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CHICKS
HATCHING & REARING
ie
WEBB PUBLISHING CO.
ST: PAUL, MINN.
4, -——= POULTRY HOUSES,
wear} COOPS AND EQUIPMENT.
‘The latest, most practical and best
: book on the subject.
ny pie Paatical , icane ultry house
tures and es keepers’ utensils, fochading:
General Construction, Foundations, Frames, Roofs, Sides,
Floors, Colony Hi Oi Hi Curtain Front Houses,
Scratching Houses, Boosting Coops, Brood Coops, Roosts, Nests,
Ventilators, Exhibition Coops, Shipping Coops, Drinking Foun-
tains, etc.
Every plan ‘n this book has been tried and found satisfactory
by
Ht . Most of t desoribed y and to buil
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paid. Address
WEBB PUBLISHING CO., . ST. PAVL, MINN.
0000000000000
POULTRY MANUAL.
A Safe Guideto Successful Poultry Cul.
ture in all Branches, Fancy
and Practical.
By Franklane L. Sewell, world’s foremost poultry
artist and authority on standard breeds. and Ida E.
Tilson the well-known poultry expert and lecturer.
Part 1. Fanoy Poul The leading standard breeds: Hew they were orig>
inated; how to mate and Feed them; teen principal characteristics; hatching,
rearing and exhibiting winning show birds, ete.—in fact all about ay ee
This part is illustrated with Mr. Sewell’s own drawings of fowla, sections and
feathers, noe exclusively for this book,
Par ractical Poultry Culture. Practical annie of each of the aes
ance breeds; crosses and grades; the practical laws of breeding; food and drin
for fowls and chickens, feeding values of different grains, etc., a valuable chapter;
secret of winter ater eine ultry parasites, microbes and vermin. how to
ate stive tract, ov _ Ae a ee cur inc ane ainennre of Sheitioed beget ungs,
estive tract, oviduct, legs and feet, ceneral, e ow farm
patter: ; broilers; capons; turkeys; ducks and geese; marketing etc.,cto; fully Peaily “abe “J
Forty tho: les of this book have bee id and ft has saved i fenders thousands
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Address WEBB PUBLISHING CO., ST. PAUL, MINN.
CHICKS
HATCHING AND REARING
A. Manual of Dependable Instruction in Incuba-
ting, Brooding, Feeding, Housing and De-
veloping Winners and Layers; Fattening,
Killing and Marketing Broilers
and Roasting Chickens
BY H. A. NOURSE
and Nineteen Other Successful Poultrymen.
COMPLETELY ILLUSTRATED
Price Fifty Cents. .
WEBB PUBLISHING COMPANY
ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA
1909
a
id
Copyright, 1907.
WEBB PUBLISHING CO.,
St. Paul, Minn.
CHICKS
INTRODUCTION
Success in hatching and rearing the chicks is absolutely
necessary for profitable poultry keeping. The fancier,
the egg farmer and the market poulterer must produce every
year a certain greater or less number of chickens. The
fancier must have cockerels and pullets for exhibition
and sale, the egg man must have pullets to lay, the poulterer
must have tender broilers and roasters for his trade and
all must replace the stock sold, or aged beyond its useful-
ness. ,
This young stock is required to be good or it will not
satisfactorily and profitably serve its various purposes;
the mere fact) that it has been brought: from the shell and
made to live until it is time to market it, or to maturity,
as the case may be, is no guaranty that it will sooner or
later return a fair rate of interest on its cost. Thousands
of chicks are hatched each year and placed in brooders,
which, either because of weakness in the parent stock or
improper incubation, are practically worthless, so far as
their ability to make good growth and development is con-
cerned. Other thousands which leave the shell strong
and healthy are spoiled in the rearing, so that they reach
the profit-turning age in such condition that they are unfit
for the purposes of their owners.
The only chick that is profitablé is the one well hatched
and well reared, so that it possesses health and vigor. This
inidicates the necessity of -proper incubation, healthful
brooding, correct feeding and intelligent care. It seems
6 CHICKS
to be the opinion of those who have the best right to know
that not more than twenty-five per cent of the chicks that
leave the shell each year receive proper treatment. Some-
times this is due to shiftlessness of their owners, but more
often is the result of a lack of knowledge of how to do the
work. Apparently the need of more and better knowledge
of the business of rearing the chicks is imperative, and it
is the purpose of this book to furnish the required informa-
tion on all phases of this branch of the poultry industry,
in convenient form, in language which is easily understood
and from such sources that its correctness is unquestioned.
It is well known that there is no one method in the work
of hatching and rearing which will prove equally result-
ful in all places and under all conditions. In order that
this book may be sufficiently broad so that it may cover
any case, we have included in it descriptions of the methods
of not one but dozens of successful poultrymen, each of
whom tells, practically, the story of his success. From
these methods the reader may easily select that which
seems best adapted to his environment and circumstances.
By reading the book complete he will obtain a general
knowledge of facts which apply to the industry as a whole
which will make him far better prepared to handle success-
fully any difficulties which may confront him in his daily
work.
WEBB PUBLISHING COMPANY.
CONDITIONS THAT AFFECT FERTILITY.
Success in Hatching and Rearing Depends Upon the Healt,
of the Breeding Fowls and the Manner in Which
They are Housed and Cared For.
By F. G. Thayer. |
Every season much disappointment is caused by a low
percentage of fertility of eggs or the failure of such eggs
to give satisfaction during the hatching season.
Fowls should be at their best their second season for
breeding. If not forced they will lay large eggs which will
hatch stronger and better chicks. A cock that is in his
prime will get better chickens than it was possible for him
to get as a cockerel. A method employed by many is to
mate cock birds with pullets and cockerels with two-year-
olds. All breeding males should be selected for their type,
vigor and activity.
Health is the Foundation of Success.
The first thing’ to secure good fertility is good breeding
stock that is standard and’ has health, vigor and good
constitution. This is the foundation of successful incuba-
tion. Unless the breeding birds are sound, healthy and
in the best possible condition for reproduction of their
kind, satisfactory results cannot be obtained. With good
stock we may expect, under proper conditions, to get a
high percentage of fertile eggs. Eggs from birds out of
condition, either from inbreeding, sickness, improper food
or unsanitary surroundings will not produce the best results.
Never breed from a bird that is sick or ever has had a severe
sickness. Keeping the male bird with the hens will not
insure strong, fertile eggs if his welfare is not seen to. If
the hens are fat or dumpy the eggs will be infertile.
The number of hens to a male varies according to the
breed and conditions under which the fowls are kept.
Do not allow more than one male in the pen at the same time
.
8 CHICKS
as they will fight and in various ways increase infertility.
Exchanging the male birds every four or five days is more
likely to insure fertile eggs, but of course the males should
be similar. When selecting a male bird we must not lose
sight of the fact that he comprises one half of the flock.
Therefore, select one that is vigorous, strong and well
developed, and above all, is ‘‘boss.” | One vigorous, active,
prepotent male will give greater fertility than three or four
sluggish males. Breeding pens should be mated in the early
part of January. By this means they become acquainted
and are friendly when eggs are wanted for hatching. After
pens are mated a week or ten days it is a good plan to test
the eggs; if they are trapnested you can tell which hens
are laying fertile eggs and thus avoid setting infertile eggs.
Nature’s Conditions are Best.
Fowis on free range will produce a greater percentage of
strongly fertile eggs than those in confinement, other things
being equal. Whenever possible the breeders should be
allowed outdoor exercise, but never in wet weather. In
good weather when the grass commences to get green they
can get good green food, insects and bugs which are essen-
tial to the best results in hatching, and insure a good fertil-
ity record. To insure the best results- we must get as
near the natural conditions of summer as possible; this
means a variety of food, sunshine, warmth, fresh air, green
material, cleanliness and freedom from dampness.
Exercise Essential to Fertility.
The breeders should be given as large a run as possibie
for exercise. is essential to health and the breeding stock
must be kept busy if fertile eggs and strong germs are desired.
Fowls that are closely confined to limited quarters where
they do not get exercise or have access to sunshine and
fresh air, even though well fed, are almost certain to produce
eggs low in vitality and weak in fertility. One of the best
methods of making the hens exercise is to feed the grains
in a litter of straw one foot deep and make them scratch for
it. Thus exercising and feeding are combined for the
best results. The house should be large enough to give
them sufficient room to exercise. Fowls crowded in close
CONDITIONS AFFECT FERTILITY 9
quarters, without enough exercise, will soon have impaired
health and cannot, on any account, produce very. many
fertile eggs, and those that are fertile will generally hatch
chickens that are low in vitality.
Feeding the Breeders.
Few stop to consider the importance of the influence
of food on the breeding stock. Do not use too stimulating
foods, ‘as it will force the breeders, thus causing weaker
‘germs. It would be wise to feed more on grains with meat
and vegetables frequently until the fowls are wanted to
perpetuate their kind. Then feed them on an egg making
ration with the moist mash fed at noon, or with the dry
mash before them at all times. The value of green material
cannot be overestimated. It should be supplied in liberal
quantities and include cabbage, turnips, carrots, beets, man-
gel-wurzels, potatoes, alfalfa or clover. Morning and
night they work for food, composed of various grains scat-
tered in the straw. Too much moist food will make watery
eggs which will not hatch; or, if they do, the offspring will
be weak in vitality. Grit, oyster shell and charcoal should
be where the fowls can get them at all times. Fresh water
is essential, and should always be within their reach.
Proper Housing is Important.
The breeding birds should be comfortably housed. This
means that they should be in a reasonably warm, airy
house. It-need not be heated for better results are obtained
in cooler houses. The safest plan is to provide a comfortable
building, so arranged that it can be thoroughly aired and
sunned daily while the birds are exercising. Fresh air is
one of the most important factors in obtaining good fertile
eggs that will hatch good strong chickens. Do not keep your
houses tightly closed at night, but ventilate, by means of
cloth curtains. Keep the house clean and in good sanitary
condition and keep the fowls free from lice and mites. Do
not allow breeding fowls to run ‘out on the snow and ice
or to get wet in any way, as it will produce a shock to their
systems which will reduce the fertility in the eggs. The
curtain front poultry house is used at the Minnesota North-
western Experiment Station with success. Dry, cool
ii CHICKS ~
buildings are more to be desired than warm damp buildings.
Nothing will cause sickness any quicker than a close, damp,
‘warm house.
: Care of Eggs for Hatching.
Now comes the care of the eggs and here is where much
trouble arises. Eggs for hatching cannot be handled
too carefully. They should be gathered two or three times
daily during hatching season so they will not get dirty,
chilled or otherwise injured. Good, clean nests should be
furnished, thus doing away with the washing of eggs.
They should be kept at a medium temperature, between
fifty degrees and sixty degrees being considered best for
good results. Reject all imperfect, small and large eggs,
and keep for hatching only uniform, medium eggs. If
kept at too low a temperature the chilling injures them;
if, on the other hand, the temperature is too high, develop-
ment of life begins. If kept in too dry a room eggs evaporate
very rapidly, and on that account especially they should
not be exposed to a direct draught of air. They should
e turned daily in order to prevent the yokes adhering to ,
the shell, in which case the delicate membrane near the germ
may be ruptured when the eggs are turned. Eggs to be
hatched should be as fresh as possible when set. The older
the eggs become the lower the fertility and the less the num-
ber of vigorous chickens.
HOW TO BUILD AN INCUBATOR HOUSE.
The Requirements of a Successful Building in Which to
Operate Incubators—How a Satisfactory, Inexpensive -
House Was Built on a Well-Known Poultry Farm
—The Lumber and Other Material Required
* —Details of Construction.
. By Fred E. Dodge.
Next to owning good incubators, the most essential thing
,on all successful poultry farms is having a proper place
in which to operate them. Whether large breeder or
small fancier, real success depends a great deal upon equip-
ment; the best incubator made operated in a poor location
has little chance to bring off good hatches of strong, healthy
chicks
. Incubators are found running in almost’ as many places
as there are people running them. Some are operated in
the front parlor, the attic, a spare bed room, or in the
kitchen, where the rapidly changing temperature raises
havoc with the regulation, and the steam from cooking,
in some instances, warps the cases or supplies too much
moisture to the eggs. The parlor is a favorite place, but
the temperature varies there also. A majority of the
incubators will be found in cellars under dwellings.
Cellars Are Not Proper Places for Incubators.
Most cellars are too damp, are poorly lighted, and are
seldom, if ever, well ventilated. In nine cases out of ten,
the cellar is a poor place to put an incubator whether you .
are hatching with it or storing it. The dampness is apt
to warp the case and put the machine in such condition that
it will need to be run a week before the eggs can be put in.
A season or two of running incubators in such places
will show the necessity of having a special building or room
in which to operate them, if good as are expected to
12 CHICKS
be brought off when all other conditions are favorable.
Some think it too expensive to build a house for one or two
machines, not knowing that a good one can be built at a
low cost. It is the object of this article to describe such
a house, one that is not only cheap to construct, but which
has the essential features.
I have designed this house in a simple manner and have
tried to make the drawings so that anyone not skilled in
the use of carpenter’s tools may build it themselves. The
tools required are a spade, pick, hammer, saw, square,
and level; tools that are found in almost every place.
Essentials of a Good Incubator House.
Having decided to build an incubator house, it is not a
problem of how to conveniently cover a hole in the ground,
but one of how best to build this covering that it may
fully perform its functions. To successfully accomplish
this, one must have knowledge of the requirements of such
a house. The following are a few of the essentials and if
your house willnot fulfill all of them as near as practicable,
when finished, it is useless to go to the expense of con-
structing it; the house cellar will do as well and will cost
you nothing as it is already built:
First. The temperature within should remain nearly
stationary at all times, regardless of external changes.
Second. It should have a system of ventilation that
ventilates without causing a direct draft on the machines.
Ventilation is the life of incubation; without the life giving
oxygen it is impossible to develop the embryo chick.
Third. There should be plenty of sunlight in the house.
This will keep it sweet and clean and free from moldy
growths. Direct sunlight, if allowed to enter all dav,
will heat up the interior, but this may be overcome by tack-
ing muslin curtains in front of the windows and having them
arranged so that they may be slipped back when desired.
Fourth. It should be built on a high spot so that it
will be dry the year around.
Fifth. The temperature within should be about fifty to
sixty-five degrees, then eggs for hatching may be stored in
places not occupied by incubators. If this house is well
AN INCUBATOR HOUSE 13
covered with dirt the temperature within in the summer
will be about sixty-five degrees.
Sixth. The volume of air in the whole room should be
great enough so that the air will not become poluted with
the lamp’ gas before the ventilators can remove the latter.
It should be betweén seven and eight feet from floor to ceil-
ing, which will give the desired volume.
Atmospheric air is not a simple substance, but.a mechani-
eal mixture. Oxygen and nitrogen, the principal consti-
tuents, are present in very nearly the proportion of one
part of oxygen to four parts of mitrogen by weight. Oxygen
is one of the most important elements in the air; it is the
active element in the chemical process of combustion and
a somewhat similar process takes place in the lungs of human
beings. The lamp on the incubator, while burning, con-
sumes the oxygen in the air and throws off a gas called
carbon dioxide or carbonic acid gas. Being 1.5 heavier
than air it falls to the floor and there piles up like water
filling a hole unless removed as fast as it is formed. This
is the reason that the middle ventilator (see Fig. II) extends
to within six inches of the floor and does not terminate
near the roof like the first and third: If this gas is allowed
to accumulate in the building it will get into the egg chamber
of the incubator as nearly all incubators take in fresh air
near the floor. -If this gas is allowed to appear in quantity
and allowed to remain long it will kill all the living germs
in the eggs. Ido not doubt that this is the cause of many
failures with incubators. Having learned the main essen-
tials of an incubator house, the mechanical construction
comes next in order. This is a simple matter for the great-
est problem is to know in what manner to build it. -
Making the Excavation.
After the frost is out of the ground in the spring, select
some high and dry spot and dig a rectangular hole in the
ground 9x 11x 4 feet, have the sides sloping so that the
floor of the cellar will be 8x10 feet. This should be dug
with the long way east and west. At the center of the west
end dig out the place for the stairs. At the surface this
should measure 3x 6. If in clay soil the steps may be made
by digging the clay in the form of steps. These steps
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. AN INCUBATOR HOUSE 15
should have a one foot tread and a fall of one foot, then
there will be four of them. Loose boards three feet long
and one foot wide can be placed on the clay, thus forming
stairs at little cost.
In throwing out the dirt care must be taken to throw it
well away from the hole so as not to interfere with the car-
penter work. If the soil is damp when the cellar is dug,
it is well to leave it open to the sunlight for a few days
to thoroughly dry it out before putting on the roof.
The Lumber Required.
The next thing in order is to buy the lumber. As this
is to be built as cheaply as possible do not buy a foot of
lumber that does not enter into actual construction. Fol-
lowing is a bill of the lumber, etc., required.
4 pieces 2x 12,10 feet long.
4 pieces 2 x 12, 12 feet long.
l piece 4x 4, 8 feet long.
9 pieces 2 x 4, 12 feet long.
1 piece 2x 6, 12 feet long.
15 pieces 1 x 12, 12 feet long.
3 pieces of 8-inch flooring (for door).
8 pieces 1 x 12, 10 feet long (for ventilators).
2 three-light windows with 8 x 10 glass.
2 lbs. 20-penny spikes.
3 Ibs. 10-penny nails.
1 pair of large strap hinges.
2 pair small butt hinges.
Constructing the Wood Work.
Saw the 4 x 4 into four pieces each two feet long. With
these and the plank build a rectangular box 10x 12, two
feet high, as shown in Figure I. This must be made with
square corners and when finished be leveled up by placing
small pieces of board under the low places. Figure II
is, in part, a longitudinal section of Figure I. The drawings,
I and II hardly require explanation and the frame may be
built with little trouble.
Now take the 2 x 6 and place it in the. center and one and a
half feet above the frame just made. Support it tempo-
rarily, then measure and cut the 2x4, pieces for the rafters
16 CHICKS
and spike them in place. Figure II gives a plan and ele-
vation of this work, and will explain the work in a more
simple manner than words. .
Take the one foot boards ten feet long and build two
square tubes ten feet long; saw one in two in the middle.
These are the ventilators and are placed by sawing out a
place 2x 10 inches in one end and placing this over the
2 x 6; nail to it as shown in Figure II.
The roof boards can now be put on and covered with
tar paper and then the whole building covered with two
feet of earth. A frame for the door is made by sawing two
pieces 2 x 4, six feet long and one piece 4 feet and nailing
together and to the building as shown in Figure I.
Saw the eight-inch flooring the right length and nail
to two-inch boards six inches wide; this will form a bulk-
head door for the entrance. Be sure and have dimensions
so it will fit the frame, as shown in Figure I.
Take the three-light windows and make a frame for them
in the gable in each end of the roof as shown in Figure III.
Hinge them at the bottom so they will swing in and deflect
the air towards the ceiling. Board and cover both ends
with earth as much as possible and the cellar is finished.
If there is any doubt as to the method of procedure,.a
careful study of the different drawings will clear it up.
Incubator Chicks Enjoying the Morning Sun.
SUCCESS WITH INCUBATORS.
The Location of an Incubator and its Influence on the Hatch
—Tlie Value of an Even Temperature and Pure
Air—Care of the Machine in Operation.
By F. G. Thayer.
The question arises where shall incubators be operated
and what are the requirements for their successful operation?
Do not buy a good incubator and operate it in an unfavor-
able place and then blame the manufacturer for your poor
hatches.
Incubators are run in nearly every conceivable location,
many of which are unfavorable to the best results. Some
of the places where they are operated, are damp, poorly
ventilated cellars, parlors, sitting rooms, attics, barns,
poultry houses, and, best of all, specially constructed incu-
bator houses or cellars, separate from the rest of the build-
ings.
é
The Advantage of an Incubator House.
The reason why better results are obtained in specially
constructed houses is that everything is made as convenient
as possible and conditions are at their best. Machines
operated in other places are at a disadvantage in many ways.
Above ground, in a dwelling house, the machines require
more attention as the variations in temperature, moisture
and atmosphere are greater and must be adjusted accord-
ingly. The incubator house should be put up early in the
season, so that it will become thoroughly dry, and should
be located on high, dry land. The house should be so
located that perfect drainage is to be had throughout the
year. A separate house will pay for itself by the larger
percentage of chickens hatched in it. A house entirely
above ground is at a disadvantage when hatching is carried
18 CHICKS
on in warm weather; the house partly underground is cooler
and the temperature is more even.
Construction of Incubator House.
The incubator house should be built three to four feet
into the ground. The walls should be built of brick, stone
or of grout and rise two or three feet above the level of the
ground. The floor should be made of cement-on a good
foundation. On top of the ground wall should be placed
your windows which should be double, those outside being
hinged at the top, the inside ones hinged at the bottom, so
avoiding direct draft on the machines when windows are
open. They should also be fitted with cloth curtains so
that the intense rays of the sun will not affect the tempera-
ture or moisture in the room. By placing muslin curtains
in the openings in the ceiling and end of the building thorough
ventilation can be obtained. At one side should be built
a dark room where eggs can be tested in the daytime as
well as at night, thus doing away with much unnecessary
night work. Another partition should inclose another
room where eggs can be kept for hatching under proper
conditions.
Conditions Surrounding the Incubator.
A damp atmosphere without the machine is better than
dry, heated air. When the air without is dry, the floor
should be moistened with water. An even temperature
is desired for best results. The temperature of the room.
should be about fifty degrees Fahrenheit. Thorough
ventilation is essential for hatching vigorous chicks. Oxy-
gen is necessarv for the embryo; lack of it causes poor
hatches and weak chickens. As the lamps consume oxygen
in burning and throw off carbon dioxide, plenty of fresh air
must be admitted to the room. If the machine is run in a
living, room more moisture is needed, and in every case
extra care should be taken to provide a supply of fresh,
pure air. In low lying sections and near lakes or large
rivers, where fog or much humidity prevails. no additional
moisture is needed, while a considerable amount of ventilation
is required. In a rarified atmosphere, a very considerable
amount of moisture is necessary to secure even a fair hatch,
SUCCESS WITH INCUBATORS 19
and not nearly as much ventilation is needed. Kerosene
odors and exhausted air are very injurious to the hatch and
must be removed by ventilation.
Operating the Hatcher.
In running the incubators use nothing but the best of
kerosene as less smoke and soot will result. It is best to
trim and fill the lamps in the morning, and do all necessary
regulating of machines at the same time so that you will
not have to stay and watch the machines at night to see
that nothing goes wrong.
Incubators should never be jarred when in use. Very
clear practical instructions come with each machine and
should be carefully followed. Never allow the sun to shine
on the incubators as it causes the temperature to rise.' Use
a spirit level on top of the incubator, to test it, from back
to front and from side to side. Block up under the legs
of the machine until you get it level. If the body of the
incubator is not level the egg chamber will not heat evenly.
Be sure it sits firmly. ;
Fill the egg tray with as many eggs as will go .n easily,,
but do not pile them up or attempt to double up by placing
eggs on top of a full tray. Keep the incubator lamp clean
so it will give you a clear, steady, bright light. Putin a new
wick when starting each hatch. Follow the instructions
that come with each machine.
Advantages of Using Incubators.
With an incubator you can hatch chickens out of season
and on a large scale. Your machine is always ready when
you desire to start... It is cheaper to run incubators than
it is to use hens for hatching large numbers of chicks.
It enables one to start his chickens absolutely free from
lice. The incubator does not break eggs like the sitting
hen. It saves time that would otherwise be employed in
caring for many sitting hens.
HATCHING AND REARING THE CHICKS.
Incubating and Brooding by Natural and Artificial Methods
—The Necessity of Obtaining Strong, Fertile Eggs—Oper=
ating the Incubator—Taking Off the Hatch—
Brooding and Feeding the Chicks—Dry Feed
Versus Damp Mashes—Free Range
for Future Breeders.
By H. A. Nourse.
No poultryman has ever achieved success in the poultry
business sufficient to make a profit, who has not been able
to produce strong, healthy chicks, and to so care for and
feed them that they will grow rapidly and develop proper-
ly. While there are no momentous secrets connected with
this work, there are certain matters and conditions which
must be right, or the results will not be satisfactory.
Strong, fertile eggs are of primary importance and such
eggs are produced by none other than healthy, vigorous
stock. Other eggs may hatch and the chicks may live and
grow, but they will not return a satisfactory profit on the
money and timeinvested. Upon the condition of the breed-
ing stock, then, depends to a great extent the success of
the season’s work.
No one attempts now-a-days to hatch many early chicks
without the use of incubators. The use of these machines.
has practically revolutionized the business of hatching
and rearing, and where one plant was found ten years ago.
that hatched 500 chickens before April first, fifty are found
today. Artificial hatching is no longer an experiment.
It has been proved time and time again that better hatches.
can be produced at less expense by artificial than by natural
methods, if a considerable number of eggs are incubated.
The Location for the Incubator.
Although an incubator will operate successfully under
HATCHING AND REARING 21
adverse conditions, there are certain circumstances which
the best machines cannot overcome, and which uninformed
operators occasionally throw around them. Some years
ago, a cellar was considered by far the best place in which
to operate a machine, the main idea being to secure a place
having a fairly even temperature. Since, it has been dis-
covered that, although uniformity of temperature is desir-
able, ventilation and some sunlight are fully as important.
Corner in a Substantial, Well Lighted Incubator House Which is Below
Ground to the Sills of the Windows.
The oxygen of pure air is very essential to success in this
work and good hatches of strong chicks cannot be obtained
when the machine is surrounded by foul air. The most
satisfactory incubator rooms are partially below ground
but have two or more feet of each side, or at least the south
‘side, above ground, with sufficient window space to admit
plenty of light. Effective ventilation is more difficult
to provide in such a building than the one which is wholly
above ground, but if air is admitted near the ceiling through
22 CHICKS
cloth diaphragms and drawn out from near the floor'through
vertical pipes which extend up through and above the roof,
satisfactory results will be obtained.
Operating the Incubator.
The incubator is not by any means difficult to operate.
One of the mistakes most frequently made, especially by
beginners, is buying a machine late in the season, very near
the time when it is desired to operate it. It should be re-
membered that spring is a busy season for the incubator
companies, and that it is sometimes impossible for them,
however well equipped they may be, to fill an order the
same day asitis received. Again if they are able to do this,
there is no certainty that shipments will not be delayed by
the transportation companies. Instances are on record
where incubators have been delayed a month when the ship-
ping distance was less than two hundred miles. It is ad-
visable for every beginner to have his machine some time
before he desires to fill it with eggs in order to become fully
acquainted with its operation.
Most machines are shipped practically ready to run, it
being the work of but a few minutes to put on the regulator
and adjust it, screw the legs on and place th2 lamp in posi-
tion. Every machine should be level before it is started
and it is best if it stands upon a firm foundation where it
will not be jarred materially during the season. Although
it is possible to operate an incubator in a moving freight
car, it is not advisable to subject the machine to such con-
ditions when it is not necessary.
Three or four days should intervene after the heat is
turned on before the eggs are placed on the trays and incuba-
tion started. This is required to get the machine thorough-
ly dried out, warmed through in every part, and the regu-
lator exactly adjusted. The burner of the lamp should be
thoroughly cleaned frequently and the wick trimmed once
each day, preferably in the morning. ll flues through
which the direct draft from the flame passes should be .
cleaned thoroughly once a week if they can be reached. A
swab on the end of a pliable wire is the best tool for the
purpose.
None but eggs of normal size and shape should be used
\
HATCHING AND REARING 23
for hatching in incubators or under hens. Some writers
advise sprinkling the floor under the machine, sprinkling the
eggs, placing damp cloths and sponges on the egg trays
and other means of supplying moisture. In most cases
these are not only unnecessary, but detrimental. Sprinkling
the eggs is not at all to be advised, because when the mois-
ture evaporates, it cools the shells of the eggs more or less,
even though the thermometer may not show any difference
in temperature.
Care of Eggs During Incubation.
Upon the length of time that eggs should be cooled dur-
ing the process of incubation and upon when the cooling
should take place, opinion differs considerably, and a few
incubator operators deny the advisability of cooling at all.
It is the opinion of the majority, however, that intelligent
cooling is necessary in order to secure the strongest chicks.
Obviously it will not do to take the eggs out of the incubator
and let them stand long in a low temperature such as fre-
quently surrounds incubators operated in the winter or
early spring. In such cases the cooling that the eggs
receive when taken out of the machine and turned is all
that they can stand to advantage. When the temperature
of the air in the room is fifty or above, the time that the
eggs may be left out of the machine may be increased from
that required to turn the eggs and replace them in the
machine to from ten to thirty minutes towards the end of the
incubating period, according to the temperature of the air
surrounding them. In a temperature of seventy or eighty
degrees, it is perfectly safe and perhaps advantageous to allow
them to remain out half an hour on each of the last five
days before pipping time. Instances abound where eggs
have remained out of the incubator over night under these
conditions, yet have produced a good per cent of strong
chicks at the end of twenty-one days.
The majority of successful incubator operators do not
touch the eggs after placing them in the machines until the
end of the third day when they are turned for the first time.
After that they are turned regularly, morning and night
until the eggs begin to pip, as it is called, or until the chicks
first crack the shell. The instructions that the manufac-
24 CHICKS
turers send out with each machine should guide the new
operator, at least until such time as experience shall prove
that different handling of the machine will produce better
results under the particular conditions to which his incubator
is subjected. This refers to matters of ventilation and
moisture in particular.
Taking Off a Hatch.
It is unwise to make haste to remove the chicks from the
incubator even after the hatch is completed. A good hatch
is almost always finished at the end of the twenty-first day,
and the trays, shells and unhatched eggs should be removed.
The chicks may remain in the incubator twenty-four to
thirty-six hours longer with advantage to themselves and
convenience to the poultryman. To remove the chicks from
an incubator in which the temperature is above one hun-
dred to a brooder having a temperature of ninety-five, and in
which there are likely to be currents of air, is to invite
trouble from the very first. Even if the brooder tempera-
ture is as high as that of the incubator from which the chicks
are removed, the tempering off process cannot be as success-
fully performed as in the incubator.
When the trays are removed, the temperature can be
gradually reduced to ninety or ninety-five degrees during the
-following thirty-six hours. The chicks may then be removed
to the brooder with the least chance of loss from influences
incident to the change, and they will be stronger and better
chicks, For removing to the brooder, especially if it is
necessary to carry them from one building to another, a |
basket lined with flannel is to be advised, and if the weather
is severe, the basket should be wrapped with a bran sack
for additional protection.
There are various kinds of brooding apparatus in use,
most of which give satisfaction if the care-taker under-
stands his work and gives it the required attention. The
principal requirements are: ability to furnish the proper
degree of heat at all times, freedom from drafts under the
hover and sufficient ventilation so that each chick will
obtain plenty of fresh air in whatever part of the brooder he
may be. Some poultrymen prefer pipe system brooders,
that is, those heated by a system of pipes through which
HATCHING AND REARING 25
hot water circulates, while some prefer the individual
brooders made and advertised by incubator companies and
heated by kerosene lamps and stoves. :
For the poultryman who has less than 500 chicks to rear
in a season, the individual brooder equipment is less expen-
sive and is usually satisfactory. Occasionally on large
farms ‘where the number of chicks produced annually runs
into thousands, we find most of the brooding, especially
of the young chicks, done in lamp brooders.
Where to Place the Brooder.
The use of the pipe’ system requires a well built house
Interior of a Brooding House, Showing the’ Pipes Which Heat the
Hovers and Also the Four-Inch Cast Iron Pipes Which
Warm the House.
but when individual brooders are used, a shed is fréquently
sufficient to protect them except in extremely cold weather
and it is not impossible to operate out-door brooders during
the severest winter weather without any protection what-
ever, though such a practice is not advised, An out-door
brooder placed in a shed which is provided with a curtain
front to be let down in stormy weather can be used suc-
cessfully in the winter months, if the heat capacity is suf-
ficient, and the chicks will derive much benefit from the
_ pure air received. In-door brooders, unless so constructed
26 CHICKS
that they will protect the chicks from the cold when they
are outside the hover, must be run in a well-built house
until the moderate weather of the late spring arrives. It
must be remembered that whatever building is used it
must be well ventilated, because when there is foul air in
the house the air is foul in the brooder. This condition
is responsible for the death of more chicks than is improp—
er feeding.
Sunlight is of great importance and if the brooder can
stand so that it will be reached by the sun’s rays a few hours
each day, that will do much to assist you to raise healthy
chicks and if the hover is removed so that the sun can
shine directly upon the brooding floor, it will do much to
purify the machine.
If the brooder has been used before, even though nearly
a year has passed since it was last occupied, it should be
completely cleaned and the brooding apartment washed
throughout with soap and hot water in which is mixed a
little carbolic acid. This will thoroughly disinfect it and
the chicks will not be in danger of being attacked by germs
that may have been left by the last brood occupying the
machine.
The best material for bedding the brooder is fine sand
for it not only provides good footing for the chicks but also
furnishes considerable grit. Some poultrymen prefer to use
dry bran and some use hay chaff. The writer has used
both and considers them good, but prefers the dry, fine sand.
The temperature should be fairly stationary at ninety
degrees for twenty-four hours before the chicks are put in,
in order that the machine may be thoroughly warmed and
dried. When the chicks are put in, the temperature will
rise to from ninety-two to ninety-five degrees.
Fifty Chicks to a Brooder.
Not more than fifty chicks should be placed in each
brooder, or in each apartment of a pipe system apparatus,
no matter how large the brooder or apparatus may be.
More than fifty chicks are always likely to crowd and do
themselves damage in other ways. Somé of the most suc-
cessful poultrymen seldom put over forty chicks in one
HATCHING AND REARING 27
flock, and others assert that better results are obtained
when not more than thirty occupy one brooder.
The First Food. J
We usually place the chicks in the brooder in the after-
noon or evening and confine them pretty close to the hover
until the next forenoon, when we offer the first food. The
prepared chick foods, manufactured especially for the pur-
pose and advertised in poultry journals, are convenient and
ssbiainotory to feed from the very first. These foods con-
Interior of a Brooding House Equipped With What is Known as a
“Box’’ Hover. This Hover is Open Only at the Front, Into
the Pens, and is Heated by Hot Water Pipes,
sist. principally of finely cracked grains with a little grit,
some charcoal and some beef-scraps added. They may be
fed in a litter of hay chaff or some such material, or, if
the chicks have sufficient range, it — ‘is often satisfactory
to feed them in hoppers from the start. Usually, however,
it is better to scatter the food so that the chicks can ex-
ercise in finding it. Fine grit should also be scattered about
the brooder, outside the hover, with the chick food. Fresh
water should be constantly within reach. Sweet milk is an
1
28 CHICKS
excellent food for young chicks, but will not take the place
of water which must also be supplied.
Although the temperature under the hover should be 92
to 95 degrees the first few days, it is not advisable to keep
it so warm after the third day. Ninety degrees is sufficient
for the youngsters until they are ten days old, after whick. ,
the temperature should be gradually reduced until it is
eighty-five at the end of the second week and not over eighty
at the end of the third week. On the matter of heat,
well-known authorities differ considerably. Some claim
that eighty degrees is sufficient any time after the chicks are
four or five days old while others claim to have better results
when a heat of ninety or more,is maintained until the end
of the third week. Our experience has indicated that strong,
healthy chicks which have plenty of pure air to breath do
not require a high température after fhe first ten days.
Chicks kept-in a brooder which is poorly ventilated or which
is operated in a building which*has not adequate ventila-
tion will crowd toward the warm corners of a brooder when
the temperature is ninety, more than will a flock which has
plenty of pure life-giving air to breath in a temperature of
eighty degrees.
The little chicks need plenty of room in which to exercise,
v4
A Coop Hight Feet Long and Four Feet Wide in Which an Indoor
Brooder is Operated.
' HATCHING AND REARING 29
An Gutduor Brooder in Which Chicks May be Reared in Warm or
Cold Weather.
but when they are only a day or two old, they should not be
allowed to run far enough from the brooder so that they
will not return when in need of warmth. If the brooder
has a liberal floor space outside of the hover, they may be
confined to the machine for the first three or four days and for
a longer time if the air surrounding the machine is very cold.
After the first of May, the temperature is not likely to
be too cold for the chicks outside and they should be induced
to take exercise in the open air. The youngsters must
be taught to return to their hover, a lesson which sometimes
takes them some time to learn and taxes the patience of
their care-taker. But by allowing them to have a little
more range each day and driving them back to the hover
occasionally, they soon learn where they should go when
chilly or in need of rest.
When the chicks are brooded in a building, it is not often
advisable to let them outside of the building before they are
a week old, but doors and windows should be opened so
that the air within will be perfectly pure. After they are
a,week old they may be allowed to run outside in a gradual-
ly increased inclosure. A yard ten by forty feet should
f
+
30 CHICKS
' prove sufficient for a flock of forty to fifty chicks until they
are six weeks old.
Green Grass an Advantage.
Chieks should always have a grass run because the grass
is needed to furnish green food for the chicks and because the
roots in the sod absorb many of the impurities and tend to
keep the runway from becoming foul. Frequent raking
and occasional watering in dry seasons will assist in keeping
grass in the runs, and such labor is usually paid for with
interest by the increased vigor and growth of the chicks.
Dry Food Fed in Hoppers. -
If each brood has the room we have described, they may
be given dry food in hoppers and the labor of feeding is
reduced to the minimum. For this purpose, the advertised
chick foods are especially adapted. The writer has had suc-
cess when feeding these foods in hoppers of different styles,
filling the hoppers perhaps twice a week and furnishing
fresh water twice a day. With one brood in particular
which was placed in a brooder in a colony house, the brooder
was attended but twice a day, morning and evening, at
which times the water pan was refilled, the lamp attended
to and the brooder cleaned. This was in June and when the
chicks were four days old, they were allowed to run outside
the house in a small yard. The youngsters made excellent
growth and the mortality was very low.
Damp Mashes Occasionally Advisable.
Less than twenty per cent as much damp mash is fed to
chicks at present as was fed five years ago. — Still, occasion-
ally breeders find it satisfactory, and a few deem it necessary
to get the best and fastest growth and most uniform devel-
opment. A large proportion of these poultrymen do not,
however, feed mash until the chicks are weaned by the hen
or until they no longer need artificial heat.
Mashes mixed with milk or water may be fed even when
hopper feeding of dry food is practiced and oftentimes
will produce better results than can be obtained otherwise.
The prepared chick foods, composed of small grain
and finely cracked larger grains with beef scraps added,
although most satisfactory for feeding young chicks, are
HATCHING AND. REARING 31
not as a rule intended to be fed to growing chicks that have
reached an age of a month or more. When the chicks are
four weeks old whole wheat and cracked corn may be substi-
tuted for part of the chick food furnished and the propor-
tion gradually increased until the chick food is entirely
dispensed with at the end of six weeks. This, of course,
does not refer to the various foods prepared and sold es-
pecially for feeding growing chicks. Many of these are
well-balanced rations and are convenient and economical
to feed. Where these cannot be conveniently obtained,
cracked corn, whole wheat, beef scraps and charcoal will
make a satisfactory combination for chicks that are on free
range where they can obtain grit, green food, bugs, worms,
etc., and will produce vigorous, healthy growth until the
chicks go into winter quarters.
For chicks that are confined in yards a more varied mais
is necessary. To the cracked corn and wheat may be
added hulled oats and grit; beef scraps and charcoal may
be fed in separate hoppers or if mash is added, whether dry
or damp, the beef scraps may be mixed with that to make
eight per cent of the mixture by bulk. The other parts
of the mash may be cornmeal, ground oats and bran in pro-
portion of one part cornmeal, one part ground oats and two
parts wheat bran. If this is fed damp it should be mixed
with milk, whole or skim, if it can be obtained at reasonable,
cost.
Free Range for Future Breeders.
Some of the best and strongest chicks that appear in the
fall and winter shows are raised in very limited quarters,
but good growth and proper development in such quarters
are obtained only by those who thoroughly understand: the
business and who attend very carefully to the work.
Five-hundred chicks properly cooped on free range may
be as easily cared for as one tenth that number confined
in small yards and usually the former will make faster and
more satisfactory growth. The yarded chicks must not
only be provided with a variety of food which must include
plenty of green food, preferably short, tender lawn grass,
but they must have artificial protection ‘from the heat of the
sun and from danger of poisoning from the infected ground.
. 32 CHICKS
Hopper feeding is seldom successful when chicks are with-
out range though it may be used with advantage where free
range is enjoyed. The free range chick needs no mash
food unless it is necessary to force a more rapid growth
than is usually desirable. The component parts of the
mash may be mixed dry and placed in hoppers, one hopper
near each coop. Another hopper at each coop should con-
tain a mixture of dry grains including cracked corn, wheat
and oats, or, it may be divided in sections and each variety
of grain placed in a section by itself. Another hopper
orbox should contain charcoal, which is one of the best and
cheapest preventives of digestive disturbances. This
may seem to some to be considerable equipment for each
brood of chicks, but when you have added the water foun-
tain and located it in a satisfactory place, you are enabled
to care for your flock by visiting the coop twice a day. In
the morning the chicks may be let out and fresh water fur-
nished. ~ In the evening, after nightfall, the caretaker
should make the rounds of the coops and close them for the
night. This latter proceeding may be dispensed with if
there is no danger from hostile animals. :
The hoppers may be refilled as often as the supply is
nearly exhausted, but they should be of sufficient size that
not more than two fillings per week will be required. The
coops should be cleaned twice a week and fresh sand or loam
placed upon the floors. Floors may be dispensed with in
case the coops are on high ground, dry land, and there is
no likelihood of marauding animals digging under the coops
and attacking the occupants.
This is the sum total of the work required to care for the
chicks, unless the presence of lice makes it necessary to paint
the interior of the coop with lice killer occasionally. Ver-
min seldom get a foothold on birds that have free range
and were properly cared for and free from lice before they
were weaned.
A Satisfactory Colony Coop.
A coop for fifty chicks should be six feet long and four
feet. wide, four feet high in front and two and a half feet at
the rear. It may be built with or without a floor, accord-
ing to the requirements. The entire front may be of wire
HATCHING AND REARING 33
or slats, part of which should be cleated and hinged to serve
as a door. To keep out heavy winds and rain a curtain
of burlap or light cotton cloth may be arranged to be but-
toned to the front of this coop or rolled and fastened at the
top to be let down in severe weather. During the heat. of
the summer season even such light protection occasionally
makes the interior of the coop too warm and a protection
built of boards about six by five feet in size may be laid
against the front with its base a foot or more away from the
base of the coop. This may be fastened to the coop proper
v
A Colony Coop With Open Front and With a Hood to Protect the
Interior From Sun and Rain.
with hooks and lets in plenty of air while cutting off hard
winds and driving rain. No roosts are required in these
coops until the chicks are two-thirds grown, when pieces
of two-by-three laid flat-wise with the two upper edges
rounded may be placed two in each coop. These should be
made to fit closely between the ends of the structure and can
be supported by cleats nailed to the ends of the coop, eighteen
“inches above the floor. The chicks will prosper in such
coops until cold weather compels their owner to transfer
them to winter quarters.
\
44
ARTIFICIAL HATCHING AND REARING.
Imitate Nature’s Method—Both Eggs and Machine Should
Be Aired—The Value of Sunlight—First Days in the
Brooder—Feed Dry Food 'in Litter.
By ‘Anna L, Pinkerton.
Having in mind the many queries that are constantly be-
ing put to me by beginners in the poultry business, I fancy
that a few words of advice to the amateur would not come
-amiss and all my remarks apply to the different high grade
machines now upon the market with which I am familiar.
Leaving technical terms and statistics alone I will at once
come to the point with advising the intending user of an
incubator: to first of all take into consideration his sur-
roundings and ° climatic: conditions, before setting the ma-
chine, conditions being so different in various parts of the
country that it is impossible to make rules that would ap-
ply everywhere.
Remember, always, the best criterion that can be taken
is the hen; find out the methods under which she is success-
ful-and follow them as closely as possible when running
your incubator. Her methods combined with your own
ingenuity cannot fail to bring you success.
Of course, everything depends upon the eggs and many
an incubator has been condemned as useless on account
of the infertility of the article to be hatched. _It is a good
‘thing to bear in mind that the incubator is only a medium
which, with moderate attention, is bound to produce good
results, and no workman, no matter how clever a mechanic
he may be, can do good work with poor tools.
While running an incubator it is as easy to be over anx-
ious as to be careless and it will be well to bear in mind that
it is a far more dangerous thing to let the temperature
within the egg chamber get too hot than it is to let it get
36 CHICKS
too cold, as the one will destroy your hatch, while the other
will, at the very worst, only delay it a day or so.
Air Both Eggs and Incubator.
- Having secured the most fertile eggs that you can pro-
cure and started your incubator for its three weeks’ run,
be sure not to let a day pass after the second day without
taking the egg tray out of the machine and turning the eggs
well, allowing them time in which to air and cool, at the
same time leaving the doors of the incubator open to allow
it also the benefit of a good airing. It is just as essential
to air thé incubator as it is to turn the eggs, it being one
of Nature’s laws that birds leave the nest in order to air
themselves as well as the eggs, and it is obvious that the
eggs should not be put back into an atmosphere that has
the slightest impurity about it. My method of turning the
eggs is by taking a few out at the center of the tray and
shuffling the others with the hands in the same manner
that a hen does with her beak and body. Keep away from
mechanical movements or anything pertaining to mechan-
ism as much as possible: Nature is erratic and while we
are imitating Nature we must be erratic also. This has
been my experience and I have carefully avoided anything
mechanical in the hatching and raising of poultry.
I have always had the greatest success with incubators
when they have been set in a place that is partially below
the ground and I advise setting the machine in a basement
rather than upstairs, provided there is sufficient air in the
basement for ventilation.
Fresh Air and Sunlight Essential.
. Another important thing to remember is fresh air never
injures anything; it is drafts that kill, and it is injurious
to place your incubator in a draft. Fresh air and sunlight
are as essential to health as they are useful for the destruc-
tion of impurities and it is therefore necessary that the in-
cubator room is well lighted and well aired. If your in-
cubator has a glass door through which you can see the
eggs do not fail:to cover it during the weeks of incubation
for the purpose of excluding the light. There are several
reasons for this, the two most important being that Nature
HATCHING AND REARING 37
is directly opposed to light in the production of life, and
that when the days for pipping arrive and the little chicks
‘at the back of the incubator are leaving their shells they
will naturally try to crawl over the pipped eggs in order
to get to the light which they can see through the glass
door. In doing this they will cover over the pipped eggs
with the glutinous substance that is clinging to them which
will seal the holes in the eggs and of course kill the little
live fellows inside. If the interior of the incubator is dark
this can never happen as the chicks will remain just where
they are, when they leave the shell, until dry and can be
taken out when the operator deems it advisable.
My concluding suggestion is, follow the instructions that
accompany the incubator as closely as possible as the peo-
ple who make the machine should surely be the best judges
of how it can be run most successfully.
Why Women Succeed.
The success of, women in business undoubtedly has
been due to the fact that they are more ready to attend to
the minor details than men and this is especially true in
the case of poultry raising. One seldom or never hears of
women poultry fanciers failing and the explanation is very
simple; nobody fails who attends to the details of lis or
her business. This is true in: all ‘cases, for those little
details that some people -are apt to treat as insignificant
and beneath their notice are very often the undoing of
what would otherwise be a successful enterprise.
I feel confident that any woman with the most elemen-
tary knowledge of business methods can make a success of
raising poultry and I do not know of any business that can
be started with as small a capital and show as good results
in the same length of time. This introduction to my brood-
ing article may seem somewhat out of place but I wish to
impress upon, my readers the importance of attending to
little details. .
Here are a few things. to always remember. Don’t
keep more than fifty young chicks together at any time;
feed little and often; dirt always encourages disease; clean
38 CHICKS
water is as important as clean quarters; sunlight and fresh
air are as necessary as food.
The Secret of Success.
The secret of success is undoubtedly strict attention to
the instructions that accompany the brooder and constant
care of the chicks for the first few weeks after they leave
the incubator. I have never been in favor of anything too
mechanical in connection with incubators and I am still
more prejudiced against a too-mechanical use of the brood-
er, for the more the operator has to attend to the little
ones the stronger and healthier they will be and the smaller
will be the death rate as a rule. Take your baby chicks
from the incubator in the evening as they will then be
undisturbed by the light and will sleep comfortably until
the next morning.
Do not be guided too much by the thermometer for the
little fellows make pretty good thermometers themselves and
there is not much fear of them becoming too hot if they can
retreat to where the temperature is cooler than under the
hover. Quite a good plan is to fasten up one of the woolen
flaps of the hover for the first two or three days in order
that the chicks may find their way in and out easily and to
occasionally remove the hover entirely in order that fresh
air may enter and more especially to see if there are any
weak or lazy chicks behind. Many a stupid or weakly
chick’s life may be saved by helping it when it is not in-
clined to help itself.
Do not put the food (dry grains) into any kind of feed-
ing device but scatter it in the litter upon the bottom of
the brooder, or runway, in this way making them work for
all they get. Exercise promotes health and cannot be
commenced too soon.
Always prevent the youngsters from crowding or hud-
dling together. In a well constructed brooder thev are not
apt to do that but it is well to be sure that they don’t. as
it is bound to cause trouble and will result in the loss of
some of your chicks.
A Chill is Fatal.
Be sure to take every precaution to prevent vour chicks
HATCHING AND REARING 39
from getting’ chilled as there is no chance for the life of
a chilled chick. Although I am making it appear that there
are no end of difficulties I do not wish to discourage any-
one, but rather to start him on the right road. To show
the other side of the picture I would like to say that last
summer I took sixty baby chicks from Sedalia, Missouri,
to Des Moines, Iowa, and from there to Lincoln, Nebraska,
and then to Pueblo, Colorado, attending all the state fairs
at these places, without losing one. These chicks traveled
in all about 2,000 miles and spent several weeks in stuffy
showrooms and with the exception of three are all living
today. Of course, this could not have been done had I not
exercised great- care, looking after them; at the same time
it shows the hardiness of the youngsters.
First Weeks the Important Time.
The first few weeks is the most important time in the
chickens’ lives, the time when their little onstitutions are
being built up, as it were, and this is when they require
your attention. When your hen was hatching her thirteen
eggs you were always prepared for the loss of a few of the
chicks; so now, when you are running an incubator and
using a brooder, don’t be surprised that a few of the chicks
die, but just compare the number you lose now with the
number you used to lose and see if your percentage of loss
is not smaller since you adopted the modern method. I
know it is in my own case and I know it will be in yours
if you act upon these suggestions.
HATCHING AND REARING ARTIFICIALLY.
Operating the Incubator—Pedigreeing the Eggs and Marking
the Chicks—Feeding and Caring for the Youngsters.
By M. L. Spink.
To obtain fine hatching eggs one must raise several
generations of breeders which have shown perfect health
from the eggs to the breeding pen. These eggs should be
as nearly ‘“‘new laid” as possible, and never over fourteen
days old.
We heat our machines for three days, running the
lamps very low. When the temperature has registered 103
degrees for twenty-four hours, the eggs are placed in the
machines and left untouched for two days. After that, they
are turned night and morning by rolling gently to the
center of the tray, and we are careful to push the small
ends of the eggs slightly down. The eighteenth day, at
night, we sprinkle the eggs with water heated to 100 de-
grees, place the pedigree trays in position and close the
machines for good. The eggs usually begin hatching the
twentieth morning and are all out about eight hours after-
ward.
Trap Nests Employed.
We use trap nests and mark the hen’s number on the
egg she lays. Thus we can tell the hatching quality of
each hen’s eggs on the seventh and fourteenth days by test-
ing. We keep a season’s record of each bird’s eggs and at
any moment can remedy a fault caused by sterility or dead
germs, and we can also record the number of healthy chicks
from each bird in the breeding pens.
The twenty-first day we remove the trays, punch tne
webbs of the pedigreed chicks and leave all chicks in the
incubator till the night of the twenty-second day. The
brooders have been whitewashed and heated to ninety de-
grees. We place fifty chicks in a brooder, never more.
HATCHING AND REARING 41
By putting them under the hover at night you can control
them the first twelve hours. The hover floor has a movable:
_ burlap cover, sprinkled with baby chick grit.. Their first
“day i is spent making acquaintance with the warmed drink-
ing water and gatheriig in a supply of grit.
Feed Every Three Hours.
When they are three days old we begin to feed stale
bread crumbs soaked in skim milk and squeezed dry. This
is scattered on a shingle. -We remove hover top and feed
Photograph Illustrating ‘Exterior of the Brooder .House Owned and
Operated by M. L. Spink.
every three hours allowing about ten minutes. for meals.
A box of charcoal and chick grit is also placed within reach.
The fifth day we furnish only wheat flour moistened with
water and made crumbly dry. A piece of sulphate of
iron the size of a bean is put in the drinking water. This
arrests any tendency to bowel trouble which usually appears
from the fifth to the seventh day. The next day we return
to the bread, morning and noon, and use chick feed in litter
for the other meals. ‘At night oatmeal flakes or cracked
corn is fed in troughs made of lath.
At this time they are using the exercise room ot the
‘ brooder, the floor of which is covered with dry sand and
42 CHICKS
short cut alfalfa. We mix in the chick feed and it is great
fun to see their efforts to scratch. Some topple over, but
arise and go at it again.: If you teach them the way up
to the hover room the first few times, they’ are capable of
keeping warm and happy.
i Hovers Discarded April First.
After April first we discard the hover tops and use only
the hover room. It prevents them from sweating during
warm nights and gives us stronger chicks. The seventh
day we begin to furnish them green feed, all the chopped
onion or beet that they will eat. Theeighthday beef scraps
in a hopper is put before them. When the chicks are ten
days old we open the brooder and teach them to use the
house yard, taking care that they learn the way in.
Three Meals a Day at Three Weeks.
From then on they are quite self-reliant. At three
weeks old the meals are cut down to three a day; the heat
is down to seventy-five degrees, and they have been weaned
from chick feed and are eating wheat, cracked corn and
oatmeal. At six weeks of age the birds are placed in colony
houses in cool brooders. They have practically free range
and are fed by the hopper system, cracked corn, wheat.
beef scraps, drv mash, charcoal and grit. One feed a dav
of whole oats and wheat, soaked, is fed at four P. M., in
troughs. Fresh water is carried around each morning.
We clean brooders daily, spray the colony houses once
a week and scald the drinking fountains very often. Our
birds grow like weeds and we never lose anv young stock
by sickness after it is six weeks of age. Thev began laying
at five months and eight days this past vear, on September
seventh, and are still at it. They are bread-winners.
REARING CHICKS IN BROODERS.
A Plain Description of Proved Successful Methods of Brooding
and Feeding—Dry Food Makes Healthy Chicks—Separate
the Sexes—Causes of Bowel Trouble.
By F-. G. Thayer.
The time has come when the hen in hér small way is not
capable of hatching and brooding the large number of chicks
that our markets demand and artificial methods are a neces-
sity. Natural conditions, however, must be followed as
much as possible for best results.
The rearing of chicks is the most. difficult part of the
poultry business. The poultryman’s success depends largely
upon his ability to increase the flock; if unable to do so he
will be gradually forced out of the business. The first
few week’s life influences to a great extent the value of the
future flock. In order to have good mature stock it is neces-
sary that they get a good start. Therefore, your breeding
fowls must be in prime of condition; they must be vigorous,
healthy, mature and not forced for egg production during
winter months. This kind. of stock will give fertile eggs
with strong germs which will produce vigorous, healthy
chicks.
Causes of Mortality.
Some of the causes of mortality in rearing brooded chicks
are lack of ventilation, overfeeding, too much or too little
heat, lack of exercise, unsanitary conditions, feeding too
soon after hatching, lack of vigor in the breeding stock and
improper handling of the eggs before and during incubation.
Much care is necessary to successfully raise chicks to matu-
rity. Donot force them to leave the brooder too early, as
it causes undersized, stunted chicks that may not feather
properly. Ventilation is needed at all times and foul air
should never be tolerated. It -will cause sickness and loss
of life.
44 CHICKS
The time for hatching and rearing of chicks for winter
egg production varies according to the breeds used. The
heavier breeds should be hatched by May Ist at the latest,
and chicks of the Mediterranean class from May Ist to June
Ist. Stock so hatched will lay all winter if properly raised,
matured, put into good winter quarters and given good care.
Late hatched chicks are hard to rear, as they do not mature
before cold weather sets in and then their growth is checked.
They never make good breeders, as they are born weak and
bowel complaints commence early. Late in the season the
eggs are weak in fertility and therefore produce weaker
chickens. Late hatched chickens are troubled more by
lice and diseases and in consequence cost more to raise.
Operating the Brooder.
Before putting chickens into the brooder see that it is
thoroughly disinfected and cleaned. Warm the brooder and
see that it is at the propertemperature. This temperature
should be 95 degrees when the chicks are introduced. Use
nothing but the best oil, as it causes less irregularity in the
flame and gives better all around satisfaction. The lamp
should be filled twice daily. Be sure to keep the burner
clean and bright; the wick tube should be kept free from
accumulation of crusts.
Trim the wicks twice daily by means of a nail which
takes off the burnt material and makes a uniform surface.
The temperature of the brooder should be 95 degrees
when the chickens are first put in and gradually reduced
to 90 degrees by the end of the first week; at the end of
three weeks 85 degrees is sufficient. The first week is the
most critical period of the life of the chicks. Trouble is
most likely to be caused by chills and overfeeding. In or-
der to have a good early pullet it is necessary that she get
‘a good start. The first few weeks care is responsible to a
great extent for her success or failure later on.
Feed, regularity of feeding, cleanliness and plenty of
grit and pure water are all important factors in the rearing
of chickens. Chicks should be carefully protected from
storms and sudden changes of weather, since these, together
with low vitality of the parents, are responsible for more
deaths than is improper food. Keep the chicks near
REARING IN BROODERS 45
the hover the first day so that they will know where to go
to get warm.
Intwo days the chicks may be given the run of the brood-
er and often can be let out into an outside run. Do not
force them to leave the brooder too early as it causes under-
sized, stunted and featherless chicks.
Feeding the Little Ones.
The mixture I prefer for the first feed is infertile eggs
A Colony House Which May be Used to Accommodate an Indoor
Brooder and Flock of Chicks in the Spring and be Used as
Quarters for the Growing Chicks Later.
chopped fine and mixed with five parts ofr olled oats, with
some green material chopped fine also added. This mix-
ture is fed sparingly for the first few days and then fed
more liberally. After a few days, cracked grains may be
fed in the chaff where the youngsters must scratch to get
it, thus obtaining exercise which develops their bodies, di-
gests their food and wards off diseases, especially diar-
46 CHICKS
‘yhoea. Feed little and often and keep their appetites sharp.
Keep them hungry; but judgment and practical experience
will tell you how to keep them almost satisfied and still a
little hungry. They should have access to green material
-at all times. At night their appetites should be completely
satisfied and plenty of feed should therefore be given them.
As they grow older they should be fed a less number
of times daily and more at atime. The chopped eggs and
rolled oats may be fed twice daily until they are three
weeks old and then be displaced by a mixture of bran, mid-
dlings, cornmeal, and meat scraps. This can be fed either
dry or moist. They grow faster on the moist mash but are
more liable to sickness. To make good breeding stock the
chickens should never be forced at all as they do not then
develop for the best results; one part is developed at the
expense of another and that makes them of less value for
breeding.
Care of the Growing Chicks.
_. When the chicks are between five and ‘six weeks old
/ whole grains can be substituted for the cracked grains and
their use will cut down the expense. For best results the
growing chicks should be fed sparingly in the morning,
have either a dry or moist mash at noon and be fed all
they will eat at night. The best green foods to be used
are lettuce and cabbage and. should be fed liberally. After
the young ones are four weeks old meat meal should be
before them at all times until meat scraps are substituted.
They should be given free range as soon as possible as it
promotes growth and health at a less expense than on re-
stricted range. Feeding the chicks on dry feeds while
4 young will lessen the mortality. They will not grow so
-fast but you will raise a larger per cent of vour flock to
\maturity.
Separate the Sexes.
As soon as the sexes can be distinguished they should
be separated and those of each sex kept by themselves.
The surplus cockerels should be finished off for market and
the pullets gradually fed to mature in time for winter lay-
ing, but not forced in any way, as that causes weakness in
constitution and poor fertility in the eggs in hatching sea-
REARING IN BROODERS . 47
son. If the pullets show a tendency to lay before you want
them to they should be fed a less stimulating ration so as
to retard egg production.
Causes of Bowel Trouble.
This is caused by undigested food which acts as an
irritant and diarrhoea results. Other causes are too little
or too much heat; weak constitution; lack of exercise; im-
pure air or lack of ventilation; careless feeding; impure
drinking water; and unsanitary surroundings. Late hatch-
ed chickens are more troubled with it than those of earlier
hatches. Give them scalded milk and charcoal with a little
grated nutmeg.
If weak in their legs give them plenty of exercise and
fresh air. This trouble is almost always caused by too
heavy feeding or by too concentrated food given the young-
sters when they do not have sufficient chance to be active
enough to enable their systems to handle it. Chicks on free
range are seldom troubled in this way though occasionally
some of the cockerels will be affected and then the condi-
tion may be caused by overfeeding or by injuries to their
backs received from larger and older males.
Grade According to Size.
If the growing chicks are confined in yards, even if the
yards are large, they should be separated according to size
so that the larger ones will not mistreat the little ones.
and thus eheck their growth and development. ‘A half doz-
en six or seven-pound cockerels will prevent three times
as many smaller ones in the same pen from getting as
much food as they need and from enjoying the freedom
from annoyance that is necessary for proper development.
This is not so necessary in the case of pullets, though when
trough feeding is practiced the larger ones will always
crowd out the smailer.
By hopper feeding this difficulty is avoided, the big
ones can go to the hopper and eat what they desire and
go away, leaving a chance for the younger ones to satisfy
their hunger without fear of being attacked. Hopper feed-
ing also saves at least two-thirds the labor of caring for
the flock.
PORTABLE BROODER HOUSE.
A Colony Coop, Costing Ten Dollars to Build, that Will Ac=
commodate a Brooder and Later Serve as
a Roosting Coop.
By Ellen A. Day.
A brooder house combining all the good points a per-
son might like is hard to build, unless one has plenty of
money. For those needing accommodations for only a few
hundred chicks small houses will answer the purpose, and
fit a small purse as well.
A structure four feet high in front, two feet high at
the back, with the floor six by eight feet, makes a very
convenient, portable brooder house. If set on runners it
is very easy to move it from one place-to another with a
team. The roof is built in two sections, is removable, and
is fastened down by large gate hooks when in place. It is
a great convenience to have the roof off when cleaning the
houses, especially when one wants to scrub them out in the
spring and have them dry out quickly.
The Brooder House as a Colony House.
When one has finished using the brooders, they can be
removed, leaving the chicks in the house. As the roof is
low, there should not be many chicks left in each house
-during hot weather. Doors and windows should have
‘screens fitted in to keep animals out when the doors and
windows are left open to admit air. The low houses are
much warmer in early spring for the baby chicks. Later
-on a higher house is much better.
A building, as here described, will cost about ten dol-
ars for material, including window sash for light and roof-
‘ing paper to cover the roof. Prices will vary in different
‘locations but in building several houses I think they will
average about that price.
PORTABLE BROODER HOUSE 49
In our second year using these houses, we cut out the
space between door and window and cleated the boards so
we could set them back in place when we wished to, in
case of storm or cold weather. At other times we had a
frame covered with cloth to set in the space. One needs
to watch the temperature same as in an outdoor brooder;
the houses get very warm when in the sun and closed up
tight. We keep doors and windows open most of the time.
This matter of overheating the chicks is often the cause
of a lack of thrift and vigor in flocks that are well fed and
otherwise well cared for. Often the brooder houses or
Some of the ‘Portable Brooder Houses Described vy Ellen A. Day.
isting coops are closed up so tightly at, night that the air
becomes very foul inside and before morning the tempera-
ture is very high. This not only-causes weak chickens but
actually causes suffering among them. Our method of fit-
ting screens to the windows and doors enables us to keep
he house well open all night so that the chicks obtain
plenty of air and at the same time are protected from dan-
ger.
Brooder House on Runners. —
If the runners are used, they may be made a part of
the sills, or the longitudinal sills (those at the front and
back) may be made of two-inch planks eight inches wide,
50 CHICKS
set on edge and allowed to project a few inches at one
end. These projecting ends should be rounded up to serve
as runners and a cross-piece nailed on from the end of one
to the end of the other to which a whiffletree may be at-
tached when it is desired to move the house from one lo-
cation to another. In this case the transverse sills (those
across the ends of the house) should not be more than
four inches wide and set on edge between the wider ones
making the tops of all sills level. This will make a space
of four inches between the transverse sills and the ground
so that they will not be in the way when moving the house.
A Colony House in Which the Window is Hung on Hinges to Serve as
a Door. This Building May Serve as a Brooder House, as
Quartets for Growing Chicks or as a House for
a Laying or Breeding Pen.
INCUBATING, BROODING AND FEEDING.
Five Well-Known, Successful Poultrymen Tell the Readers —
of this Book Where and How They Operate Their Incu=
bators and Brooders and How They Care for
and Feed the Future Profit Winners.
Question. In what kind of room do you operate your
incubator? :
Answers. Mr. Duston: In the cellar of my house.
Mr. Dodge: We operate our incubators in a cellar built
for the purpose, four and one-half feet below ground and two
feet above, covered with a peak roof, the whole covered
with two feet of earth. Mr. Ring: In a cellar constructed
for the purpose, having cement floor and brick walls. Mr.
Langworthy: One in an unused room in my house and
another in the dining room. Mr. Lackore: In an empty
room without heat, in my dwelling.
Question. How is the room ventilated?
Answers. Mr.,Duston: By a bulkhead and three
windows. Mr. Dodge: By three ventilators each twelve-
inches square, extending through the peak of the roof and
by two 3-light sash in the gable at each end of the roof,
hinged at the bottom to swing in, also by opening the door.
Mr. Ring: By four windows, each one by two feet, five
feet above the floor. Mr. Langworthy: By doors and win-
dows. Mr. Lackore: By opening the top sash in the win-
dows.
Question. Do you prefer any other location and why?
Answers. Mr. Duston: Would prefer a well ventilated
room above ground in which a fairly even temperature
could be maintained. Mr. Dodge: If I build another incu-
bator house I shall make it of hollow cement blocks, and have
it entirely above ground to insure absolute dryness and perfect
ventilation. Mr. Ring: No. Mr. Langworthy: Yes, a
well lighted and ventilated cellar, because the temperature
52 CHICKS
is more even there. Mr. Lackore: Yes, an especially
constructed incubator cellar four feet in the ground with
plenty of windows in the south wall and well ventilated.
Question. What temperature do you maintain in the
incubator during the three weeks?
Answers. Mr. Duston: 103 degrees, but allow it to
run to 105 when the chicks are coming out. Mr. Dodge:
First week, 1021, then 103 until the chicks begin hatching,
when it will rise to 105. Mr. Ring: 102 to 103 degrees.
Mr. Langworthy: First week 10214, second week, 103, third
week, 103 to 104. Mr. Lackore: First week, 102, second
week, 103, third week, 103 to 104.
Question. Do you supply moisture in the egg chamber?
Answers. Mr. Duston: No, have not found it necessary.
Mr. Dodge: Our incubators are the non-moisture, self-
ventilating kind, and after five years of use we find them so
in every particular. Mr. Ring: No. Mr. Langworthy:
No. Mr. Lackore: No.
Question. What are the principal reasons why chicks
do not always come out promptly on the twenty-first dav?
Answers. Mr. Duston: Weak germs, low temperature
and too much airing of the eggs. Mr. Dodge: Low tem-
perature, sometimes due to incorrect thermometer, excessive
cooling, varying temperature in the egg chamber, low de-
gree of fertility in the eggs and insufficient ventilation.
Mr. Ring: Lack of vitality of germ, drop in temperature dur-
ing incubation, eggs chilled while being aired. Mr. Lang-
worthy: Running the incubator at too low average tempera-
ture. Mr. Lackore: Too low temperature during the hatch.
Question. How long do you keep the chicks in the in-
cubator after the hatch is completed?
Answers. Mr. Duston: Chicks are always taken from
the machine on the morning of the 22nd day. Mr. Dodge:
About twelve hours. Mr. Ring: Twenty-four hours Mr.
Langworthy: Twenty-four hours. Mr. Lackore: Twenty-
four hours.
Question. How do you handle the incubator from the
time the hatch is complete until vou remove the chicks to
the brooder?
Answers. Mr. Dodge: Do not touch the incubators until
INCUBATING, BROODING, FEEDING 53
I open them to remove the chicks except when there is an
extra big hatch, when I open the door a quarter of an inch
and fasten it there after the chicks are all hatched and
dried. Mr. Ring: Turn down the flame and gradually
reduce temperature. Mr. Langworthy: I remove the trays
with the shells and unhatched eggs, and leave the regulator
and lamp as they were at hatching time. Mr. Lackore: I
remove the egg trays and keep the temperature at 100 de-
grees.
Question. What are your reasons for doing as stated
above?
Answers. Mr. Ring: To avoid subjecting the chicks to
too great a change of. temperature when removing them
from incubator to brooder and to lessen the chance of chil-
ling them in their removal. Mr. Langworthy: Taking out
the trays gives the chicks more room and gives a chance to
put in a little grit and water a short time before taking out
the chicks. Mr. Lackore: The chicks are less likely.to take
cold if perfectly dried and are stronger and better able to
stand the changes in temperature which follow their removal:
The chicks can be accustomed to a lower temperature
more gradually and more easily in the incubator than any-
where else.
Question. Describe “the way you move tiie chicks to the
brooder.” - 3
Answers.. Mr.:Duston: In a basket lined with cloth in
which. they are carefully covered during the removal. Mr.
Dodge: .In cold weather we move them in a market basket
covering them well with a flannel blanket, but in summer
they do not need to be so carefully covered, in fact last sea-
son we moved 1,800 chicks in an iron coal bucket. Mr. Ring:
I put a couple of heated bricks covered with burlap in the
bottom of a galvanized iron basket and cover them with an-
other layer of bablap. Mr. Langworthy: We put a warm
cloth in a basket or box, place the chicks upon it and fold
one end of the cloth over them. Mr. Lackore: I line a box
or basket with a warm flannel cloth, put in the chicks and
cover them with another warm cloth.
Operating the Brooder.
Question. Do you use indoor or outdoor brooders?
54 * CHICKS
Answers. Mr. Duston: I use nothing but outdoor
brooders because I can utilize them indoors as well. Mr.
Dodge: We have a large brooder house, capacity 1,000
chicks, heated by hot water and regulated by electricity,
which we prefer to indoor or outdoor brooders because it
is cheaper to operate and gives the chicks more room under
cover in stormy weather. Mr. Ring: Outdoor, so that the
chicks can be placed where they can get fresh grass and
clover as early as possible. Mr. Langworthy: Inside
brooders, because they are more comfortable to take care
An Outdoor Brooder and Brood.
of in bad weather and the protecting house affords the chicks
a place to exercise. Mr. Lackore: Indoor brooders in
colony houses because they burn less oil and when the
chicks leave the brooder they can remain in the colony
house. i.
Question. How warm do vou have the brooders when
the chicks are put in?
Answers. Mr. Duston: 100 degrees. Mr. Dodge: About
90. Mr. Ring: 90 degrees. Mr. Langworthy: 90 degrees.
Mr. Lackore: 98 degrees.
INCUBATING, BROODING, FEEDING 55
Question. Describe how you handle the chicks during
the first 24 hours in the brooder.
Answers. Mr. Duston: I do nothing but keep them
warm, give a little water with the chill taken off and a little
rolled oats scattered before them. Mr. Dodge: I scatter
fine chaff all over the brooder floor, keep the chicks under the
hover most of the time, teaching them to seek the warmth
whenever they are cold, never allowing them to go far from
the hover and giving no food for 36 hours. Mr. Ring: I
scatter fine grit in litter and gradually reduce the temperature
A Colony House for Growing Chicks Which Was Constructed Prin-
cipally From Odds and Ends of Lumber.
to 85 degrees. Mr. Langworthy: Keep the temperature
about 90 degrees and feed a good prepared chick food and
lots of grit and fresh water. Mr. Lackore: I feed them as
soon as I put them in, give them some water with the chill
taken off, and see that they go under the hover when they
are cold.
The Temperature of the Brooder.
Question. What temperature do you maintain in the
’
56 CHICKS
brooder during the first week, the second week, third week,
fourth week and thereafter? ©
Answers. Mr. Duston: 90 to 100 the first week, 85 to 90
the second, about 80 the third and 70 to 80 thereafter. Mr.
Dodge: 90 degrees the first week with plenty of ventilation,
85 the second and third weeks and 75 to 80 thereafter. Mr.
Ring: 85 the first week, 80 the second and third weeks, 75
the fourth and 70 thereafter. Mr. Langworthy: 90 degrees
the first week, 85 the second, 75 to 80 the third, 75 the
fourth and after that warm enough so that they appear
comfortable. Mr. Lackore: 95 the first. week, 90 the second,
85 the third, 80 the fourth and 70 thereafter.
Question. With what material do you cover the floors
of the brooders?
Answers. Mr. Duston: Sand because it is clean and
easily renewed. Mr. Dodge: Fine chaff with all the long
pieces sifted out, because it makes good scratching material,
and absorbs all moisture. Mr. Ring: Clover chaff, to keep
‘the floors clean and for chicks to scratch in for their food.
‘Mr. Langworthy: Clover leaves from the hay barn, because
‘I have it, don’t have to buy it, because it is all right. Mr.
‘Lackore: Clover chaff which furnishes considerable food
‘for the chicks and is an excellent scratching litter.
‘Question. How often do you clean the brooders thor-
‘oughly and how?
: Answers. Mr. Duston: Once a week by removing all
‘material. Mr. Dodge: Once a week the brooders are scrub-
‘bed with soap and water and twice a week the litter is re-
moved and fresh put in. Mr. Ring: Every three or four
days by removing all litter and replacing it with clean chaff.
Mr. Langworthy: Twice a week by scraping out the litter
and washing the brooder with hot water containing some
good disinfectant. Mr. Lackore: Every other day I clean
them thoroughly, scraping the floor with a piece of glass.
Question. How do you disinfect or purify the brooders?
Answers. Mr. Duston: By thorough white-washing be-
tween hatches and the use of a good disinfectant in water
to disinfect the floors. Mr. Dodge: By the use of plenty of
soap and hot water, disinfectants are apt to smother the
chicks. Mr. Ring: By keeping them always clean and
INCUBATING, BROODING, FEEDING 57
spraying them with lice paint after each brood is removed,
giving time for the fumes to disappear before placing more
chicks in the brooders. Mr. Langworthy: By the use of
the hot water and disinfectant mentioned above. Mr.
Lackore: Open the brooders and let in the sun which is the
best purifier.
Feeding the Chicks.
Question. How soon after the chicks are placed in the
brooder do you give them the first food?
Answers. Mr. Duston: They have rolled oats as soon as
they will pick them up, or about as soon as they are placed
inthe brooder. Mr. Dodge: From 24 to 36 hours depending
upon what hour of the day they were hatched. Mr. Ring:
Forty-eight hours. Mr. Langworthy: I give them a little
as soon as they are placed in the brooder. Mr. Lackore:
Immediately.
Question. What do you feed the chicks during the first,
second, third and fourth week, and after the fourth week?
Answers. Mr. Duston: During the first four weeks,
rolled oats, a prepared chick food and occasionally apples and
some cut clover, after the fourth week, hard grains. Mr.
. Dodge: We feed nothing but prepared chick food during
the first four weeks, but add a little cooked beef after the
first week. Mr. Ring: We feed the first week steel cut oats,
milk, grit, charcoal and ‘beef scraps, the second and third
weeks a prepared chick food is added, the fourth we also
feed ground oats and cracked wheat and after that time,
add whole wheat and when large enough whole oats and
a mash of cornmeal and bran mixed with milk. Mr. Lang-
worthy: We feed prepared chick food about four weeks and
then add cracked wheat and corn, gradually reducing the
chick food until it is left out entirely. Mr. Lackore: The
first and’ second weeks, prepared chick food, third and
fourth weeks, chick food and beef scraps, after the fourth
week wheat, kaffir corn, cracked corn, oats and barley, with |
plenty of grit and charcoal constantly before them. eo
Question. How many little chicks do you put in one
flock?
Answers. Mr. Duston: Never over fifty. Mr. Dodge:
About fifty, never more. Mr. Ring: Forty to fifty. Mr.
4
58 CHICKS
Langworthy: About fifty. Mr. Lackore: Not over one
hundred, seventy-five is better.
Question. ' How much run do you give them the first
week?
Answers. Mr. Duston: A space about four by five feet
in front of the brooder and no more until they are accus-
tomed to finding their way back to the hover. Mr. Dodge:
A pen five by ten feet indoors and a yard five by forty out-
doors. Mr. Ring: In cold weather they are confined in the
brooder; in warm weather they have a covered run three
by twelve feet. Mr. Langworthy: In cold weather we keep
them in the brooder. Mr. Lackore: A room eight by eight
feet.
Question. How much run do you give them the second,
third and fourth weeks, and after the fourth week?
Answers. Mr. Duston: They are allowed a pen ten by
twelve feet the second week, and the whole of an enclosed
run during the next two weeks and unlimited range there-
after. Mr. Dodge: We give them the same room as during
the first week until they are placed in colony houses and
have free range. Mr. Ring: . The same area as the first
week until the fourth when it is increased to a space ten by
ten feet and after the fourth week they have free range.
Mr. Langworthy: The second week a small inclosure in
front of the brooder, the third, a room ten by ten feet, the
fourth, an outside run ten by twenty-five feet, after the:
fourth free range. Mr. Lackore: The same as the first
week until after the fourth week when they have free range.
What is One Man’s Work?
Question. How many chicks can one man hatch and
rear with incubators and brooders in one season, hatching
during March, April and May, doing all the work him-
self? .
Answers. Mr. Duston: Do not like to state definitely,
know one party who raised a thousand chicks for me and
the same number for himself besides caring for a flock of
a thousand hens, but he was not afraid of work and did
not go visiting to any great extent. Mr. Dodge: With
proper equipment, about five thousand, devoting his entire
time to the work. Mr. Ring: Give it up. I raise from a
INCUBATING, BROODING, FEEDING 59
thousand to twelve hundred chicks each year, but have
assistance. Mr. Langworthy: That depends on the man
and the equipment. Mr. Lackore: Two thousand.
Cost of a Four Months’ Old Chick. oa
Question. Figuring eggs at market prices, what is the
cost, including labor, of producing a four months’ old chick
by your method?
Answers. Mr. Duston: Really I cannot tell, it did cost
me from nine to eleven cents a pound to produce a roaster,
not including fuel, but as I raise stock for breeding pur-
poses now, I have not made a careful estimate recently. Mr.
Dodge: As we do not raise chicks for market, we cannot
say what the cost would be, but it costs us $1.00 to hatch,
raise and keep a Leghorn one year. .Mr. Ring: I have
no figures to show accurately the cost to this age, my expense
for labor is distributed over the entire plant and food, fuel,
etc., is charged as a whole to the total number raised to
maturity. Mr. Langworthy: Can’t tell, we begin selling
chicks at one or two weeks old and sell from our flock all
the time so that I am unable to tell the cost of producing
a four months’ specimen. Mr. Lackore: About eighteen
cents.
‘AB Suyidg wie &@ UO eSuBY vaigq SuyAofugq syoyyO peyoiey-uey jo spooig aa1UL
HATCHING AND REARING WITH HENS.
The Writer Firmly Believes in the Natural Methods of Hatch=
ing and Rearing Exhibition and Breeding Stock and
Tells How the Work Should be Done, from Making
the Nest to Separating the Weaned Chicks.
By A. C. Smith.
The art of raising chickens by hens, never well understood,
is being fast lost sight of. It is the old method. The few of
us who still cling to and advocate the natural method of
hatching and rearing are classed as ‘‘ultra conservatives” and
‘“‘has beens,” etc. Still I believe in the old hen, and to my
mind for the production of nice show specimens of good, hardy
breeding stock, she will, nine times out of ten, discount any
brooder that was ever built in the hands of ninety-nine out
of a hundred men.
The hen is pretty cheap labor and her life services and
carcass thrown in can be had for from fifty cents to one
dollar and board. She is always on hand, never sleeps
through any kind of a calamity, regulates the ‘warmth of the
chicks better than any device of man ever has or ever can;
is sure to insist on sufficient exercise and when marauders
threaten her flock can appear to be the maddest thing on
earth, not excepting the proverbial hornet.
This setting hen is complained of as a common nuisance
because she will break the eggs, crush the life out of young
shicks, will transfer lice from her body to the young, and
last, and perhaps the most serious complaint of all, she will
lead her youngsters off early in the morning into the wet
grass where they become drenched and chilled only to finally
droop and die.
All these are. just complaints, perhaps, but if one one-
hundredth part of the thought, and one-one thousandth
part of the expense that has been expended in perfecting
artificial chicken raisers had been applied to the question
t \
62 CHICKS
of controlling the natural chicken raiser, these faults would
long ago have been overcome. Mother hens do certainly
break eggs, even tear nests asunder and bury eggs; they
crush young chicks and they lead them into too wet grass
fields—but why let them? The trouble is not with the hen,
it is with the conditions and surroundings.
The Hen is Satisfactory if Properly Handled.
I once heard a discussion between the agent of an incuba-
tor concern and a fancier, who, like myself, is a hard, old-
fashioned advocate of the hen as God made her. The latter
finally remarked that there was no difficulty in getting good
hatches and raising a large percentage of the chicks if the
man who set the hen knew as much as the hen. To my
mind this comprises the length, the breadth and the depth of
the situation as it exists today and as it always existed.
Incubators are nothing new, nor are hens. They had both
before Pharaoh’s time. The hen was the nearest to perfec-
tion then and is yet.
This does not mean that there is no use for the incubator
and brooder. These machines not only assist the poultry
business, but they actually make some branches. Anyone
embarking in the business upon a commercial basis must
use these machines, but to my mind such an enterprise would
be better if the breeding stock was raised by the natural
method. To those who are engaged in raising fancy poultry,
I unreservedly recommend the hen as we knew her yesterday
and know her today. :
If we are to use hens, how are we to use them so that they
will not break eggs and kill chicks in one way or another?
I am glad to briefly outline the method that we have prac-
ticed for the past few years an dwhich has averaged us nearly
eight good, strong, healthy, sure-to-live chicks out of every
thirteen eggs.
There is a great deal in selecting the proper kind of a hen;
an ideal hen for a mother will be of a quiet disposition and
weigh from five to six pounds. These are taken from the
nests in which they have thoroughly developed the pro-
pensity to sit, and placed in nests of special design.
Making the Nests.
These nests are made in sets of four. Each nest is
HATCHING WITH HENS 63
fourteen inches square, inside measurement, and about
eight high. It has no bottom except the earth on the floor
of the pen in which it is placed. The front consists of a two-
-inch strip at the bottom and a board eight inches wide
hung on hinges. This arrangement makes it possible to
fasten the hens on. When there is a sand or board floor,
three inches of moist loam should be spread on the floor
and this set of nests placed on top of that. This loam
should be smoothed off in the nests so that it is just a trifle
higher on the outside and in the corners than in the center.
This will keep the eggs close together and prevent them from
rolling into the corners and getting cold. Rye straw should
be placed around the outside of the nest while the middle
should be filled with chopped hay or short rowen.
If the hollowing of the earth in the center is just right,
it will keep the eggs together, but will not pile one over
another so as to crush some ofthem. Eggs in sucha nest are
not liable to break as the hens will not have a chance to jump
down on them, but must walk in from a floor which is nearly
level with the nests.
Eggs with good shells ahoule always be selected. A
broken egg is very disastrous to the success of the hatch
unless soon discovered and all the besmeared eggs washed
in tepid water.
Set Hens That Mean Business.
But to return to the hens themselves. They should be
tried two or three days on false eggs. Those that appear
wild and intractable should be thrown off and better ones
substituted. It is well to have all the hens in each bank
of four nests selected from one flock so that they are acquaint-
ed. There is then no quarrelling when let offtofeed. Good
hens having been selected they should sit on worthless eggs
for two or three days, when the eggs that they are to hatch
should be placed under them.
We have told how to avoid crushed and broken eggs as
much as possible. The other main difficulty and one of
the essentials to a good hatch is to keep down
the lice.
Kill Lice and Mites..
The hens should be dusted thoroughly with some insect or
64 CHICKS
lice powder when placed upon the nest and, if badly infested,
again four days later. A final dusting should be given about
four days before the hatching day. Two of these dustings
during the sitting period will entirely rid the hen of lice
and do much to insure a good hatch, and further, it reduces
the liability of head lice on the chicks.
Mites are troublesome pests in hot weather and a few
of them will drive the best sitters from the nest. Fortunate-
ly kerosene will keep them away if applied to the woodwork
of the nest in liberal quantity. This should be done after
each hen leaves the nest with her brood, making the nest
perfectly mite-proof for the next one. This oil will keep
the mites away from the woodwork and the powder will
keep them from the nest and hen.
These sitting hens should be fed whole corn, with oyster
shell in good supply before them, when they are off the nest.
They should be fed every day at aregular hour. Promptness
should be the rule. If a set of hens have been fed at 10
a. m. for a few days they are fretful if not fed at that time.
Flatten the Nest When Eggs are Hatching.
As soon as the eggs begin to be picked, the nest should be
widened and flattened. The straw should be taken out
and the rowen ar short hay should be drawn into its place,
the idea being to flatten the nest so that the eggs do not rest
against each other. This greatly reduces the liability
-of crushing eggs or chicks. The chicks may stay in the
nest from twenty-four to thirty-six hours after hatching.
After hatching the chicks are put into our summer coops.
There is a little sand put on the floor of the coops and a very
little hay chaff. Clear sand is the first grit for a chicken
and it is worth while to see that they get it before they are
fed anything. Small chick grit is very necessary from the
start.
The First Feed.
The prepared chick feeds have succeeded the old fash-
ioned food of hard boiled eggs and cracker and milk. On
the whole it is a good change and nearer nature. These
finely cracked seeds keep the chicks running and scratching
and picking.
HATCHING WITH HENS 65
A variety of food is both appetizing and stimulating. The
boiled eggs and cracker and milk are excellent for a change
and very nourishing, but, as with all soft and cooked foods,
they should not be given in sufficient quantity to entirely
satisfy the chicks’ hunger, as the youngsters then become
inactive. The old fashioned oatmeal is a fine food and makes
a good change. This may be best fed to the young chicks
dry, and as a scratch food. A little later hulled oats
makes another good food and change.
Cracked corn and whole wheat may be fed in small pro-
portions when the chicks are two weeks old, but they should’
not be given a full meal of these hearty grains at first unless
both are cracked especially. fine. . :
Feed Little and Often.
The more young chicks are fed the better, provided they
are not overfed at any time. The most expert chicken grow-
ers feed from five to eight times a day. “Little and often”
is the motto of good feeders. Brooder chicks should be fed
more often than those raised with hens. E
The reason is obvious. The hen will guarantee the chick
sufficient exercise, while a brooder chick exercises for his
food only in confined runs. The. more often it is fed, and the
less fed at one time, the greater amount of exercise the chick
takes in procuring his food, the assumption being that he is
fed in a litter.
Damp Mashes Advisable.
After the chicks get to be a month old or more, it is advis-
able to give some soft food. The writer likes a mash made of
corn meal, flour middlings, in a very small quantity, and acme
feed or bran, the proportion being governed by the richness
of the ingredients. This should always be mixed with boil-
ing water and allowed to stand and cook. It should be fed
warm, but not hot. It should be salted-and such ingredients
as bone meal, beef scraps and fish meal may be added.
Other combinations are available and make excellent
mashes. That known as provender, consisting of ground
‘oats and. corn meal is. deservedly popular. Chicks like
variety in mashes as they do in other things.
‘The writer believes i11 mashes, both wet and dry, for grow-
66 CHICKS
ing chicks. They are fed twice a day after soft feeding is
once commenced and as the chicks grow the number is in-
creased to five when they are fully feathered out and are
on the range independent of the care of mother hen. At
night wheat is usually fed, though cracked corn is given at
times for variety.
Dry Mash Sometimes Useful.
It has its advantages like hopper feeding. The food is
always there. The smaller and weaker chicks are sure of
a good meal when it is wanted. When used in connection
with the regular feeding it works well if the wet mash and dry
mash are of different constituents and flavor, the chicks
eating well of both. When hopper feeding is in practice,
two damp mash feeds will take the place of the five, even
during the longest days.
Cooping the Chicks.
Fifty chicks and four hens are put into one of our summer
coops. These coops are eight feet long, four feet wide, three
and one-half feet high in front and two and one-half feet high
at the rear. The front is open except for lattice work and
inch mesh wire put on over to keep out animals. It is
necessary that the hens that are put into such coops be those
that have been sitting together. Otherwise they will not
get along peaceably.
Separate the Sexes.
The cockerels are separated from the pullets when young.
We have two large fields, containing, together over forty
acres about one-half a mile apart. The pullets are taken
to one field and the cockerels to the other. Separating
leaves usually twenty to twenty-five pullets or cockerels
in a coop. Here they are kept until it is very cold or until
snow comes.
N
SUCCESSFUL HATCHING AND REARING.
Making the Nest and Feeding the Sitting Hen—Operating the
Incubator—Handling the Eggs—Brooding and
Feeding the Chicks.
By James Shackelton. '
"Phen is much that everybody knows which everybody
is always telling; there is much that few know and is never
or scarcely ever told. So I propose to deal chiefly with
these obscure matters.
Not much need be said about natural hatching. The
nest should be made right so that eggs tend to be in proper
positions, in a close bunch, not tending to fall away from
each other. The nest material should not be wet nor of
long, stiff straws or hay that will tickle and disturb biddy.
And biddy should be taught, even made, to leave the nest
once a day to feed. She ought to have water where she can
sip it without leaving the nest or even rising from the
‘ eggs. Her food is best if rather meagre rations of whole
corn or wheat and some grit. It is not wise to give her
the usual egg rations, for if she should lay while sitting,
she is apt to discontinue sitting. It is best not to give any
hen all the eggs she can cover. Fifteen eggs of two ounces
each is about the limit reasonable for the biggest hen.
Hens that are not properly fed while sitting become
emaciated, their bodily heat is lowered, .hatching is made
late, or even poor hatches result. Many hens will not of
themselves seek food sufficiently often. It is well to make
sure that hens are disposed to return to their nests speedily
after feeding; an absence of half an hour is the limit at
any season and much less in cold weather, if the nest is
exposed to the cold. The nest should be comfortable
and airy, not draughty, not susceptible of becoming at all
as an oven. Consider the hen’s comfort. Don’t rely on
biddy’s instinct finding a proper nest. Often a hen does
68 CHICKS
find an unusually satisfactory nest of her own choosing.
Often she will make a nest in long grass just before a bad
wet spell that lasts for many days. It is pure folly to
trust hens’ instincts for anything just because one of them
is known to be very smart or very lucky.
Set Only Well-Shaped Eggs.
Never give a hen misshapen eggs unless you have no
others. They are quite apt not to hatch good chicks even
if strongly fertile. It is well to test eggs under hens, for
fertility, after about five or seven days incubation, earlier
for white shelled eggs, especially if you have several hens
sitting at one time. You can then give all fertile eggs
to some of the hens and provide the others with fresh batches.
As to artificial incubation, it is usually best to follow
with intelligence the instructions sent out with incubators.
But many people seem to think that an incubator can give
pure air to eggs when the air of the room is impure, and
that is a futile expectation. The incubator should be
where the air is pure, where the air is rather moist than
very dry, where the temperature varies as little as possible
day and night throughout incubation. No incubator always
has absolutely even heat in all parts of the egg chamber.
To offset that have every egg in every part of the chamber
at some time or other, by moving them from center to
sides and to ends on a system made certain by marking
every egg. Thin-shelled eggs among thick-shelled eggs are
likely to dry out too quickly so that they don’t hatch. Eggs
that show spots all over when held before a light from
uneven thickness of shells are subject to the same trouble
as thin-shelled eggs. The incubator door should never be
opened while hatching is going on. The reason is that
when chicks hatch they give off much moisture in drying
out and this moisture helps the eggs that have not hatched.
When the door is opened this moisture escapes and very
frequently the later hatching is totally spoiled by this.
Chicks are thus dead in shells for no other reason than
that the egg membranes were too dry when the chicks
needed to break the shell in order to breathe freely, and
the chicks could not break the tough membranes. Con-
sequently the chicks speedily suffocated.
HATCHING AND REARING 69
Chicks should not be fed at all until fully seventy-two
hours after hatching. They should have water and grit
as soon as hatched. If the chicks are with the hens you may
let the hens do as they will about first feeding. As a
rule, you will find, if you investigate carefully enough, that
most hens do not feed chicks until they are three days old.
They may run around with them, teach them to pick grit,
teach them to drink, but as a rule, they don’t teach them
to eat until at least three days old.
Feeding the Early Broods.
A chick is not ready to eat food by the mouth until at
Jeast three days after hatching. It has enough egg yoke
in its intestines to last four or five days. Other food ad-
ministered before this yoke is digested is just a risk of
stagnation in crop or elsewhere, and blood poisoning fol-
lows. That ten chicks survive all this while forty die
is no reason why one should be subjected to it.
After about ‘ten days of infant treatment, chicks ought to:
70 CHICKS
eat about as adult fowls except that large size grains are
not of course suitable for them. But they can eat whole
wheat at four weeks, whole corn at eight weeks. Whole
oats are scarcely proper for chicks except in small pro-
portions and with plenty of good grit and abundant activity.
But hulled oats are the best grain food chicks can eat.
Chicks need animal food after first four days of feeding,
even if you do not give them animal food, as milk or eggs,
before that. Service of animal food to chicks ean easilv
be overdone—is often greatly overdone. Five per cent of
total food by weight is enough for a beginning and eight per
cent should never be exceeded at any time up to twelve
weeks of age, and ten per cent should never be exceeded
at any age.
Don’t “Coddle” the Chicks.
Chicks should not be kept overwarm, not be coddled at
all. Chicks that need coddling are never much good as
adults. If they are healthy chicks, well hatched, their
apparent need of coddling is your own fault. Chicks should
be hardened, gradually, but rapidly. When hardened they
are better without much brooder heat.
They will grow well, feather rapidly and well, if you
don’t coddle them and if you feed them rightly. Chicks
should be made to work for the bulk of their food as early
as possible, should be taught to scratch for dear life and
do that every day of their lives ever after.
Eighty degrees Fahrenheit in the brooder is about
what the best. chicks need as a starter if they are gradually
cooled off from temperature of the incubator during, sav
three hours. It seems to be unsafe to tell this to most
people, I wrote it with the utmost care for Californians
a year ago. One man had nearly all his chicks die just
because he did not take account of proper precautions
plainly told in my directions. Another man who followed
my suggestions with intelligence reared every chick hatched.
The funny thing was that the man who lost nearly all
his chicks was a neighbor of the man who lost none.
REARING CHICKS WITH HENS.
Simple, Successful Methods of Caring for Little Chicks Reared
by the Mother Hen—Taking off the Hatch—The Feed
for the First Three Weeks—Brood Coops and
Where to Place Them—How to Destroy Lice
and Mites—Main Features of the Work.
By fico: D. Holden.
This is a subject ever old, yet ever new; something new
regarding it may be learned each season, although the
fancier may have had years of experience; but it is the poul-
tryman of little experience rather than the old breeder that
this article is intended for.
It is the chicks with the mother hen of which we wish to
treat, and as the average fancier raises most of his chicks
in this way it is a subject of general interest. We will sup-
pose that the mother hen has been given proper care during
‘the three weeks she has been on the nest and that the chicks
may. be “‘‘supposed”’ to be free from lice. To be on the safé
side each chick should have its head and throat well greased
upon being taken from the nest. For this purpose we have
found lard mixed with a little carbolineum liquid lice killer
to be a fine thing; enough of the liquid to turn the lard a
light brown in color. With this mixture grease the top and
sides of the head and the throat; this will kill any lice that
may have fastened themselves upon the chick, and gives the
little fellow a fair chance for his life. When the chicks are
to be marked by punching the webs of the feet it should be
done at the time of taking them from the nest, not leaving
it until they are older with the chance of not being able to
identify them again.
Taking off the Hatch.
it should be understood that the chicks should not be
taken from the nest until at least thirty-six hours old, at
72 CHICKS
which time they will be ready for their first feed. When
the chicks are all taken from the nest, greased and marked,
then give the mother hen a good dusting with some good in-
sect powder before giving the chicks to her again, as it is of
great importance that both hen and chicks should be free
from lice if the chicks are to make rapid growth and keep in
good health and vigor. Most of the ills of chick life may be
traced to the ravages of lice and one of the main duties of the
fancier in the care of his chicks is to keep them free from
these pests.
There are, no doubt, many ideas as to the proper feed for
young chicks the first few weeks of their lives; but experience
has taught us that the best feed for a young chick is dry feed,
small grains, etc., as found in the best of our prepared chick
feeds. There are several good brands of this on the market,
and we know of nothing that is better for voung chicks from
their first meal along through the first few weeks of their lives.
We have never had a case of bowel trouble in our chicks
since using such feed for the first three weeks; the small grains
seem to be just the thing for the little fellows and the small
amount of animal matter put up in the feed is sufficient for
them in that line. After the first three weeks one may begin
giving bread soaked in milk, but feeding it as dry as possible
by squeezing out the milk and crumbling up the bread.
We also begin feeding ground green bone ‘at this period;
get the joint bones from your meat market and feed the chicks
the best part of it, that is, the most tender and juicy part.
A good bone mill will put it in shape so the chicks can eat
it without any trouble.
Feed Little and Often.
¥eed the chicks a little at a time, but feed often; scatter
' the feed in chaff, or some good scratching litter to give the
' little fellows the exercise necessary to-develop their strength.
Don’t over feed: a bunch of young chicks require but little
at a time and should not be given enough to stuff their
crops, but enough so that it may show in the slight swelling
of the crop that indicates a fair meal. When a month or
six weeks of age they can be fed more heartily, but in general
it is best to be moderate in the amount fed and to feed often.
We keep water within their reach from the time of their
REARING WITH HENS 73
‘ first feed. Some people do not give water for a few days,
but we believe in giving it from the start.
For the first week or so we keep our chicks in the loft of
our barn, in a warm dry place with plenty of light, where
they are free from drafts and cold and can scratch in chaff
to their hearts content. At the end of the week, or ten
days if early in the season, we move them to their outside
quarters; we gather them up and place them in a box that
has a sliding cover perforated with holes to give ventilation
and as soon as all are in the box we give them a good dusting
with good insect powder. We also give the mother hen a
good dusting before returning the chicks to her; this treat-
| ment is necessary in order to keep the chicks rid of lice.
The Coop and its Location.
A brood coop for hen and chicks should be so constructed
as to afford ample protection from storms, the hot rays of
the summer sun, the destructive rat, skunk or weasel and
with a double door at front and back, the inner one of fine
wire mesh and the outer one of boards. The outer doors
will serve as shelter from rain and sun, and the inner doors
when closed down at night will keep out rats, etc. Where
coops are located in grass runs.the chicks will have plenty
of green food, but where the runs are without grass the fan-
cier must provide it for his chicks. ‘For young chicks the
grass must be cut up in short lengths and they should have
what they will eat at least once a day. Where grass is
very scarce, vegetables, chopped fine, will answer; it is
simply a matter of keeping as near to nature as possible.
Where the chicks have free range, where grass and vegetation
is plenty, it requires less attention from the fancier than
where the range is devoid of vegetation, as animal life in
the way of bugs, insects, worms, etc., is found in greater
abundance on good grass land than on land devoid of vegeta-
tion and chicks confined to bare runs depend upon their
owner for their animal and vegetable food. Brood coops
should never be placed in yards in which mature fowls are
kept as the old fowls will make life miserable for the chicks
and interfere materially with their growth and development.
A fair sized hen will take care of twenty chicks, if not too
early in the season, and it is a good plan where several hens are
74 CHICKS
coming off at the same time to use only as many for mothers
as are necessary to properly care for the chicks; but where
chicks are of different varieties it is best to place some of
each kind under the hens that are to be used as mothers,’
so that they may be accustomed to their color, as otherwise,
they are likely to kill those that happen within reach that
are different in color from their own; that is, a hen that has
all white chicks will not tolerate a black or dark colored
chick around, but will kill it if within reach. By giving
each hen some of each color, where more than one variety
is hatched, trouble will be avoided and the coops in which
such hens are confined may be placed quite near each other,
and a chick from one entering another by mistake will not
be injured, as the hen will not know it from her own.
Separate According to Age.
Do not keep chicks of different ages in the same enclosure
if it can be avoided; that is, do not allow those together in
which there is a difference of several weeks in age, as the
older ones will annoy the younger ones to the extent of
retarding their growth. As near as possible keep those of
the same age in the same enclosure. From the time the
chick is hatched, all along ‘through its days of growth and
development, keep it free from lice. Lice kill more chicks
each season than any other cause, and they must be fought
from the start and kept down if one would secure the best
results. After chicks are placed in brood coops it is a good
plan to dust both hen and chicks once a week for the first
few weeks, then at longer intervals, through the season. To
dust the chicks use a good powder blower and when chicks
are under the hen raise her carefully and blow the insect
powder on the chicks, it may make them blink and snap
their eyes, but will not hurt them; to dust the hen thorough-
ly take her from the coop, place her upon her back with
wings outspread, then place a knee on each wing and blow
the powder all along her breast and body, then take her in
the hand and blow powder in the feathers of the back and
neck. .This style of treatment of hen and chicks once a
week for the first. few weeks will pretty well clear up the lice.
Do not dust hen and chicks the same dav, but about three
or four days apart. The dusting of the hen will verv often
é
REARING WITH HENS 75
answer the purpose as the chicks in brooding get their heads
and bodies more or less covered with the powder that has
been blown on the hen, but to be on the safe side dust both
hen and chicks. .
Much of the time during April and the first half of May
the chicks cannot be out of doors to any great extent,
and some sort of an exercising or scratching place is a neces-
sity. The ordinary brood coop will hardly answer the pur-
pose, not being large enough, and our plan has been to con-
A Coop Six Feet Long and Three Feet Wide, With Glass Window, in
Front, Which Serves'as Quarters for Hens With Early Chicks.
struct a coop with the main part three feet by six feet with
‘an addition at each end, twenty inches by twenty-four inches;
these end parts to be used for hen and chicks as brooding
quarters and the main part as exercising room. The sides
‘of the main part should be on hinges and of the double door
pattern, the outer one to be of wood and the inner one of
inch mesh wire screen; the wooden door to have a good
sized light of glass set in it
When weather is cold or stormy both sides (back and
front) of the coop may be closed and this scratching room
will be warm and comfortable. In case of wind coming
76 CHICKS
against one side of this coop, and too strong for the chicks,
that side may be closed and the other opened; or, when the
weather is nice, both sides may be raised and the chicks have
a good shady spot in which to rest. The roof may also
be on hinges and thus be a convenience in the feeding of
chicks or cleaning of coop. The end apartments, where
the hens are confined, may each have a hinged door at the
back for convenience in handling the hen, and the opening
into the main part should be slatted so that chicks may
pass through into the main part, but hens cannot. The
roofs of both main part and addition should be of the shed-
roof pattern. Such a coop will answer for two hens and
forty chicks and the chicks may be kept there until time tc
change them to fall or winter quarters.
A coop for a single hen and twenty chicks could be made
with main part one-half the size of the double coop, but the
latter coop will be cheaper to construct in proportion to its
size and will save time in the care of the chicks. By set-
ting four or five hens at the same time the chicks may be
given to two hens and in such a coop they will be
comfortable in all kinds of weather. In cold or stormy
weather it can be closed tight enough to keep the chicks
warm, and in warm weather can be opened so as to allow
plenty of ventilation and shade.
Protection From Rats, Etc.
It will be seen that the ordinary brood coop, one large
enough for hen and chicks for night use, when the chicks
are brooded, is not sufficient for the comfort of the chicks
during such times as they cannot run outside because of
storms or severe weather. Some shelter should be pro-
vided that will admit of exercise beyond that possible in
ordinary brood coops and whatever plan mav be followed,
whether along the line of the coop we have mentioned or
some other line, it must protect from heat and cold, allow
of ample ventilation in warm weather, and be a protection
from the ravages of rats, cats, etc. If left so that rats can
get in at night, the time when they do the most damage,
then in some localities it would be a hard matter to hatch
enough chicks from the average sized flock to keep the rats
busy disposing of them; an ordinary, strenuous rat will get
REARING WITH HENS 17
/
away with from ten to fifty in one night, and he is not in
the least careful to take just the poorer specimens, but takes
the most promising ones as well. Thoroughbred chicks
are rather expensive feed for rats or lice, and the best plan
is to. keep the chick premises rid of both. A good cat,
that has not developed a taste for young chick meat, makes
about the most satisfactory rat trap that we have ever used.
We have one that makes it her business to inspect every chick
coop on the place at least once a day and rats and mice are
scarce indeed; yet, with such a good protection against rats we
still make our chick quarters rat-proof. It is best to be on
the safe side and take all possible precautions.
When the chicks reach broiler age and from that time on
they should be looked over carefully and those specimens that
have disqualifying defects, or show that they will never be
of more than ordinary quality, should be culled out. The
ordinary specimens may be given longer time to show quality
if the fancier is doubtful, but the culling process should be
thorough, gradually weeding out all specimens that do not
show a reasonable degree of quality. Most fanciers are
not blessed with an abundance of room and are inclined to
hatch more chicks than they have space to raise to maturity.
The only thing to do is to ‘cull out the poor specimens as
soon as their age is sufficient to indicate their probable qual-
ity at maturity; by close culling room is made for those speci-
mens that indicate good quality and the fancier is able to
go into winter quarters with a well balanced flock in a well-
matured condition.
Discard the Weak Chicks.
In the American varieties, where size cuts some figure, it
does not pay to bother with those chicks that do not seem to
grow, that is, do not keep pace with those of average size
in the flock. They have the same chance as the others, but
seem stunted, and generally are so. The best thing is to
put them out of the way as soon as it is seen that they are
lacking in vitality and very likely will always be under size.
The mother hen should receive good care as well as the
chicks so that she may be in good health and condition
while with chicks; a hen that is somewhat out of condition
78 * CHICKS
is not a fit mother as her poor conditon will soon affect the
chicks and their growth will not be what it should.
If at any time chicks appear dumpish and do not seem te
have much appetite, you may be certain something is wrong.
and in the majority of cases it will be found that they are
troubled with lice. As we have said, lice are the prime cause
of most of the ills of chickhood and it is only by constant
care and watchfulness that the chicks may be kept free of
them.
Don’t for a moment think that because chicks are well
treated for lice when taken from the nest the one treatment
will do for the entire season; it possibly may, but the chances
are that others will be necessary. It is best to put them
through the dusting treatment at regular intervals
for the first six weeks of their lives; after that at longer
intervals.
The Main Points to be Considered.
If one were to condense a chapter on the care of chicks
raised by hens to a few sentences it might be well covered
by the following: Set eggs from healthy, well-mated stock;
use as sitters females that are quiet and gentle and in good
health; keep hen and chicks free from lice; provide a varied
and wholesome bill of fare; provide comfortable, healthful
quarters and keep them clean. That is about the- whole
thing in a ‘‘nut shell,” and it must not be supposed that
the raising of chicks successfully is such a very difficult
undertaking, requiring elaborate paraphernalia, a big stock
of poultry remedies and much scientific knowledge. The
main point is to keep them healthy and keep them growing;
do this in the simplest way possible and your way will be
a good one.
Coops must be constructed to meet the demands of com-
fort for all kinds of weather; the style of the coop is imma-
terial so long as it fills the bill and does the work. The
same is true regarding the feed; if any one has found by
experience a line of feed that does the work satisfactorily
then stick to it. Any method of treating for lice that does
the work should be followed out each season. The aim
should be to work out, in each.case, the most simple and
effective plan, for it must be effective to be successful.
REARING WITH HENS "49
Coops should be made as turable 5 as possible so as to be
used several seasons; it will be a saving of time and expense
to build them in this’ ‘way for a temporary affair seldom gives
‘good satisfaction.
A Work of Pleasure and Profit.
The care of chicks may be a task to some, but to the
genuine fancier it is a pleasure. It gives him an oppor-
tunity to watch their development from shell to maturity and
to store up knowledge concerning the development of color
in plumage, etc. He can use this knowledge to good ad-
vantage in his work of mating next season; in fact, it is
only by a careful study of chick life and its development
that a real knowledge may be obtained of the tendencies and
development of color of plumage, and the care of the chicks
throughout the season gives the best possible opportunity
for such study. As we have said, it is a source of pleasure
to the real fancier rather than a task.
: ‘saa}1en®
JOM TOUT SB aAIIS TM UWIYM NOH MBG 29Y4} JO Wed PUB Yooig Sunogz oeSuey verg ‘sno103fA
SUMMER CARE OF YOUNG STOCK.
Roomy Coops, Good Food, Freedom from Lice, Sufficient
Shade Make Healthy, Profitable Chicks.
By C. A. Dutton.
The ‘danger period” which causes the poultry raiser so
much anxiety for the first six or eight weeks of the chick’s
life is past. The young stock now has more strength and vi-
tality and is not so subject to ‘‘set backs,” caused by change
of feed, exposure, and other things. The important thought
from now on is to care for and properly feed the young stock
to enhance its steady growth and perfect development.
One of the things to guard against especially, as the
summer advances and the nights become hot, is overcrowd-
ing in the roosting or brood coops. ‘
A brood, coop three feet square may comfortably hold
thirty-five or forty chicks up to three weeks old, but they .
very soon double in size and require twice the amount of
room to be comfortable.
Crowding is Dangerous to Health.
’ A sign of overcrowding and overheating at night is
droopy wings and a lack of that sprightly action and growthy,
‘healthy appearance, that are seen in properly cooped chicks.
And, again, a coopful of chicks is a veritable hot bed for lice.
These pests are ever present and unless measures are taken
against them constantly they will gain a foot-hold. There
is so much said and. written about fighting lice that it may
sound like a chestnut to some as it did to the writer in_times
past. But a few costly experiences with lice will teach
most of us that they are the worst enemy of the poultry
industry, and should be unceasingly besieged.
I try to protect chicks from lice by a thorough dusting
of the mother hens, before and after hatching. I use a bak-
ing powder can with holes punched in the cover which makes
a handy and economic powder box. But quite often lice
82 CHICKS
will be found on the young chicks even with this method,
and the only thing to do then is to catch them and with a
machine oil can drop sweet oil on their heads and under their
throats.
If chicks are four or five weeks old, lice may be found
in the fluff feathers. Lice will leave the head as soon as
these feathers start and a little lice powder sifted into the
plumage here will kill them all.
The coops used on our farm will,comfortably shelter
twenty-five to thirty four-month-old chicks. They are
light and easily moved from place to place.
A very essential factor in the care of young stock is the
feed.
After chicks are two months old they will live on most anv
feed. But the breeder who is raising poultry for breeding
and exhibition must give the feed question more than passing
notice.
A Satisfactory Method of Feeding.
There are so many different methods of feeding, manv of
which are good, that I shall not attempt to argue which is
best, but will give my way of feeding which gives me most
“ satisfying results. For a whole grain ration I feed equal
parts wheat and millet seed morning and evening until chicks
are three months old. At noon I feed a drv mash made of
one part cornmeal, two parts ground oats and one part bran,
by measure. To this mixture is added from fifteen to t wen-
ty per cent of beef scraps. This is fed dry in feed troughs.
It is surprising how soon they will learn to eat this feed and
nothing is left bat a few oat hulls.
When chicks are about three months old the millet seed
is replaced with whole oats. Oats is one of the very best
feeds for chickens, old and voung.
When the chicks are about five months old I begin to
teach them to roost in the main house. Brown Leghorn
chicks at this age will take to the trees, unless taught to roost
elsewhere. The brood coops are located near the main house
and by coaxing the chicks into the main vards with feed,
I can soon teach them to roost in the main house. This
saves a lot of work in the fall. One will realize this after
he has climbed round in tree tops on a frosty moonlight night
SUMMER CARE 83
in the late fall trying to catch some scarey Brown Leghorn
pullets. They are always timid when approached on their
tree-top perch and it may be a week before all of them are
caught.
; Shade is Necessary.
I nearly forgot to speak about shade. Chicks can staid
very hot weather if they are not exposed to the direct rays of
the sun. A large maple grove on our farm furnishes plenty
of shade, but where natural shade is not available cheap
pole sheds with green hay thrown on will provide artificial
shade and be much enjoyed by the little ones. Another
very important factor, in the care of young stock as well as
old, is regularity in feeding and all detail work. This is
an established fact in other branches of the live stock indus-
try and none the less true of the poultry business. In
closing I may say that the subject of caring for chicks in
summer may be, simmered down to this—roomy roosting
coops kept clean; sound grain, whether fed whole or ground;
never allow peace to reign between you and lice; keep water
in a shady place and grit near by; and last, be regular in
feeding and in all other details.
CARE OF THE GROWING CHICKS.
Four Well=-Known, Successful Breeders of Standard-Bred
Fowls Tell Briefly How They House, Feed and Care for
the Chicks to Secure the Fastest and Best Growth
and Development During the Summer Months.
Oats is One of the Best Feeds for Growing Chicks.
By C. M. Renne.
Summer is the season of the year when all the fanciers and
poultrymen are interested in the methods which will promote
the best growth in the chicks. Having been unusually
fortunate in rearing the chicks placed in brooders, I have
been tempted to write on how I feed and care for my White
Plymouth Rocks.
My chicks are hatched in incubators and reared in out-
door brooders. They remain in the brooders until they are
nearly or quite feathered out, say six or seven weeks, with
a larger run as they get older. Then they are removed to
colony coops made of dry goods boxes. I do not place
more than twenty-five in each coop and put them out near
a corn field or meadow where they have free range and find
all the bugs and grasshoppers they can eat. When they
are five or six weeks old I begin feeding whole wheat, cracked
corn, and oats. Oats I find to be one of the best feeds for
growing chicks, in fact I feed them the year around to my
whole flock and have always had very satisfactory results.
Let me urge the reader never to try to save by buying tainted
or poor chicken feed, especially for young chicks, as it is
sure road to disaster. I also keep sour milk before my chicks
at all times and you can find nothing that will promote a
faster or better growth. They may remain in the colony
coops until cold weather when I place them in their winter
quarters.
Be sure that everything is kept scrupulously clean, drink-
t
CARE OF GROWING STOCK 85
ing fountains, coops and brooders, and I am sure you will
vote with me that the chicken business is profitable and
pleasant. Success to you all is my wish.
Keep the Growing Chicks in Small Flocks and Give Them
Plenty of Room and Food.
By E. C. Willard.
We have noticed that many who succeed in bringing
chickens through the first few weeks of their lives do not get
them to grow fast and develop quickly afterwards, and we
think an outline of the methods which have proved quite
successful here may be helpful to others.
When the chickens are taken from the brooders, or as
soon after as is convenient, the sexes should be separated.
We put those intended for market in small yards and feed
fine cracked wheat, fine cracked corn, sifted, and beef scraps.
Chickens intended for breeders and layers are put in lots
of twenty in small houses located in large yards, where there
is plenty of shade and grass, clover, oats or rye.
We feed in hoppers, a mixture of two-thirds cracked corn
and one-half wheat in one hopper, or compartment, and grit,
charcoal, bran and, beef scraps, mixed in equal measures,
or beef scraps alone in another. As soon as the chicks
will eat them we mix oats with the wheat and corn. We use
galvanized drinking fountains of the inverted flower pot
‘pattern. We fill them when necessary, rinsing each time
and washing with hot water often.
‘We prefer to keep our flocks in small houses and large
“yards with ample range rather than confined in small yards.
The small houses are easily removed and the chickens do
not crowd when only twenty are in a coop. Our small
_ houses are made of box lumber and are about three feet by
six feet on the ground, three feet high in front and two feet
behind. The ends, back, roof, floor and two feet of the front
are made of matched boards; a space one foot wide at the
top of the front is covered with one-inch mesh netting. A
door two feet wide is placed in the center of the front. Along
the top of the front is a one-inch board, twelve inches wide,
hinged to the roof. This is supported by a wire and pre-
86 CHICKS
vents both rain and sun from beating into the interior.
It can also be turned back upon the roof, or allowed to
hang down and close the opening in very bad weather.
‘The stock is kept in these houses until it goes info winter
quarters. We have a few large colony houses about six
feet by ten feet built for individual brooders. They have
floors and the sills are rounded up at the ends so that they
can be hauled about. The last broods of pullets are kept
in these until late fall and sometimes all winter.
By cooping growing chickens in small colonies, preventing
crowding, giving practically free: range, abundant shade,
good food and fresh water at all times, we can produce
strong vigorous chickens. And we find that by furnishing
everything in ample proportions, cooping in the open,
airy houses and bringing them to an early and natural matu-
rity we produce pullets which will stand cold and changeable
weather well and give us a good winter egg yield.
A Lighted Lantern for Warmth, Dry Grains for Food and
Piano Boxes for Coops.
By P. F. Tassie.
My method of caring for the chicks after leaving the
brooder, is as follows:
Coops are arranged in the yard with the fronts facing
east and a run attached. The reason for facing east is
that they get the early morning sunlight, and it is warm for
them, and during the afternoon they are more or less pro-
tected from too much heat by the shade of the coops;
this is essential where one has to supply artificial shade.
The chicks are kept in the runs for a few days until they
become accustomed to their new home, and are later given
their freedom. In order to protect them against sudden
storms catching them in the open they are occasionally
called in and given a small feed of grain on the inside of the
coops to insure their finding their way in should a storm
arise. This has been of great advantage during the past
month or so.
Should the day or night be cold a lighted brooder lamp is
placed in the coop, or if you have not a brooder lamp a com-
CARE OF GROWING STOCK 87
mon stable lantern will answer the purpose, and this also
allows them to warm up whenever they come in from out-
doors. And let me say, this question of heat is one of the
greatest factors in the growth of the chicks. Keep them
reasonably warm at all times. Warm chicks will not crowd
or smother, and the benefit will be seen in their development.
These coops are kept bedded deep with straw and the
chicks sleep on the floor, not having any roosts.
’ The feed consists principally of dry grains. At first they
are fed chick food and as soon as they are able to take larger
Sepayate Colony Houses and Yards for Growing Cockerels and Pullets,
grains they are given wheat, barley, and cracked oats, to-
gether with some cracked corn; these grains are their main
feed, more especially the oats and barley. About four times
a week they are given beef, scraps, bone meal and charcoal,
together with good sharp’ grit. The water fountains are
all of galvanized, iron, and are filled three times a day with
good cold water, and are covered with a shelter of boards
to-shade them from the sun.
88 CHICKS
Every morning they are given some lawn clippings, con-
sisting of clover, timothy and blue grass, in addition to what
they can pick up through the day. A separate yard is kept
seeded to. alfalfa or other crops and they are turned into this
at intervals.
As soon as the cockerels become troublesome they are re-
moved and given special care so as to develop into large,
vigorous birds. The pullets are allowed to grow without
forcing of any particular kind as I believe the best growth
to fit them for the show room, and to obtain good, fertile
eggs is a natural growth rather than one to force them to
lay at the earliest moment.
A sharp lookout is kept for lice at all times, and twice a
week the chicks are given a dusting with lice powder.
T aim at all times to keep the chicks moving, for a moving
chick is a growing one and a growing chick is a healthy
chick. The birds are turned into their winter quarters as
soon as the weather turns cold in the fall. ;
Piano boxes turned over on their backs will make good
coops for chicks, so that when it is raining they still have
a place to scratch in, and at the same time keep dry.
Free Range on Green Grass is a Decided Advantage—
Separate the Sexes.
By John Kruse.
How do I obtain my best results with my chicks from the
time I transfer them to the open colony houses from the
brooder? Usually I follow out one system, or practically
one’ system, of caring for them from year to year, but I
find I progress along slightly varying lines as conditions vary
according to surroundings and climatic conditions. It is
difficult to acquaint others with your theory, though it
may be simple, and make them understand it as you do;
many fanciers have an entirely different way of feeding and
caring for young and growing poultry and yet succeed fully
as well. My system might prove faulty in their surround-
ings, but with it I succeed admirably.
I have accomplished the most with my incubator chicks
in this way: I take them from the nursery brooder when:
CARE OF GROWING STOCK 89
three weeks old, then if weather is cold and damp, as we all
find our Minnesota weather in March and April, I transfer
them to another brooder where the artificial heat is about
forty degrees and where the hover compartment is sufficient-
ly high so that the chicks can stand up without their heads
touching the top. In the month of May I can usually
shift them from the baby nursery, when three weeks old,
right into good tight colony houses and keep them there until
the chicks are too large for them. _
Attractive and Successful Colony Houses for Growing Chicks.
T start all my young chicks on rolled dry bread crumbs
and oatmeal, then introduce and use prepared chick foods
until chicks are old enough to eat wheat, kaffir corn and
millet, and, perhaps, once a week, cracked corn. Corn is
too fattening to feed often and I believe in building frame
first. I feed only twice a day after the chicks are three or
four weeks old though they always go to roost with full
crops. Our chicks have good grass runs, plenty of shade,
good fresh water and free access to grit, charcoal, oyster
shell, bran and beef scraps.
As soon as the sexes are distinguishable I separate them
_ as they always do better separate and then frequently vary
the grains fed.
THE PRACTICE OF DRY FEEDING.
A Well-Known Poultryman Explains the Advantages of
This System for Growing Stock—Dry Food in Hoppers
Preferred to Damp Mashes Fed at Regular Inter=
vals—Its Influence Upon Early and Con-
tinuous Laying.
By P. R. Park.
Chickens are easy to get. Simply a nice lot of eggs and
an up-to-date incubator allowed to do its work three weeks,
and there you are—or rather, there the chicks are.
Each chicken represents an opportunity, recognized by
the skillful poultryman as a next season’s egg producer,
a fat, juicy roasting chicken, or the head of a pen of breed-
ing stock.
As to their development much depends upon their feed-
ing. If we simply want to raise a few of them to maturity,
all well and good, but if we wish to give each one a chance
to develop tothe best advantage, and equal or excel either
parent, we must nourish this young ‘‘opportunity” to
the best of our ability and in so doing we shall make a
distinct gain.
’ Chickens are about one-half bone, muscle and feather;
the balance appetites, and the larger this appetite is trained
to become, the more quickly we get the results sought.
Your show bred Berkshire represents man’s careful
manipulation of a hog’s appetite, and we have today an ani-
mal with generations behind it of carefully developed diges-
tive systems that will reduce a bushel of corn into the greatest
number of pounds of pork with less than one-half the food
waste of the razor-back from which it sprung.
We should go through the same evolution with our
poultry. Starting with the newly hatched chick we should
so carefully feed that we shall have a bird at maturity cap-
able of reproducing itself with greater vigor and with more
/
PRACTICE OF DRY FEEDING 91
economical digestion—in fact, we must feed to improve
the stamina in our flock and to develop them along the
line of the Berkshire—the maximum amount of gain with
the minimum amount of waste.
Follow Nature’s Suggestions.
To accomplish this we must solicit Dame Nature’s help,
for we must first of all follow her line or our craft is ship-
wrecked before we are out of the harbor. Note how she
adapts her children to the surroundings. For instance,
put your broad flanked, deep bodied, heavy Holstein into
the hilly pasture where feed is short and within a few gen-
erations you will find in their places cattle of one-half the
size, and thin, pinched figures and a general half-starved
hustle-for-a-living appearance. ;
On the other hand, take the thin, ‘‘slim waisted” cattle
from a hill pasture owner who makes his feed “‘hold out”
and place them for a few generations upon the meadows of
our ‘‘down the valley” cousin. This man has feed to sell.
Soon we have developed a type with broad muzzle, deep
flank, wide buttocks, every line betokening full feeding of
rich, nourishing food for generations. :
Take the chickens of a liberal feeder at the age of three
weeks. They will have strong, thick legs, wide feet and
long bodies, very few feathers if of the larger breeds, in
fact their wings will hardly have started to grow; while
if we look at the youngsters of one of the scant feeders,
we find short bodied chicks with a general pinched air,
looking as though they were hardly sure they ever had a
full meal or ever expected one.
Take the chicks at. this age and give them to the best
feeder in the world, and he can never make them as thrifty
or equal to the first lot. The ‘‘opportunity” was there, but
it was not grasped during those few short weeks and Dame
Nature has decreed that as the chick’is to be brought up
on short rations she must cut the garment from what cloth
is given her.
For this reason we must be sure that we are started right
and then push and push hard; no experimenting, but liberal
feeding of the right kind of feed. With plenty of fresh
air at a proper temperature and with sanitary surroundings,
92 CHICKS
we have our system started on the right, broad gauge
road. —
But they will take on the pinched appearance at short no-
tice if the proper feed conditions are not forthcoming,
and right here is where multitudes ‘‘fall down.” They
start the chick along in nice shape and after the first in-
terest wanes, or other work presses, the chickens are fed
when they think of it, with whatever comes handy, and
then they wonder why their pullets do not lay as early as
their neighbor’s across the street and that the cockerels
are lean, lank, thin fellows when they should be fat and
bringing good prices. Again they have let an ‘‘ opportunity ”
slip past them.
“ The pullets from our ‘‘hit or miss” feeder, after being
piaced in winter quarters and liberally fed, will start laying
in time, but they must get a comfortable layer of fat over
them before they join the ranks of producers. This wastes
valuable time and when eggs are high it seems to take long-
er. If the same feed had been added, to the growing
ration they would have come to laying from one to two months
earlier, and, in the case of the cockerels, have gone to mar-
ket at least six weeks sooner and at much better prices.
Look which way we may, we can find no excuse for scanty
feeding unless you wish to work off some sour. musty stuff
on your birds and by keeping them half starved get them to
eat it and exist (we cannot say ‘‘thrive’’) in a half-hearted
Way.
Hopper Feeding for Results.
The point to be decided is how we shall feed to get the
results we are seeking. We certainly cannot mash-feed
young chicks liberally without trouble of a serious nature
right away, and if we find it best to dry-feed these babies,
why not the three weeks’ old fellows that are building their
frames for the land of plenty that their early training has.
taught them to expect? Here is where the golden mo-
ments are slipping by; we must not let them want at this
crucial point and how can we be sure that they are not
in want unless we keep a full supply of wholesome food
in a palatable form within reach at all times? Fifty chicks
PRACTICE OF DRY FEEDING 93
“with a hopper or dish of proper feed within reach will al-
ways be full fed and cannot lose a moment’s time.
Perhaps your eight weeks old chickens have reached the
uninteresting stage or the period of press of other work;
they are building fast and are every day requiring more
feed of the most nourishing kind. How can we supply
them with as little labor as by using liberal sized food hop-
pers full at all times?
Just add a supply of water and right kindof sleeping
accommodations, and you have chickens in the seventh
heaven; while if fed upon mash, there is a nerve racking,
“survival of the fittest’? rush at every feed time to get what
they may, and long, anxious hunts between meals. How can
we expect to fatten a lot of cockerels that are quarrelsome
enough when full fed, but are veritable cannibals when
fed on “‘streak of fat and streak of lean” -basis? We want
to get those quarrelsome fellows off our hands as early as
possible. First, because they are softer and bring better
prices; second, because when hard, it takes nearly twice
the feed to produce a pound of gain; third, because the
price during the fall months is steadily falling: fourth, the
sooner they are out of the way, the more room we have
for the pullets.
If possible, before they begin to crow, ‘put them in a large
grass yard out of sight of pullets or hens. Give them a
‘hopper of ground, rich food of a fattening nature, and coax
them to fill up at night with cracked or whole corn, with
milk to drink if you have it, and we will stake our ‘reputa-
tion that you will never return to the moist system of feeding.
Better Feeding for Less Expense.
With our pullets grown to maturity upon a range and fed
with a. slightly modified ration so they go to the laying
houses in good plump condition starting at once upon a
rich, highly nutritious mash in the hoppers, so blended
that they have no tendency to get over-fat, and with a good
mixture of grain thrown to them in litter once per day, have
we not solved most of the labor problems of poultry keep-
ing for the one man plant or the ten man outfit?
"Here we have hoppers so arranged that they will feed the
flock all day long for a week at a time without replenishing.
’
94 CHICKS
The eggs must be collected, the hard grain fed and the birds
must have their water, but this can all be done at one trip
with horse and cart nine months of the year. During the
balance of the season it will be necessary to make an extra
watering trip in the morning, ‘but fortunately this extra
' work comes when other work is not pressing.
* If you are working a plant alone, how many more birds
can you care for on this system? If you are hiring labor,
does it not appeal to you that the birds will be cared for
in better shape with less high priced labor? If you are in
it for pleasure alone, will you not get more enjoyment out
of it if you do not have all the drudgery of the old system
to contend with?
A Colony House Which is Placed on the Range to Accommodate Hop-
per Fed Young Stock at the Minnesota Northwest
Experiment Farm.
>
THE BROILER BUSINESS.
Broiler Raising Seldom Proves Profitable as an Exclusive
Business, but May Be a Source of Considerable Income
as a Part of the General Business of Poultry Keeping.
: By H. A. Nourse.
_ There are two kinds of broilers. The smaller are known
“squab” broilers and are very small chicks, weighing
froth one-half to three-fourths of a pound each. The de-
-mand for these is not very great as yet so that their pro-
duction forms but a small part of the broiler business.
The average broiler weighs from a pound to two pounds
and sells for from twenty-five cents to one dollar according
to the season of the year and the purchaser. The early
spring broiler is sold for the highest price; fifty, sixty and
occasionally seventy-five cents per pound is received for
especially nice specimens in the latter part of April and fore
part of May. During June the price falls rapidly and at
the end of July a price in the open market frequently
falls to twelve or fifteen cents a pound for very nice broilers.
It is apparent that if the chicks can be successfully
hatched, reared and marketed in the time of highest. prices,
the profit is considerable and successful broiler raisers who
have the stock ready when the price is up, make the short
season a very profitable one. In years past this fact has
induced many people to go into the broiler business who knew
practically nothing of the work and who invested their
money freely and lost the greater part of it. Many large
plants have been built with the: intention of hatching,
rearing and marketing these little chickens twelve months
in the year and while a few of them have been successful,
,the majority of them have not. In fact, very few plants
which have to depend upon the production and sale of broil-
ers for their entire revenue have existed long and those few
have, as a rule, enjoyed the advantage’ of an exception-
96 CHICKS
ally good local market. The fact of so many failures in this
business does not by any means indicate that ‘there is not
money in broilers, but it does seem to prove that as a separ-
ate industry this branch of the poultry business is success-
ful in but few cases, under especially favorable conditions.
only. Handled as a branch of the general business of poul-
try farming or in connection with some other pursuit which
allows the operator to give his chickens considerable time
in the late winter and early spring, the production of broil-
ers is decidedly profitable if correctly conducted.
Broilers as a Side Issue.
The egg farmer finds it necessary to do a certain amount
of business in broilers in order to rid the plant of the surplus
cockerels before they become a nuisance;.the farmer who
maintains a flock of one hundred or more layers and the
village poultry keeper who winters his two dozen egg pro-
ducers may follow the same plan with advantage though
of course they would not have sufficient birds to make what
would be called a ‘‘broiler business.”
On the combination poultry farms where the business
of producing exhibition birds, eggs for market and poultry
for food is carried on,and on the strictly utility farms, where
An Open Front Shed Which Shelters Outdoor Brooders on a Successful
Broiler Plant.
THE BROILER BUSINESS 97
Colony STOUR: Where Broilers are Fattened on, a Well-Known
Poultry Farm.
eggs and poultry for market are the mainstay, most of the
broilers are »produced. On these places incubator
cellars, containing a greater or less nun.ber of large incuba-
tors, and brooder houses, some of them several hundred
feet long and equipped with hot water heating apparatus
for heating both houses and brocders, form the main
part of the equipment. The incubator: are put in operation
in the latter part of January or early in "ebruary so that the
first lot of future broilers go into the rooder house about
the first of March. The h«t-hing of Lroiler chicks is con-
tinued on most of these plat: whul tLe first of May when
the last broods are taken from the n.achines. A broiler
weighing one and one-half pounds requires an average of ten
weeks in which to grow, the last two weeks of which is given
to laying on flesh and fat; therefore, the chicks hatched be-
fore the first of March are ready for market about May Ist
when the prices are highest and those which leave the shell
about the first of May are placed on the market in the middle
of July just before the prices tumble.
Rearing the Broilers.
The methods of hatching and rearing of these chicks are
98 CHICKS
not different from the hatching and rearing of chickens in-
tended for any other purpose, except that less attention is
paid to building vigorous constitutions. The idea is to
grow them as quickly as possible, covering their light frames
with as much meat and fat as may be. Since the muscular
structure must be tender no more exercise is given them than
is required to maintain their appetites.
Milk and beef scraps form a part of their diet almost
from the first and during the last two weeks of their lives
beef scraps, oats, barley, corn and milk make the greater
part of their food, most of which is given them in the form
of a damp mash mixed with the milk. Various rations are
_recommended for fattening the youngsters, most of which
are satisfactory under fairly favorable conditions. A ration
which has proved satisfactory in the writer’s experience con-
sists of three parts cornmeal, one part bran, one part oat-
meal (with the hulls sifted out) and one part high grade beef
scraps, mixed with miik. , :
This ration, however, must not be fed more than three
times per day, and if fed to any but strong, vigorous chicks,
it will soon put them ‘‘off their feet” as poultrymen say. If
the chicks are not able to stand this ration and make good
use of it, the amount of bran and oatmeal should be increased
half a part each. This ration will make yellow flesh and
yellow fat. If white flesh is desired-a ration composed of
equal parts of cornmeal, ground buckwheat, oatmeal with
the hulls sifted out, mixed with milk, will prove satisfactory.
Some fatteners, however, prefer to replace the ground buck-
wheat with barley meal.
Broilers are Pen Fattened. '
Broilers are always fattened in pens and at least one feed
per day should consist of whole or cracked grain such as
wheat or cracked corn, for the hard grain assists to keep the
digestive organs in condition and also provides exercise if
scattered in a litter for the chicks to scratch for. Plenty
of grit and granulated charcoal should be constantly in
reach of the chickens as both are required for good digestion.
Broilers should always be picked dry and, unless prepared
for a special retail market, should be forwarded undrawn and
with heads on.
FATTENING THE COCKERELS.
The Advantages of Properly Fattening the Surplus Cockerels
—Why Some Fatten More Readily Than Others—Care
of the Cockerels During the Process—The Best
Food for the Purpose—Marketing the
Fattened Specimens.
! By H.:A. Nourse.
In spite of the fact that editors and contributors are con-
stantly urging breeders of poultry to market their surplus
cockerels early in the season; it is true that by far the greater
number are sent to market in October, November and Decem-
ber. In some cases it is necessary to delay this work until
the season is well advanced. The breeder of fancy poultry
can do no more towards culling his flock than to remove
specimens that are disqualified for malformation until the
youngsters have become nearly mature, or at least well
grown. He must therefore market such of the cockerels as.
he would not sell for exhibiting or breeding well toward the
end of the season. More than three-quarters of the young
stock that is shipped to market goes forward in thin tomedium
flesh and has to be offered at low prices. On this account
it happens that the poultryman who carefully fattens his
birds and ships them to market in excellent condition secures
premium prices. That it pays to give some attention to this
fattening business is obvious. For example, suppose we
have ten cockerels running about the place which arein the con-
dition of flesh ordinarily found when the usual care and food is
given. These cockerels will weigh, when prepared for mar-
ket, perhaps five pounds each and command, we will say,
12 cents per pound, or $6.00 for the ten birds. If these |
cockerels are properly fattened they can be placed upon the
market weighing seven pounds each, and in the same mar-
ket should command 15 cents per pound, making the lot
worth $10.50. This gives a profit of $4.50 to pay for the
100 CHICKS
fattening process, which is scarcely more expensive for food
and labor than the ordinary food and care of the birds
Some Cockerels Fatten Better Than Others.
The degree of success in the work of fattening depends
considerably upon the condition of the cockerels when the
process begins. Specimens that have been closely confined
and fed heavily do not fatten rapidly nor do those which
have been on a wide range and fed but little. The bird
which has been supplied with a well-balanced ration, in suf-
ficient quantity, since the time of its chickenhood will put
on flesh rapidly and well when attention is given to that work.
None but thoroughly healthy birds with power of digest-
ing well all the food given them will show the greatest gain.
A well-nourished cockerel of medium size should put on from
one and one-half to two pounds of weight in three weeks
and present, when plucked, a well filled and rounded car-
cass, heavily laid with firm meat with a reasonable amount of
fat.
Care of the Fattening Cockereis,
There are three methods of fattening which are success-
ful if conditions are favorable. The fattening food may be
given when the chicks have free range and fair results ob-
eres In most cases, however, the methods known
“pen” and “crate” fattening are preferred. In pen
font the flock of birds is given a small pen under cover,
with a yard of medium area attached, and is fed regularly
each day three meals of fattening food. As soon as they
have finished eating at each feeding time the feeding uten-
sils are removed, together with any food which is not con-
sumed. Water is kept constantly before them, and milk is
provided as a drink, if plentiful, in addition to its use
, to mix the mash. Milk, however, will not take the place
of water, which must also be furnished. Everything con-
ducive to the comfort of the birds should be given atten-
tion. The quarters should be well ventilated and kept
scrupulously clean. Absolute freedom from lice and mites
is essential, for these pests not only suck the blood of the
cockerels, but constantly worry them.
Crate fattening, so-called because the birds are confined
in small coops, or crates, where they have no chance to ex-
FATTENING THE COCKERELS 101
ercise, has been exploited very vigorously in poultry and farm
papers during the past two or three years, and, when the.
proper equipment is at hand and the work is done by a skilled
poultryman, it is satisfactory. For general use the method
jis not so successful as the pen method. In a test involving
the two methods made recently at the Central Experimental
Farm, located at Ottawa and maintained by the Canadian
Department of Agriculture, it was demonstrated: that the
: —_
Fattening Crates, Where Soft- Meated Roasting Chickens are “‘Fin-
ished’’. for Market.
pen-fattened birds put on flesh more rapidly and ate ike ex-
pense than the crate-fattened specimens. This, too, when
the work was in the hands of acknowledged experts in n this
particular branch of the poultry business.
The Fattening Foods.
. The makeup of the fattening ration depends considerably
upon the demands of the market in which cockerels are to be
sold. Most markets in the United States prefer yellow
102 CHICKS
skins and yellow shanks; to produce these a greater propor-
tion of yellow corn is needed. © In markets where white flesh
is demanded or preferred, a larger proportion of oats can be
used in the makeup of the ration.
For the production of yellow flesh, a ration of two parts
corn meal, two parts ground oats, one part wheat bran and
one part beef scraps, mixed with sweet skim milk, is very
effective. This may be fed twice a day, morning and noon,
and the evening feed may consist of cracked corn one day
and wheat the next. This ration is especially adapted to
feeding birds in pens and we do not recommend it for feed-
ing those in crates. The mash should be fed in troughs and
within fifteen minutes after it is placed before the chicks,
the troughs and any food that remains should be removed
from the-pens. Cracked corn and wheat should be fed in a
deep litter of straw or leaves and no more should be given
than the chicks will scratch out at each meal. It must be
“Pickers” at Work at a Crate Fattening Establishment.
FATTENING THE COCKERELS 103
Packing Specially Fattened Roasting Chickens.
remembered that this ration is very rich and the chicks will
soon tire of it unless they have plenty of fresh air and some
exercise, especially if any food is allowed to remain before
them between meals. A ration less rich is sometimes ad-
visable and may be made by removing the beef scraps and
increasing the amount of bran, so that the ration will be
two parts corn meal, two parts ground oats and two parts
wheat bran, mixed with milk. Milk is very necessary in the
fattening ration, as it is of considerable value as a flesh former
and at the same time makes the mash much more palatable.
The mash containing beef scraps will put fat and flesh on
much more rapidly than the one without it.
When white meat is desired, together with a white ap-
pearance of the flesh, less corn and corn meal should be given
the fattening birds. In the experiments at the Ottawa
Station referred to, a ration composed of two parts ground
oats and one part each of barley and corn meal, mixed with
skim milk, was found very satisfactory for use with the
“nen” and ‘‘crate” fattening methods. Although the
104 CHICKS
quality of the food mentioned determines to a considerable
extent the success of the operation, other things must be
favorable or good results will not be obtained. As we men-
tioned before, clean, healthful quarters and freedom from
vermin are essential.
Preparing the Fattened Birds for the Market.
The high-class market demands that all birds be drv
picked. The best method of killing, in our opinion, is to
stun the bird with a quick blow on the head at the base of the
brain, and then sever the arteries back of the roof of the
mouth with a two-edged knife. The latter operation is
performed by forcing the beak of the specimen open. with
the thumb of one hand, which in addition ,holds the head
and neck of the bird, while with the other hand the knife is
reached down the throat and a cut made directly across the
throat back of the’roof of the mouth. The feathers are then
removed rapidly though carefully and the specimens are
placed in ice water to cool, after which they are hung up to
dry and then carefully packed in boxes for shipment. It
is absolutely necessary that the specimens be thoroughly
dried before being placed in boxes, otherwise the moisture
will cause the paper in which they are wrapped, or the straw,
as the case may be, to adhere to the skin of the birds, giving
the entire shipment a bad appearance when it arrives in
market. Only one grade of stock should be placed in each
coop, and any that are not thoroughly well prepared and do
not present a thoroughly attractive appearance should be
sold by themselves and not shipped in the same box or crate
with the better specimens. The price of the whole is likely
to be governed by the inferior carcasses. In every city
of any considerable size there is a class which wants, and
which will pay for, very fine chickens. It will usually be
found that some one, two, or three dealers have most of
this trade and it is with these dealers that the producer must
arrange for handling his stock. In most cases it will be
necessary for the producer to see the dealer personally and
show him, by actual specimens, that he can produce the
quality that commands high prices. It is not often that
any particular abilitv as a salesman is needed to dispose of
this grade of stock.
KILLING AND PICKING CHICKENS.
A Brief Description of the Methods Employed on Large
Poultry Farms and in the Establishments of Wholesale
Dealers—The Wages of the Workers.
P ae
By Arthur C. Smith.
Picking and dressing fowls and chickens, like all branches
of the poultry business is being rapidly reduced to a science,
being one of the small but necessary details of the market
business it has been reduced nearer to an absolute, pear
science than has any other branch of the industry.
Science has not as yet produced a substitute for the hen’s
egg that has interested people to any extent, neither has any
invention produced a machine for picking. and dressing
fowls, but the way that the most adept pickers accomplish
that task is certainly very machine-like.
‘Pickers, as a rule, do nothing else, making this work a
specialty. At five cents per bird, they have been known to
earn nearly forty dollars per week. This speaks volumes
for the quick machine-like action of the picker.
The Process of Killing.
These pickers go about their business as if it were busi-
ness and while there is no unnecessary cruelty, the dignity
of the chicken is assailed to annihilation. The more merci-
ful of the pickers begin operations by rapping the chicken’s
head over a smooth flat stone which stuns them and com-
plete the killing process either by cutting an artery inside
the throat, or by cutting the throat outside just back of
the ear-lobe. The latter method is going out of practice be-
cause the other leaves the head and neck looking better.
The, braining process is increasing in practice. Some ~
pickers make the objection to the stunning method that if
the bird is hit too hard its muscles stiffen and the feathers
pull hard, while if not hit hard enough it does not accom-
106 CHICKS
plish its object. There is something in this and more in the
latter than the former objection. They claim that the brain-
ing process is sure to render the bird unconscious nine times
out of ten with no hindrance to the picking process. How-
ever this may be, the bird winces terribly during the brain-
ing process, before it is accomplished, a thing that there is
no opportunity and no occasion for in the stunning method.
If the braining process is a help to the picker, which is doubt-
The Process of the Braining, Described by A. C. Smith.
ful, it is certainly no great comfort to the victim if one can
judge by appearances.
If the braining process is used, the chicken is taken from
the box and held firmly under the left arm while the left
hand holds the mouth open. The sharp knife (better with
a double edge for a little distance from the point) is drawn
rather deeply and diagonally across the roof of the mouth,
coming out at the side, cutting the large arteries. The
KILLING AND PICKING 107
point of the knife is then driven through the roof of the
mouth to the brain. _ This renders the bird unconscious, the
muscles relax and the feathers consequently come easily.
Plucking the Feathers.
The legs are then held firmly in the left hand until the
bird ceases to struggle, which will be soon, its head is held
between the knees or between the right knee and the bar-
rel or box into which the feathers are thrown and the feathers
are plucked as soon as possible after the braining.
Removing the Breast Feathers From a Tender Roaster.
The way a good picker will make the feathers fly is an
illustration of what may be called ‘fast work.” One would
think that he had no thought except to get those feathers
out regardless of whether the chicken held together or not.
The tail feathers are grabbed all at once in the right hand
and yield to a forceful snap of the picker’s right arm. The
back feathers are extracted in one or two handfuls more.
They come in clusters and in the picker’s hand look not
unlike a chrysanthemum in full bloom. The shoulders and
108 CHICKS
neck are plucked scarcely more tenderly. All this is done
in less time than it takes to tell it. The feathers of the
fluff and thighs are literally torn out, the aim of the picker
seeming to be to get as many feathers as possible in his
hand at once.
Then comes a wing and there is seemingly more care used.
The left hand grasps the shoulder while the right plucks all
the secondaries and primaries by one sliding, slipping motion,
beginning next to the body of the bird and ending with the
outside primary. This is an action in which the thumb
scarcely plays a part except to guide the feathers
into the hand. On the wings the shoulders are most likely
to tear, especially in young stock. The breast feathers are
the most difficult to pull without tearing the skin and often.
in young stock, broilers for example, the picker must com-
mence at the throat and remove but a few feathers at a
time, plucking somewhat in the direction that the feathers
grow. ;
The short feathers yet in the quill are pulled out by the
aid of a dull knife, the picker catching these between his
thumb and the blade of the knife.
The picking finished, the bird is tossed into a tank of
cold water and rémains there two or three hours. When
cool the chicks are taken out and allowed to drain and drv.
They are then straightened out and pulled into shape,
the wings folded and the finished carcasses hung up.
The Earnings of Pickers.
Pickers average about eight to ten chicks an hour. An
expert will do much better; an average of 150 per day is
reached by the pickers employed by one wholesale firm.
They can pick more if called upon to do so, but, of course,
work longer hours. One picker has a record of having
earned over eighty-eight dollars in one week. Twenty-eight
to thirty dollars is this man’s usual pay for one week’s
work and thirty-five dollars is not an uncommon week’s
wages for him. This may seem like big pay for this kind
of work, but it must be remembered that picking chickens
as these men do it requires an alert mind as well as active,
skillful muscles.
PROFITABLE MARKET CHICKENS.
How the Work of Hatching and Rearing Four Thousand
Chicks Annually is Done on a Successful Poultry Farm—
A Description of the Equipment Used—How the
Chicks are Fed and Cared for—Marketing
the Products.
By Arthur re. Smith.
Dotted among the hills of Norwell and the adjacent coun-
try are many establishments for raising soft roasters for
the Boston and New York markets. These are famous as
South Shore capons. . Briefly stated, the business is this:
The chickens are hatched from August first to October fif--
teenth. The cockerels are caponized at the proper age and.
placed on the market when ripe. This is generally between.
April first and July first. This soft roaster business is one
of the best propositions connected with the poultry indus--
try, but it certainly requires a man who understands run-
ning incubators and brooders, to conduct it successfully.
This (the use of incubators and brooders) is the part of
the business that we want especially to study and we shall
for the time neglect the details of the soft roaster industry
to study this, an incidental part of the business.
We selected the plant of Mr. Smith, located in Norwell,
as the subject, and we were fortunate in our selection, for
not only did we find a splendid plant for utility uses, a
flock or two of splendid chickens, but we met splendid peo-
ple. To talk with Mr. Smith on any topic is to talk with
a thinker and you are compelled to think whether you are
inclined to or not. Mr. Smith belongs to a class of poultry-
men who do their work with their heads rather than with
their heels. How he does it we shall endeavor to explain
in this article, paying particular attention to the arrange-
ment and management of the brooder house.
There is a reason for this. The chicks that the writer
110 CHICKS
saw in these brooder houses were the liveliest and brightest
that he has ever seen together under artificial conditions.
The smallest were two or three weeks old and the largest
about a pound in weight. A good many of the older ones
had just been disposed of for broilers at forty cents each.
The Brooder House.
To take up the study of the brooder house, Mr. Smith
first built a house sixty feet long and fourteen feet wide.
This was first fitted up with a hover system of brooding,
but this was not to Mr. Smith’s liking and it was taken out.
The remodeled house has an aisle a little over two and one
half feet wide at the north side, the house facing south.
This house is about six feet high to the eaves and has a
pitch roof. To hold the heat down where the chickens
would get the benefit, a ceiling was constructed on a level
with the eaves. There is a cement floor throughout but the
: floor level in the aisle is six to eight inches lower than in
the pens.
The pens are supplied with from two to four inches of
Exterior of One of the Brooding Houses Mentioned by A. C. Smith.
PROFITABLE MARKET CHICKENS iit
Interior of One of the Brooding Houses Described by A. C. Smith.
sand according to the size of the chicks. The larger the
chicks the less sand. This gives more room under the
pipes. The pens in this house are six feet wide by about
eleven and one-half long.
Hot Water Heating System.
The heating system is hot water with eight pipes, four
flow and four return. These pipes are put up about six
inches above the cement floor. The space between the sand
and the pipes varies with the size of the chicks. These
pipes are placed about eight inches from the aisle parti-
tion, which is about two feet high, and are about two inches
apart. ;
Mr. Smith now uses one and one-half inch pipes, some-
times three flow and three return and sometimes four in
each set, according to the amount of air space in the house
being fitted. The partitions in these houses are about.
three feet high. The bottom is of wood and the rest wire.
Uniform Heat and Proper Ventilation Make Good Chicks.
Heating and ventilation problems, Mr. Smith says, must
be correctly solved in order to raise profitable chicks. To
112 CHICKS
‘these problems Mr. Smith has devoted a great amount of
study. He soon found that if the chicks were healthy and
comfortable they would not crowd into the warm corners.
He determined to have a uniformly warmed house, free from
drafts but thoroughly well ventilated. He has succeeded.
The writer was never in a more comfortable brooder house
—warm, no drafts and a plentiful supply of fresh air. The
ventilators are square boxes nearly a foot square that run
up through the ceiling into the large air space above.
This large air space is ventilated in turn by other air
shafts that extend through the roof. There are only a few
of these to the building and the manner of construction
may be seen in the accompanying photograph of the exterior
of the brooder house. The ventilating shafts in the lower
part of the house extend down to about one foot from the
floor, and are in every alternate pen.
A Good Regulator Controls the Heat.
The uniform heat which Mr. Smith is able to maintain
is due to two things. First, plenty of heating capacity in
the heating system; second, to an electrical regulating
device that Mr. Smith devised. The writer wishes he could
properly describe it, but is not sufficiently versed in me-
chanical and electrical terms. Briefly, a thermostat of hard
rubber and sheet steel is placed under the pipes. The ex-
pansion and contraction of this completes an electrical
circuit connected with a clock-like device that opens or
closes three drafts in the heater. This machine is so ac-
curate and sensitive that the heat can be controlled within
two degrees. That is, if a temperature of 90 degrees Fah-
renheit is wanted, the thermostat can be set so that the
temperature will never fall below 89 degrees nor rise above
91 degrees. This regulator can be adjusted so that it can
run the heat at any temperature by the simple turning of a
screw.
A second brooder house has been added to the first on
ey the same lines except that the pens are nine feet
wide.
Other Buildings of Simple Construction.
The other buildings scarcely need description in detail.
‘The sixty colony houses in use on this plant are nearly all
PROFITABLE MARKET CHICKENS 113
six’by eight and house fifty chicks to maturity. They are
set up nearly a foot from the ground and have sand bot-
toms. No roosts are provided, as they do well without
them and have better breast bones, an important point in
market poultry of the fancy sort. Each building faces the
south. There are but two features that can be classed as
novelties. One of these is an opening above the window
about ten inches wide by two and one half feet long covered
with fine netting. This is always left open except in case
of a hard rain that would beat in. Then cloth covered
frames are fitted in. The second is a simple hopper made
by nailing two boards vertically to the wall of the building
which have been cut to be two inches wide at the bottom and.
seven inches wide at the top. Other boards are nailed then
to the edges of these; a shallow box: is placed underneath
and this makes a simple but good hopper.
, House for Laying Hens.
This is one ‘of the regulation affairs seen for twenty
or thirty years. It has been adjusted to modern ideas by
making roosting rooms and open sheds in pairs by board-
- ing up the partition at the end of the first and every sec-
ond pen. ‘The roosts and windows of the second, third,
fifth and sixth pens and so on have been removed and these
changes make these pens scratching pens. *
Eggs Purchased from Farmers.
Mr. Smith has to buy most of his hatching eggs. _ These
are gathered from farmers at fifty cents a dozen. This has
taken nearly two days of Mr. Smith’s time every three
weeks, but the automoblie has proven successful here, and
he now covers the same ground in less than a day. Unlike
‘most of the South Shore plants, this one does not restrict
its business to soft roasters, but from August to October no
variety of chicks is hatched but Light Brahnias. These
are marketed when ripe. The pullets are grown in their
natural state but all cockerels are caponized. Pullards.have
proven a failure so far as increasing the weight is con-
cerned and the South Shore raisers have discarded this
product because it does not bring in more money. Capon-
izing pays and therefore the practice is adhered to.
The South Shore Light Brahmas are small compared with
114 CHICKS
the Standard Brahma. They are about the size of a Ply-
mouth Rock, but retain the Brahma characteristics. They
are slow growers and therefore keep soft longer than other
varieties. They may therefore be hatched in August and
September, in time to get a good start before real cold
weather sets in, and still be soft and tender in June when
the best prices are paid.
After October fifteenth Mr. Smith hatches Barred or
White Plymouth Rocks exclusively. The cockerels are cap-
onized at a proper age, but the pullets are sold as. broilers,
sometimes at a pound weight if the price is large, but when
the prevailing price is not forty to fifty cents a pound, they
are kept to the large broiler age and sold when they weigh
two and a quarter “pounds. They then bring about thirty
cents per pound. The cockerels are sold at the same time
that the Light Brahma cockerels are, and also as capons.
The Light Brahma pullets are ready for market in March
or April and are sold then as they must be marketed before
they are laying to obtain a good price.
The Feeding System.
The chicks are kept in the incubators until the twenty-
third day and then removed to the brooder house. Here
the temperature is kept to nearly 90 degrees for a time,
but is gradually reduced until the chicks are ready to be
removed to the colony houses. This reduction of tempera-
ture can be accomplished by adjusting the regulator if the
chicks are. all of an age, or by taking the sand out from
‘ under the hot water pipes if the age of the chicks in different
pens varies much. The smaller chicks are fed some good
mixed chick feed five times a day. Every morning a supply
of ground scraps and cut clover rowen is given, sufficient for
the entire day. The supply of rowen is intended to exceed
the demand so as to furnish a little scratching litter. Cab-
, bages are suspended from the ceiling just high enough to
\ make the chicks jump a little to reach them. A little later
' finely cracked corn, hulled oats and cracked wheat is sub-
| stituted for the more complicated mixed chick feed. Water
is a constant running supply in each pen, furnished from a
\pipe laid through the center of the house. The chicks drink
PROFITABLE MARKET CHICKENS 115
4
removed and cleaned at will.
Colony Houses for Young Chicks.
At the age of eight to ten weeks, according to conditions,
the chicks are removed to the colony houses. Tifty are put
into each house. There are sixty of these houses in two
groups, twenty-three in one group and the remainder in the
other. The chicks are fed by the hopper method, though
that is varied:somewhat. The poultryman makes the round
with a horse and truck in the morning with his barrel of
water and a supply of grit and scraps. On certain days the
hoppers are filled up with grain. When first put in these
houses the chicks are fed a mixed feed consisting of cracked
corn, wheat, oats and barley. After they acquire - five
pounds or more of weight they are fed cracked corn. and
scraps only. The scraps are supplied every day, but the
corn is fed in hoppers.
This method enables a man to look after a great many
birds and if successful it is proof that poultry does not need
to be coddled or kept in germ-proof ovens. ~
Good Prices Obtained.
From May twentieth to July first the best prices are paid
for these capons. It does not always pay to hold them for’
the top prices as there is a time when they go back, or
fall off in weight, and what is gained in price is lost in weight.
The Light Brahma pullets are usually sold in March or April.
Thirty ¢ cents a pound live weight is often received for capons
and they have been sold at thirty-three cents on the South
Shore. These capons usually weigh eight pounds each and
ten is not uncommon. The largest bird that Mr. Smith
ever sold brought him $4.28. Any fancier has very fair
‘ specimens that he would gladly dispose of at that figure,
« after he has spent considerable money advertising them.
( from a small trough hung on the partition. This may be
‘SuoJSvOY YJOS oulptg Supyonporgd up pas Sosnopp AUO[OL) Jo dow VW
THE SOFT ROASTER INDUSTRY.
A Business that is Profitable Whether Conducted Exclusively
or as a Side Line—How Soft Roasters are Produced and
Marketed—$200,000 Worth Sold from One Town
—Eggs for Incubation are Purchased and
Hatching Begins in August—How the
Chicks are Housed, Brooded,
Fed and Sold.
By Arthur C. Smith.
One of the safest, surest and most satisfactory branches
of the poultry business considered as a means of securing a
livelihood is the Soft Roaster Industry as practiced by the
Massachusetts South Shore poultrymen.
This class of roasters is raised largely in Norwell, Rockland
and Hanover on the South Shore of Massachusetts Bay.
But it is not a business that is exclusive to these towns.
There is one large raiser in Plymouth, Mass., another in
Hingham, Mass., and to the North of Boston, one in Methuen.
There are several persons who give their time exclusively
to raising this product, but there are many more who do it
in a good sized back yard or in a small country-town lot as
aside issue. The former class raise them by the thousands,
one party raising six thousand this year, while the latter
raise from a half a hundred to five hundred. This class
comprises carpenters, shoemakers, clerks in stores and
about all classes of people.
Other Parties Market Them. ;
Whoever raises them they are sure to go into the Boston
market through one of two firms. They are collected either
by Mr. Curtis or Mr. Farrer, killed, dressed, and shipped by
them. Mr. J. H. Curtis handles the most chickens, but
does not attempt the kindred industry of handling eggs in
which Mr. Farrer is alsoengaged. J. H. Curtis undoubtedly
118 CHICKS
ships more first class market chickens into the Boston market
than any two other firms. He ships regularly 300 chickens
‘a day in season and can triple this output at very short
notice. Six hundred to fifteen hundred chickens in prime
order are held in stock on this place, ready to supply any
hurry-up telephone orders.
The size of this industry may be calculated when it is
known that between one and two hundred thousand dol-
lars are paid for this product from this locality in a single
season, at wholesale prices.
The price per pound to the raiser varies from twenty-five
to thirty-three cents, live weight, for the choice product of
soft roasters at the best season, which begins in April and
ends about July first. The last of May to the middle of
June brings the best prices. Live poultry at these prices
enables the. buyer to count money very fast.
One Man’s Income is $5,000.
One man, a carpenter, besides working every day at his
trade, raised in one year seven hundred chicks for which he
received eleven hundred dollars. The next year he raised
eleven hundred chicks for which he received seventeen hun-
dred dollars. Later he gave all his time to rearing these
fancy roasters. Last season Mr. Curtis took from this
man’s place in one and one half days six hundred thirty-
eight dollars worth of this product. During the year this
plant produced chickens enough to bring between four and
five thousand dollars and has been producing approx-
imately this amount in chickens for the past three years.
There is not an adult hen or fowl on this place. The
hatching eggs are purchased in the neighborhood. Hatch-
ing begins last of August and the chicks are all in the market
before the first of July. This arrangement allows from
one to two months to fit up for another season’s business.
Another plant has annually produced about five thousand
of these soft roasters and the owner says that the first three
thousand will pay the bills. This means that the last two
thousand will give him the net profit. This makes it appear
that more than two-fifths of the total i income is profit as the
last two thousand are sold at the best prices usually.
The greater number of those engaged in this pursuit keep
{
- THE SOFT ROASTER INDUSTRY oh)
1
One of the Collecting Outfits of J. H. Curtis Returning
From a Trip to a Soft Roaster Plant.
no hens at all, buying the eggs where the stock seems vigor-
ous, selecting everything produced before July first.
In this business the main thing is to make the chickens live
and grow. These men are now very careful in selecting
their eggs. They have learned that the health and vigor
of the parent stock is the greatest requisite to a good and
thrifty flock of chickens. Some are keeping their own
parent stock for this reason. :
The Varieties Used
Are Light Brahmas, Barred and White Plymouth Rocks.
The latter are rather taking the place of the Light Brahmas.
Light Brahmas keep soft longer, thus enabling the raiser to
put them on the market as prime soft roasters at nine months
of age, a fact that will always assure them a place in this
&
120 CHICKS
industry. At this age a Plymouth Rock would bring only
the price of an old fowl. Then, again, chicks started in
August and September do a great deal better than those
started in winter. The percentage of loss is less both in
eggs and chicks at this time than later, but, as before stated,
Plymouth Rocks hatched in August or September get hard
before prices are high.
Light Brahmas for Early Hatching.
Light Brahma eggs are therefore always used for the
August and September hatches. Even until the middle of
October this variety is hatched. After that Barred or
White Plymouth Rocks are hatched and those that are
hatched in December and January weigh as much in June
as the Light Brahmas that are a couple of months older.
The point is that a larger percentage of the early chicks are
raised than of the winter chicks.
These raisers all testify that the fertility of Brahma
eggs is very low after October first. They agree that the
vitality of a Brahma chick is much lower than the vitality
of « Plymouth Rock in winter. So it seems that the Light
The Nursery Brooder llouse on a Soft Roaster Establishment.
THE SOFT ROASTER INDUSTRY 121
Type of Colony Hpuses Used in the Rearing of Soft Roasters.
Brahmas are especially fitted for early hatching and the
Plymouth Rocks for the later hatching.
Different Systems of Brooding Used.
To be successful in an undertaking of this kind, one must
be an expert with incubators and brooders, especially the
latter. The brooder has been the object of special study
by these men, yet they differ much in their opinion of the
best method. Henry D. Smith, a Massachusetts poultry-
man, has discarded hovers, uses the open piping and heats
the whole house. He pays no attention to the temperature
of the house in general, but the effect is that the whole house
is heated.
Some use individual brooders until the chicks are from
three to four weeks old and then put them in a pipe system
brooder house. Others use the regular brooder house with
hovers for three to five weeks and then transfer to colony
aw 4
122 CHICKS
houses about six by eight feet on the ground and which con-
tain outdoor brooders of some well-known make. One
raiser uses outdoor brooders of his own make for the Septem-
ber chicks and a hover system brooder house afterwards.
The writer has seen good chickens raised with all these
systems, but believes that those raised under hot water
pipes with no hovers, but with the heat automatically regu-
lated were the best. :
Chick feed- mixtures of well-known makes are almost
always used for the youngest chicks. They also have beef |
scraps, chick grit and charcoal and are also fed cut clover
and several kinds of green food. Some breeders a little
later substitute small cracked grains, such as cracked wheat,
corn and hulled oats for the chick feed.
The Colony System.
This is used universally after the chicks leave the brooder
at an age of two to three months. The houses are about six
by eight feet and house fifty chicks each. All the male
chicks are caponized and held until high prices prevail.
The pullets are sorted out and sold before they lay.
In these houses the birds are fed principally cracked corn
and beef scraps, though they are given a liberal supply of
grit, oyster shells and charcoal. They are fed, mostly,
by the hopper system. These houses are supplied with a
door and a window. Above the window is a ventilating
space that is never closed except in case a storm is beating
in upon, the chicks.
The amount of money expended annually for these prime
roasters in Boston and vicinity indicates that many people
are making a fair income from this source. The fact that
from one to two hundred thousand dollars go into the hands
of a few people in the vicinity of Norwell each year is proof
that they are making a good living from this industry, par-
ticularly when it is known that the same people are raising
soft roasters year after year. :
To visit these people and see their comfortable homes
filled with happy and contented families is to convince oneself
that this branch of the poultry business vields a substantial
income.
It would appear from the facts and figures presented that
THE SOFT ROASTER INDUSTRY 123
the soft-roaster industry pays large profits. It is hard for
one who is unacquainted with the details to understand how
chickens raised at an unnatural time, with all the extra
expense incident to such raising, can pay as well as do chick-
ens raised at a natural time and with comparatively little
expense and effort.’
There are two answers to this question. The first is
that the expense is not so much greater as might be supposed;
the second is that these chickens bring a price that no other
chickens of mature size in the world can command.
A prominent market man of Boston who handles as much
fine poultry as any competitor, if not more, in a recent con-
versation, said that no chicken compared with a South Shore
roaster in quality.
The Retail Price.
These roasters bring, in the height of the season, at retail,
thirty to thirty-eight cents a pound. © The limit seems to be
about thirty-eight cents. As soon as the retail market men
demand more, people shift to broilers and green ducks.
Soft roasters bring the highest prices about the middle of
June, but they are high from the first of April to the last of
June. After that they are superseded by the broilers.
There is but one form of chicken on the market that brings a
larger. price per pound than the soft roaster and that is the
early broiler. These occasionally sell for fifty cents per
pound and weigh three fourths of a pound to two pounds
each. They do not pay as well as the roasters at that be-
cause the producer and the seller reap a profit on two pounds
instead of seven to ten pounds, the usual range of weight in a
soft roaster.
These are the retail prices and not the prices that the pro-
ducers get. As a rule the raisers get six to eight cents a
pound less than the retail price. The difference is divided
between the jobber as he may be called, that is that man
who collects, kills and ships to the dealers and the retailer.
In some cases the wholesaler has to be counted in, for while
some of these chickens go direct from the jobber to the dealer,
a great many are handled by wholesalers.
South Shore roasters in December and January bring
about twenty-two cents per pound at wholesale. The price
124 CHICKS
gradually increases until thirty-five cents to thirty-eight
cents is reached about the middle of June, when it gradually
drops again to about twenty cents in October and November.
The Division of Labor.
The division bet ween the different branches of this indus-
try is very noticeable and is a factor in its success. The man
who raises South Shore roasters as a business contents him-
self in a great majority of cases with that branch of the busi-
ness solely. In many instances he does not even attempt
Sats
A Consignment of Soft Roasters Delivered to the Killing Establishment.
to produce his own eggs and less often does he market his
product.
The eggs are generally produced by small keepers who
have hens as a side interest. Some of the flocks from which
the eggs come are kept on farms, but many inhabit the rear
of a large town lot. Probably more than ninety per cent
of all the eggs from which these prime roasters are hatched
come from flocks not owned by those who raise the chickens.
The jobbers are supreme in this South Shore enterprise
and the two firms mentioned have control of every fine
roaster on the South Shore. Although some of the growers
ship direct to the wholesale and retail dealers, they do so
THE SOFT ROASTER INDUSTRY 125
\
on the accounts of these jobbers. One grower ‘became a
trifle dissatisfied because it was apparent to him that he
was not getting every dollar made on his chickens, and finally
told the jobber with whom he dealt that he wanted every
dollar that was to be had and that he was going to ship
direct, on his own account thereafter. The jobber had had
similar experiences and readily consented. The result was
Packing Soft Roasters for the Fancy Trade.
that he had this grower’s goods the following season and was
informed that the grower had not done as well as when he had
allowed this middleman his share of the profit.
Wealthy People Pay High Prices.
People who will pay thirty-eight cents a pound for chicken
are not running ordinary boarding houses or restaurants.
It may surprise you to learn that not even the best hotels of
our large cities and summer resorts use these birds when they
are sold at the highest prices. This product is consumed
exclusively by the wealthy trade. Such trade, however,
126 CHICKS
exists in every large city and when these people discover an -
exceptionally palatable dish, the price must be exorbi-
tant to prohibit it.
This prime South Shore product is sold in Providence and
Newport as well as in- Boston and they have begun to call
for it in New York.
There are many chicken raisers along the South Shore who
have no facilities for raising these winter chicks. These peo-
ple raise roasting chicks in the natural season. The prices
for these do not compare of course with the prices obtained
for the off-season birds. Still those who raise them keep
at it, which indicates that there must be profit in the business.
Pullets are Marketed Before They Lay.
It must be remembered that the pullets are sold before
they begin to lay, for after that they would bring only the
prices of fowls. Consequently these pullets are marketed
just before they commence to lay, no matter at what season
of the year. Many are sold in January and February.
These are the ones hatched late in the summer and early in the
fall. Pullets form the greatest supply at what is called the
“mid-season.”
The features of this business and some of the causes of
success may be said to be the high prices paid for a first
class roaster during the month of April, May and June;
the ability of these people to raise these chicks in small,
cheap hotises and by a system of feeding that does not re-
quire an undue amount of labor; the fact that the staple
food, cracked corn, is usually the cheapest grain in our
market.
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