516 1111-^ GARDEN AND FIELD. 



Prodtictioi\ for Profit. 



The following description of an 

 Ensrlisli egg' farm in Hampsliire, 

 and the account of the methods 

 that have been adopted by the pro- 

 prietor to make egg production in 

 that country successful, will be of 

 interest to all who keep poultry for 

 profit. The circumstances under 

 which the farm was establis'heJ 

 are as follows : — The proprietor 

 was iJerhaps one of the most suc- 

 cessful of the large egg producers 

 on Vancouver Island ; two years 

 ago he returned to England, pur- 

 chased ten acres of farmed-oiit land, 

 and commenced to build up a plant 

 suitable for egg production on a 

 large scale. The farm is run 

 purelv for profit, and is at pre- 

 sent stocked with i,fSoo \^Tiite Leg- 

 horns. As regards housing, four 

 large laying houses have been 

 each accommodating four hundred 

 birds, while a brooder house for 

 2,500 chickens, and .various houses 

 for cockerels and other stock are 

 provided. 



— Hatching and Rearing. — 



Until recently half a dozen in- 

 cubators were used on the farm, 

 each capable of holding 360 eggs, 

 but the proprietor has now in- 

 stalled an incubator of a new type, 

 capable of carrying many thou- 

 sands of eggs, and of effecting a 

 sa\ing in fuel and labour. 



Rggs are set for hatching from' 

 jjullets mav commence laying in 

 pulfets may commence laying in 

 October. On the average, six per 

 cent, of the eggs prove infertile, 

 w^hile the number of fertile eggs 

 hatched usually reach 75 per cent. 

 One half of the flock is reserved for 

 breefliu"- iMir noses, and for the re- 

 mainin"- half pullets are substi- 

 tuted e^'erv year. In order to ac- 

 comidish this, it has been neces- 

 sary, up to the present, to incu- 

 bate 4,000 eggs in two hatches. 

 Eight hundred puHlets are reared 

 annually for renewing the stock 

 on the farm. Some ^o,ooo eggs 

 are sold for hatching each y«ar, 

 and the price obtained is 5/- for 

 each sitting of T'5 eggs, 35/ for a 

 batch of no, and £;i'5 for I, Too. 

 The extra number of eggs is given 

 in order to cover inevitable break- 

 ages and infertile eggs. A sitting 

 of egfs from a first-class laying 

 pen of birds will, of course, be an 

 expensive itein. The proprietor of 

 the farm in question states that 

 he has paid as much as ^5 for 

 for such eggs. 



— Brooders or Foster Mothers. — 



The ordinary hot-water type of 

 brooder is hebl in no great favour 



on this Hampshire egg farm. The 

 ventilation is said to be faulty, 

 and requires continual adjustment 

 to keep in proper order; there are 

 numerous lamps which require at- 

 tention ; the cost of working the 

 brooder ' is described as being ex- 

 cessive, and the initial cost is high, 

 while a great deal of valuable time 

 has to be de\oted to the regula- 

 tion of the temperature. On the 

 farm in question the temperature 

 in the brooder house is greater 

 near the pipes than elsewhere, so 

 that the chicks, if cold, go near 

 them, and if too hot away from 

 them. This house is very large, 

 and pro\ides plenty of air spa»:e. 

 Anthracite coal is used as fuel, 

 and in order to attend to the fire 

 nro]:erly, two visits in twenty- 

 four hours are required. The pro- 

 prietor estimates the actual, cost of 

 fuel at /jd. per chick for two 

 months. 



The special type of brooder used 

 on this farm has a capacity reck- 

 oned at 2,500 chicks. The brooder 

 house is iio feet long, 12 feet wide, 

 and is di\^ided into twenty pens, 

 each 5ft. wide, and 8 feet long. 

 There is a furnace pit in the cen- 

 tre, 10 feet by 8 feet, and a pas- 

 sage at the back, 4 feet wide, run- 

 ning the entire length of the build- 

 ing, with doors at each end, and 

 one door at the back opposite the 

 furnace, with removable windows 

 in the doors. The floors are of 

 boards, which are covered with 

 sand and small litter to a depth 

 of 3 inches. On the north side are 

 six windows, and the south side is 

 of glass. Wire nettling is used for 

 the divisions and gates into the 

 passage. In each of the twenty 

 separate pens in the brooder house 

 123 chicks are accommodated, the 

 number bein? gradually reduced by, 

 say, twenty-five per cent of deaths, 

 and by the removal of a certain 

 number of cockerels as soon as the 

 sex can be distinguished, thus re- 

 ducing the number of birds in each 

 department as they grow in si7.e. 

 The birds actually remain in the 

 brooder house for from six weeks 

 to two months, according to the 

 weather conditions ;, but in the case 

 of White Iveghorns, practically all 

 the cockerels can be detected at 

 two months, and quite a large 

 number at from five to six weeks. 



— Housing Accommodation. — 



The farm itself is situated at an 

 elevation of six hundred feet. The 

 housing accommodation for the 

 l>irds is a matter of difficulty, es- 

 pecially in the case of a comraer- 

 L > ' . 



April, 191 



cial egg farm where large flocks 

 have to be catered for. On the 

 farm under consideration, the pul- 

 8ets are removed to small port- 

 able colony houses when the lay- 

 ing-houses are full of adult stock ; 

 and they remain there untlil they 

 are about five months' old. Each 

 of the temporary colony hous'es is 

 large enough to accommodate 50 

 birds. The floor is of loose boards 

 covered with earth and straw ; the 

 front is of wire, and there are 

 three perches. These colony houses 

 are 6 feet wide, 4 feet high tin front, 

 and 3 feet Mgh at the back. They 

 are built of timber, and covered 

 with a patent roofing felt, and are 

 portable. In short, they may be 

 described as miniature laying- 

 houses. 



The permanent quarters for the 

 adult fowls are much larger, each 

 house being built to accommodate 

 four hundred birds ; they are 9 feet 

 wide, 180 feet in length, 5-1 feet high 

 in front, 4 feet high at the back, 

 and are divided into a mimber of 

 partitions at every 10 feet by a 

 board running 6 feet across the 

 floor. The houses are also fitted 

 with glass fronts, and there is a 

 wire covering under the hood to 

 allow free circulation of air. There 

 are perches at the back, fixed over 

 a dropping board 2 feet wide and 

 raised to a similar distance above 

 the ground ; the boards are cov- 

 ered with fresh earth every week. 



In the front are placed remov- 

 able ne.st boxes, and over these 

 and under the hood are situated 

 broody coops. At the north and 

 south sides of the house are doors 

 for hens, and the attendants can 

 enter by means of doors placed at 

 the two ends of the house, and 

 also at inter\als of 30 or 40 feet 

 along one side. Each house stands 

 on one acre of ground, and the 

 birds run on to the south half-acre, 

 in winter, and on to the north 

 half-acre in summer ; and as soon 

 as the plot of ground is vacated 

 by the birds, it is immediaitely 

 ploughed and sown with wheat 

 and thousand%eaded kale. This 

 system of management ensures an 

 adequate supply of fresh green food 

 for the birds, and at the same 

 time keeps the soil sweet and 

 wholesome. 



— Feeding. — 



The thousand-headed kale that 

 is grown as described in the pre- 

 ceding paragraph is supplemented 

 by an extra half-acre or so of the 

 same fodder crop, which is grown 

 ey^ry year, afid, if necessary, a 

 few tons of roots, such as tiirnips, 

 swedes, or mangolds, are pur- 

 chased and scattered whole — not 



