The Wilmington morning star., 1945-09-10

, operators, success1ul ye"i
: nancially depends upon the
: hatchabiity of his eggs.
Because of this, says n. ..
Dearstyne, head of the poultry
department of the Agricultural Tx
| pertinent Station at State College,
many hatcherymen exercise Ger
tain amount of control IN the
management of the flocks from
} which they secure eggs during
the Matching season, and usually
pay some premium to the Hook
owner supplying eggs that have a
high percentage of hatchablllty.
For this reason, high hatchabillty
holds interest for both the hatch
eryman and the supply flock
owner.
Poultry research work estab-
lished the fact that breeder hens
must have carefully prepared
diet if eggs of high hatchability
are to be secured. The standards
of the diets for breeder hens are
much higher than those for birds
producing market eggs because
after the Matching egg is laid,
the developing embryo in that
egg is entirely dependent on the
food materials within the egg for
the development of normal,
healthy chick.
According to Titus, the differ
ence in the diets is that breeder
mash should contain about so per
cent more vitamin A, so per cent
more vitamin D, and about 46
per cent more vitamin G or ribo-
flavin than the mash used for
producing market eggs. The guam
tity of protein in breeder mash
as compared to laying mash is
not as important as the quality.
Better results in hatchability
appear when mixed protein sup
plements are used than when
single protein supplement is used.
Milk products in a mash are be-
lieved to be conductive to high
hatchability as is correct MIN
eral balance in the diet.
When the standards for food
factors are known and the for
mulae prefectly worked out, any
of these breeder mashes will give
satisfactory hatchability, provid-
ed the breeding, the management
by the flock owner, the collection
and storage OF Matching eggs, and
the incubation process are satls-
factory.
In certain instances, hatchery
men have placed the blame for
low hatchability entirely on the
diet. They have changed from one
brand of breeding mash to an
other in order to better low
hatchability, while the real cause
for this was found to be elsewhere
than in the diet.
The management OF breeders
is a responsibility that rests only
on the producer. AS this is a
daily job and requires long hours
of hard work, details are often
neglected. Such neglect, even II
it is temporary, often brings bad
1esurts.
The breeder flock should con.
sist of carefully selected. blood
tested females mated with an
adequate number of equally good.
disease free males. One OF the
common mistakes found in breed
ing flocks is that of over-crowd-
ing, which gives a continuous de-
vitalizing inflence on the birds.
Another mistake, closely follow
ing over-crowding, is the lack OF
ventilation, Practically all poul-
try houses are built with facilities
for controlling ventilation and in
many cases these are not used
to the best advantage.
Even if good breeder mash
is purchased for the birds, there
is still an opportunity for mis-
takes in feeding. Many poultry
m IN purchase and store feed too
far in advance for it's use. If
the feed mixture contains cod
liver oil as the main source Of
vitamin A, supply for only ten
days or two weeks should be mix
ed at. one time. Feed left in the
hoppers from the preceding day
is usually not as palatable as
fresh feed. Therefore. if large
consumption of feed is to be Sc
cured, the hoppers should hold