The theocrat. [volume] (Zion City [i.e. Zion], Ill.) 1914-1949, 1916-05-20

into the business himself and kept at it
until he lost all he had made.
This gentleman, whom we visited, has
built up large business and expects to
enlarge it soon. He has done all the
work himself. He has built the houses,
the incubators and breeders, and seems
to be quite genius. He has some origi-
nal ideas which he has worked out.
He has two incubators that hold 1000
eggs each, and then a smaller one. The
two larger ones were full of eggs and
chicks. His equipments were all plain,
made for work and not for show, al
though the owner was millionaire sew
eral times over, and has half million,
or more, mansion there on the farm in
sight of these chicken houses.
The incubators were made of plain
boards with no paint. The top, matched
boards with a packing underneath, and
another floor below of heavy material
to prevent the heat escaping or passing
through. The bottoms were made of a
heavy CLOTH The large incubator was
heated with hot water: the fuel used was
coal oil in rather small lamp, which
was very easily supplied with oil. He
said it took about one gallon Of oil a day
to run it, and he bought the oil at whole
sale price, which made it very cheap.
His 1000 egg machine, which would
cost more than 5000 if purchased from
the regular trade, he had built himself,
at cost of $25, not counting his time
and some secondhand material which
he used He had then, $500 chicks of
different ages in his two brooder houses,
which he had Matched this spring, and
1900 or 1900 more coming off that day.
There were 1900 in one house, and 1000
in another
He builds his houses square. These
were &c feet square, with windows all
round on every side. There was heat
ing arrangement Of hot water pipes in
the center of the large room, and made
circular with an open space in the cen
ter. These pipes run around this cir
cular space and are a little raised above
the floor, then thickly covered to hold
the heat Under there the little fellows
run for warmth He also has a con-
venient way of cleaning under the
brooder. There is large canvas, made
of prepared cloth, oiled This can be
taken out and cleaned with hose, which
is close by, and which supplies plenty of
water for all purposes. The heating Of
the brooder is on the same plan as that
of the incubator. 1t is very simple,
easily taken care Of, cheap and does the
business. He informed us that he ex-
pected to build two more incubators Of
the same capacity as those he now has.
His line has been in broilers. He
raises them to the broiler size, of ~ to
q pounds, sells them at rs cents apiece
and can't supply the demand, he says
He doesn't keep many hens, only enough
to supply the "boss" and home demands.
We have been championing the old
hen for some time, and her ability to
make good as a paying proposition for
Zion and for some good chicken men,
We were very glad to have the oppor-
tunity to look in on the thing in actual
operation, and made successful under
well-knoWn business company that
knows how to make a business pay.
This gentleman remarked that the
secret in the business was in the econ
omy of labor: have it so arranged that
one man can run large business. This
is in the planning Of the plant. He can
care for 1000 egg incubators about as
quickly and easily as most men care for
400, with the small machines and I'M
handy heating apparatus. He feeds and
warns and cleans for 1900 chicks in the
same easy way: one lamp does the whole
heating. His feed is in large bins in
feed house, and bought in large quaint
ties. The feeding and watering are
simple and easy. He feeds 16 gallons of
milk a day. It is poured into large pan
fixed so the chicks cannot get into it.
He said he could attend to four of those
large incubators himself 5000 eggs-at
once
Our visit was very interesting, as
we'll as profitable, but too short to do
justice to the subject.