Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 132, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 June 1919 — POULTRY RAISERS SHOULD CONFINE ALL MALE BIRDS WHEN HATCHING SEASON ENDS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

POULTRY RAISERS SHOULD CONFINE ALL MALE BIRDS WHEN HATCHING SEASON ENDS

(Prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture.) A bad egg tasted is a good egg wasted, to the extent that Madam Hen often is criticized where she should be eulogized. Industriously the hen works to. lay an egg a day, and other conditions being equal, the egg as produced.is as nearly a perfect food product as fowl ingenuity can make it. If the hen is properly fed, if the nests are clean, if the eggs are gathered twice daily, stored in a cool, dry room or -cellar and delivered to the city consumer in prime condition, the consumer grins appreciation as he breakfasts on shirred eggs of matchless market quality. On the other hand, if the roosters are allowed to run with the flock after the hatching season, if the hens are not properly and regularly fed, If the nests are dirty and crowded, if the eggs are gathered only once every other day, and if thereafter the eggs are stored in warm, ill-ventilated quarters and if marketing is deferred until enough eggs have collected to fill a crate, the city consumer usually grunts disgust and shouts, for a gas mask when the eggs appear opposite him at the table. Bad Eggs Preventable. Bad eggs are not the result of accident; they are examples of neglect, slovenly management, and shiftlessness. It is just as easy to produce and market good quality eggs as it is to offend consumers with stale, fertile eggs. Farmers lose approximately $30,000,000 a year from bad methods of producing and handling eggs. One-

third of this loss is preventable, because it is due to partial hatching of fertile eggs which have been allowed to become 'warm enough to begin to Incubate. The rooster makes the egg fertile, while the fertilized egg produces the blood ring which is the partial development of the'chick. The rooster does not Increase, egg production; he merely fertilizes the germ of the egg, and hence he should be allowed to run with the flock only during the hatching season. Heat the Enemy of Eggs. Summer heat has the same effect on fertile eggs as the hen or incubator. The fertile germ in hot weather quickly develops into a blood ring which spoils the egg for food or market purposes. Heat is the great enemy of eggs, both fertile and infertile. On this account specialists of the United States department of agriculture urge poultry producers in warm weather to keep nests clean and to provide one nest for every four fowls, in order that the nest will not be used too often and soil the eggs; to gather the eggs twice daily; to keep the eggs in a cool, dry room or cellar; to market the eggs at least twice a week, and to pen or dispose of all roosters as soon as the hatching season is over. Hens isolated on range and pasture from the male birds produce infertile eggs of desirable market qualify. In general, about two weeks after the roosters are removed from the flock the hens will again yield infertile eggs.

Confine Male Fowls, Except During Breeding Season, for Benefit of Egg Industry.