Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1917-03-06
THE POULTRY YARD
ESSENTIALS OF ViGOR
BY Ed Weber
BY Ed Weber

BY Ed Weber
or all things which might be said or
written on breeding, the most import
ant. and that which furnishes foun-
dation upon which to build, Is vigor--
and constitutional vigor Whatever
else you may do. do not make the mis-
take Of using birds that are immature
or lacking in that all-important factor
-vigor. See that your breeding stock
Is robust and active. Never attemp.
to raise poultry until you can readily
distinguish the difference between Il
healthy. vigorous bird and one that is
not. Never allow your anxiety for
shape, color, or eggs tempt you to
breed from any bird that is not the
very picture or vigor. Pens and indi-
viduals lacking in vigor were never
able to make good use of the food given
them, and therefore they always made
lower records than they would have
done otherwise.
The question of egg production is not
ia question of breeds. Any of the breeds
and varieties IN general use at this time
results will be entirely satisfactory.
The whole problem is largely a prob
lem of selection and breeding. Then
why be jumping from one variety to
another? Make certain at the very be-
ginning that you have a variety that
suits you best as to shape and color.
Attend some good sized poultry shows
and look the varieties over and satisfy
yourself before you start with a vari-
ETY.. Then stay with 1t and study to
improve 1t. a.--
Strain Means More Than Variety.
| A strain in poultry simply means a
family Of any variety. There are good
hens and poor hens. good strains or
families and poor strains in all varie-
ties. OF the most popular varieties one
is about as good as another. There are
good and bad strains, however. of all
varieties. A poultry man may care
fully select and breed his birds for
years along certain lines until he gets
the desirable qualities so firmly fixed
in his flock that no matter into whose
bands they fall on this side Of the
ocean or the other, they give about the
same results, providing they have rea-
sonable care. It is a noticeable fact
that pens Of the same breeding main
tain about the same average egg pro-
duction everywhere, and all the meth
| DDS of housing and feeding may be en-
| tirely different. The breeding back of
| the birds makes them maintain about
the same rate of production, no matter
where they are being tried out. This
holds true with both good and bad
pens. When strain and breeding and
selection were mentioned as the essen
| ttals for the foundation of a flock of
| high egg producers q few years ago,
some authorities made light of such
nonsense They claimed that you could
take almost any old fowl and by giving
| it the right feed and care, YOU could
get equally as good results as the
breeders who were leading in the egg
laying contests That is, they said
| "there was nothing to strain" and that
breeding was not the secret Of egg pro-
duction.
Of course. it is known that without
the proper feeding and care hen will
not lay many eggs, no matter what
strain she is from, or how good her
breeding may be. But when a breeder
can make a consistent record In laying
contests year after year, and lead all
competitors, we will have to admit that
he has a superior laying strain. If Mr..
A. has a pen of barred Plymouth Rocks
which leads all other Plymouth Rocks
year after year, and Mr.. B. has pen
of barred Plymouth Rocks which Is at
the foot each year for three years, we
will have to admit that Mr.. A. has a
LAYING strain and Mr.. B. has a strain
which are not good egg producers.
Why Does Z Hon lay?
Hens do not lay for the pleasure Of
it. neither do they lay for the purpose
of increasing our bank account. Any
one who has noticed hen on the nest
in the act Of laying, who has seen her
as she stood there syraining to dis
charge an egg. or who has seen these
eggs blood stained from some internal
hemorrhage, must realize that the hen
dones not lay for the amusement of the
thing. Every living thing desires to re-
produce it's kind. Some of the lower
orders sacrifice their lives in order that
they may propagate their kind. Man
has selected and bred and stimulated
this instinct in the hen until she pro-
duces from twenty to fifty times what
the original of her kind did.
The day a chick leaves the shell it
/ ia endowed with all the yolks, or ova,
or eggs, that 1t can ever lay, and sew
eral thousand more. Nearly every
chicks body possesses several thous-
ands OF these tiny yolks. and it is pos
sible 70 count as many as several
thousand n practically every pullet
No amount Of feeding. no system Of
housing, no method Of care and man
agement. however good 1t may be. will
add one more yolk to the number al
ready provided by nature. The method
OF breeding, feeding, housing. and care,
determines largely the number Of tiny
yolks which any hen will be able to
ripen or develop into full-sized yolks
and manufacture into the finished
product. Breeding has more influence
over this than any other one thing. and
don't. ever get the iden that you feed
hen to feed yolks and eggs into her
body. You fed her for the purpose of
lenabling her to develop the yolks which
nature and breeding have already pro-
jvided and made possible. Man has