The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1936-01-31

OBVIOUSLY no one can long remain
In the chicken business and survive
mortality losses of from $3.50 to 500"
states J. Fl. McAdams of the Poultry
Department of the Purina Mills. May
be the hens are laying too many eggs.
The man owning the birds. though,
says he gathers too few eggs instead
of too many. Mayby there are too
many new diseases and uncontrolled
parasites. If we are to put Il finger
on each possible cause for heavy NOR
tally losses and attempt to hold them
back that way. much as the hoy In the
story held the Holland dyke by plug
ging the hole with his fist. we'll need
the arms of an Octapus and as many
fingers on each arm as centipede has
legs.
However, no multiplicity of arms
and fingers Is necessary. for all of he
increasing causes for such terrific NOR
tally can be charged up to lack of
vatility. AS to what causes such a
wide spread lack of vitality is an
other question, but It Is the one that
must be run down and whipped.
SltTllHS uUbut itWSlltH -uNO yVuis
ago the attention of science turned to-
ward getting more eggs out of hen.
In 1911 the Wisconsin Experiment Sta
tiOn received wide acclaim with hen
that In years time laid two hundred
eggs. In about 1913 the first laying
contest was established a StOrrs. Con
necticut. Ever since that time. there
has been a wild scramble for hens that
could lay more eggs LOpsitled empha-
sis has been placed on breeding for
numbers of eggs without much consid-
Grafton for vitality and the ways to
preserve the vitality.
"'rOday poultry investigatiOnal work
Is swinging around to the more seri-
GUS thought of poultry Vitality" says
McAdams. "purticularly The matter Of
vitamins. The average laying ration
(evpn the hest Of them) has not CON
tanned enough Vitamin The diff
Guilty has been recognized by feed sci
entists for years. hut 1t as not been
possible until now to do anything
about II.
.Research has discovered way to
extracl car0tene (vitamin A In its pri.
mary form) and convert II into pura
tene-the new. vitaliZing feed ingre.
dent. The addition of puratene steps
up the 'Vitamin A activity two and u
half times. II puts plenty 1T Vitamin
A into the ration. which raises the
birds resistance to The germs Of In
fectious diseases.
BY Stimulating Health.
"The stin%ation Of health" Nc
Adams points out. goes hand In hand
with prevention Of disease 0f cnurse.
But It goes farther Hens may he en-.
tirely free from disease infection and
yet become listless and m0pey Ev-
eryOne has seen lots Of them. They
don't lay many eggs while In that cml-
ditiOn Other hens may In. heavily
for few weeks. then suddenly go ont
feed. losing weight and. naturally. their
production stops.
"Either Of these conditions may he
brought about by nnthing more than
natural loss of appetite. which occurs
whenever the supply of vitamin a In
the body Is exhausted. Birds that are
LAYING heavily use up large quantity
of Vitamin A daily A kh Of II goes
into the egg itself. besides what they
use In their own bodies. If they aren't
getting enough In the ration to meet
this daily demand. they draw OH the
supply which was stored up In the
body. When the reserve supply Is
gone. they lose appetite don't con-
sumo enough feed TO keep up the pace,
an0 other symptoms soon follow.
"The abundance of vltamln A Tor
Vitamin A activity, which puratene
now puts into laying maslles. stlmr
lates the birds appetiies to keep pace
with high production. II isn't a fore
Ing stimulation. In any sense of the
word. but a natural stimulation such
as existed when the birds still had
their stOred-up reserve to draw upon.
In fact, they retain their stored-up re.
serve throughout the entire year"