Dry air will not do. Moisture goes into
eggs and caused heat to go through it.
An incubator of 200 eggs capacity is
best because the heat can be more ev-
enIy distributed. The percentage of
hatch should be 70 per cent; never be-
low 60 per cent; 80 per cent is better.
The average is not much below 60 per-
cent. Some people sprinkle the eggs in
til incubator but the best way is to
follow the instruction which go with
| each incubator and you will not go far
| off The method of furnishing air and
water is not uniform. The brooder
! must be roomy. and large and the deck