Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 August 1907 — REARING LAYERS. [ARTICLE]

REARING LAYERS.

An Expert Poultrymen Tells How This Can Be Done Successfully. ■- 11. P. Rankin has the following words of wisdom In the American Agriculturist concerning the difficult problem of rearing chicks designed especially for development Into persistent layers: When the chicks first come out of the shell, I leave them Ln the incubator till the last hatched is twenty-four hours old. then remove to a brooder with a temperature of 90 degrees, the brooder floor being first covered with a thin layer of sand and one Inch of cut alfalfa, and give grit and water two hours before feeding. I feed a dry grain chick food containing 20 per cent chick grit and 5 per cent small granulated charcoal. The brooder Is cleaned every day by sifting sand through a cornmeal sieve. Beef scraps are kept before them after they are four days old. This is their feed till they are six weeks old, when they are given free range and are fed but three times a day, corn being mixed with their food, one part cracked corn, one part wheat, three parts ground oats In bulk with fine meal sifted out. I always feed in a litter to keep them busy. When they are four months old, I feed one part corn, one part wheat, one part barley and two parts oats three times a day with coarser charcoal In the same proportion or fed In hoppers always before them. At five months old I begin feeding one part corn, one part wheat, one part barley and two parts oats three times a day with coarser charcoal in the same proportion, or fed in hoppers always before them, with green stuff of some sort always near. Steamed cut alfalfa and cabbage are best in winter. In rearing laying chickens it is most Important to keep them growing all the time and always busy. Nothing ever has been or will be profitable brought up in Idleness. By following the above regimen and attending to proper cleaning of the chicken houses, destroying all injurious vermin, insects, etc., and using scrap meats exclusively, I have reared chickens that have no superiors In laying qualities. I do not breed for yearly records, wanting eggs only from Nov. 1 to July 1, and I select none for breeders that do not lay at least 150 eggs In that period. In selecting my breeders I weigh their breeding, laying qualities and standard points.