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This book was presented by

fnimal Industry Department
SF487
F6

9

87296

This book may be kept out TWO WEEKS
ONLY, and is subject to a fine of FIVE
CENTS a day thereafter. It is due on the
day indicated below:

30Se4^

JAN 12

1966

6M— D-45— Form 3

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2009 with funding from

NCSU Libraries

http://www.archive.org/details/millioneggfarmraOOfost

11

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MfflEomi MM

^=>Ji^^

Sanrnraa PnuUrQ iFarm

Written by Its Founder
JOEL M.FOSTER

BROWNS MILLS-IN-THE-PINES. N.J

COPYRIGHT. 1»10, BY I NTERNATfONAL POULTRY SALES COMPANY
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

JOEL M. FOSTER

THE MILLION EGO FARM

AUTHOR'S NOTE

N THE following pages I give you the record
of an actual experience; there is not a
guess, a dream, or a touch of fiction from
the first sentence to the last — it is fact,
plain unvarnished fact.

If asked why I have written the book
I may give several answers.

First: When a man has achieved a
marked success contrary to general expec-
tation he has a pardonable pride in wishing
the public to know the facts.

Second: When he is convinced that multitudes of men
now subsisting precariously on low wages may repeat his suc-
cess on similar or smaller proportions it is not a very high order
of benevolence that leads him to point out the way.

Third: As he realizes that the instinct leading thousands
of people "back to the land" and to the resources of nature is
liable to grave mistakes and bitter disappointments, par-
ticularly when much of the guidance offered is based upon
untested theories and guesses, he feels that he is only acting in
the interests of common humanity in furnishing the absolutely
reliable information which his own experience has supplied.

Fourth: Political economy teaches that the well-being of
the nation rests primarily upon the products of the soil and
that unless all forms of farming are placed upon a scientific
basis we are surely courting a widespread and terrible dis-
aster. This I also believe; and having demonstrated that
poultry farming by scientific and business-like methods may
be made profitable to the investor as well as a contribution to

to. H. HILL LIBRARY

North Carolina State College

87296

THE MILLION EGG FARM

the common good, I hold it to be my duty to tell honestly and
clearly all I know on the subject.

It is therefore my sincere hope that the story of the Ran-
cocas Poultry Farm may furnish courage and guidance to the
many who are seeking light on the subject treated. Perhaps
it may be well to say that the recent development of my per-
sonal venture into an incorporated company does not in any
way affect the facts recorded in the book. The amazing suc-
cess of my individual experiment suggested the step. Any
man, by natural progression, can go as far and much further
than I have gone without drawing upon any other resources
than his own and the annual increment of his stock and equip-
ment. Having withheld no principle or essential detail in
telling my story, I am confident that any one with intelligence,
perseverance, care, and capacity for work can realize the
measure of success for which he plans.

Yours sincerely,

THE MILLION EGG FARM

FOREWORD

"There's
Money in
Chickens"

HE success of the Rancocas Poultry Farm is
attracting national attention. A farm that
produces 1,000,000 eggs a year from an
investment of $100,000 and earns 19 per
cent, profit is worthy of consideration.

There is nothing of mystery or miracle
about it. In the first place there was the
simple idea, common to almost every man,
woman, and child in the United States,
that "There's money in chickens." It is,

in the last resort, the knowledge, the

common sense, the concentration, the gray

matter in the skull, the energy — in short,

the personality of the man behind the

hen, that makes her a mint, turning grain and water into

eggs, and eggs into profit.

It is not inspiration, but perspiration, that counts. No

one can hope to succeed in the chicken business without work.
It is obvious that the success of a poultry farm, be it large

or small, should carry valuable knowledge to those who are

wise enough to profit by the lessons of .

1j6SSOI1iS Ol

its experiments and experiences. The u^^ j^, Youn^
man who feels the hen fever in his veins . ^j ,

is in a good way to acquire the science
and art of poultry production. And if he is willing to study
the experiences of others he can succeed quickly. The success-
ful chicken farmer is an enthusiast; he imparts his spirit to
others and infects his coworkers with a healthy form of
chicken pox. It is easy to learn from him, to work with,

THE MILLION EGG FARM

him, and to turn his hopes and plans into reaHties — dividend-
paying actuaHties.

This description of the MILLION EGG FARM will be,
therefore, of dollars and cents value to the man already in
the business as well as to the beginner; giving the one a
knowledge of scientific principles and the other a help to
discriminate between wise and foolish methods.

Many poultry and egg farms have been described in print

during the last decade, but, unfortunately, the statements

and claims relative to methods and profits

Misleading published in these books are usually unsub-

Inf ormation g^^ntiated and often misleading to all except

the most critical or experienced poultry men. The valuable

knowledge so eagerly sought for by the thousands interested

in profitable poultry culture is also lacking in these books.

It is the object of the MILLION EGG FARM book to give

unadorned, verified, and complete facts about the Rancocas

Poultry Farm. No attempt is made to tell

Lixperience ^^ practices other than those tested upon

is Wisdom ^^^.^ p^^j-^-^ j^ describes as briefly as

possible what the Rancocas Poultry Farm has done, what it

is doing — and why and how. There are no secrets withheld

and no mere theories advanced — just the plain, profitable

processes evolved from years of study and experiment in the

poultry business.

The products of a poultry farm are in so great demand

that there can be among producers no competition worthy of

the term. The competition is that of the

Consumers consumers ; namely, to get the best chickens

^^^ and eggs. If conditions were likely to be

Competitors reversed, the International Poultry Sales

Company would be short sighted in publishing this book.

Several volumes of this size could be filled with description

and pictures relating to the plant and to general egg farming,

without exhausting the subject. The Rancocas Poultry Farm

is still in the days of its youth and the record of its origin and

THE MILLION KGG FARM

successful growth is a prophecy of its future. The 20,000
layers on the Farm will be increased to 30,000, and there
is no reason why this system could not be extended indefinitely.
Without reservation I tell herein how I made my first
attempt to deal with poultry and lost

money; how and why I chose the present

, ,. J 1 ( ■ r Kancocas

location, and general egg tarmmg tor my

specialty; and why the single-comb white

Leghorn breed of fowls is used, together with the methods

of selection and mating.

Details of the now famous " Rancocas Unit" laying houses
and the care of feeding the laying hens are given elaborately.
The simplicity and success of these operations are the admi-
ration of the poultry world. This is the vital department
of the plant, for from it comes the eggs. If it is operated
wisely, eggs are produced at a cost below market prices and
at a time when prices are highest. For the highest profit
there must be rapid maturity of pullets, quick and early
molting of hens, and high-pressure feeding for eggs. The
hen that lays all her eggs in 3 years gives $5 more profit
than the hen that takes 5 years to do her life's work.

There is no single grain that contains all the necessary food
elements in the right proportion, so the hen must be given a
balanced ration. The Israelites rebelled when required to

make bricks without straw, and the hen r^t

Ine
refuses to lay eggs without the proper Balanced
nourishment. Any one can get eggs in »j,fj„n
warm weather, just as any one can get ice
in freezing weather. To reverse the process, doing something
every one does not do, brings the largest and surest profit.

The incubator basement, the largest in the world, and the
brooder systems are described and illustrated alike in their
arrangement and operation. These two departments of the
Farm are scarcely less vital to its welfare than the laying
department just mentioned, for they renew and improve the
stock-in-trade of the Farm.

THE MILLION EGG FARM

Poor conditions and careless operations would bring

disaster with lightning-like speed.

The advice to beginners able to invest limited sums of

. J . > money in the chicken business, was
Advice to -^ _

B,. worked out carefully and particularly for

eginners , . , t i ^ ,

this volume. it is based on the experi-
ence and growth of the Rancocas Farm, and not upon
theories.

THE MILLION BGG FARM

CHAPTER I

Early Experiences of Joel M. Foster,
Founder and President

T IS fitting to include in the descriptive
history of any business an outHne of the
experiences undergone by the man respon-
sible for its development. Knowledge bom
of experience, together j^^ Start
with aptness, constitute
the chief equipment of "The man behind
the hen" on the Rancocas Poultry Farm.
Ability for large undertakings, combined
with the "chicken instinct," make pos-
sible a poultry farm as successful as the Rancocas.

Starting in the poultry business, at Mt. Royal, N. J., I
rented for $300 a year a chicken farm that had been abandoned
as a failure. This was in March, 1904.

I was not actuated by the idea of improving my health
(the commonly ascribed motive), but solely by a desire to
earn a good living in the line of employment most congenial
to me. From the view-point of health, however, it may be
here stated that poultry raising is one of the most beneficial
forms of employment. Nothing is more healthful and
exhilarating than outdoor life, moderate exercise, and
enthusiasm in a given work. Poultry farming affords these
in abundance to its successful followers.

The beginning at Mt. Royal was made with 100 adult
chickens. The farm was equipped with a brooder house

THE MILLION EGG FARM

100 feet long, and two laying houses divided into pens,
each 75 feet in length. To grow and profitably market
broilers and capons was the prime object of this under-
taking. A promising market was quite accessible to
the farm.

At the end of the first season 4,000 birds had been marketed
^ at a money loss of $680. But against

w_ , , this must be credited the household and

Hundred , r i- i j

p,, . , , personal expenses of my family and

m*^ T» 1 myself. No money was paid in wages,
Mt. Royal ^ ^ , . u j t

for no help was hired, as i was away

from the farm only a few hours during the entire year.

Although a little daunted by the meagre profits, I did not
abandon the effort to raise broilers and capons. By January
the twenty-sixth, of the next year, I had 1,400 birds in the
brooder house when the structure and its contents went
.|l . up in flames. Three weeks later a new

^ 1 brooder house was completed and by the
first of March was stocked with chickens.
Taking a new grip upon the situation, I determined to force
the season to a profitable conclusion; but Fate again inter-
fered.

I awoke one morning to discover that more than 700 of the
birds were dead. The cause was "rats, " the farm being near
the wharf, an infested manure-disposal place. The remain-
ing chicks were carried into the dwelling house and placed in
the kitchen, the sitting room, and even the parlor, there to
remain until a cement floor could be laid in the brooder house.
As may be surmised, the second season closed with a heavy
financial loss.

Again the situation was scrutinized, this time in the light

of two years of sad experience. The result of taking thought

C if fi ^^^ ^ resolution to abandon the poultry

Yy. business unless it afforded something more

profitable than raising broilers. I therefore

packed my grip and spent several weeks among the most

10

THE MILLION EGG FARM

successful chicken farms in the eastern United States, study-
ing the experiences of others and the general possibilities
of the business.

The one outstanding, unmistakable fact which I learned
was that the profitable poultry plants were concentrating
upon the egg -producing branch of poultry farming. I
returned home determined to make that my specialty.

I had then to face the problems of how to start anew, what
breed of fowls to cultivate, and where to locate. The fol-
lowing pages tell how these difficulties have been overcome
and a tremendous success achieved.

11

f-

The Egg Machine (Note the Rooster Fhrtmgj
12

INSERT FOLDOUT HERE

THE MILLION EGG FARM

CHAPTER II

Sin^le-Comb White Leghorns and
the Rancocas Strain

ROWN'S MILLS In-the-Pines, N. J., was
selected as the most desirable site for my
second experiment, because of its accessi-
bility to the large food pj^^i^i^^

markets and because of o..

11- 1 ^ 3ite

its soil and climatic ad-
vantages. It is located on the Amboy Divi-
sion of the Pennsylvania Railroad, one hour
from Philadelphia, and three hours from
New York, in which two cities the highest
prices are paid for fresh eggs.

The farm occupies valuable land touching on either side
upon much-traveled roads, and is but ten minutes walk
from the railroad station.

The tract first purchased embraced about 140 acres;
110 acres of adjoining land have since been bought, and a
temporary lease made for an additional 35 acres and
several buildings nearby.

It may be said at this point, in anticipation of a lengthier
description to follow, that there are thirty-six laying houses
on the farm, containing 20,000 single-comb white Leghorn
chickens.

If these houses were placed end to end they would make
a building nearly two-thirds of a mile long.

13

THE MILLION EGG FARM

The incubator basement under the executive building is

furnished with 250 machines that have a r-,, ^; , ,,
,1 r ,^r>^^,^ *he World s

combined capacity or over 100,000 eggs i ft *

every 21 days. This is the largest incuba- ^ u x

^ .. , ,, ^ Incubator

tor capacitv m the world. ^ ..

" C-<apacity

The hot-water-heated brooder house is

360 feet in length and mothers at one time 20,000 chicks.
Beside this brooder house there is still another and larger
brooding system which cares for 30,000 additional chicks.

It requires three miles of underground piping to carry water
to the flocks of chickens and there are 00,000 square feet of
concrete flooring in the laying houses alone. The runs, or
yards, are enclosed with wire netting to the extent of six miles.
Hundreds of tons of feed and thousands of egg crates are used
annually. The output more than justifies such an elaborate
equipment. 500,000 market eggs, 59,380 jii r% f *
day-old chicks, 92,210 hatching eggs, 5,000 r iqrjq
broilers, besides pullets, cockerels, fancy
stock, etc. were sold during the season of 1909 from 7,000 lay-
ers. Every separate product is guaranteed to be of the
highest quality.

Beside the land and buildings occupied by poultry there
are sixty acres of ground under cultivation, upon which is
grown such necessary green food as clover, mangel-wurzels,
and rutabagas.

We now come to a main feature of the farm's equipment.

It is stocked exclusively with single-comb white Leghorn

chickens. To this fact alone is due much rru c- ji

of the farm s success, as the white Leg- ^ • ia/u-*
, , , , . , , Comb White

horn is the best laying hen yet developed. » ,i

If any other breed of fowl were more prof-
itable for egg producing it would immediately replace the
Leghorn. It is not sentimental preference, but the net
yield of money per hen that counts.

To keep two breeds of fowls for eggs, supposing there was
another breed almost as good in every way, would necessitate

16

THE MILLION EGG FARM

two standards of management, entail greater expense in oper-
ation, and cause confusion in the quality of eggs produced.

The Leghorn fowl is classed as Mediterranean in opposition
to the Asiatic and American varieties. It is one of the first
breeds of which we have any knowledge and is supposed to
have originated in Italy. Besides the * p i
single-comb white Leghorn fowl, there are p j^ i
black, brown, and buff Leghorns, smaller
in size. But the white Leghorn has proved in many con-
tests that it is naturally superior to all other breeds in pro-
ducing eggs profitably. Eighty per cent, of the large com-
mercial poultry farms in the United States are stocked with
single-comb white Leghorn hens.

This fowl easily adapts itself to changes of climate and sur-
roundings, prospering alike in confinement or on free range.
The quantity of food required to keep three Leghorn fowls
would only be enough for two of the Asiatic or American
breeds, for the cost of feeding is in proportion to the weight.
Not only is the white Leghorn of the most prolific egg type,
but it is beautiful in appearance. It has a rather long head;
prominent and jewel-like eyes; a strong, golden-yellow beak,
nicely curved; and large, brilliant red wattles and comb. Its

back is long and graceful. The tail is car- w. ni. • i
1 r , ■, ^, "S Physical

ried at an angle of thirty degrees. The |> .

body is prominent at the breast and wide
between the thighs, providing ample room for the digestive
and egg organs. In demeanor it is alert and buoyant; in
movements, light and swift. It is quick to mature, produces
white-shelled eggs, and is a non-setter. From an artistic
point of view, the snow-white plumage and red combs of a
flock of these chickens in the dappled sunshine of the pines
make a superb scene. The beauty, symmetry, and shapeli-
ness of the birds as individuals and in the mass, charm and
delight the beholder. All these qualities are evidence that
the Rancocas Leghorn is healthful, sturdy, and prolific — an
animal machine built to lay eggs.

17

18

THE MILLION EGG FARM

By the practical poultry man there is nothinj^ more eagerly
sought than a continuous egg-laying strain. Production through
three or four years gives fair proof that a certain hen has vital-
ity, needing only reasonable care to be kept in good health.

The Rancocas strain of Leghorns comes from cultivating
intensely, through many generations, the inherent tendencies
of the breed. There is a great difference between families of
the same breed. In crossing this strain I started by placing
an order for 20,000 hatching eggs with one of the largest white
Leghorn farms in the eastern United States. But of the first
2,000 eggs delivered on this order, 1,200
proved to be infertile. Further delivery
from this farm was stopped, investigation ^Experiments
revealing that the eggs were from trap-nested hens. The use
of trap nests would not necessarily have been harmful if proper
care had been exercised ; but in this case one man had tried to
operate the nests for 4,000 hens, with the consequence that the
hens were not released from the nests from the time of the first
egg collection in the morning until the second egg collection at
night. This prevented the hens from associating with the
males. This farm subsequently failed.

Another large farm then received an order for white Leghorn
eggs. Of the 10,000 incubated only forty-five per cent,
hatched. The incubators had been previously operated with
much better success, so I concluded that the eggs were again
at fault. Close observation showed their life germs to be
weak ; and further inquiry led to the discovery that they were
laid by pullets — not the class of eggs a trustworthy farm
should sell for hatching.

In order to obtain sufficient birds that year to make the
Rancocas Poultry Farm the size desired,
a further search was made for hatching *"C iiuest
eggs. Eventually I secured several thou- ^^ Hatching
sand from two large poultry plants, these '^ses
third and fourth lots hatching over sixty per cent, of live
and healthy chicks.

20

THE MILLION EGG FARM

The Rancocas Poultry Farm started then with flocks of
single-comb white Leghorn fowls made up from these four
distinct strains.

By observation, analysis, and experiment the qualities
which needed strengthening in these flocks were discovered
and developed. Superior adult Leghorn males from other
strains were introduced, to breed size and strength where
needed. Chickens are among the most plastic forms of animal
life and can be easily influenced in their physical appearance
and organic capacities.

The photographs in this chapter picture, more vividly than
words, the general appearance of the Rancocas strain of single-
comb white Leghorn cocks and pullets. A
brassy bird is segregated at once and ship-
ped to market as soon as practicable. Many i i> i
cocks are brought to such perfection on the wr. ,t
Rancocas Poultry Farm that they are
eagerly sought by breeders of fancy and utility stock. It is
the male bird that usually transmits color, and most strongly
influences the shape of its progeny. This fact is used to the
fullest extent, but is never carried to such lengths that it
lowers the general vitality of the stock.

As a fair example of how carefully the individuals of the
flocks are selected, last year's practice is here described.
From 4,000 cockerels brought to broiler size, 1,500 were kept
as being the most desirable in weight and appearance. A
little later a second selection reduced the 1,500 to 1,000. This
flock was held under close scrutiny until the individuals
weighed two and a half pounds when a final rigid selection
brought it down to 500 birds — only one out of eight surviving
the tests. Scientific and practical considerations governed
these selections so that the 500 represented
the acme of animal beauty and vigor — ^
almost perfection in shape, color, and comb.
Besides selecting in this manner from my own flocks, it is
no secret that I buy a few male birds each year, regardless

21

THE MILLION KGG FARM

of price. One-sixth of the cockerels kept on the farm are birds
that have been hatched and raised from Rancocas eggs on
other farms.

This is a precautionary means of insuring the best possible
breeding stock, as it is thought that change of climate and
environment may be beneficial to the cockerels. These for-
eign males are mated with Rancocas hens in order to introduce
new blood and prevent any chance of inbreeding.

All the female birds associated with foreign males this year

will be killed and marketed. All pullets from eggs hatched

. from these matings will also be marketed,

only the male birds being kept. In this

way inbreeding is made impossible. And
inbreeding , . , ^ u

^ only eggs from yearhng or two-year-old

hens are used or sold for hatching.

The present Rancocas strain of single-comb white Leghorns
has been developed by the practical application of Darwin's
theories of selection and the survival of the fittest. The work
of selection and culling goes on year after year, for eternal
vigilance is the price of high quality. Even beyond the tests
for beauty and vigor I segregate all pullets and eliminate all
those not up to the Rancocas egg-laying standard.

22

THE MILLION EGG FARM

CHAPTER III

Why General E^^ Farming is the

Most Profitable Department

of Poultry Farming

Four

Sources

Profit

of

HE Rancocas Poultry Farm devotes its
efforts chiefly to general egg farming, rather
than to producing poultry meat. There are
several reasons for this specialization, the
chief one being that it has proved the most
profitable department of poultry farming.
In the first place, there are four sources of
profit : marketing eggs all
the year; selected hatch-
ing eggs that bring still
higher prices; the baby chicks; and an
unusual occurrence of fancy fowls.

The value of eggs each year in the United States is many
millions of dollars greater than the value of poultry meat.
About a billion eggs are consumed in New York City annually ;
but so few of them are of premium quality that those people
who will have fresh eggs must pay a premium of from 5 to
20 cents more per dozen. To take advantage of this great
opportunity is the business of the Rancocas Poultry Farm.
Competition for the premium egg trade is a p^ , , »|

negligible matter for the average farmer, . _ ,

aX u u ■ .u i • \u ^ in Demand

although he is the man producmg the great

bulk of market eggs. He does not take the trouble to raise
proper fowls and give them the special care and feeding

23

mmm

24

THE MILLION EGG FARM

necessary to make them produce a premium quality of eggs.
The demand for eggs is far ahead of the supply. There is
no chance of a low-price era.

The man raising broilers or roasters gets no profit other than
the meat profit. The Rancocas Poultry Farm gets a share
of the meat profit finally, but first it sells 400 to 500 eggs from
each hen. Keeping hens after they have reached the pullet
size requires only the comparatively small extra investment
for laying houses; and each hen will pay a profit of $2.78 a
year, over the cost of feeding This is many times more than
could be made from chickens at the broiler age. In growing
chickens for capons, the cockerels usually are about half of
the hatch and a profit of $1.00 on each would be good.

Almost all risk in the poultry business comes before the
chicken reaches the broiler age. The broiler plant has its
losses concentrated within the few weeks
of a broiler's life, with the result that these
losses amount to a greater percentage of the
gross income from the bird than they would if it was allowed
to live three or four years. There is no income from eggs.

In farming for eggs the hatching can be done in the breed-
ing season, when conditions are most favorable. The grower
of poultry meat has to hatch eggs and care for young stock
the year round — when Nature is with him and when Nature
is against him. If the breeding hen is molting, or is low in
vitality, the chicks from her eggs will be weak. Out of season
not more than 50 per cent, of the eggs are likely to be fertile.

In egg farming there is a great economy in feeding if, as at

the Rancocas Poultry Farm, white Leghorn fowls are used.

It costs less to bring to adult size and to

maintain a small hen than to provide for a- A

a larger one. The Rancocas white Leghorn ^
,.,,^. J, ,., Kancocas

hen weighs about lour pounds at maturity „

and produces eggs as large as those of any

breed. The size, shape, and color of eggs are decided by

Nature, regardless of the size and color of the hen.

25

O. H. HILL LIBRARY

North Carolina State Co'I-p-

26

THE MILLION EGG FARM

Besides market eggs to sell at fancy prices, the general egg
farmer with a noted strain of birds has unlimited oppor-
tunities to dispose of hatching eggs and day-old chicks in
season. These can be produced cheaply and sold at high
prices.

The fourth advantage held by the general egg farmer with
a successful line of birds comes through the natural occurrence
of exceptionally well-pointed fowls that are eagerly snapped
up by the fanciers and breeders. A great
many are sold from this farm, for which ^^"^^ Fowls
we get as much as $5 for a hen and $70 for a cock. A
sufficient number of the best are kept, however, to maintain
our standard.

There is no department of poultry culture which offers bet-
ter chances for money making and fewer chances of failure
than general egg farming. Failures in it are due to similar
causes as in other departments of the business, but the oppor-
tunities for success are more numerous. Intelligent care and
proper equipment are necessary to a successful chicken busi-
ness. Birds are intensely nervous by nature and easily
affected for good or ill. Their blood circulates faster, they
breathe more rapidly, their bodily temper-
ature is higher, they assimilate more food ^^^^ ^'*"
and increase in weight proportionatev *^^"iP™dt
faster than almost any other form of animal Essential
life. Whether they are kept at a profit or kept at a loss may
depend upon a seemingly inconsequential act or omission in
their care.

If a good strain of birds is lacking, if equipment is inade-
quate, if intelligence is absent, if management is slack, the
chicken business, like any other business so managed, will go
to wreck.

27

28

THE MILLION KGG FARM

CHAPTER IV

Five Hundred Birds, the Famous
"Rancocas Unit"

Its Origin

HEN the first experiments with laying houses
were made on the Rancocas Poultry Farm
the birds had been running in flocks of 15
to each colony. Flocks of 100 birds were
tried with gratifying re-
sults in increased vitality
of stock, increased production and fertility
of eggs, and a considerable saving in labor.
After further experiments the Farm adopted
the plan of housing, yarding, and feeding
500 chickens together. This plan operated with equal
success, and has been adhered to. All the adult birds are
now kept in flocks of 500 or more, requiring only 36 laying
houses — or units.

Already the news of the success has spread abroad, and this
arrangement is now generally known to the poultry world as
the "Rancocas Unit."

The advantage of the plan over that of smaller flocks is,
first, the economy of labor. With these 20,000 birds in
flocks of 15, there would be 1,300 units scattered over a large
area, instead of 36 units, thus greatly increasing expenses
without any corresponding increase in income. The original
small colony plan had also the disadvantage of costing more
for housing, and of taking more space for suitable yards.
Again, when kept in larger flocks, the fowls seem to be

29

30

THE MILLION KGG FARM

tamer, less fearful of being cornered, and not so prone to
fight. These features make for a greater production of
eggs and for a higher percentage of fertility.

Xo hen is entirely unpopular; and all *"^''^ **
live in peace, getting plenty of food, exer- Z-f^^^ *"

cise, rest, and room. Flock and—

The Rancocas Poultry Farm is proud of * '^"^'y
the fact that it was the original plant to adopt the " Unit of
500" plan and thus demonstrate that it pays to concentrate.

We shall now proceed to describe in a general way the
construction of laying houses on the Rancocas Poultry Farm.
Here will be found detailed working plans, specifications,
and estimates hitherto unpublished. From this data anv one
may figure the cost of building one of these houses at the
prices of building material current in his locality.

All the 36 laying houses on this Farm face toward the
south in order that they may receive the
maximum amount of warm sunshine in y^S

winter. They occupy 75 acres of the ouses
highest land on the Farm.

Each house is surrounded by about H acres of yard beauti-
fully shaded by pine, oak, and maple trees. A trough and
hydrant for running water are in each yard near the house.
The yards are fenced with 2-inch mesh wire poultry netting,
6 feet high. The chickens seldom fly over this fence, as all
their needs are cared for inside. The fence posts, placed
15 feet apart, are of cedar. One and one-half acres of
yard makes practically a free range, without permitting
the birds to wander far or steal nesting places. The yards
are approximately square, with the houses as near the
center of each as is practicable. All the laying houses,
excepting those used for experiment, are uniform in con-
struction. A description of but one standard house, there-
fore, will be given here.

The standard Rancocas laying house is 100 feet long and
14 feet wide. It is 9 feet 5 inches high in front, with a back

31

32

THE MILLION EGG FARM

height of 4 feet 5 inches. The carrying capacity of a house of
these dimensions is 40 per cent, greater than if the width were
reduced to 10 feet; and this greater capac-
ity is secured by merely building additional
floor and roof. The ceiling is of a height
sufficient to permit the operator to do his ^

work easily and without bumping his
head. A higher ceiling would be more
expensive to build and would also make the house colder in
winter. The house with a low ceiling is kept warm enough in
winter by the natural heat from the birds. The cubical
capacity of a house of this size affords air enough for 1,500
fowls without becoming poisonous with carbon dioxide.

The floor space available, including the roosting platform
and the nests, affords each fowl over 3^ square feet of room
in the house. Many writers in dealing
with this feature of laying houses say the
white Leghorn fowls do not need as much
space as heavier breeds. But Leghorns make up for their
smaller size by greater activity.

The foundation of the standard laying house is made of
concrete, 6 inches wide, set in a bed of gravel. It is deep
enough to be below the frost line and high enough to prevent
surface water from entering the house. The floor is concrete,
2^ inches deep, laid over two-ply tar roofing paper and gravel.
The sills are fastened to f-inch bolts, 12 inches long, set in
concrete foundation. The frame is of hemlock and short-
leaf pine. The sills and rafters are of 2" X 4'' studs. The
single-pitch roof is sheathed with yellow pine and covered
with felt roofing paper, pitch, and slag. Shingle roofs gather
frost on the inside in winter. The single-
pitch roof is the easiest to build and gives u » f

the highest vertical front exposed to the
sun's rays. Also, it throws all the rain water to the rear.
The doors and roosts are also 3^ellow pine. The 72 nest boxes
are made of white pine, as this wood is easily scraped and

33

THE MILLION EGG FARM

cleaned. The sidings are of cedar or pine, backed on the
north side with two-ply tar-rooting paper to keep out drafts
of air. Inside of the back wall, between it and the roosting
platform, is an enclosed air space that makes the house more
equable in tem])erature.

These special kinds of wood are used because they are easily
procured and are best adapted to the purpose. Eleven of the
window sashes contain glass panes; the remaining ten are
filled with plain muslin cloth, and swing inward on hinges.

With this congenial and healthful environment the hens
are content and busy. They eat, drink, scratch, lay eggs,
cackle, and sleep naturally — which means happily.

A laying house constructed in this manner is absolutely
dry, yet is simple, convenient, permanent, and reasonable in
cost. It is well lighted, well ventilated,
without drafts, roomy, and serviceable.
Including all material, work of construc-
tion, piping for water, and fencing, the cotal
cost is about $500. As the house will last 30 years, the cost
per fowl ($1) makes the housing expenses but 3^- cents per
head a year. Beside the construction and economy, there is
a more important saving in the matter of labor to care for the
house. None of the operators on this farm cares for less than
five houses. In fact, there is one man who operates seven
houses, caring for about 4,000 chickens. This includes
cleaning, feeding, and watering, collecting eggs, and general
oversight.

If the houses were less simply constructed and equipped
one man would have all he could do to look after two of them.
Economy of construction, convenience in management, com-
fort and cleanliness for the chickens, with protection against
natural enemies, are striven for, and secured to a remarkable
degree, on the Rancocas Poultry Farm.

Plenty of fresh air, without drafts, gives vigor and snap to
the human being; and it seems to work equally well with the
hen. This is why laying houses on the Rancocas Poultry

35

36

THE MILLION EGG FARM

Farm are equipped with many muslin windows ; they permit
fresh air to enter at all times, keeping the house clean-scented
and pure during severe weather when the
other windows are closed. In mild, or
warm, weather all the windows are kept
open constantly, except at night.

Inside of each glass window, wire netting is stretched
across the lower half of the frame. The upper half of each
glass window is stationary, only the lower part sliding open.
With the muslin windows, the wire netting is fastened on the
outside. In the case of the two muslin windows next to the
ends and the one in the middle, the netting is tacked directly
to them and they are so arranged as to be easily removed
altogether. This facilitates the removal of dirt when cleaning
the houses. Without fresh air coming into the houses con-
stantly they would be damp, depressing, and disease breeding,
with consequences to the fowls of colds, sniffles, and roup;
and trouble and loss to the Farm.

Like every other problem on the Rancocas Poultry Farm,
that of how much muslin wdndow space and how much glass
window space to use in the laying houses was carefully worked
out by tests. Two houses were built, one w^ith nine small
glass windows and twelve large muslin *• ^

windows, the other with twelve large glass
windows and nine small muslin-covered
openings. The accurate record of a winter's
experiment showed that the house with more glass windows
was on an average two per cent, warmer in temperature
than the other, but more liable to variation by reason of
greater humidity in the confined air and the condensation
of moisture on the w^indows.

The house with the fewer glass windows was dryer but
did not receive sufficient light during dark and snowy days to
encourage the fowls to scratch for their food and thus get
necessary exercise. Too much glass makes a house cold at
nis:ht in the winter months and warm in the summer. The

38

THE MILLION KGG FARM

windows, being placed high and vertical, permit the sunlight
to reach the back of the house.

From these experiments originated the present standard
equipment of 11 glass windows and 10 muslin windows.

The muslin windows are above the level of the perches,
so the fresh air coming through them circulates above the
heads of the fowls at all times. Artiticial heating is unneces-
sary and undesirable, as the fowls are healthier without it.
With the amount of cold air controlled by the muslin window
space, the combs of fowls are not frozen in zero weather.

In the literature of poultry raising much has been said for
and against cement floors. At this Farm study and experi-
ment were again resorted to. Before
cement floors were adopted, there de-
veloped in two flocks bad cases of roup,
caused by dampness. To keep the disease from spreading,
and to be certain of not breeding from these fowls, all of
them were killed.

Then cement floors were laid in the houses to make them

dry. Since that time numerous other considerations have

strengthened the Farm in its adherence to cement floors.

For instance, by chemical analysis, it is known that when

3^ feet of floor space is given a bird in a house with only

an earth floor, the soil becomes contam-

inated to a depth of 15 inches in a vear.

rr, ,1 , ., J^ . of Concrete

io remove and replace so much sou twice

in a year — and even then one cannot be sure that all the
contamination from droppings has been removed — is more
expensive than to build a permanent concrete floor. Besides
protection from dampness and avoidance of annual expense
to replace an earth floor, cement floors are very durable and
prevent rats from tunneling into the building and stealing
feed, eggs, and fowls.

During the summer months the concrete floor is covered
with \h inches of sand. This is newly spread when the winter
litter is removed in March. The sand tends to absorb anv

39

40

cu

m

a

w

M

b

41

42

Plrft/I -AMD E-LEVATIO/I

JiO: 3 Cm/ * MOO

,Elevation and Floor Plan of Feeding and Mixing House

43

Pi

□

D

HI \"\\f^

-;iB

44

THE MILLION EGG FARM

moisture floating in the air; prevents the birds from getting
"bumble" feet; and keeps the house in a sanitary and whole-
some condition. In the fall, when the birds are through
molting, this sand is replaced with fresh sand and covered
with straw— sheaves cut into halves and left for the birds
gradually to break up. An inch or two of new straw is added
occasionally to freshen the litter, until by January it is 6
inches deep. On days when the fowls are kept in, the sand
and straw afford excellent material for the hens to scratch
and wallow in.

45

THE MILLION EGG FARM

CHAPTER V

Relating to Nests, Roosts, Mites,
And Disinfecting

HE nests with which the laying house is
equipped are in long rows under the
windows. This economizes room and
facilitates the gathering of eggs. It is
asserted by many that hens' nests should
be kept dark, not to increase egg produc-
tion, but to prevent egg eating. With all
the hundreds of light and open nests on
this Farm, the first case of egg eating has
yet to be discovered. The secret is that
in our system of feeding and care, the hens do not lack
protein, lime, or gluten; therefore, they are not driven to
egg eating to satisfy natural desire for such food elements.
Were egg eating natural, the priority of the hen or the egg
would indeed be an enigma.

On the basis of 72 nests to a laying house there is one
nest for every seven hens. As the nests
are 12 inches square, two hens often occupy
one nest at the same time.

Each nest is easily accessible to the hens. Cut straw in
the nests, kept clean by occasional renewing, insures unbroken,
clean, white eggs and makes the laying places comfortable
for the hens. The use of cut straw, instead of whole straw,
gives an opportunity for economy when replacing soiled
parts. At night-time the hinged covers are let down to keep

Seven Hens
to a Nest

47

^^^^

1

[^^^^^Z^^^^^H

K^^^^B

Kylli^l

^^^H

^H

^HiNh^.^

ilo

^i»''i«b.

flHflinv

*Tt

^HL ^^Ik^^^^^^^P ^ ' ^^HL ' m^^l

^Hp^^^^^^^^

sk

flfc

^K^^I^K^^lH. ^

• '^^^^^^^^Bn-

Hk^Vr '^i^

THE MILLION EGG FARM

the chickens from roosting on the nests and fouling them ;
and also to discourage broodiness.

The roosts, which are in the laying houses, consist of three
level, parallel rows of perches, and a platform, extending
the length of each house. The perches are level so that
there will be no crowding on an uppermost one. The plat-
form is high enough above the floor to allow easy cleaning,
sunlight, and space for the fowls under it. The perch rails
are of pine wood, 3 inches by 2 inches,
and 10 feet long. They are laid on supports,
sidew^ise and unfastened, 9 inches above the platform. The
perch rails being movable, makes it easy for the operator to
scrape, turn, and disinfect them; and to move them out of
the way when cleaning the platform. Each fowl has about 8
inches of perch room, which is ample for white Leghorns.

White Leghorn hens have less inclination toward broodi-
ness than other breeds. The few that do manifest this
inclination are put in a box, or cage, called the "cooler,"
which is placed over the perches in a corner of the laying
house. The cooler is built with a slatted ^-

1 Il6

floor and without perches. The air pass- ,, ,,

ing through this floor eft'ectually cools the

hen's blood and restores her to normal condition, usually

within 48 hours. Xo hens are set at the Rancocas Poultr}'

Farm, their services as egg layers being too valuable.

Mites are the bane of unclean, improperly managed poultry

plants. Unfortunately, how to avoid them and the dire

results consequent upon their presence is not well understood

by the majority of poultry men. In fact, many persons

know of no distinction between red mites

, ,, . ^. ,. ,. ^, , Mites and

and the varieties ot lice that are com-
paratively harmless. The red mite con-
ceals itself under the perches, and in any available cracks
and crevices near the roosting places. There it deposits
its eggs, which hatch out by thousands in a few hours. It is a
deadly parasite and lives entirely on blood extracted from

49

50

THE MILLION EGG FARM

the body of the ehicken, whieh causes a falHng off of the
egg yield. This manifests itself in contagious scaly legs, a
pale comb, and a drooping and drowsy general appearance
of the bird. Most of the mite's nefarious work is done at
night-time, when the fowl should be resting. Every
precaution is taken that mites shall not appear on this plant.

of napthaline flake is used. This is sprayed about the
platforms, and all cracks and crevices, by means of
"orce pump, once a week in spring and summer, a
cen days in winter. Before the spraying is begun, e
is scraped and cleaned. This, together with
Sunlight and fresh air, keeps the houses in sanitary co
The sandy soil of the Farm makes it unnecessary to
•irtificial dust baths. When there is rain or snow
;he sand covering the cement floors gives the fowls o
lity for baths in the houses. Frequent _ ^

lust baths are essential to the fowls' well-

Wh^r;^ hpv fill their feathers with sand, tl

i

I

Showing a Rancocas Layer With Clean, Healthy Legs, Due to Proper Disinfectants,
Compared With a Borrowed Scaly Leg Fowl

Lice do not sap the vitality of fowls as do mites. In
fact, a hen is just as happy with a few lice as without any,
for they live on the dry scale and dandruff discharged from
the hen's skin and feathers. Sanitary housing and fplenty
of dust baths keep lice from becoming a pest. Chickens
never wash in water, as do many other birds, but keep them-

52

THE MILLION EGG FARM

selves sanitary and cleansed of insects by washing with sand
and dust.

There is no doubt of the absolute necessity of using a
disinfecting solution on a well-conducted poultry plant.
And this disinfectant must be inexpensive, must be powerful
and certain in action, and must be harmless to the birds.
There are many excellent commercial preparations, but the
Rancocas Poultry Farm makes its own o r^ i

solution and saves the dealers' profit. A

solution of 16 parts of kerosene to l-part_

of napthaline flake is used. This is sprayed about the perches,
platforms, and all cracks and crevices, by means of a bucket
force pump, once a week in spring and summer, and every
ten days in winter. Before the spraying is begun, everything
is scraped and cleaned. This, together with abundant
sunlight and fresh air, keeps the houses in sanitary condition.

The sandy soil of the Farm makes it unnecessary to provide
artificial dust baths. When there is rain or snow outside,
the sand covering the cement floors gives the fowls opportu-
nity for baths in the houses. Frequent n u
dust baths are essential to the fowls' well-
being. When they filL. their feathers^ with sand, the fine
particles have a scouring action, removing dandruff and
lice. The less dandruff on a hen the fewer the lice that
can feed there. See page 110 for illustration.

The Rancocas Poultry Farm's water supply is from a
stream on the property. It is constantly _^

under control and, therefore, free from the
danger of contamination.

From troughs in the yards the chickens get their water for
about 11 months of the year. When they are confined,
10-quart open crocks of water are placed on stands inside
the houses. Water has never frozen in the houses, even
during zero weather outside. When it is remembered that
an egg is about two-thirds water, the importance of quantity
and purity is evident.

53

54

THE MILLION EGG FARM

CHAPTER VI

The Story of the E^^— It is Full
of Meat

Rancocas
Aims to ^et
ALL the Eiis

URING a chicken's pullet year she grows
her cluster of eggs — four or five hundred
little yolks, each about the size of a berry
seed. From this original cluster must be
developed all the eggs
the hen can ever produce.
When the cluster is laid,
or exhausted from any
other cause, the hen can lay only a yolkless
affair that is of no value. While the hen's
laying condition is normal, she will develop and lay eggs regu-
larly, but during molting and broody seasons the development
of eggs stops — the little members of the cluster lie dormant.
The Rancocas Poultry Farm aims, by careful feeding, to
get the entire cluster of eggs Nature gives a hen; and, more
than that, by using a non-setting breed, and exercising con-
trol over the period of molting, to get as many as ])ossiblc at
the very time when prices are highest.

As to fertility of hatching eggs, 94^ per cent, was the
Rancocas average during 1909 and 1910.
This unsurpassed record is due to the fact
that the chickens are carried to the
highest possible level of good health,
vitality, and activity; and that their management is based
upon scientific and practical principles.

An

Unsurpassed

Fertility

56

THE MILLION EGG FARM

For every 20 birds in a laying house, one male bird is
furnished. Tests for percentage of fertility were made with
but five hens to one cock, resulting in less than 90 per cent.
With 500 hens to 25 cocks, all at liberty in a spacious house
and yard, there is but little rivalry and fighting. Xo hen is
entirely neglected; and careful watching discovers whether
or not the hens take kindly to a new male. Chickens, as well
as other bipeds, have strong likes and dislikes. It is this
Farm's experience that hens lay more eggs and are generally
more healthful when males run with the flock. Care is taken,
of course, to avoid mating birds of the same age or parentage.
Condiments to force laying are absolutely tabooed; they are
useless, unnecessary, and injurious.

The system of feeding for laying hens at the Rancocas
Poultry Farm is a factor of importance second to none; for
primarily upon this feature the success or
failure of an egg farm depends. Profitable .

feeding for eggs begins from the time of the j- ^

chick's infancy and continues until all of
the cluster of eggs has gone to market. In her wild state the
hen lived upon seeds, green food, bugs, worms, and water.

It is therefore a mistaken idea that corn alone is sufficient
for a hen. Corn to a chicken is like cake and candy to a
child. Chemistry declares and experience proves that a lay-
ing hen needs starch, gluten, oil, meat, and shell; that she
needs animal food to make albumen; that she requires green
stuff as a tonic and a regulator; and that water is absolutely
necessary. As has been aptly said, "The laying hen is a
hard drinker and hearty eater." But she neither overdrinks
nor overeats if furnished the proper foods ««* u ^

systematically. Systematic feeding is of _,. . ,

. <i r .u r " , 1 Drinker

importance; a feast-or-a-tamme stvie . __

u 1.UI. r r 1 11 Tu and Hearty

IS unhealthy for fowl as well as man. ihe „ ,,

instinctive appetite of a hen, carefully

watched and gratified, is the best guide to rational feeding.

When these principles are applied, robust health and stamina.

57

53

THE MILLION EGG FARM

rich blood, healthy fat, stronj^ muscles and bones, and fertile
eggs will result. For several years now the Rancocas Farm
has fed chickens upon these principles, securing a profitable
percentage of eggs and avoiding losses from overfatness and
indigestion. It is not claimed that application of these
principles constitutes "the only system," but that it does
give good results. And, knowing it is good, no change is
made.

Many failures in the chicken business are due to constant
vacillation on the part of the novice; or to ,

his adherence to poor rules composed by
some one with certain mixtures to sell or
with a rigid hobby to ride. There are no hard and fast rules
that can be applied with success to every case.

General environment, breed of fowls, and prices of feeds
must be considered in determining the right rations. Nature
offers the egg farmer a valuable lesson in making the spring-
time productions an easy matter. Fowls at liberty to roam
find abundant animal and green food and fresh air on their
range. This, with grain and exercise, furnishes a perfect
ration. The egg farmer who can furnish in winter rations
and conditions that nearly approach those of spring will surely
reap his reward.

The first feeding of the day on the Rancocas Farm is a
mash placed in the troughs of the laying
houses between 7 and S o'clock in the morn-
ing. Its composition by weight, for 500
chickens, is as follows:

The Morning
Mash

8 pounds bran

7 pounds middlings

7 pounds corn and oats, ground

4 pounds beef scrap

o pounds clover, chopped fine

\ pound fine oyster shell

3^ pounds linseed meal

Total, 35 pounds

59

60

THE MILLION EGG FARM

Each chicken, therefore, gets about 1 ounce of mash at
this feeding. The mash is thoroughly mixed with enough
water to leave it crumbly but not mushy. If it were wet
enough to be mushy it would be unpalatable and cause
diarrhea.

The clover in this feed is scalded in hot
water before it is mixed, to keep it sweet, rvf ^^/*^ ^
thus avoiding another cause of diarrhea. * '*'' ^^
Scalded mashes keep twice as long as those mixed with
cold water.

The beef scrap in this ration closely resembles in food value
the bugs and worms fowls find while roaming at large. It
supplies much of the protein, with enough nitrogen and phos-
phorus, to make the chicken's meat lean and to strengthen
ligaments, tendons, nails, beak, blood, and feathers. It
enters also into the composition of eggs. Roughly speaking
an egg is 11 per cent, protein, S per cent, fat, 8 per cent, ash,
11 per cent, shell, and 62 per cent, water. A hen is 25 per
cent, protein, 20 per cent, fat, 4 per cent, ash, and 50 per
cent, water.

The condition of the droppings is an indication of the hen's
health. If they are soft, or pasty, and yellowish or brownish,
the hen lacks meat. If they are watery
and contain red spots, too much meat is _^ . ,

being fed. Greenish watery droppings indi-
cate unsanitary conditions in environment, food, or water.
If they are of a consistency to hold their shape, but not too
hard, the indication is good.

Only a good grade of beef scrap should be used in this mash,
or at any other time. Occasionally beef scrap has been
returned to the dealer, tests on the farm showing the meat to
be bad. Tests are made by putting a handful of beef scrap
into two or three quarts of scalding hot water and covering
the pail with a cloth. After two or three minutes the cloth is
lifted, when the odor of the mixture quickly informs the
experimenter whether or not the beef scrap is fit for food.

61

62

THE MILLION EGG FARM

If it is good, the odor from the test will be not unlike that
of good beef extract.

As to the proper time of day to feed a mash, much has been
said and written. Experience shows that best results come
when it is fed early in the morning, for
the hens seem to get the most benefit ^ ^

from it at that time. During the night ^^^^ ^ Mash
the fowls have digested the food consumed the day before, and
have comparatively empty crops and healthy digestive organs,
so that the morning mash is quickly assimilated, only little time
being required to grind the ration in the chicken's gizzard.

The morning scratch feed is scattered broadcast throughout
the yards at about 9 o'clock. The grains falling upon the
pine needles and sandy ground give the

fowls incentive to scratch, and this pro- ^

r eecl

vides sufficient exercise to keep up their

physical condition. When the ground is covered with snow
or is wet wdth falling rain, this feeding is done in the sand
and straw litter within the laying houses.

Sometimes — ^if a flock is sluggish, loath to move, and in
obvious need of more exercise than it has been taking — this
feed is divided into two parts and scattered at two periods,
half an hour apart.

For a flock of 500 chickens, the morning scratch feed is
7^ pounds of barley and 7^ pounds of hulled oats, well mixed.
Each fowl gets about half an ounce.

The third feeding of the day is of green stuflf chopped to
half-inch lengths, or of vegetable matter in the winter, given
between 10:30 and 11 o'clock in the morn-
ing. A full bushel basket of green food, Oreen r eed
weighing 30 pounds, is scattered to 500 hens.

This is a tonic and food greatly relished by the fowls. It
furnishes much of the yellow matter in the yolk of hens' eggs,
beaks, and legs. It makes eggs more palatable, more fertile,
and the chicks hatched from them more vigorous. Clover
cut from the late fall's seeding, or rye before it has grown

63

64

THE MILLION KGG FARM

coarse, is the green stuff used in spring, large quantities of
which are grown on the farm. When either of these becomes
scarce, Canadian peas, young and tender corn, or clover hay,
takes their place. Clover, however, is the green food most
relished by the fowls; it is juicy and rich in nitrogen.

To supplement the winter ration of chopped hay, rutabaga
turnips and sugar beets are fed. Two thousand bushels of
these vegetables were grown and used on
the Farm last year. They are kept in a Turnips are
long pile 4 feet wide and 3 feet high, ^^^^^^^^
covered with 6 inches of straw, with 6 inches of soil on top,
ready for winter use. Small openings in the top of the cover-
ing permit heat and moisture to escape from the vegetables.
These vegetable foods are fed without being cut up — a bushel
being thrown to 500 fowls, for them to pick at as wanted.
It is astonishing to see how quickh^ the chickens make
away with them.

No green food is grown in the yards and runs on the Ran-
cocas Poultry Farm, as it is desired to keep them free for the
chickens' scratching and exercise, rather than for pasture.
They are ploughed up twice a year, or even oftener. A
serious objection to planting the yards and runs for pasture
is that ground so planted must eventually become unsanitary.
The roots and parts of plants not eaten by the fowls, forming
humus, would soon prevent rain from filtering through and
cleaning the yards. With the top soil kept free from humus,
gap worms, which do not thrive in clean, dry soil, are elim-
inated. The absence of dirt and moisture contributes also
to the avoidance of colds and liver disorders.

The noon feeding is exactly the same as the morning scratch

feed just described. It is thrown around ivi j

1 1 1 1 ,, JMoon and

the yards when the operator collects eggs pi . .

■^ . ^ ** Livening

at noontime. The hens usually come off p i

the nests at this time and give the feeder

a chance to gather the eggs more quickly than if he had to

feel under a number of layers.

65

66

THE MILLION EGG FARM

The evening ration is placed in the troughs in the laying
houses shortly before dark, so that the hens can easily fill
their crops just before going to roost. A large part of the
hen's egg making goes on while she sleeps ; most of the eve-
ning feed, therefore, is transformed into eggs.

This last ration of the day consists of 50 pounds of wheat
and cracked corn, mixed, for 500 chickens, each chicken
getting over an ounce and a half. The proportion of corn
to wheat is increased as the weather grows colder. During
April, May, June, July, and August, it is usually in the ratio
of 1 of corn to 4 of wheat ; in September, October, and Novem-
ber, 2 to 5 ; and when the weather becomes frosty, it is changed
to half corn and half wheat. In December, January, and
February, if the weather is from 15° to 10° F. above zero,
the proportion is 3 parts of corn to 1 part of wheat. Below
this temperature the night feeding is all corn.

When an all-corn evening feed is given, the noon feed is

changed to wheat. Corn is chiefly valuable in producing

bodily heat for the fowls. Great care is rpi mm ,

taken that the hens shall not become isj j. r-^ j.

. , , ,. , , , ^ , . [Not Oet

overiat and thus disabled for proper laymg. rp ^ >

It is a rule to place in the troughs at this

feeding a slightly larger amount than the fowls will consume,

so that timid or late comers need not go to roost hungry.

The fowls are fed frequently so that they will not gorge at any
one time and become lazy. Idle fowls contract bad habits,
besides going out of condition from lack of exercise. The hens
are kept slightly hungry during the day and only before roosting
time are given all they can eat. This last feeding is not burned
up in exercise, but goes directly to the making of eggs.

In addition to this regular hand feeding, two large, open
hoppers are kept in each laying house, u
They contain a supply of dry mash similar p A' A
to the morning ration but with the beef
scrap omitted. This provides nourishment for any bird that
may have gone short in the regular feeding.

67

THE MILLION EGG FARM

An Overfat Hen

In other apartments of the hopper are mica grit, charcoal,
and beef scrap.

Grit is essential to the welfare of chickens. Their gizzards
take the place of teeth and constantly rotate the sharp,
irregular pieces of grit when food is there, grinding the food
preparatory to assimilation. Without sufificient grit, undue
strain is thrown on other parts of the fowl's system, often
resulting in disease by allowing the food to pass through the
bird's body without being assimilated.

Much of the mineral matter used by fowls comes from the
grit consumed. Not a great deal of grit is taken from these
hoppers, however, as the natural sand in the yards furnishes

68

THE MILLION EGG FARM

a kind better liked by the hens. But mica grit is before them
in the houses, to use if they want it.

The charcoal aids digestion and prevents disorders by
sweetening the organism of the fowls. It is a powerful
absorbent, taking up the gases, impurities, and acids, thus
acting as a corrective when the stomach is sour. Chickens
partake freely of charcoal.

Hopper feeding of beef scrap is regarded on the Rancocas
Poultry Farm as emphatically necessary.

Xo two layers are in exactly the same condition : one may be

overfat, requiring more protein and less fat ; i^ . rpi.

another just the reverse. It is impossible o

1 r , , . , , Kancocas

tor the man carmg for the birds to know xr

, ,. . . . , Ejxperience

the precise conditions of every fowl, or

always to gauge the proportions of food most desirable. This
hopper of beef scrap puts such problems up to the birds
themselves; and they instinctively are the best judges of
what they need. On the Rancocas Poultry Farm, under this
method, the hens produce more and better eggs than under
any other method tried.

In small hoppers, one at each end of the laying house,
coarse oyster shell is placed. A hen laying heavily does not
get enough lime from the grains to form the shells of her eggs.
This is supplied by the oyster shells.

Of all foods on a poultry plant, water is the one most needed.

The general farmer often lets every water trough freeze and'

wonders whv he gets no eggs. Abundant \at .

'r r ■, , ^ , Water as

quantities of fresh water are before the ^ j

chickens on THIS FARM at all times in
crocks in the laying house, and in troughs in the yards. The
crocks and the troughs are washed frequently. The first
thing a hen does in the morning, the last thing at night, and
many times between, is to drink water. The food consumed
in greatest quantity at the Rancocas Poultry Farm is water.
After the birds have gone to roost, the night watchman
comes on duty. At sunrise he gives them fresh water, and

69

70

THE MILLION EGG FARM

opens the windows to let in all the fresh air and sunshine
possible. The hens keep busy, until the regular feeders come
around, picking up any food left from the previous evening.

The gathering of eggs from the laying houses is done in
common feed pails, at noon and just before dark. The first
collection yields two-thirds of the total number, as the hens
generally begin laying at 9 o'clock and are Ga^jjerin^
finished by 2 o'clock. The eggs are taken rpj^^ Edds
to the egg room, where they are sorted
according to size and shape, and packed in crates, ready for
shipment on the afternoon train. When hatching eggs are
wanted, eggs of medium size, uniform shape, air-tight, and
with smooth shells are selected and placed in racks to avoid
evaporation, with the large end up in order to establish the
air cells. No pullet eggs are used or sold for hatching. The
few undersized, misshapen, or rough eggs occurring are culled
out, the remainder going to market as premium eggs, to be
served on New York breakfast tables the following morning.
The small eggs and any others not up to premium quaUty
are sold at a reduced price. But this Hnd is almost un-
known on the Rancocas Poultry Farm. Usually it is an
overfat hen that lays round, double-yolked, or badly shaped
eggs, as the hen's internal fatness affects her oviduct and
makes the eggs misshapen.

The size of eggs laid by the same hens can be influenced by

the quantity and quality of food they are given. The

Rancocas Poultry Farm sold a pen of birds ,

to a man who later complained that the _ _

^^. „ Determines

eggs he gathered were gettmg smaller every - „ , ,

1 1 1 TTT1 ^ /T^i 1 3ize ot r^ggs

day — and asked W hy ? Through corre-
spondence it was discovered that the hens were not being
properly fed. A copy of the Rancocas feeding formulas was
sent to this man, and within three weeks he wrote that the
hens were laying eggs as large as when he first received them.

THE MILLION EGG FARM

CHAPTER VII

Molting: The Time When the Hen
Needs Special Care

HE price of eggs is highest in the fall and
winter months, when hens are molting, and
laying less frequently. Hens cannot molt
and lay at the same time; shedding old
feathers and growing new ones takes much
of the fowl's strength. And they need
special feeding and watchful care during
this critical period.

The average farmer's flock usually molts
its feathers in November, December, and
January. The result is, that as he furnishes 90 per cent, of
the eggs available for market, the quantity falls and the price
rises. As soon as the molting is over — and this term is made
to include the growing of new feathers — the farmer's hens
resume laying eggs as before and prices go down again.

Rancocas hens are made to molt early in the fall so that
they will be laying well in winter, when
the price for eggs is highest. For the
largest profit a good proportion of eggs
must be secured in winter. One extra
egg a week from each hen in winter will pay for all she eats.
Forced molting is brought about on the MILLION EGG
FARM by confining the birds in their houses for three days
and feeding them much less than usual (about one-half of
the regular rations) in order to reduce the surplus fat. In

Rancocas
Hens Molt
Early

73

74

THE MILLION EGG FARM

the middle of August the feathers are dried nearly to the end
of the quill and it requires only the reduction of surplus fat
and an increase of oil-containing food to make new feathers
and push the old ones out. Therefore, the decrease in the
feed during the period of confinement is principally in foods
containing protein and oil, as feathers are composed largely
of these two constituents. After three days the birds are
liberated and the regular quantities of food resumed, but the
proportion of nutrients in the ration is changed so that
the ration will assist materially in the formation of feathers
and the general building up of the hen's system.

Each week during a month, a pound of the corn is omitted
and a pound of linseed meal is added, thus making a change
of four pounds in the ration in four weeks.
Then as the new coat of feathers is seen
coming out the variation is reversed until
the regular proportions are again reached. This method of
m^aking the hens shed their feathers and grow their new
plumage before cold weather begins is operated successfully.
The birds get through the molt quicker and with more uni-
formity, and enter winter in better condition than if they
were fed on the usual egg-producing ration during the molt.
And the great demand for winter eggs is met.

White Leghorn pullets hatched early in spring lay early

in the fall and keep it up during the winter without molting.

March and April pullets are November layers; May and June

pullets are December layers. It is not an uncommon event

on the Rancocas Poultry Farm for pullets to lay when about

4 months old, but this regarded as precocious and freakish.

Pullets are not considered winter layers unless the average

production of the flock is 33 per cent., _,, »> n .
f. . r , ,: The Pullets

that is, one egg from each hen every ri , .

^u- J J T4. • • ^ 1 ^ u ^• Even Lay at

third day. It is a mistake to believe „ __ ^,

ji ^u ^ 11 ^ u ^ ■ 4- Four Months

unreservedly that pullets can be real winter

layers at the age of 4 months, though the claim is often
advanced. Properly hatched and raised, a normal white

76

THE MILLION EGG FARM

Leghorn pullet on the Rancocas Poultry Farm begins laying
between her fifth and sixth months. With heavier and
slower growing breeds the time must be longer.

There is a small house and yard on the Rancocas Poultry
Farm set apart for the segregation of any fowls that become
sick or injured. On a farm as large as the Rancocas there
are occasionally hens which develop fallen
combs, broken legs, etc. As a rule we do iT^h ^" /"i
not advocate much doctoring, for while Hospital

one bird is being dosed, a dozen may catch the trouble if it
is at all contagious. This is much more expensive than
killing the birds which develop a suspicious weakness.

Sometimes, however, in the case of a cold which may lead
to a roupy condition, a cure is effected by swabbing the eyes,
nose, and throat of the afflicted bird with a feather dipped in
a 20 per cent, solution of permanganate of potash. In cases
of sneezing or snuffling, a few grains of permanganate of
potash are added to the drinking water, sufflcient to turn
it to a pinkish tint. This usually helps the birds to health.

If a flock's appetite shows signs of failing, a piece of cop-
peras, the size of a hickory nut, may be added to each quart
of drinking water. This is the remedy usually employed on
the Farm.

The old saying "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound

of cure" can nowhere be more fittingly applied than to poultry.

Sanitar\^ conditions, proper feeding, and eternal vigilance

prevent more trouble and disease than rr, -^ -

J J r u 1 *ne Best of

many men and pounds of cure can check. ^^ ,,

If the eyes and the combs of hens are
brilliant in color; if the birds are alert and happy, they are in
good lajnng condition. This is the best of all "secrets" for
selecting a healthy hen in condition to produce eggs.

77

78

THE MILLION EGG FARM

CHAPTER VIII

Why Artificial Incubation Only Is
Used on the Rancocas Farm

HE Million Egg Farm maintains an incubator
department, to furnish stock, to replenish
and increase its laying flocks, and also to
supply part of the great demand made on
it by other poultry men wanting day-old
chicks. The outside demand for day-old
chicks was twice as great during the season
of 1909 as could be met, in spite of the fact
that 59,380 were suppHed. Besides the
59,380 day-old chicks sold in this season,

30,000 chicks were hatched on the Farm, to increase the egg

production, to replace stock sold, and to furnish breeding

stock for future sales.

All the hatching is done artificially. Hens are never used

to hatch or brood chicks. Incubators,

ever since their invention, have contributed

much to the economy and comfort of

chicken raising.

The average broody hen is often wild and unmanageable.

She may have lice in profusion. If she is bad-tempered, the

chicks become her victims. She often leads them into wet

grass, thus stunting their growth or otherwise injuring them.

And even the best of hens will sometimes break the eggs,

leave them too long or altogether, and become the cause^ of

worry by reason of the general uncertainty.

Incubator
vs. the Hen

79

80

THE MILLION KGG FARM

With hen incubation there is also the trouble of weaning
the chicks before the hen will resume laying. With machine
incubation there is certainty and accuracy; and a hen is not
taken from her work of laying eggs. It can always be known
to within a few hours when a hatch will be completed. And
chicks may be had at any time of the year.

An incubator will do the work of 25 hens; its behavior is
within control; it never grows bad-tem-
pered ; and it can be kept sanitary. ^" Incubator

Absolutely certain results will follow the ^5^ Equal of
proper use of a good incubator filled with Hens

good eggs. With poor eggs there will be a much smaller
hatch in a good machine than if a poor machine and good eggs
are used. If this were not so, the hen, which is comparatively
a poor incubating machine, could hatch but few chicks. The
use of good eggs is a prime requisite of success.

Hatching experience has been peculiarly wide and exhaust-
ive at the Rancocas Poultry Farm. Incubator rooms, under
various conditions, have been observed in
competition. During the early part of Hatching
1910 three incubator rooms w^ere used. Experiences
One was almost entirely below the level of the surrounding
ground ; another was half above and half below, and the third
was entirely above ground. Several makes of what may be
called standard machines were operated. The first room
incubated 5,200 eggs at a time; the second, 10,800; and the
third, 16,000. Two men operated the machines, their hatches
averaging 68 per cent, of the total eggs put in. Fertility of
eggs was 90 per cent, or more.

The lesson of greatest importance learned from the parallel
operation of these rooms was that best results were secured
in a basement cellar about 9 feet high; 6 feet being built
below the surface of the ground..

The reason is that a properly arranged room in this relative
position can be well ventilated and yet easily maintained at
a steady temperature.

81

82

THE MILLION EGG FARM

In summer a cellar is naturally cooler than a room above
ground; and in winter, warmer. A fluctuating temperature
is a serious handicap. Fresh air is vital, for it supplies oxygen
to the embryos and carries to them untainted moisture.
Lamp odors, or odors of any kind, are extremely deleterious.

The problem of how much moisture to keep in the air sur-
rounding the eggs is of great importance; too much moisture,
by expanding the embryo, makes the chick
too large to hatch; too little moisture ^"e Moisture
leaves it undeveloped. To find the proper
humidity, experiments were made at the farm in 1907.
Several nest boxes 18 inches square, with 8-inch holes in the
bottom, were constructed. The holes covered with burlap
and the nests, filled with eggs, were placed under broody hens
borrowed from a neighboring farm.

A hygrometer was placed in a tight drawer under the eggs
in each of these experimental nests, and arranged so that it
could be read easily at all times. The nests were located
beside an incubator set at the same time and containing a
hygrometer.

Take one of the nests for example. A Plymouth Rock hen,
in good setting condition, on 15 eggs, of which 14 proved
fertile, hatched 11 strong and healthy
chicks, a percentage of 73. Of the .

360 eggs placed in the incubator only .

53 per cent, hatched. Of the 360 eggs 320 *^xperiment
were fertile. The hygrometer under the hen showed per-
centages of humidity, ranging from 55 to 60 per cent, during
the several stages of the hatch ; while the hygrometer in the
incubating machine registered only from 36 to 42 per cent.
Approximately the same percentages resulted in the other
experiments, proving conclusively that the ordinary incuba-
tors do not furnish enough moisture.

Since these experiments were made the percentage of
humidity in the incubator machines has been increased, with
the attainment of hatches averaging, in all, 68 per cent.

83

84

THE MILLION BGG FARM

The three incubator rooms referred to in the foregoing

paragraphs, which were operated to ascertain the best method,

are now replaced by one large basement under the new

administration building. This basement is

1 ti6 INcw
3 feet above and 6 feet below ground. A

further description will be given when deal-
ing with the "Executive Building." It
accommodates 252 incubator machines, each with 400-egg
capacity. 100,800 eggs can be incubated there every 21 days.
In its planning and construction full advantage of past expe-
rience was taken. It is scientifically kept at a uniform tem-
perature. The floor, walls, and ceiling are concrete, therefore
fireproof, and being finished with a smooth surface can be
washed clean, and thus maintained in a perfectly sanitary
condition.

At about the time the new incubator basement was begun,
the International Poultry Sales Company brought out its own
self-humidifying incubating machine, claiming for it decided
improvement over the incubator previously .,

used, because less labor and care are __ . i.r . .
. , ^ . ^ . , , Humidilying

required to mamtam an even temperature ; ,

and because it furnishes automatically the . _,

proper amount of humidity at all times _

. Ugvicg

under all climatic conditions. As with a

caloric bottle, or an ice-box, insulation of a substantial kind is
necessary to maintain the desired temperature. Cheap incu-
bators usually lack proper insulation; in consequence the
owner has to devote more time and use more oil, and then
in the end have a smaller hatch. Putting fertile eggs into an
ineffective incubator is like throwing good seed on stony
ground.

Because of the demand for day-old chicks, the incubator
machines at the MILLION EGG FARM are started very soon
after the beginning of the new year in order to supply the
demand from the South, and they continue running until
July.

85

86

THE MILLION KGG FARM

Before the setting of eggs the incubator is cleaned and
thoroughly disinfected. Any soiled burlap in the trays is
replaced with new, it being the operator's /^ ... .
aim to make everything about the machine ^

as clean as possible and thus furnish ^^ ^^^
healthful conditions for the developing
embryos. If the incubator to be started is new or has not
been used for some time, it is operated with a lighted lamp
for three days before the eggs are set. This affords ample
opportunity to adjust the thermostat and see that all parts of
the machine are working properly. The temperature during
this first trial operation is first brought to 103° F., the disk
over the lamp heater then being raised one-fourth of an inch
and the lamp flame adjusted to reduce the temperature to
102^° F., where it is kept steadily. A hygrometer, also, is
used in this trial work, to measure the humidity, which should
average 60 per cent.

The MILLION EGG FARM recognizes that to operate an
incubator basement successfully it must have: first, eggs that
will hatch; second, the best possible equipment and condi-
tions; and third, operators who are masters of their branch
of the business.

Hatchability of eggs involves several factors, chief of which

is the vitality of parent stock. If the male supposed to

fertilize the egg germ, or the female that „ , , , .,.,

^^ . . \ , Hatchability

lays the eggs, is sickly or m any way

deficient in vitality and ability to perform
their natural functions, the eggs will not hatch.

With thoroughbred stock, well nourished, well cared for,
and properly mated the most important conditions are ful-
filled. At the Rancocas Farm only eggs from stock of such
standard, and after the hen has passed her first year's laying,
are used for hatching. During a layer's pullet year she lays
one-fourth more eggs than in any following year, with the
consequence that her vitality is taxed more than when she
is laying fewer eggs. A parallel case to this may be found

87

88

THE MILLION EGG FARM

among cattle, where the presence of tuberculosis has been

traced to early incontinence and waste of seed.

From this quality of eggs those selected for incubation are

medium in size, and uniform in shape, color, and texture of

shell. The continued selection of these qualities in eggs

affects future generations accordingly, besides increasing the

success of the hatch. The shape of eggs has more to do with

their hatchability than the color or tex-

ture of shell ; for the growing embryo must . . _^ , ,
.1, 1 ^ T7 ^T of the E^^

not be improperly miprisoned. -bggs with mm .

smooth shells hatch more readily than

eggs with rough shells, which are uneven in

thickness. If the eggs are all of the same size there will be

no appreciable variation in the amount of heat reaching the

imprisoned germs.

A hen's eggs are fertile for some days after she has once
associated with a male. Fertility is surest in spring and early
summer and weakest during the molting period.

Eggs, the shells of which have been washed, are never used

for hatching. Washing removes the delicate film over the

shell and permits an undesirable evaporation of the moisture

within. Care is taken to use only eggs in _, ... ,

Never Wash
their natural condition, and to prevent vt ^ U- A

any grease, oil, or other substance from p^ , ,

coming in contact with the shells and ^^

closing the pores. If the pores are artificially closed, no air
can enter and the embryo will die. The small air bubble
in each newly laid egg grows larger daily, whether in an
incubator or not. If it were pricked the egg would not hatch.
Although eggs kept two weeks at a proper temperature and
turned daily to prevent the yolk from settling to one side, will
hatch, none but newly laid eggs are used at the Rancocas
Farm. The rapid evaporation of moisture from an egg is the
main reason for setting it as soon after being laid as possible.
As soon as a fertile egg is cooled after leaving the hen, the
development of the embryo is stopped. That it has the power

89

90

HTHE MILLION EGG FARM

to resume development when exposed to the proper heat
is one of Nature's -wonders; yet the shorter the time this
life is kept dormant, the fewer chances of injury or death it
experiences.

Correct conditions for incubation are so complex, applying
as they do to the undefined thing called life, that the success-
ful operator must study and observe con-
stantly. The men employed to operate
incubators at the Rancocas Poultry Farm ^
have studied and practiced for years.
Before the self-humidifying incubator machines were used,
and after it had been demonstrated that from 55° to 60° F.
of humidity was necessary for the best results, water was
sprinkled on the floor of the incubator rooms or placed in
buckets under the lamps to furnish the desired moisture.
This work is now done automatically by the self-humidifying
incubators which are used in the place of the old-type
machines.

When the eggs have been properly selected they are placed
on their small ends, at an angle of about 20 degrees, in the egg
trays, and set in the machine. Standing ■ a u

the eggs on end as above described is a p, , ,
valuable factor of which many poultrymen
seem neglectful or ignorant. It serves the important pur-
poses of establishing the egg's air cell in its proper place— the
large end of the shell- — and starting the embryo in a position
where it is safest from accidents. A naturally imprisoned
chick lies in the shell with its head in the large end.

With an adjustment of temperature not over 102^° F.,
and an average humidity of about 60 per cent., the eggs are
incubated the first 7 da^'s. Great care is taken not to over-
heat the eggs ; a temperature of over 103° F. yu „ First
during the first three days is likely to kill vi'ppb'^ Care
some of the germs by causing blood-ring
or ruptured capillaries. A reduction of temperature from
102^° F. would be much less disastrous at this stage

91

92

THE MILLION KGG FARM

than an increase. Nature seems to have made provision for
this, as is evidenced when a hen leaves her nest for several
hours and the eggs are still successfully incubated.

After the first week of incubation the temperature is
increased to 103° F., and there maintained until the chicks
begin to "pip," that is, to break the shell. After the eleventh
day of incubation the chicks themselves generate heat.

When the chicks begin to pip, which is usually 24 hours
before the hatch is finished, the temperature in the machine
is allowed to vary from 103° to 104^° F. This increased
heat outside the eggs incites the chicks to break through to it.
The eggs are kept standing on their small
ends the first 72 hours they are in the incu- a . . \ j

bators. After this time they are turned i. ^

twice each da}', end for end, in order to
lubricate the inside of the shells and keep the chicks from
clinging to the inside membrane and becoming crippled.

The photograph shows how this turning is done. The
trays are taken out of a few machines at a time and the
incubators closed. The front row of eggs is moved to the
back of the tray, and a gentle, sweeping motion of the hands
turns the eggs. They are then replaced in the machines at
once. This is kept up until the first egg in a machine is
pipped, when the incubator is closed and under no conditions
disturbed until the hatch is finished.

Beginning with the seventh day, and continuing until
pipping starts, when the morning turning is done, the eggs are
kept out of the incubators long enough to reduce their temper-
ature to about S0° F., or equal to that of a normal man's
eye or cheek. Two from each trav are ,
held by the operator to his eye, or he rests ,

his cheek on the tray of eggs. "When he rp . e
finds the eggs neither hot nor cold in
this test, the trays are returned to the
machine. The operators, by practice, have become expert in
making these tests. Cooling is done at the morning turning,

93

94

THE MILLION EGG FARM

as a closer watch can then be kept upon the returning to
normal temperature of the incubator. The cooling of eggs
is for the purpose of reducing their temperature below the
blood heat of the chicks so that their circulation may be
stimulated and their vitality increased. This should not be
confused with establishing air cells in the eggs, or with air-
ing them.

Airing goes on 24 hours each day. A good machine fur-
nishes a continuous supply of air to the
eggs. This is essential to the proper evap-
oration of moisture from the eggs, and to
general sanitary conditions, but principally *^

to furnish oxygen to the growing and breathing embryos.
The oxygen reaches the embryo through the porous shell.

The moisture problem is closely connected with that of
ventilation. The hygrometer is usually kept at from 55° F.
to 60° F., the latter being when the chicks are coming out,
so that they may be free from shells or membranes. It
may be interesting to note here the curious function of the
tiny knob on the bill of the unborn chick. It serves the
purpose of rupturing the membrane as the little bird
revolves in its shell.

The filling and cleaning of lamps is done in the morning,
immediately after the first cooling and turning operation.
If the lamps were handled before the eggs were turned, some
of the oil might get on the eggs, closing the pores in the
shells, and resulting in disaster. The lamps are taken out of
their places and put on a corner of each yu^ Care
machine. The operator throws up each cap r i a,«nc
and runs his fingers over the top of the
wicks to remove the charred part. A tooth-brush is used
to clean the gauze screen and other parts of carbon particles.
Smoking is prevented by keeping the gauze free from dirt.
The lamp is filled (only the best grade of oil being used)
and returned to its place, the flame being adjusted as it was
before filling and cleaning the lamp.

95

Shipping One Thousand Baby Chicks. They Get Fresh Air Through the Muslin

A Tray of Baby Chicks
90

THE MILLION EGG FARM

The generally accepted rule to test each setting of eggs

on their seventh and fourteenth days of incubation is not

adhered to on the Farm, the testing of 100,000 eggs twice

each hatch being expensive in time and labor. Experiments

were made to learn whether or not one test would be sufficient.

From these experiments it was found that ci t c

hatching results were practically the same _,

Fertility

when but one test was taken, between the ^

tenth and fourteenth days of incubation.
With eggs averaging less than 90 per cent, fertile, two tests
would, of course, be desirable in order to save the clear eggs.
Testing is done in a room darkened with curtains, or at night.
A tray of eggs to be tested is placed at the left of the operator,
and an empty tray at his right, the testing lamp being in
front of him. The infertile eggs, which are clear, and the
eggs with dead germs, which show black or with the embryos
surrounded by a blood-ring, are discarded. The eggs con-
taining live germs are passed to extra trays and returned to
the machines.

When the chicks begin to pip, the humidity inside the
incubator is raised to 60 per cent. At this stage, in natural
incubation, a hen sweats heavily and swells Pinnind
out her feathers, giving added moisture.
Much moisture is needed at this time to soften the shells
and keep the inside membrane from drying and adhering to
the chicks. And while struggling to get out of the shells
they consume much oxygen. The door of the machine is
never opened at this period. If there are any weaklings or
abnormalities no outside help is given them, it being believed
that they pay better as fertilizer than as invalids requiring
special care and nursing. Some die, therefore. Natural
selection — the survival only of the normal, the strongest,
the fittest — is clearly in evidence at this time when the
individual is trying to enter life's narrow portal. Only the
normal in strength and size can rotate in their shells and
escape to life.

97

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BBS

jj^HjHHi pK^K^^H'^!^H

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ipi

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^^^»~^-Ss««W"'|"^\^

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Shipping Box Ready to Tack on the Muslin

Showing Baby Chicks in Shipping Boxes

98

THE MILLION KGG FARM

Hatching begins the twentieth day and is usually over
within 24 hours.

As the newly born chicks gain strength they struggle
toward the light and drop from the tray
to the nursery at the bottom of the incuba- The Day-Old
tors, where they are kept 24 hours, at Chicks
a temperature of about 95° F., to dry off.

Just before emerging from their shells the chicks absorb
what remains of the egg yolk through the navel cord. This
suppHes them with nourishment that lasts 72 hours. No
heavy food is given to them until the end of this time. To
this precaution is credited the freedom at this Farm from
white diarrhea so prevalent on many plants.

Two things are regarded as being of great importance
at this time — that there be present plenty j^^ Things
of moisture to enable the chick to hatch ; ^^ Bear in
and that the chick be properly and thor- j^j^ j
oughly dried after it is hatched. A chick
1 hour old, by reason of the great proportion of water in its
composition, weighs more than when it is G days old.

When the chicks are taken to the brooder house, or shipped
away, the trays are moved from the incubators and placed
in the sunlight and fresh air. The burlap is removed and
scrubbed with a brush and warm water, and put in the air
to dry. The machine is thoroughly cleansed and disinfected
and allowed to air 24 hours before being used again.

99

Lifting the Lamp Out of the Hover, Showing All the Inner Parts

THE MILLION EGG FARM

CHAPTER IX

Descriptive of the Brooding System
With Movable Hovers

NDOOR brooding systems are indispensable
for raising chicks where there is wet weather
or a climate in which the temperature falls
below 70°. With birds of inherent strength
and activity, a good brooding system, and
proper feeding, there is little risk of failure
in the raising of chicks. But vitality of
constitution is most important, for without
that no method can succeed. There are no
mysteries connected with the raising of
chicks. Every chick well-hatched should live and will live,
as a rule, if kept dry, at reasonable temperatures, and
properly nourished.

Poultry farms in the United States employ various methods
of brooding. At the Rancocas Poultry Farm, while two
methods are now in operation, the one first
employed is being superseded and presently
but one system will be employed. The
older brooding system is operated in one
extensive building divided into nurseries and heated through-
out by hot water. The newer system requires no special
and expensive brooder house, but permits the use of regular
laying houses for the purpose, this saving the cost of erecting
and equipping a building that can be used during only the
short brooding season.

There Is
Really But
One System

102

THE MILLION EGG FARM

The newer method replaces the hot-water system by indi-
vidual hovers.

In the Farmers' Bullelin, No. 357, pul)lished by the United
States Department of Agricitltnre, the author says:

"Most kinds of brooders keep the chicks comfortable, but
the great difficulty lies in the lamps used. The lamp apart-
ments are small and the tendency is for the oil to become
warm and form gases that cause the flame to stream up and
make trouble."

The owners of the new hover used here „, __

1 he ilover

have carried out exhaustive expermients , ,, .,

Is the I\ew
to see if the lamp could be made overhot _ ,

111. . i. a ^ A TV, Brooder

or likely to catch fire or explode, ihey

are emphatic in their statement that these difficulties are now
overcome.

The buildings used for the brooding system with the new
movable hovers are the standard 100-foot Rancocas laying
houses. In preparation for a flock of day-old chicks from
the incubators, the movable equipment used for the adult
birds is stored out of the w^ay and the house thoroughly cleaned
and disinfected. A netting 30 inches high, of 1-inch mesh
wire, is placed at the front edge of the roosting platform,
between it and the floor. With the exception of space for
the operator to walk, the remaining floor is divided by 3-foot
wire netting into pens 5 feet wide and 9 feet long.

As a laying house is 100 feet long, there is room for 20 of

these pens. One hover is placed in each pen, at the end

nearest the passageway. Also, in each

^^ \ . J 1 • Koom in

pen, are a 2-quart, 2-piece drinking ,

fountain and a feeding board, 2 feet long ^^^

and 6 inches wdde, with edges projecting j^^^. Pens

up half an inch all around. The floor is

covered with an inch of dry sand, on top of which is an inch

and a half of fine straw litter. Just outside of the brooder

house are runways, or yards, one for each pen and hover.

They are 15 feet long and partitioned with wire netting

103

104

THE MILLION EGG FARM

3 feet high. Fresh air, dryness, and sunlight are no less

important for chicks than for layers ; and these conditions are

equally good in both cases.

The chicks are moved from the incubator to the hovers

2-1: hours after the hatch is completed, between 3 and 4

o'clock in the afternoon. The operation r^, , . . ^

. , ,, ^ Taking Care

IS done necessanlv with all care to , „ nnf\

, ' , ,, 1 T- u of «i,UUU

keep them from bemg chilled. bach pen .

with its hover is roomv enough to care „ , „

, . , ., , , . 1 Lach House

for 100 chicks at a time, until the chicks

are larger and well feathered, when they are given more
liberty. Each laying house, therefore, will hold 2,000 chicks.
Temporary boards, 12 inches high, are placed on edge across
the pens near the hovers during the first few days of the
chicks' Hfe, and moved back a few inches each day to educate
the chicks gradually to go to the heat when they need warmth.

When the chicks are 36 hours old, grit is sprinkled on the
feeding boards, so that the birds may fill their gizzards
with it and have them in good grinding order for the first
feeding. They occupy their time running from under the
hovers, picking grit, and returning. Four hours later water
at a temperature of 70° F. is placed in the fountains.

At the age of 4S hours the chicks are given their first food —
rolled oats, of the common kind, bought in barrel quantities.
The rolled oats are sprinkled on the feeding boards in small
pinches at intervals of 2 hours during this and the following
day. Nothing else is given the chicks rpj^^.^. pj^st
because they are still partly nourishing .

themselves upon the yolk absorbed from
the egg just before hatching. The yolk is not entirely
absorbed for 4 or 5 days. The avoidance of heavy early
feeding, as has been said, is one reason why the Rancocas
Poultry Farm is free from white diarrhea. After trying
several other first feeds, rolled oats were adopted because
they are baked and partly digested before reaching the crop
of the chick.

106

THE MILLION EGG FARM

Beginning with the third day and continuing until the
twenty-first day of the chicks' life in the brooder house a
chick food, composed of cracked grains such as wheat, oats,
com, millet seed, etc., is given them four times a day instead
of rolled oats. Also, during this period they are furnished
rolled oats. Also, during this period they
are furnished charcoal and grit, together c^^v.

with a sprinkling of sifted beef scrap. ^ ®* **^** *"^
The beef scrap and charcoal are mixed in ^

the proportions of -4 to 1. No more is given at a time than
they will clean up in 10 or 15 minutes — about a table-
spoonful to 100 chicks.

Beginning with the seventh day about the same quantity
of the finest oyster shell is also fed daily. The oyster shell
furnishes lime needed for bone growth and prevents leg
weakness. On the eighth day the feeding of greens is started ;
cut clover, Canadian peas, small field com (cut before it
is 12 inches high), lettuce, mow scrapings of clover heads,
or any other similar green stuff that is seasonable and pro-
curable. Any chicks that do not show growth and activity
are immediately removed, thus maintaining a high average
of strength and vigor in the flock. Scrupulous cleanliness
observed at this time and at all times, prevents trouble from
vermin and sickness.

The first three weeks of a chicken's life constitute its most

critical period. If it is vigorous and bright during the fourth

week there is but little reason to expect r^ • ■

much trouble in the future. This is espe- _ . .

i criod
cially true on the Rancocas Poultry Farm,

for nature's plan of "the survival of the fittest" is not

balked^n any way.

At the age of three weeks, when they begin to feather on

the wings and back, the system of feeding chicks is again

changed. Instead of the chick food, mixed grains are given

3 times a day. The feeding of green stuff is kept up as before.

The grain mixture is composed of 2 parts of chick cracked

107

THE MILLION EGG FARM

corn, 2 parts of sifted cracked wheat, and 1 part of hulled
oats, cracked fine. The oyster shell, charcoal, and beef
scrap are continued in quantities increased 50 per cent. If a
craving for animal matter manifests itself in toe-picking,
or otherwise, the amount of beef scrap is increased still more.
As soon as the chicks are grown so that their sex may be
determined, the males are put by themselves in one end of
, the house. This is because it is desirable

„ -, . at this time to make a difference in their

rullets iroin ,. j ^ i ^u r

rations, and to keep them from annoymg

the young pullets. To the pullets, a wet
mash is fed once a day. It is made up of the following:

1^ parts bran

1 part wheat middlings

1 part corn meal

1 part steamed clover

1 part beef scrap

J part fine oyster shell

J part linseed meal

It is made wet enough to be crumbly, but not mushy.

To the cockerels, in addition to the grain mixture of corn,
wheat, and oats, the wet mash is given, with more corn meal.
Besides this increase of corn meal, the last feed of the day
to the cockerels is of corn alone. The beef scrap is fed in
smaller quantities.

The cockerels not saved for breeding should be disposed of

as broilers as soon as possible. Under this system they are

fat and ready for market in 10 weeks, weighing a pound or

more each. The pullets are held on the hard ration to develop

xkiv. u their powers of digestion and assimilation,

^''^ that they may be in the best possible form

^1^ ^° fulfil their destiny as good layers and

Cockerels ^^ seeders. As the pullets and the cockerels

grow larger, whole wheat, oats, and corn

are used in place of the finer wheat, oats, and corn, and the

rations maintained otherwise unchanged.

108

THE MILLION EGG FARM

When the sexes are separated, the pens and runways are
removed, the hovers are stored, and the pullets have the
run of the floor and yards. The males being fattened for
broilers are kept in their third of the house until marketed.
The system of colonizing starts with 2,000 chicks in one
house. The number of pullets over 500 or GOO raised, together
with the surplus cockerels not marketed, are removed to other
houses. The remaining birds stay in their original colony.

The care of the chicks, besides feeding and hovering, must
take account of the surrounding temperature. When chicks
in the incubators drop from the hatching trays to the nursery
below they find the temperature about !)5° F. Thcv are
brought from the incubators to the hovers
into a heat of from 92° to 90° F., which is Brooding
maintained the first 2 wrecks. Xo arbitrary ^^"*^
rule is adhered to, as the heat temperature temperature
is governed by the action of the chicks and not by the
mercury in the thermometer.

If the chicks crow'd to the outside of the hover, panting
and breathing hard, it is an indication of too much heat;
if they huddle and crowd about the hover they need more
heat. The natural w^ay of applying warmth to chicks is on
their backs. In artificial brooding, therefore, the heat is
supplied from overhead. Experience teaches that bottom
heat leads to leg weakness. When the chicks run from and
to the hover, and at night-time spread themselves com-
fortably under the edge of the hover, with their heads out,
it is a safe indication of the right temperature. Too much
heat is more detrimental than not enough.

When the weather is favorable, chicks 6 days old are let
into the outside runs, w^here they enjoy scratching.

After 2 weeks the temperature of the hovers is run between
90° and 88° F., until the checks are 4 weeks old. Then it
is maintained between 86° and 84° F., for 2 weeks, after
which it is reduced to 82° F. and kept there until the birds
no longer need artificial heat. When the chicks are from

109

110

THE MILLION KGG FARM

6 to S weeks old, dependini,^ on their development and
weather conditions, they no longer need hovers. An out-
door temperature of about 70° F. seems to be about right
for birds after they leave the nursery.

Pure, fresh air is as essential as warmth. This is supplied
in connection with the heating system, the hover creating
a constant gentle circulation. Cleanliness
in the pens, the hovers, the drinking *"®y Must
fountains, and the feeding boards is "^^^ Pure
strictly observed. Incubator chicks are *" ^ ^^

free from lice and will remain so a long "^^^P* Clean
time if kept in clean surroundings.

Before the young birds have learned to roost on perches
they lie down flat on the straw-covered floor. Straw is
piled high in the corners of the room to
prevent crowding. When they are far Colonizing in
enough developed to roost on the perches !^^ ^ locks

it is easy to teach them the way. When ^"^'* *"^
closing the houses at night, a few chicks ?^^* ,

are placed on the perches and in a short "^^nioveci
time the entire flock roosts there.

The natural occurrence of surplus male birds in every
hatch makes it necessary for the Million Egg Farm to
market the cockerels as soon as possible.

The first cockerels are killed and sold as squab broilers
when they weigh about H pounds a pair. These are in
great demand by epicures. From this time on during the
summer, when the male bird approximates 5 pounds, they
are killed and sold as the market warrants. In boxing
them for shipment a quantity of ice, suflicient to last 2 or 3
days, is included.

As particularly fine-pointed males develop they are selected
and saved for breeding purposes. A thousand of these
cockerels in one house makes a sight worth traveling far
to see. Each one is a model rooster — a miniature reproduc-
tion of the full-sized bird.

THE MILLION KGG FARM

CHAPTER X

Executive Building of the Rancocas

Poultry Farm — A Glimpse of

a Model Structure

HIS building is used for the offices of the
International Poultry Sales Company, and
for the feed-storage and incubator rooms
and machinery of the MILLION EGG
FARM. It is the largest and most expen-
sive structure on any poultry plant in the
world, costing for con- rj^eproof
struction and equipment Wisdom
the sum of $50,000.
It is of approved fireproof character
throughout. A fire destroying the MILLION EGG FARM'S
incubator rooms would cause a loss of thousands of dollars by
interrupting a season's hatching. Another consideration in
favor of fireproof construction is the low cost of insurance.
An item of great importance in any business is cost of
supplies. By having large storage room this farm can
accumulate its grain for feeding when prices are lowest.
With 20,000 fowls to feed, a 10 per cent, saving in the cost
of grain will pay for the building in ten years. As it is
located in the heart of the plant it makes possible also a saving
in the labor of handling, mixing, and distributing the feed.
Furthermore, the executive and clerical staffs of the business,
and needful supplies of all kinds, find excellent accommoda-
tion in its spacious rooms. These considerations and advan-

11.3

THE MILLION EGG FARM

tages make the high quality and large extent of this building
an economy and not an extravagance.

The total length of the building is 160 feet, divided into

what is called the Main Building, 125 feet

long, and the western end, 35 feet long.

The main building is 26 feet wide, and two

stories over a basement in height.

The structure is heated with hot water and ventilated in
the most approved manner. A sanitary plumbing system
that meets all requirements is in operation. The building,
as well as the entire plant, is supplied with water from a
spring-fed reservoir 1,000 feet away.

The basement walls are of concrete and the exterior walls
of a high grade of brickwork, coped with stone. The floor
and roof systems are of reinforced concrete and all com-
municating stairways and doorways are of standard metal
construction. From a pole on the turret of the western end
floats the flag of the company. A mammoth chanticleer
surmounts the fagade over the ofifice entrance.

The basement under the main building is used entirely
for incubation. In addition to this capacity there is at the
left end a continuation 109 feet long and 27 feet wide, running
toward the north, at a right angle to the main building.
This part of the incubator basement is covered by a concrete
, _ roof only. Thus, room is supplied to

the incubator , mnnnn ^ t\ ■ ^v.

_ set 100,000 eggs at once. Dunng the

Basement ■ u ^ -u- ^u

previous hatching season there was an

incubator capacity on the Farm of 32,000 eggs, but orders
for day-old chicks were returned unfilled as early in the
season as April, making this enlargement necessary. The
knowledge regarding desirable incubating conditions acquired
in operating the three cellars used previously has been put
to good use in designing this incubator room.

The basement of the western end is separated from the
incubator basement by a thick wall and metal doors. In
it is a gasoline engine to pump water for the elevator and to

THE MILLION KGG FARM

the tank on the fourth floor; and a larger gasoHne engine to
operate the machinery. This larger engine is so arranged
that it can be used to pump water when the smaller engine
is not working. Also, in this basement rpi p, ,,
is a boiler to furnish hot-water heating for w>
the buildmg. Near the exit is an air-tight
bin that holds, until it is removed in wagons, the litter made
from cutting straw, etc. A carpenter's bench, table-saw,
lathe, anvil, blacksmith's forge, grindstone, and other tools
complete the equipment of the engine room. f*^

A large elevator for passengers and freight runs from the
basement of the western end to the roof. This makes it
easy to move feed, etc. to the proper floors.

On the first floor of the western end is placed the belt-
driven machinery for cutting litter used in packing eggs
and for chopping the green stuff fed each C' a- a

day. Here also is the wet-mash mixing »» • .
■^ , . , ,, , . Machine

machine and a 100-gallon copper boiling

kettle for steaming the clover or alfalfa used in the morn-
ing mash.

Around the sides of this room are bins containing the
mixed and unmixed grains, from which the feeders take the
rations fed to the chickens daily.

There are separate bins for wheat, barley, hulled oats, and
cracked com; and for the mixtures of wheat and barley,
wheat and hulled oats, wheat and cracked corn, and barley
and hulled oats. Other bins hold the proportionate mixtures
used for the mash feeds. The buckets used by the feeders
are here kept on racks.

Outside of the western end of the building, on a level

with the first floor, is a loading platform A' a

equipped with a mechanical hoist. Sup- w^, - ,

7 J u J 4^ 1 ^ +u Platform and

plies are received here and taken to the _ .

Scales
elevator. Under the platform coal is

stored. In front of the loading platform is a platform

scale for weighing supplies.

115

THE MILLION EGG FARM

The second floor of this western end houses a belt-driven
mixing machine, in which all the grains and dry mashes
to be mixed are prepared and delivered through chutes to
the proper bins below. Here also feed is stored in bags,
such as middlings, bran, linseed, ground oats, corn meal, etc.

The third floor above the basement of the western end

encloses a water tank of 6,000 gallons capacity. This cannot

\ \/u f . freeze and it supplies water for various

J, I u uses throughout the Farm. The remainder

of the space in this room is occupied by
empty egg cases and other stock materials that should be
protected from the outside weather.

At the eastern end of the main building, on the first floor,
are the quarters for the officers, clerks, and stenographers

t, . of the company. The entrance is a lobby

, opening to the bookkeeping department.

At the right of the lobby is the President's
office, furnished in quartered oak. The
Secretary and Treasurer have a room in the northeastern
corner. These rooms are equipped with all necessary con-
veniences, such as file cases, desks, telephones, and lavatories.
The extensive first-floor space between the office quarters
and the western end is arranged and used for the storage
in bags of food supplies not requiring to be mixed; for the
display of all the products dealt in by the
^ Company, such as incubators, brooders,

^ hovers, and prepared foods; and also for
egg grading and sorting. A dark room for
testing and candling market and hatching eggs — to avoid
selling any with blood spots, etc.^is here provided. Also,
there is a sink for washing soiled eggs before they are sent
to market.

In one corner is a locker, shower bath, and washroom
for the men employed on the Farm. The foreman of the
plant has his office, equipped with a desk and recording facili-
ties, on this floor.

116

THE MILLION EGG FARM

The second floor of the main building is used entirely for
the storage of grain in large bulk. It is furnished with an
overhead carrying system that reaches from the elevator
shaft to the other end of the building and,
by switches, to the various grain Ijins.
There are 40 bins in this room, holding
8,000 to 10,000 bushels of grain, according
to the weight of the dift'erent kinds of feed.

Grain

Storage

Quarters

Chutes lead from

these bins to the mixing hoppers on the floor below.

117

118

THE MILLION KGG FARM

CHAPTER XI

Concerning Profits Realized on the

Rancocas Poultry Farm for the

Season of 1910

'OWEVER interested the reader may have
been in the history, methods, and products
of the Rancocas Farm, there may still lurk
in his mind a doubt concerning the relia-
bility of the figures and a question about
the actual financial profit of such a vast
and elaborate experiment. A tree must
be judged by its fruits, and a business by
its profits. Unless the large expenditure
of time and money has brought an ade-
quate return the enterprise will have no interest for the
majority of men. Happily I am in a position to furnish
accurate and authenticated figures on every part of the busi-
ness. The books of the Rancocas Poultry Farm have been
examined and audited by the well-known and rehable firm
of public accountants, Messrs. Lybrand, Ross Brothers, &
Montgomery, Land Title Building, Philadelphia, Pa., and
their names guarantee every financial item given in this
volume. To the best of my knowledge and belief this is the
only poultry book that has ever been published which gives
an authenticated statement of actual costs and profits.

In the majority of poultry books the estimates of costs and
the statement of profits are not at all trustworthy. The
writers place the wages of their help much too low in order

THE MILLION EGG FARM

to show a profit. The average wage paid on the Rancocas
Poultry Farm is over $50 a month. I consider that the
successful operation of the plant depends upon the respon-
sibility of the men and the interest which they take in their
respective departments. We cannot hire the kind of help we
require for $20 or $25 a month. $250 a month is charged
for my services alone and $100 a month is paid to the foreman.
Members of the office force are paid practically city wages,
as competent help in these departments is absolutely essential.
Failure in the poultry business has been frequently ascribed
to the high cost of feeding. The greatest expense we have on
this plant is not the feeding, but the general
costs, such as wages and incidental sundries.
It is likely that on some plants the trouble
is not so much that the feed is too high, but
that good feed is fed to the birds with poor
judgment by the feeders, thus wasting the profits aimed at. We
feed our birds high-priced grains by high-priced feeders, and the
result is that we obtain large returns in the way of eggs, rapid
maturity, and the maintenance of a high standard of health.
It should be understood at the outset that in order to make
a poultry plant pay there are other matters of importance
which enter into the general proposition besides that of rais-

1 ,M 1 ^^g chickens, although necessarily that is

Oood Market . i 4^- T t i a u

the prime essential, iwo onlv need be

and Oood ^^ j • ..u -4. " e

, mentioned, viz.: the necessity oi securing

an accessible and profitable market for
your product; and also the need of giving your customers
satisfactory service.

Another item of importance is your method of advertising
and the cost of procuring customers.

The purchase of the best feed at economical prices is
another factor. There is no poultry farm, whether large or
small, which cannot make some satisfactory arrangement
with the large feed houses to secure a certain discount by
which the farm can add to its profits.

120

THE MILLION EGG FARM

Insurance is one of the best assets in which a poultry man

can invest. We carry not less than $60,000

^, ^ ,1 ■ 1 ■ Insurance

m the most responsible companies doing

business in New Jersey, insuring our houses, stock, and gen-
eral equipment all through the plant.

Of course, interest on the investment, as well as deprecia-
tion, is charged of¥ each year.

Each feeder on the farm is supplied with printed egg slips,

showing the number of houses under his care. When he

makes the first pick-up in the afternoon he ^ , .

^ J ^u ^ u e 1 Kecord of

puts down the exact number ot eggs col- ■ w^ , .

lected from each house m the proper

column, and totals it ; and again in the evening when the final

pick-up takes place. He then adds the two columns together

and turns his slip in to the foreman, who, in turn, makes a

duplicate of the slips and gives the office a summary of egg

product for that day.

In addition to noting upon these slips the number of eggs

gathered, the feeder also enters such comments as may be

necessary — deaths (if any), general condition of the birds,

and any suggestions that may occur to him. Of these the

foreman makes a summary and sends it to the office where it

awaits my action. Anything requiring attention is approved

and sent back to the foreman, who, in turn, notifies the feeder

of the changes that may have been author- * rp i

ized. We adhere so strictlv to this method _ n. j

• 1.1 . / i_- J ■ 11 J Lvery Bird

that It may be said that not a bird is allowed

to take a strange or new step without its being first passed upon
at headquarters. The clerk in the egg room receives a copy
of the number of eggs collected each day, and checks it up, and
sends to the foreman a report regarding the number of eggs
shipped, and the number left on hand, first sorting the hatch-
ing eggs from the market eggs, and keeping a separate account
of each.

Advertising, as said before, is one of the main factors in the
business, and it seems to be a special gift to word the pub-

THE MILLION KGG FARM

licity material in such a way as to reach the individual

poultry man sought for and, likewise, to select only such

publications as will bring the best results. » j ... ,

TT- M, ,, " , , , Advertisine

W e key every paper m which we adver-
tise, which enables us to credit each with the number of
inquiries received and the orders resulting therefrom.

The method of disposing of your eggs at the highest market
price is one of the cardinal things that will determine what
your profits will be at the end of the season j mm i

or year. We are the largest shippers of "ood Market
strictly fresh eggs to New York City and have no trouble to
secure proper parties to handle them. We have tried catering
to the hotel trade; but, as a rule, hotels are so dilatory, and
their claims for breakage so exacting, and the custom of pay-
ing the steward extra fees in order to keep him in good humor
is so unsatisfactory (all of which takes time and expense, even
though we might be able to get a premium above the market
price) that we have turned away from this class of trade
entirely.

The selling of fresh eggs to retail stores is a very satisfactory
method of disposing of your eggs, provided you are able to do
your business w^th responsible parties.

Owing to the excellent quality of our eggs we have estab-
lished in New York City a demand for them. They are taken
by one or two jobbers who buy them from our commission
merchant, and we find it more satisfactory to deal entirely
w^th one commission house in Xew York that is able to dis-
pose of the whole output of the Rancocas Poultry Farm at as
good prices in the long run as might be obtained if we sold to
hotels, restaurants, and private customers. Because the cus-
tomers of the commission merchant have learned that Ran-
cocas eggs are strictly fresh, and the quality uniform, the
dealer has no difficulty whatever in disposing of the eggs —
the demand, in fact, is far in excess of the supply.

Returns for the sale of eggs are made to us daily, and we
pay the merchant only 5 per cent, commission. There is also

123

124

THE MILLION EGG FARM

a considerable saving in the bookkeeping department, owing

to the fact that we have prompt returns ^^ . ,

and no losses on bad accounts. Shipping p

only to one firm pays us better than if

we were to distribute our eggs to different parties, even

though w"e might do so at premium prices.

Xo doubt a great many shippers of fancy eggs have been
"taken into camp" by unscrupulous commission merchants,
but you will be able to find a large number of reliable firms
\vhich have been in the business for many years, and who are
as responsible and trustworthy as merchants in any other
line of trade.

The irresponsible dealer is generally found among the
lower class of merchants who enter into the commission
business for a limited time only for the purpose of defraud-
ing shippers whose names they secure by follow-ing up
express wagons, then soliciting their trade by offering from
2 to 4 cents above the prices others are paying. For a while,
after they have secured such trade, they make prompt pay-
ments, gradually becoming lax, and finally closing up entirely,
whereupon the shipper is out of pocket.

This is one of the reasons w'hy we prefer to do all of our
business with one responsible firm of undoubted character,
rather than with a number of houses.

The question may be asked whether it is wiser to ship broil-
ers alive or dressed. Our early broilers, » .

•^ Live or

when the market price for them is from ^v j

^ Dressed

50 to 60 cents a pound, we ship dressed; ftroilers
but as the season only lasts about 6 weeks
of the year we prefer to ship the larger portion of our broilers
(about three-fourths of them) to market alive.

Below follows the statement of the business done by the
Rancocas Poultry Farm for the season of 1910, commencing
August 1, 1909, and ending July 31, 1910, as issued by the
firm of Lybrand, Ross Brothers, & Montgomery, Public
Accountants, Land Title Building, Philadelphia. Pa.:

125

THE MILLION EGG FARM

Income and Expenses for the Year Ending July 31, 1910

Income:

Sales of market eggs $12,721.36

Sales of hatching eggs 5,103.62

Sales of broilers 200.00

Sales of live birds 3,208.34

Sales of day-old chicks 6,446.50

$27,679.82
Expert ses:

Advertising $ 992.81

Feeds of all kinds, viz. :

Payments during year $ 9,129.94

Add, unpaid bills July 31, 1910, less esti-
mated feed on hand 1.000.00

$10,129.94
Less unpaid bills August 1, 1909, included
in above payments, less feed on hand

(estimated) 2,585.95

$ 7,543.99

Expenses 16,159.19

$24,695.99

Excess of cash income above expenses $2,983.83

Value of pullets and cockerels on hand at end
of year in addition to stock of August 1, 1909,
viz. :

11.500 pullets, at $1.00 $11,500.00

2,599 cockerels, at $2.25 5,847.75

$17,347.75

Less allowance for birds sold (old stock), lost
by death, etc. :

Hens and pullets, 723 at $1.00. $723.00
Roosters and cockerels, 55 at

$2.25 123.75 846.75

16,501.00

Total profit, not including broilers on hand $19,484.83

Average laying stock, 7,000 hens.
Average profit per hen, $2.78

126

THE MILLION EGG FARM

The net profits divided l>y 7, ()()() laying hens show a profit of
$2.78 per hen.

It should be borne in mind that our statement shows the
actual earnings of 7,0{)() birds after deducting the cost of hiring
sufficient help to take care of practically 30,000 birds on the
plant at the present time — stock that will give us about
20,000 layers at the beginning of the new season. The state-
ment thus shows that we have earned a profit of better than
19 per cent, on our investment with only 7,000 layers.
It is well to note that we are coming into next season with
nearly three times as many layers, and ovir expense for help
will not increase because we have already a sufficient number
of men to take care of the increased number of birds; and the
increase in the amount of feed that will be required will not
be over 10 per cent, of the amount the birds are now con-
suming, so that we shall be able to show a profit of 50 per cent,
or better this coming year.

Let us add finally that we have not aimed in the preceding
pages to show what it will cost to feed each individual bird,
owing to the amount of bookkeeping that would be required
in order to do so, but in the following chapter, written for
beginners, we do specify what it will cost to take care of a cer-
tain number of fowls.

127

THE MILLION EGG FARM

CHAPTER XII

Rancocas Poultry Farm Methods

Laid Out for Beginners on

Small Farms

HE question that must have arisen in the
minds of many readers, is: "How can I,
with small capital and little experience to
invest at the start, adapt the Rancocas
Poultry Farm methods to my own circum-
stances?"

To answer this question, carefully worked
out plans are given herewith. These plans
are not new and untried, for more than a
score of poultry men have put them into
practice during the last two years, with uniform success.
When good methods of egg farming fail, it is because they
are not understood and backed by sufficient effort and capital
to stand the strain of paying "dumb tax." Almost all egg
farmers get a good profit today. This was not the case a few
years ago, because of crude methods and ideas. But there is a
wide difference between the margins of profit various poultry
men earn. To be thoroughly successful is to get the greatest
possible percentage of profit. This means having the best
stock and using the best system and methods. These plans
and estimates are based on Rancocas standards of stock,
equipment, and methods.

In none of the plans is the cost of land figured, it being
assumed that the beginner already owns some property. To

129

THE MILLION KGG FARM

the man or woman with less than $100 to invest no special
plan is given, for in such cases it is easy to deduce from the
other plans.

For the person with some spare time and $500 to invest in
the egg-farming business, and an income to meet his personal
needs for a time, we give a plan of the building and other
equipment required, and the results he should have in a year.

The person with $1,000 to invest, and $500 additional for
living expenses, is dealt with next.

The man or woman who wants to install and equip a $2,500
plant, and has $500 to live on, is then considered.

To those able to start with an investment of over $5,000
no better plan can be suggested than that actually worked
by the MILLION EGG FARM. An investment of $5,000
or more ought to bring its owner much greater profit than
it did in the early days of the Rancocas Poultry Farm,
for expensive lessons have been learned and paid for in
the mistakes and experiments there made.

With $500 to invest and an ordinary amount of spare time

to give to the egg-farming avocation, you can earn a dividend

of 65 per cent, for yourself the first season.

A plot of ground of about half an acre in

extent is needed. The first expenditures

are for the chicken house and equipment.

If built according to the plans and specifications herewith

given the house will cost $300.

All concrete is to be made in the proportion of 1 part cement

to 6 parts clean sharp gravel. Foundation walls to be 6 inches

g^ , thick. The ground, if sand, is to be leveled

(concrete

off over the entire floor area of the building

and covered with a damp-proof layer of two-ply tar paper
over which is to be laid a concrete floor 2h inches thick and
at such a level that the surface of the floor will be 1 inch
below the top of the wood sill. (In case the building is to
be erected on a soil other than sand or gravel, the foundation
wall should extend below frost level and the floor space

130

THE MILLION EGG FARM

be prepared to receive the concrete and damp-proofing by

excavating the soil and then filHng in with 8 inches of cindt-rs,

or gravel.)

The framing timber and sheathing are to be hemlock.

Sills 2 inches by 6 inches; studding 2 inches by 4 inches;

plate 2 inches bv 4 inches; rafters 2 inches w .
... " , ^ - Lumber

by b mches spaced 2 teet on centers.

Perches 2 inches by 3 inches. Siding is to be of white pine

or cedar with a lap of at least 1 inch. Doors to be made

of 1-inch tongued-and-grooved white pine boards with an

8-inch face, well battened and braced. The dropping board

is to be of 1-inch tongued-and-grooved yellow pine boards

secret-nailed. One thickness of two-ply tar paper is to be

placed under the siding on the north wall of the building.

The wall behind the perches from dropping board to roof is

to be sheathed with tongued-and-grooved boards. The sills

are to be secured to the foundation walls by 12-inch bolts,

built into the wall during its construction. •«»•.

Hire
\\ ire screens are to be put over the bot- c

^ screens

tom sash of all windows and over all the

muslin screen openings. The screens are to be hinged where
so noted on drawings.

The roof sheathing is to be covered with heavy two-ply
roofing felt, well lapped and securely nailed, and mopped with

pitch. Over this is to be spread a heavy „ r. ,

^- c -^ u A y Roofing

coatmg of pitch and slag.

Eight feet at one end of this house is designed for a feed
storage room. Arranging the remainder upon a proportionate
scale, constructing pens, and furnishing it with hovers, as
described under the heading "Brooder System with Movable
Hovers," on the foregoing pages, you will be able to install
500 April-hatched chicks.

These chicks, at 13^ cents each, plus expressage of S2 for
the lot, will cost S69.50. Five hovers, five drinking foun-
tains, a spraying pump, shovels, feed buckets, etc., can be
bought for about S58.

131

THE MILLION KGG FARM

Eighty per cent, of the chicks should survive and be
healthy when they are 3 months old. This will give you,
in July, a flock of 200 pullets and 200 cockerels. Selling
190 of the cockerels for broilers and reserving 10 for mating
purposes, leaves you 210 birds to be cared for in the 788 square
feet of floor space in the house — (588 square feet of floor;
168 square feet of platform; and 32 square feet of nests).
This is a little more than 3^ square feet of

space for each fowl. Selling the surplus

Calculation , i ^ +v, ^^ ^. ^

cockerels at this time not only gives you

more room, but cuts the feed bill, and brings your first

income. At this age the cockerels will bring about 30 cents

each, or $57 in all.

The cost of feed, oil, litter, etc., for rearing the 400 birds

to the age of 3 months is 6 cents each a
Cost: j^^Qj^i-^^ Qj. ^ ^Q^^i q£ 172.

After the first of July, the 210 remaining
birds, with their increased size, will cost
10 cents each a month to feed. By October
these April-hatched pullets should be laying well. They will
not molt or stop laying until the last of the following August,
by which time the flock will have averaged 144 eggs a pullet
for the 12 months, or 12 eggs a month. This is a low average
for the Rancocas strain of S. C. white Leghorns, when they are
kept in so small a flock. An average market price of 3 cents
an egg yields 36 cents a pullet each month, or $72 for the
flock. The cost of feeding for the month is $21. There is
a profit, therefore, of $51 a month for 12 months, over the
cost of feeding.

Marketing the 210 birds in August, at which time they

will bring the highest prices, after the

f^n W^^ pullets stop laying will give a meat profit

ot bO '-^nts ^^ gQ ^^^^g g^^^^ ^j. IJ26. In the foUowing

statement, the business is debited with the
cost of insuring the building, equipment, and the stock and
with interest on the investment of $500.

132

THE MILLION KGG FARM

The estimates upon which the statement is based are con-
servative throughout. While the percentage of profit is
figured on the total of the season's expenses, the actual
greatest amount invested at one time is only $502.50. By
building up a private trade there is no doubt you could get
an average yearly price of 4 cents, or more, an egg, which
would add $172.80 to your earnings. Also, there are
possibilities of selling some of the surplus cockerels for
much more than 30 cents each; of selling, moreover,
hatching eggs instead of market eggs — and so on indefi-
nitely. No one following the methods outlined in this book
will fail to get a good profit the first year and a larger profit
the next year.

June

Credit

I

\PRIL, M

Debit

House and yarding

$300.00

500 day-old chicks, at 13^

cents

67 50

Expressage on chicks

2.00

5 hovers, at $8.00

40.00

5 drinking fountains, at

40 cents

2 00

Spraying pump, shovel,

bucket

10.00

Feed, 400 chicks, 3 months,

at 6 cents per month . . .

72.00

Interest and insurance, 3

months

9.00

Total

$502.50

July to August Next Ye.\r, 14 Months
Feed, 210 birds, 14 months 190 cockerels, at 30

at 10 cents $294.00 cents $ 57.00

Interest and insurance, at 28,800 eggs (200 pullets

$3.00 per month 42.00 144 eggs each) 8(54.00

210 birds marketed at

60 cents 120.00

Total expenses $838.50 Total receipts $1 .047.00

133

THE MILLION EGG FARM

Summary at End of Season

Total cash receipts $1,047.00

Total cash expense 838.50

Cash on hand $208.50

House and equipment (less 5% depreciation) . . . 334.40

Total assets of business $542.90

Profit 65%

Repeating this business the next season, beginning the
following April, you would need a cash capital of only $175,
and that only the first 6 months. Your cash receipts would
be $1,047 as before, but your expenses only $497 (including
$10.50 interest and insurance on the building the 7 months
it contains no chickens), leaving you with $550 cash and your
house and equipment (now valued at $317), when your birds
are sold for meat. The percentage of profit on this second
season's business is 180 per cent. The third, fourth, fifth, etc.
seasons worked on this plan would each give the same profit
as the second.

By putting part of this cash profit of the second season into
additional building and equipment there would be room to
care for the second instalment of young chickens at the same
time the pullets are laying, thus avoiding the idleness of
7 months after the previous flock's season is over. For
instance, starting in business with day-old chicks, in April,
1911, you would have eggs in October, and in the following
11 months, which brings the time up to September, 1912,
when the flock shall be marketed. Then, unless you had
additional room and had started with another flock in April,
5 months previously, you would have no room for the new
flock until after the September killing. And this means
waiting from September, 1912, to April, 1913, for the next
proper starting season. Therefore, by using part of your
second season's earnings to increase your plant you can make
each subsequent season overlap the previous season; and do
a business every 12 months that, including the 7 months

i;i4

THE MILLION EGG FARM

between the time of killing (September) and the time of

starting with a new flock (April), otherwise would consume

24 months. Your profits then would be S550 every 12 months

instead of every season.

Instead of starting in business with day-old chicks, you can

start with an incubator and eggs. A 400-egg capacity machine

costs $38 and hatching eggs 7 cents each, c

, , , suppose

By settmg the machme twice you would, x-

very conservatively estimated, get 500 | i .
chicks from the SOO eggs. The cost of 800
hatching eggs is $56. The cost of oil for heating the machine
is half a cent an &g%, or S4 for the two hatches. To get the
chicks in hand there would be an investment, therefore, of
$98 the first year instead of S69.50 for which the chicks could
be bought. Also, 6 weeks' time would be consumed, in
addition to the slightly increased interest and insurance
charges.

The advantages in the long run of starting with an in-
cubator are greater than the disadvantages, in that while you
have the initial expense of $38 for the machine, it is but
once and you are independent of others for chicks, being in
a position even to sell some chicks at 13^ cents each, instead
of the eggs at 3 cents.

Also, by enlarging the plant after the first season — whether
starting with day-old chicks, or with hatching eggs — instead
of marketing all the birds at the end of their pullet year.

two-thirds of them will be worth selecting You Have
and holding over as yearling layers. These ^j^^ Yearling
may be depended on to yield 120 eggs each, i avers
a year. The additional cost of keeping over
these 130 yearlings will be but 10 cents each a month, during
the 3 months of their molt. Thus a saving in the cost of
day-old chicks, or hatching eggs, and in the expense of the
first 3 months' rearing will be effected. The eggs from the
yearling hens will be worth 50 per cent, more for hatching
than those from pullets.

135

THE MILLION EGG FARM

With $1,000 to invest in the egg-farming business, and

What You ^^^^ additional for Hving expenses the first

Can Do ^^^s°^' 7°^ can earn 81 per cent, in return

With SI 000 ^°^ your labor and the use of your capital.

About an acre of ground is needed; and a

chicken house, according to previous specifications and the

following plan.

This 85-foot house contains a 10-foot feed room and floor
space enough for 400 adult birds. Starting with 1,000
day-old chicks at 13 cents each, in 10 pens, each equipped
with movable hovers, etc., there would be expense of $228,
as shown by the following account. Raising 80 per cent,
of the chicks to the age of 3 months would give you 400
pullets and 400 cockerels, at a further cost of $144 for
feed (6 cents each, a month). Interest and insurance for
the three months would amount to $15. Selling 380 of
the cockerels would bring $114 and leave you a flock of
400 pullets and 20 cockerels to grow to full maturity and
remain 14 months longer in the house, at a monthly expense
of 10 cents each for feed, or a total of $558. By the end
of the 14 months, these 400 pullets will have laid during 12
months 144 eggs each. At 3 cents apiece the income from
eggs would be $1,728. Marketing the flock at the end of
this season would return $252.

Including interest and insurance at the rate of $5 a
month, the first season's business will have cost you $1,445;
and you will have taken in $2,094, leaving you cash in hand
to the amount of $649 and a building and equipment
valued at $470.

THE MILLION EGG FARM

Credit

A

PRiL, May, Jlxe

Debit

House and yarding

S400.00

1,000 day-old chicks, at

13 cents

130.00

Express on day-old chicks

4.00

10 hovers, at $8.00

80.00

10 drinking fountains, at

40 cents

4.00

Spraying pump, shovel,

bucket, etc

10.00

Feed 800 chicks, 3 months.

at IS cents

144.00

Interest and insurance,

3 months

15.00

Total

$787.00

July Through Second Following August
Feed, 420 birds, 14 380 cockerels, at 30

months, at 10 cents . . . S5SS.00 cents S 1 14.00

Interest and insurance 57,600 eggs (400 pullets,

14 months, at S5.00 a 144 eggs each) 1,728.00

month 70.00 420 birds marketed, at

60 cents 252.00

Total expenses -51,445.00 Total receipts $2,094.00

SUMM.A.RY AT EXD OF SeASON

Total cash receipts 82.094.00

Total expenses 1,445.00

Cash in hand 649.00

House and equipment (less o% depreciation). . . 470.00

.?1. 119.00
Profit 78%

While your total expense for the season is SI, 445, yet
the greatest amount invested any month is less than SSOO.
Figuring your time worth SCO a month you would have a
personal credit of SI, 020 for the season of 17 months. But
onlv a fraction of vour time can fairly be charged against

137

THE MILLION EGG FARM

your chicken business because there will be many hours each
day that you can devote to gardening and the care of your
home. Sixty dollars a month for living on a farm such as
this would be, is equivalent to a $90-a-month living in a city.

For the second season you would need in the business
less than $400 cash. Your receipts would be the same as
before and your expenses only $951, leaving a profit of
$1,143 cash and the house and equipment valued at $447,

F li Y which is 167 per cent, gain at the end of the

w. i^ second season. Following seasons would be

wj .. the same. For the reasons, therefore, as

Better , . , . , ', . ,

explained m the case of the man with

$500 in hand, it would be wise for you to invest in addi-
tional buildings and equipment part of the cash yielded at
the end of the second season. Your profits would be, then,
$1,143 every 12 months instead of every 24 months.

With a cash capital of $2,500 to carry you through the first

Wh i Y season in the egg-farming business, and

r^ pv $500 additional for other expenses, you can

W"*li <R2 '^OO have a thousand layers the first year. The

building required is 225 feet long and

costs $1,400. Three acres of yard for the fowls are needed.

As is clearly shown in the plan, the building is divided
by a feed room into two 100-foot wings.

To equip this plant with 1,000 adult pullets you will need
to start with 2,500 day-old chicks, which can be bought
for $335. The twenty movable hovers, fountains, etc. will
cost $178. Bringing 80 per cent, of the chicks to the age
of 3 months, you will have 1,000 pullets and 1,000 cockerels
at a cost for feeding, heating, etc. of $360. Interest and
insurance amounts to $45 for the 3 months. Selling 950
cockerels for broilers will bring $285 and leave you 50 cockerels
to mate with the 1,000 pullets. To maintain these 1,050
birds 14 months, which brings them through the laying
season, will cost $1,470 for feed, with the addition of $210
for insurance on equipment and interest on investment.

138

THE MILLION KGG FARM

At the end of the laying season the selhng of the 1,050 birds
for meat adds S630 to your receipts.

In the meantime, you will have gathered 144,000 eggs to
sell for 3 cents each, or S4,320. The total of expenses is
$3,998 and the total of receipts $5,235. The cash on hand
amounts to $1,237, besides which you have the building and
equipment worth $1,500.

April, M.\y, June
Debit Credit

House and yarding SI ,400.00

2,500 day-old chicks, at

13 cents 325.00

Express 10.00

Twenty hovers, at SS.OO IGO.OO

Twenty drinking foun-
tains, at 40 cents 8.00

Pump, shovel, buckets. . 10.00

Feed, 2,000 chicks, 3

months, at 18 cents. . . 360.00

Interest and insurance. . . 45.00

$2,318.00
July Through the Second Following August

Feed 1,050 birds, 14 950 cockerels, at 30

months, at 10 cents. .. SI, 470.00 cents $ 285.00

Interest and insurance 1,050 birds marketed,

at S15 a month, 14 at 60 cents 630.00

months 210.00 144,000 eggs at 3 cents. 4,320.00

$3,998.00 $5,235.00

SuM.M.\RY AT End of Se.ason

Total cash receipts $5,235.00

Total cash expenses 3,998.00

Cash in hand 1.237.00

House and equipment (less 5% depreciation). . . 1,500.00

Total assets of business $2,737.00

Profit 68%

139

THE MILLION EGG FARM

The percentage of profit is figured from the total expenses
of the season and the assets. If it were based on the largest
actual amount of money invested any one month ($2,318),
which is in reality the amount of capital invested, the per-
centage figure would be 118. The difference between $3,998
and $2,318 is allowed in order to give a wide margin of safety
in the estimates and plans.

As was said in the previous case, if you figure your time

and labor to be worth $60 a month you will have a personal

charge against the business of $1,020 for

Make » our ^^^ season of 17 months. But, at any

\^ rate, you will have made your capital

Support You ^^^ j^^Q^ p^y y^^ ^^^y. ^2,737 and will

doubtless have secured much of your living from part of
your labor at the same time.

The second season will require no new investment for
building and equipment, so your expenses will be $1,500
less, and your receipts the same, with a cash profit of about
$2,800. The equipment still remaining will make the business
worth $4,300 the second and each following season, which
is equivalent to a profit of over 150%.

Putting back into the plant part of your second season's
earnings, in order to have room to start the following season's
flocks, while the previous flocks are laying, will make your
profit come every 12 months, instead of every 24 months,
as is explained under "What you can do for $500."

Also, as has been shown, instead of killing off all the pullets
before they molt, the best ones can be retained profitably for
the next season, if you have additional room.

With a plant of this size there is, perhaps, more economy
and convenience to be had from incubating for yourself
instead of buying chicks, than with smaller plants. Five
400-egg incubators, set twice, would give you 2,500 chicks,
at a total cost of $410, and pay for the machines.

As previously stated, the figures quoted in this chapter,
under the various plans outlined, are very conservative,

140

THE MILLION KGG FARM

both with respect to the amount of capital to be invested
and the profits to be derived.

The chicken business today is a safer venture for sure
returns than 90 per cent, of other Hnes of business in which
to invest your money. Your profits are not afTected by
general business depression, for all poultry products have
steadily advanced in the past eight years, independent of
general business conditions.

Rancocas methods have succeeded on this and many other
smaller plants, and are a guaranty of your success if strictly
adhered to.

THE MILLION EGG FARM

Letter From Joel M. Foster

Founder of the Rancocus Poultry F'arm und Pre!>ideDt
of the International Poultry .Sales Company

on the Particular Advantages of the
I. C. S. Poultry Farming Courses

To Readers of the Million Egg Farm Book :

The particular value of the I. C. S. Poultry Farming Courses

over all textbooks written on the subject is in the method

employed to make the student center his mind and actually

learn. It is this peculiar and wonderfully ,p, i z-' c

effective system that is responsible for the c * * * *

hundreds of letters sent to the I. C. S. everv ,. , , ^,

JVldKCS trie
month telling of positions bettered and ^^ , ^ ^

, ri ,,, rrnc Mudent Lon-
eammgs mcreased through study or 1. L. b. ,

Courses. The student of an I. C. S. Poultry p ,

Farming Course will be able to apply the

things he has learned — to make his knowledge show in results.

This is the crowning merit of the I. C. S. system.

Probably you have found this book both entertaining and
instructive. But the fact remains that neither the mere
reading of this book, nor the mere reading of any book on any
trade or occupation, will give to the reader that thorough
understanding of the subject he must have to become expert
in it.

This is because books are not, as a rule, read with the con-
centration of mind necessary to the thorough mastering of a
technical subject.

The wonderful success of the I. C. S. in teaching technical
subjects is because of the system to compel the student to so
concentrate his attention as to understand what he reads and

143

THE MILLION EGG FARM

make it a part of himself. The student of an I. C. S. Course
gains not only a general knowledge of the subject he is study-
ing; he gets a detailed knowledge of it that enables him to
apply in every-day work its principles and practices.

The I. C. S. system, developed through nearly twenty years
of successful teaching by correspondence, concentrates the
attention of the student by presenting to him just one phase
of the subject at a time and compelling him to write out answers
to a series of questions arranged to cover thoroughly the mat-
ter he has studied. When a student has mastered a paper so
as to be able to get a percentage of 90 from his instructors,
he has necessarily so learned what he has studied as to be
able to put it into actual practice. His mind has gripped
the facts and will not lose them.

All I. C. S. Courses are easy to learn, easy to remember, and

easy to apply. The I. C. S. system is a logical chain; to

c,^ 1 c. remember one link is to remember the

Step by 3tep , .

AVi I ♦ entire chain.

,» . There are two I. C. S. Courses in Poultry

Mastery ^ . ,

farming, namely:

Poultry Farming Course.

Poultry for Exhibition Course.

The Poultry Farming Course teaches the student every-
thing from the construction of a $4 poultry house to the suc-
cessful development and handling of a poultry farm of
20,000 chickens. The knowledge gained in the establishment
of the Rancocas Poultry Farm — the marvelous MILLION
EGG FARM — has been woven into the Poultry Farming
Course and is presented there according to the easy to learn,
remember, and apply system of the I. C. S.

The Poultry for Exhibition Course, written by an expert
with forty years experience back of him, gives to the student
a full knowledge of how to produce and reproduce every kind
and character of standard and exhibition fowl. The Course
includes full instruction on: The Origin of Poultry; Improve-
m.ent of Poultry; Selecting and Mating for Best Results;

144

THE MILLION EGG FARM

Selecting and Preparing for Show Rooms; and How to Judge.
Finely colored illustrations prepared from actual sketches
from life of the finest specimens of the different breeds of fowl
in the United States and Canada are used to illustrate the
text.

It will cost you nothing but postage to get full particulars
about the I. C. S. plan for making a practical and successful
poultry farmer or breeder of you. Send a note or a postal
card to the International Correspondence Schools, Box 1079,
Scranton, Pa., asking for information. Doing this will place
you under absolutely no obligation and will bring to you a
detailed description of the I. C. S. Courses and the system
followed to compel success.

President

D. H. HILL LIBRARY

North Carolina State College

146

Of Over Two Hundred and Fifty

The One

This is

The ^reat business carried on at
Rancocas Poultry Farm requires
that we have the very best incuba-
tors to be had. We keep 250 incu-
bators going. They have a hatch-
ing capacity of 100,800 eggs. We
can't afford to waste eggs.

The Hen's Only Competitor

The 100 incubators that we used during the last year included the leading
makes, the best we could buy. But they fell far short of the one here shown —
the incubator we have built ourselves, the one that grew out of our experience,
the hen's only competitor, the

International Self-Humidifying Incubator

We have tested aud proven it by the best
of other incubators. Its hatches are bet-
ter than others because it gives effect to a
vital principle in hatching. It supplies
moistuie in a systematic way. The fresh,
live air on its way to the egg chamber
passes over the sheet of warmed water
shown in the picture. Water evaporates
tosupply the air with much orlittle moist-
ure as required, and according to the cli-
mate. Cut off entirely if desired.

Bigger hatches of stronger chicks are
the proof of superiority. Ours is the best
test in the world, fair and square, con-
tinued eight months— the International
against over loo machines.

Let us send you proofs of the Interna-
tional superiority— the all-around winner.
A better heating system— heater and mois-
ture pan galvanizeil iron — moisture pan
kept warm — no sprinkling — no heat or
fumes direct from lamp can enter the egg
chamber — life and moisture cannot be
cooked out of air. We make it in four
sizes. loo, 200. 300, 400-egg capacity, good
measure, audit is the one incubator which
meets absolutely all requirements of insur-
ance companies. Itis*»////of oakthrough-
out. is fire-proof^not merely adjusted to
meet underwriter's demands. And note
this : You get the International at ic^ less
than standard incubator prices. Our 1911
cat alogexplains everything Write forcopy.

You Need ttie Co-operation of Rancocas
Poultry Farm

We make a specialty of Fine Breeding Stock, of Fertile Hatching Eggs and of
Baby Chix. We are supplying thousands of poultry-raising customers. Get
in touch with us. We are glad to receive inquiries about anything.

Want Hatcliing Eggs ? Baby Clilx

Trv the great Rancoca- Leghorn strain. We will do your hatching for you, take
9(Wb FertUity Guaranteed. No need to lose by all the chances, save you all egg loss and
having a lot ut- eggs prove infertile. We risk. We can supply you with lively.strong,
neither sell nor hatch from eggs laid by newly-hatched clucks that arc sure to grow
puUets-onlv from vigorous, mature hens, and thrive. Prices low for fine chicks. ex-
Send your order and get eggs that will cellent Leghorn stock. A few or as many
give you higher class utility stock. as you want— write us.

Breeding Slock Th* Laying Instinct

While our birds are reaUy fancy they are ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ \^.llTl\\\o^^
actually bred for egg-getting. Hundreds gj^uy generations of bree.ling to develop
of birds are constantly maturing and de- j^ j^ ^^jjj jj^. ^ great thing for your flock to
veloping into fine breeders. We can supply g^i Rancocas laying instinct into it. Get
you with the money -making kind at right it either through our Breeders Hatching
prices. Tell us your needs. Eggs or Baby Chi.\.

Rancocas Poultry farm \i the grtalesi egg producing concern in the world— two million eggs a year,
abouf 500 dozen a day. Our doings ought to be of interest to you. Come and see us. or write to us.
International Poultry Sales Co.. J M. Foster. President. Box 400. Browns-Mllls-in-the-Plnes. N. J.

147

How We Mother Little Chicks

at Rancocas Farm

To take

temperature

just lilt out

thermometer

and read

Here is pictured the new sanitary hover which
has proven such a success in our yards. It takes
the place of the hen. Built entirely of strong
metal, absolutely fire-proof, easily lasts 20 years.
Impossible for lamp to blow out even in storm of
rain, wind or snow. Gradual slope of drum down-
ward over chicks' backs from upper, outer rim
toward center. All heat and lamp fumes enclosed
in drum above chicks. Heat by radiation from
above. No croivding, a great feature. Chicks do
not pile up in center but gather under outer edge,
under and near hover cloth where heat is greatest. Vermin proof. Fresh, pure
air, steady, mild heat, freedom from dirt, drafts and lice— all this is accom-
plished by using the

International Sanitary Hover

Read what these leading poultrymen say :

MEADOW VIEW STOCK FARM

Hyde, Md., September I5th, 1910
International Poultry Sales Co., Brown's Mills, N. J.
Gentlemen :—

I wish to acknowledge receipt of your favor of August 27th. asking as to the success I have had
with the "International Sanitary Hover." I can unhesitatingly recommend your Hover as being the
best on the market. I have used many others, but have discarded them for yours. My birds this
year are stronger than any other year and my.success I attribute to the use of your Hover. I find it
not only more economic il than others in he consumption of oil, but I find it more sanitary, as all
parts can be cleaned readily and with ease. The Hover is made strong, and should last, with ordinary
care, a lifetime. The operation of your Hover is simpler than any other I have ever operated and,
as previously stated, it is the best on the market and I wish you continued success with same.

Yours very truly, Edward T. Boswell.

September 6th, 1910
J. M. Foster, Pres., Int. Poultry Sales Co., Brown's Mills, N. J.
Dear Sir: —

May 1st last, I purchased of your Company twenty-five International Sanitary
Hovers under which were hovered two thousand five hundred chix. At the
age of six weeks our loss was about five per cent, which loss I consider very
light, when you take in view our inexperience in raising chix. The fact that your
Hovers are not flammable I consider a very strong point in their favor. This
is more strongly impressed upon me from the fact that one of a number of
Hovers used by a neighbor, of different manufacture, caught fire from the lamp
and had not this fire been discovered promptly the loss would have been serious.
I take pleasure in saying that we have found your Hover satisfactory in every
particular. Yours truly, W. G. Liddle. Mount Holly, N. J. R. F. D. No. 2.

Winners at Madison Square Garden, New York, Boston, Syracuse, N.Y.. Auburn,

N. Y., Jamestown, Va., Chicago, 111., Philadelphia, Pa., and Memphis, Tenn.

PINE TOP POULTRY FARM

J. H. Hallock, Proprietor" Hartwood, Sullivan Co., New York

Breeders and Exhibitors of Barred Plymouth Rocks, and Single Comb White

Leghorns, Day Old Chicks, Eggs for Hatching, Exhibition and Utility

Males and Females for sale at all times.

September 22, 1910
International Poultry Sales Co., 19 Barclay St., New York City.

Gentlemen:— I thought you might be interested in the successful
way in which the brooder acted, that you forwarded to me to be tested.
I would say that we had a late hatch in August, of fifty-two chicks,
and it is with pleasure that I state that at the present writing we have
the same number living. As soon as we complete the building opera-
tions that we are undergoing, I will place an order with you for a num-
ber of these brooders. Very truly vours,
J. H. H. j.H. Hallock.

You will be interested in knowing all about this wonder-
ful hover — what it is, what it does and how it solves the
problem of raising chicks. Visit us and see for yourself if
you can. We make visitors welcome at Rancocas Farm.
If you can't visit us, you can read about our doings.

You get the story in full in our new catalogue. Write for a free copy.

INTERNATIONAL POULTRY SALES CO.,
J. M. Foster, President, Box 400, Brown's Mills-in-the-Pines, N. J.

Easy to remove the
lamp without disturbing

chicks underneath.
Just lilt out— that's all.

148

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