28— Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 3,1971 Leghorn Fertility and (Continued from Page 26) end of almost twelve montns cf laying August 1967 Study On August 3, 1967, 3000 leg horn females and 245 males, 22 weeks old, were housed at 0 66 squaie foot floor space per bird on the A-frame sloping wire floor in House 100 Fertility and hatchability were excellent, averaging 95.0 per cent and 94 0 per cent, respectively, for the following 10-month penod At this point, the flock had to be discontinued to prepare both Houses 99 and 100 for a new experiment comparing bieedei flocks on the A-frame and V "The Genuine Mechanical Transplanter" • New Amazing “Flo Cheek” Water Valve (Patented) with Magic Air Control to assure uniform water supply to the plants regardless of water level in barrel • New Manual Shutoff with Automatic Roller Reset on Valve • Positive Action, Self-Cleaning, Neoprene Plant Grippers • Bronze Oilite Main Bearings • Large Adjustable Plant Ti ays The Satisfaction That Comes From Doing A Good Job Of Farming It's a great feeling to know that you are the master of your farmlands . . . that when you treat your soil rigid, it will treat you right. Liming is one of the most important factoi.s in keeping your soil m the highest productive range. By raising the pH from a level below 6.0 to 6.5 or higher, i *ou can expect to hanest .8 more tons of al f, 1 fa per acre, ' ‘+h similar increases for all otl .. fox age and cash crops. Order Now Prompt ilsSSvery MARTI LIME TONE Blue Ball, Pa. fiame sloping whe floor ai rangements. Concurrent to the ’experi ments oust reported was an other experiment comparing leghorn females and males housed at 0 75 square foot flooi space per bird on the A-frame sloping wire floor and those housed at 2 5 square feet pei bird on conventional litter floors Three groups of 400 fe males and 40 males were housed on sloping wire floors, and 200 females' and 20 males were housed on litter There was no significant dif fenence in fertility between the litter and wire floor houses, Sold and Serviced By LESTH A. SINGER Ronks, Pa. Phone Strasburg 687-6712 | j c/ r ; 4 ■=“ n ' »' 4 ' - - - Gap, Pa. 442-4148 Hatchabllity Are Good averaging about 96 per cent foi the period in each case Hatchabllity was about two per cent higher on the wu e floor than on litter, 940 vs 92 0 respectively, and this was statis tically significant. Use of Perches On August 12, 1968 an ex periment comparing leghorn fe males and males housed on the A-frame sloping wire floor, House 100, and with the V frame arrangement in House 99, was begun The purposes of the experiment were to com pare the performance of birds on the two types of floor ar rangements, and to determine the significance of using perches, specifically, as related to fertility Each house was di vided lengthwise into two pens One pen in each house had perches along feeder and water lines, while the other pen had just the wire floor for standing and night roosting Two feeder troughs (1 foot of tiough foi each 10 buds) ran the length of each pen Each pen also had one watei trough extending the length of the pen In the V frame arrangement, birds could drink only from one side, since the trough was mounted on the partition at the lower edge of the slope Water troughs were cleaned from an aisle outside the pen With the A-frame ar rangement, water troughs were olaced between the two lines of feeders and were cleaned from inside the pen. Rate of egg production was excellent and quite similar in all four pens There was no difference in fertility and hatch ability among pens when the to tal peiiod was considered, aver aging about 96 per cent-fertility and 93 per cent hatchability. There was some variation among samples during the course of the experiment for which no definite explanation can be found Perches appear ed not to have any effect on fertility. It should be noted, however, that the percentage of floor eggs during the early weeks of laying was highest with the A frame arrangement and also m each pen which had no roosts However, aftei the first four to six weeks, floor eggs were practically eliminated with either system It was obseived that there was moie tendency for birds to crowd m front of the nests on the A-frame and prevent birds from using the nests Also, in the pens with no perches the nest rails were used as perches which interfered with the hens in getting into the nests to lay eggs. Kesults On the basis of all the experi ments conducted wheie fertility and hatchabllity were measur ed, the evidence clearly demon strated that leghorn females and males can be housed suc cessfully at 06 square foot floor space per bird on either the A frame or V-frame sloping wire floor. The possioimy further exists for even greater housing densi ties in the future. Call Us Now To serve the Lancaster County farm community bet ter, we maintain two phone numbers. Our main number is 394-3047. But our subscrib ers and advertisers can also reach us through 626-2191 (ask for Lancaster Farming) and avoid a toll call from the Akron, Ephrata and Man h’eim exchanges.
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