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Show i Profitable and Unprofitable Late Hatching Bjr JOHN H. ROBINSON. Associate Kdltor TVIInhlo Poultry Journal It is customary to consider chickens hatched In March, April and May ns early, or seasonably hntened m more northerly Bcrtlono those, hatched early in .Tune are conv.-Jerod timely But in general, chickens hatched after the first of Juno ore called late hutched. There Is a popular prejtid'ee ago Inst Into hatching. It iemi to bo o very old prejudice a tradition. It gets every year fresh apparent confirmation con-firmation from the experiences of thousands of people with Into hatched chicks. There Is no doubt whatever that most late hatched chicks do not thrive, but It Is not because they are hatchod late, but because they come from debilitated breeding stock, and are put on land already contaminated con-taminated by the earlier chicks, BAd are not given the same careful attention at-tention as the early chicks, Except when extraordinary care is taken to maintain the vitality of breeding: stock, the birds that are in good breeding condition early in tho seison lose more or less vitality as the season advances. So It Is tho general rule that the same birds will not produce equally vigorous chickens in early and late hatches. To pet lgnrous late-hatched Chicks, we mint have either breeding birds of uncommon vitality, or birds coming to maturity later th.-.n the usual time for mating breeders, or birds that had ft rest before the production pro-duction and fertilization of the eggs from which our late chicks arc hatched The natural way for hens to rest is by hatching and rearing a brood. , The most dependable breeders for late hatching are late-hatched birds of the preceding year that have mads full size and weight, and rome to maturity In the spring. These can be produced only when all conditions affecting growth are ns they should be. The greatest drawbacks In grow-in late chickens are foul land and. lack of air and shade. They should be on land not occupied by other poultry' in tho early prt of the s'-ison, and should havo roomy, well- entllated coops, placed where there is free circulation of air. This condition con-dition Is rarely obtained In or near the yards adjoining permanent houses. To prow late chicks successfully there must be constant and amp'e shade. Limited shade, accessible only a part of the time does not meet the requirements. A short exposure to the hot sun may take all the vitality out of a chick Late hatching should not be practiced by those whose object Is early j winter eggs For this purpose only early chicks are likely to give satisfaction. sat-isfaction. Under unusually favorable conditions for lato hatcbey, w,rh unfavorable conditions for early hatches, late pullets are sometimes more profitable than early, but this does not happen very often Late hatching is of the most ad vantage to breeders of high-class standard exhibition poultry By hatching from their choicest specimens as long as tho eggs will produco vigorous chicks, they greatly increase the proportion of finest quality birds raised each year. This enables them to sell more eggs from their best matlugs, to sell more best quality qual-ity birds, and still to have all they need for themselves. |