THE POULTRY RUN

Southland Times, Issue 20949, 5 December 1929, Page 13

THE POULTRY RUN

DAY-OLD CHICK TRADE AN ANCIENT INSTITUTION. AVOIDING THE RISK OF EGGS. One if the most remarkable developments in the poultry industry during recent years has been the trade in day-old chicks. There are commercial poultry breeders round Auckland who sell thousands every season, the demand being so great that they are continually increasing their incubator capacity, writes Utility in the New Zealand Herald. It may not be generally known that the system is quite an old institution, but its modern extension was almost due to luck. Long before the Christian era the Chinese and Egyptians were experts in artificial incubation, and the latter carried it out on an immense scale, on a kind of community basis. The Egyptian incubator was merely a kind of brick oven, heated by firewood, and they must have been pretty skilful to get any success with such an appliance. However, not much risk was run, for people brought their eggs to the oven to be hatched, returning in due course for the chicks, and paying a toll for the work done. Much the same thing was done in America for years, but the tale is told that the owner of one lot of eggs died while they were in the incubator and the incubator ownei wondered what to do with 500 chicks. He had no broody hens, and no facilities for rearing them artificially, so he hawked them round in a basket, hoping to sell a few to neighbours who might like to put them under sitting hens. He had not made many rounds before they were all sold, and to his amazement he could have sold double the number. Origin of the Trade. That is said to be the origin of the modem trade, for the incubator owner at once concluded that there were plenty of other districts where people would be just as keen to buy chicks ready hatched as there were in his own neighbourhood. At any rate he would risk it, so he kept on hatching and sold the lot. The following year he increased his output, and an advertisement saved him all the trouble of hawking them round, for he was inundated with orders. It took less than five years for the idea to spread through America, and now dayold chicks are sold in millions every week during the spring. Some individual incubators are of such a size that they could hatch twice as many eggs at a time as there were in the shipment sent to London at the beginning of this month. Probably the most attractive feature of the buyer is that it gets over all the difficult" for ever associated with the old proverb: “Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched.” All that risk is transferred to the incubator owner, with the consequent relief from a prospective disappointment which has been a standing joke for ages. If the chicks do not hatch it is the incubator owner’s funeral, and the buyer simply has to wait a few days longer and obtain delivery of his order from the next incubator that is due to hatch. This point needs no explaining to the ordinary poultry keeper, for we have all experienced it, in spite of all the care that one can give to a broody hen or an incubator. Convenience of Delivery. Another attractive feature is that the prospective buyer can obtain delivery as soon as he makes up his mind what breed he fancies and in these quick-change days that is an important consideration to the man whose enthusiasm might evaporate if he cannot get what he wants at once. Naturally the cost is also attractive, for those who specialise in this business can afford to keep the very best strain, and breed a large number of hens from which they can set every egg that they lay for about three or four months, whereas it would cost the amateur far more to raise the birds he wants for the few eggs he will most likely want to set. Of course if he wants to raise a good many, like most farmers in the country districts, the preference will usually go in favour of buying a trio to produce the necessary eggs, but day-old chicks are undoubtedly a popular attraction with those who want to avoid the bother and risk of this course.

The surprising thing about day-old chicks to those who have had nothing to do with them is the ease with which they carry for long distances. Although always described as day-old chicks, in actual practice they will carry safely for two days, and even sometimes for three days. In America, they are set thousands of miles away, and they carry safely all over the British Isles, and even from one end of New Zealand to the other.

Most people know the oft-repeated advice that chicks should not be fed till they are two days old, and it is better to leave them longer than to feed them too soon. Secret of Safe Carriage.

That is the secret of their safe carriage, for they can be kept in the incubator till they are perfectly dry, say 12 to 24 hours, and still carry safely for two days. The other favourable feature which enables long journeys to be made is the ease with which boxes are made on a system which conserves the natural heat of the chicks. Ventilation can be so nicely adjusted, that they can still keep each other warm, without any artificial heating. If this trade is popular with customers, it is even more popular with the breeders themselves, for when they supply day-old chicks they avoid all the risk of disappointed customers who get a bad hatch, possibly through no fault of the buyer, and certainly through no fault of the seller. Every breeder receives complaints of bad hatches, despite all his care in packing eggs so carefully in bran or chaff that they look as if they could drop on the ground without breaking. Chicks carry much more safely and the customer is always pleased when he gets 100 per cent, of what he expects, whereas with eggs there is always the risk of having to replace when it is often so late that success is almost impossible. Writing so late in the season, one is inclined to suggest giving day-old chicks a trial, even though broody hens are so easy to fina now.