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Show 1 Pouifrymen Can Earn Extra Money By Starting Chicks Early In Year Says Specialist Utah poultrymen can earn extra money by starting chicks in January Jan-uary or February, rather than later in the season, believes Wood-row Wood-row Jenkins, poultry specialist for the Utah State Agricultural Col. lege Extension Service. Early-hatched chicks, says Mr. Jenkins, will come into production in the early summer when the old hens in the flock are slowing down in production. The young pullets , will have good egg size by the i time egg prices start rising, since : prices are usually highest from i June 1 to December 31. Producing both early and late broods also will enable the poul-tryman poul-tryman to make better use of his buildings and equipment, the specialist spec-ialist points out. This will lower the cost per pullet. In addition, two broods a year will insure a more even supply of eggs to furnish fur-nish the markets throughout the year. If extra care is given the pullets in the fall the problem of moulting moult-ing will be overcome or reduced to a minimum. This extra care usually includes the use of electric lights to increase the working day to about 13 hours and keeping the birds as cool as possible during extremely hot weather. This can be accomplished by insulating the ceiling of the laying house and providing openings on at least two sides of the bulding. Direct drafts on the birds can be avoided by controlling the openings near the ceiling. The specialist adds that before placing orders for next year's lay-j lay-j ers, the poultryman should give i some thought to the breeding be-1 be-1 hind the chicks. These future pullets should be from production bred stock with a pullorum-clean, pullorum-passed, or pullorum-con-I trolled rating. Orders should be i placed early so the poultryman 1 will be sure to get these better-bred better-bred chicks. Enough extra chicks should be ordered so that rigid selection can be exercised when the pullets are finally housed in the fall. Order about 150 day-old day-old pullets for each 100 mature pullets desired in the fall. I |