We put
about a hundred together in each of five brooders, fed them cut oats and
wheat with a little coarse corn meal and all the fresh milk they could
drink, and they throve mightily.
The incubators were filled again on the 26th, and from that hatch we got
552 chicks. On the 21st of March they were again filled, and on the 13th
of April we had 477 more to add to the colony in the brooder-house. For
the last time we started the lamps April 15th, and on the 6th of May we
closed the incubating cellar and found that 2109 chicks had been hatched
from the 4000 eggs. The last hatch was the best of all, giving 607. I
don't think we have ever had as good results since, though to tell the
truth I have not attempted to keep an exact count of eggs incubated. My
opinion is that fifty per cent is a very good average hatch, and that
one should not expect more.
In September, when the young birds were separated, the census report was
723 pullets and 764 cockerels, showing an infant mortality of 622, or
twenty-nine per cent. The accidents and vicissitudes of early
chickenhood are serious matters to the unmothered chick, and they must
not be overlooked by the breeder who figures his profits on paper.
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