Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-05-13

man can in this way take care of the
Matching of vast number of chicks
Fifteen eggs are as many as large
hen could cover, even in warm wealth
er 1t is plain therefore, that giant
Matching machine with a capacity of
10000, is equal to more than $50 hens
all sitting at one time. This is one
of the reasons why the poultry indus
try is taking rank with the dairy bust
ness, fruit culture, or even with gen.
eral farming, as possible source Of
large profits. On one poultry farm
saw an incubator cellar with a total
output capacity of $4,000 baby chicks
every three weeks.
Large-CoIony Brooding System
Hatching is not the only trick to be
turned. Suppose the chicks by tens
of thousands are out of the shells
what then?
A short time ago I saw forty-five
out of q 6,000-capacity incubator. How
can such a horde of fluffy tender
things be cared for?
The care of the young chicks has
been as serious a problem as the get
ting of them. The "brooder stove"
makes this task comparatively easy.
These stoves are modern inven-
and with capacities ranging from 800
to 1900 each Such are the listed
capacities of the stoves. Any one
will readily recognize, however, that
there is large risk in massing as many
as 800 chicks in one flock. 1t will
be much safer and wiser for all except
those who are expert in such work,
to handle a much smaller number. AS
skill is developed the fiocks may be
enlarged.
This colony brooder system bears
the same relation to the raising of the
chicks up to 10 weeks old that the
great incubating process bears to the
Matching of the chicks. With these
two modern improvements in poultry
culture it is plain that the possibili-
ties of the business are multiplied 10
fold over what they were a few years
ago.
Suppose we take brooder house
14X2S feet as unit of operation. It
may be divided into two rooms IA feet
square. In one of these rooms a
brooder colony stove is placed in the
center. Seven or eight hundred new
ly hatched chicks may easily be cared
for here until three or four weeks old,
when they may be given the run of
both rooms. This is the most critical
period in the young chicks life. Get
the little tender things through the
fourth week in capital condition, and
you have them practically out of
the danger zone.
Modern brooding on a big scale,
therefore, is the second great step to-
ward possibilities for big business in
poultry culture. A third is:
The Large Laying Flock
A quarter of century ago the
highest authorities allowed only ff-
teen fowls in a flock. The average
floor space allotted to each laying hen
was not to be less than 10 square feet
These conditions were insisted upon as
essential.
Steadily, however. as experiments
proceeded, the fiocks were enlarged,
and the average floor space for each
fowl was reduced. at the present
time laying hens are kept in fiocks of
from 100 to 1900. On the largest
poultry farms where the aim is most
the number usually runs from ESQ to
500 in each laying pen.
This large flock principle has been
found to work we'll in the hands of
skilled poultrymen. The danger
from disease is much greater where
many birds are massed together. But
the man who knows the vital import
ance of cleanliness, fresh air, and the
right kind of a balanced ration every
day in the year. will not be running
great risks. The labor-saving factor
here is immense.
For example, l visited one big plant
where 500 layers are kept in each lay
ing house. One man was attending to
the feeding of seven of these flocks, or
a total of $500 fowls. Had they
been divided into pens of Is fowls
each, according to the old method, he
would have had 23S pens to visit att
each feeding.
Thus it may be seen that the wages
of several men are saved by this dis
covery of the large laying flock prin-
ciple. Besides, the space required for
each fowl on the average is not more
than one-third of what would be re-
quired under the old system of from
IL to 15 hens in a pen. 1t is true,
a smaller percentage of eggs will be
produced under the extensive method
of operation than by the inextensive
system. But the loss sustained in this
way will be small In comparison with
the gain in the saving of labor and
space.
Markets and High Prices
The great cities are constantly in
creaslng their population. The large
towns are rapidly growing into cities.
The consumer is multiplying In the
land much more rapidly than the pro-
ducer. The rush from the rural dis