Poultry Notes

Southern Cross, Volume 20, Issue 16, 13 July 1912, Page 6

Poultry Notes

(By “Buff.”")

YEAR ROUND HATCHING. “In my own plant it has been our plan to incubate every egg we get from our mated fowls, at all seasons of the year, and in this way we have •secured' the largest returns possible, as there are always young fowls coming to maturity which can be turned into cash at the most opportune time..” —W. W. Cox in “Poultry Review..” In these clays of early hatching, the above extract provides the text for a very lengthy sermon. There will be found lots of people who are strongly against all-the-year found hatching, and to a great extent there will be found validity for their arguments ; but when one takes their individual methods it will generally be found that there are just as many faults to be found in the system they themselves practise. Taking 'Mr Cox’s article, it may be as well to give the gist of the arguments, as showing the advantages from the utility side of the fence where he is located. Me says he started with six hens, and the second year doubled the number, but found when the chickens began to come properly there were more then he could give his attention to without hired labour. That -will come as something of a shock to those who regularly mate from six to twelve pens instead of the same number of birds, but it must be remembered that when you are setting every egg you are I going to get some chickens — sure !

Mr Cox points out, the ease with which records of pedigrees can be kept with small numbers of birds, how the females can be selected nearly alike in appearance, character and relationship, and that every chickien will be from a carefully mated pen, the best you have in your yards.

Taking the point from the utility side, it is common knowledge that 200 or better hens are not common — or, rather, they are not so common as inferior ones. Extra heavy layers that are also good layers are still less common, and yet they are what the utility man needs in his breeding pen. Taking any utility man, you will find that he has at least one pen which he considers in advance of all the others. They are better birds, and he knows it. Yet he mates several pens up, and at the outset this seems wrong, for surely nothing but the best is good enough for him. He may say he will not get enough chickens from the best pen, yet he is all the time selling settings from the lot. If he cannot get enough chicks from his best pen, the least he can do is to get all he can, and refrain from selling any eggs at all. We are quite aware of the fact that, say, November chickens are not as good as Septemberhatched birds, but- surely the late chickens from the best pen will be better than the early chickens from the worst.

Taking it by ami large, we have found a good many late chickens, well cared for, that were better than other early-hatched birds neglected, and the right man with the right birds cannot go too far wrong, no matter what time he hatches. Then we take the exhibition side. You find few men prepared to set only the eggs from one pen, yet there are a few fanciers who could, not get all the chickens they need from one trio, much less a full pen, jf they set all the eggs. What is the matter ? Are they afraid of their own mating capabilities ? Do they have to .make several pens simply because one may come right if another goes wrong ? Is the fancy such a haphazard thing as that ? We think not, and we think also there would be greater advances if there were fewer, smaller, and more careful matings. With 50 per cent, wasters, and another 40 per cent, only fair birds, what profits lie in front of the man who will make one small superb mating, and hatch 90 per cent prize winners ! And it is a notable fact that a mating that throws poor stuff at the beginning of the season Will sometimes throw the best at the tail end. For this reason alone it' is of vital importance that breeders who desire to make their mark should set every egg from their best pens, and if the birds are of the right ancestry, and the pens are properly mated, there

will be good chickens from the hatchings—either early or late—probably both. In conclusion, this article is not directed to the big breeder who has practically unlimited numbers of good turds, and makes his living ' by selling eggs and birds raised therefrom. Even though the advice is good for him, he has so many strings to his bow that he can afford to let a good proportion of his settings go for sale, to make good birds for others. He is secure in the knowledge that from every pen there will be good birds for himself and others. Rut for the beginner who has only a few birds we do not believe it will be better—provided the birds ARE of the right sort—to set every egg, and raise every chicken from the best trio, say, than to try and get some of your money back by selling settings. When one considers that from a trio from 100 to 250 chickens can be raised in a season, it will be seen what folly it is to load the pen up with comparative wasters. It is all very well to get a lot of chickens, whether for utility or show, but quality is the thing needed 1 in either direction, and it is better to depend on a 'few good birds than to take the risk with a mob of medium quality. And small matings and all the year hatching solves the problem. better than any other way we kndw of.— A.H.K.O.