i B U L L E T IN

_' OFTHE

A AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE
OF- TEXAS A A '

(In cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture)

JANUARY, 1916

EXTENSION SERVICE
Bulletin B. l0

"nmmrr 

, POULTRY IN TEXASE

   

 ADDRESS r i 
CLARENCE oususv - - i:ff£;i_i§

 

Director of Extension Service, College Stationffexae

 

 

 

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FAGRJIOIJLTURAL AND MIGCHANICAXI¢COLILEG1E 0F‘ TEXAS.

W. B. BIZZELL, A. M., D. C. L., President.

EXTENsIoN SERVICE.
CLARENCE OUSLEY, Director.

ADVISORY Conmrrrnn: Charles Puryear, M. A., C. E., LL. D., Dean

of the College, Professor of ‘Mathematics; D. W. Spence, C. E.,
Dean of the School of Engineering, Professor of Civil Engineering,
Director of the Tfngineering Experiment Station; E. J. Kyle, M.
S. A., Dean of the School of Agriculture. Professor of Horticul-
ture; B. Younghlood, M. S, Director of 'l‘exas Experiment Sta-
tions; G. S. Fraps, Ph. D., Chemist, Experiment Station, State
Chemist; Ike S. Ashburn, Jr., Publicity Agent, Secretary.

EXTENSION STAFF; W. F. Proetor,* State Agent, Farm Demonstration

Work; J. L. Quieksall, Waco. Texas; William Gamer, Denton,
Texas; E. Gentryr, Mineola, Texas ; T. O. ‘Walton, Livingston,
Texas; C. W. Orms, Mineola, Texas, and M. 'I‘.¢Pa_vne, San An-
tonio, Texas, District Agents, Farm Demonstration Work; ll. H.
Williamson, B. S, and C. C. French, Boys’ Clubs; Dr. Frank R.
Jones, D. V. M" Special Agent, Hog Cholera lh-evention: Miss
Bernice Carter, Girls’ Clubs; Mrs. Nat P. Jackson, A. M., Or-
ganization of Rural Women; Miss Cornelia Simpson, and Mrs.
G. M. Garren, Demonstration in Home Economics: C. M. Evans,
B.  M. S.  Animal Plushandijv: F. H. Blodgett, Ph. D., Plant
Pathology; J. Lynn Thomas, B. S., Creameries and Dairies: R. L.
Pou, B. S., Dairying; F. W. Kazmcier. Poultry; G. M. Garren,
Agronomyr; W. B. Lanham. B. S. in Agriculture. Horticulture;
J. C. Clsen, B. S., Terraeing: S. G. Ruhinou’. B. S. A._ M. S.,
Rural Gardens: fl. M. Eliot. M. S. A“ and B. L. Bennett. M. S.,
Rural Credit; Dr. B. M. Harkey. H. L. McKnight. Seth B. llol-
man, Organization and lfarketing: Walton Peteet. Farm Reporter.

DEPARTMENTS or THE Coma-m: Tlorxo lixri-rxslox Wonk 'l‘inzoi"ort

THE EXTENSION Sisnrien: Department of llol'tiellltill‘e. l6. J.
Kyle, M. S. A., Professor: Department of Agronomy, J. Oscar
llforgan, M. S. A., Ph. D., Professor; Department of Animal flus-
bandrjyj, Jno. C. Burns, B. S. :\., Professor; Departiuent. of Biol-
ogy, O. M. Ball, M. A., Ph."D._ Professor; Department of Dairy
Husbandry, J. W. Ridgyrayr. M. S., Professor; Department of lin-
tomology, S. W. Bilsing. B. S., M. A., Associate Professor in

Charge; Department of Veterinary’ Science. hfark Francis, D. V.

M., Professor; Department of Agricultural lditllciltiml, Martin L.
Hayes, Professor.

a EXPERIMENT Sryrron’ STAFFI B. Yonngbloorl, M. S.. Director; A. S.

Ware, Secretary; A. B. Conner, B. S., A. H. Leidigh, B. S., and
Louis Wermelskirchen, B. S., rtgronomists; G.  Fraps, Ph. D.,
State Chemist, Chemist; H. Ness, M. S., Horticulturist in Charge;
Jno. C, Burns, B. S. A., Animal Husbandman, Feeding Investiga-
tions; J. M. Jones, Animal Ifushandman, Breeding Investigations;
F. B. Paddock, B. S. 1M, Entomologist: R. N. Harvey, B. S.,
Poultryman; J. H. Foster, M. F., Forester in Charge; Rex E.
Willard, M. S, Farm Bfanagement Expert in Charge.

*Died January 17, 1916.,

FOREWORD

This bulletin consists in the most part of lectures delivered at the
Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas during the Farmers’
Short Course by Dr. James E. Rice, Professor of Poultry Husbandry
of Cornell University. Dr. Rice has recast them for this publication
in order to put them in the most concise form. In addition, are to be
found several short chapters by F. W. Kazmeier, Poultry Husbandman

of the Extension Department of the A. and M. College of Texas, and
T. J. Conway, Assistant Professor of Poultry Husbandry of the same
institution. Thus the publication as a whole constitutes a complete
treatise on the principles and practices of poultry breeding and raising
and marketing as easily possible of development in Texas.
Cmmmcn Ousmzr,
Director of Extension.

CONTENTS

PAGE.
CHAPTER I. -
Feeding Poultry for Egg Product-ion. By James E. Rice . . . . . . . . 3
CHAPTER II.
Breeding for Constitutional Vigor. By James E. Rice . . . . . . . . .. 27
~ CHAPTER III.
Breeding for Egg Production. By James E. Rice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
CHAPTER IV.
Raising Chickens. By James E. Rice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 54
CHAPTER V.
Candling and Grading Eggs "for Market. By F. W. Kazmeier. . . . 61

CHAPTER VI.
Cooperative Marketing of Poultf)’ Products. By F. W. Kazmcicr. . 66

CHAPTER VII.

Rations for Poultry. By F. \V. Kazmeier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 69
CHAPTER VIII‘.
Hot Weather—The Males-Jfhe Eggs. By F. W. Iiazmeier . . . . . . '71

CHAPTER IX.
Prevention of Poultry Diseases. By F. W. Kazmciei‘ . . . . . . . . . . . . '73

CHAPTER X.
Turkeys on the Farm. By F. W. Kazmcier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 75

CHAPTER XIQ
Domestic Geese. By F. W. Kazmeier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

CHAPTER XII.
Incubation. By F. W. Kazmeier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 85

CHAPTER XIII.
Squab Raising. By F. W. Kazmeier. . . . .' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

CHAPTER XIV.
Ducks on the Farm. By F. W. Kazmeier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

CHAPTER XV.

Poultry Houses and Equipment for Texas Farms. By T. J.
Conway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 103

POU LT RY IN TEXAS

CHAPTER I
FEEDING POULTRY‘ FOR EGG PRODUCTION.

BY JAMES E. RIoE, B. S. A.
Professor of Poultry Husbandry, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.

FRIENDS or THE SUNNY SoUrr-r: I assure you that it is with great
pleasure that I greet you here. I have known a good many students
at Cornell from Texas, and they have never tired of singing praises of
the blue skies of the Sunny South. You have unquestioned resources.
I have been amazed as I came through the country on ‘the train to see
the vast fields of cotton and corn, and I realize that one of the things
which is your greatest agricultural asset may be one which contributes
to your discomfort this morning—the heat. But if you are uncomfort-
able, the corn and the cotton are revelling in it, and nothing con-
tributes more to the feeding and clothing of the world than sunshine.
You certainly have great opportunities for the development of Poultry
Husbandry, and with all due respect to cattle, horses, hogs, sheep and
mules, I feel that hens have an important place in the agriculture of
this State.

Whether or not we realize any great wealth from the keeping of
domestic fowls depends largely upon the intelligence, interest and effort
which we put into the business. Heretofore, Poultry Husbandry has
been looked upon as a side line, a mere auxiliary of the farm, the main
interest being corn and cotton. hay and grain, or live stock of various
kinds other than poultry. But today we are finding the demand for
poultry products so great and the sunnlv of the right kind so compara-
tively limited that probably no other one product today goes from the
American farm that commands a greater premium or otters a greater
promise of reward for the person willing to give the subject proper
attention. Therefore, I think it is well that your Dean Kyle and others
here who have taken such keen interest in the welfare 0f the poultry
industry have arranged to devote one period a day, and most days two
periods, during this course to this subject.

You undoubtedly have a wide variety of soils, some of which,.at least,
are adapted to the production of crops which will go to feed poultry
profitably for meat or eggs, for the fancy market, and, with the fine
asset of heat units from the sunshine to make things grow, this State
should look to its poultry interests as one of the greatest live stock
possibilities.
duction.” _

It seems to me we can not get a very fair or proper understanding
of the subject of feeding poultry or the producing and handling of

The subject for this morning is “Feeding for Egg Pro-

‘LXGRICULTURAI. AND 1\[1:01~I.»xJIc.»\L COLLEGE 01v TEXAS.

¢w=EQQ€ E2 1:5 E3 =5. 1&1; i: 5:“ i7. r2; i: :3: :::_z._._ 2E? .... .1. 4

_ ,.,__.._

POULTRY IN Texas. 5

eggs without beginning with the fundamentals. In order to have a
proper understanding of how to produce and how to handle eggs, we
need to begin with the hen herself. Therefore, we will consider some-
thing of what takes place in connection with the manufacture of, eggs.
The production of eggs is as much a manufacturing business as is the
manufacture of shoes, furniture or machinery. We are dealing, it is
true, with a different kind of machine. We are dealing with a live,
vital machine; one that in a measure renews itself when it wears out.
This an inanimate machine will not do.

Here (Ifig. 1) we have shown a little hen weighing not more than
three and a half pounds, the raw material that she consumed in a year,
the finished product, the eggs she manufactured, the waste material
and the voidings. This will give us some conception of the nature
and extent of the manufacturing process which takes place in the pro-
duction of eggs when we have the actual weights in mind. This hen
has consumed approximately 110 pounds of feed of ‘different kinds in
a year, has transformed the raw material into the finished product, and
in that time has renewed her coat of feathers, recuperated her body,
and is ready for the next year’s business. This hen laid 257 eggs,
weighing approximately 29 and a fraction pounds. From the 110
pounds of feed. this 3~}_-pound machine has manufactured 29 pounds
of one of the choicest foods known. There is no food which will take
the place of eggs. There is no real egg substitute. Eggs and milk
constitute the two greatest human foods so far as animal products are
concerned. There is no other food so digestible as the egg.

This hen produced 72 pounds of waste material. which. considering
the fertility problems in modern agriculture, has a wonderful signifi-
cance, because the efiect of a live stock industry is soil building and
not soil depleting.

This morning we want to see if we can learn some of the lessons
connected with the manufacture of eggs by studying the machine con-
cerned in their manufacture. We must recognize the fact that the
production of eggs differs from the production of milk in this respect:
that every cgg that is laid is a part of a process of reproduction. In
the case of the dairy cow there is but one reproduction in a year, fol-
lowed by a nearly continuous secretion of milk: but in the case of the
domestic fowl there’ is both reproduction and albumen secretion when-
ever an egg is laid. It is a good deal to ask of a little hen to produce
the substance to make a chick 125 to 150 times a year, to say nothing
of the phenomenal records of laying from 200 to 300 eggs per year
per hen.

Dr. W. H. Jordan of the New York State Experiment Station figures
that a hen weighing 3-} pounds and laying 200 eggs per year, consumes
two and one-half times as much dry matter per pound of live weight as
does the dairy cow weighing 1000 pounds, producing 7000 pounds of
milk containing 400 pounds of butter per year. - In other words, he con-
cludes that the domestic fowl, because of her rapid breathing and great
powers of digestion, the rapid consumption and use of food in the.

6 AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE or Texas.

manufacture of this product is the greatest example of the transforma-
tion of raw material into a human food product that we have today.
So we see how easy it may be by improper feeding to break down the
health of the hen, and this may account for much of the mortality
among mature fowls or young chickens and the fertility and hatching
power of the eggs. '

Coming now to the reproductive system which has to do with the
manufacture of eggs, we find growing from the muscular tissues of the
back of the fowl a cluster of small ova (Fig. 2). This is called the
ovary. The part which represents the baby chick is only a small speck,
about the size of a pin head. A powerful magnifying glass will‘ show
the young ova beginning to develop at a certain age in all breeds. This
takes place at approximately six or seven months of age (earlier in
some breeds, and later in others). At this time the eggs normally begin
to develop and the fowl begins to lay if the environmental conditions
are right. That is to say, if the climatic conditions. matters of feeding
and care and handling are right the normal flock of pullets will begin
to lay with perfect regularity each year at a certain age, and if they
do not do so the fault is with the breeding or with the care. It is
believed by our best authorities that practically all fowls, whether high
producers or low producers, have approximately the same number of ova,
and this number has been estimated at from 1500 to 3000 undeveloped
ova within the normal fowl. It then becomes a question of inheritance,
a question of breeding to produce fowls that. will inherit the tendency
to develop these ova (Fig. 2). We may have hens that do not lay
because they have not inherited a tendency to produce, or we may have
normal hens which fail to produce because they have not been given
the opportunity.‘

When the fowl prepares to lay, the ova enlarge until they become the
size of the fully developed yolk. This process generally requires about
ten to fourteen days from the time the ova are the size of small peas
until they are the size of fully developed yolks. You can tell a week
or two in advance of the time when the hens are going to lay by the
way they eat. l/Vhenever the ova begin to develop, the appetite of the
fowl increases in order to supply nourishment for the rapidly developing
yolks. When the yolk has reached full size the follicle that envelops
the yolk ruptures at the point shown by the little white stigma which
nature has provided shall break at that point to avoid rupture of blood-
vessels. If you will examine the yolk xvhcn killing a fowl that is in
a laying condition you will see arteries and blood-vessels on all sides
coming up to that suture but not crossing it. lt opens at that point and
lets the yolk drop out into the oviduct without rupturing any of these
little vessels and leaves the skin of the follicle to be reabsorbed. The
operation is similar to the pressing of the pulp from the skin of a
grape. If, through an injury to the fowl at this time by rough han-
dling or because of weak vitality, there should be premature rupture
of the follicle by- which the yolk should fall into the oviduct, then
there is an escape of blood which forms a clot. That condition fre-

POULTRY IN TEXAS. 7

quently happens in the production of eggs. We have found in the test-
ing of thousands of dozens of eggs each year that on an average in every
thirty dozen eggs we may expect one to show a blood clot. That one
egg would have caused serious trouble if our otherwise fancy eggs
should go onto the table where fancy prices are paid. That danger
makes it necessary, if for no other reason, for us to test all eggs before
they go to market. That is one reason why we get high prices for
high quality.

When "the yolk drops into the oviduct, the follicle shrinks up, but
it never wholly disappears, so that it is possible, with a magnifying
glass, to count the empty follicles and thus tell approximately how
many eggs were matured by the hen during her life.

There are some practical problems in the management of hens in-

volved in this knowledge. . While the hen apparently has no power over
starting or stopping the development of those yolks, she is largely in
the hands of men so far as responding to environmental conditions is
concerned. She cannot will to lay or not to lay. She can, however,
decide to hold an egg a few days after it is ready to be laid.

Suppose the hen is in full laying and has’ from one to three yolks,
all practically matured and many others partly so, and some condition
occurs which disturbs her? It may be fright, it may be excessive heat,
it may be a lack of feed or water, or it may be a lack of some simple
thing, such as oyster shells, anything which disturbs her and causes her
to fail to supply nourishment to complete those yolks. What does she
do? If she still lacks the food to supply her body, she withdraws the
nourishment from these yolks and takes it into her own body, and she
in reality is boarding upon herself, or, as a matter of fact, is boarding
upon you. She may be consuming eggs worth forty to sixty cents a
dozen. Not many of us can afford to feed our hens on eggs at that
price. and that is what may happen when the hens are not properly fed.
We all know of instances where forty or fifty eggs are being gathered
per day per hundred hens, when a difierent feeder comes the produc-
tion goes down, but when the regular feeder returns the production will
he likely to come back to normal. However, it is infinitely easier to
stop a hen laying than it is to start her again. It is pretty good
business when a hen has once started to lay to let her lay.

Tn the lecture on breeding T will give records of flocks showing in-
dividual production day by day and you will see that many of those

which produce the highest number of eggs per day were hens that would .

deposit one of these yolks into the oviduct nearly as regularly as the
day'comes around, for weeks at a time. with scarcely a skip, and many
others would deposit one nearly every other day for a week or so and
then skip three or four weeks.

When the ova is deposited into this funnel-shaped opening of the
oviduct (Fig. 2). it passes on through this organ, where the white of
the egg is laid on. One other lesson to he drawn is that the yolk is the
only part of the egg that contains fat (except the merest trace). Ap-
proximately 65 per cent. of the dry matter. or 10 to 12 per cent. of
the normal yolk. is fat. Being the only fat in the egg, one can see

8 AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE or‘ TEXAS.

l.  l’ __

Fig. 2—Thc ovary and oviduct and the (lcvclupnu-rit of the egg.

how essential it is, if the hen is going lo lay xvoll, for her to haw s11!‘-
plus nourishment to make fat to develop ‘rho egg. I'nlvs.< :1 lu-n carries
a surplus of fat in her horly lo supply the (i513; sln- will not lay. The
first part of the egg ‘to be mmle. The yolk. 2l]l\‘>:ll'l‘llll_\' takes a purl of
the hen’s own body fat. l-lonce, if is llmf a lrvn whivh dons 110i" have
extra bocly fat, tho first ‘loorl 1ive(~;<.<:1r_\- lo nmlu- llu- egg. (wuinof lay.

If each part functions 1\1'op0i'l_\'. lliv yolk falls inlo llu- ova-sue. ll
is one of the most wonderful things in nnlurv In note lum‘ all lhis
development of the egg works in ln1i'1no1i_\'. Wlu-nvvvi- lln~ yollc is really

POULTRY IN Texas. ‘ 9

to be deposited, the open funnel of the ova-sac draws up and envelops
the yolk and it works right on down into the ova-sac (Fig. 2). You
will notice the yolk is larger than the ova-sac, so that it stretches the
tube several times its natural size, and the excitation of the glands as
the yolk passes along causes a secretion of the albumen,—the white.
If it is a small yolk it moves more rapidly, there is less excitation, and
less albumen is deposited. If it is a very large yolk, the reverse is
true. So that, generally, there is a very automatic system of manu-
facture, which is so perfect that the proportion of yolk and white from
which to develop the young chick is just what it should be.

It generally takes from twelve to eighteen hours for the yolk of the
egg to pass from one end of the oviduct to the other and in that passage
the yolk rolls over many times and three distinct layers of albumen
are laid on. After, or just before, the yolk has received the proper
covering of white the shell membranes are laid on. They are porous
and when seen through a microscope appear like a. silk veil, and are
filled with mineral matter which is necessary to the development of the
chick. The young chick absorbs the mineral matter from the shell
membrane and air and moisture pass through, if the method of incu-
bation is right. When the egg reaches the lower portion of the oviduct
the shell is laid on. (Fig. 2.) This is made up of mineral matter.
There is where the color pigments are deposited, which determines the
color of the egg, white or brown or spotted, depending upon inheritance.
A hen carries certain pigment glands in this part of the oviduct and
as the eggs are laid in large numbers, the later ones of any given litter
have a slight tendency for the amount of color pigment to decrease as
the number increases.

You see, therefore. that in the feeding of our fowls we have to fur-
nish a well balanced ration, because one part of the egg is made up
more largely of fat and albumen or mineral matter. The shell is
almost purely mineral. Within the normal egg is everything necessary
to grow a perfect chick. Hence. if a hen is going to be able to lay
eggs of perfect size or proper composition, and with good shells, she
must have all those nutrients in her ration. If she is fed on so good a
food as corn alone. she cannot make perfect eggs and keep in perfect
health, because it is not a perfectly balanced food. And even if she

has the best known combination of grain, including alfalfa, corn, wheat, '

oats, buekwheats. ctc._ she cannot lay 150 eggs per yrear and put the
shells on them: in fact, she probably could not lay more than two or
three dozen eggs at the most without extra lime in addition to the feed,
either in the form of bone or oyster shell or old mortar, or something
of that kind.

So we see from the study of the reproductive system of the fowl the
necessity of having a well balanced ration.

You hear a great deal in the South, as we also do in the North. about
the desirability of producing infertile eggs in order that we may have
perfect keeping quality in eggs: and this will become vastly more ap-

10 AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE OF TEXAS.

parent when we come to unde_rstand the structure of the egg and the
way it is fertilized.

In picture (Fig. 2) we see a. little speck that is called the germinal
disk. That is the spot where the little chick began to develop, on the
surface of the yolk of the egg. In F-ig. 2 you find an egg in which
the fertilization has taken place and you see there a little light colored
area which later becomes streaked with red in the case of a fertile egg,
which does not occur if the egg has not been fertilized.

At Fig. 4, in Fig. 2, you find what takes place as early as 16 hours
at ordinary incubator temperature, showing the red streak already
developed.

Let us see what takes place. In order that we may have a perfect
egg to hatch a perfect chicken, there must be the life giving quality of
the little white speck on the yolk contributed hv the female and the
little spermatozons contributed by the male, a.nd when the two come
together life takes place and we get a new individual. Where eggs are
infertile they may he incubated at 103 degrees for a week or ten days
and then taken out, and, while not so desirable as fresh eggs. they will
be acceptable to the average consumer as good, human food. Where
large numbers of eggs are incubated the infertile eggs are readily sold
for human consumption and properly so, if carefully tested and sold
for what they are. They usually bring about half price. On the other
hand, if they have been fertilized and held at the temperature of the
incubator for 26 hours, they have made perceptible development and
become worthless for food.

We are not always to blame for the failure of eggs to keep properly,
because eggs may start to hatch before they are laid. Let us see about
that. This fertilization takes place anywhere between the mouth of
the oviduct _and the point at which the yolk enters. When the yolk is
broken from the follicle and falls into this oviduct there are myriads
of these little spermatozons present. At that noint fertilization takes
place and from that time until the egg reaches the point of exclusion it
is held at the temperature of a hen’s hodv. which is 105 to 106 degrees,
three degrees higher than the incubator temperature. A hen has the
power of carrying in her body for several days an egg after it has been
completed.

Dr. Edwards of Harvard Tlniversity carried on a long series of ex-
periments to determine at how low a temperature development of the
chick would begin. He found that the egg of the domestic fowl begins
incubation slightly below 7O degrees. YVe have many living rooms with
a temperature of 75 to 8O degrees. and in the country stores in our

' State, where eggs usually are kept, the temperature many times reaches

90 or 100 degrees. What, then, must take place inside a fertile egg
which will begin to incubate at 7O degrees? The hatching process
begins.

On each side of the yolk of an egg is a white cord. These are called
the ehalazae. They have an important function. Anybody who breaks
a boiled or raw egg and will examine it carefully may see the chalazac.
Some people have sent eggs of this kind to the (“ollegca saying that they

POULTRY IN TEXAS. \ 11

thought they had eggs with worms in them. It would be possible for
worms to get into eggs before they were laid, but it is not common.
These hammock-like cords suspend the yolk in the white so that it will
not rise or fall too rapidly, but will stay in suspension. When an egg is

i normal and unfertilized and is kept at a normal temperature the yolk

will usually stay near the center, with only a slight tendency to go
through the dense albumen to get to the top. It is lighter than the
white of the egg. But it rises slowly, taking several weeks until it
touches the top. If the egg lies in dry air, so that evaporation goes on
freely, the yolk sticks to the shell. Then, if you turn it, there is the
tendency to rise again, and if you handle the egg roughly you have an
addled egg. That is why eggs kept for hatching purposes or for table
use are kept on the end instead of the side. There is a greater tendency
for the yolk to remain in the middle.

If the egg is fertile and subjected to heat, then a change takes place
in the yolk and in the white. It makes the white watery and the yolk
thicker and denser, as in the case of eggs which we call “heated.” Here
the tendency is for the yolk to go downward instead of upward.

We can account for most of the phenomena in the handling of eggs.
Why do those yolks go to the top? Nature has thus provided for the
protection of the young chick by making the bottom of the yolk opposite
the germinal disk heavier, so that the yolk will always float like a bottle
half filled with water. Whichever way the hen may turn her eggs, the
little germinal disk will bob up on the upper side nearest to the body
of the hen. instead of being left in contact with the lower side, near the
cold ground, as might be the case if nature had not provided otherwise.

In Fig. 3 we have some muscular tissues taken from the back of the
fowl. This is the ovary and imbedded in the tissue are these ova, which
are so small that one can hardly distinguish them. Occasionally you
will find two in one follicle. There may be two inside of one sac.
Once in a while a double-yolked egg is formed by two yolks developing
at exactly the same time, and both falling into the oviduct together.
They pass along and are encased with albumen and are covered with
the same shell. There being twice as large a volume of yolk, there will
be nearly twice as much albumen and we get an immense egg. Usually
this tendency to lay (l011l)l0-_\'0ll{(‘(l eggs is an individual characteristic
of certain hens who will repeatedly lay double-yolkcd‘ eggs. Some per-
sons have had the idea that the double-yolked egg is an egg laid at the
beginning from an accumulation of material, just as they consider the
little egg the last one laid when the hen has done her best with what
she had left. That. is not what happens in the manufacture of eggs.
Frequently a hen. because of some disturbance, will not have all of the
material necessary to make a perfect egg and under the circumstances
may lay the yolk without the white being deposited. Occasionally there
has been an excitation within the oviduct, sometimes caused by excessive
eating of meat, when the white will be secreted without the yolk; and
occasionally an excitation causes the oviduct to contract and force an
egg back. We have had a half dozen or more eggs sent to the College
where one egg was inside another, and in two or three there were three

12 AGRICULTURAL AND hIEOHANlGAL COLLEGE OF Texas.

eggs, one Within the other. In this case the first egg, usually a small

one, came down to where the shell was put on, then it was forced back,

returned again and each time a shell was put on. In the last men—
tioned case a third shell was put on in the same way.

In Fig. 3 we see a. magnification of that little germinal disk showing
this little hollow tube leading to the center where there is a little gela-
tinous substance which contains a very important nutrimcnt for the
development of the chick. As soon as it is fertilized and heat is applied,
granulation takes place (Fig. 3). This shows how the cell tissue gran-
ulates and breaks down. If you take a fresh egg from a healthy hen
and break it in a saucer. the yolk will stand up perfectly round with a
dense white albumen surrounding it and slightly more watery on the
outside.

If that egg had been tier-tile and had been kept under heat for a day

 

Fig. 3——Some muscular tissues, very much enlarged, forming the

ovary, taken from the inside of the back o a fowl.

or so, the vitelline membrane would have been weakened and lrould
have stretched so that the _yolk of the egg would have been flattened.
That condition would have continued until tinally it would he impos-
sible to break open the egg. even with the greatest care, without break-
ing the ritellinc membrane.

Hence, if we desire to produce good eggs. the first point is to have
good healthy hens; second, proper food to nmke every part of the egg.
When the hens have laid many eggs and are all tired out, the shell
becomes iveaker, the egg docs not heat so well and generally it is not
so good an egg to hatch. If we are to secure the best food product,
we should not allow the egg to he fertilized_ because it hastens the
process of disinttwgration. It such eggs are to he kept at all. they
should be kept at a temperature at best below- (‘>0 (legrecsl indeed. it
should be, if possible. around ~15 or 71.1 or colder. If the egg is prop-
erly made, kept clean and unfertilized, it can he put in a room at ordi-

i"

POULTRY IN TEXAS. p 13

nary temperature and kept for months without any noticeable evidence
of decomposition. It will become dry, will evaporate until there is
nothing left but the hard, dry substance at one side of the egg. But
is must be kept clean. The shell is porous and if the egg be kept
where it is too warm and wet, moulds will develop. If the air be too
dry, then the moisture is taken from the egg too rapidly. It is a ques-
tion of getting a desirable condition of cleanliness, uniformly cool tem-
perature and proper distribution of humidity.

If we should have this egg with its porous shell come in contact with
a bad egg—we know the old adage, “Evil associations corrupt good
n1anners”—we would expect that bad eggs coming in contact with good
eggs would be likely to do the same thing. If you were to take a dirty
egg and wash it, and then put the egg in contact with dirty eggs, you
are infinitely more likely to have trouble, for the reason that, in the last
part of the process of manufacture of the egg the hen secretes a mucil-
aginous substance, which makes the depositing of the egg easy and has
a tendency to seal over the pores of the shell. When you use vinegar
or any acid to clean the egg, or wash the egg, it takes off this substance
so that the air, with its millions of bacteria, may pass through. The
best way to get clean eggs is to have clean nests in clean houses, clean
stock and clean hands.

You can place eggs in connection with materials having offensive
odors, like kerosene gasoline, etc., or those having not necessarily of-
fensive, but pungent odors. like bananas, and they will take on these
odors so strongly as to make them unsalable. This same thing applies
to the feeding of hens; onions, for instance, in very small quantities,
will completely saturate the egg so that you not only can distinguish the
flavor when the egg is eaten, but can detect the odor instantly when
the egg is broken. We have run several series of experiments in feeding
six or eight kinds of strongly flavored foods and the onion has shown
the greatest tendency to taint the egg. Heavy feeding of cabbage gen-
erally does not do it. '

lVe will now consider the best physical condition of fowls for egg
production. A proper understanding of the question is at the founda-
tion of the successful feeding of fowls. In a measure what I shall say
is contradictory to what is ordinarily accepted in regard to the best
condition of a hen for egg production.

The best laying condition of a hen is when she is in the best health
and an animal is in the best health when it has some surplus fat in its
body. Fat means surplus energy. We mar have a surplus of fat that
may be dangerous. We have examined hundreds or more of hens by
cutting them open, photographing them, making measurements of their
various organs and noting the amount of fat in their bodies. We have
never yet found hens in good laying condition that were poor. On the
other hand, we have found hens so excessively fat and laying that we
would have killed them because of their surplus fat. Nothing will
prove a point like actually seeing it. Tn this picture (Fig 4) is shown
a hen which is excessively fat. She had at least a pound and a half
of solid fat in her body. She was so fat that her abdomen nearly

14 AGRICULTURAL AND lHECHANICAL COLLEGE OF TEXAS.

dragged 0n the ground. She was picked out as the fattest hen in a
bunch to sell, with the idea. that she would bring about $1.25, and the
man wouldget- his money’s worth, because a hen in that condition, if
in good health, mzikes the tenderest, juiciest, best flavored meat.

Much to our amusement, when we cut the hen open to prepare her
for the table, we found she had an egg in her body hard shelled, ready
to be laid, and that if we had not killed her at the time we did, she
probably would have laid within a few hours. Her body was filled with
well developed ova in a condition which showed that she would have

Fig. 4-—A hen excessively fat and one very poor.

gone on laying for weeks to come. I have asked persons all over the
country about their observations and they say the same thing, that hens
that are killed when they are laying are fat. lVhat does the lesson
teach us? It is this, that in feeding fowls, we must first find a ration
which is properly balanced, so that it will give the hen an opportunity
to continue to lay well and still carry fat, and then to feed the ration
so as to prevent the hen from dying of fatty degeneration. lVe must
see to it that, by exercise and proper balancing of the ration, while she
is carrying a proper surplus of fat that this surplus is prevented from
becoming excessive.

To give a little stronger proof of this point we made a photograph

POULTRY‘ IN TEXAS. " p 15

of six hens (Fig. 5), three of the fattest and three of the leanest, from
some forty or more hens which we killed. They were killed early in
the morning, one immediately after the other, as fast as it could be
done. Each one was opened up without picking, as you see here. Those
three hens shown on the left were the three fattest and those on the
right the three leanest. They were all of the same breed and fed the
same way. There was not a sick hen in the lot. We placed the gizzard,
liver, ovary and oviduct of each hen directly underneath the fowl from
which thev had been removed. You see what we found. Each one of

‘the three fattest hens had a hard shelled egg in her body ready to be

deposited and a half dozen or more yolks fully developed. These three

leanest hens show the oviducts so shrunken that they were not over five-

or six inches long instead of two feet long, and they would have been
incapable of laying" an egg under five or six weeks, because they were
dormant. This and many other observations prove beyond any ques-
tion or doubt that a hen to function normally and lay well must carry
exira far.

Fig. 6 will show this fact in a different way. Here you see some
plotted curves, which show variations in amount of food consumed in
the weights of the fowls and the eggs they lay.

Let us follow these solid lines and see the trend of the curve from
August through to the following November. You notice the amount
of feed consumed is. falling until it reaches November, then it goes up
and up until it reaches the highest point in March, April and‘ May,
when it begins to come down. In June it takes a little upward jump
and then falls lower until the following September and October, when
it again goes up. You will find the. line of body weights follows the
same general trend. Whenever there is decrease in amount of food con-
sumed. very soon after there will be a decrease in weights; an increase
in food consumed being followed by increase in weight. The highest
point in food consumption is about coincident with the highest point in
body weights except as it is interfered with by egg production.

Following the fluctuation of the curve representing egg production,
we see that a decline in food consumed and decline in weight is followed
by decline in production, and, as the foods consumed and the weight
increases, egg production usually increases. Thus. we see that the curves
representing food consumed, body weight, and eggs produced, are nearly
perfectly correlated.

Here is the significance of the relationship between amount of food
consumed, the body weight and the eggs produced. Hens laying must
have all the food of the right kind that they can consume. They will
not lay unless they do have sufficient food to produce this condition of
surplus fat in the bod_v. The fact should be emphasized that, as a gen-
eral rule, farmers make the mistake of underfeeding rather than over-
feeding. In one meeting where I was emphasizing the need of provid-
ing plenty of feed for the hens instead of assuming that they can pick
up their own living, an old man arose and said, “Not for me! My hens
have not been laying a dozen eggs a day for the past three months and

AGRICULTURAL AND AIEOI1IJXXICJxIJ COLLEGE OF TEXAS.

'I'hrvc fnt hens, three poor hens, and the respective ovarian condition in relation t0 egg production.

Fig.

POULTRY IN TEXAS. 1'2’

I doift propose to give them any more feed until they lay more eggs.”
The trouble with this man was that he was three Weeks “behind the
procession.” There must be first an increase in feed, and, second, an
increase in weight or there will be no increase in-eggs.

The first law of nature is self-preservation. The hen will take care
of herself before she will take care-of us. She will increase her own
weight, put the surplus fat in her body and get ready to lay before she
begins the process of manufacturing eggs. She does not" prepare for
one egg. If it were a question of laying simply one or two eggs, it
would be a different matter, but when a hen responds to nature’s call
to perpetuate her kind, she follows the law of animal kind to first put
her own body into a condition to nourish her family. In accordance
with the laws of reproduction she fortifies her body by storing up energy
and prepares to make a whole litter of eggs. When once ready to lay,
a hen may lay. several eggs, even though after beginning to lay she may
not be properly fed. She will stand abuse and privation for many days
in order to make the litter of eggs complete, even though she must give
from her own body to do it. At the end of that time, however, she will"
quit and one cannot get her back to laying again until she has stored
up surplus egg making material. '

The point I am. trying to make clear is that, if we are going to make
money out of hens, we must do so by maintaining them in perfect health.
This means to give them sufficient food of the right kind with which
to manufacture eggs. This principle is true in the case of any pro-
ductive animal, such as the cow, and we may be sure that if we will
give the hens the same intelligent care "and feeding that we give to
other animals they will reward us in like proportion. _

The problem of the successful feeding of poultry in large numbers
for profit involves a good many considerations. Ordinarily a person
thinks of but one, namely, the number of eggs which he can persuade
his fowls to lay in a given time. This is but one and, though one of
the important factors, it is not necessarily the most important.

The most: important consideration in the successful feeding of poultry,
first, above everything else, is the maintenance of the normal health of
the hen. We can feed rations which will stimulate egg production be-
yond the normal, and make us pay the penalty, not only in this gen-
eration, but, worse still, in the next generation. The most fundamental
principle of successful poultry husbandry is stability. The ability to
continue in the business depends upon success in hatching and rearing
of chicks. This is the hardest part of poultry keeping. Success de-
pends upon the ability to rear healthy stock which will lay fertile and
hatchable eggs. More people have gone out of the poultry business
because of their inability to hatch and rear chickens than from any
other cause. One of the remedies isto keep healthy parent stock. The

method of feeding has much to do with. the health as well as production i

and hatching.

In deciding upon a. ration we must find what quantity can be fed
our stock to insure perfect health. There are a number of mistakes
which can be made in feeding as regards the health of the fowl, and one

18 AGRICULTURAL AND Llncnanrcan COLLEGE or TEXAS.

is in feeding rations too concentrated, too rich in nitrogen, the elements
that go into the compound known as protein. We have the nitrogenous
group of substances which go primarily to build up the muscular tissue
of the animal, in the making of part of the yolk and all of the white
of the egg. We have a class of foods exceedingly rich in this particular
element, so much so that they are decidedly abnormal, as we find them
on the market. They are not necessarily abnormal as nature left them.
I refer to cottonseed meal, pea meal, and flaxseed or linseed meal, pea-
nuts, etc. These are the richest protein foods aside from meat. The
linsrkd meal will contain 2S or 29 per cent. protein; cottonseed meal,

. 37' to 4O per cent. and sometimes more; pea meal, 25 or more per cent. ;

meat scraps, 50 per cent. We have compositions as high as 60 per cent.
In contrast to that we have corn meal, which has less than 10 per cent.
protein. In other words, there is in 100 pounds of these protein-rich
feeds in the neighborhood of three to five times as much protein as we
get in 100 pounds of corn meal, and they are many times as concen-
trated. The effect of feeding too largely on that kind of feed is that.
not having enough of starchy matter and fat material to properly bal-
ance the ration, the fowl’s body is unduly taxed in an effort to adjust
itself to an unnatural condition and the first evidence is excessive thirst,
the hens drinking much more water when they are fed on this rich,
nitrogenous, concentrated product. The second effect is that the fowl’s
kidney and liver, in the attempt to throw off this excessive amount of
nitrogen, are overtaxed and the digestive tract breaks down and the
fowl fails to respond even to what ought to be the best feeds we have.
It is just as if a person would undertake to live entirely, or nearly so,
on lean meat or upon a legume like beans, which would have about the
same composition as that of cottonseed meal or oil meal.

What is the remedy? We should not drop out the pea meal or cotton-
seed meal, or oil meal. They all have value and should be fed in proper
proportion, if they can be purchased economically; but they should be
fed in connection with foods lacking in nitrogen or protein, but rich in
carbohydrate material.

The second mistake as regards health would be the feeding of corn

exclusively. The person who feeds entirely or very largely on so good

a food as corn, or its second cousins. milo maize and kafir corn and
sorghum, will be making as serious a mistake in the opposite direction
as the one who feeds excessively on linseed, cottonseed or pea meal, be-
cause they have at least a third and sometimes one-half more starch and
fat as do those meals. as we get them on the market, and as I have
already said, have less than one-third as much protein. They also lack
mineral matter. Everyone recognizes the fact that corn is relished by
fowls beyond almost any other food. They like other things when prop-
erly presented; so the thing to do is to mix them together in order to
avoid the evils of feeding either one alone. We will get the better
results, because we will have a healthy hen to use the materials success-
fully. Any person who feeds an unbalanced ration in either extreme
will find that the animal will fail to give efieetive results because the

POULTRY 1N TEXAS. , 19

machine is inefficient; because the machine cannot work. But just as
soon as we balance the ration and the machine functions properly we
should get satisfactory results. Without it, we do not get eggs and are
likely to get the hen out of condition and have weak chickens.

Another thing affecting the health of the hen is our failure to appre-
ciate the importance of mineral matter. By mineral matter we mean
the ash of the plant, the material which goes to make up the bone of the
animal and the egg shells. Some foods are very deficient in mineral
matter, while others are very rich. Alfalfa is rich in mineral matter,
while corn is deficient. But putting the ordinary grains and mill feeds
together does not give enough mineral matter to supply a flock of fowls
in heavy laying with mineral matter, and, unless we make use of oyster
shells or something of that kind, the hens cannot make the best use of
the food supplied, because the bones will weaken and the egg shells will
be soft. Fowls, first of all, maintain the body, unless they have started
to lay. If the animal has started to reproduce, it may seriously sacrifice
its body for the sake of making a perfect offspring, sothat when a hen
starts to make an egg she will attempt to make that egg perfect, even
if by doing so it weakens her own body. We fed some hens for eleven
months wiithout mineral matter as an experiment. They ate nearly
every egg they laid and the bones became so soft that they would break
under a stress of eight pounds less weight than it takes to break them
under ordinary conditions. One hen’s bones were so soft that you could
wind them around your finger. The bones were pliable. So you will see
that one of the simplest and cheapest things to do and one of the things
absolutely necessary to do to get good egg production and healthy chick~
ens is to feed bone, which may be purchased at $25 a ton, or oyster
shells at $8 or $10, or less, or, better still. to feed both of these.

The next mistake frequently made with regard to the ration is the
failure to supply green food; Hens are very particular about their feed
and they are not satisfied to eat meat or grain alone, but thrive best
when they have an opportunity to get some of all these things, together
with green stuff. Green feed probably is the cheapest and the most
desirable and one of the most important feeds that we can possibly give
our hens. For you here in the South. who can supply green feed the
year around and not have to can it, or buy it, or cold storage it, but
just let the hens go out and get it, there is no excuse for not giving the
hens all the green feed they want. It may not save you a penny on
the feed bill. It would be surprising if jvour hens did not cost you more
to feed with constant access to alfalfa, burr clover or rape or beets or
other things which you can grow in succession during the year, than if
they did not have these green feeds. But the important thing is that
their health will be vastly better and egg production greater. It is im-
possible to maintain good health in fowls on a highly concentrated ration
if one does not add plenty of green, succulent food. It is a medicine
to the hen or to any animal. So green feed ought to be supplied the
year around as the climate, soil and possible crops will permit.

So far as health is concerned, we have now considered the grain feeds,

2O g AGRICULTURAL AND h/[ECI-IANICAL COLLEGE or" TEXAS.

Fig. 6——Plotted curves showing the relation of food consumed lo time of year.

the mineral feeds and the green feeds, and we ought not to overlook
the meat feeds as having a bearing upon health conditions. It is a
disputed point as to whether protein as found in meat is worth more
than protein found in vegetables; but whether this be true or not, in
feeding hens we know from practice that the rations which give us the
largest net results in a period of years are the rations that contain meat
in some form, and this is very important for the health of the birds.

There is danger connected with the feeding of meats. I am speaking
now of the danger which may come from using too narrow a ration.
Many persons have made this mistake. Beef scrap, blood meal and
meat meal, as found on the market, are the most concentrated kinds
of meat foods known for feeding fowls.

POULTRY IN Texas. p 21

As compared to cottonseed meal, linseed and pea meal, beef scraps
analyzing 50 to 6O per cent. protein contains 2O to 40 per cent. more
protein than these meals. Therefore, a person who uses meat feeds
freely must feed them with starchy feeds like corn, kafir corn, sorghum,
etc. In our country we find that high grade beef, scrap, selling at $50
to $60 per ton, is one of the cheapest feeds we can put into the rations
because it is so rich in protein. The hens must have a rich protein
ration, if we are to get the largest net returns in egg production.

We have been discussing the health of the fowl as affected by feeding
up to this time. The next point in feeding for egg production is the
amount of feed to give. We want to get the largest possible number
of eggs. That means we must induce the hen to lay normally. She
must lay many eggs if she is to make money for us. So we must feed
a ration the year around which shall be of such a nature that the hen
will eat freely and yet not sufier the consequences. When We do that
the hen would rather lay than not. Do not think for a minute that
when you are providing a. ration which will keep the hen healthy and
cause her to produce an egg every day or every other day, that you are
imposing on her. The happiest hen in the world is the singing, cack—
ling, laying hen, and it is mighty good business to keep her happy and
let her lay. That means that the ration must be made up, as I have
said, from the grains available, with green feed and meats and min-
eral matter, and fed with regularity. And we must feed in such a way
that the hens will he certain to have at all times all they want to eat
and come hungry at least once a day for their rations. '

A ration to stimulate hens to lay many eggs must be rich in these
protein nutrients which make the egg. They stimulate the hen into
production. I have seen flocks of hens laying scarcely any eggs, though

—fed as good a food as corn and materials of that sort, but lacking meat
or any of the rich protein foods. And I have seen these added to the
ration and just by their introduction into the ration in liberal amount,
the egg production has increased rapidly until the hens were laying
normally and splendidly. We must realize that the little hen which
manufactures such an immense amount of product, and producing an
egg a day or an egg every other day, must have on hand ready to be
digested and used_ such materials as are necessary in this manufacture.
If the hopper runs. dry and she fails for a little time to secure all these
materials necessary, egg production will lessen or stop. If the lack of
food is but for a few days, she will draw upon her own body for these
necessary elements.

The next factor is the quality of our products. We want to produce
eggs which have quality. This means that we must feed wholesome food
which makes n well flavored product. We can feed certain things which
afiect the flavor. the density of the albumen, and in a slight degree the
composition of the egg.

It is a common practice in our country, and I presume it ishere also,
to throw out to the hens stufl’. that we would not think of feeding to
any other kinds of domestic animals, believing that the hen is a natural

22 Aemzcurrtrrmr AND lVIECHANICAL COLLEGE or Tnxas.

scavenger, and that she has the power to eliminate from her system
those poisons which aifect other animals. The fact that she is just a
little thing also enters into the question, as the loss is not so much if
one bird dies. However, there is a little mould known by the name

‘of “aspergillus,” which lives on musty grains and musty straw. If‘ these

are used in a warm, damp place by hens or little chickens, they are
almost certain to kill them. Chickens have died by the millions from
no other cause than the fact that the straw and grain were mouldy and
the spores were taken into the system, causing death.

The same troutrle may be caused by cracked corn becoming heated
or mouldy. One of my personal friends bought a carload of corn meal
because he had an opportunity to buy it cheap. It.‘ happened to be
heated, some of the lumps being so hard that it was necessary to use a
hammer to break them. Within a short time, as a result, several thou-
sand young chickens and hens were affected.

Take cottonseed meal, for example. A clean, bright yellow product
is a very satisfactory food in limited quantities when in good condition.
When we get a dark brown cottonseed meal, which has gathered "damp-
ness and heated. we have a dangerous product. It is no more dangerous,
perhaps, than linseed or other rich protein meal in the same condition,
but the fact that they will decompose readily and these moulds be likely
to grow makes any feed in that condition unwholesome.

We need 110w to consider the cost of our ration. The fact is, in the
feeding of our fowls, that we must give them rations that, other things
being equal, will give us eggs at the most economical cost. I have a
lantern slide (Fig. 7) which shows the amounts of the different kinds
of feed fed to various flocks of fowls. In one instance the eggs were
produced for 11 cents, and in another for 1~t cents per dozen, a dif-

ference which, with hens laying from ten to twelve dozen of eggs per.

year, is a matter of considerable importance. The time has come when
we must figure as carefully on the cost of a dozen eggs as we would in
the production of a pound of pork, a quart of milk, or a bale of cotton.
It is primarily a question of efiiciency, and the person who feeds an
excess of rich nitrogenous food is feeding an expensive ration.

Our rations must depend primarily as to cost. on the protein we buy
and if a man feeds a ration excessively rich in protein it is likely to be
expensive. The point is to find a ration which will give results in egg
production, quantity and quality both considered, which will cost as
little as possible and still give us desired results. Tf the ration is too
narrow it hurts the bird and is too expensive; if it. is too wide. it may
be cheap, but too fattening, too starchy, and lacking in egg and muscle
making material. On that account we must have a ration containing
all the elements needed for best results, as we have considered them
here, and doing it as economically as possible. \Ve will go into that
more in detail during an extra period.

The next factor is the availability of our ration for home consump-
tion. Whether we live in the North, South, East or West, the practical
point for farmers to decide is how to feed our live stock on the largest

POULTRY 1N TEXAS. a 23

possible amount of home grown stuff. This idea of sending away off
somewhere for a large part of our food to feed stock is all wrong. The
best plan is to grow on the land, in so far as it is possible to do so, the
plants which we need to feed our stock and families and then let the
stock pay a ‘profit for the food which they eat. Generally the highest
price we can get for our products grown on the farm is by feeding them
to the right kind of stock and allowing them to manufacture these feeds
into high-priced, concentrated products. Sometimes the stock is of such
a nature that we may not make a profit in feeding our products. If
we do not make a profit by feeding in that way, we had better sell them
at cash price. But there is another point which was brought out by
one of the county demonstration agents here last night. We have real-
ized for many years in the North that we must conserve the fertility of
our soil by growing crops and feeding it on the land to build it up.
You can grow right here in the South two of the greatest classes of
human food products and two of the greatest products to feed to domes-
tic animals,’ clovers and other soil building plants, such as the peanuts,
alfalfa, cowpeas and the yetches that in many parts of the State grow
naturally. These plants take the nitrogen out of the air and put it into
the soil, so that only a small part is taken off to feed the stock. When we
cut alfalfa and feed it to the stock we know how valuable the manure is,
yet there is more manurial value in the stubble and roots than there is in
the part we take off. Corn is the greatest carbon gatherer grown. The
carbon is taken out of the sunshine, out of the air, and stored up in that
king of all food plants. King Corn. The thing to do is to try to grow
on the farm all the things necessary for your own balanced ration.

Let us now consider some of the special kinds of feeds. We will
first speak of lhegrains.

The best grain, all things considered, if we could feed hut one, prob-
ably would he wheat. \\'e ran several experiments, one ‘for two years,
with two flocks of fowls. Putting before them in hoppers all the kinds
of feed we could get in the market so that they could pick out just what
they preferred to eat, and we found that they eat more wheat than any
other grain. (Porn came second, peas next. while oats came about fourth.
Wheat generally seems to be our best grain. It is too expensive to feed
exclusively, therefore we must mix it with other less expensive grains.

Corn, because of its fine flavor and cheapness, must be considered as
next in importance, and when we count cost as well as quality, probably
corn ranks as the first grain in the South. The danger in feeding corn
comes from its tendency to fatten. if fed exclusively. Of course I am
a little oft my own territory in speaking in connection with this subject,
but I doulzt the advisability of feeding oats to any extent here. In some
parts of New York State we probably grow as fine oats as can be grown
in the country. This is in the northern part, where there is high alti-
tude and it gets very cold. Farther south, even in our own State, we
do not get as heavy oats. In the northern part of the State we get
oats weighing 40 pounds to the bushel, really seed oats, right out of the
fields. Tn other parts of the State and farther south, we will hzwe oats

24 AGRICULTURAL AND RTECHANIOAL COLLEGE OF TEXAS.

.230» *0 915: 252.2» O“ 10% To“: ¢~O nfi-Ix d-IZQFIC *0 m.-C=OE(_.[._| 

.=w<i >1:
.33
d fir.

_ POULTRY IN TEXAS. . 25

yveighing but 30 pounds or less to the bushel. The oat shuck in normal

oats makes up at least one-third of the entire weight of oats, and the
oat shuek has no more value as food than straw. The chemical com-
position shows it to have even less value. If you will watch a hen eat
you will find she knows the difference between heavy and light oats.
She will pick out the heavy grains and flip out the light oats for bed-
ding. It is expensive bedding and it is not profitable to use oats unless
one can secure heavy grain. Generally it is really less expensive to
buy the other grain without shucks. Then there is very little waste.

The bean, for some reason which we are not able to explain, has not
proven to be a very satisfactory poultry feed, except when-cooked. I
cannot speak with authority concerning the many varieties of so-called
cowpeas, which are really beans, because I have not fed them; but they
are worthy of trial because they will add one more to the legume crop
and to the possible available food products for poultry. In the North
we have the “Canada field pea,” which I judge you cannot grow here to
advantage.

Coming now to the ground feeds which we may buy, there is a stand-
ard one which we can always feed liberally because the hens cannot eat
too much of it. This is wheat bran. If it is of fine quality, it is a
safe, wholesome food, full of protein and rich in phosphorus. And if
we can get the right kind of unadulterated high grade flour middlings
(shorts), full of gluten, to add to the bran, it materially adds to the
value of the feed. To this you can add corn meal and cottonseed meal
and meat scraps to make a good ground mash.

I have left out many of these things from which certain parts have
been removed, such as hominy, the gluten feeds, brewers’ grains, etc.,
which are fed successfully to cattle, but are not as a rule satisfactory
for hens. This is because-of the difiieult problem of feeding hens with-
out disturbing their production. It is vastly more difficult than with
cattle. We must have eggs when the prices are high. If we have a
ration which will give us eggs when they are high in price, that same
ration will give us eggs when they are low in price. But we must have
a ration which will not be taking chances on interfering with egg pro-
duction, as we would be doing by feeding many of the so-called “by-
products.” -

'l‘l'1ere is no question about the (lesirahility of feeding meats. The
best meat to feed chickens, with all due respect to our friend the bob-
tailed rabbit, is skimmed milk.——anrl sour skimmed milk is better than
sweet. There is no meat food which can compare with it. Wherever
skimmed milk can he secured. it is the best thing to feed to young tur-
keys or chickens. You should get two or three times the feeding value
from it than is ordinarily obtained from its sale at 20 cents a hundred.

Professor Atwood ‘of lVest Virginia added to his ration all the sour

milk his hens would drink, and he produced more eggs because the hens I

were more healthy’. He received enough more to make it worth $1.00
per hundred to feed. It is not to be inferred that it would pay to buy
skimmed milk at $1.00 per hundred to feed, but, taking the skimmed

26 AGRICULTURAL AND LIEGHANIQAL Common on Texas.

~ milk at the ordinary price of 15 to 2O cents per hundred, we can get

a big profit by feeding it to poultry. It may be the lactic acid in the
sour milk affecting the healthfulness of the digestive system and killing
off the bacteria within the digestive tract that gives the most valuable
results. It is palatable and cooling and the most desirable form of
protein we can secure.

If you cannot feed skimmed milk, the next best available meat feed
would be fresh meat. J ack-rabbits are desirable, but the hens would
rather have them cooked than raw, and cooked meat is infinitely safer.
Whenever one feeds raw meat, especially in hot countries, he runs a
great risk of ptomaine poisoning, because the least bit of taint may
result in poisoning and lead to certain forms of muscular contraction
known as “limherneck” in fowls. This danger can be avoided if we
feed the meat boiled. It will keep better and the hens will like it better.

If we cannot have any of those things we must resort to one of the
commercial articles, and then we want to get a high grade beef scrap.
I do not know what the laws of this State are, but if the purchase of
meat scrap is not safeguarded by State supervision, it ought to be.

There is also the question of wholesomeness. It is never profitable
to feed to any kind of an animal beef scrap which is nothing more than
fertilizer, and you would want to get it on your land pretty quick at
that. I have seen men try to feed beef scrap which was so offensive that
the hens would not eat it. The hens had sense enough for that. Such
meat scrap is dangerous.

We must have nice, clean, wholesome food. “Then you take beef
scrap in your hand and hold it a few moments or pour scalding water
on it, if there is any offensive odor, do not feed it. A good grade of
beef scrap ought not to have an offensive odor. The hens ought to eat
it greedily when it is fed by itself.

The best green feeds are those which you can grow seasonabl_v through
the year and are of a different kind nearly every month. Generally the
legumes, such as clover or alfalfa, are best because of their richness in
protein and mineral matter. Then come the succulent things of the
best type-Swiss chard and dwarf Essex rape—which is of the cabbage
family. These grow very freely and may be cut many times in the
season. We have cut rape five times a season in our State, and I sup-
pose you can cut many more times. It is merely a question of leaving
the crown uninjured when cutting and cultivating, and the liens eat
it grcedily.

POULTRY IN lnxas. 2'7

CHAPTER II
BREEDING FOR CONSTITUTIONAL VIGOR.

BY J. E. R1012,
Professor of Poultry Husbandry, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y,

We find in the poultry business that we have efficient and ineflicient
machines in the case of our fowls. Probably the greatest loss we suffer
as poultrymen is in keeping cull stock. In other words, if one will go
into the flocks of this or any other State he will have no difficulty in
picking out a large percentage of birds which are losing money for their
owner, and also finding in those same flocks a few birds, sometimes
many, which are paying a splendid profit. It becomes necessary for
the grower to see if he can by one of the simplest methods select out the
profitable from the unprofitable individuals in his flocks. This is more
difficult in the case of poultry than it is with larger animals. It is
now becoming very common for the dairyman to select his best cows
by means of milk and butter records and to breed only from the best,
gradually cutting out the poorest individuals, in order to bring up the
general average of his entire herd. In a measure this can be done also
with hogs, by watching their growth, observing the number of pigs in
a litter, etc., and it may also be done with sheep by noting the number
and quality of the lambs and other characteristics. Thus man has been
able to bring up the average of practically all kinds of farm live stock.

In the effort to apply these principles to poultry, experiments have
gone far enough in selecting fowls for vigor and productive power to
enable us to feel certain that we have discovered characteristics which
we can apply with reasonable accuracy to the selection of fowls for
vigor and productiveness. They will apply at least to vigor, and that
in a measure will indicate one of the factors in the productive power
of individuals in the flocks. Therefore, we have come to believe that
the cornerstone of success in poultry farming is to follow a policy of
rigid selection for constitutional vigor, vitality, quick. healthy growth
and long life. There are many persons who can go through a fiock of
fowls and pick out almost all the individuals that are not laying or of
low vitality at that particular time and by this process of elimination
get rid of the idle ones and keep only the best ones.

Improvement and profit come in two general directions; one by in-
creasing the efiiciency, the inherited tendency of individuals to produce
a larger amount of eggs, more fertile eggs and more vigorous chicks;
the other by simply eliminating the unprofitable individuals. We are
making strenuous efforts to breed hens to lay more eggs, to get hens
which inherit the tendency to lay 150 to 200, instead of 5O to '75, by
selecting and breeding from the higher producing females and the
better males. The law of “like begetting like” undoubtedly, in the

28 AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE or Texas.

main, is sound and this process should raise the average of the general
flock by increasing the power of the individuals to lay. The other
method is by eliminating the low producers to raise the average output.
We should‘ do both. A little time, therefore, to try and-point out some
of those characters which we ought to be able to recognize when we
see them, and then put the principles into practice. Next year, if you
do this and come to the College, you will stand here and give eloquent
testimony to the fact that having seen the difference between the vigor-
ous and weak fowls you have sold ofi the unprofitable ones, that you
have made more money with fewer fowls than ever before, and that you
have had better results in regard to fertility and hatching power of
the eggs. _

Fowls may be inefiicient for a number of reasons. The first would
be an inherited tendency to weakness. Chickens are born weak _or
strong. There is scarcely a litter of pigs produced which does not have
one or two which cannot hustle with the others, and every one of you
practical men know that usually there are one or two individuals in
those litters which are far and away better than the others, and, because
of this fact, they will have more than their share of the feed trough
most of "the time. It is born in them. It is the same way with chickens.
We scarcely find an incubator hatch of 100 chicks or more, or a litter of
chicks with the hen, where there are not several which grow faster, lay
earlier. eat more food and live longer. It is for us to pick out and
keep those individuals, birds with this tendency to high vitality, and
eliminate those showing slow growth and low vitality.

The second condition of weakness is acquired. You may have a
flock of chickens, all of which appear to be of equal strength, but if
they are reared under unfavorable conditions, if they suffer from cold.

_which niight be true in our country in many instances, or from heat,

which might be the case in this climate, or if not fed on the right
rations, or if hatched from incubators improperly handled, or if any
other conditions obtained which cause those birds to lose their vitality,
they are no longer profitable individuals.

So we have the two great causes of weakness. one of inheritance, the
other acquired, and generally we are to blame for both. depending upon
how we handle the breeding stock and how we handle the stock being
reared.

What. then, are some of the characters which enable us to select these
individuals according to their vigor? They are many and probably
not one of them taken singly would be absolutely infallible, but, taking
them together, remembering the factors and principles involved, a per-
son can get a composite idea of the characters indicating high and low
vitality and with almost unmistakable accuracy he will pick out the‘ high
from the low.

Before taking up a demonstration of these characters we should con-
sider the effect of selection and what it means. We published in sev-
eral bulletins from Cornell University the results of experiments cover-
ing four or five years in breeding and selecting birds for high and low

POULTRY IN Texas. 29

vitality. There are pictures showing the birds and the results. The
experiment was started by taking a flock of pullets hatched and reared
at the same time and in the same manner. The birds were of the same
general breeding. From this flock of birds twenty-five pullets were
picked out which we thought were the finest type of robustness and
vigor, having bodies well developed, and birds in apparently excellent
condition; and we picked from the same flock birds which, because of
inherited weakness or acquired weakness, did not grow quite so robust,
had shanksra little lighter, bodies not so deep, combs not so well de-
veloped, etc. We picked out those which lacked a little in stamina and
robustness. There was not a sick bird in the lot, not a bird which
most farmers or poultrymen would not have been glad to put in their
flocks. We kept an exact account of the eggs laid, feed consumed, fer-
tility and hatching power of the eggs for a period of years. Then we
took the offspring of these birds, kept a record in the same way, and
kept that up for three generations. The results are now in bulletin
form. At the end of the first year we found those pullets which had
been selected in October or early in November, on the basis of high
vitalit_v_ had laid eleven and a fraction eggs a piece more the first year
than their sisters did. Then, taking the chickens that came from these
two flocks, we found they laid in much the same way as their parents
had. The pullets from the high vitality flock of hens laid a dozen eggs
more than their sisters did on the same ration. In other words, we had
picked out the efiieient from the inefficient producers and mated them
with males of similar characteristics, with th'e result that the ofispring
had inherited the strength or weakness of their parents, and here again
we find in evidence the law of “like begetting like.”

Hence, as a basis for success in poultry husbandry, before we put

expensive feed into inefiicicnt hens we might better find out whether.

they are the kind which are going to pay. Just to illustrate how it
works in a practical way: A farmer, near the College, although very
much in favor of progressive farming and interested in the work of
the College, a man who was very up to date in his methods, had great
misgivings as to whether there was any difference in the vitality of
chickens. He could and did recognize in the breeding of cows, horses,
and hogs, the necessity of breeding in accordance with performance and
vigor; but a hen was a hen to him. As he looked out over his flock of
1200 or more he could not conceive that it was possible for a person to
pick out the ones which were laying from those which were not. I told
him that the “proof of the pudding ought to be in the eating,” and
if our theories would not work in practice they certainly were not true
in principle. A man who has a theory which he cannot put into prac-
tice is on the wrong track. Any teaching that cannot be put into actual
successful practice is not sound. He agreed to give our theories and
teaching a trial. One of our men then picked out the unproductive
hens and put them in another pen to note results. He removed about
two hundred birds. The next day or two after that the farmer came
‘to town and said. “The hens that were left were laying more eggs than
he had been getting before theiothers were removed._ How can you

‘and will grade the eggs into three classes, the small, medium and large, f

3O AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE or TEXAS.

account for that?” We were ready to expect that they would not drop
off very much, but we did not expect them to lay more. It was just
before the melting season, in very warm weather; the pasturage was
perhaps a little 10w, the hens presumably suffering from crowding, and
there were a lot of unproductive hens. This young man, because he
knew by experience and observation how to distinguish the layers from
those which were idle, weeded out those idle birds and put them ofi in
a pen by themselves. He thus relieved the congestion elsewhere, and it
is probable that the feeder shoveled out as much feed for the flocks as
he gave before the two hundred birds were removed, so those remaining
had more to eat. _ .

What is true with regard to the‘ selection of hens is just as true in
regard to the importance of selecting the males for the breeding flock.
This selection ought to be carried on throughout the entire cycle of
the life of the domestic fowls, and one period in that cycle is as im-
portant as another period. _

The first thing to do is to pick out eggs for hatching according to
the motto, “Every egg a good one.” That means that every egg must
be of the right size and shape, and, although it might not involve the
question of vigor, there would be other factors, such as the color of the ‘
egg. We should use only those eggs for hatching which promise the q
best results and which will help to give us even quality in egg pro- 
duction. A person who eliminates the eggs with weak, spotted shells, 
showing faulty shell construction, and simply takes the perfect type of 
shell, has made the first good move in selection for vitality. The size 
of the egg from any given variety of poultry is a very exact measure "l
of what the size of the chicken is going to be. If a poultryman will
take any breed, the Leghorn, or the Plymouth Rock, or the Wyandotte, -;.§,

 

i. e., one ounce and a half for the small. about two ounces for the 
medium, and two and a half for the large. and if he will incubate all 
in the same incubator and just before they hatch separate them into ’_
bags or trays so the chicks will not get mixed, and then weigh the chicks, 1_
he will find that the weight of the young chicks on the day they are 
hatched will be in practically an exact proportion to the weight of the 
eggs from which they came. He will also find. if he weighs those 5
chickens in the fall, after they have run together under the same eon- 
ditions, having leg banded them so he knows which eggs they came from, 
that they will still show weights proportionate to the eggs from which 
they are hatched. Generally the bird of high vitality makes the egg 
of good measure, full of meat, compared with the egg produced by the ;
hen of low vitality. i,

When one tests eggs at the end of the first seven days, by looking at i_
the egg through the tester in a dark room. he can pick out the chicks 
of high vitality from those of low vitality hr the heart heats of the 
young embryo chicks. T

We do not need to wait for a chick to get out of a shell to tell its
constitutional vigor. There is a difference at the end of seven days,
indicating slowness of development on the part of the weak chick, which ,

POULTRY In Texas. 31

will mean two or three days delay as compared to those in the eggs of
high vitality, and they will mostly die at the end of a week or two.

The next test for vitality comes when the chickens hatch. With al-
most any eggs, selected as carefully as we may, you will find little chicks.
that are weak and chicks that are strong and you can tell them at a;
glance. We had with us for a number of years a Miss Nixon, who had
remarkable success in rearing chicks and she could tell with unmistak-
able accuracy when a flock of chicks came to her to be put into the
brooder whether they came from high or low vitality eggs. We pur-
posely put in the machine eggs of low vitality, and the Ihinute she saw
them she would tell us by their appearance when a day old whether
they would be likely tn live or not.

Whenever chicks hatch from the incubator one must “screw up his
courage” and kill the unfortunate chicks which are weak, keeping oniy
the chickens which are strong. Unquestionably one may, with great
care, rear some of the weak ones, but it is a mistake to do this. The
mortality will be such that it may take all profits from the others. You
will find one thing is certain: If you have one or two little, struggling
chicks in a flock of 100 or so, people who see those chicks will notice
them first and remember longer and say more about them than they will
in regard to all of your good stock. Such chickens ought to be killed
instantly. If they are not disposed of the danger is not simply the
loss of the weak chickens during the rearing period, but the greatest
danger is that many of these born weak may appear to overcome it and
get into the laying or breeding flocks. Yet if you would keep a record
of those hens for three or four years, you would find that they are the
birds which generally die early and are poor layers. What we want is
to develop a kind of ruggedness on the part of the chicks that will
cause them to liwre long. One of the best things we can say about any
chicken is that it has a. tendeny to longevity, that it is born with a long
life ahead of it. The chicken which is born strong will overcome dis-
ease troubles that a weak chicken cannot withstand.

Additional selection should come every week right along during the
summer and forever afterwards. Whenever we see a chick, especially
a slow feathering kind, with the long wing feather drooping to the
ground. or with bowel trouble, or with the indication of roup, the
chance is that it is one of a weak lot which ought to have been killed
and burned. In case of some which may not have disease, but fail to
grow rapidly, they may be put in a brooder by themselves, and because
of the fact that they do not have to rustle with stronger ones, if given
a sour milk fattening ration, may be brought to three-quarters of a
pound or a pound and sold. You may put a little dab of red paint on
white chickens or white paint on colored chickens to distinguish these’
so as to prevent any possibility of getting them into the flocks. (Fig. 8.)
We must always select for the vigorous chicken.

In the fall of the year, when we come to put the flocks in the winter
quarters, we must again make selection. A person ought to. pick out
all the undesirable birds. Sometimes these birds which are under their

32 AGRICULTURAL AND lVIECHIAANIC-AL COLLEGE or TEXAS.

normal size are also vigorous and healthy, but we want to maintain a.
reasonable standard of size as well as vigor.

We should put the birds, according to their ages, in diiterent pens,
so that We will know the age of every individual. It is unfortunate
that as a. rule throughout the Unitedi States no system of marking pre-
vails by which poultrymen may know the ages of their birds. In some
flocks we still find roosters that look as if they may have crowed for
Andrew Jackson. Fowls may live "for twelve years or more, but as the
years go by the increase in mortality is greater. Hence, for this and
other reasons, we do not want the birds on farms mixed up in such a
way that we cannot tell the ages. There are ways of punching holes
in the web of the foot, leg banding, etc._ by which we can know defi-
nitely one year's flock from those of other years. A person can not
distinguish with absolute accuracy in the fall of the year, after the

 

Fig. 8——Placing a little red paint on white chickensvasa distinguishing mark.

birds which are one or two years old have moltcd, those birds from the
very early hatched, healthy pullets. I know we have been mistaken
many times and have had to verify our selection by looking up the
records of the leg bands on the birds. So it is very desirable to have
the birds marked in some manner.

We now come to the p-oint of selecting our breeders. The time of
year for selecting the breeders is not in the spring, when most of the
fowls used for that purpose are generally selected. Of all the seasons
of the year, this is the one when such selection should not be made.
This is because in the spring of the year every hen will be laying, if
she is going to lay. When hens are in laying condition it is a pretty
good judge who can tell with absolute accuracy the difference between
a high and a low producer. This is because the lien’s body shape changes
and will show up better at that time; her comb will be large and red:
her actions will be more lively; her appetite will be good and she will

POULTRY IN TEXAS. 33

have practically all the characters by which we pick the high vitality
birds. -

When she begins to grow dormant again these characteristics will
begin to change and gradually we can eliminate the poorer ones. 1n
the month of Ylarch, April and May, in this part of the country, your
birds will probably be giving their highest production. We have trap
nest records of nearly a thousand birds each year for many years past,
and these records show that the hens which lay the fewest eggs in the
year will lay them in the spring; and the hens which lay from 150 to
1'75 or 200 eggs per year will lay not only as many as the other in the
spring, but will also lay during the unfavorable season when the poor
hens do not. The poor producing hen, therefore, adds insult to injury
by not only laying the fewest eggshut by laying them when they are
cheapest.

So the person who breeds for high egg production must breed from
the birds which lay in the season of high prices.‘ When you breed from
those you will be pretty sure to be breeding from the hens of the highest
production; and if you select your breeders during the spring of the
year you are pretty sure to select some of the birds which you have

been hoarding for the sake of their society and have been supported by i

the high producing birds.

With that statement we will proceed to a study of some of the char-
acteristics by which we may select the high producers without the aid
of trap nests. We will speak mainly of the cockerels now, but the same
general factors will be true with the hens. However, the characteristics
are more easily seen with the cockerels than with the pullets; hence I
am using the cockerels as an illustration. One of the characteristics
would be the actions of the bird. Health always manifests itself in
action. Any animal out of condition physically will. according to its
race or breed or variety, show it in some way. It will assume a some-
what different position. One of the symptoms of a weak bird is in-
activity. The birds which are vigorous are up and doing; the birds
‘which are weak are generally inactive. In order to determine this point.
for example. we may watch the birds on the perches and observe them
when they go to roost at night and when they come off in the morning.
Tn this method we have :1 very easy way of eliminating weakness. The
birds of low vitalitv will go to roost early and get up late, and will
frequently he found on the roost during the daytime. Birds of high
vitality are. ofi’ the roost early, for good reasons. Thev have digested
all they have eaten the night before and are hungrv and anxious to get
out in the cool of the morning to hunt for something to eat. They
will also work late at night before going into the houses to roost. I
have seen the highest producing hens coming in so late at night that
they were not able to find their places on the roost. They would stay
out as long as thev could see to forage. '

Then notice when vou are feeding them the wav they eat it. Gen-
erallv the liens of low vitality will be squatting or moping around on
the floor. They are not active nor are they hungrv. - The high vitality
hens are the ones which go right after the feed and water. 'Hens drink

34 AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE or Texas.
water in proportion to the amount they eat and in proportion to their
egg production. The observation of these little things will help us
greatly in selecting our vigorous, high producing hens. By quietly
observing the birds one can learn a great deal. He will be able to
recognize birds of high, medium and low vitality in almost any flock.

In the cackling and singing of the hens and the crowing of the male
birds, we find indication of high vitality’. We should seldom, if ever,
select a male for the breeding pens that is not a loud, lusty, frequent
crower. That is one of the most reliable characteristics indicating vigor.
I might mention an interesting instance along that line. Several years
ago a breeder of fighting birds told me that in England it was custom-
ary to precede a fighting bout with a crowing contest. The birds which
crowed the longest and more frequently were the ones selected as the
most likely to stand up under the trials of heavy, physical endurance.
I mention this in connection with an occupation which is past and which
we hope will stay that way in this country. The crowing of the rooster
is a physical expression of good health. The scrapping or fighting ten-
dency of the male birds does not necessarily indicate that the pullets

from these birds will be heavy egg producers except as they will have a r
tendency to better health and better vigor; but the crowing of the male '
does indicate a physical condition which must be taken into consider- l

ation if we will have birds of high productive capacity.

The birds can also be judged from the standpoint of their appetites i
and by the conditions of their crops as we find them on the perches. as ~
This may be learned by .
picking up the birds after they have gone to roost and noting the full- "

to whether we find their crops full or empty.

ness of the crops. In the case of the bird of low vitality, it does not

i matter how much food may be available or how appetizing it may be, ;

that bird will not eat enough to fill its crop. If you have a bird of
high production, one full of life and vitality, in nearly all instances the
bird will go to roost with its crop full.

The temperature of the bird is also an indication of condition, and
one of the ways to learn the health of a fowl is by feeling of the shanks.
A bird of high vitality. of strong constitution, has a high, normal tem-
perature, 105 to 106 degrees. This is seen in the healthy condition of
the blood.

The shanks and the body will be warm. Chickens which 

have any disease, or which are low in vitality, usually have cold feet 

and cold shanks.

lVe can also tell a great deal bv the color, appearance and growth of 

the plumage.
their feathers drooped.

Birds low in vitality will feather very slowly and carry 
Chickens of high vitality say. about three to i.‘
psix weeks old, depending on the breed, will carry their wing feathers .

up against their bodies, folded closely. in shape something like a per- ‘

serfs hand. They hold the ivings right up tight. and the body feathers
hug close and smooth.
lies down fiat and hard, and their tail feathers are carried normally in
an erect position. \Vhenercr a li‘tln r-l1l(‘l\' shows weakness the feathers

will droop. lilhencver you see a chicken with wing and tail feathers

The down on the top of the head in young chicks i

'fl1E1-‘l“"_—4: v a ..».

Pourrmt’ IN TEXAS. 3-3

drooping you may know something is wrong with its health. When
you call little chickens and they come on the run, jumping and active,
with the wings flapping and the tail feathers erect, you will know that
all is well with them.

The same is true with older birds. In looking over a lot of cockerels
you may see some with the tail feathers to one side or drooping, and
you may make up your mind that those Ueneralljy are the weaker birds
in that flock. “thy is it?

Birds having good health grow good plumage because they have lots
of vitality, good healthy blood and well nourished bodies which chicks
of low vitality" do not have. Courage on the part of the male indicates
health and vitality. because, generally speaking, courage is associated
with ability to carry out whatever is undertaken. A timid bird will

Fig. 9—A constitutionally strong and a constitutionally weak male.

more often fail to accomplish what he may set out to do and lose con-
fidence in himself, so we should always pick out the males which have
l-ourage. (me method of selection is to put the males together and
note which are assertive and able to command. (Fig. 9.)

(lut of one hundred or more males l recently selected out the least
(lesirablti until only five were left. then I studied these for weeks until
T selected two out of that five. which were better than the others. These
were the two finest birds from a fioek of over one hundred which had
been reared. and it has been impossible to (leeide as vet which is the
better of those two. Just think what it will mean to the breeding flock
it a person is breediing from the two best males. selected from one hun-
dred brothers of the same general b1‘e<_‘-di11_£1”. The superior quality is
going to be impressed upon the chickens. just as will be the ease in the
selection of’ the finest females that lay the most eggs of the best quality.

36 AGRICULTURAL AND lWIECI-IANIOAI. COLLEGE or 'l‘1+:xAs.

When ‘a. male shows fear he loses the power to control the muscles of
the tail. On the back of the fowl, near the little oil gland, is the rump.
The tail feathers are carried there. Whenever a bird shows physical
Weakness the muscles that hold the rump erect weaken and the tail
feathers droop. - (Fig. 9.) Fear will produce this effect.

The condition of the oil gland indicates a fowl’s health. Oil is stored
up energy. If there is no oil in the gland the bird is in poor condition.
The plumage of the chicken will show this. The drooping of the tail
is due literally to loss of nerve. It is a question of the nerve that
governs the muscles failing to hold up the rump that supports the tail.
It is a physical manifestation of fright. Actors who study manifesta-
tions of human emotions understand this. They know that fear in the
human race is always associated with a relaxation of the muscles in the
knees and in other parts of the body, resulting in a cowering attitude.
We have many photographs taken of birds in the condition of fear, and
most of them show this drooping of the tail. You can notice the same
thing with a bunch of little chickens. Suppose a lot of little chickens
were on the other end of this table and I should rap, imitating the call
of the hen. That would bring all the little chicks running to get
something to eat. Then if I should give the call of the hen hawk they
would go rushing in theother direction and many would drop right
there and hide. ' ~

In the case of low vitality there is muscular weakness and consequent
inability to stand up under fright.

gIQIJGStlOIII At what age should we dispose of laying hens?

* Prof. Rice? Ordinarily a person would expect the first year of a
fowl’s productive life to be the most profitable; but I think we should
keep the birds for many years .,for breeding purposes if we have excep-
tionally good ones. This is because we not only secure the added benefit
of more progeny from our best birds, but we also add the quality of
longevity. The very fact that a bird is able to stand up under heavy
production for a number of yearsshows an inherited tendency to long
life. It is a serious mistake to kill either male or female if they have
exceptional quality. We should use these as breeders as long as they
prove strong producers. \Vhen breeding from pullets we have been
doing what in effect the dairy-man would have done if he had kept only
heifers to breed from. The wise dairyman, on the contrary, builds up

‘his herd by picking out the exceptional individuals and breeding from

them as long as they prove profitable.

The most important factor of all has to do with the shape of the birds.
The shape of the body of a bird of high vitality nearly fills a parallel-
ogram. (Fig. 10.) The shape of the body of a bird of low vitality
has a tendency to fill a triangle. (Fig. 10.) This is true of a chick
or old. fowl. ~

The same thing is true with regard to the shape of the birds when
viewed from the front or rear. A bird of high vitality. viewed from
the rear. has a tendency to fill a parallelogram because its keel is better
fleshed and it has a full abdomen. Tts vital organs fill the abdomen
and give it a large egg producing capacity, a capacity for digesting a

POULTRY. IN -TEXAS. ' Q p37
' large quantity of food. Thisikind of a bird also has a well developed
breastand full crop that nearly fills out the parallelogram. A bird of
low vitality generally has a shorter keel, a “tucked up” abdomen, and
is hollow breasted. '

The bird of high vitality has the keel well covered with meat. If a
fowl is sick the loss of flesh shows first on the keel. The bird of low
vitality will always have a thin keel. If a bird is healthy and has been _
well fed, one can carve the white meat off in large slices. (Fig. 11.)

A bird of high vitality generally has short jointed, heavily meated
legs, the joints roundand full as compared with the bird of low vitality,
which is more likely to have thinner shanks. Viewed from the side, the
bird of high vitality would have its thigh bones wide apart, while the
bird of low vitality would have its legs set more closely together. The
width between the legs is fiiced by the width between the sides of the body,

Fig. 10-—The yva in which birds of high _and low vitality fill a parallelogram and the two triangles.
his c early brings out the ponntspf weakness in develo ment of keel, breast
_ and abdomen m the low vitality b‘ .

and a wide, well developed digestive capacity will throw the legs wide
apart. With low vitality we have the long, lean, lank appearance.
Sometimes the chicken is knock-knead so that the hocks interfere.

The neck of the bird of high vitality usually is thick in proportion
to its length, as compared to the tendency to a long, thin neck of the
bird of weak vitality. This is one of the best indications, because we
nearly always find the short, thick neck associated with the blocky body, n
and with this tendency of body and neck comes the tendency to a well
rounded, well developed comb. Indeed, all of the face appendages are in
general harmony, showing a tendency to small wattles, comb and ear
lobes. In the high vitality bird we have the larger comb, wattles and
ear lobes.

The bird of high vitality has a bright, expressive, clear eye. with the
eyelids wide open, which gives a round appearance to the eye. The

38 AGRICULTURAL AND AIECILXXICEXL CoLLicoia or lasxas.

bird of low vitality has a sleepy 0r dopy appearance, the eyelids not
being held \Vl(l€ open and thus giving a snake-eyed appearance. ‘yVheir
ever the bird is weak the inusetil-zir tissues are not well developed and
the eyelids do not have the power to stay tipen and the eye sinks hack
into the head. If the bird is well and vie-orous the eye looks round
and bright. lf you will notice a hunch of vigjrirous young chicks you
will see that their eyes stand out like shoe buttons. A hunch of little
chicks two or three weeks old, it of high vitalityj, are alert and stand
erect. “Then seen in a large flock they seem to be “all eyes.” ‘they are
bright, active and intelligent. .

In the case of the bird of high vitality there is a tendency‘ of the wiiiz:
to stay up elose to the body: while the bird oi‘ low vitality has a ten-
dency to a (lrooping of the wing feathers. In the czise of a bird of high

Fig. ]1—A floeklof fowls selected from a general flock of [iiillets of similar age, having the same
reading and cure, but which were chosen because of their low vitality.

Vitality the teathcrs of the tail are cariicil iii the natural. upright
position characteristic of the breed.

The size of the feathers and their (‘tilltlllltlli will also indicate vitality.
In the low vitality" bird the ruinp has a. l't'llllt'llt'_\' to weakness. t-zlll.~‘tli_<_'
the tail feathers to droop. 'l‘he tr-athcrs are smaller in size and are not
in good condition.‘ Tn almost all instances tlicse cli:ir:icteristics are
maintained. (Fig. 1?.)

A good, strong, well developed body and heavv shanks will also have
toes and toe nails in the same proportion. .\ bird of lmv vitality will
be likely to have thin toes and toe nails. The explanation is that the
strong, active hens wear their toe nails mil scratching in the litter or
soil, while the birds of low vitality stand around idle and let their toe
nails grow. Tn the case ol’ young chickens. it they grow at. all. they

POULTRY IN TEXAS. 39

will grow beaks and toc nails. The beaks grow as long as that of a
crow. The toe nails are long and thin. The body is extremely small
and out oat’ proportion. Nature apparently has determined that, if a
little chicken is to grow at all, it needs beak, toes and wing feathers to
help it get away from enemies and get, a living.

In the ease of males having single combs, the normal tendency in a
specimen of low vitality is for the comb to lop over. You may have a
flock of birds every one having good, straight combs, all running at
large and in perfect health. If you keep them closely confined you
will find in those which have a_ lower vitality aitendeney for the comb
to lop over. The tail also has a tendency to droop to one side. You may
take such a hird out of the flock and put it in fine physical condition
and the tail and comb are likely’ to come up straight. Uther things
heing equal. the larger size and weight would indicate constitutional

Fig. l2-~Seleetcd from the same general flock as those in Figure 11, but selected withjegard t0
high vitality.

vigor. 'l‘hings are not, however. alyvayxs equal. and frequently we find
a hird weighing more than another. yet having lower vitality. Size
iloes not always mean vitalityx Smnetinies a hird of greatest vitality
throws his energy so much into motion that he fails to grow large. He
grows hard. nervy and strong. but not hig. He. nevertheless. has en-
duraiiee and \'liilli’._'. lloyvever. size is always a thing in favor of the
hird if other conditions are equal.

\Yhat we want to do always is to maintain a generally" harmonious
development of the hird. “'0 want it well filled out in front and rear.
This sort of a hird will give us a machine which will manufacture feed
into eggs or llesh. \Vhen you see a little hahy ehiclc which just fills
that parallelogram, you can hardly hold the little rascal. He will fill
your hand and will slip through your fingers if you are not watching.
You may take zinother- chit-l; of the same variety that is hollow breasted

4.0 AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE OF TEXAS.
. I
and “tucked up” in the rear and he will be weak and soft. He will
stand around peeping instead of eating and you will never be able to
get anything out of him.
Question: Is it Well to use the eggs from pullets for hatching?
Prof. Rice: No, it is not. I think it is perfectly sound doctrine to

' say that we should breed from hens rather than from pullets. The

hens do not lay so many eggs before the breeding season and they have
a tendency to lay bigger eggs which produce bigger chicks. Also. after
we have kept the birds a year or two we have a chance to observe whether
or not they break down in health and, therefore, will have birds with a
tendency to longevity.

Question: At what age should we begin to sell off the hens?

Prof. Rice: The matter of selling should be regulated by the con-

' dition of the hens and the market. The unproductive hens should he’
culled out and sold as we find them. In the matter of selling oflf the

layers from the flocks, I think every fall a man ought to sell off prob-
ably one-half to two-thirds of his hens and simply keep the choicest
birds on the basis of vitality and whether or not they are laying late.
As a general proposition, we cannot afford to keep hens for the eggs
they lay, outside of those to be used for breeding purposes, after they
are two or three years old. Much depends upon the breed. Leghorns
may he kept longer, as a general rule, than the heavier breeds.

In connection with the question of constitutional vigor and also as.

having an important bearing on the marketing question, Tahle I shows
what takes place in keeping eggs for hatching. This is only one of
several experiments that we have tried and we have had as high as 1800
eggs in some tests. Therefore it is not mere guess work or mere acci-
dent, but the results of careful experimental work.
TABLE I.
TEMPERATURE OF EGGS KEPT FOR HATCHING.
Kept 14 Days in Egg Cases, Clean, Unwashed. Turned Dailay.

Living room Cold storage Furnace room

No. of eggs.‘ . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .. 50 50 50
Max. Min. IWax. TMin. Max. Min.
Average Temp. kept in . . . . . . . 65 75 53 5O 54 45 80 95 57

Per cent. fertile . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 90 24.4

No. dead germs . . . . . . . . . . . .. 18 4- 12

N0. pipped . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . O 2 - O

No. chicks .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 19 31 0

Per cent hatch of total eggs._. . 52 ' '76 0

POULTRY IN Texas. - 4}

TABLE II.
TIME TO KEEP sees FOR I-IATCHING.

All Eggs Kept on End in Egg Cases, Unwashed, Clean, Turned Daily.

N0, of eggs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 5O 5O 5O 5O 5O 5O

N0. of days kept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 28 21 14= '7 1.

Per cent. fertile . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 8 19 52‘ '78 80 86

No. of dead germs . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1 4 8 - 8 6 0

No. pipped . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 O 4- 5 3 3

No. of chicks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 O 6 16 17 ' 37“
Per cent. hatch of total eggs. . . . . 6 O 12 32C 36 71L

\Ve found later, upon breaking the eggs tested out as infertile that
we could see dead germs which had not appeared in eandling. We also
found that we would increase our count of the number of dead germs
by about 5O per cent. whenever we examined by breaking the eggs that
had been tested out as infertile.

Table II shows the results of an experiment to observe the efiects of
time in keeping eggs for hatching. In this particular experiment the
eggs were all kept exactly alike and all were kept in a living room at
an average temperature of 65 degrees, which is five degrees lower than
that of the ordinary living room and a little below the temperature which
is necessary to start incubation. Great care was taken to get all the
eggs from the same flocks so the conditions would remain the same-
The figures there speak for themselves.

lt is perfectly clear that there is loss in fertility continually (as
shown by candling the eggs) and in hatching power, after the first few
(lays. and that the sooner the eggs can he put in the incubator or under
the hen the better. and that usually they should not be kept for more
than a week or two at most, eren when kept cool. Also we learn that

the eggs should be kept in a temperature as low as 4O to 5O degrees to

secure the best results.
Fig. 13 shows chickens that are suffering from what is known as

white diarrhoea. This is probably one of the most disastrous diseases‘

known to poultry. Tt has been the cause of more persons failing in
the poultry business than perhaps any other one disease. The humiliat-
ing thing is that persons otherwise well qualified in the matter of keep-
ing birds SUCCOSSfUilV have failed in the business because they could not
hatch and rear chickens, and it was through no fault of theirs so far as
the general handling of the birds. breeding, etc., was concerned. It was
simply a failure to understand the cause of the disease and how to over-
come it. In many instances I have known persons in our country to
lose nearly all of the chickens they hatched. I have known a man who
hatched two or three thousand a year to not rear a hundred because
this disease so thoroughly permeated his flocks.

Dr. Rettgcr, of Storrs College, Connecticut. discovered several years
ago bacteria called Bacterium ptillortim, but he did not at that time
recognize it as the cause of this disease. Eight or nine years later,

4:2 AGRICULTURAL AND lvlizoitameitr, COLLEGE OF TEXAS.

when the disease had become very serious itllTOllgllOllt the country, he
then connected his original discovery with the actual disease and has
spent three or four years of valuable service in unraveling the life lils-
tory of the bacterium. He (liseovtired this disease in the blood of the
parent stock, and showed that the bacterium lives in the body of the
fowl, and that it is localized primarily in the ovary of the bird. lVhen
a hen gets into heavy layiing there is a great strain on this particular
organ, which becomes weakened and this apparentlv assists in localizing
the disease germs in that particular part. So that whenever a fowl
develops the egg yolk some of these bacteria may be deposited with it.
Sometimes this happens with all the yolks developed and sometimes
with only occasional ones. (Fig. 1+ shows this condition. The yolk
with its (liseascd germ passes along, reti~eives its covering of albumen, is
covered with the shell. and the egg is laid. \Ve therefore see how the
hen may transmit through the egg to the chick this disease which has
proved so fatal. A large proportion ot the (‘_‘_“f_"_'.< which contain these

 

Fig. X3——A flock of chiekeiis nflcctcd with \\'hilc l)lllf'l'll()CZl.

germs never hatch. The chit-ks die in the shell. Freipienttv this failure
to hatch has been laid to the iueiibattir and to all sorts oi‘ possible eon-
ditions. but frequently it is due to the aetion of these baeteria in the
body of the. chit-k. lf the chit-k hatches, as inaiiv do. it l1:-“ll1lll‘\' dies
betore it is two weeks old. The disease usually begins to manifest itself
bv the end of the first" week, is at its worst about the tenth day, and
frequently takes oil’ praetii-allv the entire tloek. l'sii:ill_v a few chickens
will live and 0£1I‘l'_\' the disease in their bodies. though apparently they
have overcome it so far as physical appearances are ('till(‘0i‘1l(‘(l. Xever-
theless, the)‘ do carry the disease in their ovaries and transmit‘ it to the
next generation.

One method of’ c-xterinination  to iliseard the hens which carry this
disease and not breed from thein. The tirst method of attack was to
trap nest the hens, incubate the cfrfis. then throw out of the tloek the
ones whose eggs showed that they eonlziiiii-il the bacteria; hut inasmuch
as some hens carried the ilistasi and onlv oi-easioiiallv laid an egg having
it, it was impossible to iletei-t all the hens ('ill'l'\'lll_l_" the ilisease. So that

POULTRY IN TEXAS. 43

iethod was abandoned. The method now employed to discover the
ens having this disease was originated by Dr. L. M. Jones of Cornell
nd proven by Dr. Rettger and Dr. Gage. A little blood is taken from
1e fowl and put through an agglutination test which shows whether
1e hen has the disease.

The first practical thing to do is to select rigidly only the finest birds
‘hich you Want for breeding and have those birds tested if there is any
ispicion of the disease. This is unnecessary if the chickens are doing
‘ell. It is only necessary if there is any evidence of the diseased chicks.
lnder those circumstances you may be reasonably certain you have the
isease in the first flock. s

Dr. Rettgei- is quoted as having made the startling statement that in
is search to get absolutely pure stock, free from the disease, he found

 

\\|u “new Mn n PQEIHI-I"

Fig. 14—Two ovarics.—The_ top one is
healthy,_the lower one 1s infected
with White Diarrhoea.

ut two flocks that did not show evidence of white (liarrhoea. ‘Many
ersons have had diseased flocks of pure bred birds and have innocently
:-nt the disease all over the country, whereas, persons having good stock
11d not having brought in new birds from outside have avoided the
isease for many years. Persons who are in the habit of getting in new
lood every year have generally brought the disease into their flocks
1 this way.

Whenever you kill a fowl and discover rather irregular shaped ova
r a greenish yellow substance in the ova, a substance of a gangrenous
ature and appearance. you are pretty sure to be right in concluding
hat the hen carries the haeeillus of white diarrhoea or some other
rouble that should call for a special examination.

44 AGRICULTURAL AND NIECHANICAL CoLLEen or TEXAS.

Dr. Rettger also discovered what practically all of us have under-
stood for some time but could never explain, that sour milk, the “elab.
ber” you speak of, carrying lactic acid, when fed to chickens so stim-
ulates them in their growth as to appear to overcome the disease or kill
the bacteria. Whether it kills the bacteria with which it comes in con-
tact i.n the digestive tract, or whether it is merely a stimulating and
effective food, we do not know; but we do know that apparently the
chickens fed with sour milk or sweet skimmed milk will overcome the
external evidence of this disease as indicated in Fig. 13.

The remedy must be in the nature of careful selection and the feed-
ing of sour milk to make the chicks strong. After all the various rules
for selection have been applied, then test out by blood examination the
remaining ones to make sure that none of the hens carry the disease.
The State of Connecticut has agreed to make that test at a cost of five

 

Fig. 15—-Chicken affected with gapes.

cents per hen, and a State could not do a better thing for the poultry
people of the country than to do this. The reason it has not been done
heretofore is because the importance of the work has never been realized,
but the day is coming when it must be done everywhere.

You may be more or less familiar with the troublesome disease (Fig.
15) known as gapes. This disease is due to a parasite which lives in
the soil part of the time and which is frequently found inside of angle-
worms. Chickens living on infected ground pick up the soil and get
these parasites in the throat where they fill the air passage, and unless
relieved the chick will strangle to death. Fig. 15 shows a bird suffering
with the disease and here are pictures of these gape worms. (Fig. 16.)
Sometimes these worms are half or three-quarters of an inch in length.
Fig. 1.6 shows the sucker-like disk with which it adheres to the throat
and the male adhering here. If not removed they grow large and suf-
focate the chicken. _

Just as soon as the disease is discovered the chicken should be killed

POULTRY IN TEXAS. 4:5

and burned and then rear chickens each year on new ground until the
disease is stamped out. The great danger from this disease is in rear-
ing chickens constantly 0n exactly the salne place. In my State I have
known instances Where the coops have stood in exactly the same place
year after year.

3&8!
m.»
wiv.
333;, nn-mn!a:.='"
-¢--~3-¢ur. s. 4%
u-p-“flyummwamv

Fig. 16—l\{ethod of removing gape worm and treatment for same.
It also shows enlargement of the worm.

46 AGRICULTURAL AND Mncrmmoan COLLEGE or Tnxas.

CHAPTER III
BREEDING FOR EGG PRODUCTION;

  
 
  
 
 
 
 
   
  
  
   
 
   
    
 
 
    
   
    
    
 
 
  
  

BY JAMES -E. R1012,
Professor of Poultry Husbandry, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.

We must consider a number of factors in breeding for egg produc
tion, not the least of which is the number of eggs the hen will lay
but the real test of value of the hens for egg production is not base
alone on the number of eggs laid. Several factors enter into consider
ation. First, it is based on the number of eggs produced per year
second, on the quality of eggs laid; third, the time of the year in whic
the eggs are laid; fourth, the cost of producing the eggs, and, fifth, th
effect upon the health of the fowl.

The most important factor to secure the above results is the matte
of constitutional vigor of the stock. lVe must discard froum our floe
all eggs or young chicks or pullets or eockerels for breeding stock whie
have any indication of weakness. It is only the strong that.will pa
and only the strong upon which we can base a solid foundation fo
breeding for production.

It will pay well to breed only from pure bred poultry. Start with
foundation of stock or eggs from flocks which have been carefully an
intelligently bred for vigor and egg production for a period of year
It is utter folly for a person to undertake to get satisfactory results i
breeding for exhibition qualities or for eggs unless he starts where t
other fellow left off. It is passing strange that persons will be willin
to start with mongrel fowls when they could begin, with comparative]
small original cost. with some good, pure bred fowls that someone el
has taken years to bring up to high quality.

Therefore, start with pure bred poultry of some kind, for the follo
ing reasons: First, the fowls are more reliable in breeding; they a
more prepotent, as we say; more likely to transmit their qualities, wha
ever these may be, good or bad, to their offspring, than are mongrel
B_v mongrels we mean ordinary fowls with no particular breeding bac
of them, or made up of a large number of pure breeds. A eombinatiq‘
or cross of two or more pure breeds, no matter how good each may o?
will not give as good results as a straight pure breed. because when i
person has developed within a strain or variety certain eharacteristi
of shape, size or color of eggs. or high egg production, or other cha
acters, he knows, with a reasonable degree of certainty, that with th
foundation these qualities will he more likely to be transmitted to I,
offspring.

In starting with some pure breed one does not need to be limited '
choice to any one particular breed. There is more in the man or wom,
handling the breed than in the breed itself. Many persons are doi

POULTRY 1N Texas. 4'7

equally well with one or another of many of the modern breeds, but you
should only get one of them. I advise this not only for the sake of
better egg producing qualities, but for other reasons. Wherever you
have a lot of mongrels or a combination of various breeds, one year with
another, the birds will not lay as many eggs as will those of any one
good pure breed or variety. A flock of some one variety of pure bred
stock will lay more eggs than the ordinary so-called “barnyard fowls,”
which have grown up without any particular parentage. It is a ‘well
known breeding principle that when varieties or breeds are mixed there
is a clashing of characters and a tendency to revert to original types.
The chances are that you will get a flock that will not lay as well as
either line of parent stock. Take the White Leghorn and Black Minorca,
or the lVhite and Brown Leghorn; both are fine types of non-broody
egg producers, but if you mix them their offspring will be more broody,
will lay fewer eggs of less uniformity in size, color or shape. There
will he a tendency to hark back to original type of fowls. The same
thing is true if we mix the meat types, and there will be a reversion as
to quality of meat.

The next factor is that the first cost for starting with pure bred stock
is but little more. It will cost but a very few dollars more to begin in
a small way with eggs from good pure bred stock, or with a trio or pen
of good pure bred birds than with stock of no particular breeding. In
almost any community good eggs for a start can be secured in this way
at a low cost. If these eggs are hatched and the chickens carefully
reared and brought to maturity early, the next spring you can waive
the usual rule and keep a few of the pullets and the most vigorous
cockerel for breeding. “ihile, as a rule, it is better to not breed from
pullets and cockerels, I think it permissible in such a case for the first
year, providing always that none but vigorous, good sized, healthy in-
dividuals are used. This would give eggs enough for hatching pur-
poses that spring and by the next. year you could have on your place a
flock of some good pure bred variety.

It costs no more to keep good pure bred birds than it does to keep
mongrels, except in so far as they lay more eggs and grow more meat,
which will require more feed, for which they will pay a better profit.
But, taking size into consideration, if all are of the same size and lay
the same number of eggs, it will cost no more to keep a. pure bred flock
of one variety than to keep a mongrel flock, and there will be less profit
from the latter. Since this is true, why should we not start with some-
thing of better quality so long as we can handle it with exactly the
same expense and with vcr_w* little more original cost for stock?

The next facetor is that we will get better results in feeding a flock of
pure bred birds of one variety. This is due to the fact that pure bred
birds are more uniform in type. In a measure, every bird is like every
other bird in the flock. They are all Wyandottes, Rhode Island Reds,
Plymouth Rocks, or Ieghorns. But when you have mongrels, such as
a flock we saw and photographed the other dav not far from the College.
where we counted seven varieties of individuals showing their external

48 Aomouuruaar. AND ll/IECHANICAL_COLLEGE or TEXAS.

  

characteristics (and doubtless there were other kinds which did not.
show in the feathers, but were in the blood). We do not get equal j"
results in feeding mongrels. In a mixed flock you may have the Leg-i
horn type of birds and their opposites, the heavy Asiatic types, which
have a slow action and phlegmatic disposition; or you may have general.
gpurpose types, which are more active than the sprightly nervous Mediter-
raneans. All good poultrymen who have compared pure breds and mon-
grels agree that you cannot get as satisfactory results in feeding a flock
of common stock as you can from a flock all of one breed or variety.

In feeding fowls we must feed them as a flock, not as individuals,
as would be the case in feeding dairy cows; hence, the importance of

uniformity. In the mongrel flock you will have big and little birds
and those of different characteristics, old and young birds, and birds
that are active and birds that are phlegmatie, birds that are laying,
birds that are not laying, those that are getting ready to lay, and those
that have ceased to lay. We will find that they do not make the same
use of the feed; they will get fat easier at one period than at another; ;
some tyjpes will fatten more quickly on the same ration, and we cannot ‘
get as satisfactory results in feeding these various types as we can get
if we have flocks that are all of the same variety and of essentially the
same age and kept under similar general conditions.

Then we have the question of hatching the eggs from birds of varying
characteristics. Anyone who has run incubators for several years knows
that there is a difference in results between a tray of eggs all of one
variety or a tray of eggs of more than one variety or many varieties.
TVhere all the eggs in the machine are Leghorn or all Wyandottes or all
Plymouth Rocks, we will get better results than where they are mixed.
TE the eggs are from the same variety, there is more likely to be uniform _
hatching of a large number of chicks at the same time. For instance,
‘Leghorn eggs do not require within several hours as much time to hatch
ras do Wyandotte eggs or Plymouth Rock eggs: and these hatch in con-
siderably less time than do the Asiaties. Where the eggs are of the
same size, same texture of shell, the same rate of growth of the embryo,
‘they will all hatch out at nearly the same time, very much like popcorn
‘in a. popper. When eggs of several different breeds are incubated to-
gether, the chickens late in hatching in an incubator do not have the
same chance as those which come out of the shell earlier: so a given
number of chicks will not do so well where there is much difference in
time in the hatching as if the conditions are right for all of them to pop
out at the same time. We can get this result only by having eggs of
~one varictv of some pure breed.

"Phen. again, pure bred birds are most attractive in appearance. A
"person is to be pitied who has not enough pride and sense of appre-
ciation to prefer to look upon a flock of good, uniform. pure bred birds,
rather thanthe ordinary, nondescript flock of mongrels—a regular “crazv
-quilt of feathers.” There is little that is uplifting. little to inspire a
person to give these birds good care. But if one has uniform quality
in the flock, no matter whether the birds are white or red or spanglcd

1
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l
i
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1

POULTRY IN Texas. 49

‘or barred, so long as the quality is uniform, it will be more attractive.

It is but human nature to give better attention to such a flock. If we
have something that “looks good” and has quality, we are bound to take
infinitely better care of it. A man who has birds of this kind will give
them better care because he wants to show them to his friends. Did
you ever know a person who had mongrel poultry to ask his friends to
come out from town, or to get out of the wagon or automobile to go
in and take a look at a flock of mongrels? If you have pure bred birds
you do not have to invite visitors, for there is nothing except babies
that will attract so many people as nice chickens. A man who has
fine chickens that people are coming to see will be infinitely more likely
to have the chicken house clean and to take better care of his poultry.

Generally, it is a mistake to send money away off to some distant
place, to persons you do not know, for stock eggs, simply because a
breeder advertises big headlines in some magazine. You can generally
find on the next farm, or one one not far away, essentially as good stock
and many times much better for your purposes, and you have the oppor-
tunity of knowing before buying the condition of the stock. We believe
in community eo-operation and development. This means to get the
best you can and help one another. When enough people in a community
are handling good stock. it will bring money into that community instead
of taking the money out of it. That makes for prosperity.

The next factor has to do with the size, color and quality of the eggs.
As we have seen. we can never make any progress in breeding'for egg
quality until we have pure bred stock. Under the head of marketing
I am going to show how many dollars difference it makes whether our
eggs are uniformly white or brown, of good size, and even shape. A
combination of sizes, shapes and colors in the eggs will make a diiference
of 5O to '75 cents net per year per hen in our‘ State as compared to
eggs lacking uniformity in color, size and shape. We must eventually
come to breeding for standard eggs which are going to bring the highest
prices. There is no reason why eggs for hatching produced in this
State should not bring as much money as those from any other, pro-
vided they have equal uniformity of color, size, shape and freshness.
When your eggs have all these qualities, you can send your eggs into
any of the big markets. New York, (‘l1ieago, Philadelrhia or Boston, and
receive the best prices for them. You can put quality into those eggs
by having pure bred poultry and taking proper care of it.

Unfortunately, there are many pure breeds which do not produce
eggs of uniform color, but the eggs from any pure breed are more uni—
form than those from the average mongrel flock.

When deciding upon a yariety to keep, we want to consider the kind
of egg as to color, size and shape that we ought to produce to secure
the most money in the markets where they are to be sold. We are most:
likely to get this quality by keeping a pure breed.

These, in the main, are the points of greatest consideration, though
not all the points that ought to be considered in favor of keeping pure
bred flocks.

I

5O AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE 0F TEXAS.

Having picked out high vitality stock, having selected a pure breed
what else can we do to help get more eggs which will sell for the highes
price? The first thing is to get early hatched pullets that will lay early

There is a principle of annual development that applies to all ani
mals, which we can apply in selecting our high producing birds. Thi
principle is the well known fact that an animal generally shows earl;
in life those tendencies and characteristics that are likely to dominat
it through life. The application of this principle to fowls is that th
chicken is born with a tendency to lay many or few eggs and will show
that tendency early in life. A high producer generally begins to laj
when young. Hence, we should hatch as many chickens as possible a
one time or nearly the same time, so that they will come to laying earl;
in the fall. 1f there is more than one hatch, those of the same ag~
must be marked so that they can be distinguishable from the others
You must know in the fall approximately the ages of the pullets. The!
mark those that lay the first eggs in the fall of the year. If early ant
late hatched chickens runtogether unmarked, you cannot tell with cer
tainty the chickens which lay at the earliest ages. But the bulk o
your hatching, in any event, should be done early. You should bring
off your chicks at the time when you get the highest fertility and hatch
ing power in the eggs and when the pullets will reach laying befori
unfavorable weather conditions overtake them.

A person need not necessarily trap nest his fowls in order to knov
which ones are your best layers, though trap nesting is the most reliahh
method if it can be done; but it is expensive. One can pick out th<
birds which are laying by observation after a little experience. Experi
ment station trap‘ nest records, covering many years, have shown tht
value of selecting the early laying pullets as an indication of production

Another thing one can do is to watch the fowls in the fall of the yea‘
and find out which hens continue to lay late. Then mark them fox
breeders. It will he found that nearly always the birds that begar
earliest to lay as pullets will continue laying latest in the fall of th.
year as hens. Why is this? It is simply that they have inherited the
tendency to lay, started early, and stopped late.

Another way to select the heavy producers is to pick out the hens tha"
molt late. Some persons are getting pretty good results in breeding
for egg production and they depend mainly upon selecting out the lat:
melting birds and marking them to keep for breeders. If you do this
you will get practically‘ every high producing bird in your flock, and ir
a few years you should noticeably increase the average egg production

In our ignorance we have hcen going on the assumption that late
molters should he discarded. and we had been killing off in the fall o1
the year the late melting hens for committing the crime of laying toc
many eggs, i. e., for doing just what we have been trying to breed 0111
fowls to do, namely, to lay persistently, early and_ late. After all o1
the years of heavy producing we have killed these hens because of 0111
ignorance. Our excuse has been that we wanted to get eggs in Novem-
ber and December, when prices were highest, and in our efforts to dc

i
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i POULTRY IN TEXAS. 51

this we saved the birds that had melted early because they had their

new coats of feathers and were already in the “new fall styles” and,

theoretically, should begin laying. But we failed to recognize the fact
lithat those hens melted early because they did not inherit the tendency
?to throw their energy into eggs and lay late and molt late.

_ We have learned by means of trap nest records that vigoralone will
not give the highest production. We had a hen that was a perfect
Yheauty, her shape, color, comb, everything indicated a perfect winner;
rbut when we looked up her egg record we found that she was. nothing
gbut a “fashion plate.” She had not laid a single egg. She had been
traveling wholly upon her shape. Yet what would we have done with
that bird if we had not known the results of our melting experiments?
-We would have kept her through the next year and made the other hens
support her, and we would have killed the hens laying late and melting
late in the fall of the year, the highest producers.

The thing to do next is to go out and study your hens. A person
has no business handling poultry if he is not sufficiently interested to
take pride and pleasure in watching them and getting acquainted with
them whenever he has an opportunity. Therefore, watch your birds.
Whenever you find a bird laying in the melting period, mark that bird
and next spring breed from her. Then pick out the finest cockerel from
her offspring 1nd mate him with some vigorous late melting hens, which
will be your highest producers. Also. select the most promising of her
pullets and use them for breeders when they are a year and a half old.
This method cf selection should improve the egg producing quality of
the flock.

Another important point is to breed from mature stock. Breed from
hens rather than from pullets; breed from cocks rather than from cock-
erels. But we must go on the principle all the time of breeding from
the very best individuals we have. The principle involved is to breed
for longevity, to get birds that have a tendency to long life, to increase
the period of profitable production instead of decreasing it. Thus we
will have birds with an inherited tendency always to longer and longer
lives. We know certain families of humans where the usual term of
life is eighty to ninety years, or even one hundred years. And we know
other families where it is usual for the members to die young. A similar
condition is true with chickens. What we need to do at the present
time is to breed our poultry with a tendency to live long, to get pro-
ductive value for three or four years rather than for one or two. Today
two years is considered the average profitable commercial life of a fowl.
The man who breeds up a fine herd of cattle has them for ten" or twelve
years, and there has been a continued tendency towards increasing the
profitable span of life in other animals. But‘ when we come to poultry,
what is the state of affairs? We have a flock one or two years and then
dispose of them. '[‘his means that a man must, every year, hatch and
rear as many chickens as he has matured fowls. He really should rear
more; otherwise he‘ cannot select rigidly for quality and maintain his
flocks.

g male or female, or the eggs, from some person you know, with whose ;

52 AGRICULTURAL AND MEoHANroAL COLLEGE OF TEXAS.

   
   
  
  
  
 

Question: Is there any foundation for the theory that the male '
more likely to transmit high egg producing qualities than is the female

Professor Rice: I know of no foundation in fact for the belief tha
the male any more than the female has the power of transmitting thi
quality. A theory has been advanced by some authorities that hig
producing hens transmit high fecundity only to the sons. Even if tha
were true, we cannot get that high producing male unless we have =.
high producing mother, and it all goes back to the breeding practic
that is as old as animal creation, namely, mating the best to the best _‘;
or, in breeding for egg production, the mating of two high producin
individuals. I shall not believe it depends exclusively on one more than
on the other sex until I can see the proof based upon many experiments
with several breeds, covering many generations of birds. v

Answering the question just raised in regard to inbreeding and line
breeding, I will say that inbreeding, as it is generally understood, means
the continued pouring together of the same blood lines by the mating
of close relatives, as brother to sister, or parent and offspring, systemat-
ically or indiscriminately. It is sometimes not easy to point out where
line breeding begins and inbreeding leaves ofl’.

Line breeding is a systematic effort at breeding together closely re-
lated lines or families in such a way as to avoid as much as possible
the breeding of very closely related individuals. This is done by pick-

ing out the choicest male and the choicest female. for example. mating

them and marking the offspring, and from this offspring starting what '

we call two different lines, a male line and a female line, and thereafter ‘

selecting the females from the female line and the males from the male .,
line, according to a well defined system of selection. It involves a Q
complicated, expensive system of marking, pedigree hatching and record ‘_
keeping. "
As a matter of fact, it is not a practical thing to do in breeding large y,
flocks of birds on the farm. It is the thing to do and should be done i
in breeding small flocks of carefully selected birds for definite qualities. 
Answering the inquiry how to avoid the dangers of inbreeding with-
out going into the details of line breeding, I will say that is where l
eo-operation comes in to advantage. That is why we need to have many
persons in a community breeding for egg production with the same
variety, so that they may exchange stock. Generally speaking, persons
may continue to breed for three or four generations without introducing
new blood, providing always that careful selection is made of constitu-
tionally strong individuals. The great trouble arising from inbreeding
is that a person gets so enthusiastic in breeding for feathers or shape
of comb or body that he has not the moral courage to kill an otherwise
desirable bird which lacks constitutional vigor. Such men breed so
entirely for feathers that they are liable to forget all about egg pro-
duction, and we can commit the same error in breeding foregg pro-

duction.
_ New blood should be introduced into the flock gradually. Secure the ‘

POULTRY IN TEXAS. -_ 53

   
   
  
  
   
  
  
  

jtock and methods you are familiar. In case of buying eggs, hatch
 hem and then choose the most vigorous, desirable cockerel to mate to
_ : few of your hens, and after you have had opportunity to note the
 uality of the offspring, if it is satisfactory, you can introduce the blood
. to the rest of your flock. Proceed in the same way with‘ mature
reeding stock. At all events, do not introduce the new blood generally
5‘ n to your flocks until you have had time to test it, otherwise you may
3;; jure your own stock, the results which it may have taken many years
 o secure. There is more money lost through indiscriminately getting

f1 ould be used in this connection.
’ The point I want to emphasize is that if you must get new blood,

ither by purchasing eggs or mature stock, do it gradually. Experi-
 ent with a few chickens, mark these, watch the developments carefully,
 ncl, if satisfactory", introduce blood from these ofispring into your
ther pens.

new blood every’ year than in almost any other way and great care -

54 AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE or Texas.

CHAPTER IV
RAISING CHICKENS.

BY James E. Rios,
Professor of Poultry Husbandry, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.

This we consider is the most important and the most dificult part
of poultry husbandry. This is the place where nearly everyone who
fails “falls down.” This is because we are dealing with so many little
individuals. Unless our methods are right we are likely to get poor
results. Danger of failure is also due to the fact that every year the
poultryman must go through the process of rearing as many or more
chickens as he has mature fowls on the farm. If he fails to succeed
in raising enough early pullets to replace about one-half of the hens
on his place, he will go jnto winter quarters with many birds not as
eflicient as they should be, or his houses will not be filled. All over the
country men have failed in the hatching and rearing part of the business
who have been fully competent to carry on the other lines of the work.
The greatest limitation of the poultry business on the farm has been due
to the difficulty of hatching and rearing chickens. Men can keep ‘hens
by the thousands so far as mere feeding housing and handling are con-
cerned, but when it comes to the details of hatching thousands of eggs
and rearing thousands of chicks they find their limitations. This is
due principally to the very small number of chickens that generally it
has been thought must be reared in single flocks.

Within a few years many methods have been devised by which eggs
can be incubated with greater cfiiciency and in vastly larger numbers
than it was formerly thought possible. So, too, brooders have been
invented by the use of which chicks may be reared in larger flocks of
two or three hundred or possibly more, instead of the small flocks of
twenty-five or fifty, as was formerly the custom.

This morning I will deal entirely with a system of rearing which has
to do with flocks of two hundred and fifty’ to three hundred chicks,
believing that in all cases where persons intend to make the poultry
business a considerable part of their farming, they could well introduce
some system by which chicks can be reared in large flocks. For farmers
who keep a comparatively few fowls and have a few chicks coming of!
at a time throughout the season, they will frequently find it to be more
satisfactory in the end if they will use some system of getting their
eggs hatched at one or two, or, at most, three hatches, and then have a
brooding system which will take large flocks of chickens, and let these
be the only hatches of the season. The broods should be sufficiently
far apart so that they may be given individual attention. By so doing,
they can rear just as many chickens as by the old methods of small‘

'flocks in little kerosene heated brooders, and do it with infinitely less

labor. On many farms the method of hatching with hens and brooding‘,

ISc-ncantlgnp». _ .. _ , \

J POULTRY IN TEXAS. 55
1:2’

§with hens should still prevail, where no one has the time nor the in-
kgaclination nor the skill to take care of a. modern brooding system. In
épuch case it would be better to have one of the general purpose breeds
fithat have a reputation of being good mothers and let them do the hatch-
 and rearing. We have among these varieties the Plymouth Rocks,
 “Iyandottes, the Rhode Island Reds, Orpingtons, etc. All these
fjgjliave the reputation, and I can vouch for the accuracy of it, of being
‘ibplendid mothers when left to look after their own broods in their own
Yfjvvav, with a little direction.

 But the person who wants to hatch and rear every year two or three
iFQIUDdTGd pullets would find it advisable to have the one large flock and
jbrooding system.

 During the past few years a great many new inventions have been
= evised. Some of these are heated with fuel oil, others by kerosene, and
 till others by gasoline or coal.

The system which we devised at Cornell some twelve or more years
go is heated by gasoline and is, we think, essentially fireproof, and can
Qbe operated with less labor than any other system which has yet come
Elite our attention. The coal heated brooder, however, can be heated with
Qless cost for fuel, but requires greater care and attention in operating,
Ziand I think also requires as great skill. In the future we are going to
§look more and more. to some of the coal burning types of brooders very
§largely because of the economy of fuel; and this is going to be especially
ftrue in those sections of the country where the temperatures are fairly
guniform. _

" The great test of any brooding system is its ability to adjust itself

§and to be operated under widely changing temperatures, and we find

E the North is probably a good deal more severe in testing out the brooders
ithan would be the case in the South. because our temperature runs so
very low on one day and high on another, often changing thirty or forty
‘degrees in twenty-four hours.
' This brooder house (Fig. 17') is large enough to hold two hundred
‘and fifty or three hundred young chickens, and all of the pullets in the
flock, which would normally be reared to maturity, and will give them
abundance of perch room. The house is eight feet square, having a
shape that gives us the largest possible amount of workable space inside
twhich we have been able to secure with the least cost for materials and
fwith least weight.
F We have made a number of types of houses, of which this is the latest
 and best. (Fig. 1'7.) You will notice that we have provided for air
tin the front through the window opening in the apex, and also a sim-
 ilar opening in the rear, so that we have an abundance of fresh air. We
; are able to do the work inside of these houses. In the very inclement
weather, when storms come up and prevail for several days, the chickens
‘are kept inside and the attendant can go inside to care for them. In
' the South it would be advisable to have the sides hinged to lift up for
additional ventilation.
You will notice that these houses are placed fifty feet or so apart for

  

 

56 AGRICULTURALVAND AIEGHAEQICAI, COLLEGE OF TEXAS.

Fig. 17—Movahle A-shaped colony house and method of coupling to ether: for winter use. ‘llln
type of house is too hot in the summer m 'l'e.'<as elnmate. ‘he sndes should
e hinged to swing out and up. Too much
glass in front for 'l"exas climate.

Fig. 18——A row of colony houses at the Old Cornell University Poultry Plant. The plant has
smce been moved to a less congested locatnon.

 

 

POULTRY 1N TEXAS. 57'

the first few sveeks of the chickens’ life, so that they may be given
individual attention in what we call a nursery, in a nice, cool, shaded
place in an orchard or field where the chickens can run out of the build-
ing when young. (Fig. 18.) Little chickens are quick to succumb to
sunstroke, and many die from exposure to the sun that would survive
if given proper protection. You will notice also that we have in Fig.
18 a woman to take care of the chickens; at least, we had for several
lyears, and she was exceedingly successful in caring for them. Gen-
iérally- women are more successful than men in rearing chickens. They
litre more likely to look after little details and to keep things clean.

You will notice a chick enclosure (Fig. 19) to keep the young chicks
from wandering too far away. They are educated and flocked first to

Fig. 19——l\1ovable circular tin chick yard that
automatically teaches the chicks the way
o t e house. It has been found‘
very practical. _

the brooder hover, then to the house, then to the yard, and later, when
they are moved to the field, it is very easy to have the chickens come
to their own houses with great regularity. These houses are kept right
near he main buildings. where the baby chicks can be looked after
properly at first and guarded against the invasion of crows, rats, or
other enemies, where they can be fed without the attendant needing to
go far to do the work. As soon as they are old enough, at five or six
weeks, the houses, heaters, chickens, feeding appliances, and all, are
moved right into the meadows, orchards or corn fields or anywhere it
is desirable, on new ground, where the houses are scattered two or three
hundred feet apart, and the chickens are given absolutely free range
for the rest of the season. There they get insects, seeds and grass, and

58 AGRICULTURAL AND LIEoHAmoAL COLLEGE or Texas.

are also able to pick up a great deal of waste grain which would other-
wise be lost.

The picture shown in Fig. 20 was taken from the top of the barne
looking over the plant. You see long rows of colony houses, extending:
back over the fields, covering fifteen acres. More than five thousand}
five hundred chickens are here in about thirty houses, and between each
two houses you will notice a water barrel, an outdoor feed hopper, and
a shelter from the sun. Inasmuch as this land has been occupied for r_
a comparatively short length of time, and we have not yet had a chance i‘
to get fruit trees growing to provide shade, we furnish artificial shade "
by driving stakes and putting cross poles on them, covering this with l
wire and then putting over the top a layer of hay, so that it furnishes a l
large covered area under which the chickens can go and lie in the heat ~
of the day. i

In the morning, as soon as it is daylight, the attendant unlocks the,
t ..

 

 

  

Fig. 20—-The chick rearing division ol’ the Cornell University Poultry Department. Chicks an
reared under free range COfldlUOHS.

house and lets the chickens run out in the cool of the morning to
forage as freely as they will, a.nd then, during the middle of the day,
they are found in the houses or under the shelters. At night they go
foraging again and the last thing at dark. when the chickens have all
gone into their own quarters, the attendant locks the houses. The point
we emphasize is, that they shall have an opportunity to get out and
forage earl_v in the morning and at twilight when it is cool, and have
shelter and feed provided near by so they do not need to go out in the
hot sunlight. This precaution is of even greater importance in the
South than in the North. -
The chicks placed in one flock must be of one age and, in addition
to that must be very carefully graded as to size and vigor. If you put
some weak chicks in a flock of strong ones, the strong chicks will dom-
inate the others and practically exterminate them. The weaker ones

 

 

POULTRY IN TEXAS. 59

must be culled out and killed or placed in a brooder by themselves
where they may be carried to broiler age.

We use matched. first quality lumber for making these houses, placing
the boards vertically so that every board serves as a stud or rafter. We
have the plates, rafters and sills for a light frame and the boards are
put on vertically. For our late hatches, Where houses are to be used
in summer, we use clapboards and no paper and leave a half inch space
between the boards, putting in a little wedge so as to hold the clap-
boards in an open position. Those are put on horizontally. That en-
ables the chickens to get a fine circulation of air right through the
house Without the wind driving on them.

Fig. 2l—An outdoor feed hopper. This hopper contains four compartments. Constructed
or outdoor use.

Fig. 21 is an outdoor hopper which can be used indoors as well. Such
a hopper can be placed in the partition so that the fowls can eat from
either side. The roof is made so wide that it hangs over the sides far
enough so that the rain cannot xvet the feed. One side of the roof lifts
up. The hopper is divided into compartments for the Imash, oyster
shell, charcoal, etc. You will remember that one of the earliest pic-
tures showed a water barrel and feed hopper between each two houses
so that chickens eight or ten weeks old will never be without these sup-
plies. With this provision they will grow into strong, husky, vigorous
chickens, if proper rations are fed.

One man drives around to these houses with a horse hitched to a _low-

60 AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE 0F TEXAS.

down wagon, carrying barrels of water and bags of feed tto fill these-

hoppers. When he cleans out the houses he puts side boards on the

wagon, throws the cleanings into the wagon and disinfects the hOIISESu

Every week every house- is cleaned out and thoroughly disinfected. Dur-
ing the first week or two of the chicks’ lives the houses are cleaned twice
a week and fine cut straw placed in the houses for litter. It may seem
to some persons that this is going to too much trouble in raising chickens,
but it is all necessary and important if one is to succeed and desires to
keep down cost.

POULTRY IN TEXAS. 61

CHAPTER V
OANDLIXG AND GRADING EGGS FOR MARKET.

BY F. W’. KAZMEIER,
Poultry Husbandnian, Extension Department A. and M. College of Texas.

The general practice in Texas has been to market eggs without can-
dling or grading. This haphazard method of marketing has caused
abnormally low prices for fresh eggs in the summer and has caused egg
retailers to prefer good cold storage eggs from Xorthern States to the
native product. The low price of eggs during the summer is largely
due to inferior quality and not entirely to overproduction, as so many
farmers think.

PRODUCE IKFERTILE EGGS.

It has been proven that a fertile egg deteriorates at a temperature
~of 68 (legrees or above. Under ordinary conditions on most farms it is

 

‘ig. 22—(A) An extremely bad egg showing decay, a ruptered yolk and air cell. (B) A new laid
egg, 24 hours old. Note small air space. (C) Spot rot and a large air space.

impossible to keep eggs at a temperature below 68 degrees. It is highly l

desirable, therefore, that roosters be kept: apart from hens when eggs
are not required for hatching purposes in order that all market eggs
may be infertile. (Fig. 22.)

PURE BRED STOCK.

Produce eggs of a uniform size and color. Practically all of the
small breeds lav a white shelled egg and most of the large breeds lay
a brown shelled egg. "Fexas markets make no demands in regard to
color, but there is a demand for uniformity in size and color. i i

62 AGRIOULTURAIQAND ll-[EGHANICAL COLLEGE or lfiaxas.

CARE OF llL-XRKET EGGS.

Market eggs should be gathered at least three times a. day. Clean
nests, yards, and houses should be provided to prevent dirty eggs.
Dirty eggs sell for about five cents per dozen less than clean eggs of
equal quality. Washed eggs do not keep as long nor sell for as much
as clean unwashed eggs. Market eggs three times a week or oftener.
Until you are ready to market, store in a cool and comparatively damp
place. The dampness, however, should not he sufficient to cause the
growth of molds. Do not tolerate setting hens on nests from which
market eggs are obtained. Do not store eggs in the same place with
kerosene, decaying‘ vegetables, or other odor-causing substances. En-
deavor to get the eggs to the consumer as soon after being laid as possible.

 

Fig. 23~—(D) A fertile egg Glmnrs old. Note the dcvelopiucnl of germ. _ (l-Il A stale shrunken
egg. Note large air space and dark yolk SQUIHR. (F) ligg SlIOWIIIQ a mold spot.

Q UA LITY.

Flavor, freshness and size are indicative of the quality of an egg.
Feed nothing but ptire and untainted foods. Market nothing hut good
sized eggs. Use the smaller Ones at home.

The older the egg, the stalcr it is. In a perfectly fresh egg the air
space is noticeable hut very small. 'l_‘hc egg shows increased evaporation,
or size of air space. with age. The smaller the air space, the fresher
the egg. The larger the air space the stalcr or older the egg. Storing
eggs in very dry locations increases the evaporation. (Fig. ‘Z-l.)

CANDTJNG EGGF.

In order to candle eggs it is necessary to he equipped with a dark
room and a strong light. Anybody at all handv with the saw and harn-
mer can construct a good home-made tester. Build a rectangular box
several inches larger and higher than your kerosene lamp. Cut a two-

POULTRY IN Texas. 63

inch hole in the top to allow the heat to escape. Cut a hole a trifle
smaller than an egg in the side of the box and exactly opposite the flame.
Line the opening with some soft cloth to act as a cushion for the eggs.
Cut a few triangular notches in the bottom of the tester to prevent it
from being air tight and causing the lamp to smoke, Place tester in
a dark room. To test eggs. hold them between you and the strong light
coming through opening of hole in the side of tester. Various kinds
of testers, both kerosene and electric. may he purchased ready made.

(‘andle or test all eggs before marketing. "fhrow" out all such as, show
hloorl spots. blood rings, r11pt11rcd yolk, grass yolks, and much evapora-
tion. Evaporatioi: shows in size of air space. (Fig. 23.) A blood
spot shows a round dark spot. generally in the yolk. A blood ring
indicates that the grerrn has siarted to develop. due to the egg having-
hecn kept at a warm temperature. Grass yolks generally appear dark

 

Fig. 2-1 (Iflligglzlnbout due to lunch. nntc large air space and blood veins lea
\ .

ding 1o air space.

l A healed egg heavy lloal. (I) An cggshciwving black rot.
and lu~a\"_\'. .»\ ruptured yolk slums the yellow more or less mixed with
the white. (Fig. Q?)

(llL-XDI 15G EGGS.

ln grarling eggs ‘W0 consider color. size. shape. quality, and condition
of shcll. There arc three important grades of eggs as to color, White,
l-ruxrfl. and mixed. ln size we have the following: large, 27 ounces and
ahorr» pm‘ dozen; Incdinm. ‘ll to ‘Z7 ounces: small. 1S to 21 ounces;
and mills. smaller than 1R ounces to the dozen. In quality‘ ‘we have
the following: pcrlcctljv fresh. fresh. heated. stale. eisaporated, watery,
and rots.

In Texas. eggs generally are classified as follows: Fancjr nrhite, fancy
lirown_ first white first hroirn. seconds. checks. and rots.

Eggs to he classed as fancy white must all he pure chalk white in
color. weigh to exceed ‘Z7’ ounces per dozen. perfectly fresh, perfect in

shell. perfectly clean. normal and uniform in shape.

64 AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE on TEXAS,

The fancy browns are identical with the fancy whites except as to
color. They should be a uniform rich brown.

Eggs to be classed as first white must all be pure chalk white in color,
weigh 21 to 27 ounces per dozen, and possess all the other qualities of
the fancy white.

First browns are identical with first whites except as to color, which
should be brown.

Eggs to be classed as seconds may be smaller, weighing between 18

and 21 ounces per dozen, may be mixed in color and show some evap-
oration,—or, in other words, do not have to be perfectly fresh. They
must, however, not show too much evaporation and be in every respect
fit for food. Perfectly fresh washed eggs frequently are placed in this
class. They should be clean and have a perfect shell.
' Eggs to be classed as checks generally show quite a little evaporation,
meaning that they are stale, but still fit for food. Eggs that are small
in size, weighing less than 18 ounces per dozen, fresh eggswith imper-
fect (broken) shells and abnormally shaped eggs are included in this
class. “Dirties” and all eggs not included in the previous classes but
which are fit for food, are placed in this class.

Some markets do not include “dirties” with the checks, providing a
special class (dirties) for the same.

Eggs classed at “rots” are unfit for food and should never be sent to
market. Eggs with partly developed germs and those with interior
mold growths are also included in this class.

PACKING.

Although it may appear hard to believe, yet it is true that appearance
more than any other factor sells the product. Wealthy customers are
willing to pay well for fancy wrapping paper, boxes, or cartons. For
this reason it pays well to pack all poultry products in neat and attrac-
tive packages. It is a good idea to get up an original package and

_ adhere to it.

PACKAGE&

For shipping to commission houses, hotels, retailers, country stores,
or private families in large lots, use the 4, 6, 8, 12, 15, and 3O dozen
egg shipping crates. Never pack more than one color, size or quality
in one carton, and if possible, follow the same rule in packing a full crate.

For private or fancy trade with hotels, clubs, and associations, the
Oblong one-dozen size cartons with your name, brand or trade-mark
printed on the same in large black or red letters are best. An appro-
priate picture improves the appearance of the carton.

To ship eggs by parcel post it is necessary to pack them in so-called
parcel post egg shipping packages. At present a large number of dif-
ferent kinds of parcel post packages are manufactured. Such a package
should permit quick packing, be cheap, strong, and light. When ship-
ping eggs by parcel post consider host of package. packing, breakage,
and transportation charges. Unless the eggs are shipped to wealthy

POULTRY IN TExAs. 65

consumers or a special trade the transportation charges are too high to
make it profitable. '1‘he packages are rapidly being improved and i1; is
hoped that the transportation charges will be lowered, making it profit-

able to ship eggs by parcel post to the ordinary market.
MARKET POULTRY.

Have the birds xvell fattened before killing.

Starve twenty-four hours before killing to empty/the crop. v

Kill by bleeding in mouth and debraining. Bleed bird well and
dry pick.

Do not pack until all of the animal heat has had time to escape.

Keep at a temperature below 50 degrees and do not allow to remain
in the water too long.

Wash the head to remove all blood and wrap in special wrapping
paper. Wash vent to remove all voidings. ‘ '

Pick and pin-feather without rtearing the skin.

Y-‘Vhen shipping dressed poultry always pack in ice. Use plenty of
ice around the vent, crop, and head. In warm weather, the ordinary
market pays better for live poultry.

Pack all birds according to size, kind, class, age, and quality.

Line box or barrel with wrapping paper.

Ship by shortest and quickest route.

LIVE POULTRY.

Ship live poultry by express in light, high, and roomy coops. Do
not overcrowd them. ("oops constructed of; slats or wire netting are
the best. Endeavor to have fowls as fat and uniform in size, age, ‘and
color, as possible.

l

66 AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAI: COLLEGE on Texas.

CHAPTER VI
CO-OPERATIVE MARKETING OF POULTRY PRODUCTS.

h’ F. W. Kazmnrna,
Poultry Hilsbandman, Extension Department A. and M. College of Texas.

As a general rule farmers devote too little time to the marketing of
their products. _

In the State of Texas, I find that eggs bought from farmers at 10
cents per dozen are invariably marketed by the retailers to the consumer
at 20 cents or more per dozen. The cause of this can be summed up
in the statement “lack of co-operation among the farmers.”

Farmers in the vicinity of Denton, Texas, recently organized and
marketed their eggs co-operatively. What happened? Inside of a week
they received five cents a dozen above the highest market quotations for
their eggs and could not supply the demand. -

IIARKETING POULTRY BY THE DOZEN.

In Texas, poultry" buyers, dressers, and commission houses still prac-
tice the unbusinesslike and out-of-date method of buying poultry by
the dozen. Market quotations quote live poultry at so much per dozen.
This is entirely wrong and a poor way of doing business for the farmers.

All Texas poultry raisers are urged to market their fowls at so much
per pound. Insist on market quotations per pound. Do not patronize
the dealer buying at a lump price per dozen. The only time it is at
all advisable for the farmer to break this rule is when marketing very
small broilers, weighing less than a pound each.

Texas poultry raisers are urged to organize and market their products
cooperatively. At present too large a share of the profits go into other
than the farmers’ pockets. By marketing their poultry products co-
operatively, Texas farmers can increase their profits on poultry by
more than $1,000,000.

Co-operative marketing of poultry products is not a new and untried
idea. It is being successfully practiced in every State in the Union,
and 1's the only profitable way of marketing for the small farmer. The
large poultry raisers can sometimes market their products to advantage
without being organized, but the small poultry raisers are at the mercy
of the poultry buyers and dealers. Co-operative marketing depends on
various important factors. The members of the organization must be
willing to stick together. They ‘should agree to work for the welfare
of the organization at all times. The organization must be composed
of members who believe in producing quality and not alone quantity.
The members should standardize their products and sell them under
their trade name, backed with a sound and broad guarantee. The or-

 

POULTRY IN Trams. 67

ganization should make it a point to market economically and at a.
fair price.

The successful co-operative egg and poultry marketing associations
in Texas and other States follow more or less the following general out-
line and advice, which has been patterned after a most successful or-
ganization of this kind, the plans of which were originated in the poultry
department of Cornell University}

A group of farmers organized and established headquarters in ‘the
nearest central town or city with good railroad connections. A large
room adjacent to the express office was rented. The room was equipped
ivith an egg candling apparatus and a poultry killing outfit. A place
for storing empty egg packages and boxes was provided. A man was
engaged to give all of his time to gathering the eggs and poultry, can-
dling, grading, and packing the eggs and killing and packing the poultry.
Country routes were established, which this man traveled on certain
days of the week, stopping at all farm houses and taking whatever eggs
and poultry they had, leaving a properly filled out receipt for the same.
An identification mark was attached to each customer’s produce. The
farmers were given the privilege of bringing the products themselves,
thus saving the charges made for collection.

The egg gatherer keeps a record of every patrorfs eggs and poultry,
and pavmcnt is made according to the number and quality of the
patron-Ts products. Payment is made according to a certain specified
and adopted scale. specifying a certain price for a certain grade, which
is. of course. influenced by the latest market quotations. If a-ipatron
sends in a dozen eggs and upon candling and grading it is found that

one is rotten. three are too small and two not perfectly fresh, the patron '

gets paid accordingly. Payment is made every two weeks, but under
some conditions it is advisable to make remittance every week. Each
patron gets top market prices for his products, this being influenced by
the quality and grading of the same. The organization thought it
advisable to make a small charge for actual expenses incurred for gath-
ering. cleaning. grading, eandling, and packing the eggs; also for kill-
ing_ picking. packing, and collecting the poultry. This is advisable
because it gives all an equal and fair deal. Those that do not send
dirty eggs are not charged for cleaning. Those that deliver the eggs
are not charged for collecting.

At the co-operative association headquarters, the eggs are cleaned,
candled. graded and packed in fancy cartons and sealed with the organi-
zation seal. The live poultry are killed, picked, cooled, wrapped, packed
and disposed of similarly to the eggs. All products are sold for what
thev are. Nothing but the best quality is sold under the organization
seal and guarantee. Special attention is paid to the quality of the
products and appearance of package.

Some of the products are sold locally and others are sent by express
or parcel post to markets where they‘ net the most. -In large poultry

producing sections carload lot shipments can be made. Orders for de-

livery and collection are received at regular hours by telephone, tele-
graph, in writing, and in person.

"68 AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE or ’l‘nxas.
The following is a list of the charges made:

Eggs.

Collecting, 2 cents per dozen.

Cleaning, 1 cent per dozen.

Candling, 1 cent per dozen.

Packing, 1 cent per dozen.

Cases, 1 cent per dozen.

Express, 1 cent per dozen.

Accounts and records, -} cent per dozen.

Poultry.

Collecting, 1 cent per pound.

Killing and picking, 1O cents each.
Packing, 1 cent each.

Packages, 3 cents per pair.

Express, 80 cents per 100 pounds.
Accounts and records, 4} cent per pound.

The work of such organizations has been very successful and encour-
aging. The opportunities for such organizations in Texas are almost
unlimited and they will easily double the poultry raisers’ profits.

CO-OPERATIVE MARKETING “IITII CREAMERIES.

In some of the leading dairy and poultry States, eggs are being mar-

keted co-operatively through ereameries. This method of marketing has

proved fairly successful. In Texas, however, there are too few cream-
eries to look to them as a means of marketing poultry products.

(lo-operative egg marketing associations in Texas will benefit Texas
poultry raisers as much or more than the fruit exchanges have benefited
California fruit growers.

POULTRY IN TEXAS. - 69

CHAPTER VII

RATIONS FOR POULTRY.
(Adapted from Cornell University.)

RATION FOR CHICK FEEDING.

The Ration. 4

Mixture No. 1: Eight pounds of rolled oats, 8 pounds bread crumbs,
'2 pounds sifted beef scrap, 1 pound bone meal.

Mixture N0. 2: p Two pounds wheat (cracked), 2 pounds cracked milo
or corn (fine), 1 pound pin head oatmeal, 1 pound millet.

Mixture No. 3: Three pounds wheat bran, 3‘ pounds milo, kafir or
meal, 3 pounds wheat, middling, shorts, 3 pounds beef scraps (sifted,
best grade), 1 pound bone meal.

Mixture No. 4: Two pounds wheat (whole), 2 pounds kafir, milo or
corn, 1 pound hulled oats.

Uixture No. 5: Three pounds kafir, milo or corn, 2 pounds wheat.

T71 e llfeflzod.

One to five days: Mixture No. 1, moistened slightly with sour
skimmed milk, fed five times a day; mixture No. 2, in shallow tray
containing a little of No. 3 (dry) always before chicks. Shredded green
fond and fine grit and charcoal scattered over food.

Five days to two weeks: No. 2 in light litter twice a day; No. 3
moistened svith sour skim milk, fed three times a day; No. 3 (dry) al-
ways available;

Two to four weeks: As above, except that moist mash is given twice
a duv. '

Feur to six weeks, or until chicks are on range: Reduce meals of
moist mash to one a day; mixture No. 4 in litter twice a day; dry mash
is always available -

Six weeks to maturity: No. 3 and No. 5 hopper fed. One meal a
day of moist mash if it is desired to hasten development.

Directions: Provide fine grit, charcoal, shell and bone from the start.
Give grass range or plenty of green food. Fresh water. Feed only
sweet,- wholesome foods. Avoid damp and soiled litter. Disinfect the
hrooder frequently. Provide shade, fresh air‘ and protection from the sun.

RATION FOR LAYING HENS.

The following whole grain mixture is fed morning and afternoon 1n

a straw litter:
Whole grain. Sixty pounds milo, kafir or corn; 60 pounds Whfiflli,

barley or heavy oats.

70 AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE or TEXAS.

The following mash is fed dry in a hopper kept open during the
afternoon only:

Sixty pounds milo, kafir or corn meal, 5O pounds wheat middlings
(shorts), 30 pounds wheat bran, 15 pounds cottonseed meal, 35 pounds
beef scrap, 1 pound salt. _

The fowls should eat about one-half as much mash by weight as whole
grain. It is a good idea to feed only a very little grain feed in the
morning, and all they want late in the afternoon. This ration should
be supplemented with some succulent green feed the fowls will eat. It
is important that they have some form of green feed daily.

Grit and oyster shells are necessary, also cool and clean surroundings
with plenty of fresh water.

POULTRY 1x Texas. 71

CHAPTER VIII
nor WEéJfHER-JFHE 3IALES—THE Bees.

BY F. W. Iiazirnrnn,
Poultry Husbandman, Extension Department A. and M. College of Texas.

YVhen the breeding season is past the question comes up as to what
to do with the male birds, cocks, c-ockerels or roosters. They must be
separated because you cannot afford to produce fertile eggs, which rap~
idly deteriorate in a temperature of 68 degrees or above, and it is
almost impossible to keep the eggs in a temperature below 68 degrees
in this climate. Those that have a large number of males should build

Fig. 25~—A movable house, used for the housing
of male birds out of breeding season.

a small coop f or them in the orchard or wood lot and allow them to
range in a large yard. It may be necessary to clip their wings to pre-
vent them from flying over the fence.

N0 farmer in the State of Texas should sell fertile eggs for other
purposes than hatching during late spring, summer and early fall. It
is impossible to produce fertile eggs in summer and get them to market
in condition fit for human consumption.

Fig. 25 shows a 6x8 feet movable coop on the A. and M. College

72 AGRICULTURAL AND Mizormxltltr. COLLEGE 0F ‘Imus.

poultry farm used for the housing of the males out of the breeding
season. This coop is located in a. large yard with plenty of grass. On
the farm this coop is best located in the orchard, wood lot or in the
shade of trees. The construction of the coop is very simple. The floor
and roof are built solid. A hoard one foot high keeps the litter inside.
The remainder of the sides is covered with one-inch poultry netting.
The door is in the front. This coop can he built larger or smaller,
depending on the number of males to he housed. The males housed in
one of these coops. located in an orchard or wood lot. where they can
range in a good sized yard, will he in gnarl condition hy the hreeding
season. '

 

Fig. 26——~(J) Egg showing a blood or meal spot. 1K3 .-\_ No 1 vnhl storage egg; note sin- of air
space; and dark yolk. (L) Show-mg u fertile egg Tlh dny- of incubation.

POULTRY m Texas.

-2
c»:

CHAPTER IX
PREVENTION OF POULTRY DISEASES.

BY F. W. Kszntnrna, .
Poultry Husbandman, Extension Department A. and M. College of Texas.

The success of poultry raising depends largely on being able to keep
the birds thriving, vigorous, and healthy. They are machines which
convert raw material into a finished product. In order to bring about
this transformation most etticiently and economically the fowls must be
kept in perfect health and in the pink of condition. One of the most
serious obstacles in the poultry business is disease. Knowledge of the
nature of the preventive and curing remedies is necessary to success-
fully cheek poultry diseases. ~ '

A healthy chick is lively, has clear eyes, a red comb, is quick and
active in its movements, has a good appetite, and its organs perform
their functions in a natural vivay.

To efiect a cure, we must first understand the disease. Digestive I
troubles and disorders are frequently caused by the nature and amount -

of feed. The lack of such feed essentials as grit, oyster shell and water

frequently cause indigestion and its long string of ailments. Exposure '

to dampness or drafts are other causes of indigestion.

ln case the ailing individual happens to be a: laying fowl, look for »

these ailments: rheumatism. humblefoot and leg weakness.-

lt‘ the general health is affected, as shown by paleness of comb, wattles
and face or loss of weight, the cause can generally be attributed to
internal or external parasites. _ '

ln treating poultry diseases, an ounce of prevention is worth more
than a pound of cure. The ax. kerosene, and matches are the three
hest remedies for foivls with a contagious disease.

Locate the poultry house on a high, dry, well drained place. Gravel
or sandy soil is to be preferred to heavy clav soils fonpoultry yards.

Plenty of green food not only aids digestion but helps materially in
keeping the birds vigorous and healthy. -

Lack of exercise is the greatest cause of bad habits and digestive
troubles. ‘ Allow fowls free range and fence in garden and lawn. Fowls
in confinement are much more subject to disease than fowls on free range.

Lack of fresh air is frequently the cause of such diseases as colds,
snnillcs and mild -forms of roup. i

The most important factors in preventing poultry diseases are cleanli-
ness and regular disinfection.

One of the best commercial disinfectants is a solution of 1 part water
to F25 parts Zenoleum; (lreolin. Kreso. or any other coal tar disinfectant.
This should be applied with a fine mist spraver and sprayedtinto-every
(‘Tricia corner and crevice. Success in preventing disease dependsupon
the regularity and thoroughness of the disinfection.

A good spraying: mixture for red mites, blue bugs, and other similar
poultry parasites is 3 pints kerosene or Beaumont oil and 1 pint of
crude carholic acid.

(‘harcoal is an cxcellentdigestive trouble correcter.

2?’, 2E, 29 and 30-4151) A white Wyandotte male: (B) A white \\."3":.1nrluttu fcntulu; (C)
A. Bufl‘ Orpington male; (D) A Buff Orpington female,

POULTRY IN TEXAS, '75

CHAPTER x y
TURKEYS 0N THE FARM.

BY F. W. KAZMEIER,
Poultry Husbandman, Extension Department A. and M. College of Texas.

The State of Texas is well adapted to the growing oflturkeys. In '

some parts of the State turkeys are kept in large flocks and herded like
sheep. Turkeys in order to do well should be raised on fresh ground
each year with plenty of land to roam over.

VARIETIES.

The most popular varieties are the Mammoth Bronze, Bourbon Bed,
and White Holland. The Bronze turkeys are the largest of all. The
standard requirement for adult male is 36 pounds; for adult hen, 20
pounds. The Bourbon Red is a close second in size. Both are hardy
and reasonably free from disease. The Bronze turkey is the wild" turkey
domesticated. The Bourbon Red‘ turkey is supposed to have come from
a cross of Bronze and mongrel buff stock. Some other varieties are the
Slate and Buff, but neither is as extensively bred as the three first named
varieties. The lVhite Holland turkey is noted as a good layer-and
economical meat producer. White turkey feathers are worth more than
colored turkey feathers.

BREEDING.

Do not practice inbreeding. Make it a practice to select only healthy,
vigorous and medium sized birds for breeders. Buy new toms of un-
related stock each year and mate with the most vigorous of your turkey
hens. As a rule, young turkeys do not make as good breeders as two-
year-old turkeys. Keep the best of your early hatched specimens for
breeders, and sell the‘ late hatched specimens. A good many make the
serious mistake of doing just the reverse. g

Allow your breeding stock free range. Turkeys can never be profit-
ably kept in confinement. The poults from stock allowed unrestricted
range are much stronger, easier to raise, and more profitable. Prac-
tically all of the most fatal turkey diseases are eliminated when they
can be kept on fresh ground each year. Keeping turkeys year after year
on the same ground generally proves fatal.

FEEDING BREEDING STOC K.

During the winter feed very lightly and the food should not be of
too fattening a nature. Corn should not be fed extensively, because
it is too fattening. Feed a mixture of equal parts oats, milo or kafir,
and barley or wheat. Buckwheat will take the place of milo or kafir

 

Figs. 31, 32 and 33-—(A) S. C. R. I. Red male.—Courtcsy of Jas. Everett. (I3 S. C. R. I. Red
female.—-—C0urtesy of Jas. Eve ett. (C) Mottled Aneonas.—Courtcsy L. 4. Kellogg.

POULTRY IN Terms. 7':

and 1s equally as good. In the morning their teed should be rather
scant, but at night they should be fed enough to fill up their crops.
Keep water, grit, oyster shell and charcoal accessible at all times. When-
ever any of them appear to go otf feed cut down the amount ‘at once
until they are all eager for feed at feeding time. . .

Several weeks before turkeys begin t0 lay they should be fed well-to
get them in good condition. They should not be excessively fat at
breeding time, yet they must have some surplus fat. i ..

As a rule turkeys are mated in the proportion of one male to eight o1‘
ten turkey hens. The toms should be fully matured and constitutionally
strong. Where green food is not accessible, provide it. Keep your
turkeys as near to natural condition as possible. '

HOUSING.

Turkeys do not require expensive houses.
roosting in trees. (“cc Fig. l9. During wet weather, or a rainy night,
it is advisable to drive them into a barn or some other protection, be-
cause they will not do well in damp surroundings.
the rain and they will do xvell in most any other kind of weather.
is especially true in the case of poults.

In parts of the country where it is necessary to house turkeys on
account of being troubled with two-legged and four-legged enemies, it
is advisable to confine them in some shelter with a good roof and the
"sides and ends enclosed vrith hog fencing.

This

HATCHING.

Turkeys like to lay in secluded places, and just as soon as they find
that you know the location of their nests they will hunt for another
place to lay. 'l‘hcrcfore it is advisable to gather the eggs when the
turkeys are not around. F or nests, we know of nothing better than
common salt barrels with one end removed and laid on the side.
a little brush over them to make them look more natural and secluded.
Quite often even these salt barrels do not appeal to them; in such cases
it is advisable to allow them to choose their own nests. It is a good
practice to set the first hatch laid under a hen or in an incubator, instead
of allowing the turkeys to hatch them.
as manv eggs. It is good practice to allow the turkey hen to hatch the
last batch of eggs. The turkey‘ hen as a rule is most satisfactory for the
incubation of the eggs. _ A

Early in the spring it is important that the eggs b6 gathered 8S 500B
after laying as possible to prevent their getting-chilled. ,Turkeys lay
earlv in. the morning and prefer nests in low brush, tall weeds,‘near a
stone fence or in a‘ brush pile. Skunks and crows a.re »g1'eat thieves
-of turkey eggs. ' i

Setting turkey hens _ _
will not stand for too much fussing. At» hatching time» allow the poults
to run with the mother hens. When Common hens are used t0 119mb

In Texas, they do well.

Place 4

This will make them lay twice -

should be left alone asmuch as possible. They

Keep them out 0t -

O

'78 AGRICULTURAL AND Alnonarwrortp COLLEGE or TEXAS.

turkey’ eggs, it is good practice to set several at the same time and give
the poults to a. turkey hen that has just become broody.

REARING.

For the first few days feed young turkeys often and little at a time
of rolled oats or pin head oatmeal and sour milk (elabber). o
When large enough, feed the hard grains, corn. kafir or milo, the

  

,. m '
"- mu~\“’*‘\ '
' ‘n

   

l

“mum quit‘ t
_ ,,,-—-

   
  

u

q~*' . ‘

¢

Fig. 34——Mottled Ancona male.—C0urtesy L. L. Kellogg.

same as for the mature stock. Always lY-ed them near the roosting
place so they will be accustomed to coming there for the night. Do not
forget to provide something green for them every‘ day. also some finely
cut cooked meat if they are in confinement.

The turkey hen with the poults arc placed in -an A-shaped coop, high
enough so the turkey hen can stand erect. The coop is placed in a
large pasture, where turkeys have never heen raised hefore. The turkey
hen is kept: confined in thecoop for the first month, and the young
turkeys allowed free range from the start. If the hen is hound to

it’

POULTRY 1N Tnxas. 79
roam too much when given free range it is advisable to tie a weight to
one of her legs. The coop should be moved to fresh ground every day.
Everything in and about the coop must be kept scrupulously clean and
well disinfected. Young poults appear to do better 0n grasshoppers,
insects, grass, free range, pin head oatmeal, and clabber than on any-
thing else you can feed.

Young turkeys are very likely to have lice, especially upon the head-
If they appear weak and lifeless at two weeks of age, they frequently
have lice. Anoint head, throat, and vent with carbolated Vaseline. If
hens are used for mothers, dust these before and while sitting "with a.
good lice powder, being careful not to use too much. . / -

Some turkey growers start their poults ofi on coarsely ground corn,
milo, or kafir, mixed with sour milk, just enough to make it moist and
crumbly. As the poults grow older gradually change to cracked corn,
kafir, or milo, and finally to whole corn. The serious objection to this
is the danger that comes from overfeeding a too fattening ration. It’
could be improved by adding bran, bread crumbs and middlings.

FATTENING.

The fattening of turkeys as a rule can be done profitably only late in.
the fall when the weather turns cold and insect life is scarce. They will
then cease roaming about so much and the cold weather will increase
their appetite. A good many successful turkey fatteners simply increase
the feeding of corn and during the last week or ten days feed all the
corn they will consume.

Another good fattening ration for turkeys is equal parts of ground
oats, corn, and buckwheat moistened with sour milk. Do not over feed.
Provide grit and charcoal. ' ’

As a rule attempting to fatten turkeys in close confinement is
practical.

KILLING.

When ready to kill and dress, be sure that turkeys have had no food
for thirty-six hours. Suspend the turkey by a loop around its legs to;
a hook on the wall or ceiling. With a pointed, sharp, two-edged knife
give a quick thrust through the roof of the mouth into the brain and
sever the main arteries by two slight cuts. The next instant begin‘
plucking the feathers. Do not cut the skin at any place nor removef
any of the interior organs so that the outside air can possibly get to the‘

inside, because as soon as the interior is exposed to the air decomposition:

sets in.
FENCING TURKEYS.

In neighborhoods where turkeys are a great nuisance to neighbors;

it is sometimes advisable to clip their wings and place them "in a ‘large
fenced lot. Where many are raised it ‘is a good plan to thus fenpe ina
large orchard, say, ten acres, with hog fencing. This method ‘is-advis-
able in closely settled neighborhoods. ~ i

Turkeys, in order to do xvell, must be allowed free range, and appear

not. .

. .5‘; - ,:__.._-___.

8O AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE or lflgxas.

to do best Where they can always range over a. considerable area. This
prevents the ground from becoming contaminated.

BLACK-HEAD.

Where this disease is very connnon, as a rule it is best to raise chickens
instead of turkeys. Black-head, as far as we know at presents, is in-
curable. In some sections of the State this disease, for one reason or
another, does not appear to flourish. To prevent lllzlCli-llealll. mise the
young poults on fresh ground each year. Allow free range. The nia-
ture stock may be herded like sheep, thus prcventing- their being very
long on contaminated ground.

Fig. 35—White Plymouth Rock male and female.

POULTRY IN "terms. 81

CHAPTER XI
DOMESTIC GEESE.

. . BY. F. W. Iiaznnnzn,
Poultry Husbandmzin, Extension Department A. and M. College of Texas.

Geese raising in some parts of Texas can be carried on very profitably.
Geese are easy to keep and raise. All they require is a little protection
from the cold northern winds and rains, a pasture to roam over and
some grain foods.

They can be raised very profitably near any large cit)‘, or within easy‘
shipping distance of some large city market.

BREEDS.

The most popular breeds are the Toulouse, Emden, Chinese and
African. Of all these the Toulouse are the hardiest and appear to be
in greatest demand in most markets. The pure breds are better than
the mongrels, because they are larger. grow faster, feather quickest and
present the most uniform aippearance. '

HOUSING.

In the line of housing all they require is a little protection from the
severe weather. lmvalte the shelter on some high and dry spot. Put
up a building with the north, east and west ends fairly tight. The
south side can he left open, with perhaps a foot or two high boarding
at the bottom to keep in the litter. Do 11ot house chickens and geese
in the same house. Keep the house. floor and fixtures clean and dis.-
infeeted. lf possible. allow geese access t0 a stream of water. '

BR EEDI NG STOCK.

Mate your geese early in the fall, using nothing but two-year-old
stock. Do not use immature stock in the breeding pen. One gander
mated with two or three geese is a good breeding pen. p

In feeding your breeding stock, if possible, allow them the run-of a
plot of grass and access to a creek. They feed on grass to a largeextent;
and relish insects, bugs, etc. to be found on marshy land. Geese do
well on marshy land and can pick up almost their entire living on the
same during the summer. ln the winter and sp-ringthey require a
slight feeding of almost any kind of grain, giving a variety as ylllllfih
as possible. When it is desired to fatten geese, grain feeding isineees-
sary. ' p _ _

8'2 .i~\GRIcL‘L'rr1:.\1. .1\.\'1> .\[[~I(‘II'.-\.\‘l('.\i. (‘<>z.1.1~:ur-: 01* 'l‘1:.\'.\s.

Figs. 36 and 37———-S. C. Black Nlinorcru lIcn. (Inurlcsy (). H. Pmh
Male. (Zourlesy (J. H. Robert.

(arts. (B) S. (l. I3lnck Niinorca
q.

POULTRY IN Texas.‘ 83

‘ BEARING.

When only a few are raised the natural method undoubtedly ‘is the
best. Where large numbers are reared the artificial method is-most
practical. _ _ - .

For the reason that most geese are reared by natural means, this only
will he discussed here. During the hatching time it is best to keep the
gander away from the goose, but during the rearing period he is a great
aid and protection.

When the goose is noticed to be walking around straw stacks, fences,
lJTUSlI piles, or other like objects, or is seen with straw, feather or other
kind of nesting material in her beak, just make up your mind she is
laying. Watch her to find out where her nest is, then carefully remove
the eggs, leaving china eggs in their place until she has laid all she can
cover. Replace the eggs, and generally she will soon begin to set on
them. Provide her with food and water. At hatching time remove
the goslings as fast as they dry off, putting them in some warm place
until all are hatched, when they can be returned to their mother. This
is necessarv to prevent" the goose from leaving the nest before all are
hatched. (‘onfine them to a grass covered and clean yard for the first
week. For the first few days feed bread crumbs and bran, mixed with
sour milk. Water, grit and charcoal are necessary. If they do not
have access to plenty of small. short. succulent grass, provide something
that will take its place as nearly as possible. Finely cut lettuce, dan-
delion and cabbage are excellent. They must have green food. After
the first week. allow free range. giving a good feeding every night. They
will take care of themselves outside of this.

FATTEXIXG.

In the fall. when they" are fully grown and it is your wish to fatten
them, pen them up in a roomy, clean, rather dark. but well ventilated
and (lry pen. Keep them quiet. Feed for the first week three times
a day rather sparingly of whole and ground kafir, milo or corn. Towards
the end of the fattening period feed all they will eat. This should he
supplemented with water, grit and grass. or shredded roots and vege-
tables. Frequently they increase in weight as much as eight to nine
pounds in a month. .

' KILLING.

Killing is done by bleeding in the mouth and debraining, as with
chickens. Dry pick. Both feathers and down should be saved and
dried. They are valuable.

Qometimes the drv picking of geese is found to be a tedious job. The
easiest method of plucking geese for the market is by immersing the
carcass in hot water. lifting it out for a second, then giving it a second

dip: next, roll it in a sack. or some burlap, and leave from five to ten‘

minutes to steam. Then begin picking. Remove feathers and down at
the same time.

If many are to be picked, the bird may be 8118116115813‘

84 AGRICULTURAL AND Mnoriaiwiu-iL COLLEGE or ihsxlis.

so that the Work may be done in a sitting position. To avoid tearing
the skin, remove but a few feathers at a time. When all feathers have
been removed, “plump,” by dipping for a second, first in hot water and
then into cold. Some people pick ducks in the same way where the
market does not discriminate against wet laiclqed stock. '

PLUCKING.

Plucking geese, by many people, is considered cruel. Some consider
it a waste to allow all of the soft feathers to go to waste. In plucking
them, all of the feathers should never be removed.

ira-

Q;

‘w

POULTRY IN TEXAS. 85

CHAPTER XH
IXCUBATION.

_ BY F. W. KAZMEIER,
Poultry Husbandnian, Extension Department A. and M. College of Texas.

The advantages of natural incubation are:
where a small number of eggs

It is more economical

pg- are to be hatched, and it is not desired
to make a large investment. The hen-hatched and brooded chicks are
subject to less disease and possess as much or more vigor.

The disadvantages. 0f natural incubation are many and well founded.
In the first place. it is not always possible to have setting hens on hand
when they are wanted. They do not as a rule set early enough to make
it possible to get out early chicks for winter layers. Some eggs are
always spoiled by hens leaving the nest for good before the hatch is over.
The hen is never as a rule very much under man’s control, at least not
as much as the incubator. The hen is apt to break some eggs, step on
some chicks and be unwilling to stay where you want her to. At best,
the labor involved in natural hatching and brooding is entirely too much
considering present high price of labor.

For those keeping less than fifty hens the natural method probably-

is the best. but for those that have more, I would recommend the arti-
ficial method. namely. incubators and brooders.

Probably the best time to pick up a brooding hen is late in the after-
noon. when all other laying hens as a rule have left the nest. In the
spring is the best time to ‘do natural hatching and brooding, as at this
season of the rear it is perfectly natural for hens to perform this func-
tion of reproducing their kind. Hens are more reliable than pullets.

Tnless absolutely necessary. do not change the location of her nest,
because in so doing very often her brooding desires are shattered anda
fickle broody hen is more undesirable than an improperly working in-
cubator. Of course in all cases it is desirable to renew the nesting
material. Tt‘ absolutely necessary to change the location of her- nest,
do it after dark and place in entirely new surroundings. as far away
from her old nest as possible. (‘onfine her to her new nest without good

eggs for the first dav or two to make sure she approves of the change.
It is well to let her have during this time about half a '
dozen china eggs or even common stones about the size of eggs. In-
preparing her new nest or old nest be sure and thoroughly disinfect.

of location.

the nest, nest box. if any, and nesting material: and dust thehen sev-
eral times with a good lice killer. In dusting her, exercise care not to

overdo the matter. because we have had the experience that in so doing.
We like to have the nest on the,

sbo often lost her brooding desires.
ground, if in a location xvhere she is not apt to be bothered with four-
legged enemies. If it is necessary to place in a coop or box 1t 1s a

\

86 AGRICULTURAL AND MEoHANIcAL COLLEGE or TEXAS.

good idea to place about a foot of earth under her nest. This aids in
controlling the vermin, holds moisture and makes a good bottom for
the nest. Have the nest sloping from all sides towards the center. Cut
straw and hay of about six-inch lengths is best for nesting material.

The number of eggs to place under her depends, of course, to a large
extent, on the size of the hen. Do not attempt to place more under her
than she can comfortably cover, if you do, she is apt to break some and
chill others.

Under ordinary conditions in the natural season the average hen will
conveniently cover fifteen average size eggs. Eight or ten duck eggs,
five goose eggs, and six turkey eggs are about the number of the dif-
ferent kinds of eggs that can be properly covered by an average size hen.
In warm weather more eggs can be placed under her. and during cold
weather less.

In the case of the setting hen, especially where quite a few are used
in this manner, it is important that some system is practiced in their
care and management. As a rule it is a good pl'fl(‘tl(‘0_ especially where
more than one hen is in the same room, to keep them confined at all
times, except when letting them out for food and w-ater. Feed and
water them at regular intervals so they will alwavs know just when you
are coming; this will prevent them from becoming uneasy and breaking
some of the eggs.

The best feed for a setting hen is cracked grain. such as corn and
wheat. Fresh water is, of course, important. Do not feed wet mashes
to vour setting hens.

One of the greatest and most important factors in natural incubation
is thorough cleanliness of the surroundings. nest. nesting material and
the hen, eggs and chicks. The droppings should he frequently removed.
as well as any broken eggs and soiled litter. Provide a. dust and water
bath for the hen. I have repeatedly noticed that they use both. Dust
the hen several times with a good lice powder before setting and at least
two 0r three times before the chicks come off. .\ good time to do this
is’ the seventh and fourteenth dav and just before the chicks hatch. The
last time it is advisable to use the powder verv carefully and in' limited
quantities.

As a rule we have found it good practice not to bother her too much—
allow her to do about as she pleases in most wavs.

Test out all infertile eggs on the sixth or seventh day to make more
room for the rest of the eggs in the nest, thus reducing the danger of
breaking them.

The periods of incubation are: hens’ eggs. ‘21 davs; ducks’ eggs, 28
days; swans’ eggs. 32 to 35 davs: geese eggs, 30 to 35 davs: turkey, pea-
fowls and guineas’ eggs, 28 days: ducks. ‘Muscoxjv. 32 to 35 days; pigeons.
16 to 19 days. t i

At hatching time leave the hen as much to herself as possible. It is
necessary that she sit very close to the nest at this time, so as to keep
up a high temperature- During the night it is sometimes a good idea
to feel und.er her and remove the egg shells to give the chicks more room.

PocLrnr 1.\' Texas. A 87'

D0 not take the chicks away from the hen until they are 24 to36 hours
old or the hen leaves the nest of her own free will. Examineboth hen
and chicks for vermin and act accordingly. Remember the two never
do well together.

ny 3r.»\.\"s mrrrrrron.

To do this subject justice, it is advisable to begin with the stock that
is to produce the eggs for incubation. The stock used in the production
of hatching eggs is generally known as the breeding stock or flock.

Keep jvour breeding stock under as nearly natural conditions as pos-
sible. The nearer to nature you can come in this respect the better
the results. First, select the required number of your best breed from
'_\'our entire flock and keep these separate. Never breed from your entire
flock. In making your selection, select for constitutional vigor first,
then for egg laying characteristics, or meat producing characteristics,
or both, as desired.

After carefully selecting your breeding pen place them in. a fresh-air
house, away from the rest of the flock, so you can allow them unre-
strieted range with plenty of green grass and shade. A wood lot or an
orchard comes about as close to providing these conditions as any other
location. Here in the South it is of prime importance that some pro-
tection he provided from the hot sun during the middle of the day.
Fowls sufTer much from heat, even more than from cold.

In the feeding of the lareeding stock eliminate all forcing feeds, like
wet mashes and large amounts of animal foods. Feed the cracked
grains in the litter, and the dry mash in self-feeding ‘hoppers always
accessible. Provide plenty of grit, hone meal and ovster shell. Fresh,
pure xvater is. of course. very important. In the winter time it is ad-
visable to feed the grains in such a way as to induce exercise. Fresh
air in abundance without drafts is essential. The house can be prac-
tically open on the south side. but the other ends should be so arranged
as to make it possible to close them up practicallr air tight. It is, how-
ever, a good idea to arrange shutters in these ends in such a way as t0
make it possible to open them during the spring, summer and fall, so
as to induce a more thorough circulation of air.

CARE OF EGGS FOR HATCHING.

Gather the eggs as soon after they are laid as possible-Adm sooner
the better. This is important in our warm or hot climate. If the eggs
are left in the nests long enough to start development of the germ and
then stored in a cooler temperature. which cheeks this development, the
result xvhen You come to incubate them will he a large percentage of
infertiles and a larger percentage of dead germs. Remember, the germ
starts to develop at a temperature of about 70 degrees or above. It is
of prime importance that the eggs he gathered verv frequently and
stored in a temperature as close to 55 degrees as possible. Turn these
eggs once a day to prevent the volk trom adherine to +hl=lshell or shell
membranes. (lover them to prevent excessive evaporation. ‘ -

88

AGRICULTURAL AND AIECHANICAL COLLEGE OF ‘Drums.

Fig. 38——A flock of geese and ducks-

POULTRY IN Texas. 89

Handle the hatching eggs very carefully, because excessive jarring
may injure the germ, which is very delicate at this time. Never shake
eggs for hatching to note the condition of the contents—it is certain to
injure them. l n selecting eggs for hatching, select only such as are
of normal shape and good size. Incubate no eggs that weigh less than
two ounces apiece. It has been proven that small eggs produce small
chicks, and small chicks have always been found lacking in vitality.
Use only eggs from mature stock, perfectly free from any kind of in-
herited disease.

We know of no reliable means of determining either the sex or fer-
tility of an egg before incubation. The fertility of an egg, however,
can be. determined before incubation by breaking and with the aid of a
microscope note the germinal disc.

As a rule it is better not to wash eggs for hatching. When eggs for
hatching are purchased from a party not well known it is sometimes a.
good idea to dip these eggs in a 92 per cent solution of alcohol or in a.
'2 or 3 per cent solution of Zenoleum. This disinfecting kills any disease
germs that may be adhering to the outside of the shell. It, however, does
not kill or in any way affect disease germs that may be inside the egg.

LO CATION OF INCUBATOR.

lt has often been stated that the best place for an incubator is in a.
\\'('ll ventilated cellar. That is true. but it is also true that. most cellars
are about the poorest ventilated places. A good location for an incu-
bator is a cellar or room two-thirds below the ground, with unquestion-
able ventilation. free from drafts, with uniform temperature, relatively
high humidity and so constructed as to prevent direct sunlight from
striking any part of the machine. Of all these factors plenty of pure,
fresh. lite-giving air is perhaps the most essential. Remember oxygen is
absolutely ne<-essar_\' in the development of the germ. Humidity is neces-
sary to bring about a good hatch and strong chicks. Decaying vege-
tables are serious objections to have in an incubator room or cellar.
Ventilation can be increased by substituting muslin. burlap or Wooden
batllcrs in place of glass WlINlOVVS.
facilitate flooding the cellar or room once or twice a day.

ITEATIXG THE BIACHIXE.

Place the machine perfectly level in all directions. Place your ther-
tnometci- according to directions coming with the machine, starting with
a small rounded flame. not turned too high. Qcrew the thermostat nut
down (uioiigli to barely raise the thin disc above the top of the heater
flue. This is important to prevent breaking the thermometer. In the
case of coal heaters. work it the same way, always bearing in mind that it
is advisable to heat the machine up slowly and very gradually. Watch
your thermometer. Regulate the machine so it will hold a uniform tem-
peraturc of 100 degrees without any eggs on the tray’. Bun the machine

If possible. have a cement floor to-

90 AGRICULTURAL AND iNIEQHANIoAL COLLEGE OF TEXAS.

empty’ for at least forty-eight hours, 0r until you can control the tem-
perature. _
FILLING THE MACHINE.

When you are confident you have got the machine fully under con-
trol, put in the eggs, but never before. The eggs should always be placed
on the side and never on the ends. As a rule it does not pay to crowd
too many eggs on the tr-ay, it will mean trouble in turning and more
broken eggs.

TEMPERATURE.

With the bulb of the thermometer at the center of the egg it should
register the first two days 101 degrees. A high temperature the first
week is very harmful, while a low temperature at this time is very
serious, besides causing a correspondingly slower development of the
germ. Towards the end of the first week it is safe to allow the ten:-
perature to run up to 103 degrees. The second week hold the temper-
ature as close to 103 degrees as possible. The third week keep the
temperature at 104 degrees until the nineteeth, twentieth and twenty-
first days, when no serious harm results by allowing the temperature to
run up as high as 105 degrees. T-lowever. it is not mlvisalile to ever
allow the temperature to go much above 105 degrees. During the last
week it is better to have a relatively high temperature than a low tem-
perature. At hatching time a temperature of 105 degrees appears to
be a great help to the chicks. In fact, an experienced operator can
always tell by the temperature along about the eighteenth, nineteenth
and twentieth day as to whether he is going to have a good or poor
hatch. A persistent low temperature along about that time means a
poor hatch, while a high temperature would mean a good hatch.

This is explained as due to the fact that at this period of the hatch
a large number of chicks in their attempt to free themselves, throw off
a large amount of heat, causing a higher temperature to show on the
thermometer, without the regulation being changed. This, of cmlrse.
is very natural. Therefore, do not be alarmed if. at hatching time.
your thermometer should show a temperature of 104 or 105 degrees.
When the temperature is registered bv a suspended thermometer, the
thermometer should register one-half degree higher.

During the entire period of incubation it is advisable to have as uni-
form a temperature as possible, starting with a temperature of 10?
degrees and ending with a temperature of 104 to 105 degrees at batch-
ing time. At hatchingtime the chicks are apt to obstruct the view of
the thermometer and maybe throw it (loxvn. Do not become alarmed.
If your machine has run perfectly up to this time it will continue to
do so a few days longer. Never open the door wide at hatching time.

Watch the chicks carefully at this time. If they appear to pant very
much, increase the ventilation a little. It is unnatural for them to
pant. Test the thermometer to make sure it is accurate.

‘l

POULTRY 1N TEXAS. 91

TURNING OF EGGS.

After the l1101'11i11g of the second day turn the eggs regularly and care-
fully twice a ilay; as near twelve hours apart as possible. In turning
the eggs, especially during the first week, it is very important that it
be done carefully, without jarring. At this time the germ is very
delicate and undue jarring is apt to cause ruptured blood-vessels, caus-
ing dead germs at: the first testing. In turning, it is not important
or necessary that they be turned a certain amount or exactly half over,
as some appear to think; all that is necessary is to turn each egg suffi-
ciently to change its location upon the tray and also the location of the
yolk in the egg to prevent the same from adhering to the shell and
induce a regular development of the germ. There are various ways of
turning eggs. One good way is by flopping trays, which is done by
placing a second tray on top of the tray full of eggs, then taking a
firm hold of two ends, gently turn or flop the two trays. This is a
good method when the tray is full of eggs, or, until the first test. After
the first test, up to and including the evening of the eighteenth day,
the eggs had best be turned by the palm of the hand, not only turning
the eggs. but shoveling them around in the tray. Aim to change the
eggs around upon the tray as much as possible each day. This is neces-
sary to bring about a uniform hatch. Stop turning the eggs after the
evening of the eighteenth day. . .

COOLING OR AIRING THE EGGS.

In the successful operation of incubators the experienced operator
always considers these three factors together, namely: cooling, ventila-
tion, and moisture. One depends and is influenced by the other. As a
general rule we find it good practice to commence cooling them slightly
upon the morning of the seventh dav._ In cooling them‘, leave them
on top of the machines. or cooling table, out of direct drafts. Do not
allow the ends to project over the machine, because, in that case these
eggs will cool much more than the others.

The length of cooling depends entirely upon the temperature 0f the
room. lVe advise cooling until the eggs feel cool, but not stone cold,
to the sense of touch. If they feel stone cold, they are chilled and not
cooled. A good many make a serious mistake in this respect. in that
they cool thcm too long. During the early part of the hatch it requires
only a few minutes. while towards the latter part of the hatch it may
take as long as fort_v-fivc minutes or more. We are not absolutely sure

- that this cooling is necessarv. but we find. with the present construction

of incubators, cooling is necessary. The fact is, if we could get enough
fresh air into the machines. without drying the eggs too much, cooling

would be unnecessary.
quires cooling to a. certain extent for best results, especially is this true

in our warm climate.

Present incubator construction, however, re-v

92 ~ AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE OF TEXAS.

VENTILATION AND MOISTURE.

As a general rule we find it advisable to restrict the ventilation the
first Week and to increase it after this time up to the end of the second
week, when 1t should again be restricted a little more each day until
the nineteenth day, when practically all extra ventilators should be
closed to confine the moisture at this period of the hatch as much as
possible. Of course, the automatic ventilation of the machine should

Fifi. 39—Different types of chickens. Top row Leg-
orns, Minorcas and Spanish. Middle row, Brah-
mas, Cochins, and Langshans; Bottom row
Plymouth Rocks, Wérandottes, and Rhoda
Islan Reds.

never be tampered with. Experienced operators have noticed that re-
stricting the ventilation between the seventeenth and nineteenth days of
incubation always is- accompanied with satisfactory hatching results.
Just why this should be the case is hard to explain. It unquestionably.
1s not due to the restriction of the ventilation, but more so-to the fact
of confining the moisture. It is the moisture at this period..of the;
hatch that is very necessary and essential.

If moisture condenses on the glass of the incubator door, it is a sure

‘sign of a good hatch and sufficient moisture. We must have moisture

LQJ.‘

POULTRY IN Texas. ‘ 93

in the incubator at hatching time. We keep the incubator room floor
thoroughly moist all the time, and see to it that, at hatching time
especially, there is plenty of moisture in the hatching chamber. v

In non-moisture machines, in a rather dry location, we find it advis~
able to sprinkle the eggs with lukewarm water on the evening of the
nineteenth day and up to the time the first chick hatches. Itis almost
impossible to give any definite rules to follow in this matter of moisture
and ventilation as factors in incubation. Each operator will have to

Fig. 40—Difl'erent types. 'I_‘op row Houdans, Games,
and Cornish Ind1ans;_M1ddle row Javas, Dom-
iniques and Orpirigtons: Bottom row

[5orkins, POlISh and I-Iamburgs.

work this out for himself by watching the size of the air cell or air
space and by frequent testings. Increasing the ventilation increases the
size of the air space. Decreasing the ventilation decreases the" 
of the air space. Adding moisture decreases the size of the-air space.

Cooling increases ventilation and increases the size of the afir space.-

These facts ought to make it possible for all to work out or ~'solve?5their

own problem. _ _ 4
The size of the air space should increase gradually until at hatching

time it should occupy about one-third of the entire egg. " "I,‘he‘ifoi*1_rteenth* g

 

94 ‘ AGRICULTURAL AND ltlnorraurcar. Comma OF TEXAS.

day of incubation the air cell should occupy about one-fourth of the
entire egg. '

If the air space is too large, the chick is smalLand dried down too
much as a. result of too much ventilation and cooling and too little
moisture. Tn a case of this kind, a large number of chicks will dry
and stick t0 the shell, and consequently be unable to cut their way out.
Result, fully developed dead chicks in the shell. Remedy, supply
moisture.

If the air space is too small the chick is too large to be able to make

‘the turning movement or circumference ‘necessary to make it possible

for it to cut its way out into the world, consequently it dies in the

attempt. This is due to either too much moisture or to too restricted .

ventilation. Remedy, decrease the amount of moisture and slightly
increase the ventilation.

PIATCHING TILIE.

At hatching time do not open the incubator. Darken the incubator
door by hanging something up in front of the same, in case the door
happens to be constructed partly of glass. Follow the directions coming
ivith the machine.

Towards the end of the hatch increase the ventilation to prevent un-
natural panting.

The morning ot the twenty-second day, or as soon as you arc sure
that all are hatched, open the incubator and remove all unhatehcil eggs
and egg shells.

Leave the chicks in the incubator for 24 to 36 hours. During this
period provide plenty of fresh air and reduce the temperature to be-
tween 95 and 100 degrees.

TESTING EGGS.

The eggs should be tested the seventh day and fourteenth day of
incubation. »

At the first test remove only the infertiles which, at this time, show
perfectly clear. The fertile eggs at this period of incubation present
much the appearance of a spider-like formation or a black spot with
blood veins radiating from the same. This formation, spider or germ.
should float as the egg is turned.

At the second test, the fourteenth day, a live germ in an egg will
show to occupv about three-fourths of the egg. Tn other words, a live
germ at this testing should show and be occupying nearly the entire egg,
except the air space in the large end of the egg. Dead germs at this
time have various forms, a common kind of which is, a blood spot “with
a dark red ring about it. A black portion in the small end of the egg,
the rest clear, is another form of a dead germ. All dead germs should
be removed at this testing.

One sure way of determining whether _a germ is alive or not is by

POULTRY IN TEXAS. 95

noting the large blood vein which should show leading up to the air '
If this is visible, you can be sure that it is a living chick. The '

space.
first test is generally made to make more room for the eggs in the tray.
Sometimes the infertiles, tested out at this time, can be used by bakeries
or cooked and fed to chicks and fowls. The second testing is made to
remove all dead germs, which at this time throw ofi poisonous gases,
very injurious to the developing chicks. -

96 AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE OF TEXAS.

Figs. 41, 42, 43 and 44-—(A) Outdoor feed hopper placed under a temporary shade. which is neces-
sary to get the birds t0_ eat sufficient of the dry mash in the hopper. Natural shade would be
better. (B) Rear view of movable brooder-house facing south. Note that all shutters
and windows are hlnged at the top to swing out. (C) Front view of A-shapctl movable

I colony brooder-house, lmprove . W. Kazmeier. Note the shutters. This
l house was found _to stay cool in the hottest weather. An adaptable hoover
is placed m th1s house when the chicks are small. (D) A poorly con-
structed poultry house. Note cracks in rear.

1D
s:

POULTRY IN TEXAS.

CHAPTER XHI
SQUAB RAISIXG.

BY F. W. KAZMEIER,
Poultry Husbandlnan, Extension Department A. and M. College of Texas.

The great scarcity of game all over the country is responsible for the
continuous, gradual increase of the squab business. Squab raising when
properly conducted is exceedingly profitable, especially when close to a
good market. In Tlexas, the squab industry, like the poultry industry,
is still in its infancy. Squab raising appears to be well suited to vil-
lage and eit_v lots. lt should, however, not be inferred from this that
they cannot he profitably grown on the farm.

Sqnah raising is a business that requires close attention to details.
Przieticall_v all failures in the squab business are due to lack of cleanli-
ness. ln this business a man or woman must be Willing to look after
the minor‘ details. It is the small things in the squab business that
count. Liee and mites cause trouble on the poultry farm; but infinitely
more in the squab indnstr_v. \

1 IO USES AXD FIXTURES.

ln the construction of these. it is well to bear in mind that ther
should he inexpensive. simple. convenient, rat and mice proof, and
easily cleaned. lf the house is built on the ground, it shouldbe located
on some gravellv knoll. facing south. The floor can be concrete and
should he dr_v. .\lmost as many styles of lofts are used as there are
sonah raisers. This is something that must be worked out locally.
Often sonu- old buildings are remodeled and used for pigeon lofts. As
a rule a loft above the poultry house is not to be recommended, because
of the trouble from vermin. The house should be so constructed as to
he as vermin proof as possible. This is very important. The floors,
either wood or cement, are generally covered with an inch of sand.

lt is not advisable to allow the birds to fly over the country anymore. A

than it is to allow other animals at large. If you wish to raise most
of the squahs and he on speaking terms with vour neighbor, construct
a "llv" in the front of the house in which the birds-can exercise. These
flvs are eonstrueted by driving long posts in the ground and fastening
thezn togetbel‘ with hoards. The whole is covered with one-inch mesh
poultry netting. .-\ house ""13 feet. to which is attached a fly 6x30 feet,
is large enough for twenty-five pairs of working birds.

IXCUBATION.

There should be twice as many nests as mated pairs, and, if anxvthing,
a few more, so thev will not crowd. The ordinarv nest is about 10x12
inches and 8 inches high, so constructed as to facilitate cleaning. A

98 AGRICULTURAL AND MECHANICAL COLLEGE or ‘Texas.

convenient arrangement is to have the bottom of the nest movable and
work like a drawer. Watch the nests carefully for lice and mites, and
keep them scrupulously clean at all times.

The period of incubation for pigeons is 18 davs. Natural incubation
appears to be the most satisfactory. The hen and cock take turns in
incubating the eggs. The hen sets on the eggs about twenty hours
every day and the cock about four hours, during which time the hens
go in search of food and water.

FEED.

The birds should be fed a variety of pure and wholesome grains.
Medium coarse, cracked corn is fed in troughs, so that they ean’t waste
any. A mixture of whole wheat, Canada peas_ kafir, hulled oats and
millet should be fed twice a day on the floor all they will eat up clean
quickly, in addition to the cracked corn in a trough. New corn and
wheat is sometimes considered bad for the birds, because it has a ten-
dency to loosen the bowels and may cause death. Probably the most
important factor in the feeding of pigeons is to guard against feeding
musty, heated or spoiled grains. Sour food is very detrimental.

This food should be supplemented with pigeon-size ground oyster
shell, plenty of so-called pigeon salt and charcoal. Grit of the proper
size is essential. Salt is very important in the feeding of poultry.
Keep it in hoppers always before them. Plentv of pure. fresh water,
in numerous vessels, should be conveniently located.

FEEDING SQUABS.

This is done entirely by the old birds. A milk forms in the crop of
the old birds during the incubation which is (lisgorgerl from the crop of
the old birds and fed to the squabs. For the first seven or eight days
the squabs are fed on the pigeon milk. Then. or as soon as they can
digest grains, they are fed the same by the old birds similar to the man-
ner the pigeon’s milk is fed. The grains are eaten by the old birds
and then disgorged from the crop and fed to ille seuahs.

DIFFERENT BREEDS.

Good breeds for squab production are those that are most prolific,
producers of good sized squabs, producers of light-colored squabs, and
feed the young well. Do not buy old birds. A much better practice
is to buyyoung birds, place them in a small house until mated, and
then move to their permanent nesting place. It is important that all
birds in the hatching place be well mated, otherwise they will cause
trouble. Unmated-birds in the loft are apt to make trouble.

Most squab “raisers consider the American Antwerps and HOmCTS as
very ‘desirable birds for squab raising. The White German Homer, the
Dragoon, the Carneaux, the Runt, the Duchess and the Belgian Homer
are also very good. Some breeders use crosses of some of the above to
advantage.

[ufi
w

POULTRY IN TEXAS.

VERLIIN AND DISEASE.

As has already been stated, lice are a serious menace to the old and l

young hirds. One large squab raiser provides tobacco stems which the
birds use in building their nests. In addition to this, it is advisable to
provide the birds twice a week with a shallow trough full of water.
'l‘hefv will bath-e. in this and thus free themselves of lice.
and attention to these details are the price of success in squab raising.

The house, fly, fixtures and utensils should be disinfected regularly -

to kill disease germs that may be lurking. One teaspoonful of Zenoleum
or some other good coal tar disinfectant added to a quart of drinking
water will help in controlling disease.

Watchfulness l

micif iuuL AND l\l.lC(j‘ll[.\ L (“oi.1.1~:u1<: 01* 'l‘i-:.\'..\s.

Figs. 45, 46 and 47 A) An indoor feed hopper. (B) A. and hi. (Iollegcw House designed by l".
W. azmeier. Thig; house is built with a wooden floor and is movable. The house is
blocked up 16 1nchc$ from the ground. This type has been found to give ex-
cellent satisfaction. (C) An adaptable hoover for U10‘ brooding of
chicks, to be placed in movable (wolony house.

Ponrrnrs IN TEXAS, 101

CHAPTER XIV
DUCKS OX THE FARM.

BY F. W. KAZMEIER,
Pnlllll‘_\' ll l‘=$l).l]1(llliill1, Extension Department A. and M. College of Texas.

Ducks should he fed and cared for in a somewhat (litterent manner
than lseus. The duck has no well developed crop; hence the food passes
more directly to the digestive organs and does not undergo so complete
a stiftening process as the food consumetl by the hen. Therefore, the
(hicks should he fed chiefly soft food, consisting of a variety of ground
grains softened with water. Young or growing (lncks should be fed
hut very little. if any. hard grains. .

In raising ducks it is important to have everything in and about the
duck houses and yards in the most sanitary condition. If the ducks"
are confined in small yards the ground should be cultivated to keep it
in a reasonably clean condition. Grains are often sown in the yards
to keep them sanitary" and to provide a little green food. .

Young dneks should he fed from shallow troughs about a. foot wide
and eight or ten feet long with one and one-half-inch sides. These
troughs should he kept as clean as possible. In raising _voung ducks
pure water and clean yards are essential factors especially so when they
do not have access to a running stream.

§npply the ducks. hoth growing stock and breeders. with plenty of
green and animal feed. .\ good ration consists of about '20 per cent
animal meal and 30 to 40 per cent green feed in some form. _

lf dnelclings are confined to comparatively small yards it’ is advisable
to prorid< plenty of shade for them during the summer months. Green
rye_ oats. clover. alfalfa. (‘auada field peas. and corn makes excellent
green feed for (lurks when finely cut, using feed cutter for this purpose.
The green feed may he fed alone or mixed with the moistened ground.
feed. The ground feed may consist of wheat bran, wheat shorts, corn
meal. katir meal. or milo meal. and ground oats. the hulls of the oats
having heen removed.

Ducks are"usuall_v kept in moderate sized flocksthat roam at will
over a eonsitlelahle portion of the premises. When reared underfihese
r-omlitiotis the ducks on a farm often prove valuable in tlze destruction
of various insects. Z v .

lt is a well known fat-t that (luclcs are very much more free from
(liseases and vermin than chickens. For this reason many farmers
prefer ducks to chickens. Ducks are more easily confined than chickens.
A "fence two or three feet high will confine them under most conditions. _
Ducks grow much faster than hens "and for this reason are preferred
to hens by some farmers.

“any of the largest duck breeders have no water for their ducks

102 AGRICULTURAL AND Linornmieim COLLEGE OF Texas.

except drinking ivater, but the eggs from breeding stock ducks which
have the use of a swimming pond are perhaps a little more fertile and

‘their hatching power a trifle greater and the (lucklings stronger.

For successful incubation of duck eggs it is advisable to keep the
place where the incubators are operated exceptionally damp. Duck eggs
need more moisture for successful incubation than hen eggs. It is
sometimes advisable to take a small broom and thoroughly sprinkle the
eggs with ‘water of the same temperature as the eggs just before pipping

' time. Leave the young ducklings in the machine for the greater part

of the twenty-third day, then remove them to warm brooders previously
made ready for them. Their first feed should he sand and water with
the chill taken off. About an hour after the sand and water feed,
feed them bread and sour milk. This is fed for three days, then feed
the following mixture: one part bran, one part ground wheat, one-half
part corn meal, one-fourth part middlings, one-half part beef scrap and
some green food. This should be moistened with sour milk or water
to a crumbly state. Feed all they will eat up clean. As they grow
older feed about one-fourth of this bulk in green food.

Remember, it is the draft, dampness, and ovcrfceding that are the
greatest causes of mortality in raising ducks.

POULTRY 1N TEXAS. 103

CHAPTER XV
POULTRY HOUSES AND EQUIPMENT FOR TEXAS FARMS.

BY T. J. CONWAY, _
Assistant Professor of Poultry Husbandry, A. and M. College of Texas.

At the beginning a word as to the necessity of poultry houses on our
farms will he of interest. Knowing how sensitive an organism the
chicken is, wc-can readily realize the very detrimental efiect of housing
our poultry in an unprotected place. Egg production is to a great extent
dependent on the physical welfare of the individual. Therefore, for
best production we must care for our stock so that at no time it will
be subjected to adverse conditions. Steady cold weather or steady warm
weather usually does not affect egg production other than to slightly
reduce it below what is produced during seasons of mild temperature.
The factors that seriously affect are sudden changes of temperature and
weather conditions. and if these changes are severe the production is
usually stopped for an indefinite period, if not entirely, and the health
of the hird permanently"injured.

One very good method in controlling these conditions is proper hous-
ing. lf we let our chickens roost in the trees and on the machinery
scattered alt-out the farm they are in great danger of being injured some
night when one of our frequent “northers” arrives. We also will not
he ahle to collect all the eggs laid, as hens cared for in such manner
will lay in spots hidden and scattered all over the farm. On most of
our farms the sale of such eggs, which are never found, would quickly
pay for a poultry house that would mean much to the stock and the
OHTICI‘.

In most parts of the State a shelter is all that is necessary and the
cost per hird is very low. We may have fine bred birds which are
fed the best of feed stuffs but if improperly housed these will not pro~
duec the desired results. Houses are important because egg production,
being a productive process, is much harder to control than milk or meat
production. There is no one best poultry house for all sections of our
Rtate, but the essentials {or all are the same. In the first place, the
house should he adapted to the jmrposfl. If a laying house, it should
protect and house the layers. It‘ it is to be a brooder house, it should
properly care for the young chicks. Economy of construction is very
important and to the average poultry raiser is the factor first consid-
ered. Every dollar invested in a poultry house should draw interest
so that our houses should be built as economically as possible and still
servo the purpose. Ordinarily, we consider $1.00 per bird as a reason-
able cost for construction. It should, however, never exceed $2.00 per
hird. The size of the building, cost of materials, labor, number to be
housed, and the like, are the factors that affect co_st.

1U‘:

.~\GI:ICUI.'131‘J:.»\.I. -\.\*n )[1<:c'11;\x1c-\|. (‘nLLrxuc m‘

FIIHII n1 Yunkurn. 'l‘1~x:|.<.

_ pvriluvnl

1H ~.\ ||nr'|\ uf lurlu§\> 1m Hn- huxvrwnlllvul

l-‘ig.

'l'url\1-\' fix

i}:

POULTRY 1x Texas. " 105

The house should be eflicient and serve to the best advantage the pur-
posetm which it was intended. Durability is important as -it reduces
110111.111‘ expenses and lasts indefinitely; Convenience in operation means
Ftlnlilfl lillml‘ in cleaning, feeding, egg collecting, and such work. 1S"l'm-
[I-ticitj/ usually means economy and ‘the 1iou.ltr_v' house should be built
so as not to require the services of skilled labor and all room space can
be used to advantage. In respect to capacity, it should house the maxi;
mum nmiihcr of birds to advantage, and be large enough so that the
attendant can easily care for it economically. The comfort of the birds
shouldailso be considered, as this is very important in egg production.
For tlns reason avoid houses which are wet, close, damp, frosty or hot.
Since the body temperature 0f abird ranges from 101 to 107 degrees F.
we can readily zippreciate the necessity for large amounts of good, fresh
air i11 our houses. Pure air is 111ore important than warmth.
should. also be attractive. It usually doesn”; cost any more and adds
very much to the looks of the farm and the pride of the owner. Attrac-
tivencss is obtained by arranging parts syrmmetrically and‘ making the
building harmonize with the surroundings by theproper application of
color. paint and the like. The house should also be made sanitary,

proof zigainst iats and vermin and sometimes arranged for safety against"

fire and robbers.

Locate the house on ground sheltered from prevailing winds by hills,
tiecs or buildings. Tloxvcver. never place a house in a pocket. It should
face south or southeast, if possible, to get full benefit of the early morn-
ing sun. The house should have both soil (lrainage and air drainage.
Rail on which sod will grow vigorously and abundantly and also ‘absorb
dropping~ is of great importance. Tsually sandy or gravelly soils are
best, a sandy loam being very desirablcf Ti’ possible, place the house
where the birds can have access to fields and be allowed to roam on them
after harvest to pick up all scattered grain and teed stufiis which would
otherwise he wasted.

The poultry house should also be arranged so as to be attractive from
the road or public highway". thus making it a valuable and inexpensive
means of advertising. (“onvcniencc in doing the work is important.
lt the house is too far from the dwelling it is very often liable to be
neglected. with had results. '

'l.‘hc size of the house is (letermincd by the number of birds t0 be kept
and the number of days it will he necessary to keep them locked up.
ln sections of the Qtatc where climatic conditions are ideal throughout
the year more birds may hc housed i11 a house of a certain size than in
sections where it is necessary‘ to confine them to the house for two to
four or five months of the year. In (letermining capacity, three square
feet of floor space per bird is a good proportion and in many sections
two square feet of fioor space per bird is satisfactory. _

Housing from 100 to 500 birds in a. house is usuallv desirable, as
such arrangement saves labor and such houses are less expensive to
build than a number of smaller ones, and give betteropportumty for
the use of labor saving devices and water systems.

The house i

106 - AGRICULTURAL AND IWECHANICAL COLLEGE OF TEXAS.

The roof is one of the most expensive parts of the house and that
type should be chosen which gives reasonable satisfaction at least cost.
There are many types in common use. The shed roof is the one we
are all quite well acquainted with and is simple to construct, durable.
admits plenty of sunlight,.and has other good features in its favor.
Ordinarily, the shed roof is very desirable. The gable roof is another
common tfrpe, and has many good features, as also does the combination
roof, which is in many respects a combination of the shed and gable
types‘. The half monitor, the full monitor, the hip types, all have their
desirable features, but usually are too expensive for farm use and gen-
erally adapted only to special houses.

_ On most farms there are sheds or unused buildings which can readily
be converted into serviceable poultry houses at very little cost.

In most parts of Texas the houses desired are ones that admit the
maximum amount of fresh air without causing drafts to strike the
fowls. A roof is necessary to protect the birds from the rains, and the
very warm sunshine. It is also» desirable to have the rear end whollv
or partially boarded, as it serves as a wind break and makes the house
more comfortable. All unboardetl houses should be screened with
poultry netting to keep our sparrows and birds which not only eat much
food, but are also carriers of disease and vermin. Then, too, at times
it is necessary to confine the birds to the house. On some houses the
three-fourths-inch mesh has been used, which keeps out all birds.

If the house is to be a permanent structure. it should be built on a
concrete foundation and have a concrete floor. If the soil about the
house is damp, building a concrete floor with a laver of good roofing
paper between it and the porous material below will prevent all capil-
lary rise of the water and keep the floor always drvand warm. Three
inches of concrete makes a strong, durable floor and may be made of
a mixture containing five parts gravel. three parts sand, and one part
Portland cement. It should be finished with a mixture of one part of
Portland cement to three parts sand. T-Tavine the foundation wall
extend four to six inches above the floor causes the sills to last indefi-
nitelv and prolong the life of the building.

Make the doors three feet wide and hang so as to swing to the inside
of the house. In large houses, double doors are necessarv if it is de-
sired to drive a team through the house when removing and replacing
litter and droppings. ,

The entire house should be single boarded and, if found necessary.
may be covered. with a good grade of TOOfing paper. To make an at-
tractive appearance, the front ma_v be built of novelty siding and
painted. Covering the roof with good quality roofing paper makes an
economical and serviceable roof. ‘

Houses having the sides and rear hinged so that they can be raised
during the Warm weather to admit the greatest amount of fresh air
with little or no draft will be found very suitable to Texas conditions.
During seasons of cold, stormy Weather these sides may be lowered into
place, making a warm and comfortable house. A similar arrangement

POULTRY IN Texas. 1 107

may be used in front to prevent beating rains from entering and also as
an awning for protection from the hot noonday sun. If there is little
shade about the house the birds will spend much time in the houses.
For this reason, in very warm sections of the State it is well to make
some provision for a free circulation of fresh air 0v,er the floors.

In the interior arrangement of the house have nothing on the floor.
Allow the birds free range of the entire floor space. Since water is of
such prime importance, provide fountains which are sanitary and easily
accessible to the fowls. Have the water elevated eighteen-inches from
the lloor to cause the fowls to exercise when obtaining a drink, also have
it covered so that they cannot wallow in it. Water should be given
fresh twice daily.

Place the roosts in the rear part- of the house. If dropping boards
are used the roosts should be eight inches above them. If no dropping
hoards are used, they should be about thirty inches from the floor.
Build the roosts. of ‘ZXQ-iuch material, and allow six or eight inches of
linear perch room per bird. Suspend the roosts from the ceiling bv
means of small wires, as a guard against lice, mites and similar para-
sites. (‘rossing the wires prevents swinging of the roosts. Bv this ar-
rangement. if any lice. mites, or bugs should gain access to ‘the house
they will not he able to crawl on the fowls at will from the sides and
other parts of the house. All perches should be on the same level,
twelve inches apart. and at equal distance from the rear of the house.

Dropping boards are important. Many poultrymen do not consider
$10111!‘ as necessary‘, but I giinkftheyr can always be used to advantage.

ou try manure 1s our ric est ertilizinv manure, b in h' ' i '- -

gen and containing lime, both of which: are valuablge.  dlriorxiiitilifg

m? f.‘.::;;:;1""i:.r;r:' ‘z: agizd°zgzfirly “fid5;£°3°“§§ 

h‘ -‘~ ~- - O31‘ S

are not used. the litter becomes soiled very quickly andpliieegessitates
cleaning the house oftener than otherwise. a

Nests are very important and should be built as sanitary and efficient
as possible. Build them on the walls and partitions rather than under
the roosts. Convenience in collecting the eggs should be considered.
They should afford seclusion and be comfortable. In size, nests one foot
high. one foot wide, and one foot deep, will serve the purpose. The
usual proportion is one nest to every four or five hens, though when large
flocks are housed together there may be one nest to ten or more hens.

Tn some localities it is desirable to place the nests outside the house.
'l‘his mav he done verv satisfactorily if in a region of much fine weather.
Nests so placed are very accessible. to the birds and attendants and if
properly constructed are very comfortable during warm weather. Such
nests, however, are not desirable during wet weather as the birds in

going to them will get muddy and soil the eggs in the nests. Also, -

during such days as it may be necessary to confine the birds in the
houses it will mean making some nesting arrangement inside the houses.

Broody coops are small open coops and may be built inside the pen
or in the yards. They are used to break up setting hens, to store tem-

108 AonIoLtLrt'1i.»tL .-\_\‘n Mizotrtxiextr (J0-l4lA1“A(;l4: or 'l‘t-:.\".\s,

1Joraril§ an extra hreetling‘ male, also injured or siek hirds or surplus
fowls which are to be disposed of. \\'hen going" through the house at
times we find many individuals whit-h are 1l1l(lt‘>‘l1'2ll)lt‘ and should he
remoted. lt is easy to eateh those hirds at that inonient and they 1na_\'
he placed in the l_r1‘OOtl_\' coop, later to he disposed ol as desired. The
hroody coop should he located near the nests, so that the hrootly hells
may he removed ilHJOIH the nests and plat-ed at onee in the eoops. (lrdi-
narily the coop should he large enough to il(‘t'tllllllltltltllt‘ Hlmlll one hen
in every ten.

Feed hoppers are of great iinporttint-e in platinine" the etptipinent of
the house. A great nuinhet‘ of styles and types are used tor the let-ditty;
of (lry mashes and whole grains. The)‘ are more _1_ft'llt'l'ztll_\' used for
feeding ground grains or ntashes whit-h are l<ept helort» the hirds at aYl
times. Ysuallv one linear foot ot’ feeding area is prtnidetl tor t'\'t'l‘\'
twelte birds. This proportion depends tipon the size ot the llot'l{ and
also on the method. of feeding; whether the hoppers are open all day or
half the day. Hoppers should have sloping tops to irrevent the lvlftls‘
roosting on them and should also he huilt so that they ean he vltr-twl
whenever (lesired. ldouhle hoppers are often llsetl in lzll‘f_ft' houses_ heiny;
placed in the partition, allowing" hirds front the two pens to teed lrotn
the same hopper.

.__in

Fig. 49—A turkey roost in a large tree. 'l'extls turkeys do well roosting in trees. -.»_J_

INDEX

Page
Aspergilius, cause of ________________________________ __ 22
Beans and peas as poultry feed ____________ __ 25
Beef scraps __________________________________ "20, 21, 26
Bone. place of in ration __________________________ __ 19
Breeding-—
For constitutional vigor ______________________ ,_ 27
Relation between vitality and egg
production .................................... .29, 46
Selection of eggs for ................ H3O, 49, 87
Selection of chicks after hatching .... .. 31
Marking (or age .................................... __ 32
Selection of breeding stock .................. .. 32
Age of hens .......................................... ,_ 36
Shape of towis ...................................... __ 36
Buying eggs for from a distance ...... .. 49
For longevity ...................................... ,. 51
Effect o! sex .......................................... __ 52
Inbreeding ............................................ _. L’
Line breeding ...................................... _. 52
Introducing new blood ........................ ,. 52
Care of breeding pen .......................... .. 8?
Brooding systems .................................... .. 55
Candling eggs for market ...................  61
Chicks, young. raising of ........................ .. 54
Combs. indicate vitality .......................... .. 39
Coops for shipping .................................. .. 65
Cooperative marketing ............................ .. 66
(‘ulling .......................................... ..27, 40, 58
Cull stock. loss in keeping“... ................ .. 27
Diseases--
Caused by musty grain or straw ...... _. 22
Caused by feeding raw meat .............. .. 26
\\'hite diarrhea .................................... .. 41
Gapes ................ ..' .................................. .. 44
Sunstroke .............................................. .. 57
Prevention and treatment of numerg
ous .................................................... .. 73
Disinfectants .......................................... .. 73
Ducks ........................................................ ..101
Eggs-—
Feeding for production of .................. .. 3
Breeding for production of ................ .. 4G
Manufacture of ................................ ..5, 9
Blood clots in ........................................ .. 6
Effect of inheritance upon .............. ..6, 29
Of what constituted and how pro-
duced .............................................. “'7. 12
infertile .............................. ..10, 12, 61, 71
May begin to hatch before laid .......... .. 10
incubation temperature .......... ..10, 71, 89
Addied. cause of .................................... -- 11
Abnormal size and shape .................... -_ 11
Keeping qualities of ........................ .12. 61
Xvaahing of ...................................... ~13. 62
Storage oi’ ...................................... .13. 62
Effect 0t odors upon ........................ .13, 21
Cost oi’ producing ................................ -- 21
Selection of for breeding .................... .. 30
Keeping for hatching ......................... .. 40
Purchase of for breeding .................... .. 49
(‘nndling and grading for market ...... .. 61
Packing of for market ........................ .. 64
Feed hoppers .................................... .59, 108
Feeding-
Eflect on health ------------------------------------ ~- 6
Concentrates .................................... .18. 21
For egg production .......................... .21. 69
Grains --------------------------------------------------- -- 23
Flocks, size 0i’ .......................................... .. 54
- Gapes ........................................................ .. 44
Geese .......................................................... .- 81

 

   

  
 

 

 
 
  

  
  
   
   

 

Page
Germinal disk in egg .............................. -- 11
Grains, feeding of .................. .. .
Grading eggs for market ....... .-
Green feed, importance of ................ ._19-26
Hatching, time of .................................... -. 5O
Hens-— -

Compared with dairy cows .................. .. 5

Reproductive system of ........................ ._ 6

Cannot will to lay or not to lay ...... __ 7

Care of during laying season ............ .. 7

Laying condition of .................... .-

Proper feeding of ..................... __

Breeding age ........................................ -_ '36
Housing .................. .-28, 55, 71, 77, 97, 103
Inbreeding   52, 75
Incubation 85
Inheritance—-

Effect upon egg production _______ ._ -_ .6, 50

Of vigor ............................................. .. 28
Killing for market _________________________ __ __65, 79
Kitchen scraps, care in feeding ............ __ 21
Line breeding ________________________________ ._
Limberneck, cause of ....... .-

Males, management of .............................. .. 71
Marketing-

Through cooperation .......................... __ 66

By weight and number ________________________ .- 66

Grading and candling eggs tor .......... .. 61
Meat feeds ...................................... ._ 20, 26
Middiings, feeding value .......................... __ 25
Milk, feeding value .............................. -25, 41
Mineral matter in ration ........................ ..
Melting .................................... __ '
Odors, effect of upon eggs
Ova, number in hens ............................ __
Packing eggs
Piumage, indication of vitality ........ .-35, 38
Poultry-i

Importance of ...................................... .. 3

Feeding for egg production ................ .. 3

Fertilizer from .................................... -.

Not scavengers .................. ._

Breeding tor vigor .............. ..

For market .......................................... ..
Prevention oi.‘ diseases ..........  ................. _- 73
Ptomaine poisoning, cause of .................. -. 26
Puilets, eggs from tor hatching ........ "40, 47
Pure breeds, importance of ................ ..46, 6_1
Rabbits, as feed ........................... -.

Raising chickens .................................... ..
Ration- ~

For poultry .................................... -.17, 69

For health 0t towls .... ..

For egg production ................. ..

For quality of products ......... ..

Cost 0t ..................................... -.

Place of grain in ..................... -.

Value of peas and beans ......... -_

Wheat bran ............................. -.

Middiings ................................. _.

Feeding "by-products" ........... _.

Milk .......................................... ..

Meat .................................. -.

Rabbits .................................................. --
Selection in breeding
Sex, effect ot in breeding ........................ .. 52
Shape of fowls .......................................... .. 36
Squab raising ------------------------------------------ -- 97
Turkeys ...................................................... ._ 75
Vigor, breeding for .................................. ._ 27
Wheat bran as teed --------------------  ---------- -- 25
White diarrhea ........................................ .. 41