The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1920-06-03
TREASURE STATE FARM AND LIVESTOCK
GROWING CHICKEN CROE
A CROP OF GROWING CHICKENS is LIKE A CROP OF CORN
1T CAN COVER THE GROUND TOO THICKLY AND 1T CAN
SUFFER FROM NEGLECT OF THE NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
CHICKENS NEED GROUND GRAINS AND ANIMAL PROTEIN.

Farm poultry production should be
stimulated in the corn-growing sec
lions of Montana, and the care OF
poultry can be compared in many res
poets with the growing of corn. Both
crops require an early start and must
have intensive care during the grow
ing season.
After the corn is planted and the
farmer has assured himself that a
good stand has been secured, the next
consideration is to see that the crop
is we'll tended. Purebred seed corn, a
carefully prepared seed bed and the
planting at the proper a are all
important, but unless the crop can be
carefully plowed and tended during
the growing season, the finest pros
poets for a big yield may result in
only a few inferior nubbins at har-
vest time.
Likewise the responsibility of the
poultry keeper does not end when
the chicks have been Matched. The
months of growth are fully as i'm
portant to the poultryman as to the
corn grower, and the same careful
tending is necessary with growing
pullets to insure a future heavy egg
yield as is required with growing
corn to produce an abundance of
grain.
Get Good Stock and Handle 1t Well
Poultry keepers have come to gen.
orally recognize the Importance of
pure strains of breeding stock and
are paying more and more attention
to the selection of breeders from the
heavy laying strains. The demand
for eggs and stock from trapnested
strains far outstrips the supply at
the present time, and it is encourag-
ing to note that many of these de-
mands are coming from farm poultry
keepers.
March and April Matching has been
widely advocated during the last few
years, and a general tendency toward
earlier Matching is very evident.
All of the above practices tend to
make poultry more productive, and
the next logical step is to see that the
growing pullets are so handled dur
ing the growing months that they
will make the best possible develop
ment. If the chicks are held back or
stunted at any time during the grow
ing season they will never grow into
heavy producers. Many of the Gull
hens which are so abundant in some
flocks are the result of pullets having
been dwarfed and held back during
the growing season-by o%vercrowd-
ing, undertaking or other unfavor-
able methods of handling.
Avoid Crowding the Young Chicks
Anyone who attempts to grow too
much corn on the space available,
usually comes to grief, and in like
manne trouble awaits the man who
overcrowds his chicks. The quickest
rate of growth and the least loss by
disease occurs where the chicks can
be given free range on land that has
not recently been used for poultry.
Wherever possible the growing
chicks should be entirely separated
from mature stock, and chicks of
different ages should be handled in
separate flocks. Where a large num-
Der of birds have the same feeding
place, the strongest chicks invariably
trample and crowd out the weaker
ones.
If stove breeders are used, the
colony houses should be placed at
least 100 feet apart. Where brood
ing is done with hens, the coops
should be we'll scattered, to insure
free range and prevent crowding.
What to do with the Cockerels
F.. The chief object of the average
poultry keeper in trying to raise
is to produce pullets to carry
the business of laying eggs. Cock
are something of a necessary