The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1909-09-10
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CHICKENS BY MODERN METHODS
Y anyone is qualified to talk on the
subject of chicken raising by modern
methods, it is w. R. Curtiss, of Ran
somvfile, N. Y, one of the Curtiss
brothers. who not only raise many
thousands of ducks every year.. sue
cessfully, and make this branch of
the poultry business pay them well,
but who in 1908 also managed to
raise about. $4,000 chicks with sue
cess and profit. The proof of the
pudding is in the eating thereof. Mr..
Curtiss freely gave away the secrets
OF their success or successes, in an
address at the recent poultry insti-
tute at Cornell University. He first
laid particular stress on the quality
OF the eggs used for Matching. This
is the real and only foundation. You
have to have strong eggs, and strong
ly fertile eggs, he said Breeders
/ that were fed by the dry mash sys-
tenn gave eggs of the highest fertility;
the fertility of the season averaged
fully ten per cent. better than when
wet mash was given You can't raise
strong chicks from weak eggs, and
wet mash is more likely to give
weak eggs than a dry mash.
No incubator ever made, so Mr..
Curtiss claims, can hatch as strong
chicks as the old hen: we are not
yet able to improve upon natures
way. We can't. however, grow large
numbers of chicks with hens: If we
want great many chicks we must
employ artificial methods of Matching
and brooding. After the chicks are
Matched. we want to raise them, and
not see one after another dropping
on. The hot water pipe broodsr.
With hover 1t back closed, was not
round satisfactory. The plan of driv.
j. ing the chicks cut from under the
hovers three or four times day, to
get them out into the air, was tried
and helped some, but the results were
not wholly satisfactory. Then the
hovers were changed and arranged
with a 6-inch space at the back, be.
yond the pipes, and this was an inn
provement. There was room both in
front and in the rear for them to run
out. Installing the Universal hovers
in colony houses gave splendid re-
suits. The chicks grew well ana
crowded outdoors Of their own volt.
ton. The Curtiss brothers last year
built an incubator room from two
Mammoth incubators, two stories
high asfsg the second story for a
broo1er konee. The lower story is
ten feet high and the second story
eight feet, with a fiat roof. The
chicks are brooded by the pipe sys-
tenn, using the heat from the heater
which runs the incubators on the floor
below. Universal hovers are placed
over the pipes. In the hours tenn
perature of so to 20 degrees is main.
tanned, and 90 degrees under the how
ers.
Mr. Curtiss believes it does not
matter much what you feed, SO long
as you have good, strong. vigorous
chicks. He feeds variety, as variety
prompts the chick to eat The infer
tile eggs are boiled hard, and mixed
with other stuff TO make a GRUMPY
mass. For this purpose, bran and
low grade of flour, with little corn
meal is used The floors of the pens
are covered with cut clover, and chick
food is scattered all through it, For
a change, pin-head oat meal and pin
head wheat is given Try to give
something new all the time. He says:
Don't put too many chicks together
in box, 80 to 35 is enough. They
lifted up the cover if they appeared
to be warm, and took off the cover al.
together towards the last, The ami
NAL heat was sufficient. They run
into the box to get warmed up; all
run In or all run out together. Their
colony houses are 6x6 feet on the
ground, and they put a partition in
to prevent the youngsters crowding."
The pullets should all be we'll
housed before the cold equinoxial
storms come. Getting them into
winter quarters in good season heads
of colds. A lot of good air is wanted
in incubating eggs and brooding
chicks. The matches in the well-ven-
tilated new incubator house average
five per cent. better than the matches
used to be in the old cellar After
ALL, 1t is success that tells the story
and tells it straight And the Cur.
tiss' surely have the success -Prac-
teal Farmer.
PRESERVING EGGS
Farmers who have good cellar