THE LEGHORNS 



127 



that was susceptible of being carried out on a large scale 

 ultimately, we adopted the Maine Experiment Station 

 system of feeding. This is to scatter in the litter each 

 night after dark, four quarts of cracked corn per one hun- 

 dred birds, and at ten A. M. to scatter four quarts of 

 whole wheat in the litter. Supply fresh water each morn- 

 ing and feed the green bone one-half ounce to a hen. At 

 noon feed green food — cabbages, which we obtain from 

 the farmers about; otherwise, alfalfa. There is kept be- 

 fore the fowls all the time a dry mash consisting (by 

 weight) of two parts bran, one part wheat middlings, one 

 part corn meal, one-quarter part oil meal, one part beef 

 scraps. This is fed in hoppers. Oyster shell, grit and 

 charcoal are before the fowls always. 



Hens kept as a side line on this system can be tended 

 night and morning, if necessary, with equally good re- 

 sults. All grain could be scattered at night and the bone 

 and green food fed when watering in the morning. 



Fertility of the Eggs 



It is generally conceded that it is not necessary to 

 keep males with the pullets in order that a good egg yield 

 may be obtained. We have found, however, that it is ad- 

 visable to keep one or two males in a house with sixty 

 females. Left to themselves the females are apt to pick 

 at one another. Such a male is of course of no use later 

 as a breeder, and we, therefore, use old cocks in the 

 laying house. 



One of the difficult problems that is ever before the 

 poultryman is the question of fertility. I append a table 

 showing the fertility of our eggs last season. 



Aurora Leghorn Farm, Fertility of Hatching Eggs, 1908 



Per Mo. 



Teated Cant Oiieks 



Date Set No. Eggs Out Fertile Hatched 



March 8 129 11 .92 78 



March 15 121 8 .93 94 



March 23 391 35 .91 291 



April 3 220 22 .90 149 



April 8 120 6 .95 91 



April 17 391 43 .89 287 



April 29 120 11 .90 83 



May 9 390 36 .91 234 



May 9 390 38 .90 235 



May 13 390 36 .90 289 



May 16 390 26 .93 316 



May 27 '. 12U 11 .90 99 



May 31 390 69 .82 143 



May 31 390 ■ 72 .81 187 



June 6 390 85 .78 230 



June 13 390 96 .75 251 



June 18 120 36 .70 74 



June 28 390 150 .62 191 



June 28 390 141 .63 179 



July 4 390 111 .71 173 



July 10 390 69 .82 272 



The two machines set on May 9th were delayed in ar- 

 riving and were set with eggs that had been saved for 

 them, the oldest eggs being four weeks old. This resulted 

 in relatively poor hatches. It will be noted that the ma- 

 chines filled immediately afterwards with eggs not over 

 a week old, gave the best hatches of the season. 



All our machines are of the same make — concededly 

 one of the btst manufactured. Yet we notice a marked 

 difference in their performance for which we cannot ac- 

 count. 



How We Get Fertile Eggs 



It will be noticed from the table above that we had 

 very excellent fertility up to the end of May — which marks 

 the end of the setting season for the commercial farmer. 

 We account for this as follows: 



Our males are kept separated from the females from 

 October until February. They are made to "rough it," be- 

 ing allowed out in all kinds of weather; whereas the hens 

 are kept confined in the fresh air houses all winter — from 

 Thanksgiving to St. Patrick's Day. When we mate up, 

 we put in one cockerel to twenty females. This is done 

 about two weeks before the fowls are let out. When they 

 are allowed out, the flocks have free range. We then in- 

 troduce enough additional males to make the proportion 

 one to fifteen, and we find by this method that all the hens 

 receive attention, as the cockerels introduced last, acquire 

 a following of their own. In this way a more natural se- 

 lection is affected. The birds will mate themselves bet- 

 ter than we can do it for them. All specimens being of the 

 type we desire, we do not seek "special matings." 



We keep our hens two years, and we find that they 

 lay as pullets much better than as hens. If it were not 

 that we need the hens as breeders, we would keep only 

 pullets. We have not tried the enforced molt on the Van 

 Dresser system of withholding food for two or three 

 weeks and putting the hens on a grass run, some time 

 in July or August. We object to doing this, as we con- 

 sider it unnatural to force the molt, and feel that it is 

 bound to hurt the vitality of the hen, which we wish to 

 use as a breeder. We are probably wrong, but "stick 

 close to nature" is our motto, and we are satisfied with 

 our results. 



What We Have Accomplished 



And now as to results. Ours is an egg farm. We 

 cater to the largest market in the New World. It has 

 been said that if all the vacant land within fifty miles of 

 New York City were to be occupied by poultry farms, 

 they could not begin to supply the eggs used within the 

 city. Furthermore, western and market eggs generally 

 are so stale when they reach the consumer in this city, 

 that there is an unlimited deinand for really fresh eggs 

 (not over three days old) at prices ranging from forty 

 cents to sixty cents per dozen. To substantiate this state- 

 ment I will say that we accept the entire shipments of a 

 number of men who buy and raise our day-old chicks, 

 and put these eggs out to our private trade. We can do 

 this fairly, as the chickens are really the same as our own 

 and their eggs are consequently quite uniform with ours. 

 We guarantee these men that they will receive fifteen cents 

 above the average market price on the New York Produce 

 Exchange. This is net to them. 



Our egg yield in our novice year was 144.4 eggs per 

 hen. In our second year it was 162.4, and this year it 

 bids fair to exceed that mark. Of course we started 

 small. The first year we had one house full — the portable 

 "Style A" illustrated herein. At the end of the year, we 

 took down our portable house and moved to the two- 

 acre, old homestead at East 49th street on the old Mill 

 Lane — quite an historic road in Brooklyn in Revolu- 

 tionary times. That winter we had two hundred forty 

 layers and this winter we have three hundred and twenty 

 layers. For the winter of 1909 we. are planning to have at 

 least six hundred layers. 



The increase in our average egg yield is due to trap- 

 nesting all layers and selecting therefrom those that pro- 

 duce over one hundred sixty eggs per year. Only vigorous, 

 well-sized birds, in excellent condition are taken. We 



