The Coolidge examiner., 1934-03-23

the hen.
The rapid increase In poultry and
the growing demand for baby chicks
have called for the development OF
lncubators OF much greater capac-
ity than formerly.
Credit for making possible our
great commercial poultry industry
should 20 In large measure 10
the modern mammoth incubator.
equipped with automatic ventila-
ton and temperature control. with
labor-savlng devices to eliminate
Handwriting and hand-cooling. with
eggs stacked deck upon deck or tier
upon tier. efficiently heated with
coal. kerosene or electricity.
Parallel with the development OF
the mammoth incubator. there has
been evolved the colony brooder.
heated by coal or kerosene. with a
capacity OF from 800 TO 1000 chicks
under each stove. One operator can
effectively manage from II to 10
such brooding units and can sue
cessfully carry through the brood
ing period from 10000 TO $1,000
chicks.
The real romance of modern poul-
try husbandry has been the unpre-
cedented growth In the production
and shipment of ready-made baby
chicks. Hatched in mammoth In
cubators on breeding farms or at
commercial hatcherles. the chicks
convenient method OF securing ones
foundation stock. OF enlarging ones
flock. and OF providing future gen
erations Of layers.
Shipping Baby Chicks.
Formerly. Matching eggs were the
medium whereby one poultryman
purchased stock from another; but
some 25 years ago. from the little
village OF Stockton, n. j.. In the
Delaware river valley. the first baby
chicks were shipped.
For a number OF years one poul-
tryman had been supplying chicks
In small quantities to his neighbors.
The success which they had with
this method OF acquiring poultry
stock soon spread. and little by lit
tie orders came for chicks from
more distant points, until finally it
became impossible TO make deliv-
cries In person over the increasing
distances from which they were de-
manded. So II came about that this
demand was met by putting the
chicks into cotton-lined wooden
boxes with holes in the top for VEN
tilation. Twenty-Five chicks were
placed In a package and shipped by
express TO their destination. The
experiment proved TO be success.
From this small beginning the in
dustry gradually grew. until today
there are In the United States sew
eral thousand hatcheries, equipped
to produce baby chicks for ship
ment, and having a capacity of ap-
proximately 2OO.OOO,OOO eggs at one
sitting.
cullino the Nonprodueers.
The poultry departments Of our
many state agricultural colleges
have been responsible during the
past quarter Of century for the
development Of many scientific facts
and practices. the practical applica-
tions OF which have made possible
commercial poultry keeping.
The ability which the poultryman
now possesses to Gull his birds on "A
basis of external character, to elm
mate the nonproducers from time to
time as they appear in the flock, is
an outstanding example
Weekly culling during the sum-
mer and fall brings about reduc-
tion of the feed costs without any
decrease in egg yield Culling is
done by observing the condition Of
certain secondary sex characters
and body factors. The laying hen
has a bright-red, full comb. When
not laying. the comb becomes much
smaller, appears shrunken and dry.
The heavy-laying hen has a loose,
pliable. soft abdomen. In the non
laying hen the abdomen becomes
small. shrunken, and hard
The hen which is laying and has
been laying heavily for some time
shows absence Of yellow pigments
in shanks. beak. ear lobe. and skin,
due to the fact that the yellow color
which she obtains from her feed
has been used up in the production
of egg yolks. AS soon as she ceases
to lay, this color begins to return
first TO the ear lobes, then the beak,
then to the shanks-so that there is
the definite relation existing be-
tween. amount Of yellow pigment
and productive condition.
It is by observing certain Of these
body characters that the poultry
man can tell whether biddy is SIM
ply strutting around the pen looking
handsome or is hard at work pro.
duciue eggs.