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$100,000
Per Year
From Poultry
THE CURTISS POULTRY BOOK
Being a Complete and Accurate Account of the Great Plant and Present
Successful Methods of W. R. and W. J. Curtiss, Operating the
Niagara Poultry Farm of Ransomville, N. Y., Lar_est
General Poultry Enterprise in the World.
By
MICHAEL K. BOYER
Poultry Editor ‘‘ Farm Journal ”’
PHILADELPHIA
WILMER ATKINSON CO.
1910
25 Cents
Copyright, 1910
“WILMER ATKINSON CO.
Contents
PAGE
Nieves leojelhinys label, Ibmstare lola, .A soups oconoaude padaecuaa condos 7
SHO FENG LOS US ¢Vep A) Ee wg 00) peeps. ee ere arate a0) ea pg I Re 9
Mes cammiin pen Owe tow atSemLNtCkKS ae, teria. kitacscls «'eidie evan 0. sis becsa tne agente tes 10
ick icades Cateredtcll ©. 027 Seas eS eee oases se cde wet ee 10
lsehcenk, Leiihillcbines euatal Iejiihonmeame Geno eSdocuecdbvach one son copoeoond oF II
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Mincubatone Cellateienercnctevs scroisioa cers otest ai orecoe ois, s FoR zsteeos cee ote a ae 13
Methods of batching and vRearing |. : sot. ts see ss. eae cesses 14
Watdetese Sele Cedi Wrara.ach a Toei oe clients soe voit ocr ns TOO Oe eae 14
eSt= Lead Sr Ole) Uk: Shes sci twcre eens ates cis|'ons Gro. 2 oar ack Tee eevee eareaa eee Sato 14
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OOpeiaiinayer ne Mbaeblo MOPS) SG ccivo ns oobcecoomeeeooce ose ooUehe cbocooens 17
Wain WON STENTS ny pate ori roeimbin 4 caac eictosse Re Ok Epi a Ora Ra Gera Sih SIDE ero c 22
ee dineratihnex@ hicks. seis. tore octet ae eames Seats aerate neni nie ne hae 22
HeedinseaGhicks vom, an een 0. fake al ae ore ie aoe months heirs eee ors 24
BECCInOT EME TE CUITS tOLOCK mar te yack SI a aS ach iss Se 26
Faw Oh REET SLO MECEE Cis.” ea cas Siti a eh own Te ens eaten utah Mies 26
Bee ainie tW Tinicles: piscs mat yo oN 2 ce cuseny haces ees ie een aes Rote Cee 26
lo wetmeOucks ares. we. cies fee auicee sc ahidele Ane Stam -o ewes ates, ooo 27
Recdashionmiulas: "S05 cev.rethie athe oe Ramen oc nce ace ON Oe aa eee 28
bcoaodme tie Chickssand Ducklings: .2..4....c meter tamer: aed ae eee 30
Pree MeT IUNSs ING AVEOIETTS Ph..ch. shcte ayer nia cto ee cp ec BR rene eee ores Bg
HowsGreengheedas Supplied i tisnir ccc oat xs Mee rire eho Sc ee 33
Wolonmzins arid: Mating: Stocks bindSwux 02s oc wate cee as oe Se ieee ers 34
Owe brneedinorStocksiseReaned! seme tn as sana ern: Sei reereera 38
igwe breeding Ducks <ane. Selected) .dcs.aa Poona bess Dae ces Cakoet 38
EliGwahier tile stivocaanres SeCUned: mur cesicnics saree cmieemiie oe Cnr eieter 39
I<aillbuayes” ID kresenines, ual Siouoyoer ge osdosgnenucsecdcebsinoneoodnousende 43
Grint © lot lcetr Sener a weein << chokes sear ema ge eer atone) Oto Ge EOS 43
Ahir eae OUCH)” Forge tires sere Saente ae eNO eTTe a I ees es eM Gee a ee 44
ithe Babyr Ghickwl rad esate sa oe tears Sc eee ho aoa 45
AP) iiey al bakclovanteiee ee nce Rare econ ee SEER cer oa ooo A ee On 47
Wdvice tor Beginners: -oceneccn: a oc Ree he et at hcp eee 49
Mira @scameesArerecaresere orcs coaches See tre s ees eee See aes Pe ee SE ee renee Oe 54
Niagara Poultry Farm
In the northwestern corner of New York, almost in sight of
Lake Ontario, and only thirteen miles by railroad from Niagara
Falls, is the pleasant country town of Ransomville. It is sur-
rounded by rich, level farming country. The town has no great
factories or commercial establishments, and only a few hundred
human inhabitants; but on the south side of the railroad is an in-
dustry with a population of from fifty to one hundred thousand—
an industry which has made the name of Ransomville familiar in
all parts of the country; for here is the largest plant of its kind in
the world, the great Niagara Poultry Farm of W. R. Curtiss & Co.
The Niagara Farm is not carried on in a showy way. It
“ produces the goods,” but they are not kept in the show-windows.
Indeed, there are no show-windows. You might easily pass by the
place on the train without dreaming that anything unusual was to
be seen there. But here is an establishment (begun by a country
boy with nothing but his own hands and head, and some debts)
which has always had to make its own capital, yet has already
been brought up to such a point of productiveness that its sales of
chickens, ducks, and eggs exceed $100,000 a year; and so excel-
lent are all its products, so safe and certain are its methods, and
so profitable the results, that people come from all parts of the
country to see the plant and learn “ how it 1s done.”
Practical, Not Fancy.—The methods which have built up the
Niagara Poultry Farm are in close harmony with the business
methods always advocated and followed by the FARM JouRNAL.
“ Practical not fancy farming” is the motto that has stood on the
first page of the paper from the beginning; and “Practical not
fancy poultry raising’ is the policy that has brought the Niagara
Farm up to its present position as a profit-maker. Therefore,
when the FArmM JouRNAL was looking for the best examples of
success in the various lines of farming for the help of its readers,
it was natural and fitting that the Niagara Poultry Farm should
be brought to its attention.
To the pioneers in any great industry we owe a heavy debt.
They deserve a large reward, for they have found and marked
the safe path for us, at great cost to themselves. For long years
the Curtiss Brothers have experimented, and watched, and tested,
and compared results. They have met failure almost as often as
8 CURTISS POULTRY BOOK.
success. They have had to devise their own methods, and to cor-
rect and improve them, little by little, through years of patient
toil, and often of heavy loss. They have had to learn by expe-
rience, because there was no other way; but now others can make
use of their methods, with the certainty that every step has been
made plain and safe. The fruit of twenty years’ labor is here
available for the beginner’s guidance, at less than the cost of a
“setting ”’ of eggs.
An Experienced Guide.—The great value of this book is that
it is a story of experience. The Curtiss methods of running incu-
bators, of housing and caring for fowls at different ages, their
food formulas for young chickens, for laying hens, for “ squab
broilers,’ for young ducks, for market ducks, etc., have all been
tested, modified, improved, and tested again, through years of ex-
periment, until now they are so certain and reliable that losses or
failures at the Niagara Farm are extremely rare. To beginners
the value of such a guide is hard to estimate. The “ poultry-
fancier’ who begins with a model plant and ample resources, in-
herited or made in some other business, can perhaps afford to
make experiments and work out methods for himself. Not so
those men and women who, like Roy Curtiss, must begin at the
beginning, and maintain themselves and their families while they
build up their “plant.” Such practical poultry-raisers, who can-
not afford to make mistakes and incur losses, will appreciate the
aid of a book like this, written from actual experience, which is a
safe guide in every branch of the business, at every stage of their
operations, and whether on a small or a large scale.
In order that every detail might be studied, and that the facts
might be brought out in their proper light, the writer spent the
best part of a week at Niagara Farm, and collected matter that
should be of great value not only to beginners, but to veterans in
the business, as well. There are no phenomenal records to present
to readers—there is no tempting bait held out; it is simply the
narrative of two young men who, beginning in a small way, have
accomplished what probably has never before been equalled. It
is deeply interesting. It shows how, step by step, the plant was
built up; it touches upon the mistakes made, and tells how, grad-
ually, experience righted them, and thus how the enterprise has
grown to its present gigantic proportions.
The pictures of the book tell their story, and the methods
(“ secrets,” if you like) are given for the first time.
CURTISS POULTRY BOOK. 9
The Story of the Farm
It was about twenty years ago that the younger of the Curtiss
Brothers (Roy) began keeping poultry with an aim to making a living.
The father had a number of hens on the farm, but they were neglected,
kept more “after a fashion” than anything else. Roy conceived the idea
that he could make a profit out of them, and as the family actually re-
ceived no income from the stock, he made his father a proposition. It
was that he (Roy) was to feed and care for the fowls, while the father
supplied the feed. In return for this, the boy was to deliver free to
the family all the poultry and eggs that were needed, and all over that
number belonged to Roy, to sell or dispose of as he saw fit. The prop-
osition was accepted.
It requires quite an army of help on Niagara Farm, and each employee
has his or her particular work to perform
Roy looked ahead. He wanted to enlarge the plant, and therefore
it would not be wise for him to sell all the young fowls. So he carefully
picked out the most desirable (according to his crude ideas) which he
retained for additions to next year’s stock. Gradually the plant en-
larged, and all the time the father faithfully kept his promise to supply
the feed.
Calling for a New Deal.—But, after a while, the heavy cost of feed
became a serious question with the father, and he naturally became un-
easy. Roy was entirely too ambitious for him. A few more years of en-
largement of the plant and it would mean a case of bankruptcy. Already
he was paying as high as a dollar for an egg, to say nothing about the
fabulous price for a roasting fowl for a Sunday’s dinner.
The father cannot be blamed for crying halt. It was time for him
to do so. There was a consultation, and it was a very business-like
meeting, too.
“T will give you every chance, and help you all I can,” said the
father, “but you must pay your own feed bills, and I will pay you the
market rate for what eggs and poultry the family consumes.”
It was a fair proposition, and Roy did not dissent. This move did
not dishearten him in the least. He realized the merits of his father’s
protest, and resolved to work out his own problems.
He had already reached that point in his venture when he could
see possibilities ahead, so he put additional energy in his work.
10 CURTISS POULTRY BOOK.
As early as two o’clock in the morning he would take his father’s
team and drive to Niagara Falls—thirteen miles distant—and sell his
product from door to door. It was hard work, but the retail trade gave
him a better price, and his profits grew.
Jay, the older brother, in the meantime left home to seek a liveli-
hood in other channels. He returned a year afterward, and was sur-
prised to find how Roy had branched out. Jay had been successful, but
when he compared notes he found that his brother was making more
money than he.
Then it was when the partnership was formed. The work had
already become too great for Roy alone, but now with Jay’s help they
would be able to branch out to a greater extent. At that time the well-
known Niagara Farm was established, under the ownership of W. R.
Curtiss & Co.
For the first ten years there were many mistakes and drawbacks,
but the two young men had placed their shoulders to the wheel, and
their perseverance and energy overcame all difficulties.
Some of their troubles were the spoiling of thousands of eggs, for
the reason that the incubators used were worthless; great difficulty in
hatching and rearing incubator chicks through lack of knowledge of
artificial methods, and chronic shortage of working capital, a very
important matter. Then 1,400 ducks, hatched and raised in summer,
were sold in the fall, leaving them in debt to the tune of four hundred
dollars for feed. This was because they held the ducks too long, they
thus losing instead of gaining in weight; and so on. The duck problem
was indeed a serious one, and something must be done.
Learning How to Raise Ducks
The Curtiss boys realized that their knowledge of duck culture was
entirely too limited, and so in order to get a better understanding, and
that they might better become acquainted with the more modern
methods, Jay secured a position with A. J. Hallock, of Long Island,
who had the largest and most successful duck farm in this country.
Regularly Jay would write home to his brother, advising him of
methods that would overcome their difficulties, and Roy put the in-
structions to good use. At the end of the season Jay came home to
stay, and the boys worked hard correcting the mistakes of previous
years. From that time on the duck proposition became a paying one.
In the start they experienced considerable difficulty in educating
the people of the surrounding country to eat duck. They sold a ton
of dressed carcasses to one of the leading Buffalo hotels at ten cents
a pound, but since that time they have sold tons at three times that
price, and never at a figure lower than fifteen cents per pound. They
are now annually marketing as many as 50,000 green ducks.
The Trade Catered To
The trade for both the poultry and the eggs consists principally of
hotels, restaurants and clubs. Private family trade, it is argued, costs
too much time and money, together with bookkeeping and worry over
small accounts, thus leaving no greater profit, all things considered,
than what they derive by their present system.
In some sections of the country, especially in and near large cities,
they furnish stock to dealers who have built up a large and select pri-
vate trade, as well as clubs, restaurants and hotels, but as these dealers
pay outright for the goods, Niagara Farm has no concern over the cus-
CURTISS POULTRY BOOK. II
tom. In some towns agents are employed who take orders which are
filled by the farm, the agent being paid a commission for his work, and
shipments and collections made direct.
The trade of the farm lies largely at Thousand Islands and in the
Adirondacks, the latter trade being heavy during the entire year.
Over one hundred regular customers are catered to in semi-weekly,
weekly, etc., shipments, many of these customers acting as middlemen
in disposing of the product. It required more than ten years to secure
this valuable outlet, which extends to such large cities as Niagara Falls,
Buffalo, Rochester, New York City, ete.
The Farm, Buildings and Equipment
The farm is situated right across the road from the railroad station
at Ransomville. It consists of sixty-three acres of sandy loam soil,
known in some sections as a “chestnut soil.’”’ The land lies level, and
the houses are given a south and east exposure, thus having the pre-
vailing winds of winter strike all the buildings endwise.
The feed storehouse, containing the office, is close to the railroad
station. The grain elevator has a capacity of 10,000 bushels, and is
located alongside the railroad tracks, so that most of the feed is un-
@
dN aah Ry | 4 a 2 pee 4 Fe ag ahd fod ts
OA ROAR IG
SECTION OF THE DUCK FATTENING PEN
Thousands of ducks are fattened each season on Niagara Farm, going into the market
in prime condition
loaded, mixed and fed to stock without the use of a team for carting.
One of the big mixing machines has a capacity of mixing up twenty
bushels of wet mash at one time.
There are two hundred colony houses, six hundred feet of heated
brooder houses, and three hundred fireless brooders.
The duck brooder house has a capacity of 25,000 ducklings at one
time, and there are summer shades and shelter for as many more. The
duck houses are immense buildings, one measuring 36 by 508 feet; the
other, 16 by 450 feet. Ten tenement houses located on the farm are
used exclusively for help employed.
The buildings contain 200,000 square feet of floor space.
Besides the incubator cellar, with brooding-house above, which is
believed to be the largest in the world, there are 1,500 feet of duck
fattening shed, thirty-six feet wide; ice pond and ice-houses right on the
LZ CURTISS POULTRY BOOK.
DUCK BROODING HOUSES AT NIAGARA FARM
Here fully 5000 ducklings at a time are nursed and cared for a month or two before
they are placed in runs
farm, one gas engine, one steam engine, two windmills, three complete
water systems, and over 10,000 feet of water pipe laid all over the farm.
The picker house measures 18 by 4o feet, with a loft for the stor-
age of feathers. Adjoining the killing room is a shed 16 by 20 feet, in
which are quartered the ducks and chickens ready for killing.
The Feed Warehouse and the Work Shop
The feed warehouse and the work shop are combined. On the first
floor of the latter there is a capacity of one hundred tons of grain at
one time. It requires considerable feed to satisfy the hunger of the
thousands of chickens and ducks on Niagara Farm. Not less than five
hundred bushels of grain per day, or a full carload per week, is fed.
The machinery used in this building consists of a Smith meat chop-
per for chopping meat, vegetables, etc. This machine is used princi-
pally for cutting vegetables. It has a capacity of three bushels, and cuts
potatoes, turnips, beets, etc., in very small pieces.
Two feed mixers are used—one a Maxwell, and the other a Morton.
Each have a capacity of about twenty bushels at a mixing. One of these
machines drops the mixed feed in cars on the track to be taken out to
the duck ranch. The other machine places its product in wagons to be
hauled out on the range where the poultry are quartered.
In the basement of this building is a Myers pump that furnishes
water for the mixing machines, and besides supplies the water needed
in the fattening and growing yards of stock located on the west side
of the farm.
A Wilson Brothers power bone cutter is also installed for use when
bone is required for the stock.
An Olen five horse-power engine is now used to furnish power for
running the different machines, but this will shortly be replaced by a
ten horse-power engine to be run by a dynamo—the farm to be shortly
supplied with electric power, as stated elsewhere.
About two hundred tons of coal are consumed each year on the
farm.
In the forepart of this building is located the office, a spacious room,
in which is desk room for the two proprietors (W. Roy and W. Jay
Curtiss), and also for the father of the boys, whose duty it is to do
the bookkeeping for the firm, and conduct visitors about the farm. A
young lady, an expert stenographer and typewriter, is constantly engaged
in handling the large correspondence.
CURTISS POULTRY BOOK. 13
The Incubator Cellar
The incubator cellar, believed to be the largest in the world, is 48
by 170 feet in dimensions. The building is two-story, the upper story
being used as a chick nursery, where the young are first given brooder
heat, and then afterward placed in fireless brooders, as is explained under
the heading of brooding.
In this cellar are quartered one hundred and twenty-five incubators
of the Prairie State manufacture, besides which there is a Hall mam-
moth incubator, 7,500 egg capacity (and two more of the same size
contracted for), quartered in another building, and which is devoted
to hatching baby chicks.
The cellar is ventilated by a six-inch terra cotta pipe placed through
the side wall, about six inches from the floor, and this is connected by
an elbow and a three-foot joint of terra cotta, pointing upward. In this
manner the foul air is conducted to the outside, and at the same time
the outside air is prevented from rushing back into the cellar. These
THE INCUBATOR HOUSE AT NIAGARA FARM
Said to be the largest in the world. The nursery is on the second floor
ventilators are placed every sixteen feet on both sides of the cellar.
The cellar wall is two feet thick, and is banked up with earth on the
outside, the floor of the cellar being even with the outside surface.
The incubators are placed in blocks of four machines, so that they
do not stand in front of the ventilator holes in the wall, the latter being
located between each block, thus preventing the lamps of the incubators
from being blown out, and besides there might be a possibility of drafts
of air striking the machines. As the incubators are arranged length-
wise, there is ample space to allow a four-foot aisle between each row.
Besides the ventilator holes mentioned, there are ten windows on
each side of the cellar, about sixteen feet apart, and placed up near the
ceiling. These are opened during warmer weather when it is intended
to more quickly cool the atmosphere.
Near the center of the cellar are located two egg-testing booths,
measuring 4 by 6 feet, and about six feet high, encased with heavy lining
paper. ;
There is telephone connection from the office to several buildings
on the farm, greatly saving time in calling up the heads of the different
.departments.
This is a farm where visitors are always welcome, and one man is
kept busy showing people about the place and explaining matters.
14 CURTISS? POULTRY: BOOK:
Methods of Hatching and Rearing
Niagara Farm bears the distinction of being the largest poultry
plant of its kind in the world. There are farms upon which more
chickens are raised, and farms upon which more ducks are raised; but
there is no farm on which so many head of stock are produced—
reared—counting both chickens and ducks—as on this place.
The products of the farm are table eggs, hatching eggs, roasting
fowls, squab broilers, baby chicks and ducklings, and breeding stock
in both poultry and ducks.
The Varieties Selected
As stated elsewhere, Curtiss & Co. tried all the leading breeds.
They wanted a variety that would best meet the requirements of their
trade. In short, they needed business fowls.
They wanted a broiler breed. A variety that would quickly grow a
plump body, and at the least expense, and one, also, that would present
an attractive carcass.
Twenty different varieties in the American class, some of the
Games, a few of the Asiatics, and even some foreign breeds, in turn were
tested, but finally they narrowed down to the White Wyandottes. They
found that this breed not only gave them the broiler wanted, but also
furnished an excellent small-sized roasting fowl. For sixteen years
this variety has been bred on Niagara Farm, and by careful selection
and mating they have also gotten up a strain of large, brown egg layers.
The laying capacity of the hens is judged by the Hogan system, and it
has proved successful with them.
The advantages they secured in the White Wyandottes were good
size, with rich yellow skin and yellow legs, and a broad and meaty back
and breast.
When the demand came for a larger sized roasting carcass than the
White Wyandotte could furnish, the Barred Plymouth Rock was tested,
and while it served the purpose there still was an objection in the dark
pin feathers, which, despite the best of care by the pickers, would often
present a bad looking carcass. The White Plymouth Rock was then
tried, and in this breed they found the ideal for soft roasters, and being
of a white plumage there was not that objection of dark pin feathers
to be found as is the case with the Barred. Cockerels of this breed
dress nine pounds each, and pullets seven pounds each, in four months.
They also found the White Plymouth Rocks to be equal, or nearly so,
to capons, bringing almost as good a price on the market, and saving
ninety per cent. of the work and one-half the time in production that is
needed with capons.
As the egg trade increased, and they found the trade calling loudly
for white-shelled eggs (a fad peculiar in New York), they tested the
Single Comb White Leghorns, and found them to be very hardy and
a very profitable fowl to handle. They are light feeders and can be
confined with less floor space in winter than any breed they ever kept.
They also found them to be excellent for squab broilers, and for this
purpose the cockerels are sacrificed.
The Best Breeds of Ducks
At present the Pekin is the only duck used on the farm, but, as
already stated, a test is about being made with the Indian Runner ducks
to supply a trade that calls for a lighter weight carcass.
CURTISS POULTRY BOOK. 15
A KILLING OF DUCKLINGS DRESSED READY FOR MARKET
Niagara Farm makes it a point to dress carcasses in the most attractive manner
The Pekin ducks on Niagara Farm are of large size, mature early.
and average 140 eggs per duck during aa season. The eggs are very
fertile, rarely running below eighty per cent., and most of the time
ninety-five per cent. and even better. Aes seven to nine weeks old, the
young average five pounds each, dressed. Niagara Farm has bred the
Pekin duck for fifteen years.
Demand for Smaller Ducks
Fifteen years ago Niagara Farm had a hard time to grow ducks to
weigh four pounds each, but by careful selection their stock each year
has improved, and by breeding more for size, it is now hard work for
them to have ducks weighing less than five pounds—the weight generally
running between five and six pounds.
But gradually a demand increased for ducks weighing four to four
and a half pounds each, and it became a serious question how to cater
to that trade. So at present a test is being made with Indian Runner
duck eggs, several thousand of which have been purchased. Some of
the young were hatched at the time of the writer's visit, but not until
next season can the Messrs. Curtiss tell if the Indian Runner will serve
the purpose for what they intend or not. The chances are, however
that they will.
The Curtiss people report this year (1910) as the best in their ex-
perience for prices. During the winter of 1909-10, prices went so high
as thirty-five cents a pound, and never less than twenty cents, and those
prices, too, by the ton lot, sent to wholesale trade. As late as June,
1910, the prices still ranged from twenty-two to twenty-five cents per
pound to the trade.
The aim is to have ducks for sale the entire year. There were just
two weeks last year that Niagara Farm had no ducks to ship to market.
There were 50,000 ducklings marketed the past season, and of the total
number hatched, the loss ran only from two to five per cent. During
a wet season the loss is more heavy than it is during a dry one.
A specialty on Niagara Farm is its winter duck supply.
NIAGARA DUCKLINGS
ht to stand at one end of the Brooder Runs and see thousands of Baby Ducklings in their
It is a pretty sig
comic movements, and all as busy as bees
CURTISS POULTRY BOOK. 7
Methods of Operation
There are few theories on Niagara Farm. Every step taken has
been carefully considered. There must be a reason for it. Every idea
that proves to be good and useful is adopted. All unnecessary work
is saved. Every move must show economy and profit. The proprie-
tors have their sleeves rolled up, and are not afraid to work. Each has
his section of the farm to superintend, and everything moves along
smoothly.
About fifteen men are employed in winter and twenty-five during the
summer. This does not include between twenty to thirty women pickers,
who are at work every day of the week, excepting Saturday and Sunday.
It is a rule on Niagara Farm to have a hatch come off every Mon-
day and Thursday, and it is another rule that every Tuesday and Friday
every egg that has not been sold or placed in the incubators, must be
sent to market. In that way the customers are guaranteed strictly fresh
eggs, and there are no eggs on hand to become stale.
Operating the Incubators
The great incubator cellar is in charge of Leo Curtiss, a younger
brother of the firm, who has as his assistant a bright Japanese boy,
Shozo Nomiura, who came to this country from Tokio, Japan.
At five o’clock in the morning the incubator men begin turning the
eggs, and so skillful have they become that by 6.30 o’clock every egg
has been turned, and the men go to their breakfast.
The eggs are turned mostly by placing an empty tray over a full
one, and giving it a swing, thus emptying the eggs from one tray to the
other. In some of their machines they are compelled to use the shuffling
method, but prefer the old-style extra tray idea. This, they argue, guar-
antees every egg turned, and, in consequence, they cut down the per-
centage of deaths in the shell.
The eggs are again turned in the evening, beginning at four o’clock
and generally ending at six o’clock.
When turning the eggs by the trayful, it is done slowly, and not by
a quick whirl. Mr. Leo Curtiss says that the tray method of turning
does the work more accurately, and prevents the blood vessels from
growing fast to the shell.
After breakfast is over the work of trimming the lamps begins.
Instead of cutting the wicks with a pair of shears, as is so often done,
especially by beginners, the charred part of the wick is scraped off.
This gives a more even and steady light, and does not leave corners to
the wick which smoke and collect soot. There is considerable danger
when soot collects in the lamp chimney, as it is apt to ignite and cause
a fire. The work of filiing the lamps follows that of scraping the wick.
The Curtiss people prefer filling the lamps in the morning in prefer-
ence to evening, as is generally advised, for the reason that they have
ample time to watch the flame and see that it is burning steadily. Past
experience taught them that when the lamps were cleaned and filled at
night, in many cases the flame went up after the attendants had left the
cellar, and ruined hatches were the consequence. After each lamp has
been filled it is carefully cleaned of all dirt and oil that may have dropped
on the surface. Too much care cannot be taken in this particular, as
every chance of fire must be removed, not only for the benefit of the
hatch, but the safety of the building. The best kerosene oil is used,
that which will stand 150 degrees test. Cheap oil is dangerous. A new
wick is used at the beginning of each hatch, so that there will be no
possibility of a short wick, which, after having lost all of its oil, burns
out. Extra care is taken to keep the burner free from dirt, taking par-
ticular notice that the little sieve on the burner is not closed up, so
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CURTISS POULTRY BOOK. 19
that there may be a free circulation of air. Care is also taken that the
flame of the lamp is not turned up too high or it may smoke, and
in this way gather soot. In fact, they never allow the flame of the lamp
to be higher than is strictly necessary. Eggs themselves throw off very
little heat for the first two weeks.
The Curtisses believe that cooling eggs make strong chicks, and
that once a day throughout the entire hatch is not sufficient for good
results. When the first test is made, seven days after the incubator has
been started, the eggs are cooled for five minutes in winter and fifteen
minutes during summer. This is continued for one week. Then after
that the cooling is performed twice a day, allowing the eggs to cool
longer as the animal heat in the egg increases, which is about ten min-
utes in winter to twenty minutes in summer. To know just how long
to cool, a thermometer bulb is placed on a live egg, and when it drops
to eighty-five degrees the tray is returned to the machine. The trays
are placed on top of the machine while being cooled, and the doors of
the incubator closed. This is the opposite to the practice of some incu-
bator men who cool the eggs in the machine by leaving the doors open.
It is reasoned that the eggs more quickly receive the proper tempera-
ture if the heat is retained in the incubator, and, having tried both
methods, the Messrs. Curtiss find the latter more reliable and practical.
The Curtiss method of adding moisture to the eggs is different from
that generally practiced. No moisture pans are used in the machines. In-
stead, in the case of hens’ eggs, they are lightly sprinkled with tepid
water two or three times during the hatch, according to state of weather
—once during the first week, and twice during the second week. In the
case of duck eggs, a light sprinkling is given them after first test, and
a more liberal sprinkling after second week of incubation. In addition
to this the floor of the cellar (which is earth) is kept damp by thor-
oughly sprinkling with a hose. The dryer the air, the more rapid is
evaporation of the egg. Too much moisture is as dangerous to duck
eggs as it is to hen eggs. When too much moisture is given, the chick
grows more than it should, and becomes too large to remain in the
egg, yet not sufficiently developed to come out,
The first test of hen eggs is made on the seventh day of incubation,
and the second one on the fourteenth day. This gives a better chance
to correctly judge the condition of an egg than is afforded when
testing on the fourth day. Weak germs often die during the latter part
of the first week, and if not detected on the fourth day test, remain in
the incubators, to the risk of having the bulb of the thermometer rest
upon them, thus giving a false registry of temperature, which, while it
may not kill a hatch has a strong tendency to cripple it. The seventh
and fourteenth days’ tests give more positive information.
Duck eggs are tested on the seventh and twenty-first days.
The averages of percentages of hatches made by Niagara Farm,
according to the reports, show ninety per cent. for White Leghorns;
seventy-five to eighty per cent. for White Wyandottes and White Ply-
mouth Rocks, and seventy-five to eighty per cent. for ducks.
It might here be mentioned that the Pekin ducks are used, and have
been since the start of the farm, but experiments are now being made
with Indian Runner ducks, as the call at Niagara Farm for smaller car-
casses has tempted the proprietors to give the Indian Runners a trial.
On the day of the visit of the writer, six machines of hens’ eggs
hatched, and as the little chicks were being taken out of the incubators
a careful count was made, resulting as follows: No. 1 machine, 203
chicks; No. 2, 252; No. 3, 250; No. 4, 244; No. 5, 267; No. 6, 327, mak-
ing a total of 1,543 chicks from 1,673 fertile eggs. This is certainly a
big showing. In machine No. 2, 351 eggs were originally set, out of
which 252 chicks were hatched, and in machine No. 6, 327 chicks were
hatched out of 337 fertile eggs.
In the case of the total, showing that 1,543 chicks were hatched from
1,673 eggs, it would appear that 130 eggs failed to hatch, but in truth,
TURNING INCUBATOR EGGS
agara Farm are turned by the old-fashioned method, placing an empty tray
upon a full one, and giving it a turn over
The eggs on N
CURTISS POULTRY BOOK. ZI
there were but 105 eggs in which there were dead germs or chicks, as
twenty-five chicks came out of the shell but died before they could be
removed. Only live chicks are above recorded.
On each machine is tacked a card which gives the history of the
hatch, as follows:
RECORD.
Miracles Not Sesser carnsae ae a. s BTW EWS base rte recat estan al ee
INOmNer TSuSetmpraa.cariernta rere) CIN ONO TER ES os. wrk da nae leetase
slgitmewmtiirSt teSt =: teak. tear cee eNO: eggs Lentiles..t2tettas tes oc
Mimies second test sade sete = Per cent. fertility
Flatchaducesesae srt so coer INOmliviel genic). sac «40.
No. of chicks hatched
Remarks:
Mr. Leo Curtiss furnished the following report from his record
book, which will give an idea of the wholesale manner in which chicks
and ducklings are turned out in the incubator cellar.
For the season of 1910, up to the time of the writer’s visit (the
last week in June), 100,319 youngsters came out of their shells, of which
35,148 were ducklings and 65,171 were chicks. Besides there were
enough duck eggs in the incubators to run the total number of ducklings
up to 40,000. The machines are in constant operation for ten months
in the year.
The total number of duck eggs set was 61,995, and the total number
of chicken eggs 108,762. Fully 25,000 more head of youngsters are yet
to be hatched.
This shows that a little more than one duck or one chick was pro-
duced from every two eggs set, taking the winter and summer averages.
The machines were run on duck eggs from February 28th to June
28th (time of writer’s visit), and the chicken eggs from February 7th
to June 28th.
Only fresh eggs are used for incubation. In fact, there are no stale
eges on Niagara Farm. It is a rule that every Monday and Thursday
all eggs that are not placed in the incubators, or otherwise disposed of,
must be shipped to market. They are equally careful in the selection
of their eggs, discarding all deformed, small or extra large sized, and
those having flaws in the shell.
Another point is to have the temperature the same in all parts of
the machine, which is done by having the machine standing perfectly
level, and also by tipping the trays slightly when needed.
It is the aim of the operator to have the thermometer register as
near 102 degrees the first week of the hatch as is possible, about 103
degrees the second week, and 103! to 104 degrees the third week
Care is taken not to allow the heat to run up the first week of the
hatch, or the latter may be killed or badly injured. In case the heat gets
a single degree above what it should register, the eggs are at once
cooled.
22 CURTISS, POULDRYS BOOK.
The incubators are not allowed to stand near a window, as this often
has a tendency to increase or decrease the heat in the machine.
Should the temperature get too high, the hatch is apt to come off
before it is due; and if too low, the hatch will be delayed several days.
Either extreme is detrimental to the strength of the chicks.
A study of the air cells of the eggs is made, and treatment governed
according to their size.
In placing the eggs in the incubator, the large ends are all pointed
the same way in the trays and slightly raised.
After removing all infertile eggs the fertile ones are spread out on
the eye so that they will occupy about the same relative position to one
another.
When eggs are overheated in the beginning of the hatch, the chicks
are generally found dead in the shell when the hatch is due. They are
also found dead when they form near the small end of the egg.
After each hatch the machines are thoroughly disinfected by a coal
tar product, of which ten per cent. is used in warm water.
When to Hatch
For breeding stock, Niagara Farm does its incubating principally
during the months of April and May, as they find the hatches are more
sat sfactory at that season, the chicks being more strong and vigorous.
They have, however, had good results from hatches made during March
and June, but only resort to those months when the demand calls for it.
Niagara Farm also finds that chicks hatched the latter part of August
to about the first of November, and carried over until spring, bring a
better profit as roasting fowls than roasters raised and marketed at any
other season.
The hatches of July and August, as well as those of November and
December, are not so satisfactory, as the stock brought out do not meet
the best markets. Besides there is less fertility of eggs, and other
difficulties arise that do not appeal to or warrant much work being done
in that direction during that time.
The Niagara Farm has for years experimented, by a series of tests
in incubating, to find if it is not possible to secure a year-round duck
egg yield, so that there would be continuous hatching. They have, by
selecting pens of breeders from each month’s hatching, gotten to the
point where they can now run the incubators on duck eggs the entire
year. They find that winter-hatched ducks prove to be the most profit-
able for next season’s hatching, and have had ducks lay in June that
were hatched in January.
For broilers, it has generally been contended that hatching should
begin in October and end in May.
For ducks, the regular laying season commences about January 2oth,
and a fair average is four eggs per week, per duck, from that time on
to June 20th, after which they gradually let down, stopping entirely
toward the last of July. Now it is just that schedule that Niagara Farm
has succeeded in improving by now getting eggs practically the entire
year.
Feeding the Chicks
The newly-hatched chicks are not fed until they are about three
days old. They find it a good rule to watch the condition of the chicks,
and when they see them becoming active and hunting for something
to eat, they know that they are ready for their first meal. It is a mis-
take to coax them to eat.
The chicks are not removed from the incubator until they are forty-
eight hours old, and their first meal consists of a little pin head oat
/
STRONG CURTISS CHICKS
It is interesting to note the thousands of chicks that each week come cut of the incubators — strong, lively little fellows
24 CURTISS POULTRY BOOK.
meal scattered on a board. The little ones are then allowed to help
themselves.
After that they are fed a mixture composed of equal parts (by
measure) of chick-cracked corn (corn cracked to about pin-head size),
a fine grade of wheat screenings or finely cracked wheat, together with
some fine seeds. These seeds are in mixture, and generally for sale by
large seedsmen. The mixture contains clover, timothy and wild seeds,
thus giving quite a variety. The wild seeds furnish a natural food,
such as are secured by the birds or chicks while out on range, and the
Niagara Farm has found the entire mixture of more value than any of
the commercial chick feeds that they have ever tried.
After a week or ten days, a mash is also used, consisting of one-
third hard-boiled eggs (the infertile eggs tested out of the incubator are
used for this purpose) and two-thirds of a mixture of equal parts of
corn meal and bran, mixed thoroughly by hand. The hard-boiled eggs,
shells and all, are chopped up in an Enterprise meat chopper. The
shells of the eggs furnish lime that helps to build up bone. This food
is given twice a day. At all times, grit, charcoal and dry bran, kept in
small boxes are constantly before the chicks, so they can help them-
selves at will.
This system is followed up until the chicks leave the brooder house
—when four to six weeks old, according to the time of the year.
After that age they are given a grain ration of equal parts, by meas-
ure, of cracked corn and wheat screenings, or wheat. Also, a mash of
one part low-grade flour, with about one-twentieth part beef scraps, all
by measure.
Green bone is not fed at Niagara Farm, as it is claimed that after giv-
ing both beef scraps and green bone careful trials the stock did better
on the beef scraps, and considerable labor is saved by not being com-
pelled to cut the bone, as is the case with green bone.
From the time the chicks are three days old, up until they are placed
on range, which is at the age of six or eight weeks, they are fed twice
a day all the green feed they can consume. The green food is any kind
of green stuff that is available, such as grass, rye, wheat, oats, corn, etc.
It is cut up into one-eighth inch lengths, so the chicks can readily pick
it up.
In winter when it is difficult to get succulent green feed, cabbage,
boiled potatoes, onions, beets, sprouted oats or ensilage is used.
The grains and seeds fed the chicks are scattered among cut clover
so that the little ones will be compelled to scratch and thus take exer-
cise. Drinking water is allowed from the start, which is changed twice
a day in winter and three times a day in summer.
After the chicks are removed to the fireless brooders, the hard-
boiled egg ingredient in the ration is dropped and beef scrap substi-
tuted. After the first two weeks of age, the supply of hard-boiled egg
is cut down to about one-half the quantity, and when beef scrap is sub-.
stituted the egg part is again lowered to about one-tenth to one-fifteenth.
Feeding Chicks on Range
When the chicks are placed on range, if hatched before the first of
April, they are given a dry mash all the time; and grain, scattered, twice
a day. The dry mash is composed of the same materials and propor-
tions as given in a wet mash to younger chicks, while the grain ration
is changed to two-thirds wheat and one-third corn.
Chicks hatched after the first. of April, when placed on range are
given a mash of bran, middlings, cornmeal, flour and beef scraps.
Herewith is given a copy of the schedule posted up in the feed
room, showing proportions of each ingredient for a given number of
pails or bushels:
i)
CURTISS POULTRY BOOK. 5
Pails or Bushels Bran Middlings Flour Cornmeal Beef Scrap
I 3-7 I-7 5-21 1-7 1-2]
2 0-7 2-7 10-21 2-7 2-21
3 I 2-7 of 15-21 Oa7, sy
4 Le OR7, 4-7 20-21 4-7 4-21
5 21-7 527 I 421 Sai 5-2]
6 2 4-7 6-7 1. 3-7 6-7 6-21
ZH 3 I Ty 253 I (-3
8 3 3-7 I I-7 I IQ-21 I I-7 8-21
) 3 6-7 27 2 7 L 2-7 3-7
10 4 2-7 It es 2 8-21 I 3-7 10-21
II 4 5-7 I 4-7 2 13-21 I 4-7 [I-21
12 5 1-7 I 5-7 2 18-21 I 5-7 13-21
Note.—The solution of the above table is to reduce to quarts. For
instance, a bushel contains thirty-two quarts, or a pail (three gallon)
holds twelve quarts.
Chicks on range are fed a soft wet mash mixed very dry for quick
growth, or fed dry mash for slower growth, according to age of chick.
Chicks intended for breeders are generally fed a dry mash, and those
for market are given a wet mash. In the case of late hatched chicks,
a wet mash is fed to force growth.
The point to be remembered, and which is closely followed at
Niagara Farm, is this rule of proportions: In the start the chicks are
fed a proportion of four parts of bran to one part of meal. Later in the
season (about July) the start is made with two-thirds meal and one-
third bran, and gradually lessening the meal and increasing the bran
until the chicks are taken from the range and given laying food. The
feed on range is about four‘of bran to one of meal. Niagara Farm is
a great believer in bran as a chick feed. A box of dry bran is con-
stantly before them. It being an excellent bone and muscle food is
gradually increased as the growth of the chick requires it.
Dry bran is also an excellent bowel regulator, while wet bran has
a strong tendency to produce bowel troubles in young chicks. Diar-
rhcea is more or less rare among brooder chicks where dry bran is con-
stantly kept before them, so that they can help themselves at will.
The feed is sent out on trucks to the stock on range, for which
regular railway tracks are built
20 CURTISS POULTRY BOOK.
Feeding the Breeding Stock
The breeding fowls are fed a mash slightly moistened. It is placed
in hoppers so the stock can help themselves at all times. All the grains
fed are scattered over a territory as far as they can be broadcasted.
The breeders are kept on range for about nine months of the year.
A light grain feed is given in the morning, between the hours of
seven and eight o’clock, and another grain feed between the hours of
five and six in the afternoon. About two or three o’clock in the after-
noon the hoppers are again refilled with a mash.
The following table gives the formula for feeding the breeding and
stock birds. The mash is fed wet, mixed very dry, when fertile eggs
are wanted, and in case the eggs are intended for market purposes, the
amount of beef scrap is doubled:
Bushels Bran Flour Meal Oatmeal Middlings Gases Oilmeal Beef Scrap
oo
I 1-6 I-12 1-6 I-12 1-6 1-6 I-12 I-I2
2 1-3 1-6 1-3 1-6 1-3 1-3 1-6 1-6
3 1-2 1-4 [-2 1-4 I-2 I-2 1-4 1-4
4 2-3 13 2-3 SS 2-3 2-3 13 I-3
5 5-6 5-12 5-6 5-12 5-6 5-6 5-12 5-12
6 =I I-2 I 1-2 I I I-2 1-2
ES 7-12 11-6 712s TARO.) Tete O 7-12 7-12
S=5 plasI=3 2-3 I I-3 2-3 Tae) le a3 2-3 2-3
One desl=2 3-4 I I-2 3-4 1-25 sPet=2 3-4 3-4
IO I 2-3 5-6 I 2-3 5-6 1 Esy 1h Ae 5-6 5-6
EL GS-0) ETE) © 63526" 21-12 5-6: 85-0) ieee
a I 2 T 2 2 I I
How Often to Feed
The first two days the ducklings have a little feed left before them
all the time, so they may help themselves at will. After that they are
fed four times a day—at 5 o’clock and 9 o’clock in the morning, and at
1 o’clock and 5 o’clock in the evening.
The young chicks are fed every two hours from 6 o’clock in the
morning until 6 o’clock in the evening. This is kept up until the chicks
are placed in the fireless brooders, when they are fed but four times
a day, equal number of hours apart, beginning at 6 o’clock in the morn-
ing and ending at 6 o’clock in the evening. After they go to the colony
houses they are fed at 6 o’clock in the morning, and at noon, and in
the evening from 4 to 6 o’clock, according to the time of the year, being
governed by the time of sunset.
When the chicks are removed to the fireless brooders, the numbe1
of mashes are dropped to one, and the richness of the mash is de-
creased. A rich mash is not again given until the young fowls are placed
into laying quarters.
A Couple of Feeding Wrinkles
Niagara Farm has discovered the fact that by feeding March-
hatched stock a light dry mash, composed of three parts bran, one part
cornmeal, one part flour, with five per cent. beef scrap, they will not
be so apt to go into molt in the fall, as when they are fed a wet mash.
Pullets thus fed will, as a rule, begin laying in the fall.
When cockerels are found that have a broad, flat rump, with no tail
feathers, nor long legs, and not too much head, nor big comb and wat-
tles, they have the requirements of a good roasting fowl, and are placed
CURTISS POULTRY BOOK. 27
DUCKS AT NIAGARA FARM
lhe illustration shows tke feeder attending to the wants of one of the flocks of breeding ducks
Everyone has answered the roll call
in the duck fattening pens. The ducks waste considerable feed, and as
their mash is of exceptional richness, the fowls grow very fast on it.
When feeding time comes, the ducks rush to the troughs and gulp
down a lot of feed, then rush for drinking water, then back again, and
so on, all the time in this way dropping food and wasting it. While the
ducks are thus feasting, the chickens in the pen stand back at a safe dis-
tance awaiting a chance to get at the “remnants.” After the ducks have
finished, the chickens begin filling their crops to overflowing. The Cur-
tisses say that they can fatten chickens in the duck pens in almost half
the time that they can in any other way they ever tried.
How the Ducks Are Fed
When the ducklings are placed in the nursery, they are fed a mash
composed of bran, flour, shredded wheat, oatmeal, cornmeal, beef scraps
and clover, in proportions as explained in Formula No. 1. The oatmeal
mentioned is really oatmeal middlings, being the finer part of screened
oatmeal.
When taken from the nursery and placed in the brooder, the bill-of-
fare changes, as is shown in Formula No. 2. If cut clover is given in-
stead of green food, double the amount is allowed.
After the ducklings are placed in the cold brooder, Formula No. 3
is given.
When the. ducks attain the age of six weeks, they are placed in fat-
tening pens, and for four or five weeks are given Formula No. 4.
Niagara Farm several years ago discovered that they made a mistake
when they changed the food in the middle of the fattening period. Since
they feed no fattening food at all for the first six weeks, and then for
four or five weeks give fattening food exclusively, they are able to pro-
duce better carcasses in the entire flock.
The amount of beef scrap mentioned in Formula No. 4 is correct if
28 CURTISS POULTRY BOOK.
bone soup is used to mix the feed. If not, then the quantity of beef
scrap mentioned is doubled.
This bone soup is made from green bone. For the purpose a large
condensing tank is used, which has a capacity of twelve barrels. Steam
is turned on all day, eighty pounds pressure, which reduces the bone
toa fluid. The tank is filled half full of bone, and enough water added
to cover within a foot of the top of the tank.
It is a noted fact that ducks eat more than twice the amount of food
at night that they do in the morning. Experiments show that a duck
will consume on an average, eight ounces of mash in the morning, and
twelve to twenty ounces at night. One hundred ducks will consume as
much as seventy-five quarts of food a day.
Formula No. I— Nursery Feed
Pails Bran Flour Shredded Oatmeal Cornmeal Beef Clover
Wheat Scrap
I I-5 I-10 I-5 I-10 I-5 I-20 3-20
2 2-5 1-5 2-5 I-5 2-5 I-10 3-10
3 355 3-10 ORD 3-10 Se 3-20 9-20
4 4-5 2-5 4-5 2-5 4-5 I-5 3m
5 I I-2 I I-2 I 1-4 3-4
6 I 1-5 3-5 I I-5 3-5 I 1-5 3-10 9-10
7 I 2-5 7-10 I 2-5 7-10 I 2-5 7-20 I I-20
Se 13-5) AS 1355) eee 4-5 W352 2-5 I 1-5
9 I 4-5 9-10 I 4-5 9-10 I 4-5 9-20 I 7-20
10 2 I 2 I 2 1-2 Jeol?
Formula No. 2— Brooder Feed
Pails or Bushels Green Bran Flour Cornmeal Cracked Beef
Feed Corn Scrap
I 1-4 3-7 I-7 3-28 1-28 1-28
2 -2 6-7 2-7 3-14 I-14 I-14
8 SAN aay 37, 9-28 3-28 3-28
4 I DOE, 4-7 Sad TS7, MH
5 I I-4 2 1-7 5-7 15-28 5-28 5-28
6 I I-2 24-7 6-7 9-14 6-28 6-28
7 T3754 3 I 3-4 I-4 I-4
8 2 3 3-7 I 1-7 6-7 2-7 2-7
0) 2 I-4 3 6-7 I 2-7 27-28 9-28 9-28
10 2 1-2 4 2-7 I 3-7 I I-I4 5-14 5-14
II 2 3-4 4 5-7 I 4-7 I 5-28 11-28 11-28
I2 3 by ey Dos / I 2-7 3o7, 3;
13 3 1-4 5 4-7 I 6-7 I 11-28 13-28 13-28
14 3 1-2 6 2 I I-2 1-2 I-2 °
Formula No. 3— Cold Brooder Feed
Pails or Bushels Green Bran Flour Cornmeal Cracked Beef Scrap
Feed Corn
I 1-3 1-3 1-8 1-8 1-24 1-24
2 2-3 2-3 1-4 1-4 I-12 I-12
3 I I 3-8 3-8 1-8 1-8
4 I 1-3 I I-3 1-2 1-2 1-6 1-6
Gph ihakae ay ee bNe 8 5-8 5-8 5-24 5-24
622 2 3-4 3-4 1-4 1-4
7. Me Z re B el SORT =3 7-8 7-8 7-24 7-24
8 2 2-3 2 2-3 I I 1-3 I-3
9 3 3 Tso) ft 8 3-8 3-8
10 3 1-3 3 1-3 I I-4 I I-4 5-12 5-12
II 3 2-3 3 2-3 I 3-8 I 3-8 11-24 II-24
12 4 4 I I-2 I 1-2 I-2 1-2
29
Beef Scrap
Whole Corn
I-20
T—TO
3-20
3710
3-40
3-20
Low Grade Cornmeal
Flour
CURTISS POULTRY BOOK.
IS
Bran
Formula No. 4—Fattening Food
Feed
Pails or Bushels Green
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Formula No. 5— Breeding Ducks Feed
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Bushels
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Formula No. 6—Stock Duck Feed
Green
Feed
Pails or Bushels
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30 CURTISS POULTRY BOOK.
10 5 3 1-8 5-12 5-12 5-0 5-24
II Gana to Pi(6) 11-24 II-2 II-12 11-48
12 6) 3.5 53=A 1-2 1-2 I I-4
13 6 1-2 4 1-16 13-24 13-2 I I-12 13-48
14 7 4 3-8 7-12 7-12 I 1-6 7-24
15 7 1-2) Ae =16 15-24 15-2 I 1-4 5-16
16 8 5 2-3 2-3 I 1-3 1-3
17 831-2 5 5-16 17-24 17-24 I 5-12 17-48
18 9 5 5-8 3-4 3-4 Ey, 1-2 3-8
19 Q I-2. 5 15-16 19-24 19-24 17-12 19-48
20 10 6 I-4 5-6 5-6 1 ee 5-12
21 IO I-2 6 9Qg-16 21-2 21-24 1 e35A 7-16
22 II 6 7-8 II-12 II-12 I 5-6 11-24
23 Ik 1-25 37 23-16 23-2 23-24 I II-I2 23-48
24 12 Fe eit I I 2 1-2
SECTION OF NURSERY AT NIAGARA FARM
Second floor of large Incubator House. Not less than fifty thousand chicks each season spend the
first ten days of their life in this immense room
Brooding the Chicks and Ducklings
-The width of the pens in the chick brooder house (which is on the
second floor of the large incubator building) is three feet, and the length
twenty feet. These pens are arranged on both sides of the building, with
an eight-foot alleyway. The heating is done by the old-style top heat
pipe system, being a series of four one-and-a-quarter inch pipes—two
flows and two returns. The hover is a twenty-inch square platform, with
a three-inch hole bored in the center for ventilation. Fringe is hung on
the four sides of the platform. As the hover is placed four inches from
both the back and the sides, the chicks will not crowd, and should they
become too warm can readily get out into a more cool atmosphere.
This second floor brooding: house will hold 8,000 chicks at one time.
On the outside of each brooding pen is erected a four-foot run, enclosed
with wire netting. This run is practically a platform erected on the style
CURTISS POULTRY BOOK. 31
of a roof garden, and so arranged that the chicks can at any time get
out of doors into the open air and sunshine.
All the windows open from bottom out, and are fastened by a long
iron rod. The sash swinging out acts as a shield in case of rain storms,
and at the same time the chicks are not deprived of the fresh air.
The young are kept in the heated brooders for from one to three
weeks, according to the condition of the weather, and then they are
trained to use the fireless brooders. This is done by placing a fireless
brooder in the run of the heated brooder, up near the hover, and putting
a board on each side of the brooder so the chicks cannot pass back to
where there is heat. Being at practically the same spot to which they
had become accustomed, they gradually learn to enter. In a few days
there is no more trouble, and the chicks go over to the cold brooder.
After making repeated experiments, Niagara Farm has learned the
lesson that not only will three-fourths of the labor be saved, but the
mortality will be considerably reduced by putting the chicks under heat
for the first week or so of their life. There is nothing to prevent them
from crowding, should they not be comfortable. and the newly-hatched
chick, like the new-born babe, requires warmth more than it does food.
When given this heat in the start, by the time they are removed to the
fireless brooders they have developed in strength and body to such an
extent that the animal heat generating in the fireless brooder at once
makes them comfortable.
The Curtisses say that the method of using fireless brooders from the
start 1s not practical. They admit it is possible to begin chicks in that
way, but it requires too much watching and care the first ten days, and
therefore find that it is much easier and better to allow artificial heat at
the start for the first ten days in summer and spring, and from two to
three weeks in winter. Artificial heat teaches the youngsters where to
go to get warm, and once having learned the lesson they seem never to
forget it.
Where only a limited number of chicks are to be raised—say about
fifty—it would hardly be necessary to purchase a heated brooder. In-
stead a jug of hot water, or a heated brick or soapstone wrapped
up in an old cloth to keep it from
burning the chicks, and placed in the
center of the fireless brooder, two
or three times a day for the first
week, will answer the ptirpose very
well. After that no artificial heat
will be needed. Care must be taken
not to use very many cushions on top
while artificial heat is employed.
Should the brooder be placed in a
heated room; no cushions are
needed, just the burlap on frame in-
side the brooder that bags down on
the chicks’ backs. When the arti-
ficial heat is taken away, more cush-
ions must be used to retain the heat
of the chicks’ body.
One very important matter in
brooding is to clean out the boxes
at least twice a week, and three
times would be better. Clean and
disinfect the runs, boxes, etc., after
each batch of chicks and spray in-
side of boxes with kerosene oil twic>
a month.
The ducklings are brooded in pens
oe MS ee eee ane Owe G The soil in the Chick Runs is kept loose. This
De : 5 is done by means of a hand-plow, keeping
of the young. a man busy the entire season
PLOWING
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WavVa VUVOVIN LV ONIGOOUd
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fe
CURTISS POULTRY BOOK. 33
The cold brooders for the chicks consist of a series of forty-four
separate houses, butting against each other. Each house measures six
by eight feet, large enough for fifty chicks in a flock. Here they are
placed when about five weeks old. In front of each house is a yard
thirty by six feet. These yards are being continually plowed up by a
small Planet, Jr., hand plow, so that the soil will be loose and the chicks
can readily scratch in it.
This plowing, too, has an advantage in disinfecting the soil, by turn-
ing under the excrement, and throwing up clean, pure ground. After
the season 1s over, these yards are planted to a green crop like rye, and
thus the soil is again sweetened for another season, besides a crop of
needed green food is raised.
One of the secrets of the success of Niagara Farm is that they allow
nothing to be idle, but make even the soil yield them an income.
Feathering and Molting
As has been the experience of all breeders of Leghorn fowls, _the
chicks very rapidly develop wing feathers. It is common to have them
grow so fast that the strength of the chick is fairly drawn from the body,
and in consequence the wings droop and the chicks becomes weak. Every
effort possible was made on Niagara Farm to counteract this trouble, but
without avail. Finally clipping the tips of the wing feathers of the
chicks, when three or four days old, was resorted to, and it worked like
a charm. It proved that this had a tendency to send the strength back
to the body, or rather, keep it there, and, coupled with the fact that the
mash given is of a very rich order, it helped the youngsters over that
fatal period.
The general richness of the mash has also a wonderful effect in
feathering the Wyandottes and the Plymouth Rocks.
The molting period usually lasts about three months. August is the
beginning of the period for the younger fowls, while with the older ones
it seldom begins for a month or two later. according to age.
On Niagara Farm they aim to start the molting process in July, so
that the fowls may be through with it by the first of September. The
breeding stock at this time are on free range, and, beginning in July the
mash and grain feeding is discontinued. This compels the fowls to
depend entirely on what green food and bugs they can find. Naturally
this gets them into a thin condition. As soon as it is noticed that indi-
vidual specimens of the flock act weak, the feeding is resumed, allowing
only a small quantity at first, and gradually increasing until the amount
of full feed is reached. This method, Niagara Farm has found, hastens
the shedding of the feathers, the new growth starts, and the hens are
ready for late fall and winter laying.
The breeding ducks are fed on a rich mash until feathered, when
they are given a light one.
How Green Feed Is Supplied
The Curtiss people have great faith in green food. It is the most
important part of their bill-of-fare. All kinds of greens that are available
are given in season, especially green clover and other grasses, and dur-
ing the winter the main reliance is cut clover hay.
Every fall they sow large fields of wheat and rye. The rye grows
the fastest, making green feed earlier in spring, which is mowed and fed
as soon as it is of sufficient height. By the time the rye becomes too
coarse, the wheat is in proper condition for cutting.
Oats are sown in early spring, and this comes up and is ready for
cutting by the time the wheat is too ripe for green food. After the oats
34 CURTISS POULIRY:, BOOK:
follows fodder corn, and this lasts until frost comes, when the cut clover
hay is substituted and fed until green feed comes again in spring.
On the range occupied by the chicks, corn is previously planted,
and when it has grown to about a foot in height, the chicks are placed
in the field. Here they not only have a lot of insects to feast upon, but,
naturally, an endless amount of small weeds grow up which furnishes
them excellent tender greens. The shade made by the corn is a decided
advantage to the chicks, and they, in return, furnish the crop with
manure. This plan Niagara Farm has tried for a number of years, and
they find it far better than their former plan of placing the chicks in the
meadow. The youngsters grow faster, stay in a more vigorous condi-
tion, and the loss is very small. Fruit trees are now being planted in
this field, which will make it possible to grow three crops upon the same
area—chickens, corn and fruit.
Colonizing and Mating the Stock Birds
The laying hens are quartered on range, in flocks of 1,500 to 2,000
ina flock. There are two rows of houses used, the houses being about
two rods apart. Between each row there is a distance of twenty rods.
All told, there are two hundred colony houses on the farm.
During the winter the eggs are gathered three times a day, but only
once a day during the summer time.
LAYING TIME AT NIAGARA FARM
The nests inthe Colony Houses on Niagara Farm are crude affairs, but they are nearly
always filled by busy workers
In White Wyandottes and White Plymouth Rocks, where exhibition
stock is desired, special matings are made, according to vigor of the
male bird, giving him from eight to a dozen females.
Those fowls that are on range are generally mated at the rate of a
male for every fifteen or eighteen females. For Leghorns, from twenty-
five to thirty females are allowed each male.
The fowls intended for breeding or exhibition stock have a range in
a large woods. Being sheltered from the direct rays of the sun they
keep a much whiter color.
In all the houses, for both old and young stock, which includes both
chickens and ducks, planer shavings are used in place of straw bedding,
Thousands of carefully selected specimens can be seen on range
During the summer the Breeding Stock is colonized.
36 CURTISS POULTRY BOOK.
which, it is claimed, are not only cheaper, but serve the same purpose as
does the straw.
In spring the breeding ducks have a range of about twenty acres.
The matings run from thirty ducks and five drakes to flocks of three
hundred ducks and fifty drakes. During the winter the breeding ducks
are mated at the rate of one to six; that is, one drake to six ducks. At
times, when the flocks are large, trouble will arise between the drakes,
and then it becomes necessary to take out a few drakes from the flock,
leaving about a drake to eight or nine ducks. This generally cuts out
about seventy-five per cent. of the ruptured eggs. A ruptured egg is
one that shows a blood ring in the egg.
It is a rule on Niagara Farm never to use a two-year-old duck for
breeding. In every case they use the young stock. Experience has
taught them that to get good fertility they must not use kept-over ducks,
as they fatten*too readily; besides, a young duck will begin laying two or
three weeks earlier than will an old one. These old ducks, as soon as
they are done laying, which is about July or August, are sold alive to
the Polish and Italian settlements of nearby cities. Some of them, how-
ever, are also sold, dressed, to second-class hotels.
Lanterns are hung each night in the different duck yards. This has
a wonderful effect in keeping them quiet. Instead of the lanterns, how-
ever, electric lights are about being installed. In fact, they will not only
be placed in the duck yards, but in the various lanes and paths on the
farm, and in all the buildings, a convenience that will be exceptionally
valuable.
When ducks are in the dark, they are apt to stampede, becoming
frightened at any noise or object, and when in this excitement they send
out a deafening cry. It can be imagined the racket the thousands of
ducks on Niagara Farm would make.
sen
DRINKING DEVICE AT NIAGARA FARM
That the young ducks may not pollute the water, and that they may be kept from getting wet, racks are provided through which the
little ones can stick their heads and take their drink
38 CURTISS POULTRY BOOK.
x
How the Breeding Stock Is Reared
Each year considerable stock of Wyandottes, Plymouth Rocks and
Leghorns are hatched and reared for special matings, so that the fowls
can be used for breeding purposes. In order that there may be no
chance for getting them mixed they hatch and raise these chicks by hens.
For this purpose rows of outdoor box nests are made, to which
partly shaded runs—twelve feet long and about two feet wide—are at-
tached. After the hen has hatched her young, the nesting material is
removed and the box acts as a coop for the hen and her brood. In
these runs the hen and the chicks are kept until about four weeks old,
when they are taken out on range. When a few days old they are
marked by a numbered punch, making the figure I, 2, 3 or 4 in the web
of the foot. The number represents the mating the eggs came from.
In this way males from the one lot can be crossed on females from
another lot without any chance of inbreeding.
Two young men are employed to attend to this work. They must
not only feed and water, but keep the place clean and attend to every
detail. In order to have them take a deep interest in the work, and
that it may be thoroughly done, they are offered a bonus for good per-
formance. This they get in addition to their regular salary. For in-
stance, a certain bonus is given for every fifty head raised, and a special
bonus for any number over five hundred chicks that are handed over to
the range. Guineas are a sort of “ by-product,’ and as they are more
or less difficult to grow, these boys get a good bonus for every hundred
that they are able to get beyond the danger stage, or, in other words,
that become fully feathered.
How the Breeding Ducks Are Selected
In order to secure a thousand standard breeding ducks, considerable
and careful selection is required. About one duck in ten will pass muster
as a breeder.
The standard set down on Niagara
Farm for a breeder is that it must
be broad in the breast, broad in the
back, deep in the keel, not too large
in head and neck, medium length in
body, and sharp and quick in eyé.
When the selection is about being
made, W. Roy Curtis, who has
charge of that part of the work, has
a lot of ducks driven in a small en-
closure. Opposite him are two un-
occupied yards. Those that come up
to the requirements are placed in
the one yard, and those that fail in
the examination are placed in the
other yard.
That work being finished, an inter-
esting everit takes place. A flock
of from two to three hundred of the
selected ducks are slowly driven a
half mile across the farm to a
woods. It is a hard pull for them,
and the drive is a slow one. But,
notwithstanding that they are not
Great care is taken in the ae cction af hurried, every now and then a duck
Breeding Ducks. “This work isentirely done will drop by the wayside, all gone
a regular standard in the legs. It is allowed to remain
CURTISS POULTRY BOOK. 39
while the stronger ones continue the march. It is a case of survival of
the fittest. Those ducks that are able to stand the trip prove their
strength, a qualification so necessary for producing good offspring. From
twenty-five to fifty from each flock are unable to stand the journey.
Upon the return of the men, they pick up the stragglers and place
them in the fattening pens.
EGGS READY FOR THE INCUBATORS
It is the rule to have eggs as near a size, color, age and shape as possible
How Fertile Eggs Are Secured
The eggs produced on Niagara Farm show a very large percentage
of fertility. This is pointed out in the record of hatches referred to in
another part of this book.
All the birds are kept on free range during early spring and sum-
mer, near a running stream of water, in movable colony houses. In
winter these houses are drawn up from the back of the farm and placed
near the home buildings.
The fowls are never confined to their houses summer nor winter, and
under this treatment (together with good feed and good care) the eggs
are exceptionally fertile and produce strong, hardy chicks that come out
in the incubators with a kick and are bound to live, thrive and make
good hardy layers for next season.
The Curtisses are great believers in following nature. While they
are opposed to fowls roosting outdoors at night on tree limbs, shed
roofs, fences, etc., at the same time they strongly believe and know that
for health and good returns, poultry must have a constant supply of
fresh air. Their favorite house is built after the Tolman plans, which
is a deep house with an open front, the hens roosting in the rear away
from direct winds and protected from drafts.
They claim, and rightly too, that hens shut up in houses, with hardly
a chance to get a breath of fresh air, are sure to become sickly, and
unhealthy stock certainly cannot produce profitable offspring, nor can
there be good fertility to the eggs.
Furthermore, they believe that the houses should not only be kept
perfectly clean, but should be free from all bad odors, not merely for
the agreeableness to persons compelled to be more or less about them,
but particularly for the fowls’ health.
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SYHHLOW AGNV SHOIHO
CURTISS POULTRY BOOK. AI
For that reason they have dispensed with dropping boards under the
roosts. They state that where a large number of fowls are quartered in
a building, the droppings of the night on these boards is considerable,
and, as the boards are always placed only about six inches below the
roosts, the fowls are compelled to breathe this bad odor the entire night.
Instead they have the roosts about four feet from the floor, and
planer shavings are scattered thickly underneath, which holds the drop-
pings and which they can readily clean up.
After testing. this plan for several years they are satisfied that it
prevents considerable sickness, inasmuch as there is not so much possi-
bility of the bad odor reaching the stock—at least not in a very strong
state.
The Curtisses are also great advocates of exercise. The chicks as
well as the hens are compelled to scratch among light litter for their
grain feed. The grain fed the chickens and fowls on range is broad-
casted so that they must be constantly on the move in order to find
something to eat. They are busy from feeding time to feeding time, for
pers is always more or less grain to be found when it is widely scat-
tered.
The breeding ducks get their exercise in the creek that runs through
their pens. Bathing is about the only real exercise they can get, as
ducks cannot scratch like land fowls.
Of course those ducks being reared for market are not allowed
near the water, as it would reduce them in flesh and would be unprofit-
able. The object with market ducks is to put on all the weight possible.
Exercise puts the blood in good condition, it hardens the muscles,
sharpens the appetite, and digests the food. All these are requisites for
good, strong fertile eggs.
UOI}IPUOD JO 4saq 9y3 Ul daay 0} 9[/qe a1” sny} pue
aslo1exe v[quiepIsued 9y¥e} Avy) s194M ‘UIE Y 94} UO puod 231¥] oy} Ur Surgieq jo aSaztarid ay3 usArs ary syon(] Sulpseig ey J,
WUVA VAUVOVIN LV SMONd ONIGHAAd
CURTISS POULTRY BOOK. 43
Killing, Dressing and Shipping
The secret of the success of the Niagara Farm is mainly due to the
fact that it is so planned that there is always something on sale. Every
day, excepting Saturdays and Sundays, a shipment of some kind is made.
More than one-half of all the shipments by express from Ransomville
Station arejfrom the Curtiss farm.
It requires 3,500 head of broilers, roasters and spring ducklings each
week to meet the demands of the regular trade.
From twenty to thirty women are employed every day, excepting
Saturdays and Sundays, at dressing ducklings, roasters and broilers for
market. At the time of the writer's visit about 2,000 ducklings were
being dressed in a week, but before the close of the summer season it
is intended to butcher not less than 2,500 a week. During the month of
July about five hundred squab broilers were dressed weekly, and for
the month of August it is necessary to double that number, as the de-
mand from the summer resorts increases.
The record weight of dressed ducks in one day was nearly two tons.
Killing Chickens
The broilers and roasting fowls are killed in the regulation way.
They are dry-picked, so that the natural firmness of the flesh remains,
and they will keep in better condition when shipped. After having al-
lowed them to fast for from twelve to twenty-four hours, so that noth-
ing will remain in the crop to sour, the feet of the fowl is fastened to
a stout cord suspended from a rafter, and the wings locked, that the
birds may not flutter. The head is grasped by the left hand, and a
sharp-pointed knife is thrust in the mouth, severing the jugular vein,
and shoved up into the brain. The stab is made in the center of the
mouth, between the eyes and ears. The knife is then drawn from the
side to the center on each side at top or roof of mouth. All this was
done in less time than it takes to tell it.
DRESSING POULTRY AT NIAGARA FARM
Twenty-five women are employed every day (save Saturday and Sunday )
dressing fowls for market
44 CURTISS POULTRY BOOK.
While the bird is being killed, the operator takes it under his left
arm, and the mouth is held open with the fingers of the left hand. At
once the feathers of the breast are removed, then those of the neck,
followed by those of the back, the tail, the wings, and finally those on
the legs. As soon as the long feathers are removed the women pickers
begin their work, and before the carcass has time to get cold, it is bare
of all feathers.
After the women have completed their part, the carcass is examined,
and then given its first bath in cold water, to which a little salt has been
added. After remaining in the water for some time, the clotted blood
is removed from the mouth of the chicken, and the carcass is placed
in another tub of clean, cold water.
The carcasses are then shipped in boxes and barrels (according to
the size of the order), packed in ice.
DUCK KILLING AT NIAGARA FARM
Two rows of ducklings are hung up at a time, securely fastened by wire, and the
““executioner’’ does his deadly work in a very few minutes
Killing Ducks
When ready to kill ducks, two rows of eight each are hung up by
means of a wire hook fastened to each leg. A long piece of wire is then
drawn through the nostrils of the eight ducks and fastened to each up-
right post of the scaffold, in which way the ducks are kept quiet in the
proper position.
This is considered an improvement over the old style of fastening a
weight, by means of a piece of wire, to the nostrils of each duck. Un-
derneath this scaffold is a large trough four feet wide, six feet long,
and one foot deep, to catch the blood and the feathers.
The ducklings are then stabbed in the mouth, the blade penetrating
the brain, very much on the style used for killing the broilers and the
roasters. For the purpose of killing the ducks, a butcher’s knife is
used. The ducklings are then scalded and at once picked. Shipment is
made in the same manner as with other poultry.
CURTISS POULTRY BOOK. 45
The Baby Chick Trade
Hatching and shipping baby chicks is one of the specialties at
Niagara Farm. Thousands of these are turned out and sold during the
season of early spring to way late in summer. On the occasion of the
writer’s visit, a single shipment of 2,000 chicks was made in lots of fifty
to several hundred, to points in Virginia, Illinois, New York, Maryland
and Michigan.
The shipments are made in corrugated pasteboard boxes, with cor-
rugated pasteboard pads placed in the bottom of each box. Each box
has from one to four compartments, measuring eight and a quarter by
ten inches each, in which twenty-six chicks are snugly packed. In these
boxes a lot of holes are punched, on the top and the sides, to admit air.
The boxes are so strong that they will bear the weight of a man weigh-
ing two hundred pounds.
Where more than one hundred chicks go to the same party in one
shipment, the boxes are placed in carriers.
Each box and carrier is labelled “Live Chickens” in large red let-
ters, so that there can be no misunderstanding as to the contents.
This branch of the business of Niagara Farm has grown so that two
large incubators have been ordered (7,500 egg capacity each) in addi-
tion to one of the same size they now operate, to help meet the grow-
ing demand for the day-old youngsters.
The fact that little chicks just hatched should not be fed for the
first forty-eight to seventy-two hours, gives a splendid opportunity to
ship at that age without having to feed or water in transit. W. Jay Cur-
tiss has full charge of the incubators, and personally oversees this de-
partment. His experience covers the past twenty years, he having
operated nearly all the different makes of incubators with varied success.
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WHYVA VYVOVIN LV SMOIHO Adv
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CURTISS POULTRY BOOK. Av,
The Income
The income of Niagara Farm is derived as follows: About two
thousand head of stock, consisting of Single Comb White Leghorns,
White Wyandottes and White Plymouth Rocks are kept for breeding
purposes. From these were produced and sold during the I910 season,
a little over 60,000 day-old chicks, which brought, up to April Ist,
twenty-five cents apiece; during April, twenty cents; during May, fifteen
cents; and during June and July, ten cents each. This gave an average
of a fraction over fifteen cents per head for the day-old chicks during
the season.
Besides, 20,000 eggs were sold for hatching purposes, being mostly
disposed of in lots of fifty, one hundred, two hundred, five hundred,
and even as high as five thousand, at an average price of six dollars per
hundred.
In addition to the baby chicks, from 10,000 to 15,000 chicks are
raised, of which half go to the market as squab broilers or roasters, and
the rest are either kept for breeding purposes or are sold as such.
During the season, the squab-broilers, eight ounces in weight,
dressed, average fifty cents each in price, and the soft roasters run from
a dollar to a dollar and a half each, dressed.
The Wyandottes, as roasters, are marketed at from five and a half
to six and a half pounds, dressed weight, and the White Plymouth Rocks
at from seven to nine pounds. The prices range from eighteen to thirty
cents per pound.
The squab-broilers are produced from the Leghorn stock. Niagara
Farm does not grow the regular sized broilers (weighing from one and
a quarter to two pounds each, dressed) for the reason that they find it
more profitable to put extra weight on the carcasses and grow them to
soft roaster size.
A limited private egg trade is supplied in winter, but the Curtisses
do not cater to it, as they deem it a better business move to turn into
table poultry such eggs that are not sold for hatching.
From 2,000 to 5,000 head of breeding stock, of all varieties, are sold
in one year.
As near as can be estimated, it costs about one dollar per head per
year to feed the Wyandottes and Plymouth Rocks but the Leghorns
are kept for about seventy-five cents per year. It would not be possible
to keep the stock at those prices were it not for the fact that Niagara
Farm buys all its feed in carload lots. They estinrate that the sale of
SHIPPING BABY CHICKS AT NIAGARA FARM
Twenty-five bright day-old chicks are placed in each compartment, the
showing one hundred ready for the trip
illustration
CURTISS, POULTRY] BOOK: 49
the Leghorn cockerels as squab-broilers about pays for the feed of the
Leghorn pullets up to laying age.
These squab-broilers do not exceed three-quarters of a pound, when
dressed, and sell best during the months of January and February.
They are grown in from eight to ten weeks in brooders, kept in a room
where the temperature is about seventy degrees. The shipments of
these small broilers are made to clubs, high-class restaurants and hotels
in large cities and summer resorts. This branch of the business is car-
ried on throughout the year, although prices drop in the summer and
fall.
Advice to Beginners
The Niagara Farm had a small beginning. There was plenty of
territory to work, but there was a serious lack of working capital. Con-
sequently they had to go more or less in debt, but as the income war-
ranted they would “pay on account,” until finally they got rid of their
burden. The Curtiss boys were progressive, they were wideawake, they
did things at the right time, and always aimed to “never put off until
to-morrow what should be done to-day.”
At first their knowledge of the poultry business was rather meagre.
They studied the authorities, then they worked the problems themselves.
They realized that the more experience they secured the easier would be
the work.
From the start they worked by system. No time, room, feed or
anything was wasted after they once saw a way to improvement. They
made good plans and good rules, and they strictly obeyed them.
The Curtiss boys were ambitious, they were energetic, they were
alive to all matters. The repetition of each day’s work did not tire
them. It has been this growing “tired feeling” that has sunk too many
promising enterprises.
They make it a rule now to invest their profits in real estate, in-
stead of “living up to it.” They want to save what they earn, and their
holdings in real estate are already giving them a good income inde-
pendent of the business.
The Curtisses give this advice to beginners:
Begin in a small way; study and investigate; don’t over-estimate
your capacity—keep within bounds. Don’t try to walk before you can
crawl. Keep out of debt as much as possible, and what must be had on
credit should be repaid at the very first opportunity.
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SAID IAN
CURTISS POULTRY BOOK. SI
It was a joke with the elder Mr. Curtiss when his son Roy suggested
“going into the poultry business.’”” So much of a joke that he agreed
to buy all the feed—our readers know how he subsequently crept out
of that bargain, and all owing to Rov’s ambition.
‘““Tf any one had told me twenty years ago that my sons were going
to build up the business they have, I would not have believed him,” the
elder Mr. Curtiss remarked to the writer.
W. Jay Curtiss is very enthusiastic over the future of the poultry
business. ‘‘It is growing with wonderful strides,’ he said, “and as
fast as the supply grows the demand increases.”
Asked what he thought was the keynote of their success, he said:
“ First, always having something to sell, thus creating a regular in-
come. Second, always aiming to have choice goods, thus securing the
best. or fancy, trade. Third, being punctual in filling orders so that
shipments can be depended upon. Fourth, systematizing the work so
that it will bt readily and more easily performed.”
There are men for all departments. and the head of each department
has full charge and responsibility. Regularity is an important rule, and
it is followed carefully. A time is set for all things, and punctually
everything, even to the smallest detail. is attended to.
“ We could fill a book with a record of the mistakes we made,” said
W. Roy Curtiss, “and I often wonder how, in view of the blunders, we
ever managed to do as well as we did.
“We made blunders in feeding, yes, many of them—and in this par-
ticular we suffered heavy loss. We made blunders in management; we
made blunders in housing; in fact, we were continually heaping up our
mistakes.”
Roy kept a diary, and in it each day he noted everything of import-
ance that happened on the farm. In that way he was able to steer clear
of such stumbling-blocks as cost time and money.
The lessons taught were varied—the importance of green food and
fresh water, and pure grains; the value of keeping the premises clean;
and the advisability of being punctual and regular.
The beginner should start with a single variety, and not only study
how to house, how to feed, and how to care for his fowls, but he should
become acquainted with the habits and traits of his stock. He should
study their egg yield as well as their ability to produce good table poul-
try. He should know the breed thoroughly, and increase the numbers
of his flock as his knowledge of them increases. In that way he will be
best fitted to take on the business on a larger scale.
52 CURTISS POULTRY BOOK.
Then, should the trade call for something that he is unable to pro-
duce with his breed, it is time to add another variety, as did the Curtiss
brothers.
“The beginner should always be sure he is right before he goes
ahead,” is a maxim that ought to be cherished. If it was good enough for
Niagara Farm it certainly should be good enough for those who are
entering the ranks.
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Index
PAGE
A
Nadine) MGisiINe =p wietessrsr< le lela sell ees 19
Advice, to beginners: ss... ee sees 49
An experienced guide ...............- 8
JATIN tg GISALCN Natal st enetetaelstel evel ieneieie|eensnsieiet= 7
ATCT Valea At aaleiielo te eicnsiells aicetiehoteksketehe).enelt6 31
B
Barred ‘Plymouth: Rock. i320. 2 sens 14
Bathime cavers aie stereo atareverelola tell het 44
edging igirawye wor. ci letaie se cetencyoter > oiohetavs 34
Be eheserap mrt ctor erties tote watontol 27
Bane cutter ic cscenccslceietie io ciein ons 12
ROME MIS OMB raievetatoneraickevarclslenesietave le ied on tele kor= 28
Bowelyeree lator -yar-cnoreisatesieycratensteteans 25
Doh aoe araoeanN ea oo No OOONea oO mIO OO 24
BLeeaINey NGUCKS! sk cmieieie stereo oicisrel- 33, 36
Breeding ducks feed formula ........ 29
Breeding ducks, standard ............ 38
Breeding stock, feeding ............ 26
Breeding stock, formule ............ 26
Breeding stocks, selling ............. 10
Breeding stock. SOlG) ween 0. clemielsielelers 47
BS EOU RES Teleteaacatrc terre ele ou stctetemmcrieasvere ses 22
BLOTLEVS SOL s cenere siete ehcnaleriere telenarcee 47
Brooder feed. formulas ys. 80 sek. seis ro 28
Bropuer Mouser CAUCK cep scseushcraielerey sires tees lal
Brooding Se pensassyacaciaeistoietaeuercrololore 30
C
Card erecordmew tee ike sioner a eneoloisies: 21
Gellar floor, sprinkling .....2.....:. 19
(Oumiyaonllasomon oasodanodeaondadmn ods 24
@hestnutt Somes ile hiwisteier stelsie eiesaterore: ster 11
Cleaning brooder boxes ...........- 31
Gleanings Vamps erricietoie oo ekeleheerepeeneees U7
Cleanliness eieeensiier miele acievars orelshetekorelepar= 39
Clipping tips of wings ............% 33
@lovor seeds eecrstetspolousrecsi cis ietelnensotetorees 24
Coal consumed eerie sie rencterelle ier «sever oerelare 12
Golds ‘brooders: is ssseaisieietars ls cle ese ele 27, 338
Cold brooder feed formula .......... 28
@olonizine. stock birds) <r 705.. 3 sig... 34
@olonyHOuUses terete ttoierseieisieie ante ais 11
OoolineWegesh = renters sruacno certs iciersys 19
Gorniomeal iirc te certo ene derepeieishche eter 24
Cost of feeding per head ............ 47
Gracked cornet s erie teers macys 24
D
Day told® chicks sOldiyi 7. crisis 62 sis «070 a= 47
Demand’ for small ducks =....2......% 15
IDA, AopUco dR OOH OA OOUD IAD Ds 6.08 51
Disinfecting incubators ............-. 22
Wressin pe GCAreass rere) oie ckehelies ola atatelte ete tarers 44
Drinks wauer wrens -uclercreler ene nareereneys 24
Driving ‘breeding’ ducks -....- 22%... 38
Droppin eyePOAaAnGsige.te-lteet. susie +) sence sacle 41
Dieyo LEN. 55 Sado. DOUnOD OO Cedoaseab 25
Dai jnelohies aime apy one donno aan nmao on 43
Duck broodernwhousel ens. -teyayecrecketene ane 11
IDE fe EOI GINS ae dean op igbrolopp one
Duck fattening shed ................ 11
IDO e jaferoh ana AAA pacoeas > aoa Hobo 41
Duck jsupplyss WANLer) 2 cele: eal varosexevene 15
Ducks; laying) ‘Season ~= 2.0m. -.26-.5s 22
IDITAER a av oo Goon. aoe Oh Sob omen 14
Muck ss raising gelaccvers:ciodeeracabersuensateteneners 10
Ducks wibreedine cule cies eee ee evens 33, 36
PAGE
E
Pducatinge the trade. a pisces eisioletals 10
Heres Lestinp) POGtRS terete isis -rnaeieeeretarene 18
PRLS) WCOOMDR Gas isi aus SropeiereteteceaecotstenoeS 19
Byes. hapd-bowled 5 cei «cre isnccsts stats 24
Begs; securing, fertile ~~ oj. - asic sine 39
Hees Heald rss Selva wake wane wie Shoe ea 47
Bees) UPN esc \sies eieloe eieteiarses ere 7
Eggs, white shelled ................ 14
UXORCISGwlseshererevaheneinioietalicaniar=ne Relweseeteiates . 41
Experience of Curtiss boys .......... 49
xtra -tray; ‘method ese scene 17
F
Bagnilivys sera eves -cvenestoncinesstenonstenaeel tena 10
Harms pProGuets were ser aus vale) lereretenaPeeens 14
Fattening food formula ............. 29
Fattening shed, ducks ............++ 11
Feathering and molting ............ 33
Feeding: baby: chicks: ~ sc 0.2 ss emues 45
Feeding breeding stock ............. 26
Needing vehicks ways cresterewlelserciegeerenenet 22
Feeding chicks on range ............ 24
Weeding, Cost) maces). eerste erie ereiens 47
MeCGIN Ps GUCKS a ciejeie iu tot-hot-t- ts tavenet estes 27
Reeding syrimiles) ci. care epeeenepeierecenattonts 26
Heed formless tejetacuseeaistet sie ersten 28, 29
eed i mixersiorecickeelctelelsnsiereietenthelheteteetnis 12
Weed! schedule 22. .i.-2. oe ois ee oconeineerene 25
Weed storehouse’ -(yencrsre) oyerebeela tele |chenenenene ial
Weed! sbimiey: as a ecswatneierecsteRevele eek emo 26
Peed? iwarehouse— sercdewveceieciers coisa teed 12
Milling. Vamps, seco acrerstotereneuestcechovs eters 17
Bineless sPROOGErS srs tensteucvers a ssiererein ener 26
Wirst test Or CLeS) 2.) saceu-)-raeioyenereaictenatene 19
BHIGOTASPACey mie le: crs holo chaceliot a sucheroieenseer tet 11
Formula for breeding stock .......... 26
Mee TANGLES > c« <eavoie sea cuoerana eco ever ere 39
eel CMa Ub ant RSID Aenea morn teh chicnad 39
I eh SaaS COMOR DUD Ooo F~ 30
Enture! “of business: crc-\-\-1-s-a-romientee tener 51
G
Gatherings C2 SS) tice cres ja suclar> enelekereeteioas 34
ATAIN CLEVATOL =< ctalo ers cvorsienere ch stent eel ath
Greens bone” s2 sti. tieietere eek 24
Greens Corn Coysccrecss suchas cece tene etetenes 34
Green fOOd! van terete icity ets otenexetenet-tete 24, 33
@reen Oats = cise - <tensenereusieicket ist ialaeenomene 33
Green TYE sesso ere ornscieel chee 33
Green! wheats avcsensfaes a enelectcles: once renee 33
(Chol Re TET AVS ITOIAIC cave. Oc bat c 24
(eh bb baler eeminkgiiskLo OMoaae Aa coon wos soc 38
H
Hard-boiled: €g 2S) fe s/s:« 1 >) ietelaneereient 24
Hastening molting period ........... 33
Hatchingy report 2.2). es etonets «ieeetn eee 21
Hatehines ales sys eetecneieieeneesnetnenens 22
Heat, artificial 22% 2-1. cr-sincicteieierenereteeae
Heating, ‘brooder=iac .cicc -trsseimetenetts 30
Hogan system 2s cie)sc esters ta conan netentats 14
Hotel. trade 3.5 icine «is dower 11
12 {oN d2) ae OEE EH Pad ORO Sis Se Oe 6 30
If
TGe house: Viecceats ss se sneha oer ceca Re penne ali
1(et2tmg Yo) 1 6 PO en oui bike aoe oe S 11
TMGOME a7 5.5 6 eee leneresoie eacele Se aU ee eae 47
CURTISS POULTRY BOOK.
PAGE
MMC AbOVe CELA jetets) «lets oe/a(ete's 601 Ly ts
IMCUDATOMMOPEFATION, 2.52102 2/0 6 - wees 17
MICH ALOUS mete ers) oxo: oles clieleliar ils! ee faleeilel 6) © 13
Incubators, disinfecting ............. 22
Indian Runner Dueks ==. .55..555... 15
K
Ke YNOte OLMSUCCESS) clots crete wove nies ooo os 51
LOU Gian Gagesonoeen odode SobmS 43
iadubvits? «GIRS! 4 csacbbouoooBOppoDe eS 44
RoHS eC &GadaantodoosDDONBoone al)
L
lips, Oeinht 6ooeb opooponooDOOOOD 17
ibis, WN 3s eaceogoooanou anemic 17
Mee S eee CAIN INNO evel hepeiele! aioli) ejiarehelle! «1.6115 17
Lanterns in duck yard ..............36
Laying season for ducks ............ 22
Te hia Ge oe Abeer occ nmeoe 41
| DTIFIGAYs Siniche nid Aaa eS 5 eiD oD Canoe cimaramian 41
M
WWtihG@ar | cesoce doucobe poahor cugode 12
Marking shipping boxes ............. 45
Maricinpy the eNatchesy i. occ 6). a 6 arr 38
MERGE Pcncpetet ot ote sivicisyctanevanecaveiel«teNeaveves levee 24
Mash soft Wet -covccecs cvs cacecw asic 25
Matinp stock (birds: i. sree et emiciee- 34
Methods of ‘operation ..........0.... 17
MGA Es CHOPPER) 5 accicicistneie cick wvdnehe. oifert-0:'s 12
Niokiniiy Ce Glnes Bas dndagogecoocono cc 19
MOLUIN GE Se DELIOG Ws tey-ye) yee atleinie cise iseete oS
DVRV.ERN om PULIZID) 8 oye ra4s levels) eres o, ene) ePelohehonc, crs; aoe 12
N
Nestess OmtGoOrabOX By. csors. c'leia sles ehetisicirs 38
Niseara Poultry. Warm) oo -c anc. pe oe 7
DN DEGsOR ASSISURDIES 1. 1(s1- coe: ietle altel ele = '0''s 17
Number Of (CuUStOMmers» «2. 52.2... «cles 11
NUrserye teed MOrMUlA) <5 cic evere ere 28
10)
pst eal eeestsecqeireya cesi cy sh carst eseyelion iets aresaes 24
Offices buildings: sc njpoce eee ss oes Hes 12
OUTUISE GI rete orss shat ere die, stoke ocelsnesers oes es 17
COMER EeINCUDALOLS.) cele aie 'sts ee ws oe 17
Operation ‘methods 2)... 65. secs es 15
Outdoor box nests, ssf 7.6 cps era0.0e. ae sats 38
12)
CRUMP UNCKS Stercc. suevceteere ave eoclereusperees cies. © 14
ECCT INH OUSE ocr aia svarecertisl als, sare tie, Stet lz
lane re SHEAVATESS, ac. eisss si tile ssaleie areas sJere 3s 41
LO WATIO TUNG a oerecsloreis wileceyaxeus St sys. where 33
Rolicy fof chicken’ farming” .:......... Mt
PGIGCHETEGCELV ECG! ayn ccs. chess sieves s a stehe uel os 15
IENOUUCES! (Ole PATTI cree ls yo, ciaioveiers, ens, craters. 6 14
Profits’ in’ retail trade ....6..6..5..0.- 10
LER TPS) ig eRe ene One LORE Ees ert oan ra 12
R
RUAUGIN Pay GUCKS Yh useteh Mee cells) ci otro sorlenoite (e -atici te 10
Ranging breeding birds ............ 34
Ranging exhibition birds
Rearing breeding stock
Record cards
Schedule of feed
Securing fertile eggs
Selecting breeding ducks
Selling breeding stock
Shippine sy cae ceeoseeece
Shipping baby chicks
Sizewon farina ciane sie
Soft wet mash
Sprinkling floor of cellar
Squab broilers
Smith meat chopper
Standard for breeding ducks
Stock birds, colonizing
Stock birds) mating weiss. cers. os ose
Stock duck feed formula
Story of the farm
Straw bedding
Melephones: © 2:sree scree Sars
Temperate: cricaniccs cons
Testing duck eggs
The incubator cellar
Time to feed
Timothy seeds
Trade, educating the
Trade, family
sRradelsnOlelmere-ewtcenes ce
Trimming lamps
Turning eggs
Varieties selected
Mentilation:>...2--see ee ee
Water, drinking
Water system
Wheat, screenings
When to hatch
White shelled eggs
White Wyandottes
Wilson bone cutter
WiaimcdlOws-sij< cee cine siesta
Wing feathers
Winter duck supply
Winter egg trade
Women employed
MGS Lye A dodoopGobdue
yore: siseuaeavate 21
Reporter ihatchingy-. .:..-te sm serve eieteiets
Result of hatch
Retail trade, profits
Rule of proportions
Rules for success
Rulespiny HAGCHINg was aiaeiiaa ai sievery irre
RUNS Ayes Sccheisir cima ete
ee ee occ ecreceseces
44
A LIST OF THE
Remarkable Booklets
PUBLISHED BY THE
WILMER ATKINSON CO.
POULTRY SECRETS: First published in 1908, this collection of the carefully-
guarded secrets of famous poultrymen created a sensation in poultry circles.
Every secret is valuable and every one has passed severe tests of its useful-
ness. 64 pages, illustrated. 12th Edition, 75th thousand.
HORSE SECRETS: Compiled and written by Dr. A. S. ALEXANDER, of
Wisconsin, the eminent veterinarian. Exposes the swindling methods of
‘«gyps’’? and crooked dealers. Also many feeding and fattening secrets
Invaluable to horse buyers and owners. 64 pages, illustrated. 6th Edition,
55th thousand.
HOLDEN’S CORN SECRETS: A new booklet by PRor. HOLDEN, the
great authority on corn growing. Tells how the country’s corn crop could
and should be increased 20 bushels to the acre. The only complete corn
book Holden has ever written. 90 pages, profusely illustrated.
THE MILLION EGG FARM: Describing the enormous business and _ plant
of J. M. Foster’s Rancocas Farm, where 20,000 laying hens are producing
between 2,000,coo and 3,000,000 eggs for market this year. Written
’specially for beginners, $0 pages, illustrated.
$100,000 PER YEAR FROM POULTRY: See preceding pages.
GARDEN GOLD: A new booklet written for people with small gardens, show-
ing how to raise your own vegetables in these days of high prices, and
SAVE money. And how to MAKE money by selling your surplus.
Splendid for people with back yards only. 64 pages, illustrated.
HALF A TON OF BUTTER PER COW PER YEAR: Seven cows in
America have reached this amazing record. PROF. VAN PELT of Iowa
tells how it was done, how dairymen can largely increase their butter yield,
and in many cases equal the famous seven. 48 pages, illustrated.
SHALL I FARM? For city people trying to decide whether or not to go to
the country. No golden promises, but a clear, impartial, unbiased,
unprejudiced weighing of the subject. All the advantages and disadvant-
ages of all kinds of farming plainly set forth. Nothing like it ever before
printed. 56 pages.
All of these booklets are similar to this. The price of each, to FARM JOURNAL
subscribers only, is
25 cents, Postpaid
To others they are sold only with a subscription, $1.00 for one copy of the booklet,
with FARM. JOURNAL four full years.
Address :
WILMER ATKINSON CO., Philadelphia, Pa.
MNT
WA Wi
ey
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