The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1911-05-17
MORE CHICKS
FROM ENGLAND
Yakima Fanciers Are Daily Ex-
pecting Consignment of Eggs
From Abroad
MATCHING SEASON POOR
ONE FOR POULTRYMEN
Lack of Success So Pronounced
That Many Are Looking for
Scientific OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
Sent to Experiment Station

-N - A~~~kS~AAsaA>sAs Se~sA~AA
More imported stock will he shown
this year in the poultry department
at the state fair, and later at the
county chicken SHOW than in any
previous year. Local fanciers, who
few weeks ago Matched a mum Der
of likely chicks from eggs brought
over from England, have sent back
for more of the English settings and
expect them to arrive in a few days.
The ancestry of these chicks Matched
from eggs laid several thousand
miles away is very fine. The varie-
ties include Orpingtons, Black and
White Wyandottes, Leghorns and
others Among the chicken men
who are thus adding new blood to
their flocks are DR.. f. NJ. Rossite".
J. A. Parkinson. Milton Morton and
friends of theirs who are ordering
through them.
Enthusiasm Wancs.
Vt seems likely, however, that of
the many who went into the chicken
business with high hopes this year,
very few ind eed have not come
through the early Matching season
with their enthusiasm at low cbb.
Just as it is an off year in fruit, it
is an off year in chickens. 1t isn't
only the novices. but the old hands
who have had bad luck The per-
centage of fertility has not been
high. The chickens haven't been
able to get out of the she'll or tn ?
almost incessant cold winds of April
have chilled and stunted those that
did get through.
The trouble isn't altogether with
tie incubators either, for the hens
have been hardly more successful.
Four and six chicks out of hem
Matched settings OF fifteen are sto-
ries heard on all sides.
Records of Success.
OF course there are individual re-
cords of success, both with hens and
incubators, And equally of course,
there are some, especially among
the pioneer fanciers, who always
have fine success according to their
own stories. The fact of the mat
ter is. however that chickens all
over this section have Matched so
poorly this year as to make the fact
fairly general one and to set the
inquiring one looking for general
explanation which will throw light
on the trouble. Climate is always to
blame for a lot of things. 1t bears
blame well and doesn't answer back.
Shells Too Hard.
1t isn't unreasonable to suppose,
however, that there may be some
chemical action on the shell in so
dry a climate which hard ems it so
that the chick is unable to brea k
through. Certainly hundreds of
chickens this year have come to ma
turity and died in the shell, or else
BEN helped out by hand. If taken
in time, these chickens appear to do
as well as the self matched ones, but
if opened too soon or too late, ii
goes i'll with them. And the psyche
logical moment is hard to recognize
Luck With White Ones.
The man or woman who gets a
fifty per cent hatch by hen or in
cubator, is doing well this year
There have been plenty of matches
which wouldn't show up so we'll
One thing is certain from the expe-
rienccs of the chicken raisers; that
is. that eggs from the Mediterranean
breeds, the white shelled eggs, hatch
better than the brown ones. Pre-
sumably because the shells are thin
ner. Most fanciers agree that the
trouble is not that the chickens dry
down too much. The membrane sur
rounding them is frequently found
really moist in eggs which have not
even pipped, but in which the chick
has died.
A man with several years expert
ence N running incubators in other
places, had no better luck than the
rest at Matching time here. He was
sure that the incubator had beer
run correctly; just AS he had man
aged it with successful results else
where His conclusion was that
climatic or other conditions here
required special study
one chicken woman has writer
a letter to Supt. Blanchard of the
poultry experiment station in con.
nection with the state college, asking
| If he can throw any light on the sit.
uation.
VIII Mate Early.
Most breeders are realizing that tc
insure fertility 1t is better to mate
up their breeding pens a number OF
weeks earlier than has been the Gus.
tom Several say that they will Sc.
lect their breeding stock in Novem.
Der and December and in this way
endeaNOr to raise the percentage al
fertile eggs in the early matches. The
state fair chicken show gives oppor.
/ tunity for picking up likely lookins
cockercls and it is always more
satisfactory to buy a bird one car
see. For this reason it is expected
= that the local chicken people will
exhibit more LEA 'ly than usual al
/ the fan show. Weight regulations
( Of course, are not in force at that
time. though the earlier birds have
general advantage.
/ Len, ~ hi l,ilo ~