Milford chronicle., 1917-07-13

Many wrongful acts are committed unconsciou
ly or through thoughtlessness, and poultrymen
rather breeders Of fowls are no exception 70 ii
general rule. Poultymen. like other persons al
often led into conditions which are real mistake
in the business and which lead to disaster or los
One OF the most serious, yet most natural mistak
noted in the average poultry yard is that of over
crowding.
The overcrowding condition of the plant is gen
orally the result Of the breeder being extreniel
ANXIOUS TO produce great quantity Of birds, AM
in his anxiety, he fails to stop breeding when tn
capacity of his plant has been reached.
The ambition OF the average poultryman is 4
build up good flock Of fowls in order to increas,
his already good profits from the business and al
a consequence, he loses sight Of the rapidly grow
ing flock which is crOwding his quarters. He fails
| TO see the harm that is being wrought upon then
as flock until it is too late Such oversight is moi
only made by the novice. but IS Just as true OF
many experienced breeders.
OF course, there is little more excuse TO be Of
fered where the breeder Of fancy fowls INDUCES
I in overcrowdiDg his quarters because Of the fact
that ne desires to keep every individual bird for
at least spell in order to be able TO determine lust
what kind Of a specimen is likely to develop
The man who is raising poultry for commercial
purposes however. is alike equally anxious 10
raise all the birds possible in order to increase his
number of layers for the production Of eggs He
overlooks the seriousness Of overcroding his plant
because of his anxiety to produce eggs and meat.
Every breeder. then. matter what his purpose,
VIII at some time or other allow overcrowding
unless he is very attentive.
While we are urged to be progressive and not
slotnLui IN business let II be remembered that
sothtulness does not only mean idleness but per
tains generally to bad business methods To a alow
your birds to become oveIc crowded and thus make
your business failure is to violate this sensible
rule.
Many persons somehow get the idea that while
there is room on the roosts for more bird than
IS already there. they safe in adding it to the
nock, ms rs a most serious mistake and to make
it, means loss both in birds and profits You
should therefore be sure to fully guard against
OvercrowdinC.
No flock. matter what the breed nor how
nearly perfect the type, will do their best or keen
in good health if forced TO overcrowd
Figure the number Of birds from the size of
your cO0ps and adhere to the results attained and
you VIII make no mistake to how many fowls
you should keep. The yard space never figures in
the number Of birds you should retain the inport-
tant matter is the housing. You may have annie
yard room for one hundred birds, yet COOP enough
should be your limit. If more birds are placed in
the COOP your tOcks are overcrowded.
The proper way to determine how many birds
you can accommodate is based entirely upon the
floor space OF your house Each bird should be al
lowed four square feet of floor space If your coon
Is II teet by 70 feet there will be 240 square feet of
floor space. This divided by gives YOU 50 which
is the maXmum number Of birds 10 be housed in
such coop. Don't put 81 fowls in this coop, as
such action would be the first step toward over
crowdng You can readily see that the roosting
space has nothing whatever to do with number Of
birds to be housed.
If you have ample yard room for a greater num-
Der of birds. then build additional houses before
charging your fiocks. OvercrowdinQ is the result
q q many ailments cropping up among the fowls.
Every allment greatly interiors with and reduces
the egg yield, and in addition, is the cause for
many deaths.
To guard against overcrowding is as much the
duty OF the breeder Of fancy fowls as the raiser of
utility stock for commercial PURPOSES There is
absolutely no difference in any class Of poultry
raising when II comes to their care attention
ieedlnS and housing. It case Of utility fowls