Chicken Breeds: Choosing Your Backyard Brood
(Page 4 of 6)
March/April 1976
By GT Klein
There are a number of places where you can get information as to sources of chicks and pullets, as well as information on the many problems which confront the average backyard-flock owner. One important source of this information is the county agent and his coworkers. In some states the county agent is known as the farm advisor. His office is likely to be located at the county seat. He will have lists of chick producers, and he is likely to have some information on pullorum disease and breeding qualifications.
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The state college can furnish information on sources of chicks and often can supply booklets on backyard poultry raising. Publications can also be obtained from the United States Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. The state departments of agriculture can supply lists of breeders and their standing, but the state departments are more likely to be concerned with regulatory matters rather than with distributing educational material. Poultry magazines and farm papers carry information that will interest homesteaders.
Many high schools have departments of vocational agriculture. The instructors are in close touch with poultry work in the community and can assist in obtaining chicks or started pullets. These men can also give information on poultry problems. Sometimes they conduct night courses in poultry raising. These courses are not only instructive, but they afford a chance to talk with other poultry raisers.
Feed companies often have service departments and experimental farms, and some of them have men who will assist with problems. These men are usually well qualified to help with almost any of the problems in connection with the flock. Hatcheries also have service men who are glad to aid the purchasers of chicks. Your local feed dealer may be able to advise you and if he cannot, he may be able to get assistance from the feed company he represents.
The poultry industry is well supplied with experienced service men who can help beginners with their poultry problems. There is no need to make serious mistakes in getting started.
GETTING A START
Day-Old Chicks —Starting with day-old chicks is the cheapest way of raising a backyard flock. If you start with 50 to 75 chicks, they can be easily brooded with a homemade brooder. The chicks could be kept in the basement near the furnace or in a room where there is heat enough to hold the temperature to about 55 to 65 degrees unless a type of brooder is used that will give enough heat in the poultry house without the room temperature. The price of the baby chicks will depend upon the quality and will range from about 30 to about 60 cents each.
One can obtain both straight-run (both sexes) or sexed pullets or cockerels. This sexing is done when the chicks are newly hatched. The accuracy of the sexing runs about 90 to 95 per cent. It requires training and skill to do the work, but it is not a military secret, as I have often been asked, though it is a Japanese method that is usually followed.
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