SF 487 .B82 Copy 1 $6.41 per Hen per\ear The, QoKning Egg Book \ Pl/BUSH£0 By THE FARM JOURNAL PHILADELPHIA $641 Profit Per Hen Per Year THE CORNING EGG BOOK Illustrating the Poultry Methods originated by the late Prof. G. M. Gowell, of Maine, and perfected by Edward and Gardner Coming Edited by Michael K. Boyer Published by WILMER ATKINSON CO. 1909 25 Cents '-•0 Copyright, 1909 By WiLMER Atkinson Co. \g4A25(i48:-f Contents Page Introductory 6 Egg Farming as a Prohtable Undertaking 9 Sunny Slope Farm lo Over Six Dollars Per Hen Per Year ii Premium Prices for Corning Method Eggs 12 Marketing the Eggs 15 The Breed to Keep 16 Pullets or Yearling Hens ? 16 House Room and Size of Flocks 17 Buildings on Sunny Slope Farm 19 Fresh Air and Sunlight 20 Incubator Cellar 21 The Brooder House 2^ Colony Houses 25 Main Laying Houses 27 The Breeding House 33 The Cockerel House 35 The Feedhouse and Workshop 35 Operating the Incubators 37 Ventilation and Moisture of Incubator Cellar 38 When to Hatch 39 Taking Care of the Chicks 39 Feeding Xewly-Hatched Chicks 41 Feeding Pullets While on Range 44 Feeding Laying Pullets 45 Feeding Cockerels for Broilers 46 Feeding the Breeding Stock 46 Feeding Hens Through Molt 47 Mash — Morning or Night ? 47 Fresh Cut Bone 48 Green Food 48 Drinking Water 49 Charcoal, Grit and Oyster Shell 50 Eggs for Hatching 50 Cleanliness 52 Punctuality and Regularity 53 Introductory When Edward and Gardner Corning, whose chronicles of success in egg raising are recorded in this little book, had decided that poultry offered the means of a good livelihood, they began to study all the literature they could find on tlie subject. They were soon impressed with the wonderful amount of common sense and wisdom contained in the writings of Pro- fessor Gowell, of the Maine Experiment Station. Edition after edition of his writings had been printed and almost as quickly exhausted. The Comings secured all that he has written and studied it diligently and to a good purpose. Their methods of work, their theories of profitable poultry raising are all here set forth, plainly and clearly. Their success will be an inspira- tion to every poultry raiser the country over. What they have done with a large flock can be accomplished with a few hens — the same principles apply. When Prof. Gilbert M. Gowell's sudden death was announced (May 6, 1908), the poultry world sustained an irreparable loss. He gave more than twenty years of his life to the service of the University of Maine, during which time he won a reputation which made his work regarded by the United States Department of Agriculture as the most important ever carried on in this country in poultry experiments. Professor Gowell taught the poultry world better egg production, and poultry husbandry has greatly profited by his unceasing and per- sistent efforts in that direction. A year or two before he died, Professor Gowell paid the writer a visit, when he explained that he was about to resign his professorship of Animal Industry so that he might devote his entire energies to poultry investigations and breeding. At that time, he said, he was devoting half his time to conducting poultry investigations for the Maine Station, and the other half to his private business — the personal management of the Go-well Farm. Being asked aI)out his work at the latter place, he handed me a little booklet primarily used as an advertisement, but which contains much information concerning his efforts. Here are a few extracts: "For more than twenty-five years I have bred Barred Plymouth Rocks for producing good brown eggs, by selections from the general stock. While that system of selection gave birds that laid eggs of good size, shape and color, there was no means of knowing whether the eggs incubated came from hens that were good or poor layers, and it was reasonable to suppose that as many chickens came from mothers who had laid poorly through the winter, as from those that had laid well. Indeed, recent investigations convince me that the eggs from hens that have only just gotten well under way laying at the commencement of the incubating season, yield more chicks than do those from hens that have been laying well since early fall. Thoroughly believing in the principle of lireeding performers to performers to get performers, I determined to rigidly cull out all non- performing hens, and breed only the good layers to the sons of good layers to get good layers. In order to do this, in 1898 I devised and constructed, at the Maine Experiment Station, fifty-two trap nests and commenced the selection of the best laying hens for foundation stock. At the end of the year all birds that had not laid 160 eggs were rejected, and those that had laid above that number were retained for breeding. They were bred to sons of hens that had laid 200 or more eggs in a year. This work of selection and breeding has been continued through every year down to the present time. Before the commencement of this CORMXC, EGG ROOK 7 attempt at improvement, tlic hens liad averaged aljout 120 eggs each per year. The averages during the past two years have been above 144 per bird. I believe this increase in the average yields, of more than two dozen eggs per bird, is the direct result of the system of breeding practiced. The blood of the drone and average worker has been excluded for eight generations. The best have been bred to the best to get the best. So thoroughly did I believe in this work of improvement in breeding and its possibilities, that I established Go-well Farm, that I might have a great breeding plant of my own, where I could carry forward the work in a larger way than I had previously been able to do. Go-well Farm consists of about 100 acres, of which thirty acres a.re under cultivation or in grass or clover. Twenty-four incubators, with capacity of about 10,000 eggs, are used. There are forty brooder houses, each 7x12 feet in size, and high enough so a man can stand erect in them. Over 100 brooders are used. The house for laying birds is 20x400 feet in size, and required 100,000 feet of lumber and a ton and a half of nails in its construction. Something over 6,000 chickens are raised each year, and 2,000 pullets are kept as layers. The leading purpose of this plant is the production of eggs for human food. They are expressed to market every day when perfectly fresh. Business economy demands that the food be changed over into as many pounds of chicken and as many dozens of eggs as is practically possible. It makes a difference in the balance sheet whether the hens have laid ten or twelve dozen eggs each in the year. In order to be sure to breed the chickens from the best laying hens, I equipped the laying house with 400 trap nests, and they are used exclu- sively every day in the year. The stock is grown in individual lirooders, in the open fields, on clean grass land. In October they are put into laying quarters, in flocks of 100 each, with plenty of chance for exercise. They are never shut in closely. During each of the last two 3'ears 6,000 chickens have been raised to maturity at Go-well Farm. About 12,000 eggs were incubated to pro- duce them. The eggs were a little more than half hatchalile during i\Iarch and April. Those laid in May yielded more chicks. It must be borne in mind that these eggs were not from the general flock, but were from the hens that had been laying the heaviest during the winter. Tests show that the eggs from hens that have laid heavily during four or five months do not yield as many chicks as do those from hens that have laid but little. During the first seven years' work in the development of this family, only those hens that laid from 160 eggs upward were used as breeders. For the last two years tlie general breeding has been done by selecting, in April, the pullets that had laid heavily since November. I made this change because it assured birds that had been doing their work in winter, when the higher prices for eggs prevail, and I wanted to fix the function of early as well as heavy laying. It must not be forgotten that the fathers of every chicken grown, for eight generations, had mothers that laid from 200 to 255 eggs each in a year. There is not a chicken on Go-well Farm but has nine generations of this rigid selection of parents behind it." Sunny Slope P'arm has profited by Professor Gowell's advice. Al- though but three years in harness, the Messrs. Corning — father and son- have proved themselves apt scholars, and produced wonderful results, although in some ways they have departed from the Gowell Method. These departures we note throughout the book. The reader can make comparisons, and if he will carefully follow the teachings herein laid down, there is no reason wliy equal success should not crown his efforts. Michael K. Bover. General view of Sunny Slope Farm Egg Farming as a Profitable Undertaking Egg farming is considered generally to be more profitable than any other branch of poultry-keeping, it being reasoned that the profits there- from are surer and larger. Success in any branch of poultry-keeping, whether for egg produc- tion, broilers for the table or exhibition specimens, requires infinite care, great regularity and close attention from daylight to dark, for seven days in the week and fifty-two weeks in the year. The duties in any one branch are so multitudinous and exacting that the man or woman who can multiply them by three, or even two, and succeed on a commercial basis, is very rare. In the limited number of instances where a dual plant has been oper- ated at a profit, it has always been a question in the mind of the writer if the net returns would not have been much greater had only one brancji been attempted. Specialization is a characteristic of the age. It has found its way into every branch of human activity, with the result that the world is passing through the greatest period of its development, in every depart- ment. To succeed with poultry, specialization is necessary. It is the intention of this book to describe one of the most successful egg plants in America, and to show how two novices in the short space of three years have built up a plant that is netting a profit of several thousand dollars a year — a net profit exceeding $6 per hen. This is the plant at Sunny Slope Farm, at Bound Brook, X. J. It is owned by Messrs. Edward and Gardner Corning, father and son. When they made up their minds to go into egg farming for a living, they read everything they could get hold of on the subject, particularly the valuable writings of the late Professor Gowell in connection with the Maine Experiment Station, adopted what appealed to their reason, rejected what did not measure up to standard by their rule, invented other plans and methods, and from the whole evolved the Corning Method of Poultry Keeping. The plant and experiments have cost more than $20,000, but these men now have the satisfaction of knowing that what has been a dream to thousands is a reality to them, and that they have a business that will net them annual incomes on a par with other large and profitable enterprises, give them plenty of healthful exercise and absolute independence. Any person who will closely follow the simple rules laid down in this book can make the same great success of poultry-keeping for eggs that Sunny Slope Farm has achieved. As Sunnv Slope Farm was built, partially, on a plan originated by the late Prof. Gilbert M. Gowell, M.S., in charge of poultry investigations, Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, it might be stated that for many years poultry work has been carried on at the University of Maine. It was not, however, until 1897 that the Station decided to begin a series of poultry investigations on a somewhat extended scale. Since 1904 this work has been carried on in co-operation with the Bureau of Animal Industry of the United States Department of Agriculture. — Editor. lO CORNING EGG BOOK Sunny Slope Farm Sunny Slope Farm comprises twelve acres of land, the soil being of a reddish sand loam. From a line through the centre from east to west, the land slopes gently to both north and south. It is on this higher ground that the poultry buildings have been placed, and care was taken to have every one of them face due south. The northern part, which lies alongside the turnpike, is used exclu- sively for raising wheat and clover for green food. During the summer season the southern part is devoted to the colony houses and range for the growing pullets. A peculiarity of the farm is that it is not surrounded by a fence — there is not a fence on it except those yarding in the runs of the breeding and brooding houses respectively. Of course, an enclosing fence has no disadvantages, but in this instance it has no advantages, and besides it would have cost money which was more needed in other directions. The first building as one enters from the road, is the office, feed room and chief attendant's home. This is a two-story building, described in detail in a later chapter. South of this, seventy-five feet away, is the building used as a cockerel house, where the young males are housed as soon as they are old enough to determine their sex, and prepared for market. To the east of the office building is the incubator cellar and brooding hotise. This is one of the most perfect houses of its kind in America, judging by the results obtained. Out of 3.313 chicks last season, less than one per cent, was lost therein. In line with the laying houses and to the west thereof, is the breeding house, capable of taking care of 350 breeding hens and their mates. Twenty-five feet to the east of this is No. i laying house. This building is 100 feet long and 12 feet wide, but is to be enlarged this sum- mer to 160 feet in length and 16 feet in width, so as to enable it to carry 1,500 layers. To the south of No. i house is No. 2 house, where 1,500 layers through the winter months shell out the eggs in close to record quantities. After thoroughly testing it from every point, there is not one feature in its construction or arrangement that its proprietors would change. It is a perfect house for laying stock. In front of all these buildings are the colony houses, in which the young pullets are matured after being removed from the brooder house. There are twenty of these, and they are moved as occasion demands. No architect or master carpenter has had anything to do with the construction of these houses. The Messrs. Corning did all the work of planning the buildings, rmd with the aid of unskilled helpers erected them. There is a splendid driven well of sparkling water on the farm, 117 feet deep, and, by the aid of a windmill and tank, it is piped to all necessary parts of the plant. There is not a tree on the place and the shade for the growing stock has to be artificially furnished. Sunny Slope Farm is not a believer in fences. The late Professor. Gowell was, according to the Maine Station Bulletins, and, without wishing to criticise the Sunny- Slope Farm's ideas in the matter, years of experience in breeding show that fowls allowed out in the open, on terra firma, will he more rugged, have a brighter look, and suffer less from colds than hens continually housed. The State of Maine is subject to Ion"- spells of severe cold weather, with the temperature considerably below zero at night, and above zero during the day. and with a good deal of high wind. To these laying houses at the Maine Station, the yards are only on the north side, as the birds are kept in the building until the weather is suitable for opening the small doors in the rear wall. The necessity of getting the fowls out of the open-front house, where they are really subject to most of the out-of-door conditions during the day- time, is not so great as when confined in closed houses with walls and glass windows. — Editor. CORNING EGG BOOK II Over Six Dollars Per Hen Per Year The layers on Sunny Slope Farm are making a net profit of over $6 each for their owners. This is over the cost of incubating, feeding, marketing and hired help. No exceptional methods are employed in making this profit. This farm was established to produce eggs for table purposes, and this is the main source of profit. The surplus cockerels and the pullets after com- pleting their laying season are simply treated as by-products, and are disposed of as quickly as possible. Every effort is bent toward a large production of eggs, especially in the winter months, and it is the success which has attended these methods which has brought the big margin of profit named. Accounts are carefully kept on Sunny Slope Farm, and the profit or loss on any day's business can be readily told. These books are kept in the same methodical way that everything on the farm is looked after. The exact amount of food consumed each day is kept on record. For instance, on January 12, 1908, the feed used by 1,953 pullets in the laying houses and 210 breeders was as follows, with the cost of same : 150 lbs. cracked corn and wheat $2.40 52 lbs. oats .85 26 lbs. meals $0.44 13 lbs. ground oats .26 26 lbs. bran .2,^ 1 50 lbs. cut bone i .50 Gasoline for engine .08 2.6s 35 lbs. cut clover .35 Grit, shell and charcoal .15 $6.40 This w'as an average day, and shows that the cost of feeding each hen runs a little less than .03 of a cent per day in the winter. In the summer and fall months the cost for clover or green food is practically wiped out, as much other food is not needed to supply the fowl's requirements. This reduces the cost to very little above a quarter cent per hen per day for feed. To keep a pullet for ten months after reaching the laying point at this rate will cost 86 cents for feed. To this should be added the cost of hired labor, which brings the total cost of keeping a hen on this farm through her first laying period, $1.11. It requires something less than 40 cents to raise a pullet to the laying period, including cost of incubation and hired labor. At the present time, summer of 1909, the constant services of two men, in addition to those of ICdward and Gardner Corning, are required to do the work, and also the services of a boy — one-half of each day — to assist in gathering and packing eggs. This makes the cost of keeping a pullet up to the point where she has completed her first laying season just $1.50. It costs approximately 15 cents to raise a Leghorn cockerel to the broiler size, when they are worth about 30 cents each, alive. The secret in securing the advanced prices is the fact that the Sunny Slope Farm caters to practically a retail or select trade. The low cost they record for feed- ing stock, or raising pullets to ten months of age, or getting cockerels up to broiler weight, can only be obtained by purchasing feed in large fiuantities. The smallest details are attended to with fixed regularity, each employee on the farm strictly attending to his work. — Editor. 12 ' CORNING EGG BOOK Once a strain of birds has gained a reputation for heavy egg pro- duction all the stock raised can be sold at remunerative prices. This is particularly true of the females, for which there is a ready market at $2 each. All the females sold on this farm have been disposed of at this figure. The pullets last season averaged 143.25 eggs each for the ten months from December ist to September 30th, and are doing even better this season. These eggs were disposed of at prices as high as 65 cents per dozen, and never for less than 40 cents, averaging nearly 50 cents a dozen. Con- tracts for the entire yield of eggs have been made guaranteeing these prices for the next year. The product of 1.9.S3 pullets was 279,792 eggs, or 23,316 dozen. This gives the following result : Revenue 23,316 dozen eggs at 49c. (average price) $1 1,424.84 1,900 pullets as breeders, at $2 3,800.00 800 live broilers at 30c 240.00 ]\Ianure 250.00 $15,714.84 Expenditure Raising 1,953 pullets to laying point $781.20 Maintaining 1,953 pullets through laying season of 10 months 2,167.83 Raising 800 cockerels to broiler size of 1J/2 lbs 120.00 Cartons, postage, etc 125.00 ^ — 3-19+03 $12,520.81 Leaving a net profit of $6.41 per head of laying stock. Premium Prices for Corning Method Cg'gs There is always a demand at a big premium over market prices for eggs {hat can be depended upon — eggs that are known to be fresh and of uniform good quality. In the bigger cities this demand is more pronounced than in smaller places, but the demand for fancy first-quality eggs is universal. In the big cities a premium ranging as high as 40 to 50 cents a dozen is paid for eggs of this quality, doubling the retail price of them in the late fall and winter months. Except in the summer months it is very difficult to get eggs that can be depended on for table use. The demand is so great, and the price paid so profitable, that many poultrymen cannot resist the temptation to mix their first-quality eggs with cheaper ones. Several dealers in the East make a practice of gathering the eggs in the cold months from the farmers weekly and disposing of them to the commission men. These eggs are two or three weeks old, as a rule, before they reach the consumer, by which time they are no longer fresh enough for table use, and particularly so because they have almost invariably been fertilized. Yet they are everywhere sold as "near-by fresh" eggs, and are graded ahead of "western fresh," although in reality they are seldom any better. A New York matron, shortly before Christmas, bought a quarter's worth of these eggs at the rate of 60 cents a dozen, for the purpose of CORNING EGG BOOK 13 making a cake for a special occasion. The batter was prepared and at the proper time the eggs, one by one, were broken in ; the first four seemed all right, but the fifth was bad, and the whole lot, eggs, batter and all, had to be thrown away. A grocer in a Jersey city had a call for newly laid eggs for a sick patient, regardless of cost, the only stipulation being that they must be absolutely fresh. An hour or two later a farmer walked into his store with three dozen eggs which he said had been laid the day before. He was paid 50 cents a dozen for them and they were sent by special messenger to the sickroom, the grocer congratulating himself that he had been able to accommodate his customer so promptly. It turned out, however, that every one of these eggs was rotten. On investigation it was found that the farmer had gathered them the day before he brought them in, but they were apparently a lot that hens had been sitting on the previous fall but that liad failed to hatch and had not been discovered for weeks after. It is circumstances such as these that make the housewives of the East willing to pay a big premium for dependable eggs. Eggs kept in cold storage rapidly lose their flavor. If they are thus kept from spring to winter they have a taste akin to a mixture of corn- starch and water, often with a little musty flavor added. the irregular quaiiiy or Tire oucungs.- as h- mtip- ?.i Fresh gatliefed UltirH UIBIB" . . . . "" 55™Be 2tj',3 Fresh gathered firsts 24 •: ;=0i plan of Incatotor Cellar. The floor is 4 feet below the ground level, and in selecting a site for this house care was taken to pick the dampest spot on the farm. In close proximity thereto is a magnificent spring of the purest water, and conduits from this spring have been constructed underneath the incubator cellar in order to insure the necessary dampness. Water runs constantly throughout the hatching season under the concrete floor of this cellar. Entrance to the brooder house is obtained through a door in the vestibule in the west end of the building. From this vestibule are stair- ways leading down to the cellar and up to the brooder house. Immediately inside of the vestibule is a fireproof chamber for the hot-water heater and adjoining is a large bin for coal. Care has been taken to guard the incubator cellar against any extreme On Sunny Slope Farm, in selecting a site for the incubator cellar, Mr. Corning told nie "care was taken to pick out the dampest spot on the farm." The soil of Sunny Slope Farm is a very warm, dry gravel and sand loam. Professor Gowell, in Bulletin No. qo, says "a damp cellar would be poorly adapted for incubators." In 1905 an incu- bator cellar was constructed at the Maine Station measuring 30 feet square, 7 feet high in the clear. 5 feet of which is below the level of the outside ground. It is lighted by" six three-light windows carrying glass 10 .x 16 inches. The cement walls are finished smooth, and the cement floor is slightly inclined toward the southeast corner, where the intake of the drain is located, enabling free use of water from hose in cleanine- the room. Two chimneys extend to the basement floor, containing ventilating flues. The room contains eighteen 360-egg machines, and by a little crowding would hold twenty-one. — Editor. CORXING EGG ROOK 23 drops in tempt-raturc during the period that incubation is in progress. For this purpose two 2-inch emergency pipes from the heater run the whole length of the cellar to guard against freezing temperature therein. As a matter of fact, tliese emergency pipes have never been required, but the proprietors feel a greater degree of safety than they would if they were not there. In one corner of the cellar is a dark room for testing the eggs. Therein is a counter big enough to take two trays set side by side. As the eggs of the one are tested and found fertile they are placed on the second tray. If infertile they are placed in a basket on the floor. The Brooder Hcuse Tlie brooder house is 118 feet long and 16 feet wide, extending 68 feet beyond the incubator cellar. The first 50 feet, or that immediately over the incubator cellar, is the brooder house proper, for in it are the hovers where the newly-hatched chicks from the incubators are placed. The remaining 68 feet is. strictly speaking, a nursery into which the chicks are removed as soon as they are old enough not to require any artificial heat beyond the ordinary temperature of the brooder house. The floor joists of the brooder house are laid on concrete sills, filled in between with concrete on the plan known as "beam filling." Most brooder houses have the floor joists laid on wooden sills, which are always an invitation to the industrious rat. This little detail makes the brooder house at Sunny Slope Farm absolutely rat proof. The north and side walls of this house are built in the same way as those of the laying houses — that is, 2x4 studs are used, on both sides of which are nailed tongue-and-groove boards and heavy roofing" paper, the joints of the latter being cemented. The roof is also made in the same way. This leaves an open air space of 4 inches in the walls and 10 inches in the roof, and makes the houses absolutely weatherproof as far as the north, east and west sides are concerned, except for the ventilating windows, which are described below and which are continually under control of the attendants. The front or south wall is built in the same manner, except that openings are made for the windows, which are of glass, and the little doors opening into the outside yards. Great care was taken in the con- struction of this building to have the windows and doors absolutely draught proof, particularly the latter, and this has been accomplishecl. The little doors are built on the same principle as the door of a refrig- erator or safe, so that when closed the outside air cannot find an entrance through them. Along the back of the interior of this building runs a 4-foot passageway throughout its entire length. The brooder section proper is divided into fifteen runs of about 3 feet in width and 12 feet in length, which are separated from each other by a board 8 inches wide and an inch-mesh wire 4 feet high. In the back of these little runs is the hover, set on a false floor, 6 inches above the regular floor of the building. The lamp stands on the main floor, the chimney coming up through the false floor and going into the drum connection of the hover. This false floor is the width of the run and about three and one- The writer inspected the brooder house on Sunny Slope Farm, and was well pleased with the convenient arrangement. With the exception of the exit doors for the young chicks (they being entirely too small for a large flock of chicks — too apt to cause crowding in a rush to get outdoors), the brooder house is a model. The house is constructed practically on the plan of the house built by the Maine Station in 1897, and which some years afterward burned down, but the Messrs. Corning have made some practical changes which the above explains. Since this account of the brooder house at Sunny Slope was written, additional brooder house capacity has been provided. — Editor. 24 CORNING EGG BOOK third feet the other way. Hinged to it is a runway the entire width of the run, which gives an easy incline to the main floor of the run. This runway may be pulled up by a cord and pulley from the alleyway and used as a gate to hold the chicks right up to the hover when desired. In each run there is a board next the alleyway, which when lifted up permits all the droppings from the hover to be swept into a box, which is also specially made the exact width of the run. The hover itself may be readily lifted up, as it is not in any way attached to the building or floor. This allows all work around the hover to be easily done from the alleyway. To reach the front of the runs, and the windows in the front of the building, small gates have been put in the run fences near the front wall, which allows the attendant to pass down the entire south front from yard to yard. The remaining 60 feet of the brooder house is divided into twelve pens, 5 feet in width, with the same sliding door adjustments separating them from the alley to make cleaning readily possible. These pens are the nursery where the chicks are introduced at three weeks of age, and where they learn to live without the brooder in the warm natural tem- perature of the room. Roofing paper- J ' Doardin^- A\r space 2'x4' |5tll - 1 ^ ^(((^m^^^^(^(i(<^M(««(^ 8 Co^crc^e Wial I Boarding R-oofin^ paper ^ cc- a- Flooring ^ Tioof/ng paper Ex 16" rloor J^oista/ Detail of floor and wall construction of the Brooder House Much thought was given to the matter of ventilation in this house. If large, healthy, well-developed chicks are to be had, it is very essential that their little lungs should be constantly fed from the moment they leave the incubator with an abundance of pure, fresh air. At the same time no draughts must be allowed to touch them. The main ventilators in this house are in the highest point of the east and west corners of the building respectively. These ventilators are two windows about two and one-half feet square, hinged at the l)ottom and opening from the top. They are fitted with a set of cords and pulleys so arranged that an attendant can open them or close them at will from the alleyway. They have "V"-shaped solid sides, built out so as to enclose the windows when open in such a way that all air must be taken in or out from over the top. thus preventing any cold air striking down directly on the chicks. By keeping the windows on the non- CORNIXG EGG HOOK 25 weather side, or the side opposite to that from which tlie wind or stonii IS coming, open, the foul air is sucked over the top and out witliout creatmg- a draught. The south windows through whicli the light is obtamed are hinged at the top and open at the bottom in the same way as catliedral windows. They can he hooked out more or less as required. Finished Flooi Details of wire divisions for Brooder Pens Along the entire length of the house are run five 2-inch hot water pipes, placed alongside of the north wall about two feet from the floor. The hot water system is regulated so as to never allow the temperature in the brooder house to drop below 70° F. When the water indicator shows between 180 to 200° F. in ordinary April weather, the temperature in the house can be readily kept above that point. In case the house gets too warm, the fire in the boiler is not dropped l»ut the amount of fresh air is increased. It is realized that if healthy chicks are to be raised it must lie done with pure air. In the Svmny Slope Farm brooder house no consideration is overlooked to reproduce summer conditions as nearly as possible. Colony Houses The pullets are lirought to maturity in the colony houses, twenty of which were used on this farm last season. These houses have a floor space of 6 x 10 feet. They are 6 feel high in front and 4 feet at the back, with an ordinary shed roof, except that it does not project either in front or in \he rear. The framework is built on three skids. The outer ones of these are made of 3x4 studding, rounded at the ends in order that they may slide readily, and are 12 feet in length, projecting a foot at either end beyond the sides of the house. The centre skid is made of 2 x 4 studding. These three skids are securely fastened together by four pieces of 2x4 studding. Across this is nailed the floor, which is made with inch stufif, tongue and grooved. The upright studs are made of 2x4 stuff. This framework is covered by matched boarding, and over the roof is placed heavy asphalt roofing, the joints of which are cemented. In the front of the house is a door through which the attendant may The colony system for growing stock is practiced quite extensively throughout New England on all the large poultry farms, and where svich range can be had over rich grass land, it is a wonderful help in growing the youngsters. The objec- tion, however, to most of these ranges is that there is too little natural shade for hot weather, and artificial arrangements must be provided. Professor Gowell was a great believer in this colony plan for developing pullets. The cockerels should be sejiarated from the pullets as soon as sex can be distinguished. — Editor. CORMXG EGG BOOK 27 enter. 2 feet wide and 5 feet higli. On either side of this, and well up from the floor, are windows 45 x 27 inches. These windows are covered with medium-weight cotton duck and open outward. The advantage in lia\ing them open thus is that when open they act as an awning to Front Elcvafidn. Oide Elevarion. w 1 .^^ -^> % % m Derail of Window/ Plan Plan and Elevations of Colony House e.xclude the sun from the coop and keep it much cooler than it other- wise would Ijc. Wire netting is also placed over these windows on the inside. The pullets come in and out of this house through two small doors on either side of the main door. With each four of these colony houses is provided a shelter 12 feet long and 9 feet wide, made of a framework covered with asphalt roofing. The front of this shelter, which faces north, is 3 feet high, and 2. feet at the rear. Main Laying Houses The main laying houses are 160 feet long and 16 feet wide, facing due south, without outdoor runs. Theoretically, there would he no economy in having more than 1,500 hirds in one Hock, and this size house has been found abundantly large for this number of layers. True, this breaks all previous theories as to the tloor space required for each bird, but in practice it has been found ample. It is also better to have the building only 16 feet wide instead of 20, because the sun cannot be made to readily reach all parts unless the front elevation is made unnecessarily high. If the ceiling is high enough to allow the attendants to go through the houses without stooping, and an i ' !1 :^^4] --^i T "\^[ ^^] s o CORNIXG EGG I'.OOK 29 it certainly should he, the sun has no difiiculty in reaching- to every foot of a house 16 feet wide. It is. therefore, economical to make it tiiat width instead of narrower. The Main Laying House The foundation is placed on 8-foot cedar posts, placed 3 feet in the ground on a large rock or cement bottom. These posts are 8 feet apart, and are braced at the ends and cross tied at the corners. They are also braced both ways every 50 feet. This prevents the building from rock- ing. On top of these posts are placed 4x4 sills, and on these the frame- work rests. The floor joists are 16 feet long, of 2x10 timbers, and are placed 3 feet apart. The elevation of the building is 7 feet in front and 5 feet behind. rhe uprights are 2x4 studs, placed 3 feet apart. At the corners tlie studs are doul)led and spiked. The plates are also made of 2x4 studs. The rafters are made of 2x 10 studs and have no projection beyond the plates. This saves something in lumber, and makes it easier to make the walls at the back air tight. The floor is doubled. The under floor is made of rough inch- boarding, running lengthwise of the house. On top of them is placed a covering of heavy asphalt roofing paper, every joint of which is care- fully cemented. This prevents any draughts coming up through the floor. On top of this, laid crosswise of the under boards, is another floor of No. 4 matched tongue-and-grooved flooring. This floor is not only absolutely air tight, but on account of its construction and the fact that it is 5 feet from the ground, it is proof against rats, skunks, weasels or vermin of any kind that prey on poultry or are a nuisance around a poultry house. On the outside of the uprights, on the back and sides, inch-boards of good quality lumber are nailed. These are planed on the outside and Professor Gowell, on the Go-well Farm, built his houses 20 feet wide, believing it was better economy than having them narrow, and, in Bulletin No. 144, says: "Nearly two years' use of this wide house shows its advantage over the narrower ones to be greater than was anticipated when it was planned. Its great width and the low-down door in the back wall make it much cooler in hot weather." Sunny Slope Farm does not have outdoor runs, but the Maine Station has. and. especialh' during July and August. Professor Gowell said the fowls delight to go out into the yards early in the morning. On Sunny Slope Farm, however, open sheds are constructed under the house (something on the order of the plan sold by the Philo System), where the fowls can have a change of diversion — scratching in the loose soil. No .elass is used in the laying houses on Sunny Slope Farm, but at the Maine Station the front side of each section has two windows of twelve lights of 10x12 glass, screwed on, upright, 2 feet 8 inches from each end of the room. They are ,3 feet above the floor. The sjiace between the windows is 8 feet 10 inches long, and the top part of it down from the plate. 3^ feet, is not boarded, but left open to be covered by the cloth curtain when necessary. Another change that Sunnv Slope Farm has made in constructing the laying houses after the plan of the Maine Station, is that they have the house all in one room, placing 1,500 birds in one flock, while the Maine plan has the building divided l)y tielit board partitions in twenty sections, each section being 20 feet long. — Editor. 30 CORNING EGG BOOK covered with heavy two-ply asphalt roofing paper, well nailed down and carefully cemented at the joints. The nails have large galvanized heads, and are used so generously as to prevent laulging. On the inner sides of the uprights another covering of heavy roofing paper is used, the joints carefully cemented, and over this is placed matched lumber. This gives an air-tight 4-inch vacuum, which is at the same time the warmest and coolest wall known,- on the back and sides. Under the floor, the back and sides are all boarded in and covered with paper, as in the upper part of the house, except that only a single covering of boards and paper is used. Except for the window openings, the front wall of the house is constructed in the same way as the other walls. fl'-r hoarding ^l~~flciaUn^ paper l^-IBdardiog, Cccfion Details of inner and outer doors of Laying House The roof is made of seven-eighths sheathing, on top of which is a layer of two-ply asphalt paper, and on the under side of the rafters is nailed another layer of roofing paper and sheathed. Care is taken to have the paper lap at all the corners and joints and around the ridges, so as to prevent any draughts from getting through at these points. There are eight windows on the south side of the house, and each of these is 3^ feet by 9 feet. They are 3 feet from the floor and run up to the plate. The object of this is to keep the draughts from blowing in on the floor, striking the fowls and scattering the litter. The window frame is made of 4-inch stuff, seven^eighths of an inch in thickness, with two 4-inch supports placed so as to divide the window into three 3-foot sections. These come against the upright studs of the building, the latter not being cut out or weakened in any way to reduce the strength of the building. This frame is covered with medium-weight cotton duck. Cheese cloth is too flimsy, and the duck lets in abundant air if care is taken to CORNING EGG BOOK 31 brush the accuinuhited (kist off at regular intervals. Not a square inch of glass is used on the plant, outside of the brooder house and office and feed buildings. A water shed 8 inches wide is built over each window, extending 2 feet beyond the opening to prevent driving rains or storms from the south from beating into the house. The tar paper from the roof extends down over this storm shed. The windows may be opened or closed as desired by being hinged at plate. They are kept open throughout the year, except on cold, blustery days and on winter nights. Across the front of the window openings is placed i-inch mesh wire netting to prevent the fowls flying out when the cotton-duck window is swung up. Roofih6 paper V Boarding 2"x 16' Rafters 2x4" Plate E'x4"srcjde,S Roofing paper Elevation fScction Detail of Ventilating Window The entrances to these houses are at each end. Seven steps lead to a platform 5 feet square, large enough to set feed pails on, which is surrounded on two sides with a hand rail. The doors are made of heavy matched lumber, of two thicknesses, with roofing paper between, the inner boards being nailed diagonally with those on the outside. The door is put together with one and one-half inch No. 12 screws. This makes the door very substantial. It is 6^ feet high and 3H feet wide. A second door is also provided, which opens outward, the main door opening in, the upper half of which has panel removed and is covered with wire mesh. At the bottom it is tight boarded. In milder weather the double door is opened, and the latter is used as a ventilator. The roosting closets are built differently to those in any other house COR XING EGG BOOK 33 known to the writer. They are huilt in 20-foot sections, with close l)oard partitions extending 12 inches Ijeyond the dropping boards, which are 6 feet wide. This extra width in the partitions is very important, as it obviates entirely the dangerous drauglits which so baffled the late Professor Gowell in his large flock houses. When cross winds are blowing the fowls will go back into these closets to work and sun themselves. The dropping boards are placed 3 feet above the floor, leaving plenty of room for the hens to work in the litter thereunder, and sufficient for the attendant to easily get under to gather the eggs that may be laid in the litter. A hen dearly loves to round out a nest in the straw litter and deposit her egg therein. It also gives the sun a chance to reach every corner of the floor from the front to the back at some period of the day. There are two sets of roosts in each closet. These are made of five perches of 2 x 2 stuff, rounded at the top, nailed to crosspieces. The first perch is placed 9 inches from the back wall, and the suc- ceeding ones are 13 inches apart, measuring from centre to centre. This distance has to be regulated by the variety kept. The crosspieces to which the roosts are nailed are securely hinged at the back, a foot up from the dropping board, and are hooked up to the ceiling when the dropping boards are being cleaned. They are sup- ported by a leg a foot high in front, which keeps the perches up the required distance at roosting time. There are openings to the yards under the house, which are placed under the roosting boards at the rear. There are five of these openings in each house. Boxes are built up around them a foot high to keep the litter in. A runway therefrom leads to the ground 5 feet below. After about May 15th all the layers are allowed free range, but spend a great deal of the time under the house, the floor of the house providing the necessary shade to protect them from the sun and keep them cool and comfortable. From the time the pullets are put into the laying house until warm weather in the spring comes they are never within less than 5 feet of Mother Earth. But they are as happy and contented as can be, and sing and lay eggs each livelong day. The Breeding House This is built in exactly the same way as the laying house, except for the fact that it is only 50 feet long. The small doors through which the fowls reach the ground are kept open every day, in order to allow the fowls free access to the open yards except on very wet or stormy days. It is the rule on Sunny Slope Farm that the fowls must not be exposed to wet and stormy weather. Poultrymen are apt to be too careless in this matter. A fowl is just as miserable when exposed to drenching rains, or snowstorms, or heavy wind- storms, as would be a human being, and an uncomfortable hen will receive a severe check in her laying. It is important that the hens be kept comfortable. — Editor. coRNixc; KGc; I'.ooK 35 The Cockerel House The house in whicli the young males are phiced for fattening or l)ringing to matm-ity for 1)reeders has a length of 30 feet and a width of 12 feet. It is built on posts, with the floor 5 feet from the ground and the superstructure put together in the same way as in the lirooder and laying houses. The dropping platform is also arranged in the same way as in the other houses, but the roosts are made 6 inches in width instead of only 2 inches. This is done to prevent the young birds from pressing on their breastbones, which ar.e very tender in growing stock. In front of this house is a wire pen, 15x30 feet, covering over the top to keep out the sparrows. The cockerels get into this yard through two small doors opening to a runway down underneath the house. Including the space under the house, the birds have a yard 25 x 30 feet. In the warm weather they spend a great deal of time in the shade and away from all draughts under the house. The fences of these runs are made by putting in posts at suitable distances apart and over this is placed the wire netting. The boards upon the yards are used in order to keep the young males as ignorant as pos- sible of what is going on in the world beyond the runs. The Feedhouse and Workshop This is a building two stories in height, with an area of 20 x 30 feet. At the present time the upper story is used as a dwelling by one of the attendants, the stairway leading thereto being from the outside. On the ground floor are the food bins for each variety of grain and meal used in. the fowls' rations. The machinery used in preparing the feed is all of the approved type. The gasoline engine is a 4 H. P. and furnishes the necessary energy for the bone cutter and the mash-mixing machine. The bone cutter was specially built for this plant, the ordinary sizes being too small to grind expeditiously the 175 pounds of bone used daily. The mixing machine stands in close proximity to the bone cutter. This machine was also specially built for this plant, and is constriicted on something the same lines as a cement mixer. The various ingredients of the mash are placed therein in the required proportion, and are mixed much more thoroughly than they could possibly be by hand, except in small quantities. The thorough mixing of the mash is regarded as one of the secrets of its effectiveness in producing large quantities of eggs. A small shed, 12x16 feet, built of rough lumber, is conveniently placed. It is used for the storing of the droppings, and the side boards are placed on the inside of the upright studs in order that they may not be pushed off by the weight of the manure. If these droppings are sprinkled occasionally with sand or ashes there will be no odor from them. The ice house is also one of the buildings on the plant, and is used for the preservation of the green bone until such times as it is required for food. Professor Gowell used vacated brooder houses for his cockerels. When the chickens reached the age of nine or ten weeks, and the cockerels weighed a pound and a quarter to a pound and a half, they were placed hy themselves into vacated brooder houses, one hundred to a house. Each house has a yard in front, about twelve feet square. — Editor. A great point made bv the Sunny Slope Farm is the thorough mixing of the mash food. This is highly' important, so that the different ingredients will be avail- able to all the fowls. The workshop arrangement on this farm is very complete. — Editor. CORNIXG F.GG liOOK 37 Operating the Incubators Tlic arrangciiicnt of the inculjators in the cellar is worth some con- sideration. In pur^-hasing the machines care must be taken to buy them built right and left. This will permit the lamps of the two machines being placed side by side and means a considerable economy in time in attending the lamps as well as floor space. They are placed side by side along the north and soutii sides and close to the wall. This arrangement leaves a good aisle through the centre for the operators. When installed they are carefully leveled with a spirit level. Two tables are provided for convenience in turning the eggs. These are made three feet wide and a little longer than necessary to take two of the incubator trays side by side. They are built on revolving castors and their height is gauged so as to make them a trifle lower than the tray slides in the machine. By having two of these tables much time can be saved. While the eggs on one are being turned those on the other can be left to cool. By taking trays out of alternate machines the time for cooling can be increased as desired. Last season 5,000 eggs were placed in the incubators in this cellar, and from these 3,313 flufl^y, bright, lively chicks were placed under the hovers in the brooding house. On the leg of each machine is placed a tag, on which is provided blank spaces in which the following information is filled in : 1. The day and hour that the incitbator is set. 2. The number of eggs placed in the machine. 3. The day, which will be the tliird day, when the eggs are turned for the first time. 4. The day, which will be the fourteenth day, when the eggs are tested out. Many incubator men test their eggs for the first time all the way from the third to the seventh day, but no test whatever is made on this farm until the fourteenth day. The principal reason given for testing on the seventh day, or earlier, is that the eggs taken out may be saved to boil for the newly-hatched chicks when they come. There is not enough in this, however, to take chances of losing valuable chicks thereby. In addition it saves time and labor. 5. The number of infertile, doubtful and fertile eggs found in the machine as a result of the test on the fourteenth day. The infertile eggs, of course, are removed from the machine and the doubtful ones are marked with a cross, so that when the hatch is off the operator can go over the remaining eggs. This enables him to perfect himself in the testing art. 6. The date, which will be the eighteenth day, when the incubator is closed and not interfered with again, imtil the doors are opened to remove the newly-hatched chicks. Most people believe that an incubator does not begin to hatch until the twenty-first day. This is not always correct. The chicks begin to In this connection Professor Gowell says, in Farmers' ])unetin Xo. 357: "There are many makes of incuhators on the market, most of wliich will give fairly satisfactory results. The Maine Station has not tested many makes of incu- bators, and very likely some of the makes not tested would prove as satisfactory as the make used. Where many machines are used the hand turning of the eggs absorbs considerable time. Several turning devices are in vogue and equally good hatches have been obtained with them as when the eggs have been turned by hand. Machines that have artificial turning shelves will not hold quite so many eggs as when flat shelves are used, but the saving of time compensates for this. Whatever make of incubator is used, pains should be taken to become thor- oughly acquainted with the machine before the eggs are put into it. It is advisable for a person not familiar with the use of an incubator to run the machine empty for several days before filling it. After the eggs are put in, changes and adjustments should be made with the greatest care for fear of e.xtreme results. By the use of an incubator it is possible to determine exactly the time when the chickens shall be hatched." — Editok. 38 CORNING EGG BOOK leave the shells on the twentieth day if the germs are strong and the temperature has lieen kept at proper height and the eggs were fresh when placed in the machine. If the temperature has been allowed to- run low, the hatch is retarded and the chicks are apt to be not so strong as are those that come out on the twentieth day. 7. A final space is left in which is indicated the number of strong^ healthy chicks hatched. Any weaklings are quickly disposed of. This enables the operator to keep an accurate record of the work of his machine from season to season, and to correct any defects that may be observed. Ventilation and Moisture of Incubator Cellar It is impossible to properly ventilate many of the incubator cellars for the reason that the ceilings are too low. When a large number of incubators are being run there must be sufficient height to readily get the impure air from them out of the room. The windows in the hatcli- ing cellar at Sunny Slope Farm, which act as ventilators, are hinged at the bottom and drop into a "V"-shaped box with solid sides, forcing the air in or out, as desired, over the top, and not letting in cold gusts of air to strike directly on the machines. Night and day these windows are kept at least slightly open, so that there is constantly a considerable change of air, insuring freshness. Fresh air in the machine is very helpful to the growing germ. The poisonous gases from the lamps must be driven out of the cellar or anaemic chicks will result every time. The temperature is kept as nearly even as possible. It should never be allowed to go above 70° or below 40° F. Moisture, and a large supply of it, is very important. In this cellar earthen pans are filled with water and placed on the floor almost directly Ijelow each pair of lamps, pushing tliem sufficiently far back against the wall as to be out of tlie way. If the atmosphere is particularly dry, after turning the eggs at night the concrete floor is thoroughly wet by sprinkling it with a watering can. This gives a relative humidity identical with that which occurs in natural incubation, being about 60°, and also provides the same amount of evaporation as in an egg under a hen. This method of supplying moisture has proved most successful, for when the chicks are hatched the incubators will fairly run water, and it is no uncommon thing for the attendant to be obliged to take the hinges off the doors leading into the egg chamber as well as those through which the chick drawers are taken out. ."Mutiny Slope Farm has a greater belief in moisture than is general among poultrymen. Notwithstanding that the cellar on this farm is built upon a damp- location, additional moisture is supplied by the pans mentioned above. This, too, despite the fact that the incubators used are of the "no-moisture" type, which goes to prove a theory the writer has held for years, that the "no moisture" claim is not founded on fact — that all depends upon surrounding conditions as to the amount of moisture to be used.- — Editor. CORNING k(k; hook 39 When to Hatch April and May are considered the best hatching months on Sunny Slope Farm, and the nearer the middle of April that the first hatches come off the better. Professor Gowell recommended April and May as the right time for hatching Plymouth Rocks. He knew a thing or two about bringing on young fowls, but in his writings he never gave the information the emphasis it deserved. To be able to delay hatching until April and May has several advan- tages, among which are the greatly increased percentage of fertility in the eggs and the fact that when the chick is old enough to be moved into the colony house settled weather conditions are obtained. The Corning Method of feeding is described in another chapter, which brings the pullet to maturity in about five months. Chicks hatched on this farm in the middle of April are laying by the middle of Sep- tember and continue to do so throughout the ensuing ten months. If they are hatclied earlier and forced along under this Method, they will commence laying earlier and are very liable to molt, which, with the Leghorns, means about two months' absence from the nests. It also necessitates the feeding of the pullets for two months, during which they are producing nothing. With the heavier American breeds, such as the Plymouth Rocks and Wyandottes, maturity can be reached almost as quickly. We believe the reason Professor Gowell did not emphasize more strongly the hatching of chicks in April and May was because he knew the average poultry- man would not give the care to his young flock nor force them along as he did. Under ordinary feeding methods it takes from seven to eight months to mature a bird of either the American or Mediterranean breeds and get them started laying. A pullet rarely begins to lay in very cold weather, and if a supply of winter eggs are to be had she must "be started to work on the nests before the thermometer goes regularly below freezing at night. If she is hatched late she must be forced along quickly to the laying point to have any returns from her in the winter months. Taking Care of the Chicks The hovers are operated with the same care and in the same method- ical way as the incubators. A tag is placed on the wall of the alleyway back of each brooder yard, and on this is indicated the number of chicks, the day and the hour they were placed in the brooder and the losses from any cause as they occur. These tags are also filed away from season to season for reference, and they form a valuable guide as to what can be banked upon. Less than ten per cent, of all chicks placed in the brooder house were lost from all causes last season. On account of lack of room in the brooder house, a number of Professor Gowell's main idea in having May hatches is that they yielded more chicks, there being better fertility, and natural brooding conditions are better. In Bulletin No. 130, referring to tests made at the Maine Station, in order to study the hatchability of the eggs from the same lot of hens through their first laying year, a pen of fifty pullets was set apart for the purpose. They were hatched late in May and commenced laying in October, continuing laying moderately through November and neceraber. The fifty birds were mated in November with two cock; erels that did not quarrel, and these matings continued through the ten months' test. — Editor. Records shown the writer, upon his visit to Sunny Slope Farm, gave a very small loss in the brooders. In the spring of 1909 7.505 chicks were hatched at Sunny Slope Farm. There were 1,192 deaths in the brooder house, and i\\) to August 15, 1909, 481 deaths on range from crows, rats, etc. — Editor. CORNING KC.C. noOK 41 chicks had to be removed when they were between three and tour weeks old to the colony houses to make room for new hatches from the incu- bators. Among these there was a considerable mortality, as they were not sufficiently feathered to provide the necessary warmth in the cold nights. The total loss of birds in the colony house from hawks and other causes was about 400. There were 899 cockerels raised to suffi- cient size for broilers or were matured for breeders. The pullets placed in the laying houses numbered 1,953. Of these 453 were placed in what is known as No. i house and 1,500 in No. 2 house. It is a fixed belief at Sunny Slope Farm that the chicks should be handled as little as possible : so when a change is being made from one place to another it is accomplished by removing the sliding board, open- ing into the alleyway, which is then blocked so that the chicks can only go in the one desired direction. The board opening into the nursery pen to be occupied is raised, then the attendant walks behind these chicks and quietly and easily moves them along until they are in their new quarters. When removing them to the colony house a box is placed at the little door leading from the house to the yard. In this box is another door corresponding to that in the brooder house, and the front of the box is made of wire mesh. The chicks are quietly driven into the box and when it is comfortably filled the door is closed and they are carried down to the colony house, which is to be their home until they are suffi- ciently matured to take their places in the laying house. To facilitate the emptying of the boxes just described, doors are placed at either end. Feeding Newly-Hatched Chicks The cliicks hatched at Sunny Slope Farm are not fed for forty-eiglit hours after they come out of the shell. The last act which the chick performs before breaking the shell is to absorb the yolk, which makes food unnecessary for at least two days. The third day after hatchmg, the chicks are fed every two liours, of a good commercial chick food, not heavily, but just enough to enable them to readily fill up their crops. The feed is placed on the floor in close proximity to the hover. The fifth day after hatching they are allowed to run in tlie little hover yard and then their feed is thrown to them in litter. This litter is made of wheat chaff, or the screenings taken out of the bottom of the hay mow. If neither of these is available, straw is cut fine with a clover cutter and is used as a substitute. The litter should be put in deep in these yards — at least a couple of inches of it. Professor Gowell's metliod of feeding newly-hatched chicks is as follows (Bulletin No. 130): "The best method of feeding young chicks is at present a matter of some uncertainty. Many different kinds of food and different ways of feeding give good results. One condition appears to be imperative, and that is, that the young things, until they are at least three weeks old, be not allowed to overeat. We have guarded against this by watching them closely and examining their crops for emptiness just before feeding time. This enables them to eat four good meals a day and be hungry at feeding time. Where regular full meals are given they are allowed at the troughs only a short time. A long-drawn-out meal to enable them to clean up the dishes impairs their digestion, and ruin follows. Where small broken grains and meals are kept constantly within reach of the young things, either in the litter or small troughs, the crops never appear to be empty, neither are they ever crammed full, as they are when fed at regular hours, and yet the birds live well and seem to thrive when they are within easy reach of food all of the time. At the present time the Station is studying young chick feeding closely, for it is the most difficult feature of the whole poultry industry. We can now give no better method than that practiced in raising the chicks during this and the last season, because by it few birds have been lost and good thrift has been secured. Infertile eggs are boiled for half an hour and then ground in an ordinary 42 CORNING EGG BOOK While the bulk of the feed is fed in this litter, a small portion is scattered around the hover where no litter is kept, so that any weak chick may get it without too hard work. From the start the chicks have water before them, placed in sanitary drinking fountains which are thoroughly washed and refilled three times a day — first thing in the morning, at eleven o'clock and again at three- thirty o'clock. THese hours are not set arbitrarily, but were decided upon from the fact that it is at these hours approximately that the chicks drink the greatest quantity. When the chicks begin to work in the litter, they are fed but three times a day instead of every two hours. While not overfeeding, enough grain is thrown into the litter so that the little fellows in scratching will always find something to reward them. About this time beef scraps are added to the ration, and care is taken that these are ground fine. This is fed at noon. To each lOO chicks at the start a couple of little piles are thrown into the litter. Each pile contains about one handful. The amount of beef scrap is increased day by day until six handfuls are fed to each pen of lOO chicks. The chicks are fed in this way until they are six weeks old. Then they are given wheat and cracked corn. This change is made gradually by mixing with the chick feed, each successive day feeding less of the latter until it is taken out altogether. meat chopper, shells included, and mixed witli about six times their bulk of rolled oats, by rubbing both together. This mixture is the feed for two or three days until the little things have learned how to eat. It is fed sparingly, in the litter and sand on the brooder floor. About the third day they are fed a mixture of hard, fine broken grains, i. e., cracked corn, wheat, millet and pinhead oats, as soon as the birds can see to eat in the mornings. This is fed in the litter, care being taken to limit the quantity so they shall be hungry at ten o'clock. Several of the prepared dry chick foods have been tested. They are satisfactory when made of good, clean grains without grit. The grit and charcoal can be supplied at less cost and must be freely provided. At ten o'clock the rolled oats and egg mixture is fed in tin plates with low- rims. After they have had the food before them five minutes the dishes are removed and they have nothing to lunch on, except a little of the fine broken grain which they scratch for. At one o'clock the hard grains are again fed, as in the morning, and at four-thirty to five o'clock they are fed on the rolled oats and egg mixture, giving all they will eat until dark. When they are about three weeks old the rolled oats and egg mixture is grad- ually displaced by a mixture made up of two parts, by weight, of good clean bran, four parts corn meal, two parts middlings or red dog flour, one part linseed meal and two parts screened beef scrap. This mixture is moistened just enough with water so that it is not sticky, but will crumble, when a handful is squeezed and then released. The birds are developed far enough by this time so that the tin plates are discarded for light flat troughs with low sides. The hard broken grains may be safely used all the way along and the fine meals left out, but the chicks do not grow so fast as when the mash is fed. There seems to be least danger from bowel looseness when the dry grains only are fed, and it is very essential that the mash be dry enough to crumble, in order to avoid that difficulty. Young chicks like the moist mash better than though it was not moistened, and will eat more of it. There is no danger from the free use of the properly made mash, twice a day, and being already ground the young birds can eat and digest more of it than when the food is all coarse. This is a very important fact and should be taken advantage of at the time when the young things are most susceptible to rapid growth. But the development must be moderate during the first few weeks. The digestive organs must be kept in normal condition by the partial use of hard foods, and the gizzard must not be deprived of its legitimate work and allowed to become weak by disuse. By the time the chicks are five or six weeks old the small broken grains are discontinued and the two litter feeds are wholly of screened cracked corn and whole wheat. Only good clean wheat, that is not sour or musty, should be used." — Editor. CE/1TRAL • R-R • OF-TIEV/ JERSEY ^^ HOO' PULLET RA/1GE S^ COLONY HOUSES EACH -HOUSE- 6 xlO' BUILT- 0/1 -SKIDO MOVABLE a a a a a a a o a a a a a Q D a n n a D "o n a n a D to 5 □ □ n n a "o YARD FOR BREEDLnQ HE/15 ie:0'x i3o' 1— 1 FATTmi/K PEns nmvRE WAcmn 3HED 1 I6x I60' 1 LAYinq H0U5E no 3 1 I6V 160' 1 l7\Yl/iq HOUSE /»-2 1 IZ' X lOO' 1 ,6'V leo- LAYinQ HOUSE /lO-l BREEDERS HOU. iiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiii SHED ' — ' lO'llH' BROOD 1/1CUD/ WE ER HOUjE & \IUR CLLLAR. LL 117' DEEP l/iD/-\lLL ADni/ii:.- TRATIOA DUILD1/1Q 'o Q '^ -J < o 1 COCKCRiL YARD 100'»I50' n ^oo' B ounD E)RooK ' TROLLEY' Ll/m - •£A\- • PHILADELPHIA- TURHPIKE.' kSoJ-VERVILLE Plan of Sunny Slope Farm 44. CORNING EGG BOOK Feedin^f Pullets While on Ran^e At Sunny Slope Farm the pullets are moved from the brooder house to colony houses and are given free range when they are six weeks old. From that time until they are mature enough to be placed in the laying houses they are made to do a lot of hustling for their living. Some poultry breeders throw corn to the pullets in the vicinity of their quarters early in the morning. This is a serious error. At this stage in a chick's life it is greatly to its advantage in developing stamina and hardihood to make it hustle for its food. The pullets also enjoy ranging, as can be seen by watching them playing tag with each other and chasing the worms and insects. In the mornings the grass is thick with insects and there are always- plenty of pickings to be had if the pullets are forced to look therefor. To satisfy their appetites they are kept busy until about eleven o'clock, when they come into the. shade for rest. It is late in the afternoon before they are given any grain, when it is scattered on the ground near the colony houses. This is a mixture of two-thirds whole wheat and one- third cracked corn. At this time they are given all of this that they will pick up clean. Inside each colony house is a feeding trough for mash, and this is supplied in such quantities that it is never entirely consumed. Every afternoon at three o'clock fresh mash is placed in the trough, and what- ever little may be left over from the day before, is mixed therewith. To provide a sufficient amount of grit two basins are placed at each colony house and are always kept filled. Care is always taken to use a grit which carries a large percentage of lime. This helps to make bone, and the pullets come into laying without causing any trouble. The pullets also have a wonderful affinity for hard coal ashes, and large quantities of them are regularly provided. It is surprising the amount of ashes the pullets will consume. This .system of feeding sends pitllcts to their quarters with full crops, which is very essential if rapid growth is to be had. There stands in each house an automatic drinking fountain, which holds five gallons of water, so that it has to be filled only every other day. This affords a considerable saving in labor. In Bulletin No. 130 Professor Gowell says: "When the cockerels are taken out for finishing, the pullets of the same age are moved to the grassy range, still occupying the same portable houses in which they were raised. At this time the method of feeding is changed, and dry food is kept by them constantly, in troughs with slatted sides and broad detachable roofs, so it may not be soiled or wasted. The troughs are from 6 to 10 feet long, with the sides 5 inches high. The lath slats are 2 inches apart and the troughs are 16 inches high from floor to roof. The roofs project about 2 inches at the sides and effectually keep out the rain, except when high winds prevail. The roof is easily removed by lifting one end and sliding it endwise on the opposite gable end on which it rests. The trough can then be filled and the roof drawn back into place without lifting it. This arrangement is the best thus far found, for saving food from waste and keeping it in good condition. When dry mash is used in it there may be considerable waste by the finer parts being blown away. When used for that purpose it is necessary to put it in a sheltered place out of the high winds. In separate compartments of the troughs, they are given cracked corn, wheat, oats, dry meal mixture, grit, dry cracked bone, oyster shell and charcoal. The dry meal mixture is of the same composition as that fed to the laying hens. The troughs are located about the field in sufficient numbers to fully accommodate all of the birds. The results of this method of feeding are satisfactory. The labor of feeding is far less than that required by any other method followed. The birds do not hang around the troughs and overeat, but help themselves, a little at a tim.e, and range off, hunting, or playing and coming back again, when so inclined, to the food supply at the troughs. There is no rushing, or crowding about the attendant, as is usual at feeding time where large numbers are kept together."- — Editor. CORNING EGG i;0( ) K 45 Feeding Laying Pullets When the pullets are put into the laying houses they still receive their main feed of grain at night. Six quarts of wheat and corn, varied in proportion according to the weather, for each hundred pullets are scattered in the litter an hour before sunset on clear days, and fifteen minutes earlier on cloudy days. The litter is at least eight inches deep and preferably of wheat straw. The grain is thrown on top of this, and being fed in this quantity the pullets are able to till up quite easily at just the time when you want to get their crops chock-full. As she moves and scratches, the pullet buries the remaining grain in the litter. When she leaves the roost in the morning she has to work like a beaver to get out the remaining grain, which gives her the needed exercise and ■starts her blood well in motion for the day. By thus feeding the extra quantity at night the attendants are saved the necessity of another trip with the morning ration of grain, and the burying of it in the litter. It is necessary that this feed more than any •other should be so fed as to make the fowls work hard for it, and con- sequently it must be buried deep in the litter. At eleven o'clock a small quantity of oats is fed in the litter ( two quarts for each hundred hens). In very cold weather a little buckwheat is mixed with the oats on alternate days. Buckwheat is too fattening to have a part in the daily ration. The mash troughs which are placed under the dropping boards, two troughs being provided for each 20- foot section, are tilled with mash, twenty-two pounds of mash being given to each 200 hens, at three o'clock in the afternoon. This mash is made by thoroughly mixing the following ingredients in the proportions named : Wheat bran 8 parts Ground oats (not fine ) 4 parts Wheat middlings i part Old process oil meal i part Gluten meal (highest quality) i part Corn meal i part Cut green bone 16 parts This mash must be thoroughly mixed, so as to have the juices from the animal food taken up entirely by the ground grain. Absolutely no water, only the animal juices in the cut green bone is used in making this mash. It is sweet-smelling and palatable enough looking to tempt any man. When ready for the hens there is not the slightest appearance of the green bone in it, all these particles having been thoroughly covered by the adherence of the meals. Where it is not convenient to cut green bone, beef scraps may be sub- stituted. Where small flocks are being handled, the mash can readily be mixed in a tub — or large pan — with a wooden paddle. This method was practiced at Sunny Slope Farm until the flock became so large that labor- saving machinery became an absolute necessity. Professor Gowell's method of feeding laying stock and that followed by Sunny Slope Farm are practically the same. There is a difference in the Gowell mash, as follows: Wheat bran - P^'^ts Corn meal ' f ^' ' Wheat middlings ' P'^']^ Linseed meal ' 1*'*' (^.luten meal ' P^^t I>eef scraps i ' 1' ' ' j ' ' ' L ''■^'^ j The mash contained one-fourth of its bulk of clover leaves and heads obtained from the cattle barn. The clover was covered with hot water and allowed to stand for three or four hours. The mash was made quite dry, and rubbed down with the shovel in mixing, so that pieces of clover were separated and covered with the ineal. — Editor. 46 CORNING EGG BOOK Feeding Cockerels for Broilers At six weeks of age, as a rule, the cockerels arc transferred from the brooding house to the fattening pen, or just as soon as their sex can be surely determined. The Leghorn cockerel is very precocious and develops the masculine traits at a much earlier age than those of American or heavier breeds. The first thing in the morning the cockerels are fed a mixture of grain, composed of two parts of cracked corn and one of wheat. This is thrown on the floor, on which no litter is placed, as it is desirable that they should do as little moving about as possible. They are given all they will eat up clean. At ten-thirty o'clock they are given a bountiful supply of green food. At three-thirty o'clock the mash boxes are filled full and they are given all of this they will eat. This mash is made in the same way as that described for the laying pullets, except that the proportion of corn meal is very considerably increased. This method of feeding has been found superior to any of those which use large quantities of milk in the mash, as it produces a broiler the meat of which is sweeter and more juicy. It has also been found more effective in pushing them to maturity. Feeding the Breeding Stock The birds in the breeding house are fed in exactly the same manner as those in the laying houses. That this method is correct is amply proved by the fact that in the past two seasons, since it has been adopted, the fertility of the eggs has averaged 90 per cent, or better, and the germs have been exceptionally strong. The chicks from these hens have great vigor and vitality, and grow rapidly. It keeps the males as well as the females in a strong, healthy condition, and does not make them too fat. To secure a heavy supply of eggs the hens nnist be well fed, but to have a high percentage of fertility it is important that they should not be allowed to become overfat. Bulletin No. 90 of the United States Department of Agriculture states: "A very large proportion of the cockerels raised in New England are sent to the market alive, without being fattened. Quite extended experiments at the Maine Station with many birds, in different years, indicate very clearly that keeping the cockerels for a few weeks with special feeding will add materially to the selling price. Not infrequently this will make the difference between loss from the low price obtained for slow-selling unfattened birds and the profit from comparatively quick- selling specially fed birds at a much higher price. The higher price is due partly to the increased weight and partly to the superior quality of the well-covered soft- fleshed chickens. As the bulletins containing the results nf these feeding experiments with cockerels are out of print, the following brief summary of the results obtained is given : The number of pounds of grain required to produce one pound of gain in fat- tening cockerels was ascertained in experiments comparing the effect of housing, the effect of age, and the effect of skim milk. The grain mixture used in these series of experiments was the same, consisting of 100 pounds of corn meal, 100 pounds of wheat middlings and 40 pounds of meat meal. This was fed as a porridge thick enough to drop but not to run from a spoon." — Editor. Care is exercised on Sunny Slope Farm that the hens are kept in good condition without becoming overfat. Like the layers, they are kept active. The high percentage of fertility proves that their method in this particular is correct. — Editor. C(1RNING EGG HOOK 47 Feeding Hens Through Molt At Sunny Slope Farm no hens are carried tlirougli tlie molt except those required for breeders. As soon as the pullets finish their first laying season, which lasts approximately ten months, they are sold at once for breeders. There is always a demand for these birds. Care must be taken in feeding a molting hen not to let her take on fat. At this period in her life a hen is much less active than when she is laying, and is much given to "standin' 'round." It is therefore necessary to see that all the grain is buried deeply in the litter. The amount of cracked corn given is materially lessened and the quantity of mash feed is cut down by at least one-half. If the hen is going to feather well and keep her strength some animal food is necessary, but she does not require it in so large quan- tities as when being fed for eggs. With the exceptions noted, molting hens are fed the same as layers. When the hen begins to lay, the amount of mash is increased to the requirements of the hen, gradually, until it reaches the point of the laying ration. Mash — Morning or Night? It is a much disputed question whether mash should be fed in the morning or at night, but on Sunny Slope Farm it has been definitely answered to the satisfaction of its proprietors. Professor Gowell used to feed his layers twice a day only, and kept the mash always before them. On Sunny Slope Farm better results have been obtained by feeding the mash in the late afternoon. To keep her body in a perfectly healthy and natural condition, the hen must spend the greater part of the day in activity. If she is per- mitted to cram her crop with mash in the early morning she will lie around until the middle of the day or later, in a semi-dopy, sluggish condition. The theory of the "morning mash" poultrymen is tliat by giving the hen warm mash in the morning it heats her blood and makes her more comfortable. This is a fallacy. It does not send the blood coursing through her veins nor make her nearly so comfortable and happy as to be forced to hustle, and hustle hard, for her morning meal. If a hen is going to lay well she must be sent to roost with a full crop. For this reason, on Sunny Slope Farm she is given the mash late in the afternoon, and this is followed a short time before she goes to roost with an abundant feed of grain. Before she starts to pick the grain at all her crop is full of mash, but there are always a number of small cavities into which the hard grain can be pushed, which puts her to bed with a full crop of egg-making m.aterial — "It works while she sleeps." Molting is a period that is a great strain upon the vitality of the fowls, and in order to carry them through safely it is necessary that their feed be of a more stimulating nature than when they are in laying condition. This fact is plainly exemplified at Sunny Slope Farm. — Editor. On this point, in Bulletin No. 90, Professor Gowell says: "Years ago the 'morning mash,' which was regarded as necessary to 'warm vip the cold hen' so she could lay that day, was given up, and the mash was fed at night. The birds for several years prior to 1903 were fed daily throughout the year as follows: Each pen of twenty-two received one pint of wheat in the deep litter early in the morning. At 9.30 A. M. one-half pint of oats was fed in the same way. At i P. M. one-half pint of cracked corn was given in the litter as before. At 3 P. M. in winter and 4 P. M. in summer they were given all the mash they would eat up clean in half an hour." — Editor. 48 CORNING EGG BOOK Fresh Cut Bone Fresh cut bone is a valualjle egg producer, and an average of more than an ounce a day is fed to the layers and breeders at Sunny Slope Farm. It forms half of the mash mixture, and the hens are given all of this they will eat at one feeding. Green bone is cheap in price and highly nutritious, easily digested and heartily relished by the fowls. It is stimulating to the egg-producing organs, but more in the way of strengthening than simply inciting to greater activity. The feeding of it is not followed by reactionary results, as is the case when condiments are used. It not only imparts strength to the egg organs, but it contains in about equal proportions the same elements as the egg. ^ Consequently, it is a valuable food. It has a noticeably favorable effect upon the fertility and hatchability of the eggs and upon the chicks after they are hatched. Great care must be exercised in the selection of bones and meat put into the cutting machine. Unless this is done it is a very simple matter to give the fowls an aggravated dose of diarrhea, and diarrhea caused in this way is practically incurable. From a tinancial standpoint, it is much better to kill the fowl than to try to doctor her back to health. The bone and meat scrap as it is supplied by the butcher is gone over piece by piece, and all the salt or putrid pieces are thrown to one side. No chance is taken of allowing any meat that has been in brine to get into the hen's mash. The attendant soon becomes quite expert in selecting the fresh from the salt bones. If the flavor of the eggs is to be maintained, care must be taken that no tainted bone or meat are used. The bone is weighed out in exact proportion in preparing it for the mash, and as much bone is used as all other ingredients in the mash combined. This gives the laying stock something more than an ounce per head each day. Green Food All tiie birds on Sunny Slope Farm are given an abundance of green food, the supply starting when they are three days old and con- tinuing until they are finally disposed of. The little chicks are given grass and clover cut fresh every morning and reduced to lengths of about one-eighth of an inch. This is thrown into the litter in abundant quantities and they are allowed to eat it at will throughout the day. As soon as the chicks are removed from the brooder house they are placed on range, and of course get their own supply of green food. When the pullets are placed in tlie laying house the green food has to be supplied to them. This is obtained by sowing a sufficiently large patch of ground with winter wheat in the late summer. This comes up very readily and is cut and fed in large quantities every morning, at least a bushel basket packed down being given to each 200 hens. In all the Maine Station feeding formulas Professor Gowell does not include green cut bone. While the writer has never read or heard of his opinion on this article of food, it is known that Professor Gowell personally preferred beef scraps. Green bone should be fed the day it is cut, and care should be taken that no tainted bone or meat is used. This is a hard matter to avoid where a large amount of bone daily is needed.- — Editor. Professor Gowell was a firm advocate of clover. He said: "Poultry keepers do not begin to realize how valuable a food we have in clover." Clover supplies the much-needed mineral elements (ash) so necessary to the vigor of the new-hatched chick, and that much-desired mineral element must be in the egg from which the chick is hatched. — Editor. CORNING EGG BOOK 49 When this wheat gets covered by snow so that it is not cutable, green food is suppHed by feeding short cut clover or alfalfa which has previously been gathered and cured. This is prepared for the fowls daily. It is placed in large tubs and over this is poured boiling water through a watering can. It has been found that the clover takes up water much more evenly when it is thus sprinkled on than when it is poured on. Sufficient water is used to thoroughly moisten it. Then the tub is covered with burlap or old sacking and allowed to stand for thirty minutes. This limit of time is very important, for the reason that clover or alfalfa becomes brownish in color as well as soggy if allowed to steep longer, and it is not nearly so palatable to the hens. The quantity of water used in making this green food mixture is not always the same, for sometimes the clover will suck up a good deal more moisture than it does at other times. The weight of the food is always more than doubled by the addition of the water. The yards of the breeding pens are plowed as soon as they can be worked in the spring and are sown heavily with oats. The oats grow very quickly and after they have a fair start they will beat the hens, what is eaten down during the day being fully made up by the growth over night. In the winter and early spring months the breeders are supplied with green food in the same way as the layers. A large amount of green food fed to the breeding stock adds greatly to the strength and fertility of the eggs. To the stock in confinement in the summer and to all the birds in the winter and early spring months the green food is fed to them warm at nine o'clock each morning. Much has been written about sprouted, or "processed" oats, but the whole matter is very simple. A frame made of flooring, or any boards 4 or 5 inches wide, and set upright, gives the growing bed. Roofing paper, laid on level earth, makes a good bottom ; concrete or board floors are equally good. In any event, the water should be allowed to drain away. Frames 3x6 feet are used at Sunny Slope Farm, but any desired dimensions can be made. Dry oats are spread in the frames, not over one inch in depth, and are thoroughly and evenly sprinkled with cold water every day, for ten to fourteen days, when the green sprouts are about six inches long. A dark, cool cellar is best adapted for this operation, though sheds or other buildings can be utilized. Oftentimes, as the oats swell and sprout, there will be upheaving spots, or islands, showing an uneven surface over the bed. These "islands" should be most thoroughly soaked with water, which will in a day or two bring the whole bed to a level growth. In bulk, this process produces a full four parts for one part planted, and makes a most excel- lent green and oat food. Better results are obtained by following this plan than other methods. Drinking* Water Chemical analysis shows that more than three-fourths of an egg is composed of water. It is therefore essential that the fowls should be given an abundant supply of water, that it should be pure, and placed before them in such a way as to prevent their fouling it. At Sunny Slope Farm the water is given in automatic fountains which hold about Professor Gowell considered water one of the greatest, if not the greatest, "egg foods'" that could be given hens. In his class in the University he urged a constant examination of the drinking fountains, that they not only are filled, but that the water in them is fresh and clean. — Editor. 50 CORNING EGG BOOK five gallons apiece. A sufficient number of these are placed in each house to meet the requirements of the day. In the laying and breeding houses this is given in the morning, and in the cold months it is put in the fountains boiling hot. This meets all the advantages claimed by the advocates of warm morning mash in heating up the fowl's system if it has been chilled through the night. It has the same effect upon the bird as a cup of hot tea or coffee has on a man whose system has become chilled from ex- posure or other causes. Together with the work the hen has to do to dig her breakfast out of the litter, it sends the blood circulating rapidly through her veins and makes her active and lively almost as soon as she is off the roost. If cold water is given, the pullet will stand around dumpy, often for a couple of hours after leaving the roost in the morning, and much of the advantage that has been obtained by discarding the morning mash will be lost. After a little experience the amount of water that the hens require can be readily gauged, so that the fountains are practically empty at Tiight._ Young chicks are given water simultaneously with their first food, and plenty of it is always before them. Water is kept in each of the colony houses for young stock and replenished just as often as the fountains are empty — about every other day. Charcoal, Grit and Oyster Shell Charcoal is kept regularly before the fowls. It is fed in automatic hoppers, which are filled once a week. It does not affect all breeds alike, but it seems to make the Leghorns on this farm susceptible to colds, and for this reason it is not kept constantly before them, unless a hop- perful lasts them a week. The hens are very fond of it, however, and this supply usually is consumed in a couple of days. Charcoal has no equal as a bowel regulator, and it purifies the crop and keeps it sweet. Only coarse charcoal is used, as there is less waste in it and the fowls seem to prefer it. The hens have free access to grit all the time, and care is taken to secure a grit that is really sharp, that does not crumble, and that carries a stiff percentage of lime. Do not make the mistake that a limestone is desirable. Coarse oyster shell, perfectly free from dust and fine particles, is also kept at all times in front of the fowls. If there is a good percentage of lime in the grit used, less oyster shell will be required. Growing birds also need it for bone-making material. Good shells cannot be had on the eggs unless plenty of lime is supplied, and a good shell adds materially to the appearance of the eggs. E^^s for Hatching As is stated in another chapter, the layers are disposed of imme- diately at the close of their first laying season, or when the birds are between fifteen and sixteen months old. This is true of all the stock that is kept for the production of eggs for domestic purposes ; but each season a sufficient number of the best pullets are selected and transferred Professor Gowell preached: "Keep clean water, charcoal, granulated bone, oyster shell and sharp grit always before the chicks: and cracked bone, oyster shell, grit and water before the hens all the time."'- — EniTOR. CORNING EGG BOOK 5 I to the breeding house, for the eggs of yearling hens hatch stronger and better chicks than those of pullets. No trap nests are used on this farm for the reason that it is be- lieved they interfere to a greater or lesser extent with the laying of the "birds. The Leghorn is a very nervous fowl, and the closing of the confining door of the trap nest always has a tendency to keep her in a nervous state. This is not conducive to a big egg yield. Notwithstanding this, the proprietors of the farm believe that they are able with close accuracy to select their best layers for the breeding pen. Indeed, when the egg yield given in detail in a previous chapter is considered, it would seem that there were no drones in the laying houses. Every bird on the farm carries a year numbered leg band. With these yearling hens are mated carefully-selected cockerels, one for every fifteen hens. No attempt is made to divide these breeders into flocks, but all run together in the one room and yard. Cockerels are used rather than cocks because experience has proven that they throw a larger percentage of pullets. The experience on Sunny Slope Farm backs up this theory, only one-third of the chicks hatched in the last season being males. It is also believed that cockerels produce a larger percentage of fertilitj'^ than can be obtained from older males. The birds are not mated until within ten days or two weeks of the time that it is desired to start the incubators. Experience has proven that Leghorn eggs are fertile within three to five days after mating. The eggs produced by birds mated this way are gathered at regular intervals and placed in turning machines, being carried so as to lie on the end and not on side. They are turned regularly every day until they are placed in the incubator. This is done to prevent the germs adhering to the side of the shell. The sooner an egg goes into the incubator after being laid the better. At Sunny Slope Farm an effort is made not to have the eggs over two days old. Some breeders believe that a larger percentage of fertility may be obtained if each male was given his own mates. It would involve con- siderably more labor, however, and as the eggs from the breeder pens on this farm have given better than a qo per cent, fertility, and some have gone as high as 95 per cent. With strong, lively, fluffy chicks, it does not seem that any mistake is being made in placing all the breeders in •one room. Last season the first chicks were brought out in March, Intt many of these molted after they had laid for a few weeks in the fall. It has been decided that in the future all the stock on this farm will be hatched between the loth of April and the loth of June. This is not only the best period to hatch Leghorns for winter eggs, but it is the natural period, and the eggs are always more hatchable and produce better chicks — chicks that live and thrive — than either earlier or later. Sunny Slope Farm does not use trap nests, believing that it makes the Leghorns too scary. The experience of the writer, however, not only proves that Leghorns very quickly get over their nervousness when trapped and handled a few times, but become very tame. Professor Gowell was a staunch believer in the trap nest, and had between 400 and 500 nests for the 2,000 to 2,500 hens at the Maine Station Farm, and 400 traps on his own Go-well Farm. It is the only absolutely sure way to pick out drones. Sunny Slope Farm estimates that to trap nest 5,000 hens would cost at least $1,000 •a vear labor, which is one reason wliv thev do not do it. — Editor. 52 CORNTXG EGG BOOK Cleanliness Only five birds were lost from all causes after tlie pullets were re- moved from the colony to the laying houses on Sunny Slope Farm last season. This is attributed to the absolute cleanliness which is main- tained there. Cleanliness is a vital element in chicken raising. The dropping boards in the laying and breeding houses are cleaned every day, the droppings being carefully stored in a shed specially provided for the purpose. The drinking fountains in these houses are washed and scoured with a brush every morning. This removes all the slime which naturally clings to the sides from the water. The nests are gone over every day, and any filth which may liave been taken into them by the fowl is removed. Excelsior has been found capital material to use in the nest boxes. It is clean and sanitary. The birds are not allowed to roost anywhere except on the perches provided for that purpose. This prevents the birds inclined to steal their roosts from befouling any section of the house except the dropping boards, and helps to maintain the general cleanliness. Every few days the canvas drops which act as windows are brushed with a stiff whisk-broom to remove any dust adhering to them and which may prevent the free access of the outside air. No disinfectants or lice killers are used, for the reason that they have never been required. The absolute dryness of the house probably makes it uncomfortable for lice. At any rate, they have never yet appeared in the houses on this farm. When the laying stock is disposed of in the fall the laying houses are thoroughly cleansed. All the litter is removed and the floors are swept. Then the entire interior is gone over with a mixture of kerosene and crude carbolic acid. New litter is placed on the floor and the houses are ready for another flock of laying pullets. At the same time the nest boxes are all removed, cleansed and painted with the above- named mixture. The colony houses are all cleaned out at least twice a week. There are no roosts in these houses, and consequently the litter has to be removed at every cleaning. The hover parts of the runs in the brooder house are scraped and thoroughly cleaned every day while they are in use. Tn the yards covered with litter the floor is swept and everything removed every three weeks, or at the time the chicks are moved to the cold hovers to make room for another lot. Tiie alleyway in this house is regularly swept and the hot-water pipes are frequently dusted. At the end of each hatch the incubators are thoroughly gone over. The lower diaphragms, drawers and trays are carried outdoors and laid in the sun. When thoroughly dry they are swept with a stiff brush until every foreign substance is removed from tlicm. All this detail is gone over regularly. Older poultrymen do not think such close attention to this matter of cleanliness is necessary, but here there are very fixed opinions thereon. All who visit Sunny Slope Farm mark the order of cleanliness that is kept. The writer never saw cleaner houses, and this is remarkable, too, considering the large number of fowls that are housed all the time. Without strict cleanliness it would be impossible to keep such a number of birds in the pink of condition. — Editor. CORNING EGG ROOK 53 Punctuality and Regularity It has been said that the hen is a systematic animal. One thing is very certain — she works on time. Close attention to this characteristic of the hen has been one of the important factors in bringing success to Sunny Slope Farm. Everything Lhere is done by the clock — a large eight-day one, which hangs in a prominent place in the workshop. Following is the day's schedule : Between five-thirty and six o'clock every morning in summer, and as soon as it is light in winter, the attendants open the house and put water — boiling" hot in winter — into the drinking fountains. At nine o'clock green food is fed, and the first gathering of eggs follows. At ten-thirty o'clock green food is given the cockerels. At eleven-thirty oats are fed, sometimes mixed with buckwheat, and the second gathering of eggs follows. At two-thirty o'clock the third gathering of eggs is made. This is always the principal collection of the day. At three o'clock in the winter months mash is placed in the troughs. In the summertime it is fed at four o'clock. At three-thirty o'clock the cockerels are given their mash ration. At five o'clock in the summer grain is fed in the litter. In the wintertime this is varied to make the feeding one hour before sunset, in order to give the fowls plenty of opportunity to fill up before it becomes dusk. According to the weather the houses are closed for the night, and at dusk a final careful search for eggs is made, not only in the nest boxes, but particularly in the litter. At seven-thirty o'clock the houses are again visited and all birds not so roosting are placed on the perches. This schedule is adhered to rigidly throughout the year, nothing whatever being allowed to interfere with it. This is another great secret of success. It was no easy task to get such a large farm like Sunny Slope down to such a good system. The poultrymen who will "go and do likewise" will find that in poultry culture there are no more important acts than punctuality and regularity. — Editor. Index Page A Air, fresh 20 Appearance 15 B Barred Plymouth Rocks 16 Beef scraps 45 Bone, fresh cut 48 Brahmas 16 Bran, wheat 45 Breeding house 33 Breeding stock, feeding 46 Breed to keep 16 Broilers, cockerels for 46 Brooding houses 21, 2$ Brown eggs 16 Buildings 19 Business methods 15 c Care of chicks 39 Cellar, incubator 21 Cement floor 23 Charcoal 50 Chicks, care of 39 Chicks, feeding 41 Cleaning eggs 15 Cleanliness 52 Clover 45 Cockerels 18 Cockerels, feeding 46 Cockerel house 35 Colony houses 25 Commission house orders 14 Concrete 23 Corn meal 45 Cost of feed 11, 12 Cut bone 45, 48 D Damjjness 20, 21 Dating eggs 15 Draughts 20 Drinking water 49 E Egg farming 9 Egg fertility 16, 21, 37 Egg prices 12 Egg profits 12 Egg record 15 Eggs, cleaning 15 Eggs, cold storage 13 Eggs, color of 14, 16 Eggs, dating 15 Eggs for hatching 50 Eggs, grading 15 Eggs, selling 13, 14, 15 Eggs, sorting 15 Eggs, strictly fresh 14 Eggs, testing 21 Eggs, weight of 14 Expenditure i i Page F Farming, egg 9 Feed, amount of 11, 12 Feed, cost of 11, 12 Feed house 35 Feeding, breeding stock 46 Feeding chicks 41 Feeding cockerels 46 Feeding laying pullets 45 Feeding molting hens 47 Feeding pullets 44 Feeding, time for 53 Fences 10 Fertility 16, 21, 37 Flocks, size of 17 Floor, cement 23 Floor space 17 Food, green 48 Fresh air 20 Freshness of eggs 14 G Gluten meal 45 Grading eggs 15 Green food 48 Grit 50 Grocery trade 13, 14 Ground oats 45 Guarantee 14, 15 H Half-breeds 16 Hatch, when to 39 Hatching, eggs for 50 Heater, hot-water 21 Hen houses 19 Hens, molting 47 Hotel trade 13 House room 17 Houses, breeding 33 Houses, brooder 23 Houses, cockerel 35 Houses, colony 25 Houses, feed 35 Houses for hens 19 Houses, main laying 27 I Incubator cellar 21 Incubators, operating 37 L Labels 15 Laying pullets, feeding 45 Leghorns, white 16 Linseed meal 45 M Market quotations 13 Marketing eggs 13, 14, 15 Mash, feeding 47 Meal, corn 45 Meal, gluten 45 Meal, oil 45 Middlings, wheat 45 Moisture 38 iSIolting hens, feeding 47 Mongrels 16 CORNING EGG BOOK 3^ PaG£ o Oats, ground 45 Oats, sprouted 49 Oil meal 45 Operating incubators 37 Oyster shell 50 P Packing 15 Plymouth Rocks 16 Premium for Corning eggs 12 Prices for Corning eggs 12 Profits II, 12 Pullets 16 Pullets, feeding 44 Punctuality 53 Q Quotations, market 13 R Range 44 Rat-proof 2^ Record, egg 15 Regularity 53 Restaurant trade 13 Revenue from Corning Method 12 s Scraps, beef 45 Seals on boxes 15 Page Selling eggs 13, 14, 15 Shell, oyster 50 Shipments 14 Size of flocks 17 Sorting eggs 15 Specialization 9 Sprouted oats 49 Strain, importance of 16 Sunlight 20 Sunny Slope Farm 10 T Temperature 21, 38 Time for feeding 53 V N'entilation 20, 24, 31, 38 w Water 21, 44, 49 Weight of eggs 14 Wheat bran 45 Wheat middlings 45 White eggs 14, 16 White Leghorns 16 Windows 23, 24, 25 Workshop 35 Wyandottes 16 Y Yearling hens 16 fCOPY D^\ TO CAT OiV. NOV 6J1:J9 LIBRfiRY OF CONGRESS III 002 840 012 3