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Show I 1 POULTRY I FALL HATCHING. I C. S. Gorline, H Written for the Dcscrct Farmer. H There was a time not so many years H ago when breeders generally did not H care to be bothered with fall hatches, H considering doubtless tint the chicks H would be in the way of the older B stock, and would not amount to much Hi anyway. Now, there was a time not M 90 many years ago when many folks m considered the expense of a spring B wagon or buggy too great and were H content to jog along in a farm wagon, B Or ride in a small street car drawn by H horses or mules. In those days the M sale of eggs for fall hatching was un-, m heard of certainly was not followed.! M If the truth be told, had there been a demand for such eggs, we doubt if tlv:y could have been supplied. To get eggs for hens, or for incubator use in the fall? Impossible 1 Why, that is the time when the birds arc in the molt and whoever heard of iCggs in sufficient number to feed the ravenous appetite of a modern aver-ago aver-ago sizd incubator from hens that are molting. By the laws of evolution, the world continues to progress. Look around you and observe. First the barbarian with two poles attached! to the pony, the ends dragging on the ground, on which he placed his pack and hauled it away. Later he discov- Iered that a, .wheel attached to an Vklc with the two poles as shafts would draw easier; then followed the cart, the wagon, the spring wagon, the buggy, the carriage. With them came the street car, the ibicycle, the motor cycle nnd lastly the automobile, each fitted to the use designed andi each a more perfect piece of mechanism than its predcoessor. We who are old enough to have noticed the improvement improve-ment in exhibition and laying stock know that we are sunely progressing in poultry culture just as certainly as improvement has taken place in vehicles. ve-hicles. This improvement. is due principally prin-cipally to two things inheritance and intelligent selection. Inheritance is such a wonderful thing that those who observe its wondrous effect's are amazed. It is so prepotent for good or for evil that every breeder of livestock live-stock must take notice and learn of the Jaws that govern its miraculous workings. Little peculiarities even, thai date back for many generations, 1 may be faithfully reproduced by 1 changes ever so slight in the progeny, not only in form and color,, but in I the very habits of the animals or birds. In -no phase of hcridity arc the characteristics of transmission more marked than in the egg laying habit. .: Birds that arc hatched from eggs laid in ,thc. fall will themselves .produce .pro-duce eggs in the falj, and therein licsr -the chief value of fall hatched chicks. Viery rarely, will .sprjng hatched pullets pul-lets begin to lay in the fall and-eon- . tinuc through the winter. Every ex- . perienccd breeder is aware of the fact., that -spring hatched pullct3 seldom begin laying before Niowmbcr and mow often not until December. Dur- . , iug Septemlber, October and November Novem-ber the yearling hens are molting and after the new feathers begin to grow, here will- be but a few eggs gathered I from such fowls until the plumage is well renewed. For at least one-, fourth-of the year the breeder is practically without eggs and consequently conse-quently no income from cgg.produc-. tion, while the expense of .foodstuff , is not decreased. In fact, before the new grain crop is ready to move, the . expense of. feeding is rather increased . owing t'o the general scarcity of certain cer-tain grains .that at. other seasons ,may . be readily procured and in considerable consider-able variety. To those who tare fortunate for-tunate enough to .dKvellil on eu farm, this inconvenience is not so greatly ' felt, because their birds may have ample range iamd access to grass and ! a varied insect diet, than which there is none better, at that seaison of the I yiear; but to the dweller on. a town j lot where the birds are usually con- ' fined to small runs,' the faill is-. the most:- trying season of. the year, as there-i j is practically no green food' obtainable.. i, and but- little variety in: the way of grains to select from, consequently i there is constant complaint of an ! empty egg basket. If then,, there is any method iby which fall' eggs may- i be obtained, why may we not take K advantage of that method to our jj grain? The following illustration will "j give an idea of what we have-learned Jj aibout fall hatching. Ten years ago !! we were breeidSng a laying strain of , Brown Leghorns. In the latter part' - ' of August two very, fine hens were laying steadily -while, the -bafltanceof;' .-the .-the flock hadbegun feo-.molUandiwere rapidly slockinjr up, i"1 i Simply as am experiment we set a hen just a common old black hen that we borrowed from tu neighbor, on a sitting of Leghorn eggs and from that sitting we raised eight pullets. These birds were hatched about the muddle of September and began to lay in March and continued to lay during the summer and! we were very much surprised to find them laying until late it the following fall. From that time on we have never failed to bring off a considerable number of fall hatched chicles as they arc invariably in-variably the best fafl.1 layers obtainable regardless of breed or variety. Wc have found the Orpingtons arc quite as satisfactory as fall layers as the non-sitting breeds, and pullets hatched in the fall become broody the following fol-lowing fall and make most cxccHcnt sitters and mothers, as they arc not so inclined to desert their chicks after af-ter they begin laying as they arc in the spring. Wie have known them to brood their chicks' until the youngsters young-sters were more than half grown and fully feathered and it is not uncommon uncom-mon for such hens to brood the chicks for several wiecks after they have begun to lay again. Usually the fall weather is very propitious) for growing chicks, for while the nights arc cool, the days arc warm and sunny sun-ny and thenc is plenty of green food and plenty of insect life even into November. No-vember. Wc hove found artificial brooding also quite satisfactory, fully ful-ly ciual to if not superior to early -spring, but prefer to use hens in the aJlil because of the case with which the schicks arc rearcd, being almost no trouble whatever. Given a warm' open shed well bedded with clean straw, plenty of grit, fresh water and wholesome chick food and there Is no other attention required from the ! keeper, for unlike hen brooded spring hicks, we have never had fall chicks troubled with lice. We have also i found that fall hatched chicks develop I fully as rapidly and satisfactorily as ! the spring hatched chicks anjd! some I of the finest birds wc have ever pro duced wene hatched in September and 1 early in October. Fall hatched pu1- lets las hens, will often become broody in January and February and are thereby invaluable as sitters for bringing bring-ing off early spring hatches for exhibition ex-hibition purposes for tjiosc who do not care to operate art incubator nt that saon. w ' ! i i |