Photograph courtesy U. S. Department of Agriculture POSING AND TRAINING A BIRD FOR THE POULTRY SHOW Some birds are natural posers, but most of them have to be taught the art of showing themselves to best advantage. This aristocratic White Wyandotte is nearing the end of a course of training that lasts from a week to ten days, during which she is first cooped, then tamed by frequent handling, and finally made to assume various postures to display her best points. ton, New Jersey, in the Delaware River valley, the first baby chicks were shipped. For a number of years one poultryman had been supplying chicks in small quantities to his neighbors. The success which they had with this method of acquiring poultry stock soon spread, and little by little orders came for chicks from more distant points, until finally it became impossible to make deliveries in person over the increasing distances from which they were demanded. So it came about that this demand was met by putting the chicks into cotton-lined wooden boxes with holes in the top for ventilation. Twenty-five chicks were placed in a package and shipped by express to their destination. The experiment proved to be a success. From this small beginning the industry gradually grew, until to-day there are in the United States several thousand hatcheries, equipped to produce baby chicks for shipment and having a capacity of approximately two hundred million eggs at one sitting. A JOURNEY WITH BABY CHICKS At the end of the 21st day since the eggs were placed in the incubator the newly hatched chicks are ready to be graded, packed, and shipped. They are taken from the machines and moved to specially constructed, convenient tables in the packing rooms, each chick being handled separately to see that it is a normal, healthy individual. They are packed for shipment in specially constructed babychick boxes of from 25 to 100 chicks' capacity. The boxes are made of corrugated paper A NEW METHOD OF CLEANING SOILED EGGS This machine has been developed and installed by a poultry producers' organization of central California at a Petaluma plant. Fine sand is blown on the eggs by compressed air and cuts off any foreign substance which may be on the shell (see, also, text, page 455). and are ventilated by means of small holes or perforations in sides and top to admit the proper amount of fresh air. Special ventilating strips are attached to the tops of the boxes to keep the chicks from smothering or suffocating when they are piled one on top of the other (page 462). The bottoms of the boxes contain litter in the form of excelsior, or else they are corrugated to give the chicks a toehold to prevent them from sliding around during the journey. The label is next affixed, the cover attached, and the chicks are ready to go to the post office or to the express office for delivery to the customer's door. IS SHE LAYING OR LYING? The poultry departments of our many State agricultural colleges have been responsible during the past quarter of a century for the development of many scientific facts and practices, the practical applications of which have made possible commercial poultry keeping. Photograph courtesy U. S. Department of Agriculture PROCESSING EGGS FOR SHIPMENT TO A DISTANT MARKET Eggs are "processed" by running them through a vat of specially prepared oil, which closes the pores of the shells and tends to keep the contents in good condition while in cold storage. The ability which the poultryman now possesses to cull his birds on a basis of external character, to eliminate the nonproducers from time to time as they appear in the flock, is an outstanding example (see illustration, page 456). Weekly culling during the summer and fall brings about a reduction of the feed costs without any decrease in egg yield. Culling is done by observing the condition of certain secondary sex characters and body factors. The laying hen has a bright-red, full comb. When not laying, the comb becomes much smaller, appears shrunken and dry. The heavy-laying hen has a loose, pliable, soft abdomen. In the nonlaying hen the abdomen becomes small, shrunken, and hard. The hen which is laying and has been laying heavily for some time shows absence of yellow pigments in shanks, beak, ear lobe, and skin, due to the fact that the yellow color which she obtains from her feed has been used up in the production of egg yolks. As soon as she ceases to lay, this color begins to return-first to the ear lobes, then to the beak, then to the shanks so that there is the definite rela tion existing between amount of yellow pigment and productive condition. It is by observing certain of these body characters that the poultryman can tell whether biddy is simply strutting around. the pen looking handsome or whether she is really hard at work producing eggs. TELLING BIDDY'S AGE It is only in very recent years that a method has been found to tell the age of a bird. Formerly it was largely a case of computing age by the condition of the scales on the shanks, the length of toenails, and the general appearance of head and eyes. Age can now be quite accurately determined by observing the length of the primary flight feathers of the wing. The pullet possessing a full-grown wing shows the tips of the feathers forming a graceful, symmetrical, even curve. With each succeeding year of age, there comes a definite shortening of certain of the primary flight feathers, following each successive molt or change of plumage. The expert is thus able to determine whether biddy is only a year or two old, and of a profitable laying age, or whether she has passed to that more remote age, This is one of the five units of a mammoth hatchery located in Petaluma, California. The present capacity is 900,000 eggs, which is being doubled for the next season's operations. The completed plant will be able to turn out 1,800.000 youngsters every three weeks. when to keep her as an egg-producing machine would be poor business policy. LIGHTS ARE CHANGING THE PRODUCING CYCLE Under wild conditions, hens lay but few eggs in the spring of the year to reproduce their kind. With the application of modern principles of nutrition and correct rations properly fed, combined with proper housing and sanitary conditions, it has been possible to lengthen the laying period by inducing the birds to lay earlier in the spring and to continue laying well through the summer and into the fall. The application of artificial lighting has made it possible to change very materially this natural laying cycle, inducing a substantial production during the fall and winter, when prices are high. The reason why birds lay few eggs during the short days of winter is that Nature did not intend them to reproduce their kind during this season, and hence their digestive systems, the crop and gizzard, do not have sufficient capacity to hold the required quantities of food to maintain themselves during the long winter nights and at the same time have an excess which they can call upon to produce eggs. TAKING DAY-OLD CHICKENS FROM AN INCUBATOR IN A COMMERCIAL HATCHERY AT BRUNSWICK, GEORGIA At the right is one of the ventilated corrugated cardboard compartment containers in which the baby chicks are safely shipped to distant points (see text, page 458). The use of lights shortens the long night span and enables the birds to eat more, with the result that they nearly double their fall and winter production and lay from one to two dozen more eggs per year. ALL COOKERY RESTS ON AN EGG Eggs have long been rated a superior food because of their palatability, of the ease and rapidity with which they are digested, and their adaptability in cooking. Their high mineral content, the quality of their proteins and fats, and certain growth-promotive properties were early recognized. "Delivered in the original package" is a virtue and an outstanding advantage which puts eggs in the realm of human food beyond possible adulteration. |