The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-02-28
POULTRY FARM
Incubator Plant at Arkansas
City Proves Successful.
Hatehes 81 Chickens From a
liked Lot Of 1850 Eggs.
IS CONSIDERED GOOD.
Of RroOder House Is
l,0OO Chicks Every 3 Weeks.
viii Market the First Two
Settings as Broilers.

Arkansas city, Feb. 2s.-The Traveller
says.
A Traveller reporter this morning
visited Jacob Yost's poultry farm or
more properly speaking, his chicken
hatehing ana raising plant located in
the northeast part of town. 1t was
rare sight indeed to see chicken raising
by system, such as Mr.. Yost has IN
augHrated.
Mr.. Yost has five incubators IN use.
the machines being housed in a base
ment room Of the +brooder house, espec-
Tally fitted up for the purpose. the. room
being kept at a temperature Of seventy
degrees, and the I've 1aeabators. when
filed vita eggs, being kept at a tenn
perature Of JOB degrees. Each incubator
is Of 250 egg capacity and natural gas
furnishes the heat.
A little over three weeks ago Mr..
Eost filled his I'VE ineubators. 1.250
eggs being required and this week he
took out S11 chickens. which IS con
sidered a good big Der cent. Tbs eggs
were not picked. but were taken just
as they came. it being difficult to get
eggs to pick from in January, when
the machines were filed. Mr.. Yost
says that with selected eggs he can
batch Out S5 per cent of each setting
and can raise 80 per cent of the chicks
Matched. He has had experience and
/ ne knows
The more than eight hundred chicks
/ hatcned this week are now in the
! bfooder house on the ground floor, over
the incubator room, and are divided
into brooder bunehes of 200 each. There
are five bToodeHs Ia the broOder house,
/ they being separated from each other
/ by low woven wire fence The brood
/ eFs themselves are four feet square
and are at the sides Of the fenced pens,
the rest of the space iusthe pens being
used for feeding and exercising space
j for the chicks.
The brOoders are of frame work Gov
I cred with cloth and are arranged so
+ that the chicks can run under them as
4 they would run under a mother hen for
warmth and protection. The space Ia
/ each pen not utilized by the brooders
rs where the little chicks spend most
/ Of the daylight hours, the sunshine
( streaming in the side windows, the floor
I being sanded so that it may daily be
swept. out ana cleaned. By hot water
pipes the temperature Of the brooding
broom is kept at seventy degrees tenn
DsnafBfe and the brooders themselves
1akH eighty degrees. The pipes run IN
the Breeders, SO that under
heat is. given the chicks instead Of over
/ heat snch as a mother hen gives. Mr..
Yost thinks this an improvement on
nature.
Each Of the five brooder pens is six
/ feet wide and twenty-five feet long,
only part of this being IN the breeder
4 house, the pens opening by clever gate
ways, which now are kept closed but
viii be opened when the chicks are
/ larger into outdoor sections where
green stuff viii be planted for the
/ chicks to Feed on.
/ The capacity of the brooder- house Is
900 chicks every three weeks and later
on Mr.. Yost VIII have three broOders,
in each of which the 1000 chicks hatch
J ed each time will be kept three weeks
! When the nine weeks is up that the
chicks viii spend in the three hTooder
houses, they viii be ready for The mar
ket as choice broilers. Mr.. 1ost says
he wiz make them two pound brollers
nine weeks after being Matched, when
/ they are turned to market.
The first two matches this year Mr.,
Yost will market as broiiers, the next
matches he Will grow into hens. it be
ing his intention to keep 1000 hens next
winter and have 5000 hens next year.
Next year Mr.. Yost win convert his Ii
acre tract into one big chicken yard,
the whole of which will be planted TO
/ alfalfa in September Of this year, Seaq y
for the chickens next year. He WI
run the incubators' nine months each
e