IC-NRLF

ID?

LIBRARY

MAINE
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STA'I !

ORONO, MAINE
CHAS. D. WOODS, DIRECTOR.

POULTRY MANAGEMENT AT THE MAINE
STATION

ORONO, MAINE
January, 1916.

(HmbrrsitP of

MAINE
AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION,

ORONO, MAINE.
CHAS. D. WOODS, Director.

METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT AT

THE MAINE AGRICULTURAL

EXPERIMENT STATION.

(Revised to January, 1916.)

RAYMOND PEARL.

ORONO, MAINE.
JANUARY, 1916.

SFW

AGRIC.
CONTENTS. UBRARY

PAGE

Introduction 3

Poultry Hygiene and Sanitation 3

Poultry House Hygiene and Sanitation 4

Hygienic Feeding 9

The Land 12

Exercise 14

External Parasites 14

Disposal of Dead Birds 14

Isolation of Sickness 18

The Essentials of Poultry Hygiene 18

The Selection of Breeding Stock 19

Raising Chickens by Natural Processes 21

Raising Chickens by Artificial Processes 23

The Incubator 23

The Incubator Room 24

Brooder Houses 26

A Fresh Air Brooder 28

Construction of Fresh Air Brooder 33

Treatment of Young Chicks 36

Feeds and Feeding 37

Feeding Young Chickens 37

Feeding Chickens on the Range 42

The Feeding Trough 43

An Improved Range Feeding Trough 44

Feeding the Cockerels for Market 48

Feeding the Laying Pullets 51

Feeding the Hens, Cockerels and Cocks Kept Over Winter

for Breeding Purposes 56

Green Food for Poultry 57

The Preparation of Green Sprouted Oats '. . . . 59

Housing the Hens 64

The Roosting Closet House 65

The Abandonment of the Roosting Closet 66

Qurtain Front Houses 67

Advantages of Curtain Front Houses 73

The Yards 75

Lice 77

Natural Enemies of Poultry 83

Trapnests 87

The Value, Method of Preservation, and Economical Use of Hen

Manure 9i

The Maine Station Manure Shed. 94

METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT AT THE
MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION.

INTRODUCTION.

Many years' practical experience in raising and keeping poul-
try and investigations in poultry breeding at the Maine Experi-
ment Station have resulted in the accumulation of a considerable
fund of information on poultry management. It is the purpose
of the following pages to outline this experience for the benefit
of poultry keepers and thereby to help them to discriminate
between some of the wrong theories which have underlain much
of the common practice of the past and the better theories which
underlie other and newer methods that are now yielding more
satisfactory results. It may be that these methods are no better
than those practiced by others, but the attempt is made to state
concisely the methods which have been or are now being suc-
cessfully employed at the Station.

POULTRY HYGIENK AND SANITATION.

Second in importance only to high constitutional vigor and
health in the stock is attention to the basic rules of hygiene and
sanitation in the management of poultry. This section gives an
account of the general principles involved in the methods of
dealing with these matters practised at the Maine Agricultural
Experiment Station. Attention to the rules and principles here
set forth will go a great ways towards preventing the occur-
rence of disease. This does not mean that if these rules are
not followed disease and destruction will forthwith result.
Everyone knows of plenty of instances of more or less suc-
cessful poultry keeping under the most unsanitary and unhy-
gienic of conditions. So similarly human beings are able when

M154309

OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

forced to do so to live under unhygienic conditions. But every
civilized country in the world believes that the most economical
insurance against the steady loss of national wealth which the
prevalence of disease involves is the enforcement of sanitary
regulations throughout its domain. In poultry keeping many
may be successful for a time in managing their birds in defi-
ance of the laws of sanitation and hygiene; a very few may
be successful in this practice for a long time, but in the long
run the vast majority will find that thorough, careful, and intel-
ligent attention to these laws will be one of the best guarantees
of permanent success that they can find.

Poultry hygiene and sanitation will be considered here under
seven main heads, as follows: i. Housing. 2. Feeding.
3. The Land. 4. Exercise. 5. External Parasites. 6.
Disposal of the Dead. 7. Isolation of Sickness. What is said
under all of these heads is intended to apply (unless a specific
statement to the contrary is made) both to adult birds and to
chicks. No discussion of the hygiene of incubation, or of the
relative merits of artificially and naturally hatched chickens will
be undertaken here, because there are special subjects falling
outside the field of general poultry hygiene.

I. POULTRY HOUSE: HYGIENE AND SANITATION.

A. Cleanliness. — The thing of paramount importance in the
hygienic housing of poultry is cleanliness. By this is meant not
merely plain, ordinary cleaning up, in the housewife sense, but
also bacteriological cleaning up; that is, disinfection. All build-
ings or structures of whatever kind in which poultry are housed
during any part of their lives should be subjected to a most
thorough and searching cleaning and disinfection once every
year. This cleaning up should naturally come for each dif-
ferent structure (i. e., laying, colony or brooder house, indi-
vidual brooder, incubator, etc.) at a time which just precedes
the putting of new stock into this structure.

A very thorough method of cleaning a poultry house: Not
every poultryman knows how to clean a poultry house thor-
oughly. The first thing to do is to remove all the litter and
loose dirt which can be shovelled out. Then give the house —
floor, walls and ceiling — a thorough sweeping and shovel out

MAINE) AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 5

the accumulated debris. Then play a garden hose, with the
maximum water pressure which can be obtained, upon floor,
roosting boards, walls and ceiling, until all the dirt which washes
down easily is disposed of. Then take a heavy hoe or roost
board scraper and proceed to scrape the floor and roosting
boards clean of the trampled and caked manure and dirt,
Then shovel out what has been accumulated and get the hose
into action once more and wash the whole place down again
thoroughly and follow this with another scraping. With a
stiff bristled broom thoroughly scrub walls, floors, nest boxes,
roost boards, etc. Then after another rinsing down and
cleaning out of accumulated dirt, let the house dry out for a
day or two. Then make a searching inspection to see if any
dirt can be discovered. If so apply the appropriate treatment
as outlined above. If. however, everything appears to be
clean, the time has come to make it really clean by disinfection.
To do this it is necessary to spray, or thoroughly wash with a
scrub brush wet in the solution used, all parts of the house with
a good disinfectant at least twice, allowing time between for
drying. For this purpose 3 per cent cresol solution or 5 per
cent formalin is recommended. The chief thing is to use an
effective disinfectant and plenty of it, and apply it at least
twice. A discussion of disinfectants immediately follows. To
complete the cleaning of the house, after the second spraying of
disinfectant is dry it is the practise at this Station to apply a
liquid lice killer (made by putting i part crude carbolic acid or
cresol with 3 parts kerosene) liberally to nests and roosts and
nearby walls. After all this is done the house will be clean. In
houses cleaned annually in this way the first step is taken
towards hygienic poultry keeping.

The same principles which have been here brought out
should be applied in cleaning brooders, brooder houses, and
other things on the plant with which the birds come in contact.

What has been said has reference primarily to the annual
or semi-annual cleaning. It should not be understood by this
that no cleaning is to be done at any other time. On the con-
trary the rule should be to keep the poultry house clean at all
times, never allowing filth of any kind to accumulate and
using plenty of disinfectant.

6 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

Disinfection. — In the matter of disinfection there are several
options open to the poultryman. He may make his own
disinfectant, or he may purchase proprietary compounds, or he
may buy a .plain disinfectant like formaldehyde, or carbolic
acid.

The Maine Agricultural Experiment Station has tried various
disinfectants with a v'iew to rinding the most useful, when the
factors of efficiency, ease of application and low cost, are con-
sidered. There is probably no more effective disinfectant than
formaldehyde. The only objection to its use is that a man
may find it difficult to withstand the fumes long enough to
spray and scrub out thoroughly a pen. Formaldehyde is very
good where it can be used, and there is no cheaper disinfectant,
efficiency considered. The formaldehyde gas method for disin-
fecting poultry houses has recently been advocated, using the
permanganate method of generating. This, however, is indi-
cated only for rooms which can easily be closed up air tight.
It costs too much in time and trouble to make any form of
"fresh air" poultry house even moderately air tight. The for-
maldehyde gas method is well adapted to disinfecting and
fumigating feed rooms, incubator cellars, brooder houses and
all houses which can be readily made air tight. For the benefit
of those who wish to use the method for such purposes the
following directions are given. This will give a very strong
fumigation and disinfection, but such is indicated about poul-
try establishments.

Formaldehyde Gas Disinfection: First make the room as
tight as possible by stopping cracks, key-holes, etc., with pieces
of cloth or similar substance. Use a metal or earthern dish for
a generator, of sufficient size so that the liquid will not spatter
or boil over on the floor, since the permanganate will stain.
The temperature of the room should not be below 50° F. and
more effective disinfection will be obtained if the temperature
is 80° F. or above at the beginning. Sprinkle boiling water
on the floor or place a kettle of boiling water in the room to
create a moist atmosphere. Spread the permanganate evenly
over the bottom of the dish and quickly pour in the formalde-
hyde (40 per cent strength as purchased). Leave and tightly
close the room at once and allow to remain closed for 4-6
hours or longer, then air thoroughly." Use 23 ounces of per-

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 7

manganate and j pints of formaldehyde to each 1000 cubic feet
of space.

For general disinfecting purposes about a poultry plant the
Station has found one of the cheapest and most effective disin-
fectants to be compound cresol solution. This is used here
for spraying and disinfecting the houses after they are cleaned,
disinfecting brooders, brooder houses, incubators, nests and
everything else about the plant which can be disinfected with a
liquid substance. Any person can easily make this disinfectant.
The following revised directions for its manufacture are quoted
from Bulletin 179 of the Maine Agricultural Experiment Sta-
tion.

Cresol Disinfectant. — The active base of cresol soap disin-
fecting solution is commercial cresol. This is a thick, sirupy
fluid varying in color in different lots from a nearly colorless
fluid to a dark brown. It does not mix readily with water, and,
therefore, in order to make a satisfactory dilute solution, it is
necessary first to incorporate the cresol with some substance
like soap which will mix with water and will carry the cresol
over into the mixture. The commercial cresol as it is obtained,
is a corrosive substance, being in this respect not unlike car-
bolic acid. It should, of course, be handled with great care and
the pure cresol should not be allowed to come in contact with
the skin. If it does so accidentally the spot should be imme-
diately washed off with plenty of clean water. The price of
commercial cresol varies with the drug market.

Measure out 3 1-5 quarts of raw linseed oil in a 4 or 5 gallon
stone crock; then weigh out in a dish i Ib. 6 oz. of commercial
lye or "Babbit's potash." Dissolve this lye in as little water as
will completely dissolve it. Start with 1-2 pint of water, and if
this will not dissolve all the lye, add more water slowly. Let
this stand for at least 3 hours until the lye is completely dis-
solved and the solution is cold; then add the cold lye solution
very slowly to the linseed oil, stirring constantly. Not less than
5 minutes should be taken for the adding of this solution of
lye to the oil. After the lye is added continue the stirring until
the mixture is in the condition and has the texture of a smooth
homogeneous liquid soap. This ought not to take more than a
half hour. Then while the soap is in this liquid state, and be-
fore it has a chance to harden add, with constant stirring, 8 1-2

8 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

quarts of commercial cresol. The cresol will blend perfectly
with the soap solution and make a clear, dark brown fluid. The
resulting solution will mix in any proportion with water and
yield a clear solution.

Cresol soap is an extremely powerful disinfectant. In the
Station poultry plant for general purposes of disinfecting the
houses, brooder houses, incubators, nests, and other wood work,
it should be used in a 3 per cent solution with water. Two or 3
tablespoons full of the cresol soap to each gallon of water will
make a satisfactory solution. This solution may be applied
through any kind of spray pump or with a brush. Being a clear
watery fluid it can be used in any spray pump without difficulty.
For disinfecting brooders or incubators which there is reason
to believe have been particularly liable to infection with the
germs of white diarrhea or other diseases the cresol may be
used in double the strength given above and applied with a
scrub brush in addition to the spray.

B. Fresh Air and Light. — Too great stress cannot be laid on
the importance of plenty of fresh air in the poultry house if the
birds are to keep in good condition. And it must be remem-
bered in this connection that "fresh" air, and cold stagnant air
are two very different things. Too many of the types of curtain
front and so-called "fresh air" houses now in use are without
any provision other than an obliging southerly wind, to insure
the circulation or changing of air within the house. Even with
an open front house it is wise to provide for a circulation of
air in such way that direct drafts cannot strike the birds. This
applies not only to the housing of adult birds in laying houses,
but also to the case of young stock in colony houses on the
range. Further a circulation of fresh air under the hover in
artificial rearing is greatly to be desired and will have a marked
effect on the health and vigor of the chicks.

Not only should the poultry house be such as to furnish
plenty of fresh air, but it should also be light. The prime im-
portance of sunlight in sanitation is universally recognized by
medical authorities. Disease germs cannot stand prolonged
exposure to the direct rays of the sun. Sunlight is Nature's
great disinfectant. Its importance is no less in poultry than in
human sanitation. The following statement made some years
ago (1904) by a writer signing himself "M" in Farm Poultry

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 9

(Vol. 15) brings home in a few words the importance of hav-
ing plenty of light in the poultry house.

"Light in the poultry house has been found by the writer a
great help in keeping the house clean .and keeping the fowls
healthy. Probably there is no greater assistance to the diseases
of poultry than dark and damp houses, and dark houses are
frequently damp. In recent years I have had both kinds of
experience, those with the hens confined in a large, dry and light
house, and with hens confined in a dark house in which a sin-
gle window looking towards the setting sun furnished the only
light. Being forced to use the latter building for an entire
winter I found it impossible to get it thoroughly dried out after
a rain had rendered the walls damp. By spring some of the
fowls that had been confined there began to die of a mysteri-
ous disease and a post-mortem examination showed it to be
liver disease. Later the roup broke out in the same house and
this dread disease continued with the flock for months exacting
a heavy toll in laying hens."

C. Avoid Dampness. Of all unfavorable environmental
conditions into which poultry may, by bad management, be
brought, a damp house is probably the worst. Nothing will
diminish the productivity of a flock so quickly and surely as
will dampness in the house, and nothing is so certain and speedy
an excitant to roup and kindred ills. The place where poultry
are housed must be kept dry if the flock is to be productive
and free from disease.

D. Provide Clean and Dry Litter. Experience has demon-
strated that the best way in which to give fowls exercise during
the winter months in which, in northern climates at least, they
must be housed the greater part if not all of the time, is by
providing a deep litter in which the birds scratch for their dry
grain ration. For this litter the Experiment Station uses pine
planer shavings with a layer of oat straw on top. Whatever the
litter it should be changed as often as it gets damp or dirty.

n. HYGIENIC FEEDING.

Along with housing as a prime factor in poultry sanitation
goes feeding. This is not the place to enter upon a detailed
discussion of the compounding of rations and such topics.

IO METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

These matters are considered farther on in this circular (see
pages 39-64). There are, however, certain basic principles of
hygienic feeding which must always be looked after if one is to
avoid diseases. These are :

A. Purity. It should be a rule of every poultryman never,
to feed any material which it not clean and wholesome. Musty
and mouldy grain, tainted meat scraps or cut bone, table scraps
which have spoiled, and decayed fruits or vegetables should
never be fed. If this consideration were always kept in mind
many cases of undiagnosed sickness and deaths, and low condi-
tion in the stock would be avoided. Keep all utensils in which
food is placed clean.

B. Avoid Overfeeding. Intensive poultry keeping involves
of necessity heavy feeding, but one should constantly be on
the lookout to guard against overfeeding, which puts the bird
into a state of lowered vitality in which its natural powers of
resistance to all forms of infectious and other diseases are re-
duced. The feeding of high protein concentrates like linseed or
cotton seed meal needs to be particularly carefully watched in
this respect.

C. Provide Plenty of Green Food. Under natural condi-
tions poultry are free eaters of green grass and other plants.
Such green food supplies a definite need in metabolism, the
place of which can be taken by no other sort of food material.
It is not enough merely to supply succulence in the ration.
Fowls need a certain amount of succulent food, but they also
need fresh green food. It is desirable to provide for a succes-
sion of green food throughout the year. The succession fol-
lowed at the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station is as fol-
lows:

Beginning in the early fall when the pullets are put in the
laying house they are given green corn fodder cut fine in a
fodder cutter. Stalks, leaves and ears are cut together in
pieces averaging about 1-2 inch in length. The birds eat this
chopped corn fodder greedily. It is one of the best green foods
for poultry that we have as yet been able to find. Its useful-
ness is limited only by the season within which it is possible to
get it. The feeding of corn fodder is continued until the frost
kills the plants.

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. II

When the corn can no longer be used cabbage is fed. The
supply of this usually lasts through December. In the event
of the supply of cabbage failing before it is desirable to start
the oat sprouter (see p. 59) the interval is filled out by the
use of mangolds. From about January 15 to May 15 green
sprouted oats grown as described below (pp. 59-64) form the
source of green food. From about May 15 until the corn has
grown enough to cut, fresh clover from the range is used. Dur-
ing the summer the growing chicks on the range are given rape
(Dwarf Essex) and green corn fodder cut, as described above
to supplement the grass of the range, which rather rapidly dries
out and becomes worthless as a source of green food under our
conditions. The very young chicks in the brooders are given the
tops only of green sprouted oats chopped up fine.

D. Provide Fresh and Clean Drinking Water. The most
sure and rapid method by which infectious diseases of all kinds
are transmitted through a flock of birds is by means of the
water pail from which they all drink in common. Furthermore
the water itself may come from a contaminated source and be
the origin of infection to the flock. Finally it is difficult to de-
vise any satisfactory drinking fountain in which the water is
not liable to contamination from litter, manure, etc. All these
considerations indicate the advisability of adding to all drinking
water which is given to poultry some substance which shall act
as a harmless antiseptic. The best of all such substances yet
discovered for use with poultry is potassium permanganate.
This is a dark reddish-purple crystalline substance which can
be bought of any druggist. It ought never to cost more than
2OC-3OC per pound and a pound will last for a long time. It
should be used in the following way : In the bottom of a large
mouthed jar, bottle or can, put a layer of potassium permanga-
nate crystals an inch thick. Fill up the receptacle with water.
This water will dissolve all of the crystals that it is able to.
This will make a stock saturated solution. As this solution is
used add more water and more crystals as needed, always aim-
ing to keep a layer of undissolved crystals at the bottom. Keep
a dish of stock solution like this alongside the faucet or pump
where the water is drawn for the poultry. Whenever any ivater
is drawn for either chicks or adult fowls at the Maine Agri-
cultural Experiment Station enough of the stock solution is

12 METHODS OF POUI/TRY MANAGEMENT.

added to give the water a rather deep -wine color. This means
for some 4 years past no bird has ever had a drink of water
from the time it was hatched which did not contain potassium
permanganate, except such water as it got from mud puddles
and the like.

III. TH£ LAND.

One of the most important considerations in poultry sani-
tation is to keep the ground on which the birds are to live, both
as chicks and as adults, from becoming foul and contaminated.
This is not a very difficult thing to do if one has enough land
and practices a definite and systematic crop rotation in which
poultry form one element. On the open range where chicks
are raised a four year rotation is operated at the Maine Agri-
cultural Experiment Station and serves its purpose well. This
system of cropping is as follows : First year, chickens ; second
year, a hoed crop, such as beets, cabbage, mangolds or corn;
third year, seed down to timothy and clover, using oats or bar-
ley as a nurse crop; fourth year, chickens again. Other crop-
ping systems to serve the same purpose can easily be devised,
i to 2 teaspoons of the stock solution to 10 quarts of water.
At the same time one should clean and disinfect the drinking
pails and fountains regularly, just as he would if he were not
using potassium permanganate. At the Maine Station plant

To maintain the runs connected with a permanent poultry
house, where adult birds are kept, in a sweet and clean condition
is a more difficult problem. About the best that one can do
here is to arrange alternate sets of runs so that one set may be
used one year and the other set the next, purifying the soil so
far as may be by annually plowing and harrowing thoroughly
and planting exhaustive crops. Failing the possibility of alter-
nating in this way, disinfection and frequent plowing are the
only resources left.

The following excellent advice on this subject is given by the
English poultry expert Mr. E. T. Brown (Farm Poultry, Vol.
18, p. 294) : "Tainted ground is responsible for many of the
diseases from which fowls suffer, and yet it is a question that
rarely receives the attention it deserves. The chief danger of
tainted soil arises when fowls are kept in confinement, but still
we often find that even with those at liberty the land over which

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 13

they are running is far from pure. So long as the grass can be
kept growing strongly and vigorously there is small fear of foul
ground, as the growth absorbs the manure; it is when the grass
becomes worn away that the chief danger arises. The manure
constantly falling upon the same small area, and there being
nothing to use it up, the land is bound in a short space of time
to become so permeated as to be thoroughly unfit for fowls.
The question is very often asked in connection with this subject
as to how many fowls a certain sized piece of land will accom-
modate the whole year through. Occasionally one may see in
some of the agricultural or poultry journals this question an-
swered, but as a matter of fact to give any stated number is
most misleading. It depends very largely upon the class of soil,
as some can carry twice as many birds as others; it depends
upon the breed of poultry, some being much more active than
others, and thus requiring more space ; it depends, too, upon the
time of year, because during the spring and summer, when there
is an abundance of vegetable growth in the soil, a considerably
larger number of birds can be maintained than during the
autumn or winter. The number must be varied according to
these circumstances, and no hard and fast rule is applicable."
"The results of tainted ground are generally quickly notice-
able, as the fowls have a sickly apearance, the feathers lose
their brilliant lustre, and the wings begin to droop. Roup,
gapes, and other ailments speedily show themselves, causing, if
not death itself, considerable loss and unpleasantness. One of
the greatest advantages to be derived from portable houses is
that they so greatly reduce the risk of tainted ground, as they
are being constantly moved from one place to another, thus
evenly distributing the manure. When it is remembered that
each adult fowl drops nearly a hundred weight of manure in
the course of a year, the importance of this question will be
immediately realized. It is quite possible, however, provided
that suitable precautions are taken, to keep a comparatively
small run pure for a long time. If the grass is short it should
be occasionally swept, in this manner removing a good deal of
the manure. Another important point is to always have around
the house a space of gravel, upon which the birds should be
fed, and if swept once or twice a week this will have a wonder-
ful effect in preserving the purity of the grass portion. Anyone

14 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

who has observed poultry will know how fond they are of con-
stantly being near the house, and thus the greater portion of
their droppings falls within its immediate vicinity. The shape
of the run also has a great bearing upon the length of time it
will remain untainted, a long narrow run being much superior
to a square one. I have proved by my own experience how
true this is, and probably a long and narrow run, containing
the same amount of space will remain pure twice as long. It is
unnecessary here to go into a full explanation of why this is
so, but I may state the fact, which I am confident is quite cor-
rect. If the space at one's disposal is very limited it is a good
plan to divide it into two equal parts, placing the house in the
middle. During one year one-half would be available for the
fowls, the other being planted with some quickly growing
vegetables, the order being reversed the year following. The
vegetable growth has the effect of quickly using up the manure,
and in this manner quite a small plot of land can be heavily
stocked with poultry for an unlimited number of years."

iv. EXERCISE.

If poultry are to be in good condition, and maintain their
normal resistance to disease they must exercise. As chicks they
will do this on the range. As adults (in climates like that of
Maine) the most feasible way to bring this about is to provide
litter and make the birds scratch for their feed.

V. EXTERNAL PARASITES.

In hygienic poultry keeping the birds must be kept reasonably
free at all times of lice, mites, and all other forms of external
parasites. The methods of dealing with this matter in use at
this Station are given in detail farther on. It is desired here
merely to call attention to the matter as one of the general prin-
ciples of hygienic poultry management.

VI. DISPOSAL OF DEAD BIRDS.

On every poultry plant and -around every farm there are
bound to occur from time to time a greater or less number of
deaths of chickens and adult fowls from disease or other natural
causes. The disposal of these dead bodies offers a problem to

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 15

the poultryman, the correct solution of which may in many
cases become a very important matter. This is especially true
in the case of death from contagious diseases, which include
a considerable proportion of the deaths of poultry generally.
The method usually practiced by the farmer and poultryman
for the disposition of dead carcasses is unsanitary in the ex-
treme. To throw the dead bodies on the manure pile is to invite
the spread of disease on the plant. Burying is far from being
a satisfactory way of dealing with the matter for two reasons.
Unless the grave is dug deep, which costs a good deal of time
and labor, there is considerable likelihood that dogs or other
marauding animals will dig out the carcasses, and, after feeding
on them, scatter the remains around on the top of the ground.
Furthermore, burying cannot be resorted to at all during the
winter months when the ground is frozen.

The only really sanitary method of dealing with dead bodies
is to incinerate them. The difficulty of following this plan in
practice is that the farmer or poultryman usually does not have
any suitable source of heat ready at hand at all times. To be
sure, during certain seasons of the year, those poultrymen who
employ large brooder houses with a hot water heating system
have a furnace in operation, and the dead chicks can be burned
up in the furance. This, however, covers only a part of the
year. At other times resort must be had to burying or some
other means of disposal, as the poultryman is not likely to fire
up a large furnace for the sake of burning a few dead birds.

At the Station plant it was felt to be desirable to have a small
crematory conveniently located, and so easy and economical of
operation that dead birds could be disposed of immeditely, with
a minimum amount of trouble and labor. To meet this require-
ment there was devised the small crematory here described.
The construction was carried out with the idea of keeping the
first cost as low as possible, in order that there should be nothing
about it which any poultryman or farmer could not easily afford
to duplicate. As a matter of fact, the cost of materials for the
crematory here described was less than ten dollars. The labor
was done by the poultryman and his assistant at odd times,
when an hour or two could be spared for this work. The result
is therefore, not beyond the reach of any poultryman or farmer.
At the same time the crematory is so satisfactory in operation

l6 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

that anyone who builds one will wonder, after he has completed
and used it for a time, why he did not long before have so
simple and sanitary an adjunct to his plant.

The crematory shown in Figure I is very simple in construc-
tion. It consists essentially of a cement base or fire box, bear-
ing on its top a series of grate bars which are in turn covered
by a cremating box or oven in which the material to be incin-
erted is placed.

The crematory here described is sufficiently large to take
care of all the needs of a plant carrying 1000 head of adult
stock, raising 3000 to 4000 chickens annually, and in which a
good deal of anatomical and physiological research is going on,
necessitating a much larger amount of waste animal material
than the ordinary commercial poultryman would have. There-
fore, it is doubtful if it would be necessary in any but the very
largest commercial plants to build a larger crematory than the
one here described.

In building this an excavation was first made for the base,
in which a lot of loose stones and gravel were placed, in order
to secure adequate drainage below the cement. On top of this
the cement base and fire box were made.

This base consists essentially of a rectangular box made of
cement open at the top, and with a small opening in front
through which the fire is fed and which serves as a draught.
The walls are about 6 inches thick. The outside dimensions of
the fire box base are 3 feet, 4 inches by 2 feet, 6 inches. The
inside dimensions of the fire box are 2 feet, 3 inches by I foot,
91-2 inches by I foot, 4 inches. Across the top of the fire box
there were laid, while the cement was still soft, some old grate
bars from a small steam boiler, which had been discarded and
thrown on the dump heap. These were set close together and
held firmly in place when the cement hardened. They form the
grate on which the material to be incinerated is thrown. These
old boiler grate bars, besides costing nothing, had another ad-
vantage ; namely that of their thickness and weight. When they
become thoroughly heated from the fire below they will hold the
heat for a considerable time charring and burning the animal
material above.

MAJN1C AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I/

Fig. i. Photograph of crematory described in text. Note cement
base, with opening in front into fire box; galvanized iron cremating
box on top; cover of cremating box.

The incinerating chamber proper was made from galvanized
iron by a local tinsmith. This consists of a rectangular box
having the following dimensions: Length 2 feet, 2 inches;
width i foot, 10 inches; height i foot, 6 inches. In the top of
this is cut a round hole, 12 inches in diameter which is pro-
tected by a hinged cover 15 inches by 14 1-2 inches. This
galvanized box has no bottom. It is placed on top of the grate
bars, and held firmly in place by cement worked up around its
lower edges. At the back end of this iron cremating box is an
opening for a stove pipe, which is necessary in order to give the
proper draught. It is found in practice that only a short piece
of stove pipe is necessary to get sufficient draught to make a
very hot fire, which entirely consumes the birds in a few hours.
2

l8 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

The funnel may best be left removable so that when the crema-
tory is not in use it can be taken off and stored inside the
wooden box (which then sets over the galvanized iron portion
to protect it from the weather.

It is important in locating a crematory of this kind to plan
matters so that there will be good drainage from around it.
In particular pains should be taken to insure that water does
not run into the firebox and freeze during the winter.

In operation the apparatus works as follows: Dead birds
are thrown into the incinerating chamber through the opening
in the top and the lid closed while a wood fire is burning in the
fire box below. The aim should be to use dry wood and get a
quick and very hot fire. This first roasts the material and then
chars it, and finally reduces it to fine ashes.

VII. ISOLATION OF SICKNESS.

Whether one expects to treat the bird or to kill it, every indi-
vidual that shows signs of sickness should be removed from the
general flock. When the bird has been isolated a decision as to
what will be done about the case can be reached at leisure, and
in the meantime the flock is not subjected to the danger of in-
fection. This is an important matter with young chickens as
well as with adult stock.

The general subject of the diagnosis, etiology and treatment
of poultry diseases is not discussed in the present work. Those
desiring information regarding these matters should consult the
book on this subject prepared by the present writer and his
associates.*

THE) ESSENTIALS OF POULTRY HYGIENE.

To summarize this discussion of poultry hygiene and sanita-
tion it may be said that the essentials in the hygienic and sani-
tary management of poultry are

1. CLEAN HOUSES.

2. CLEAN AIR.

Pearl, Surface, and Curtis. The Diseases of Poultry. New York,
(published by the Macmillan Co.) 1915.

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 19

3. CLEAN FOOD.

4. CLEAN WATER.

5. CLEAN YARDS AND CLEAN RANGE.

6. CLEAN INCUBATORS AND BROODERS.

7. CLEAN BIRDS, OUTSIDE AND IXSIDE.

THE SELECTION OF BREEDING STOCK.

At the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station the poultry
plant is conducted for purely experimental purposes in connec-
tion with the study of the principles of breeding. On that ac-
count the considerations which determine the choice of birds
to go into the breeding pens are somewhat different to what
they would be in a purely commercial plant. It will therefore
be advisable to discuss here only those general guiding princi-
ples in regard to the selection of breeding stock, which the ex-
perience of this Station has demonstrated to be of fundamen-
tal importance in building up an economically productive
strain of poultry.

Whatever the object of the breeder, whether egg production,
table fowl production, or the fancy, the first selection of
breeding stock should be for constitutional vigor and vitality.
No bird which shows the slightest sign of weakness or lack of
vigor should be used as a breeder. The selection for constitu-
tional vigor should begin at a very early age and be continued
until the pens are mated. It is a great mistake to leave the
whole of the process of selection until just prior to the breed-
ing season. As the chicks are growing on the range the most
vigorous ones, those which impress themselves in the eye of the
breeder as surpassing their associates in vitality, rate of growth,
vigor, etc., should be marked and watched. With later develop-
ment some of these early selected birds will fail to fulfill the
promise of their youth and will then be discarded. Others
which were not conspicuously excellent at an early age will
develop into unusually good specimens later. They may
then be taken into the selected group. Finally as the mating
season approaches the breeder should go carefully over this
group of birds which have been selected from the beginning of
their lives, and pick out the most vigorous of the lot which
also carry the other qualities for which he is breeding. The

2O METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

point is to make the selection of breeders a process of continu-
ous picking out the good and culling the poor throughout the
entire growth of the birds.

Another point of importance is in relation to the size of the
breeding stock. It is a nearly universal experience, if line
breeding be practised for any particular character, as for exam-
ple egg production or feather marking, that unless special at-
tention is paid to this point there will tend to be a progressive
deterioration in the average size of the birds. This is particu-
larly liable to happen when one is breeding for egg production.
To counteract this tendency special attention must be paid to
the size of the breeding stock, making it a rule never to use as
a breeder any bird, whatever the other excellencies may be,
which does not attain a certain weight standard set by the
breeder.

What has been said regarding size is only a special case of
the general rule of breeding that always the effort in selecting
breeders should be towards all-round excellence. Selection for
any one character alone — as for example egg production —
with an entire disregard of all other characters of the birds
will, in comparatively few generations, defeat its own end. It
will be found that the stock has deteriorated quite as much in
regard to some important qualities as it may have gained in
respect to the character for which selection was made.

While it is not possible here to enter upon an exhaustive dis-
cussion of the subject of breeding for egg production a word
may be said regarding the results of the Maine Agricultural
Experiment Station along this line. From long continued
experiments it appears to be conclusively demonstrated that
the male bird has a hitherto unsuspected importance in the
transmission of high-laying qualities to the progeny. Egg pro-
duction, in the Barred Plymouth Rock fowl at least, appears
to depend upon two separately inherited physiological factors.
Either of these factors when present alone in a bird makes it
a poor or mediocre layer. If both factors are present together
the bird is a high producer. The novel feature of the case lies
in the point that the factor upon which high production depends
(i. e., which must be present if the bird is to be a high pro-
ducer) is never transmitted in inheritance from a mother to
her daughters, but only to her sons. It behaves, in other words

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 21

as a sex-linked character. The male bird which possesses this
hereditary factor for high production may however transmit
it both to his sons and his daughters. It thus appears that the
high egg productiveness exhibited by some pullets or hens is
always directly inherited from the sire, and not at all directly
from the dam, though the sire himself may very likely have
inherited the quality from his dam. Indeed the male which is
hereditarily pure (homozygous) with respect to this high pro-
ducing factor must receive one half of his endowment from
his dam. The practical significance of this matter is that more
attention will have to be paid to the male birds in breeding for
egg-production than has hitherto been the case. Only males
from high-laying dams should be used as breeders and of those
only a portion will transmit high producing qualities to any
large proportion of the daughters. An important practical
step is to toe-mark, or otherwise identify, all pullets so that
their sire may be known. From their performance the breeder
will be able to judge of the ability of the sons of this sire (the
brothers of the pullets) to transmit high-producing qualities.*

RAISING CHICKENS BY NATURAL PROCESSES.

While even the small grower of chickens in many cases uses
an incubator for hatching, circumstances make it necessary at
times to hatch and raise chickens by aid of the mother hen.
To persons so situated an outline of the method practiced at the
Station before incubators had reached their present develop-
ment may be helpful. An unused tie-up in a barn was taken
for the incubating room and a platform was made along the
inner side. The platform was 3 feet above the floor and was
2 1-2 feet wide and 50 feet long. It was divided into fifty
little stalls or nests, each i foot wide, 2 feet long, and I foot
high. This left a 6-inch walk along the front of the nests for
the hens to light on when flying up from the floor. Each nest
had a door made of laths at the front, so as to give ventilation.
The door was hinged at the bottom and turned outward.
Across the center of each nest a low partition was placed, so
that the nesting material would be kept in the back end — the

*A detailed report of the experiments on the basis of which the above
statements are made is published as Bulletin 205 of the Maine Agricul-
tural Experiment Station.

22 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

nest proper. For early spring work paper was put in the bot-
tom of the nest, then an inch or two of dry earth, and on
that the nest, made of soft hay.

Whenever half a dozen hens became broody they were taken
in from the henhouse and put on the nests, each nest having a
dummy egg in it; the covers were then shut up, and nearly
every hen seemed contented. In a day or two 13 eggs were
placed under each hen. Every morning the hens were liberated
as soon as it was light, when they would come down of their
own accord and burrow in the dry dust on the floor, eat, drink,
and exercise, and in twelve or fifteen minutes they would nearly
all go back to the nests voluntarily. In the afternoons one would
occasionally be found off the eggs looking out through the
slatted door. If she persisted in coming off she was exchanged
for a better sitter. The double nest is necessary, otherwise the
discontented hen would have no room to stand up, except on
her nest full of eggs, and she would very likely ruin them.
There was no danger of this with the double nest, as she would
step off the nest, go to the door and try to get out.

The advantages of a closed room in which to confine the sit-
ters are many, as the hens are easily controlled and do not need
watching as they do when selecting nests for themselves, or
when sitting in the same room with laying hens. A room 12
feet square could be arranged so as easily to accommodate 50
sitters.

The most satisfactory arrangement used at the Maine Station
for the accommodation of the hen with her brood of young
chicks consisted of a closed coop about 30 inches square, with
a hinged roof and a movable floor in two parts, which would be
lifted out each day for cleaning. This little coop had a wire-
covered yard attached to it on the south side. The yard was 4
by 5 feet in size and 11-2 feet high. Its frame was of i-inch
by 3-inch strips and was fastened securely to the coop.

The wire on the sides was of i-inch mesh, but on top 2-inch
mesh was sufficient. Such a coop is easily kept clean, and the
coop and yard can be set over upon clean grass by one person.

The small run will be sufficient for the first few weeks, but
soon the chicks need greater range, and then the fence at the
farther end of the run can be lifted up 3 or 4 inches and they
can pass in and out at will, while the mother will be secure at

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 23

home and they will know 'where to find her when they get cold
or damp or need brooding. Such a coop accommodates 15 to
20 chicks until they no longer require brooding, after which
several flocks should be combined in one and put in a portable
house on a grassy range.

Whenever the hen is allowed to hatch or to mother chicks,
much care must be exercised to prevent lice from getting a foot-
hold and ruining the birds. The free and frequent use of the
lice powder described farther on (p. •"-.), working it through
the feathers to the skin, is one of the best methods for destroy-
ing the pests. Grease or oil is effective when applied to the
heads and under the wings of young chicks, but care must be
taken not to get too much on them, especially during damp
weather. The feeding of chicks raised in coops with their
mothers does not vary much from the feeding of those raised
in brooders as described below.

RAISING CHICKENS BY ARTIFICIAL PROCESSES.
Incubators have been much improved and there are several
kinds on the market that will hatch about as many chicks from a
given lot of eggs as can be done by selected broody hens. Fur-
thermore, in the experience of this Station, with proper man-
agement during and subsequent to incubation the chicks so pro-
duced are fully the equal in constitutional vigor, average dura-
tion of life, and productivity, of hen-hatched chicks. The best
present day incubators require little care, maintain an even
temperature arising from the development of the embryoes
going on in the eggs. In some machines the moisture supply
is automatic and adapted to the requirements; in others it has
to be supplied, and skill is necessary in determining the quan-
tity needed. The economy of the incubator is very great. A
36o-egg machine will do the work of nearly 30 broody hens,
and can be kept at work continually if desired. For more than
10 years past all chicks in the Maine Experiment Station's poul-
try plant have been hatched in incubators. There has yet to
appear any reason for going back to the old system of hatching
with hens.

THE INCUBATOR.

There are many makes of incubators on the market, some
of which will give satisfactory results. The Maine Station

24 METHODS OF POUI/TRY MANAGEMENT.

has not tested many makes of incubators, and very likely some
of the makes not tested would prove as satisfactory as those
used.*

Whatever make of incubator is used, pains should be taken
to become thoroughly acquainted with the machine before the
eggs are put into it. It is advisable for a person not familiar
with the use of an incubator to run the machine empty for sev-
eral days before filling it. After the eggs are put in, changes
and adjustments should be made with the greatest care for fear
of extreme results. By the use of an incubator it is possible to
determine exactly the time when the chickens shall be hatched.
With the strain of Barred Plymouth Rocks bred by the Maine
station it was formerly necessary to hatch the chickens in
March in order to have them ready for November laying. By
better methods of feeding, breeding, and treatment, it is now
possible to delay the hatching until April and the first of May
and have the pullets in good laying condition the last of October
and early in November. Chickens hatched in March under the
present method of breeding and feeding would in many cases
begin laying in August.

THE INCUBATOR ROOM.

It is important that the incubator room be so situated that it
can be kept at a fairly constant temperature. On this account
an underground room is usually selected. For many years the
well-lighted cellar under the wing of the farmhouse was used
by the Maine Station. A cold or badly ventilated cellar would,
however, be poorly adapted for incubators. Ventilation is very
important, and where several incubators are in use artificial
ventilation must be provided, in order that the machines may
be furnished with clean, fresh air at all times.

In 1905 the Maine Station erected an incubator house which
practically consists of a well-made, light, airy cellar with a
house for the poultry man above it. The incubator room, which
occupies the entire cellar, is 30 feet square. The room is 7 feet

*A discussion of the different types of incubators and the methods of
managing them to get the best results is given in Farmers' Bulletin
236, "Incubation and Incubators," which may be obtained free on appli-
cation to the Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. The direc-
tions furnished by the manufacturers of the different incubators should
be strictly adhered to by the beginner.

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 25

high in the clear, 5 feet of which is below the level of the out-
side ground. It is lighted by six 3-light windows, carrying
glass 10 inches by 16 inches. The cement walls are finished
smooth and the cement floor is slightly inclined toward the
southeast corner where the intake of the drain is located.
This enables the free use of water from hose in cleaning the
room preparatory to starting the incubators. Two chimneys
extend to the basement floor and contain ventilating flues that
have no opening into the rooms above. Entrance to the room
is through a covered outside cellar stairway leading into a shed
at the rear of the building. The room now contains thirteen
3(5o-egg machines.

In the directions which accompany certain of the incubators
which have been used at the Station it is stated that an artifi-
cial source of moisture is not needed in operating these incu-
bators except in very arid parts of the country. It is said that
in other places the normal moisture of the atmosphere is suffi-
cient to insure the necessary moisture in the incubator. The
experience of the Station indicates that except possibly in a
rather wet season this is not the case. It has been found here
that in an ordinary season if no artificial moisture is supplied
to the incubators there is too great an evaporation from the
eggs. It is demonstrable that many eggs fail to hatch because
of this dryness of the air in the incubator. It is not desirable
here to enter into a detailed discussion regarding experiments
on this point. It suffices to state the fact that in the Station's
experience better hatches have been obtained when moisture
beyond that normal in the atmosphere is supplied during incu-
bation. The most satisfactory way to supply this extra moist-
ure in machines where sand trays are not an integral part,
has been found to be by sprinkling the eggs with warm water
twice a day. The water is warmed to a temperature of from
!O4°-io8° Fahr. The sprinkling may be done either with a
small hand sprayer or by simply shaking the water on with the
hand or a whisk broom. This is done in connection with the
regular manipulation of the eggs (cooling and turning) during
incubation. The application of moisture is begun as soon as
the eggs go into the machine and is continued until the i8th day.
Since adopting this procedure a very considerable 'reduction in
the mortality of chicks in the shell has been effected.

26 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

BROODER HOUSES.

Some years ago there was erected at this Station a long con-
tinuous brooder house, containing TO brooders and with ca-
pacity for 600 to looo chicks. This house burned during the
first season of its use, and has never been replaced.

A permanent brooder house would be indispensable for the
raising of winter chickens, and a house piped for hot water
has some advantages. The advantages are especially great
when raising chickens if April or May proves to be cold or wet,
for then the small houses are apt to be cold outside of the
brooders. In ordinary seasons, even in Maine, little or no diffi-
culty is experienced in raising chicks hatched in April and May
in the small houses. The expenditure would be greater for
the piped house, for the reason that colony houses still must be
provided in which the chicks may be sheltered after they leave
the brooder house.

Since the burning of the house just described, the Maine
Station has used small portable brooder houses (see fig. i).
The small brooder houses built on runners are readily moved
about, and for the work with spring-hatched chickens are
preferred to the large permanent brooder house. Several styles
and sizes have been used, but the following meets the needs
of the Station better than any other that has been tried. The
houses are built on two 1 6- foot pieces of 4 by 6 inch timbers,
which serve as runners. The ends of the timbers, which pro-
ject beyond the house, are chamfered on the underside to facili-
tate moving. The houses are 12 feet long; some of them are
6 feet and others 7 feet wide ; 7 feet is the better width. They
are 6 feet high in front and 4 feet high at the back. The frame
is of 2 by 3 inch lumber; the floor is double boarded, and the
building is boarded and covered with a good quality of heavy
roofing paper. Formerly shingles were used for the outside
covering, but paper is preferred and is now used exclusively.
This kind of covering for the wall is not so likely to be injured
in moving as shingles. A door 2 feet wide is in the center of
the front and a 6-light window, hinged at the top, is on each
side of it. Two brooders are placed in each of these houses and
50 to 60 chicks are put with each brooder. A low partition
separates the flocks while they are young. The houses are large

MAINE AGRICULTURAL, EXPERIMENT STATION.

28 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

enough so that a person can go in and do the work comfortably,
and each one accommodates 100 chicks until the cockerels are
large enough to be removed. One of these houses is shown in
figure 2.

An improvement has recently been made in these brooder
houses by providing for better ventilation. When the weather
is very hot there is no movement of air within one of these
houses, even though the door and windows are open. The air
within the house is practically stagnant and, on account of its
relatively small volume, becomes intensely hot and stifling when
the temperature outside gets high. The effect on the chicks
under such circumstances is bad. They retreat to the houses to
get shade, but only to be injured if not killed by the hot, stifling
air of the house. To remedy this difficulty a slot 2 feet long
and i foot wide has been cut in the back of each house high
up under the eaves. This slot is closed with a wooden slide
running in grooves which are put on the outside of the house.
The opening is covered on the inside with 2-inch mesh chicken
wire. On very hot days the slide is pulled out completely so as
to expose the whole opening of the slot. At night or during
a period of wet, cold weather the size of the opening is regulat-
ed to suit the conditions. It enables one to keep a current of
fresh air through the house in the warmest weather. The effect
on the well-being of the chicks during a period of hot weather
is most marked and satisfactory.

A FRESH AIR BROODER.

For a number of years prior to 1910 the Maine Station used
in rearing chickens a commercial, hot air, brooder. These
brooders never gave entire satisfaction. During the period in
which they were used the mortality during the first three weeks
in the brooder was too large, and remained so even after all
factors other than the brooder had so far as possible been cor-
rected.

After careful consideration of the matter it appeared that
there were three fundamental defects in brooders of the type
used. These are : ( i ) In order to get a sufficiently high tem-
terature underneath the hover in the sort of weather which
prevails in this locality during the latter part of March and

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION.

29

first part of April it is necessary to turn the lamp so high that
the floor of the brooder gets much too hot. Tn other words, if
brooders of this type are forced at all there is too much "bot-
tom heat." (2) Brooders of this kind have no provision for
taking the lamp fumes and vitiated air out of the building in

Is

T"

< '5

5 H|

•T3 "^ O.

bc-2 &i

o **•• ^

o

.81

. 0,0

o u
c^

_

"0*04

which the brooder is operated. This becomes a very serious
matter when, as is the' case at this Station, two of these brood-
ers are operated in a small colony house, with a floor area of
only 6 or 7 feet by 12 feet. In the cold weather of April it is
necessary to shut these houses at night in order to maintain

3O METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

anything like the proper temperature underneath the hovers.
When the door of such a house with twoa of these brooders
operating in it is opened in the morning the air is plainly very
bad. Not only does it contain all the lamp fumes, but it also
has a peculiarly dry, burned-out smell. (3) When these
brooders are operated in small colony houses, and the same
houses are used for growing the chickens on the range through-
out the summer, a considerable labor expense and a good deal
of wear and tear on the brooders themselves is involved in

_ FIG. 4. Section through middle of brooder. Note cloth cover and
side, large space between floor of brooder and floor of house, in which
the lamp is placed while the brooder is in operation, and which serves as
a storage place for the whole upper part of the brooder when the latter
is not in use.

moving them about. After the chicks have reached a size
when it is no longer necessary for them to have a hover the
brooders must be moved out and stored somewhere until the
houses are cleaned out in the fall. Then the brooders have to
be moved back in again in preparation for the next year's hatch-
ing season. All this involves a good deal of labor. Every
poultryman knows, or ought to know, that one of the primary

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 3!

factors in determining financial success or failure in the poultry
business is the labor cost. Any plan which attains a real sav-
ing of labor, without involving any disadvantages in other ways,
is to be welcomed. Certainly the operation of brooders which

BB. Removable end and front,
held by hooks, hh, to uprights ,PP
are canvas on wood frames

FIG. 5. Floor plan of brooder. For further explanation see text.

have to be handled about so much every season constitutes a
labor leak, which on a large plant operating 50 to 100 brooders
is considerable in amount.

In view of these considerations it was decided in the hatch-
ing season of 1909 to begin some experiments looking toward
an improvement in the brooders used for rearing the chickens

32 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

at this Station. At first some different types of commercial
brooders were tested. The results, however, were not satis-
factory. Before the hatching season of 1910 it was decided to
try on an experimental scale a brooder devised to overcome
the objections mentioned above to brooders of the type for-
merly used. The results obtained were strikingly favorable to

FIG. 6. Showing brooder installed and ready for operation.

the new brooders. In this bulletin is given a detailed descrip-
tion of this brooder, together with working plans so that any
poultryman can construct one for his own use if he cares to do
so.

The advantages which have been found to accrue from the
use of this brooder at the Maine Station fall into two general
categories. The first of these is that it is possible to rear in
this brooder a larger number of chickens in proportion to the
number originally put in than in any other brooder with which
the Station has had any experience. That is, the mortality
rate of chicks raised in this brooder, is relatively low, particu-
larly as compared with brooders of the old type. Furthermore

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 33

not only do the chicks live better in this new brooder but also,
according to our experience, those which do live grow better
and are thriftier than those raised in the other type of brooder.
The second advantage lies in the great saving of labor which
is effected by the use of the new brooder. The fact that the
brooder never has to be taken away from the house where it is
operated means a decided economy.

FIG. 7. Showing brooder dismantled and parts stored in base.
CONSTRUCTION OF BROODER.

In planning this brooder the primary point aimed at was to
make it a "fresh air" and a "pure air" brooder. With this idea
in mind it was thought advisable to make the wall of the brood-
er in some degree permeable to air. To meet this requirement
the walls and cover of the brooder are made of cloth. Essen-
tially the brooder is a cloth box containing a hover, of the
type in which the lamp fumes are conducted outside of the
building by an exhaust pipe.

These brooders are built as a constituent part of the houses
which they occupy. Two brooders are placed in each colony
3

34 METHODS OF POUI/TRY MANAGEMENT.

house, one in each of the back corners of the building. In this
way one end wall and the back wall of the building form two of
the sides of each brooder. The remaining side and cover are
made of cloth tacked on light wooden frames as shown in the
working drawings.

The floor of the brooder stands 10 inches above the floor of
the house. From the front of the brooder a sloping walk ex-
tends down to the house floor, reaching in width clear across
the whole front of the brooder. The cloth front and side of
the brooder are not permanently fixed in position but are
removable panels, which are held together and to the frame
work by hooks and eyes (see fig. 5). The cover is hinged
in the middle in such a way that it can be either half opened
or entirely opened and folded back out of the way. In con-
sequence of this arrangement it is possible to regulate with
great nicety the amount of air which shall be admitted to the
brooder. Either the front or the side panel may be tilted out as
much as desired at the base thus admitting air there. Further-
more by partly opening a panel and the cover it is possible to
insure that there shall be a circulation of air through the
brooder at all times.

The hover used in this brooder is the Universal Hover, made
by the Prairie State Incubator Co., Homer City, Pa. It is, how-
ever, modified in certain particulars for present use. In the
first place the arrangement is such that the lamp is inside the
house underneath the brooder rather than in a box outside the
house, as in the usual arrangement of this hover. The lamp
in this brooder is in the house directly under the hover. The
reason for this modification is that in this climate, where one
is likely to have bad weather during the early part of the hatch-
ing and rearing season, with heavy winds, snow, and rain, it is
much easier and more satisfactory to take care of the lamp
inside the house than from a small box outside the house. An-
other modification is that in the hovers which are installed in
these brooders an especially heavy insulation is put on top of
the drum to reduce the loss of heat by radiation in extremely
cold weather early in the spring.

One of the essential points about the brooder is its compact-
ness in storage, and the fact that all the parts may be stored
in the base of the brooder itself. In this way the labor expense

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 35

of carrying back and forth parts from a storage house each
year is avoided. To bring about this result the size of the
base is so calculated that all the parts of the brooder may be
enclosed in it. The way in which this is done is apparent from
an examination of fig. 3. It will be seen that the end of the
brooder base, (marked A A in the diagram) is removable, being
held in place by buttons bb. When the end of the brooding sea-
son is reached and there is no further use for the brooder that
year, the side and front end panel of the brooder are removed,
the canvas cover folded back and tacked to the wall of the
building and the hover dismantled. All of the parts are then
shoved under the brooder floor and the panel AA put back in
place again. The floor of the brooder is removable so that it,
and the floor underneath, may be cleaned and disinfected.
By removing its legs the hover may be stored in the brooder
base along with the other parts, or if one does not desire to
do this the hover may be suspended close up to the roof
of the building. In that position it will be impossible for the
birds to roost on it. Of course, all movable parts should be
taken from the hover before it is hung up in this way. These
parts may be stored in the brooder base. After the chickens
are out of the house in the fall the parts of the brooder are
taken out, thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, and then the
whole is reassembled and made ready for the hatching season of
the next year.

Detailed working drawings of the brooder are given here-
with. Fig. 3 shows the end elevation of the brooder ; fig. 4
shows a section through the middle of the brooder ; fig. 5 shows
a floor plan; fig. 6 shows the brooder in operation; and fig. 7
shows its appearance when dismantled and with the parts stored
in the base, while the large chickens are using the house. All
dimensions are given on these drawings and from them it
should be possible for anyone to construct the brooder for him-
self.

As material any sort of planed lumber may be used. Prob-
ably pine will be found satisfactory and economical in most
cases. Spruce or hemlock may be used to build the base, if
one desires. For the cover and removable sides almost any
sort of cloth may be used. Here we have employed the lightest

36 METHODS OF POUI/TRY MANAGEMENT.

weight canvas (duck) that could be obtained locally. Burlap
may be used, or even unbleached cotton cloth in localities where
the outside temperature is not too low.

TREATMENT OF YOUNG CHICKS.

In the work of the Maine Station all of the birds are
hatched in incubators, and in pedigree wire baskets* since all
are pedigreed. They are not disturbed on the 2ist day of incu-
bation, but on the morning of the 22nd day the chicks are re-
moved from the baskets and leg-banded. Each chick is then
returned to the basket from which it came and put back in the
incubator. There they are left until they are from 48 to 72
hours old. The reason for keeping the chicks isolated in this
way for so long a time is to prevent their eating each others
droppings. It has been shown by Rettger and Stoneburnt
that one of the most important chick scourges, bacillary white
diarrhea, is (a) transmitted through the egg, and (b) can only
infect non-infected birds during the first 48 hours of their life.

After this time the chicks are carried in warm covered bas-
kets to the brooders, and 50 or 60 are put under each hover,
where the temperature is between 95° and 100° F. The tem-
perature is not allowed to fall below 95° F. during the first
week, or 90° F. during the second week; then it is gradually
reduced according to the temperature outside, care being taken
not to drive the chicks out by too much heat, or cause them to
crowd together under the hover because they are cold. They
should flatten out separately when young, and a little later lie
with their heads just at the edge of the fringe of the hover.
They should never be allowed to huddle outside of the brooder.
They huddle because they are cold, and they should be put
under the hover to get warm, until they learn to go there of
their own accord. Neither should they be allowed to stay under
the hover too much, but in the daytime should be forced out
into the cooler air where they gain strength. They ought not to
be allowed to get more than a foot from the hover during the
first two days; then a little farther away each day, and down
on the house floor about the fourth or fifth day, if the

* See Bulletin 159, Maine Agricultural Experiment Station,
t Storrs Agr. Expt. Stat. Bulletin 60.

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 37

weather is not too cold. They must not get cold enough to
huddle or cry, but must come out from under the hover fre-
quently.

The floor of the brooder is cleaned every day and kept well
sprinkled with alfalfa meal. So far as we are aware sand may
be used for this purpose, but it has never been tried at this
Station. The floor of the house is covered with clover leaves
or with hay chaff from the feeding floor in the cattle barns.

FEEDS AND FEEDING.

FEEDING YOUNG CHICKENS.

The best method of feeding young chicks is at present a mat-
ter of some uncertainty, and it is doubtful if there ever will be
general agreement as to the one best method. One condition,
however, appears to be imperative, and that is that the young
things be not allowed to overeat. A number of different meth-
ods of feeding young chickens have been used at the Station in
the past. The most useful of these methods follow.

Method i. — Infertile eggs are boiled for half an hour and
then ground in an ordinary meat chopper, shells included, and
mixed with about six times their bulk of rolled oats, by rubbing
both together. This mixture is the feed for two or three days,
until the chicks have learned how to eat. It is fed with chick
grit, on the brooder floor, on the short cut clover or chaff.

About the third day the chicks are fed a mixture of hard,
fine-broken grains, as soon as they can see to eat in the morn-
ing. The mixture now used has the following composition :

Parts by weight.

Cracked wheat 15

Pinhead oats (granulated oat meal) 10

Fine screened cracked corn 15

Fine cracked peas 3

Broken rice 2

Chick grit 5

Fine charcoal (chick size) 2

It is fed on the litter, care being taken to limit the quantity,
so they shall be hungry at 9 o'clock a. m.

3§ METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

Several of the prepared, dry, commercial chick feeds may be
substituted for the broken grains. They are satisfactory when
made of good, clean, broken grains and seeds, but they contain
no secret properties that make them more desirable than the
home-mixed broken grains mentioned above. Their use is
simply a matter of convenience. When only a few chicks are
raised, it is generally more convenient, and probably not more
expensive, to buy the prepared feed, but when many are raised
it is less expensive to use the home-mixed feeds.

Sharp grit, fine charcoal, and clean water are always before
the chicks. At 9 o'clock the rolled oats and egg mixture is fed
in tin plates with low rims. After they have had the feed be-
fore them five minutes the dishes are removed and they have
nothing to lunch on. At 12.30 o'clock the hard-grain mixture
is fed again, as in the morning, and at 4.30 or 5 o'clock they
are fed all they will eat in half an hour of the rolled oats and
egg mixture.

When they are about 3 weeks old the rolled oats and egg
mixture is gradually displaced by a mixture having the follow-
ing composition :

Parts by weight.

Wheat bran (clean) 2

Corn meal 4

"Daisy flour" (or other low grade flour) 2

Linseed meal i

Screened beef scrap 2

This mixture is moistened with water just enough so that it is
not sticky, but will crumble when a handful is squeezed and then
released. The birds are developed far enough by this time so
that the tin plates are discarded for light troughs with low
sides. Young chicks like the moist mash better than that not
moistened, and will eat more of it in a short time. There is no
danger from the free use of the properly made mash twice a
day, and since it is already ground the young birds can eat and
digest more of it than when the feed is all coarse. This is a
very important fact, and should be taken advantage of at the
time when the young chicks are most susceptible to rapid
growth, but the development must be moderate during tne first
few weeks. The digestive organs must be kept in normal condi-

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 39

tion by the partial use of hard feed, and the gizzard must not be
deprived of its legitimate work and allowed to become weak by
disuse.

By the time the chicks are 5 or 6 weeks old the small broken
grains are discontinued and the two litter feeds are wholly of
screened cracked corn and whole wheat. Only good clean
wheat that is not sour or musty should be used.

When young chicks are fed as described, the results have
always been satisfactory if the chicks have not been given too
much of the scratch feed and if the dishes of ground material
have been removed immediately after the meal was completed.
The objections to this system of feeding are the extra labor
involved in preparing the eggs, mixing the feed with water,
and removing the troughs at the proper time.

Method 2. — This is like Method i, except that fine beef scrap
is used instead of boiled eggs and the mash is not moistened.

Early in the morning the chicks are given the hard feed on
the floor litter as described in Method i. At 9 o'clock they are
fed a mixture having the following composition :

Parts by weight.

Rolled oats 2

Wheat bran 2

Corn meal 2

Linseed meal \

Screened beef scrap I

This is given in the plates or troughs, and the dishes are re-
moved after ten minutes' use.

At 12.30 the hard grains are fed again, and at 4.30 or 5 the
dry-meal mixture is given to them for half an hour or left until
their bedtime. The meal being dry, the chicks can not eat it as
readily as they can the egg and rolled oats or the moistened
mash. For that reason it is left for them to feed upon longer
than when moistened with the egg and water, but is never left
before them more than ten minutes at the 9-o'clock feeding
time. The aim is to give them enough at each of the four
meals so that their desire for food may be satisfied at the time,
but to make sure that they have nothing left to lunch upon. It
is desired to have their crops empty of feed before feeding
them again. When treated in this way they will have sharp

4O METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

appetites when the feeder appears, and come racing out from
the brooder to meet him. If they have been overfed at the pre-
vious meal, and have lunched when they saw fit, they do not
care for the feeder's coming. If overfed a few times the creat-
ures become debilitated and worthless.

What has been said so far is with reference to chicks that are
hatched out in early spring, at a season of the year when it is
impossible under the climatic conditions in Maine for them to
get out of doors for work.

Method j. — This is like Method 2, except that the first mash
for the young chicks has the following composition :

Parts by weight.

Wheat bran 4

Corn meal 3i

Linseed meal . '. \

Screened beef scrap 2

Alfalfa meal i

This mixture is scalded and then dry rolled oats are mixed
with it in the proportion of 2 parts rolled oats to 6 parts of the
mixture. The reason for mixing in this way is that it has been
found by experience that if rolled oats are mixed with the other
materials of the mash before scalding there is a tendency for the
mash to be soggy after it is wet. Mixing in the way here out-
lined has been found to improve the mash greatly.

This mash and the dry grains are fed as in Method 2 until
the chicks are about 3 weeks old. From 3 weeks on to 6 or 8
weeks the composition of the mash is as follows:

Parts by weight

Wheat bran 2

Corn meal 3

Linseed meal 2

Daisy flour (or other low-grade flour) i

Beef scrap i

Method 4. — When warm weather comes and the later-hatched
chicks are able to get out on the ground they find much to amuse
them, and they work hard and are able to eat and digest more
feed. Under these conditions the dry-meal mixture described in
Method 2 is kept constantly before them in troughs, with good
results. With two feeds a day of the broken grains in the litter

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 4!

they have hard feed enough to insure health and they can safely
peck away at the dry-meal mixture — a mouthful or two at a
time — when they seem to happen to think of it, and thrive.
This method has been considerably used in feeding April and
May hatched chicks. Many times the results from it have been
good. At other times, when the weather was dark and raw out
of doors and the little things were held inside, they would hang
around the troughs and overeat. They would grow rapidly for
a few days, then commence to go lame, eat little, and seek the
warm hover never to recover.

Method 5. — This consists in feeding the cracked corn, cracked
wheat, pin-head oats, and millet seed in the litter four times a
day, and keeping a trough of fine beef scrap within reach all
the time. Sometimes commercial chick feeds have been used
instead of the cracked corn, wheat, oats, and millet. By this
system the losses of birds have been small when the feeding
has not been so liberal as to clog the appetite. Much care is
necessary in adjusting the quantity of feed to the needs of the
birds.

Other methods of feeding young chicks have been tried and
the results watched. Method i has been used for several years
and no other has been found that gives better growth or less
losses of birds. The only objection to it is the labor required in
preparing the feed. In the work of the Station Method 3 is
now preferred and used. The losses of chicks are small by
either of the methods. The labor in Method 2 is considerably
less than is required in Method i. Where either Methods I, 2,
or 3 are used the liability of injury to the chicks is much less
than when Methods 4 or 5 are followed.

There are no mysteries connected with the raising of the
young chickens. Every chick that is well hatched out by the
twenty-first day of incubation should live, and will do so as a
rule if kept dry, at reasonable temperatures, and not allowed to
overeat.

The most careful work of the poultryman during the whole
year is required in getting the chicks through the first three
weeks of their lives successfully. If they are vigorous up to the
fourth week, there is little liability of injuring them thereafter
by any system of feeding, if it is only generous enough and they
have their liberty.

42 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

FEEDING CHICKS ON THE RANGE.

By the middle of June the chickens that were hatched in
April are being fed on cracked corn, wheat, and the mash. At
about that time the portable houses containing the chickens are
drawn from their winter locations out to an open hayfield where
the crop has been harvested and the grass is short and green.
If not too much worn, the same field may be used a second
season for chickens, but this is not recommended. A new, clean
piece of turf land should be used each year. At least two acres
should be allowed for each 1000 chickens, if the land can be
had. It is possible, as has been demonstrated repeatedly, to
grow good sound vigorous stock on smaller areas. But to do
this is much more difficult and trying work than with larger
areas.

When the chickens are moved to the range, the sexes are
separated. The methods of feeding the cockerels and pullets
differ, and there has been a gradual change in the methods of
feeding. Each method has given good results. The changes
have been introduced to save labor. After the chickens were
moved to the range they were fed in the morning and evening
with a moistened mixture of corn meal, middlings, and wheat
bran, to which one-tenth as much beef scrap was added. The
other two feeds were of wheat and cracked corn.

In 1904 a change was made in the manner of feeding 1,400
female chickens by omitting the moist mash and keeping in
separate slatted troughs cracked corn, wheat, beef scrap, crack-
ed bone, oyster shell, and grit where they could help them-
selves whenever they desired to do so. Grit, bone, oyster shell,
and clean water were always supplied. There were no regular
hours for feeding, but care was taken that the troughs were
never empty.

In 1905 another trough containing a dry mash consisting of
I part wheat bran, 2 parts corn meal, I part middlings, and I
part beef scrap was used in addition to those containing the
grains. The results were satisfactory. The labor of feeding
was far less than that required by any other method tried. The
birds did not hang around the troughs and overeat, but helped
themselves, a little at a time, and ranged off, hunting or playing,
and coming back again to the food supply at the troughs when
so inclined. There was no rushing or crowding about the at-

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 43

tendant, as is usual at feeding time where large numbers are
kept together. While the birds liked the beef scrap, they did
not overeat of it. During the range season, from June to the
close of October, the birds ate just about i pound of the scrap
to 10 pounds of the cracked corn and wheat. This is practically
the proportion eaten when the moist mash was used.

THE FEEDING TROUGH.

The difficulty of keeping the feed clean and dry during con-
tinued exposure is nearly overcome by using troughs with

FIG. 8. Chicken feeding trough, accessible from both sides, with cover on.

slatted sides and broad, detachable roofs (figs. 8 and 9). The
troughs which were formerly in use at the station were from
6 to 10 feet long, with the sides 5 inches high. The lath slats are
2 inches apart, and the troughs are 16 inches high from floor to
roof. The roofs project about 2 inches at the sides and effectu-
ally keep out the rain except when high winds prevail.

The roof is very easily removed by lifting one end and sliding
it endwise on the opposite gable end on which it rests, as shown
in figure 9. The trough can then be filled and the roof drawn
back into place without lifting it. This arrangement is econom-
ical of feed, keeping it in good condition and avoiding waste.
When dry mash is used there may be considerable waste by the

44

METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

finer parts being blown away, and on this account the dry-mash
should be put in a sheltered place out of the reach of wind.

AN IMPROVED RANGE FEED TROUGH.

The type of slatted feed trough described above is open to
certain objections. It is very difficult to keep the grain dry in
it in wet stormy weather. Furthermore, the fact that very
small chickens cannot use this type of trough entails additional
labor. There must be flat boards with narrow rims for the very
young chickens in adition to the range troughs for the older

FIG. 9. Chicken feeding trough with cover removed.

chicks. An improved range trough obviates both of these dis-
advantages and has other points to recommend it. The essential
features of this trough are shown in Figs. 10 to 12. The im-
provements consist, first, in making the slatted front of the
trough removable as a whole, leaving then a flat board bottom
with a rail in front of it an inch high to hold the grain in place.
With the slat front removed the trough duplicates the condi-
tions of the flat chick feeding board, used by many poultry
keepers for feeding chicks during the first two or three weeks
of life. As the chicks grow older this slatted front can be put
on the trough and held in place with the hooks and eyes shown
in the photograph.

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION.

45

I

•S

g)

oJ

'I

46 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

A second improvement consists in hinging the top rather than
making it in one piece and removing as a whole, as was the case
with the older feed troughs at this Station. It will be noted
that this feed trough is open to the birds only from one side.
The reason for this arrangement is that it is designed to place
the feed troughs in holes cut in the longitudinal fences in the
range yards, with the back part of the trough and the hinged
cover extending into a long walk running the whole length of
the range behind the yards. In this way the troughs can be
rilled from the outside without the necessity of going into the
yard, opening gates, etc., thus reducing the labor cost of opera-
tion considerably.

Of course it is entirely possible to make troughs in accordance
with the principle of this improvement, with removable slatted
openings on both sides, to be set down in the middle of the
yards so that the birds can get at the feed from both directions.

The dimensions of the troughs as used here are those given in
the following table. It is, of course, not essential that these

dimensions be absolutely followed in building feed troughs
according to this principle, particularly the length dimensions.
The dimensions of the boards forming the roof, however, and
their angle, are of more or less importance since actual trial
has shown that when built as here pictured and described the
grain will keep dry in the trough even in driving showers or
storms. A strip of canvas keeps the hinged joint of the roof
dry.

Dimensions of Improved Feed Trough.

Length 8 ft. 4 inches

Height to peak i " 6

Width at bottom . 3

Width at widest point 9i "

Height of front opening 12^

Width of roof boards (front and back same) ... n "

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION.

47

48 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

FEEDING THE COCKERELS FOR MARKET.

A't the Maine Station many of the cockerels are to be used for
breeding purposes, and they are fed in flocks of about TOO on
the range in about the same way as the pullets. The dry-feed
method is now used for them as satisfactorily as for the pullets.

FIG. 12. End and top view of trough with cover open and slatted
front removed. Note hook which holds front in place.

A very large proportion of the cockerels raised in New Eng-
land are sent to the market alive, without being fattened. Quite
extended experiments at the Maine Station with many birds in
different years indicate very clearly that keeping the cockerels
for a few weeks with special feeding will add materially to the
selling price. Not infrequently this will make the difference
between loss from the low price obtained for slow-selling un fat-
tened birds and the profit from comparatively quick-selling

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 49

specially fed birds at a much higher price. The higher price is
due partly to the increased weight and partly to the superior
quality of the well-covered soft-fleshed chickens. As the bul-
letins containing the results of these feeding experiments with
cockerels are out of print, the following brief summary of the
results obtained is given :

The number of pounds of grain required to produce I pound
of gain in fattening cockerels was ascertained in experiments
comparing (i) the effect of housing, (2) the effect of age, and
(3) the effect of skim milk. The grain mixture used in these
series of experiments was the same, consisting of 100 pounds
of corn meal, 100 pounds of wheat middlings, and 40 pounds
of meat meal. This was fed as a porridge thick enough to
drop but not to run from a spoon.

The French and English fatteners who make a specialty of
the business, fattening thousands of chickens each year, con-
fine the chickens in small coops. The coops used at the Maine
Station gave a floor space of 1 6 by 23 inches, in each of which
4 chickens were placed. The coops were constructed of laths
with closed-end partitions of boards. The floors, sides, and
tops were of laths placed three-quarters of an inch apart. By
simply moving the pens thus constructed the floors were kept
clean. V-shaped troughs with 3-inch sides were placed in
front and about 2 inches above the level of the floors of the
coops. Cockerels thus fed were compared with others kept in
small houses 9 by n feet in size, with an attached yard 20 feet
square. The yard was entirely free from anything that would
serve as green feed. Twenty birds were put in each of these
houses. As a result of experiments with fattening 286 birds it
was found that on the average 7.9 pounds of grain were re-
quired to produce i pound of gain in the case of birds fed in
the coops, and 5.9 pounds in the case of those fed in the small
houses and yards.

An experiment with 150 birds when they were 4 months old
showed that they required 4.9 pounds of grain to produce I
pound of gain, while birds from the same stock, when they
were 6 months old, required 7.4 pounds of grain to produce i
pound of gain.

5O METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

An experiment with 68 birds showed that when the porridge
was wet with skim milk only 4.3 pounds of grain were required
to produce I pound of gain, against 5.3 pounds when the por-
ridge was wet with water. Eight pounds of skim milk was
used with each pound of grain.

These experiments warrant the following conclusions : ( i )
As great gains are made just as cheaply and more easily when
the chickens are put into small houses and yards as when they
are fed in small lots in lattice coops just large enough to hold
them. (2) Four weeks is about the limit of profitable feeding,
both individually and in flocks. (3) Chickens gain faster while
young. Birds that are from 150 to 175 days old have uniformly
given comparatively small gains. (4) The practice of success-
ful poultrymen selling chickens at the earliest marketable age
is well founded. The spring chicken sold at Thanksgiving time
is an expensive product.

The experiments clearly indicate that it is profitable to fatten
chickens in cheaply constructed sheds or in large coops with
small runs for about four weeks and then send them to market
dressed. In quality the well-covered, soft-fleshed chickens are
so much superior to the same birds not specially prepared that
the former will be sought for at a higher price. The dairy
farmer is particularly well prepared to carry on this work, as
he has the skim milk which these experiments show to be of so
great importance in obtaining cheap rapid growth and superior
quality of flesh.

FEEDING THE LAYING PULLETS.

The feed of all adult birds, whether pullets or not, consists
of two essential parts: (a) the whole or cracked grains scat-
tered in the litter, and (b) the mixture of dry ground grains
which has come to be generally known as a dry mash. These
two component parts of the ration and the methods of feeding
them will be considered separately. In addition to the grains
and dry mash, oyster shell, dry cracked bone, grit, and char-
coal are kept in slatted troughs, and are accessible at all times.
Plenty of clean water is furnished. About 5 pounds of clover

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 51

hay cut into I -2-inch lengths is fed daily to each 100 birds
in the breeding pens during the breeding season. When the
wheat, oats, and cracked corn are given, the birds are always
ready and anxious for them, and they scratch in the litter for
the very last kernel before going to the trough where an abun-
dance of feed is in store.

It is very evident that the hens like the broken and whole
grains better than the mixture of the fine, dry materials; yet
they by no means dislike the latter, for they help themselves to
it, a mouthful or two at a time, whenever they seem to need it,
and never go to bed with empty crops, so far as noted. They
apparently do not like it well enough to gorge themselves with
it, and sit down, loaf, get over fat, and lay soft-shelled eggs, as
is so commonly the case with Plymouth Rocks when they are
given warm morning mashes in troughs.

Some of the advantages of this method of feeding are that
the mash is put in the hoppers at any convenient time, only
guarding against an exhaustion of the supply, and the entire
avoidance of the mobbing that always occurs at trough feeding
when that is made a meal of the day, whether it be at morning
or evening. There are no tailings to be gathered up or wasted,
as is common when a full meal of mash is given at night. The
labor is very much less, enabling a person to care for more
birds than when the regular evening meal is given.

Taking first the dry grains, the following may be said in
regard to the method in which they are fed : Early in the morn-
ing for each 100 hens 4 quarts of whole or cracked corn is
scattered on the litter, which is 6 to 8 inches deep on the floor.
This is not mixed into the litter, for the straw is dry and light,
and enough of the grain is hidden so the birds commence
scratching for it almost immediately. At 10 o'clock they are
fed in the same way 2 quarts of wheat and 2 quarts of oats.
This is all of the regular feeding that is done.

When corn is used freely and made a prominent factor in the
ration it has been thought best to have the kernels broken, so
that in hunting and scratching for the small pieces the birds
might get the exercise needed to keep themselves in health and

52 METHODS OF POUI/TRY MANAGEMENT.

vigor. It was reasoned that even a small quantity of whole
corn could be readily seen and picked up from the straw litter
with little exertion, and that the vices of luxury and idleness
would follow. In order to test this view an experiment was
carried out at the Station in the winter of 1906-7 in which
whole corn was substituted for cracked corn in the ration of
500 laying pullets. A control lot of 500 received cracked corn.
All other conditions affecting the two lots were kept as nearly
identical as possible. The result of the experiment was that
there was no appreciable difference in regard to either egg
production, health, or general well-being between the two
flocks of birds.

The litter which the Station now uses for its houses in prefer-
ence to all others which have been tried, consists of a mixture
of dry pine shavings and straw. The shavings can be obtained
in this part of the country from box mills in bales, which are
sold at a price of from 5 to 10 cents per bale. These shavings are
spread on the floor of the pen to a depth of some 5 to 7 inches.
From 6 to 8 bales will cover the floor of a pen which accommo-
dates from loo to 125 birds. On top of these shavings is spread
a thin layer of straw. Straw which has not been baled is pre-
ferred because it is less liable to be broken and will consequently
wear longer in the pen. This combination of straw and shav-
ings gives excellent satisfaction as a litter. The straw serves
the purpose of protecting the shavings so that they last a longer
time than would otherwise be the case before they are finally
worked up into a, mass of fine material which packs down and
becomes damp. The shavings became damp much less quickly
than does a litter of straw alone. This is because they are
finer, and the birds can keep them worked over much more
thoroughly. This constantly exposes and dries out new portions
of the mass of litter. Using this combination of shavings and
straw it is not usually found necessary to change the litter in
the pens oftener than once in three months.

It is in regard to the dry mash portion of the ration in which
the changes already referred to have been made. The dry
mash which was formerly used at the Station had the following
composition :

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 53

Pounds.

Wheat bran 200

Corn meal 100

Daisy flour (or other low-grade flour) 100

Gluten meal or brewers' grains 100

Linseed meal 100

Beef scrap 100

The experience of the Station with this mash extending as it
has over a number of years has indicated that it was somewhat
too rich. The relatively large amount of such concentrated
feeds as linseed meal and gluten meal seemed to make too rich
a ration for the well-being of the fowls. During the years
when this mash was fed more or less difficulty was always ex-
perienced with liver troubles in the birds. Birds died with all
the symptoms that would be expected to come from indigestion
arising from feeding too rich food.

In planning the new dry mash ration consideration was given
to the physiological conditions under which the birds developed
and under which they were placed in the laying houses. It is
evident that the bringing of the birds in from the range upon
which they have grown from little chickens, into the laying
houses, is apt to be a very violent and abrupt transition. It
has seemed in studying the birds in the fall of the year that this
change was an -important time in the life of the bird, and that
the results during the subsequent winter with reference to egg
production depended much upon the way the transition from
range conditions to the laying house was made. It seemed
advisable both on general grounds and from observation of the
birds themselves to make this change as gradual as possible.
With this idea in mind the pullets have been brought into the
houses from the range much earlier during the past few years
than was the custom before. It is the custom at the present
time to bring in the pullets from the range as soon as possible
after the first of September.

When the pullets are brought in as early as this it is not, of
course, advisable to shut them up entirely in the houses at once.
On the contrary, the work is planned in such a way that there
is always a freshly seeded yard full of green grass for the birds
to run in after they are brought into the house until cold

54 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

weather sets in in the fall. In other words, the birds are
brought from free range into a condition of restricted range,
but with better pasturage on the restricted than on free range.
The yards are freshly seeded and have not been trampled down
or burned and dried out by the sun, as is the grass on the open
range from which the birds are taken. In this way the attempt
is made to have the transition from open range conditions to
house conditions as gradual as possible. After about two
months, or occasionally even a little longer of restricted range,
the birds are finally shut up in the curtain front house for the
winter season.

Further in accordance with this idea of gradual change it is
thought wise not to put the pullets which are brought in from
the free range conditions abruptly on to the heavy, forced-
laying mash which it seems to be necessary for them to have
during the winter months if they are to do their best in the way
of egg production. It has been said that a hen will not lay her
best unless she is on full feeding. This is quite true, but it is
probably equally true that a great deal of harm can be done to
a pullet in regard to her future egg production by abruptly
bringing her from free range conditions into restricted yards or
to entire confinement in the house and putting her on a heavy,
rich laying mash like the one which was formerly fed at this
Station. On the contrary, it seems reasonable to bring the birds
more gradually on to this rich ration. It is in accordance with
this idea that the dry mash feed which is now used at the Sta-
tion has been planned. The formulas and method of feeding
this new dry mash are given below. It will be noted that the
mash is made richer in successive months. These formulas are
planned on the assumption that the pullets will be brought into
the winter laying quarters sometime during the month of Sep-
tember.

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 55

Composition of Dry Mash Fed to Laying Pullets.
First month in laying house (September) :—

Bran 300 Ibs.

Corn meal 100 Ibs.

Daisy flour (or other low-grade flour) 100 Ibs.

Meat scrap 100 Ibs.

Second month in laying house (October) : —

Bran 200 Ibs.

Corn meal 100 Ibs.

Daisy flour, or other low-grade flour 100 Ibs.

Gluten meal 100 Ibs.

Meat scrap 100 Ibs.

Third month in the laying house (November) : —

The mash has the same composition as that of the second
month given above with the addition of 50 pounds of linseed
meal.

Fourth month in the laying house : —

The mash has the same composition as that of the second
month given above.

Fifth month in the laying house: —

The mash has the same composition as that of the third
month as given above.

From this time on 50 pounds of linseed meal are put into the
mash as given for the second month above every alternate
month. That is to say, one month linseed meal is fed and the
next month it is not.

This dry mash made as described above is kept before the
birds all the time in open hoppers of the type described farther
on.

The advantages which it is believed have resulted from this
method of feeding the laying pullets are two fold : first, in the
good effect on the vitality of the birds, and, second, in its effect
on the evenness of egg production during the winter months.
It is a fact well known to poultrymen that if pullets are too
rapidly forced for egg production in the early fall there is a
marked tendency for them to moult during the winter at just
the time when they should be doing their best work in egg pro-
duction. Since adopting the method of feeding the pullets de-

56 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

scribed above, not only have the birds been much freer of
digestive troubles and diseases involving the liver, but also there
has been no moulting in the early winter after a short spurt of
egg production in the fall months. On the contrary the egg
production on this plan begins in September and October and
gradually and steadily increases through the winter months.
During the past two years while this method of feeding has
been used, there has been hardly a pullet in winter moult,
whereas on the old system of feeding such birds were common
every year.

FEEDING THE HENS, COCKERELS AND COCKS KEPT OVER THE
WINTER FOR BREEDING PURPOSES.

Observations made in connection with the work of this Sta-
tion, as well as a study of the literature which exists upon the
subject, have led to the opinion that in order to get the best
results in respect to the fertility and hatching quality of eggs
it is not desirable to feed birds which are to be used as breeders
the heavy laying ration which is used to force egg production
during the winter months in pullets. The feeding of such rich
food has a tendency, it is believed, to reduce or impair the fer-
tility and hatching quality of the eggs. Therefore, a plan of
feeding birds kept to be used as breeders has been devised with
the idea of getting over this difficulty so far as possible. This
method of feeding is used for old hens, cockerels and cock
birds which are kept from one season to another for breeding.
The aim is to keep these birds on as light a ration as is con-
sistent with the maintenance of good condition until just before
the beginning of the breeding season when they are to be used
and then to put them on a more stimulating and richer ration.
The scratch food given to this breeding stock is the same as
that given to the pullets, namely, corn for the first morning feed
and a mixture of wheat and oats for the second feed of the
day, both scattered in the litter. If, however, there is any ten-
dency for the yearling hens kept as breeders to get unduly fat
during the winter corn is not fed as a litter grain. The hens,
under such circumstances, are simply given the mixture of
wheat and oats at both feedings.

The dry mash used for these birds kept as breeders has the
following composition : —

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 57

Bran 400 Ibs.

Corn meal 5° Ibs.

Daisy flour, or other low-grade flour 50 Ibs.

Meat scrap 100 Ibs.

Birds kept over from one season to another are managed in
the following way. The birds completing their pullet year
which are to be kept as breeders are continued on the usual
pullet ration until after they have finished their moult in the
early fall, usually in September or early October with the birds
here. Immediately after the moult is over and the hens are
well feathered out they are put on the dry mash ration given
above. They are fed in the way described until the beginning
of tbeir second breeding season. At this Station the breeding
pens are usually mated up about the first of February. During
the breeding season all birds, both hens and pullets are fed the
following mash :

Wheat bran 200 Ibs.

Corn meal 100 Ibs.

Daisy flour 100 Ibs.

Meat scrap 50 Ibs.

Dry bone meal 5° Ibs.

The experience of the Station indicates that by reducing
animal food to a minimum it is possible to improve markedly
the hatching qualities of the eggs. Besides the dry mash the
breeders are fed wheat, corn and oats in the same way as the
laying pullets. Further they are given an abundance of green
food, always including green sprouted oats.

GREEN FOOD FOR POULTRY.

During recent years an increasing amount of attention has
been paid by poultrymen everywhere to the furnishing of green
food to their fowls during the winter months, when it is im-
possible, in northern parts of the country, at least, for the birds
to get fresh succulent pasturage out of doors. General experi-
ence seems to teach that an addition of green succulent food
to the ration of laying hens tends to keep them in better physi-
cal condition and helps towards a better egg production. On the

58 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

poultry plant of the Maine Station considerable attention has
been given to this matter of supplying green and succulent food
and as a result of experience extending now over a number of
years, a satisfactory scheme of furnishing this necessary part
of the ration under our conditions has been worked out.

To be satisfactory not only must the green food given to
poultry be of the proper kind to give good results in egg pro-
duction, but also it must be something which can be produced
and handled at small cost Furthermore a factor which is fre-
quently lost sight of is that fowls need something besides suc-
culence in their so-called "green" food. There is a distinction
between a succulent fodder and a "green food" in the strict
sense. One can supply succulence in the form of root crops
such as mangolds. A careful consideration of the case, however,
indicates that apparently the fundamental need of the fowls is
not for succulence as such, but rather for the tonic effect which
is produced by green plants, probably primarily because of the
presence of chlorophyll. In feeding fowls for high egg produc-
tion it is necessary that they be given a ration rich in protein.
Only fowls of strong constitution, and with thoroughly sound
digestive systems, can handle the heavy laying rations carrying
meat scrap and other protein concentrates, which are now
so widely used by poultrymen for egg production with success-
ful results. On these heavy rations there is always a tendency
for the birds' livers to become impaired in function, and ulti-
mately to become enlarged and diseased. As the matter has
been studied here it would appear that one of the chief func-
tions of green food in the ration is to counteract this tendency
of the digestive system, and especially the liver, to break down
under the strain of handling heavy laying rations over a long
period of time. It would appear that the green food given to
poultry acts primarily rather as a mild tonic than as a food in
the proper sense There seems to be very little of this tonic
effect produced from succulent non-green foods like mangolds.

The practical problem then becomes to devise a system which
shall insure a supply of green food for the birds at all seasons
of the year. The following system of rotation in the green
food supply has been in use for several years on the poultry
plant here with satisfactory results. It should be said that,
owing to the small area of ground available for the poultry

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 59

work at the Station in relation to the number of birds it is
necessary to carry, green food must be added to the ration prac-
tically throughout the year, not only for the adult fowls in the
laying houses, but also for the chicks growing on the range.

Beginning in the early fall when the pullets are put in the
laying house they are given green corn fodder cut fine in a
fodder cutter. Stalks, leaves and ears are cut together in pieces
averaging about 1-2 inch in length. The birds eat this chopped
corn fodder greedily. It is one of the best green foods for
poultry that we have yet been able to find. Its usefulness is
limited only by the season within which it is possible to get it.
The feeding of corn fodder is continued until the frost kills the
plants.

When the corn can no longer be used cabbage is fed. The
supply of this usually lasts through December. In the event
of the supply of cabbage failing before it is desirable to start
the oat sprouter* the interval is filled out by the use of man-
golds. From about January 15 to May 15 green sprouted oats
from the source of green food. From about May 15 until the
corn has grown enough to cut, fresh clover from the range is
used. During the summer the growing chicks on the range
are given rape (Dwarf Essex) and green corn fodder cut as
described above, to supplement the grass of the range, which
rather rapidly dries out and becomes worthless as a source of
green food under our conditions. The very young chicks in the
brooders are given the tops only of green sprouted oats chopped
up fine.

Dwarf Essex rape is an excellent source of green food for
poultry but it must be fed with great caution to birds which are
laying because if eaten in any considerable amounts it will
color the yolks of the eggs green with disastrous results in
the market.

THE PREPARATION OF GREEN SPROUTED OATS.

Green sprouted oats have been very widely exploited in
recent years as a green food for poultry. There are some so-
called "poultry" systems on the market which really consist of

*For description of the method of sprouting oats used at the Station
see below.

6O METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

very little else than the use of this food. The first experiments
with this material at the Maine Agricultural Experiment Sta-
tion were not satisfactory. It was found difficult to get the
oats to make a sufficiently quick growth. Experience here has
indicated that in order to make a satisfactory green food the
oats must be grown very quickly. In order to get quick growth
it is necessary to have three things : — first, warmth ; second,
plenty of moisture; and third, sunlight. After a number of
experiments to get the right combination of these three factors
the plan to be described was finally worked out and has proved
very satisfactory.

There is in connection with the poultry plant a hot water
heating system which has a 3-inch out-go pipe. This out-go pipe
as it leaves the heater passes along the rear wall of a small
room which was formerly used as a grain storage room. To
provide a place in which to sprout oats the back part of this
room was partitioned oft" as a closet inclosing the 3-inch hot
water pipe. The partition wall which forms the front of this
closet consists of glass doors, made from regular storm window
sash, hinged so as to swing open as an ordinary door does.
These glass doors face towards the south side of the building
which has a window directly in front of the doors. Through-
out the day the closet gets plenty of light. The dimensions of
this sprouting closet are as follows: —

Length 9 ft. 3 inches

Depth 2 ft. 6 inches

Height 6 ft.

The place of shelves in this closet is taken by large, square
green-house flats made of 7-8-inch stuff. These flats have the
following dimensions : —

Length 2 ft. 5 inches (inside)

Breadth 2 ft. 5 inches (inside)

Depth 2 inches (inside)

The length of the closet is such as just to accommodate three
tiers of these flats, which slide on supports so that they can be
moved in or out or turned around to suit the convenience of the
operator, and the needs of the sprouting grain. These flats set

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION.

61

62

METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

15 inches apart (i. e., vertically). There can be accommodated
four rows of flats, three in a row, in the closet at one time.
A number of holes are bored in the bottom of each one of the
flats in order to drain off the surface moisture which comes with
the wetting of the oats.

B
FIG. 14. A, empty flat. B, started to sprout.

The arrangement of the sprouting closet and the flats is
shown in Figs. 13 and 14.

The advantage of the closet arrangement described is that it
enables one to control the three necessary factors of heat, mois-

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 63

ture and light, quite completely. In this closet it is easily pos-
sible to maintain a temperature which does not run at any time
below 70 degrees. The closet being perfectly tight it is possi-
ble to saturate the air with moisture quite easily and virtually
convert the whole space into a great moist chamber. With this
arrangement one is able to grow oats from 4 to 6 inches high
in one week's time. The only difficulty with which one has to
contend is the matter of mould. There is always a tendency
for the oats to mould in the sprouting process. The only way
in which it has been found possible to control this mould is by
thoroughly cleaning the flats after each time when they are used.
After a flat has been emptied it is thoroughly scrubbed with a
50 per cent, solution of formalin (that is, equal parts of com-
mercial formalin and water). Enough formalin is used to soak
the flat well. With this precaution, and if the oats are further
made to grow rapidly, the mould does not give any trouble
whatever.

The actual method of sprouting the oats is as follows : Clean
and sound oats are soaked in water over night in a pail. The
next morning flats are filled to the depth of about two inches,
and put into the sprouting closet. At the beginning freshly
filled flats are placed near the top of the closet 'so as to get the
maximum amount of heat, and in that way get the sprouts
started at once. During the first few days, until the sprouts
have become from a half to three-quarters of an inch long, the
oats are thoroughly stirred and raked over at least two or three
times during the day. This stirring insures an even distribu-
tion of moisture throughout the mass of oats in the flat. After
the sprouts become sufficiently long so that the oats form a
matted mass it is not desirable to stir them, or to disturb them
in any way. Stirring at that time will break off and injure the
sprouts and the green portion above the mass will not grow so
well. The matter of prime importance in growing the oats
successfully has been found to be sufficient moisture. The
tendency at first is to use too little moisture. The oats should
be kept quite wet. The aim here is to keep condensed moisture
standing on the glass doors which form the front of the closet
at all times. In order to do this it is found necessary to wet
the oats three times a day. This is done with an ordinary green-
house sprinkling can, with very little expenditure of time or

64 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

labor. As the oats grow the flats are moved to different posi-
tions in the closet. The taller the green material gets the nearer
the flats are moved towards the floor, because the growing grain
then needs less heat. This procedure leaves the desirable places
in the closet for the grain just beginning to sprout where high
temperature is needed.

The oats are fed when they are from 4 to 6 inches in height.
They are fed at the rate of a piece of the matted oats and
attached green stalks about 6 to 8 inches square for each TOO
birds per day. In feeding, this 6 to 8-inch square piece is broken
into smaller pieces and scattered over the pen, so to ensure that
all the birds shall have an opportunity to get some. Fed at the
rate indicated, this material has never caused any bowel trouble
among the birds.

It should be clearly understood that the purpose for which
green sprouted oats are fed is their tonic and stimulative influ-
ence on the digestive organs. They are not .fed for the foot!
value of the oats themselves. If one wishes merely to feed
oats they can be most economically fed not sprouted. The point
of sprouting is to furnish fresh, succulent, green food during
the winter months.

HOUSING THE HENS.

When work in poultry management was first undertaken at
the University of Maine, the hens were kept in small colonies in
accord with what was at that time believed to be the best prac-
tice. Houses 10 feet square were erected with the idea of ac-
commodating about 15 birds each. Although the houses were
well warmed they were apt to be damp and lined with white
frost in very cold weather, when the windows had to be kept
shut to protect the birds from cold at night. Another disad-
vantage of this kind of house is its small size. A person can
not care for hens in such small pens without getting them into
a condition of unrest for fear of being cornered in such a small
room. The question of extra labor in caring for hens in these
small colonies scattered over quite a large area is an important
factor in a commercial plant. When the Maine Station began
experiments in 1897 a warmed house 150 feet long by 16 feet
wide was erected. This house was burned the next spring, but
was replaced by another of the same kind. This warmed

MAINE: AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 65

house, while constructed after the most approved model of the
time, was never a satisfactory house for laying hens. For some
years it was used only for the keeping of surplus stock and for
carrying cockerels over the winter. Finally it was abandoned
entirely in favor of curtain-front houses to be described be-
low.

THE ROOSTING-CLOSET HOUSE.

Fourteen years ago one of the lo-foot square houses described
above was taken for a nucleus and an addition made, so that the
reconstructed house was 10 feet wide and 25 feet long. The in-
side end of the old house was taken out, so that there is one
room with a floor space of 250 square feet. The walls are
about 5 1-2 feet high in the clear inside of the building. The
whole of the front wall is not rilled in, but a space 3 feet wide
and 15 feet long is left just under the plate. This space had a
frame covered with white drilling, hinged at the top on the
inside, so that it could be let down and buttoned during driving
storms and winter nights, but hung up out of the way at all
other times. The cloth of the outer curtain was oiled with hot
linseed oil. The roost platform extended the whole length of
the back of the room. It was 3 feet 4 inches wide and 3 feet
above the floor. The back wall and up the roof for 4 feet was
lined and the space filled and packed hard with fine hay. The
packing also extended part way across the ends of the room.

Two roosts were used, but they did not take the whole length
of the platform, a space of 4 feet at one end being reserved for
a crate where broody hens could be confined until the desire
for sitting was overcome. The space, from the front edge of
the platform up to the roof was covered by frame curtains
of drilling, similar to the one on the front wall, except that it
was not oiled. They were hinged at the top edge and kept
turned out of the way during the daytime, but from the com-
mencement of cold weather until spring they were closed down
every night after the hens went to roost. The hens were shut
in this close roosting closet and kept there during the night, and
were released as early in the morning as they could see to
scratch for grain which was sprinkled in the 8-inch deep straw
on the floor.

66 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

This building was used through five winters with 50 hens in
it. The birds laid as well as the others in the large warmed
house ; their combs were red and their plumage bright, and they
gave every evidence of perfect health and vigor. While they
were on the roosts they were warm. They came down to their
breakfasts and spent the day in the open air. Such treatment
gives vigor and snap to the human being, and it seems to work
equally well with the hen.

This house was given the name of the "pioneer" house.

THE ABANDONMENT OF THE ROOSTING CLOSET.

When the curtain-front house was first devised it was thought
essential to provide such a roosting closet as described above
to conserve the body heat of the birds during the cold nights
when the temperature might go well below zero. Experience
has shown, however, that this was a mistake. Actual test shows
that the roosting closet is of no advantage, even in such a severe
climate as that of Orono. On the contrary the birds certainly
thrive better without the roost curtain than with it. It has been
a general observation among users of the curtain front type of
house that when the roost curtains are used the birds are par-
ticularly susceptible to colds. It is not hard to understand why
this should be so. The air in a roosting closet when it is opened
in the morning is plainly bad. The fact that it is warm in no
way ofifsets physiologically the evils of its lack of oxygen and
excess of carbon dioxide, ammoniacal vapors and other exhala-
tions from the bodies of the birds.

For some time past it has been felt that the roosting closet
was at least unnecessary, if not in fact a positive evil. Conse-
quently the time of beginning to close the roost curtain in the
fall has been each year longer delayed. Finally in the fall of
1910 it was decided not to use these curtains at all during the
winter. Consequently they were taken out of the houses, or
spiked to the roof as the case might be. The winter of 1910-11
was a severe one. On several occasions the temperature
dropped to 30 degrees below zero. Yet during this winter the
mortality was exceptionally low and the egg production excep-
tionally high. The roost curtain will not again be used at this
Station.

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 67

CURTAIN- FRONT HOUSES.

The result of the use of the "pioneer" house indicated that
this was essentially a correct system of treating and housing
hens, and it was decided to build several houses on the same
plan and join them together under one roof as one house.

A curtain-front house 12 feet wide by 150 feet long, known as
house No. 2, was erected in 1903. The back wall is 5 feet 6
inches high from floor to top of plate inside, and the front wall
is 6 feet 8 inches high. The roof is of unequal span, the ridge
being 4 feet in from the front wall ; and the height of the ridge
above tht floor is 9 feet. The sills are 4 by 6 inches in size and
rest on a rough stone wall laid on the surface of the ground. A
central sill gives support to the floor. The floor timbers are 2 by 8
inches in size and are placed 2 feet apart; the floor is of two
thicknesses of hemlock boards. ' All the rest of the frame is of 2
by 4 inch stuff. The building is boarded, papered, and shingled
on roof and walls. The rear wall and 4 feet of the lower part
of the rear roof are ceiled on the inside of the studding and
plates, and the space between inner and outer walls is packed
very hard with dry sawdust. In order to make the sawdust
packing continuous between the wall and roof, the wall ceiling
is carried up to within 6 inches of the plate; then follows up
inclining pieces of studding to the rafters, the short pieces of
studding being nailed to the studs and rafters. By this arrange-
ment there are no slack places around the plate to admit cold
air. The end walls are packed in the same way. The house
is divided by close-board partitions into seven 2O-foot sec-
tions;* one lo-foot section is reserved at the lower end for a
feed-storage room.

Each of the 20- foot sections has two 12-light outside windows
screwed to the front, and the space between the windows
(which is 8 feet long) for a distance of 3 feet down from the
plate is covered during rough winter storms and cold nights
by a light frame covered with lo-ounce duck, oiled and closely
tacked on. This door, or curtain, is hinged at the top and
swings in and up to the roof when open.

*The house is now used as a breeding house, and temporary partitions
divide each of the 2O-foot pens into two lO-foot pens.

68 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

In the front of each section is a door 2 feet 6 inches wide.
The roost platform is at the back of each room and extends the
whole 20 feet. The platform is 3 feet 6 inches wide and 3 feet
above the floor. The roosts are of 2 by 3 inch stuff placed on
edge and are 10 inches above the platform. The back one is n
inches out from the wall, and the space between the two roosts
is 1 6 inches, leaving 15 inches between the front roost and the
front of the platform.

Six trap nests are placed at each end of each room. They
are put near the front so that the light may be good for reading
and recording the numbers on the leg bands of the birds.
Several shelves are put on the walls 18 inches above the floor
for shell, grit, bone, etc. The doors which open from one room
to another throughout the building are frames covered with 10-
ounce duck, so as to make them light, and are hung with double-
action spring hinges. The advantages of having all doors push
from the person passing through are very great; otherwise
they would hinder the passage of the attendant with his baskets
and pails. Strips of old rubber belting are nailed around the
studs which the doors rub against as they swing to, so as just
to catch and hold them from being opened by the wind. Tight
board partitions are used between the pens instead of wire, so
as to prevent drafts. An outside platform 4 feet wide extends
along the entire front of the building.

This house accommodates 350 hens — 50 in each 2o-foot sec-
tion— is well made of good material, and should prove to be
durable. A rougher building, with plain instead of trap nests,
and with the roof and walls covered with some of the prepared
materials instead of shingles, could be built for less money, and
would probably furnish as comfortable quarters for the birds.

Curtain front house No. 3 was constructed in 1904. It is 16
ft. wide by 120 ft. long and is of the same style as No. 2 except
that it is wider. There are four pens in the building, each 16
ft. wide by 30 ft. long. The pens are arranged to hold from 125
to 150 hens each, depending on the exigences of the experi-
mental work. One hundred and fifty birds per pen do very
well in these pens. Unless there is special reason for it, it is
usually preferred to put but 125 birds in each pen. The inter-
rior of one pen in this house is shown in Fig. 16.

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION.

70 METHODS OF POUI/TRY MANAGEMENT.

The economy in cost of the wider house over the narrower
one like No. 2 described above, when space is considered, is
evident. The front and back walls in the narrower house cost
about as much per linear foot as those in the wide house and
the greatly increased floor space is increased by building in a
strip of floor and roof running lengthwise of the building. The
walls, doors, and windows remain the same as in the narrow
house, except that the front wall is made a little higher. Three
six inch square sills run lengthwise of the house. The outer
ones rest on rough stone walls high enough from the ground for
dogs to go under the building to look after rats and skunks
that may be inclined to make their homes there. The stone
walls rest on the surface of the ground. The middle longitudi-
nal 5 in. x 6 in. timber rests on cedar posts. The floor timbers
are 2 by 6 inch in size and rest wholly on the top of the sills.
All wall studs rest on the sills. The front ones are 8 ft. long
and the back ones 7 ft. 3 in. long. The two sides of the roof
are unequal in width, the ridge being 5 ft. and 4 in. from the
front wall. The height of the ridge from the sill to the extreme
top is ii ft. and 2 in. All studding is 2 by 4 in. in size and
the rafters are 2 by 5 in. The building is boarded by I in.
boards and is papered and shingled with good cedar shingles on
walls and roof. The floor is two thicknesses of hemlock boards
which break joints in the laying and have building paper be-
tween.

The building is divided by tight board partitions into four
sections, each being 30 ft. long. All of the sections are alike
in construction and arrangement. The front side of each sec-
tion has two storm windows of 12 lights of 10 by 12 in. glass.
These windows are screwed on upright and as high up as possi-
ble on the front, so that the top of the window just clears the
eaves. The opening in the front which is closed by a cloth
curtain is 14 ft. and 6 in. long and 3 ft. high. Between
one end of this curtain opening and the window is
placed a door for the attendants to pass through into the pen.
A small door is placed under each of the windows on the
front side of the house with a runway through which the birds
may pass under the front walk into the yard. A single door in
the center of the back wall under the droppings board allows the
birds to pass out into the back yard when necessary. A light

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION.

a

72 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

frame covered with 10 ounce white duck is hinged to the top of
the front opening and covers it when closed down. This cur-
tain is easily turned up into the room, where it is caught and
held by swinging hooks until released.

The roost, platform is made tight and extends along the
whole length of the room against the back wall. It is 4 ft. 6 in.
wide and 3 ft. above the floor, being high enough for a person
to get under comfortably when necessary to handle or catch the
birds. There are 3 roosts framed together in two 15 ft. sec-
tions. The tops of the roosts are 81-2 in. above the platform
and hinged to the back wall so that they may be turned up out
of the way when the platform is being cleaned. The back
roost is 7 in. from the wall and the spaces between the next
two are 16 in. They are made of 2 by 3 in. spruce lumber on
edge with the upper corner rounded off.

In every pen there is a door placed 5 in. out from edge of
the roost platform. Fifteen trapnests are placed in three tiers
against the partition in each end of the room. The trapnests
are described in a subsequent section of this bulletin.

Troughs similar to those described on page 40 are used for
feeding mash, shell, bone, grit, and charcoal.

There is a walk outside of the building which extends along
its entire front. It is 4 ft. and 8 in. wide and made of 2 in.
planks and is on the level of the floor of the building.

Detailed working drawings and specifications for one section
or unit of this curtain front house follow. From these data
anyone can figure what the cost of building one of these houses
of any desired length at the prices of building material in his
locality.

Material needed for one unit of curtain front house :

LUMBER.

(Spruce is specified simply because that is the material actually used
in the building described. Any other equally strong lumber may be used.
Amounts are given in board feet unless otherwise specified.)
The following estimates do not allow for waste in cutting:
9 cedar posts, 6 feet long, 6-inch butts.

270 feet 2 by 4 inch spruce for studs, door, window, and coop frames.
550 feet 2 by 6 inch plank for floor joists, outside walk, etc.
370 feet 6 by 6 inch spruce for sills.
40 feet 4 by 4 inch spruce for corner studs and wall stringers.

MAINE) AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 73

70 feet 2 by 3 inch spruce for roosts, etc.
235 feet 2 by 5 inch spruce for rafters.
115 feet i by 7 inch spruce for rafter braces.

33 feet i by 9 inch spruce for doors,
loi feet i by 6 inch spruce for door braces.
3200 feet boards for outside, floor, nests, etc.

20 linear feet 2 in. x 2 in. planed to I 3-4 in. x i 3-4 in.

12 linear feet 2 in. by 3-4 in. spruce.

66 board feet i in. spruce for feed and grit trough.

35 linear feet spruce for curtain frames.

20 laths.

12,000 shingles.

ii feet boards, spruce, for roost frames.

HARDWARE.

4 pr. heavy 6 inch T hinges with screws.

4 pr. light 3 inch T hinges with screws.

2 pr. 3 by 3 inch butts with screws.
60 pr. 2 by 2 inch butts with screws.
40 Ibs. 3 penny shingle nails.
100 Ibs. 8 penny common nails.
35 Ibs. 10 penny common nails.
15 Ibs. 20 penny common nails.

2 Ibs. 3 penny common nails.

1 Ib. 3 inch staples.

2 thumb latches complete with screws.

MISCELLANEOUS.

2 storm windows, 12 lights 10 by 12 inch.

6 squares building paper.

10 feet 42 inch poultry netting.

14^ feet 42 inch lo-ounce duck.

ADVANTAGES OF CURTAIN FRONT HOUSES.

The "Pioneer House" was in use for 5 years with 60 pullets
in it each year. No. 2 house has been in use 9 years and the
No. 3 house 8 years. No. 2 and No. 3 houses have proven en-
tirely satisfactory, especially No. 3. This is the type of house
described in the present bulletin which the Station after 8 years
experience feels warranted in recommending. Some years ago
the experiment was tried of building a house on the same gen-
eral plan as that of No. 3 but making it 20 ft. wide instead of
1 6 ft. wide with the pens 20 ft. long. This house was given a
trial for a number of years on a private plant in Orono, but

74

METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 75

from all that can be learned the house was never so satisfactory
as the 1 6 ft. house at the Station, and has finally been aban-
doned.

Maine is subject to long spells of severe cold weather, with
the temperature considerably below zero at night, and about
zero during the day, and with a good deal of high wind. Dur-
ing such rough weather the bedding on the floor has kept com-
paratively dry. The yields of eggs during severe weather and
immediately following it are rarely below those immediately
preceding it. It should be borne in mind that had the weather
been mild all that time the hens probably would have in-
creased in production rather than remained stationary. They
are doubtless affected by the severe weather, but not seriously,
as they uniformily begin to increase in production very soon
after the weather becomes normal for midwinter.

These curtain front houses have all proved eminently satisfac-
tory. The egg yields per bird have been better in these houses
than in warmed ones. The purpose of having rooms and flocks
of different sizes was to compare the welfare and egg yields of
the birds under the different conditions.

THE YARDS.

The yards to most poultry houses are at the south, or on the
sheltered sides of the buildings, to afford protection during the
late fall and early spring, when cold winds are common. The
warmed house had yards on both north and south sides, with
convenient gates. This is a highly desirable arrangement since
it permits the alternate use of the two sets of runs. In this
way trouble from soil contamination may be avoided. The
south yards were used until the cold winds were over in spring,
when the hens were allowed to go to the north yards, which
were well set in grass sod. The birds are kept shut in the
curtain front house until the weather is suitable and the ground
dried out in the spring. The necessity for getting them out of
the open-front house, where they are really subject to most of
the out-of-door conditions during the daytime, is not so great as
when they are confined in closed houses with walls and glass
windows. The clear, open fronts of the curtain-front houses

76

METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 77

allow teams to pass close to the open doors of the pens for
cleaning out worn material and delivering new bedding, and
also allow attendants to enter and leave all pens from the out-
side walk and reach the feed room without passing through
intervening pens.

LICE.

One of the most difficult and trying problems which the poul-
try keeper has to meet is that of keeping his poultry houses and
stock reasonably free from lice, mites and other external para-
sites. There are many proprietary preparations on the 'market
designed to accomplish this end in one way or another. Most
of these preparations are, in proportion to their efficiency, very
expensive. Many of them have been tried at the Maine Experi-
ment Station. The Station has finally, however, come to follow
the procedure outlined in this circular to the exclusion of all
others, and with results which are extremely satisfactory. In-
deed, it may be said that vermin on the poultry or in the houses
no longer cause any appreciable annoyance in the work of the
Station plant.

The routine method which the Station uses in handling its
stock with reference to the lice problem is as follows : —

All hatching and rearing of chickens is done in incubators and
brooders. The growing chickens are never allowed to come into
any contact whatever with old hens. Therefore, when the
pullets are ready to go into the laying houses in the fall they are
free from lice. Sometime in the late summer, usually in Au-
gust or early in September, the laying houses are given a thor-
ough cleaning. They are first scraped, scoured and washed
out with water thrown on the walls and floor with as much pres-
sure as possible from a hose. They are then given two thorough
sprayings, with an interval of several days intervening, with a
solution of cresol such as is described on page 7. Then the
roosting boards, nests, floors and walls to a height of about 5
feet are thoroughly sprayed with the lice paint (kerosene oil
and crude carbolic acid). Finally, any yearling, or older birds,
whether male or female, which are to be kept over for next
year's work are given two or three successive dustings, at in-

METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

\

o

•5

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 79

tervals of several days to a week between each application, with
the lice powder described below, before they are put into the
cleaned houses.

As a result of these methods the Station's poultry plant is
at all times of the year practically free from lice.

In keeping a poultry plant reasonably free from lice there
are two points of attack : One, the birds themselves ; the other,
the houses, nest boxes, roosting boards, etc. For the birds
themselves experience has shown that the best way to get rid of
the lice is by the use of a dusting powder to be worked into
the feathers. In using any kind of lice powder on poultry it
should always be remembered that a single application of pow-
der is not sufficient. When there are lice present on a bird
there are always unhatched eggs of lice ("nits") present too.
The proper procedure is to follow up a first application of pow-
der with a second at an interval of 4 days to a week. If the
birds are badly infested at the beginning it may be necessary to
make still a third application. To clean the cracks and crevices
of the woodwork of houses and nests of lice and vermin a
liquid spray or paint is probably the most desirable form of ap-
plication.

The most efficient lice powder known to the writer is that
invented by Mr. R. C. Lawry, formerly of the Poultry Depart-
ment of Cornell University. This powder is made by incorpo-
rating the liquid mixture of

3 parts of gasoline

i part of crude carbolic acid

in sufficient plaster of paris to take up all the moisture.

Twe difficulties have arisen regarding the practical utility of
the powder as above described. In the first place a great many
druggists appear to have a deep-seated and ineradicable preju-
dice against furnishing their customers crude carbolic acid at
any price. Reports have reached the Station of druggists mak-
ing such utterly preposterous and absurd claims as that carbolic
acid is a highly explosive substance, which they do not dare to
handle! In the second place difficulty has arisen over the fact
that there are in the drug trade three grades of crude carbolic
acid. Two of these are very much weaker than the other and
are quite useless for making the lice powder. The three grades

8o

METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

•ft

j

MAINE AGRICUI/TURAI, EXPERIMENT STATION. 8l

are listed as follows by a reputable chemical house. These are
retail prices.

Acid Carbolic, Crude, per gallon 25c.

Acid Carbolic, Crude 50-60 per cent., per gallon ^oc.
Acid Carbolic, Crude 90-95 per cent., per gallon 5oc.

To get the proper results only the 90-05 per cent, should be
used for making lice powder. The weaker acids are ineffective.

Owing to the difficulty in getting the strong crude carbolic
acid locally in this State at reasonable prices, the Station has
experimented to see whether some other more readily obtainable
substance could not be substituted for it. It has been found that
cresol gives as good results as the highest grade crude carbolic.

The directions for making the powder are, therefore, modified
as follows:

Take j parts of gasoline, and

i part of crude carbolic acid, 00-05 Per cent, strength,
or, if the 00-05 per cent, strength crude carbolic acid cannot be
obtained take

3 parts of gasoline and
I part of cresol.

Mix these together and add gradually with thorough stirring,
enough plaster of paris to take up all the moisture. As a gen-
eral rule it will take about 4 quarts of plaster of paris to I quart
of the liquid. The exact amount, however, must be determined
by the condition of the powder in each case. The liquid and
dry plaster should be thoroughly mixed and stirred so that the
liquid will be uniformly distributed through the mass of plaster.
When enough plaster has been added the resulting mixture
should be a dry, pinkish brown powder having a fairly strong
carbolic odor and a rather less pronounced gasoline odor. The
powder may be passed repeatedly through a sieve to aid in the
mixing.

Do not use more plaster in mixing than is necessary to blot
up the liquid. This powder is to be worked into the feathers
of the birds affected with vermin. The bulk of the application
should be in the fluff around the vent and on the ventral side
of the body and in the fluff under the wings. Its efficiency,
which is greater than that of any other lice powder known to

82

METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 83

the writer, can be very easily demonstrated by anyone to his
own satisfaction. Take a bird that is covered with lice and ap-
ply the powder in the manner just described. After a lapse
of about a minute, shake the bird, loosening its feathers with
the fingers at the same time, over a clean piece of paper. Dead
and dying lice will drop on the paper in great numbers. Any-
one who will try this experiment will have no further doubt of
the wonderful efficiency and value of this powder.

For a spray or paint to be applied to roosting boards, nest
boxes or walls and floor of the hen houses the following prepa-
ration is used : — j parts of kerosene and I part crude carbolic
acid, 90-95 per cent, strength. This is stirred up when used
and may be applied with any of the hand spray pumps or with
a brush.

// 90-95 per cent, crude carbolic acid cannot be obtained
cresol may be substituted for it in this paint.

At the present time very little use of lice powder of any
sort is made at the Station. Instead a mercurial ointment is
employed when a bird needs individual treatment. After sev-
eral years experience we find the ointment to be more satisfac-
tory than any powder. The ointment used for this purpose is
Ammonia-ted Mercurial Ointment. This is a standard U. S. P.
preparation, but as the Pharmacopoeia calls for it to be made
with wool- fat or lanolin as a base, and as this is more expensive
than other forms of fat equally good for the present purpose we
have the druggist make up the ointment exactly as called for
by the U. S. P. except that lard is substituted for lanolin.

In using this ointment a piece about as big as a pea should be
well rubbed into the skin under the vent, and a piece of similar
size well rubbed in under each wing. In using a mercurial oint-
ment always spread it around well, so that the bird cannot eat it.

NATURAL ENEMIES OF POULTRY.

One of the chief difficulties that the poultryman has to con-
tend with is the continued loss of chicks, and sometimes even of
nearly full grown birds, as consequence of the depredations
of natural enemies. It is safe to say that the magnitude of the
loss from this source is not anything like fully realized by any
one who has not kept an accurate account of all his birds. In

84 METHODS OF POUI/TRY MANAGEMENT.

the experimental breeding work with poultry at the Maine Sta-
tion it is necessary to keep account of every bird on the plant.
It has, therefore, on this account been possible to check up and
form an adequate estimate of the losses due to the creatures
that prey upon poultry. A good deal of attention has been
devoted to the problem of how these losses may be cut down
and the results of this experience may be of benefit to other
poultry keepers.

In the experience of this Station the most destructive natural
enemy of poultry in the long run has been found to be the
crow. The depredations of the hawks are more spectacular
perhaps, but in the Jong run far less destructive. A hawk will
only visit a poultry yard occasionally, and especially if he is shot
at once or twice will be very wary about approaching it again.
On the contrary the crow is a steady and persistent robber. He
will continue his depredations just as long as it is physically
possible for him to do so. While there may be some doubt as to
whether crows are beneficial or harmful as regards other phases
of agriculture, there can be no question that, so far as the
poultry man is concerned, the only good crow is a dead one. For
a number of years the crows killed and either carried away, or
left behind partly eaten, a large number of chicks on the Station
poultry plant. The losses were not by any means confined to
the small chicks, but half grown birds, each nearly equal in
weight to the crow itself, were killed, partly eaten, and left
behind on the range.

One after another all the devices which had been suggested
by others, or could be thought of by those in charge of the
poultry work, were tried in order to stop these ravages. In a
single year the crows destroyed something over 500 chicks.
One important reason for these heavy losses is the location of
our poultry range. It borders upon a pine forest in which the
crows congregate in great numbers. In the case of a range
farther from the woods the losses, without protection, would
not be nearly so heavy. Various sorts of "scare-crows" were
tried but with no effect whatever. Dead crows were hung up
on stakes about the yards as solemn warnings to their fellows,
but instead of operating as warnings they appeared rather to
serve as "invitations to the dance." Decoying the birds in
various ways so that they might be shot was tried, but with very

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 85

slight individual success and no substantial effect on the steady
losses. Poisoning is reported to have been used with success
in other places, but has never been tried on the Station plant.
It is doubtful whether it is justifiable, save under very excep-
tional circumstances. The point is that it is difficult to manage
affairs in such way as to insure that only the crows will get
the poison. There are so many useful and valuable animals
about the farm that easily might get the poison before the crow
did, with a resulting loss greater than that caused by the crow,
that it would seem wise to resort to poisoning only when it can
be done under well controlled conditions.

The plan which has finally been adopted at the Station poul-
try plant for dealing with crows is one which is perfectly safe
and sure in its operation. It consists simply in running strands
of binder twine about two feet apart over the whole of the
poultry range occupied by the young birds, until they reach such
size that they are able to take care of themselves. These strings
are run over the tops of the brooder houses, and on supports
made by cross strands of either wire or two or three strings
of binder twine twisted together. These cross strands are held
up where necessary by posts. The whole network of strings
thus formed is put at such height that the attendants in working
about the yard, will not hit the string when standing upright.
The area covered in with strings in this way on the Station
poultry plant is usually about 3 acres per year. The expense
of covering this area is from $15 to $20 for twine. The labor
of putting it up is comparatively small. It forms a perfect and
complete protection against both crows and hawks.

The appearance of the range when covered with strings is
shown in figure 22.

Next in importance to the predaceous birds, as poultry ene-
mies, stand the rats and the foxes. In times past foxes have
destroyed many chickens from the Station's poultry plant. Of
late years, however, none has been lost. The protection is
afforded by a fox proof fence surrounding the whole plant.
Rats may become a very serious pest. They live under the
brooder houses and take the young chicks. Various methods
have been tried at the Station, but no wholly satisfactory way
of dealing with rats has yet been found. Trial was made some
years ago of one of the most widely advertised of the bacterial

86

METHODS OF POUT/TRY MANAGEMENT.

bo

o

X

in

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 87

rat destroyers, which when fed to rats is supposed to induce a
disease which kills them all. No effect whatever was observed
to follow the use of this preparation. The rats ate freely of
grain which had been moistened with it and if any disease
developed as a consequence it has not yet benefited us, or per-
ceptibly inconvenienced the rats. Digging the rats out of their
holes and shooting them is one effectual method of dealing
with them. Several good cats on the place also aid materially in
fighting this pest. A systematic trapping campaign is productive
of good results. It must however, be continued without inter-
ruption over a considerable period of time. Desultory trapping
produces little effect on the rat population. A thorough-going
campaign, however, tends to drive the uncaught rats away from
the premises.

TRAP NESTS.

In all the experimental work with laying hens at the Maine
Agricultural Experiment Station use is made of trap nests. In
1908 a new type of trap nest was devised which has proved
extremely satisfactory. The features in which this nest is
superior to the type formerly used at the Station are (i) cer-
tainty and precision of operation; (2) greater simplicity of con-
struction, with less tendency to get out of order and work
badly; (3) saving of labor in resetting the nest after use.

The nest is a box-like structure, without front, end, or cover,
28 inches long, 13 inches wide, and 16 inches deep, inside meas-
ure. A division board with a circular opening 71-2 inches in
diameter is placed across the box 12 inches from the rear end
and 15 inches from the front end. Instead of having the par-
tition between the two parts of the nest made with a circular
hole, it is possible to have simply a straight board partition
extending up 6 inches from the bottom, as shown in figure 23.
The rear section is the nest proper.

The front portion of the nest has no fixed tottom. Instead
there is a movable bottom or treadle which is hinged at the back
end (fig. 23). To this treadle is hinged the door of the nest.
The treadle is made of i-2-inch pine stuff, with I T-2-inc)i hard-
wood cleats at each end (figs. 24 and 25) to hold the screws
which fasten the hinges. It is 12 inches wide and 12 1-4 inches

88 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

long. Across its upper face just behind the hinges holding the
door is nailed a pine strip 4 inches wide, beveled on both sides,
as shown in figures 24 and 25. The door of the nest is not made
solid, but is an open frame (figs. 18 and 20), to the inner side
of which is fastened (with staples) a rectangular piece of 1-8-
inch mesh galvanized screening (dimensions 8 by 9 inches).
The sides of the door are strips of 3-4-inch beech stuff 12
inches long and I 1-2 inches wide, halved at the ends to join to
the top and bottom of the door. The top of the door is a strip
of hard wood 13 inches long and 11-2 inches wide, halved in
2 3-4 inches from each end. The projecting ends of this top
strip serve as stops for the door when it closes (fig. 23). The
bottom of the door is a hard-wood strip 10 1-4 inches by 4
inches. The side strips are fitted into the ends of this bottom
strip in such way as to project slightly (about 1-32 inch) above
the front surface of that strip, for a reason which will be ap-
parent.

When the nest is open the door extends horizontally in front,
as shown in figure 24. In this position the side strips of the
door rest on a strip of beech 11-2 inches wide, beveled on the
inner corner, which extends across the front of the nest. This
beech strip is nailed to the top of a board 4 inches wide, which
forms the front of the nest box proper. To the bottom of this
is nailed a strip 2 inches wide, into which are set two 4-inch
spikes from which the heads have been cut (compare fig. 24).
The treadle rests on these spikes when the nest is closed. The
hinges used in fastening the treadle and door are narrow 3-inch
galvanized butts with brass pins, made to work very easily. It
is necessary to use hinges which will not rust.

The manner in which the nest operates will be cleared from
an examination of figures 24 and 25 which show a sample nest
with one side removed to show the inside. A hen about to lay
steps up on the door and walks in toward the dark back of the
nest. When she passes the point where the door is hinged to
the treadle her weight on the treadle causes it to drop. This at
the same time pulls the door up behind her, as shown in figure
25. It is then impossible for the hen to get out of the nest till
the attendant lifts door and treadle and resets it. It will be seen
that the nest is extremely simple. It has no locks or triggers to
get out of order. Yet by proper balancing of door and treadle

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 89

it can be so delicately adjusted that a weight of less than half a
pound on the treadle will spring the trap. All bearing surfaces
are made of beech because of the well-known property of this

I

FIG. 23. Trap nest closed. View from above.

wood to take on a highly polished surface with wear. The nests
in use at the Maine Station have the doors of hard wood, in
order to get greater durability. Where trap nests are constantly
in use, flimsy construction is not economical in the long run.
For temporary use the nest door could be constructed of soft
wood.

The trap nests are not made with covers because they are
used in tiers and slide in and out like drawers. They can be

9O METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

carried away for cleaning when necessary. Four nests in a pen
iccommodate 20 hens by the attendant going through the pens
>nce an hour, or a little oftener, during that part of the day
when the hens are busiest. Earlier and later in the day his visits
are not so frequent. The hens must all have leg bands in order
to identify them; a number of different kinds are on the market.

FIG. 24. Trap nest open. One side removed to show method of operation.

The double box with the nest in the rear is necessary. When a
hen has laid an egg and desires to leave the nest, she steps out
into the front space and remains there until she is released.
With only one section she would be likely to crush her egg by
stepping upon it, and thus learn the pernicious habit of egg
eating.

To remove a hen, the nest is pulled part way out, and as it
has no cover she is readily caught, the number on her leg band
is noted and the proper entry made on the record sheet. After
having been taken off a few times the hens do not object to be-
ing handled, most of them remaining quiet, apparently expecting
to be picked up.

Before commencing the use of trap nests it was thought that
some hens might be irritated by the trapping operation and ob-
ject to the noise incident to it, but such does not seem to be
the case. Trap nests have been used at the Maine Station for

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 9!

Leghorns, Brahmas, Wyandottes, and Plymouth Rocks and a
number of other breeds.

The amount of time required in caring for the trap nests can
only be estimated, since the attendant's time is divided with
other duties. The time varies from one day to another and
with the number of nests in use. By noting the total time used
each day in caring for the nests when the hens were laying most
heavily, it has been estimated that one active person devoting
his entire time to trap nests could take care of 400 to 500 nests
used by 2,000 to 2,500 hens. When commencing the year's work
he would need assistance in banding the birds, but after that

FIG. 25. Trap nest closed. One side removed to show method of
operation.

was done he could care for the nests without assistance until
midsummer, when the egg yield would probably be diminished
and a part of his time could be spared for other duties.

THE VALUE, METHOD OF PRESERVATION, AND ECONOMICAL USE
OF HEN MANURE.

One of the most valuable by-products of any live-stock
industry is the manure. Its proper care and use is one of the
distinguishing features of a successful stock farm. The high
nitrogen content of poultry droppings makes them in certain

92 METHODS OF POUI/TRY MANAGEMENT.

respects the most valuable of farm manures. At the same time
this quality necessitates special treatment to preserve the nitro-
gen and utilize it economically.

According to experiments carried on at this Station some
years ago* the night droppings average 30 pounds per hen
per year.

They contain .8 pound of organic nitrogen, .5 pound of
phosphoric acid and .25 pound of potash. At the present price
of fertilizers this material would be worth about 20 cents. No
data are available on the amount of day-voided dung. Since
the hens spend less than one-half their time on the roosts, and
since more dung is voided while the birds are exercising than
when at roost, the authors estimate that during a year probably
45 pounds of dung are voided by each bird while off the roost.
Allowing that more than one-half of the fertilizing elements
of the day dung are necessarily lost, the value of the total
droppings, if properly cared for, should be at least 30 cents
per bird per year.

The poultryman or farmer who properly cares for the drop-
pings can add a neat further profit to his business. For exam-
ple the droppings from 1000 birds, if preserved without need-
less loss, will be worth at least $300.

Poultry manure contains more nitrogen than other farm
manure, because in birds the excretion of the kidneys is voided
in solid form (uric acid), with the undigested portions of the
food. This form of nitrogen is easily available to plants. Un-
fortunately, however, it is not stable. Putrifactive processes
easily change it to ammonia compounds, and unless special
care it taken of the droppings one-third to one-half of the
nitrogen passes off as ammonia gas.

The mechanical condition of poultry manure is poor. As
Storert says : "It is apt to be sticky when fresh and lumpy
when dry" On this account, if used untreated, it can only be
successfully applied to the land by hand, as it does not work
well in drills or spreaders. Hen manure used alone is very

*Woods, C. D. and Bartlett, J. M. Ann. Kept. Me. Agr. Expt. Sta.
1903, pp. 199-204.

tStorer, F. H. Agriculture in Some of its Relations with Chemistry.
Chas. Scribner's Sons, New York, 1899, Vol. i.

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 93

wasteful of nitrogen as it carries this element in too large a
proportion to its phosphorus and potassium.

In the experiments referred to above the problem undertaken
by Woods and Bartlett was the determination of a method of
treatment of hen manure which would first prevent the loss of
nitrogen; second, add sufficient phosphorus and potassium in
forms available for plant food to make a balanced fertilizer;
and third, so improve the mechanical condition of the dung that
it can be applied to the land with a manure spreader. Seven
different methods of treatment were tested. The authors give
the following summary of their results.

"By itself, hen dung is a one-sided nitrogenous fertilizer.
As usually managed, one-half or more of its nitrogen is lost,
so that as ordinarily used it does not carry so great an excess
of nitrogen. Because of its excess of nitrogen it will be much
more economically used in connection with manures carrying
phosphoric acid and potash. As both acid phosphate and kainit
prevent the loss of nitrogen, it is possible to use them in con-
nection with sawdust or some other dry material as an absorbent
(good dry loam or peat will answer nicely) so as to make a
well balanced fertilizer. For example, a mixture of 30 pounds
of hen manure, 10 pounds of sawdust, 16 pounds of acid phos-
phate, and 8 pounds of kainit would carry about .25 per cent
nitrogen, 4.5 per cent phosphoric acid, and 2 per cent potash,
which, used at the rate of 2 tons per acre, would furnish 50
pounds nitrogen, 185 pounds phosphoric acid, and 80 pounds
potash."

At the usual prices of fertilizing ingredients this mixture
is worth from $10.00 to $20.00 per ton. It is a well balanced,
stable, fertilizer which, while still not fine enough to work well
in drills, can be successfully applied with a manure spreader.

The kind of absorbent used should be the one which can
be obtained at least cost, since the amount of plant food added
by any of those suggested is negligible, and since they are about
equally effective as dryers (the slight acidity of peat gives it
some advantage as it helps a little to preserve the nitrogen).
It is probably that one of the three can be obtained by any poul-
tryman or farmer at little or no expense.

The absorbent and the acid phosphate and kainit should be
kept conveniently at hand and each day when the droppings

94 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

are collected they should be treated. It may be best to weigh
the ingredients a few times, after which it will be possible to
make sufficiently close estimates by measure.

The treated droppings should be well sheltered until time to
apply them to the land, i. e., shortly before plowing. Any form
of shelter may be used. For a temporary plant, or for a small
farm, a small wooden building or a bin in a larger building will
probably be the best place practicable; but for a large, perma-
nent poultry plant a cement manure shed or tank is advisable.
A general farmer also will find such an equipment for the
storage of all farm manure a paying investment. A portion of
this shed can be partitioned off for hen manure.

A properly constructed cement building will not have to be
constantly repaired and frequently replaced like a wooden
structure, which rots out quickly when used for the storage of
manure. The cement building is water tight, preventing the
entrance of water from without and the escape of any unab-
sorbed liquid manure. It is, in fact, a perfect permanent shel-
ter.

THE MAINE STATION MANURE SHED.

In 1912 this Station built at its poultry plant a manure shed
large enough to accommodate the droppings from one thousand
adult birds, over a period of a year, and the droppings collected
from the range where about three thousand chicks are annually
reared.

The inside measurements of this shed are 12-7 feet. It is
5 feet high at the eaves and 8 feet 2 inches to the peak of the
roof. It is illustrated in figures 58 and 59.

The droppings are thrown into the shed through trap doors
in the roof, and taken out from one end, which is of removable
plank. The other three walls, and enough of this end wall to
form the grooves which hold the ends of the planks ; the floor ;
and the foundation are formed of one continuous cement mass
(monolithic construction). The gables are board. The gable
at the open (plank) end of the shed is removable to give more
head room, when shoveling the manure into carts. It is held
in place by hooks.

It was necessary to place this building on a very heavy clay
soil which heaves badly with frost. For this reason it was

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION.

95

placed on a much deeper foundation than would be necessary in
a more favorable location. The foundation is a solid block of
cement and rock, the size of the outside measurements of the
shed and extending five feet below the surface of the ground.

It was made by using as many rocks and as little cement as
was consistent with the formation of a firm solid mass. For a
few inches near the top, however, clear cement was used and

96 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

this was smoothed off at ground level to form the floor. At the
edges of this foundation the cement was continued up into the
wall forms which were built so that the walls are ten inches
thick at the base and six at the top.

An iron bar ending in a ring was set in the cement near the
top of the wall at each corner of the building. These rings
project a few inches from the end walls. The roof is firmly
secured to the walls by bolts passing through it and through
these rings.*

As stated above the larger part of one end of the shed is
plank. The cement wall is continued on this end only far
enough from either corner to provide a place for the slot into
which the planks are slipped. This slot is formed by a groove
two inches deep and a little more than two inches wide in each
end of the cement wall. See Figs. 26 and 27. These grooves
were formed by placing angle iron posts within the board forms.

This completes the description of the cement work in the
building.

The removable end is of two inch planks which are slipped
into the above described slot in the cement wall.

The plates and rafters are of 2x4 timbers. Inch boards were
used for roof boards, gables, etc. The gable on the plank end
is removable. It is held in position by hooks and is provided
with a handle in the center.

The roof is covered with roofing paper. In one side are
two trap doors also covered with this roofing. Each of these
doors is 2 feet 4 inches x 2 feet 10 inches and fits over a frame
in the roof to which it is hinged at the top. The end of a lath
is attached by a double screweye hinge to the inside of each
door at the right edge about half way from bottom to top. The
edge of the lath is provided with notches which hook over a
nail on the inside of the door frame. When hooked this lath
holds the door open. A 2x4 strip is nailed across the inside
of each door frame a little more than half way from bottom
to top. This serves as a rest for the basket when droppings are
emptied into the shed.

This shed is placed at the end of the line of poultry houses.
The wide raised walk which extends along the entire front of

*This is an awkward and unnecessary arrangement, and was only
used through a misunderstanding on the part of the builder.

MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION.

97

the houses is continued past the shed as a 2-foot walk. Between
the last poultry house and the shed the walk is built on an
incline so that at the end of the shed it is only i foot 8 inches
from the eaves. This is a convenient height from which to
reach the doors with the baskets of droppings.

Fig. 27. A. Cross section of manure shed, showing dimensions and
plan of construction. B. Horizontal section of front, showing planks
in the grooves in the cement walls.

The Cost of the Shed.

Cement $45-6o

Gravel 20.00

Inch boards I7-5O

2x4 timber 13.00

2 in. plank i .20

Finishings 10.00

Roofing 8.00

Labor 70.00

$185.50

98 METHODS OF POULTRY MANAGEMENT.

On many large poultry plants little or nothing is received for
the manure. Probably few poultry plants save more than one-
half the fertilizing elements possible, if proper methods of
treatment and shelter were used. If the droppings are treated
by the methods described above, and are kept properly sheltered,
the saving on any large poultry farm would in i to 3 years
easily equal the cost of a permanent shed similar to the one
here described.