Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1909-11-12

ithout breeders of any kind, is taken
up in this number. This new me-
hQd revolutionizes the business of
poultry raising and is not expected
or desired that it will be received
without argument by the people of
the Northwest. But facts are stub.
born things and not easy to get
aWa% from end we propose to daol
In facts and figures as BELTS
practical ?laer and let our readers
craw their WI conclusions.
In spite OF the fact that there ere
nearly hundred papers devoted to
poultry topics exclusively printed in
the United States, this new method,
which has been in successful opera
ton for two years, is now given
to the public for the first time and
by this paper. Just why the poul-
Try papers should ignore so moment
Gus an improvement over the old
fashioned methods is hard to com
prehend. 1t may be that poultry
SHOW reports poultry association
squabbles and rows over the revision
of the so-called Standard of Per-
| lection have distracted their atten-
ton from mere practical matters,
or it may be that they did not want
to hurt the business of such adver-
Users as had breeders to sell, any
way the fact remains that The Ranch
a general farm paper, is the first to
offer this information to its readers.
Since Petaluma forged to the front
as a great poultry producing center it
has led the rest of the country in
economy of labor and equipment. In
| short they get results easier and
cheaper that the rest of us do. Two
years ago they had pushed the hot
water pipes sectional brooder to the
limit. Many breeders were raising
5O0 blrds to compartment and it
was undoubtedly a great improve
ment over the individual lamp brood
Ter. Then came the fireless brooder.
for which an eastern breeder claims
| the credit. Well, Petaluma would
have none of the fireless brooders;
| it was too fussy and oldmaidish for
the Californian poultry raiser, who
has other things to do besides herd
| ing little punches of chicks to bed,
but 1t gave some clever man an idea.
If chicks could be successfully rails
ed in room where the temperature
was not extreme without artificial
heat, why not throw away the fireless
box and raise the chicks naturally
and sensibly, as human baby would
be raised, in room heated to the
proper temperature and without the
stuffy, smelly, reeking hovers?
Just who was the first man to try
this is not known positively. Peta-
humans are too big and broad and
busy to waste time squabbling for the
credit of it, but to the best of my be-
lief, Mr.. Thos. Vestal, was the first
to use this method on a large scale
In the spring of 1903 he placed g.
600 newly Matched chicks in six
rooms, about 16x2O it., 1000 chicks
to room and of these 5000 chicks
he raised 1913 to the broiler size.
Can you beat that? | admit that
can't. Given 5000 chicks distribut-
ed among 100 lamp brooders or
twice that number of the fireless
kind | should not expect to raise S9.6
per cent of them to broiler age as
Mr.. Vestal did in his big rooms.
for 1t must be remembered that there
is great difference between looking
after few breeders and looking
after one or two hundred of them.
Here are some figures. Mr.. H.
F. Arenberg put 100 chicks in a
room 16x20 feet, killed off a number
of cripples and weaklings and at ten
weeks had 1910 chicks so good that
the broilers sold for $3.50 per dozen.
Mr.. c. d. Carpenter put 1000 chicks
in three rooms and at three months
sold 1850 broilers and 1908 pullets,
"a per cent of the number he start
ed with.
While in Petaluma last winter I
saw one of these rooms, containing
500 chicks, which was heated by an
old-fashioned wood burning box
stove and the owner had to get up
twice during each night to tend his
fire, but in spite of that, the chicks
thrived and grew finely with but lit
tie loss. Another chick raiser had
his room heated by a base burning
coal stove which needed tending at
least once during every night, but
with few exceptions all the chick
rooms in Petaluma are heated by
stoves with distillate burners. This
| a fefi Of q