HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



Siit.'<'essf III Poultry Tours 



Continued from page 1, cohinin 1 

 flocks of birds. Mr. Cook expects to 

 house 1500 fine pullets this fall. By the 

 looks of the birds on the range he can do 

 it easily. 



At W. F. Tegethoff's in Belchertown 

 there were about 800 fine Rhode Island 

 Eed Pullets. Here some interesting la- 

 bor saving devices were seen. The open 

 range house is built similar to the M. A. 

 C. plans but has the roof in four sections 

 which makes it easier to handle. The 

 range hoppers are simply boxes with a 

 grate made of lathes. The.se hold 60 

 pounds of mash and are waste proof. The 

 watering device used on the place was in- 

 genious and eflicient. Mrs. Tegethoff" 

 showed eight yearling birds which have 

 given remarkable production this year. 

 Cockerels have been saved from this mat- 

 ing to be used on the flock next year. 

 The rest of the birds were bought as day 

 old chicks. 



The next stop was at Henry Witt's. 

 His system of watering chicks is rather 

 novel. Three barrels, connected near 

 the bottom with pipes, are set up in a corn 

 crib behind the barn. These are filled 

 with a hose from the cow stable. Then 

 the water is piped to the range. On the 

 range the water is allowed to drip into 

 pans by using automobile pet cocks. The 

 pipe and fittings were purchased from a 

 mail order house at little cost. The bar- 

 rels do not have to be filled over twice 

 a week and this is done at the same time 

 that the cows are being watered. On the 

 range there are box hoppers with grates 

 in them for mash and scratch feed. The 

 roof for the range hopper is simple and 

 efficient. By using the range hoppers 

 and the watering system Mr. Witt figures 

 that it does not take him over two hours 

 a week to feed and water his four hun- 

 dred pullets. He also told of his ex- 

 perience with a lot of 400 white diarrhea 

 infected chicks. He only raised 7.5 of 

 these and sold them as broilers. After 

 thoroughly disinfecting the house an- 

 other lot of chicks were put in and raised 

 with practically no loss. All of the stock 

 on this farm was bought as day old 

 chicks. 



The next stop was at Mr. George E. 

 Scott's. Mr. Scott runs his poultry busi- 

 ness differently than most people in the 

 county in that the pullets are sold early 

 in April befoie the day old chicks arrive. 

 Two of the hen houses are used as brooder 

 hou.ses. A two year range rotation is 

 used. For most people this would not 

 be safe but Mr. Scott has one of the 

 neatest poultry plants in the county. 

 This is the first year that he has fed the 

 .scratch feed as well as the mash in hop- 

 pers and he stated that he was pleased 

 not only with the saving in labor but al.so 

 with the way the pullets looked. 



The trip ended at Edward Schmidt's. 

 Here the barn is being remodelled .so that 



there are two 30' x 40' and two 12' x 30' 

 pens on the first and second floors. Mr. 

 Schmidt stated that last year he could 

 see no difference in the way the hens 

 laid on the first and second floors. About 

 1.500 pullets will be housed this fall. Mr. 

 Schmidt al.so showed his four new por- 

 table brooder houses which are 10 ft. 

 front by 12 ft. deep. He said that these 

 were more satisfactory than the older 

 houses which are 12 ft. long by 10 ft. 

 deep. 



Kastern Trip 



The eastern trip took in plants in i 

 Greenwich and North Dana. The start 

 was made at Frank Case's in Green- 

 wich. There ara about 800 Leghorn pul- 

 lets on the farm. This year a barn was 

 used as a brooder house and will be re- 

 modelled as a hen house this fall having 

 hens on both floors. Professor Monahan 

 explained the requirements of good hous- 

 ing and showed how the barn should be 

 fixed. Mr. Case is using hoppers made 

 of boxes obtained at the grocery store 

 with grates of lathes in them. They 

 cost practically nothing yet they are 

 practically waste proof. 



M. T. Schermerhorn's plant was next 

 visited. Here the chicks are hatched on 

 the farm. The pullets are of different 

 ages as seven hatches had to be taken off 

 before getting the required number. The 

 hens are kept in colony houses of various 

 types holding about 100 birds each. About 

 800 pullets will be housed this year. 



At Charles Wheeler's plant everyone 

 had to walk through a pen of disinfectant 

 before going onto the range. Mr. Wheeler 

 stated that he was trying to make his 

 Disease Control demonstration 100 per 

 cent perfect. By the looks of the pullets 

 it would seem that he is succeeding. Here 

 a different type of hopper was being suc- 

 cessfully used for both scratch feed and 

 mash. Mr. Wheeler said that this was 

 the first year that he had ever fed scratch 

 feed in hoppers. He said that he was 

 pleased with the results and that he had 

 never raised chickens with so little labor 

 before. Another interesting feature was 

 that he had a fine patch of rape which 

 he uses for green feed. 



The trip ended at Henry Lego's. 

 Everyone was interested in his remodelled 

 hen house and his system of keeping the 

 hens ort" the manure by putting hen wire 

 under the roosts. This year he has put 

 up an 800 gallon tank on an elevated 

 platform to water his chickens. The 

 water is pumped by a gasoline engine 

 into the tank and then is piped to the 

 range. The 3000 leghorns on the place 

 are fed both mash and scratch feed in 

 M. A. C. range hoppers. Rape is used 

 to furnish green feed for the chickens. 

 Everyone was interested to see Mr. Lego 

 pick a Leghorn broiler in 21 minutes. 

 He stated that they used to scald all of 

 the broilers but since Professor Mona- 



han showed them how to dry pick 

 they could do it this way easier and 

 quicker. He .stated that he was inter- 

 ested also in a cooperative egg market- 

 ing association and would like to see one 

 started. 



Western Irip 



At S. Ellis Clark's in Williamsburg the 

 group saw a plant where all of the birds 

 are hatched on the place and day old 

 chicks sold. On the range the chicks 

 are fed by the hopper method with satis- 

 factory results. An 8' x 12' shed roof 

 open air house was seen which aroused 

 a lot of interest. Mr. Clark has both 

 Rhode Island Reds and White Plymouth 

 Rocks. From the appearance of his birds 

 it would seem that he is carrying on a 

 successful disease control demonstration. 

 Right beside his range he has a patch of 

 rape which supplies his birds with plenty 

 of green feed. The watering system was 

 out of the ordinary in that two barrels 

 were mounted on skids and drawn with 

 a horse to the range. Then the water is 

 allowed to drip into pans. 



Many were interested in the 30' x 30' 

 house with the A roof which was built 

 according to M. A. C. plans. Mr. Clark 

 explained that the other houses wei*e 

 bought and moved onto the farm as there 

 were no hen houses on the place when 

 he came there twelve years ago. This 

 year Mr. Clark expects to house about 

 1000 pullets. All of the breeding stock 

 on this farm is tested and free from 

 white diarrhea 



The next stop was at the farm of C. P. 

 Otis. Here there were about 400 pullets 

 on the range. Mr. Otis had everyone 

 walk through disinfectant before enter- 

 ing the range as he is doing a thorough 

 job of disease control this year. The 

 Rhode Island Reds on this plant were 

 larger and better colored than the usual 

 Reds found in the county. Here too, the 

 birds were hopper fed with both mash 

 and scratch feed. 



At Mrs. Ida Rhoades' the entire plant 

 is equipped with the M. A. C. 8' x 12' 

 brooder houses. The Rhode Island Reds 

 are two types: M. A. C. and Standard. 

 All of the chicks are hopper fed. the hop- 

 pers being built according to the New 

 Hampshire plans. The laying houses 

 which will accommodate about 1000 birds 

 are built acording to the M. A. C. plans. 

 Last year one pen of birds was kept in 

 the upper story of the barn with good 

 success. The chickens on the plant were 

 all hatched on the place. All of the stock 

 is tested for white diarrhea. 



The trip ended at Frank Steele's in 

 Cummington where the open air houses 

 of the Tolman type shown in last month's 

 issue of the Monthly attracted consider- 

 able attention. Mr. Steele has as even a 

 lot of pullets as one could hope to see. 

 The impioved M. A. C. hoppers also took 

 the eye of many. Those who took the 

 Continued on paKu 10. column li 



