THE POULTARY INDUSTRY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1162, 24 June 1911, Page 14

THE POULTARY INDUSTRY.

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Incubating Eggs. Though it is early in the' season, quite a. number of poultrymen have rondo a start with'.incubation. This is possible only with nn incubator, as clucking hens will bo rare until September. There, are several good makes ; of incubators on the market and there is 1 no difficulty in hatching chickens with them. More care, indeed, is needed in raising the chickens. The beginner should, as ; a rule, avoid buying a cheap or' n small machine,' as incubators of, say, 50 x 19 capacity do not pay for the trouble and'cxpensc which they entail. There are always 10 to 20 per cent of t'ho eggs infertile, and at loast 10 per cent that will not. hatch, besides a few weaklings that are sure to die. This reduces tho number to little moro than a hen can hatch, and it is just as easy to feed and tend 70 chicks as 30. A good size for the beginner is a 100 egg'machine. This leaves some margin, and gives greater satisfaction. If only CO eggs arc to hand they can be used and, when necessity arises for the larger number, the machine is in hand. See that .the machine is set level and, when warmed up, the eggs may be placed in it. ■ Gradually the temperature should rise, to 102 degrees, .and bo kept at that for three days. The eggs may then bo turned and cooled for a few minutes— twico each day. On tho tenth day, eggs should be tested out. The experienced hand may do this on tho fourth day, but tho beginner will more readily detect tho weak or infertile eggs if they are left for a few days longer. The temperature may now bo increased to 103, and the eggs cooled for twenty minutes at the time of turning. The moisture in t'he machine may bo determined by the use of a hygrometer but, should thero bo none available, tho air cell must bo tho guide. More chicks are lost through want of moisture- than through any other 'cause. On the nineteenth day the machine should be closed and left till tho hatch is complete. Feeding the Chickens. ■ , Chickens should not bo fed for 70 hours after hatching, .as nature provides them with food at tliat stage. Just at the moment when the lungs arc complete and ready to work, tho chicken absorbs into .its system the yolk of the eggs, which is' its natural food rind nourishment for tho first three days of. its life. A brooderheater to 95 degrees should be ready to receive the chicks when they leave, the machine.' It is often hero, that beginners fail to exercise care, They remove the chicks from a warm incubator and place them in a cold brooder. Thus a cold is contracted arid the chicks receive a setback from which they never recover. Warmth is a necessity to growth. On the third day a prepared chick-food should bo given and, if regularly fed and watered, and care is given to tho temperatures, .there will be few losses.

Why Chicks Die in the Shell. Each year we have the same old difficulty with chicks dying in tho shell. Such ilcaths occur with hen hatching, as well as with machines, hut the number in.the former case heing small, not much notice is taken. To have a score of chicks, thatcannot hatbh is a. loss, and it' naturally, makes one think. oThcre aro. many reasons for this failure, and every poultrykeeper must'aim to.Tcmovp the ,caus?s. Weakness in "the. constitution ci the.parent stock, inbreeding, want of exercise by the breeding hens, want of green food, keeping tlie eggs too long before incubating, too high or too low temperatures in the incubator, want of sufficient turning and cooling of .the eggs, want of moisture— theso aro several of the reasons. Where general care is given there is not the likelihood of big losses. The use of zenolem is a great remedy for losses of this kind. This is. a liquid of carbon compound that disintegrates the shell, and niakes''things easier for the chick.- Some shells are so hnrd that they will imprison tho strongest . chicken. The use, of zenoline,'will also prevent bowel - 'trouble with-which chickens, are often afflicted. Experience and practice will accomplish much and, with care, tho beginner will soon overcome his losses. The modern poullr.nnan has worked his business almost up to a science, and -failure can only result with the man who is not fully experienced if poultry-keeping is cclcctcd for a living.

Protein, Carbohydrates, anil Fat. Animal bodies arc composed of protein, fat, ash, and water. We need not now consider the substances which come under these heads.. It is enough to kuow the uses to which they are put. l'roteinis'the most important of these compositions. Its function is to build up muscle, nerves, flesh, blood,] feathers, etc. The peculiar value of protein (nitrogenous matter) over'other substances, to be mentioned later' (non-nitrogenous) is that while performing this special work it can also build up fat and afford heat to the body, but does so, as it were, under compulsion, and only when theS9 requirements ore not provided for otherwise. The substances that naturally officiate in the capacity of heal: and fat formers cannot take the place of protein in the formation of nerves, flesh, hlooil, etc., and they are, therefore,- deemed of minor importance. Tho white of on egg is made up nearly entirely of protein, and-this fact alone will appeal to poultryme'n as showing the importance of providing it in suffi-' cient quantity. As well let the fowl remain_ without water as without protein, and it is general knowledge that nearly three-parts of an egg consist of water. Fat is of value to the body as producing heat and furnishing energy to replace the amount that has been exhausted by bodily action. Poultrymen feed corn iii winter to produce heat of the body. Any'surplus corn that is fed will'in the case pf healthy fowls cause an accumulation of fat. A certain amount of heat is always needed by the body aside from that furnished by tho sun. In summer, therefore, as in winter, food must be supplied to produce fat. We do not -wish to be mistaken as saying a fowl imist be. fat in snmmer to be healthy. Not at all; Tjrit simply that a quantity of fat must be present throughout the year, sufficient for the bodily requirements; yet not. so much as to call for tho designation—a fat.fowl. There are other substances which form heat for' the body. They come under the namo carbohydrates, and will be considered separately. Ash is the substance which remains after tho combustible matter has been consumed—burnt. It consists of mineral inatlor, and is made up'chiefly of potash, lime, magnesia, iron, and phosphoric acid. Its function is ■ the formation of bone. Most foods contain a large quantity of ash, and it is not often that diffificulty arises through its absence.—B. H. Essex, in "Success With Poultry."

sandwich in with the whole grain at all time?, not occasionally, when it may be convenient, but as accessible as grass would bo on tho range in summer, if the summer results are desired. There is no arguing around this fact; it 'is a stubborn thing, and we may as well submit—and if we do we will have less complaint, of infertile eggs and weak germs. While green food is not a relief for all tho troubles along this lino, it is one of the first requirements—not a luxury, but a necessity.' ;

Alfalfa or Lucerne. This'is comparatively a new forage plant in this,country. ,It has been cultivated in Western. Asia for 20 centuries, and was introduced into Greece about 470 B.C.- Its botanical name is Medieago Sativa. It is known as lucerne in England and in other parts of Europe. It belongs to the same family of legumes as clover, and is admitted to. be the very best fodder plant known. It is the J)est hay and soiling crop in tho west and in the middle and eastern States is rapidly, supplanting the red clover. In Kansas 'and Colorado, where it is very extensively grown, it iscut • three times during the season. It should be cut just before the plant begins to bloom in order to obtain the greatest amount of nutrition in the hay. If it can be produced and fed green to poultry there is nothing to equal it, and as hay it bears the same relation to red clover as 11 does to 7. Analyses vary with tho time of cutting from as low as II per cent, to as high as 22 per cent.- of protein, the latter being shown in a third cutting mode 20 days after the second cutting. Tho average of a number of analyses and under all conditions indicates 15.G per cent, protein, IO.G per cent, carbohydrates, and i per cent.: fat, which is a nutritive ratio of 1.3.3. This will 6ervo to confirm in one's mind its feeding value. For poultry purposes it is, of course, fed precisely tho same as red clover, which means that about one-third of tho mash should be composed of either of these, and if the mash lord is used but once a day, there should be cabbage or vegetables at Jiand for the birds to