Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1903-08-24
SCIENTIFIC POULTRY RAISING,

The tremendous growth, during re-
cent years, Of the poultry and egg in
dustry which In point Of value OF the
product now ranks as one OF the lead.
Ing American wealth.producing actly-
tiles has resulted In the Introduction Of
modern scientific methods, which are
quite as markedly in contrast to former
practlses as the advances In any other
progressive field Of endeavor. Indeed,
10 present day achievements In this Of.
rection must be attributed the recent
Development Of the American export
trade In eggs. which has recently in
vaded markets as far distant as the
orient
Perhaps the most convincing demon-
stration Of what scientific methods are
accomplishing In the poultry industry
is afforded by the UNIQUE poultry farm
at Sidney, Ohio. which ranks as one OF
the largest In the United States and
probably IN the world. and which is
thus described by the Scientific Amer-
can
The buildings which comprise the
plant consist OF two main
structures and number Of smaller In.
closures. All ore Of brick construction,
with slate roofs and more than 500
600 has been expended IN buildings aud
equipment exclusive Of the cost Of the
site, which comprises one hundred and
forty acres.
The hatchery. or broiler plant. Is $50
feet In length. The main portion Of
the building Is built In the form Of the
letter U, and has a periphery Of $40
feet In the basement Of the other part
are 80 inCubators each containing
300 eggs, so that there is a
total Of 5000 eggs daily In n state of in
cubation. The filing Of the ma
chimes is so timed that one incuba.
tor will discharge It's brood each day
and thus the plant may be said TO have
daily Matching capacity OF 800
chickens. From the incubator cellar the
small chickens are taken to what Is
known as the nursery" which con-
stantly shelters 5000 young chickens,
ranging In age from one to 30 days.
When the chickens have attained the
age Of 81 days, they are lowered by an
elevator TO the ground floor and put In
the U-shaped part Of the building,
which Is divided into GO pens. The
chickens advance one pen each day, so
that at the end OF two months they
have completed the circuit and are
ready for transferenCe 20 the shipping
department II may be noted In this
connection, that the U-shaped portion
OF the building Is constantly tenated
by about 1000 chickens, ranging in
age from 30 to 20 days
The egg house al the Sidney plant is
53i feet In length and similar I'm con-
structiOu 10 the building above describ-
ed II Is bisected lengthwise by four
foot aisle, on each side OF which are
80 pens containing 50 hens apiece
The 5000 high grade Leghorn fowls
produce daily 200 dozen Of unfertile
eggs for culinary purposes. The eggs
for the incubators are produced by 900
high grade Plymouth Rock fowls As
Indicating the proportion Of loss. IL
may be stated that out OF every $50
eggs which go into the lncubators. an
average OF 300 perfected brollers are
obtained.
Connected with the egg house Is an
egg washing and marketing room.
where the date is stamped upon the
egg sent to market.
one " the notable advances which
have been made by the scientific poul-
try farmer Of the present day Is found
In the practise OF herding fowls. In
stead Of allowing the hens to run at
large as formerly, mlngllng freely and
picking their food from all kinds Of
refuse, they are now divided into coll
Onies OF not more than 30 hens.
Each colony has It's own reservation,
maintained IN the highest state OF
hygienic cleanliness, and each group Of
hens Is separated ana Isolated at all
tunes from the others This also IA
clltates the use OF food calculated to
insure the greatest productiyeness. and
as an indication OF what has been ac-
complished in this direction, Il may be
ponted out that the average yearly
yield al these scientific poultry farms
is In the neighb0rhood Of 200 eggs from
each hen. whereas under the old condi-
tions the average yearly yield per hen
did not exceed 40 eggs,