The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1885-12-23
A CHICKEN RANCH.
A NEW INDUSTRY IN WHICH THOU
SANDS OF DOLLARS ARE INVESTED.
Description of Place Devoted TO the
Production OF FowIs-Incubators and
Artificial Broodors- Raising Broil-
ers for the Market
LNew YorI MI nnL -

"The outlook for the incubator and
poultry supply business is tirstrat said
a wcll.kn II dealer I'm response to in
quiries made by a reporter. "Thcrc are
many new parties coming i'm every day
now looking at machines who intend
starting in the chickcnraising business
this fall TO make q regular trade of In. /.
cubators increasing in number Yes, sir, |
there are in the market from twelve to
fifteen machines of different patents. We
ha here in our store eight of the leading
ones in constant operation night and day.
The prices range from $50 to $500 each, .
with q varying capacity frorl fifty to 9, 900
eggs AS q rule, q tirst.Class incubator
matches from 80 to 30 per cent of the fer
tile eggs that are put into it, Most of
these machines are automatic in their
regulation, so that they require very little
care
"How much capital does il require to
start the ChiCkGn.raising business2' was
asked
81 know OF one party whose capital is
500, and Of another whom we fitted out,
the capital for whose stock was $40, 0OO
All the eight machines that we keep are
Matching chickens every day. These we
send to our chicken ranch in New Jersey.
Some days our machines hatch out as
many as 90 chicks es, the chicken.
raising business is a new industry that has
sprung up within the last two years But
aside from those who 90 into the business
rs business, there are many wealthy
men, owners of country seats, who have
gone into it for the novelty of the thing
Has not the growth of the business in.
creased the demand for poultry sup.
plies?'
d" Yes, very largely. Among the articles
in great demand is ground bone and
oyster shells, which is fed to the chicks
Why, we sell at least fifty tons of this
material a year. and the demand has made
new way of disposing of bones and
oyster shells. Not long ago a man started
mandatory at onkcrs for the Cs.
oyster shells for the chicken trade and
he has big trade in il already 1t has
also made great demand for wire netting
! for fences to poultry yards The other
| day we sold and put up for one party a
| mile of this wire netting"
" on spoke of a chicken ranch. What
is it like?"
ours in New Jersey covers six acres
| of ground 1t is inclosed bv q fence
! about six feet high 1t contains mum
! Der of wooden buildings. built especially
! for chicken raising One of these meas.
ures GOXoU feet and is twenty feet high
1t was originally built for the fattcning of
| poultry 1t is divided into pens for loCks
of chickens of different breeds The pen
measures about lON feet, and each con.
tains nest boxes rOOsts and feeding troughs
| Another building on the ground is long
and narrow, lOONl5 feet and is divided
into pens the same as the other Still an
! other is 4ONl5 feet, which we use prnCi.
pally for ducks. 1t has a small pond ad.
joining. On a knoll back of these build.
fnF 80. q
| DrOoders for young chicks taken from the
inCubatOrs at the store They ar kept in
these broOdCrs four weeks and are then
| old enough to be put i'm with the larger
stock
What is the capacity Of such arauch2" "
Without CTOwding il will contain
nearly 1000 fullgrown fowls, 5000
young chicks and 600 ducks The cost
of such a ranch complete, without the
land, is about S., OOO One man and a
boy can attend to it nicely Their duties
are to feed and water the fowls regularly,
and keep the buildings thoroughly cleaned
If this is properly done it keeps the fowls
in perfectly good health. Such a bust
ness, properly carried on, will yield a
profit of at least 100 per cen on the cap
ital invested and even tina As low es ii.
mate. Take fancy bred fowls and they
bring from 81 to so q piece, and 1 know
a man who has a partridge cochin cock
which 500 couldn't buy Then take
broilcrs. They are worth to-day, and il
, is the dull season. % cents pound live
{ weight. Each one will weigh 2 pounds,
, and the cost to raise it is not Ovt. q
cents, In winter they bring from 90 to
, 60 cents a pound, or - a pair
= The demand for eggs for Matching is
great and a large part of our business is
, to supply eggs for this purpose In fact
] our inch is carried on for raising thor
+ oughbreds, not for market poultry Dc
we allow visitOTs2 es, we set apart Fri
days for any one who wants to see the
place. But there have been a number OF
such ranches lately started in the neigbor
hood of this city. One on Long Island
conducted by a stock company is thI
largest The capital interested is $40 90.
g and the place is conducted for the ex
+ elusive production of broilers II
has now capacity for hatChing
; 1000 eggs, and they are putting VI
j more buildings, so that the place will
g have a capacity for Matching out 90.
chickens a day. They find the business
profitable, and their trade is in the city
+, Another somewhat different ranch is on
q in New Jersey which is devoted to the
production of eggs exclusively, its owner
U having contracts with parties i'm this city
r The man who owns it started the business
70 three years ago with a capital of Just S25
He has now 900 laying hens and hi
present buildings cost him S5. 900. an o
b which he made out of the business. Yet
p all this time he has been engaged in regu
4 lar business in this city and has come II
4