fine birds^i^'thu'l^tf Eta E|g' Farm. °' ^'°°'^'' '"'"'" ^'"^ '"''"=*"'^' """"^ ^'^°'*'' ^'^^'"^ ^^^^ P"""'^ ^''ved for brooders and layers. About 1200 



Pigeons, white and colored, are carried for squab raising 

 and breeding stock purposes. This plant is operated ex- 

 clusively by Mr. William Harris, the proprietor, and one 

 man as a helper. That the business is a paying one is ap- 

 parent to the most casual observer visiting the plant. Every- 

 thing about the place looks and breathes prosperity and it 

 is all well managed poultry prosperity too. 



At the time of our visit in June a picker was busily en- 

 in picking broiler-size surplus cockerels to take ad- 

 vantage of the high market prices as well as to get rid of 

 undesirable male birds and give the growing pullets more 

 room and freedom from annoyance. Some fine breeding 

 birds are undoubtedly sacrificed by this early culling before 

 the birds have matured sufficiently to show what is in them, 

 but it is considered the wisest course and it pays. 



Labor Saving Fixtures 



We took a picture of one of the wire carrying crates 

 filled with culled cockerels ready for killing, with a few pair 

 of dressed broilers taken at random from the cooling bath 

 and placed on a large rhubarb leaf on top of the crate. These 

 broilers were then wholesaling for from $1.25 to $1.50 per 

 pair. The picker receives five cents- each for dry picking, 

 and judging from the number he piled up while we were on 

 the plant he was in a fair way to make a good day's pay. 



The wire carrying crate shown in the illustration would 

 prove a great convenience on any poultry farm. They are 

 built on a light pine frame and covered with one-inch mesh 

 hexagon poultry netting. The dimensions are about 3J feet 

 long by 18 inches wide and they are divided in the center 

 by a partition of one-inch mesh poultry wire. On top near 

 the center two pieces of 10-inch wide board serve as trap 

 doors to give access to the interior; one of these doors is 

 shown partly open. The remainder of the top is covered 

 in with poultry wire. The floor is of light J-inch pine, and, 

 as will be noted, the bottom side-strip to which the wire 

 netting is tacked is raised to leave about half an inch space 

 between it and the floor. This gives a self-cleaning coop, as 

 the chickens in moving about scratch the droppings out 

 through this space on either side. Cleats at both eftds afford 

 convenient handles for carrying the crate. We noticed a 

 dozen or more of these crates on different parts of the plant 

 arid found that they were used for moving colonies of 

 chickens about the plant, for transferring culls to the 



killing house, or confining small flocks for convenience in 

 handling and culling. 



Another labor-saving device on this plant is the break- 

 ing-up coop used for broody hens, there being one located in 

 nearly every breeding pen. The dimensions of this break- 

 ing-up coop are much the same as those of the carrying crate, 

 but it has a slat bottom of 2-inch slats placed about 2 inches 

 apart, and is provided with four stout legs. There is no 

 center partition and there is but one trap door in the top. 

 Attached to one of the side posts is a drinking can made of 

 an ordinary tin tomato can pierced with holes and fastened 

 with wire to the post. This breaking-up coop is shown in 

 the accompanying illustration, together with a view of one 

 of the laying houses and a portion of one of the flocks of 

 breeding birds. Broody hens when found on the nest at 

 night are immediately placed in one of these breaking-up 

 coops where a few days' confinement cures them of their 

 desire to sit. 



The buildings used on this plant are almost entirely on 

 the continuous house plan containing from 3 to 10 or more 

 pens with a capacity of 25 to 30 layers to each pen. In the 

 breeding season some selected flocks are reduced to 10 to 

 15 choice females mated with one male, while in other houses 

 two or more male birds are allowed to run with larger flocks. 

 The houses are a combination of the closed and muslin-front 

 type, glass windows being alternated with muslin screens so 

 that an abundance of fresh air is supplied at all times. 



The yards are for the most part temporary in character, 

 the high hexagon wire netting being hung from posts by 

 wire nails and weighted at the bottom with heavy stones to 

 keep the fowls confined. This manner of putting up fences 

 makes it easy to change the size of yards and shift fencing 

 whenever it is desired to do so. 



Very few chicks are raised under hens, although many 

 of them are hen-hatched. On the opposite side of the road 

 from the dwelling house is located a large brooder bNailding 

 32 feet wide by 100 feet long. This is heated by a hot water 

 heater bedded in brick and cement, a ba,nk of four 2-inch 

 pipes being used for both flow and return under the old style 

 regulation box brooding hovers. In this house practically 

 all the chicks are brooded, whether hen-hatched or incubator- 

 hatchied. In' the summer season^ the end of the building 

 furthest from the heater is used as sleeping quarters for the 

 growing pullets. • 



77 



