The daily star-mirror. (Moscow, Idaho) 1911-1939, 1921-02-16
CULL|NC POULTRY
ABLY DISCUSSED
MRS. HUMPHREYS SECOND,
ARTICLE DEALS WITH THIS
IMPORTANT FEATURE.

In the second of her ably writer
articles on poultry raising on a La
tab county farm, Mrs. Humphrey
treats the subject of culling and Sc
lection, which are important items
of the great work. Her second paper
follows:
Selection and Culling Article III
Selection is positively the most i'm
portant thing in raising chickens No
matter how great the care or how
well equipped the poultry plant; if
you have not chosen the right kind of
hen you are doomed to disappoint-
1nent- Nearly every one culls his flock
somewhat; but does he do it intelli-
gently? How often is it that he
judges the hen as he would the horse
or cow; that is as to what he can
see as she stands up before him.
This can not be done with the hen
because the conformation of her body
cannot be seen, as can that of the
animals dressed in hair instead of
feathers 1t is frequent, indeed that
the prettiest hen of my flock has
found her way to the butcher shop
because she did not come up to the
standard that l had set.
Every flock has culls Some are
culls due to their age; while others
are born bulls. 1t seems as though
any flock breeds back to a small ex-
tent or else there soon would be no
such thing as a Gull, except through
old age. / do not set an age limit
for. my hens; rather go through the
flock at least twice year in search
of culls. Some Gull out before they
have ever laid an egg, other Gull out
after one clutch has been laid; and
yet others remain considerable
time.
The pullets that were Matched the
last of April 1920, have already been
culled once. | go through the flock
IN January when everything should
be laying; then again in June II
think shall commence the practice
of going through them in October or
with as few culls as possible.
With me egg production is of pri-
mary Importance; and the selection |
is followed along that line. A hen !
built for meat makes a first class
Gull in my flock; thus shall not
dwell on the beefy or dual purpose
types at all. My hens make enough |
more profit than the larger beefy |
ones that I can buy all the table
fowls 7 want and still be money
ahead The young cockerels ION this
FARM begin finding their way. into
the frying pan at the age of six to
eight weeks. Too young, scarcely |
out of the shell, imagine some one
saying. To all such, I would advise
give them at least one trial.
This year l intend to establish two
breeding pens, one select and the
other extra select. Picking the birds
for the breeding pen, especially the
male bird, is the most important task
of all. When the chicks are few
weeks old you can notice that some
have developed much more than
others. I then band the small cock
erels that have developed as noted.
Later / go through them again; and
all those whose pelvic development |
does not suit also find their way to
the frying pan. When fully matured
they are tested again, this time for
pelvic development, capacity and pre-
potency. Those that are left then
are select class of cockerels fit for
any breeding pen. The hens and pull
lets are picked later in the season.
They also are judged according to
type, capacity and potency. Unless a
hen lays at least $50 eggs year / do
not care to spend my time and feed
on her. I do believe, however, in this
northern country, where considerable !.
snow falls, that a 200 egg type hen
is fine enough bred, unless she can
receive better attention than the or
binary farm flock.
To illustrate the Importance of !
culling and selection I shall give the
following illustration: Ny husband 4
who is quite a fancier of the White
Leghorns and really better Judge {
than myself, was talking to a neigh :
Dor about chickens. The neighbor i
that he was taking good
care of his chickens and getting no
eggs. So Mr. H. promised to go
down and look his flock over for him a
Mr.. Neighbor had twenty-five hens, S
If various sizes and colors, and a
rooster. After carefully examining a
5he whole flock, he told him that he