White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1926-06-25
BY w. D. BUCHANAN,
Extension Poultry Specialist, State
College of Washington.

| oy W. ~ DOST1AINANp
Extension Poultry Specialist, State
College of Washington.
THE accredited Hatchery movement
= in Washington was definitely or
ganized on June 8, 1923. Though II
has never won the support of all the
poultrymen in the state, nevertheless
the accredited hatchery movement has
made a definite and permanent i'm
preston on the poultry industry OF
the state.
1t started people to thinking. Five
times since its inception, leading poul-
trymen have met in Seattle to discuss
and debate problems involved. Not
once have all OF them agreed. At the
end the men have gone to their vari-
GUS homes; some to Join the associa.
ton and boost 1t: others to stay on
the outside, but no one escaping the
influence started for better breeding
and better chicks.
Before the hatchery association
started, chicks were chicks. We had
some good breeders who believed that
1t was possible to put more into a
chick than mere color and type. We
also had some good hatcherymen who
believed that there was q right way
and a wrong way to hatch chicks, and
who were devoting their life to hatch
Ing them in the right way. They were
producing as good chicks as 1t was
possible to produce from the kind of
eggs they were receiving But there
were others who were taking any kind
of eggs, Matching them in any kind OF
way, and selling any kind of chick.
The purchasers had no adequate
means of knowing what kind of chicks
they were buying.
Due to the accredited hatchery, all
members Of the association, and many
who were not members, selected their
breeding stock with greater care. Not
all believed that cockerels from trap
nested dams were better than equally
good looking cockerels from hens of
no known record; but all agreed that
both cockerels and hens should be
vigorous and free from disease. At
first some leaned overmuch toward
pedigree record; others trusted i'm.
plicitly In inherent vigor Today,
every intelligent poultryman in the
state believes that good vigorous
cockerel from high producing dam
Is better than an equally vigorous
cockerel from low producing dam,
and that weak bird Is not good as q
breeder, no matter what Its lineage
may be.
Care of the breeding flock has
changed. The association laid down
rules specifying not only the kind Of
males and females to be selected but
also the care and feeding OF the flock.
Grain must constitute at least SO per
cent Of the ration. Birds must be al.
lowed free range both summer and
winter, and given green feed in abund-
ance. The attention of the whole
state has been focused on the fact
that the hatchability of the egg and
the liveability of the chick is In d.
rect proportion to the vitality OF the
parent stock.
Selection and care of breeders has
brought improvements. A record Of
81z,974 eggs set in 1923, showed an
average hatch OF SAT per cent A
record for 1925, on 978,717 eggs set,
showed an average hatch Of 63.5 per
cent. The records for the 1926 hatch
are not complete; but indications are
that 1t will be still better. No ac-
credited hatchery, in any year, has
fallen 30 low as the state average in
years preceding the inception of the
hatchery movement.
The accredited hatchery has inter
ested many people in producing hatch.
Ing eggs. Formerly, hatcheries paid
for eggs on flat basis Of 80 much an
I egg, or so much a dozen. The price
was the same whether the eggs
Matched 80 per cent or 10 per cent.
Today the great bulk OF the Matching
eggs are paid for on the basis OF
hatchability. Men are paid pre-
MUM for producing good Matching
eggs. Eggs that hatch 10 per cent are
worth 81 hundred more than eggs
that hatch so per cent. The result
Is that twenty times as many people
are interested in producing good eggs.
These good eggs produce good chicks.
Last year the accredited hatchery
started campaign to rid the breed.
/ Ing flocks OF bacillary white diarrhea.
1t voted unanimously to test 20 per
cent Of the hens In all breeding
flocks, as a check on the spread OF
this disease. Over 10000 hens in the
association and some 10000 outside
were tested. The results were 30 good
that % Of the trapnesters of the state
voted unanimously this spring to have
all breeders tested, and that this be