OCR Text |
Show HATCH CHICKENS IX EARLY SPRING Ficwh Errs Will bo Scarce Xcxt l a 11 nnd Winter Remedy in the Hands of Poultrymeii Did it ever occur to you that nature na-ture requires her children to take an annual vacation? She does, and nowhere do human ; beings puzzle their brains over this fact more than when the hens begin their yearly vacation. This vacation is technically techni-cally called the "molting season." It begins during the late summer. The hens stop laying and change their suits of feathers for new ones. Usually they consume three or four months in the process. Most of us know this perfectly well, but are apt to overlook the fact that a very Important feature of the molting period is that egg laying stops. We are unreasonable to expect the hens to lay all the time. When the hens take this vacation new-laid fresh eggs are scarce and remain scarce until the pullets hatched during the preceeding spring begin to lay. The Remedy The remedy is very simple and is under the control of the poultryman. The first step is to have chickens hatched early, so that the pullets begin to lay when the hens begin to moult. This is not difficult. Pullets Pul-lets of the American breeds begin laying at about seven months of age. Leghorn pullets begin when about six months old. North of the Ohio this means that all hatching must be over by May 1st at the latest. lat-est. The best plan is to have the chickens coming at intervals during March and April. The earliest hatched pullets will, of course, begin to lay first. If any of them begin to moult, their places will be taken by the later ones and a steady supply of eggs will be certain. The Difficulty The difficulty in the way of the practical application of this matter is that so many poultry keepers are dependent on hens for hatching. As long as we have hatched late chickens we will have late setters. The poultry keeper who wants to change from late hatching to early hatching must therefore either get broody henB from someone else or use an incubator. After he has "changed the dates" on his flock he will have no trouble, especially with the American breeds. Can it Be Done? Every progressive poultry raiser who has tried it, every agricultural college and the , government have data showing that early hatching will produce fall and winter layers. In the government flock during the past winter the pullets of the entire flock averaged over 2 0 per cent in egg production, and some pens made 35 per cent. That means, In plain language, that the egg production for all the pullets was one egg daily for every five hens, and for some pens one egg daily for every three hens. This, too, when fresh eggs Bold up to 7 5 cents a dozen in Washington. This could not have been done except by early hatching. ' |