Egg money, how to increase it; a book of complete and reliable information on the more profitable production of eggs on the city lot, the village acre and the farm

Introduction

The production of eggs to be consumed as food has been is and probably always will be the mainstay of the poultry ndusfry The 7 fane/ poultry business, or the breeding of fowls primarily for exhibition, interests but a small- per cSVlTtotll number of poultry keepers ; the Wjto of poultry meat, as a separate branch of he industry s comparatively small— the greater part of the immense suX that finds its way to market annually is furnished bvXse who make the rearing of it secondary, or mcidental

t0 ^SpScf^agricultural or animal industry is there a more stable demand, year in yea. : out, than for this product of the domestic hen. Within the past iew vtrs the number marketed and consumed has increased tomendously; yet the prices have increased also proving SS is more than keeping pace with the supply, and indicatrg very positively that the business will not be ovfraonelr LIome P unprofitable, certainly not during the

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required s neither extensive nor costly; no one breed or variety of fowls is pre-eminently superior for the purpose, he main requirements are knowledge of how to conduct the business and willingness to attend faithfully to the : wori.

The production of eggs is profitable. No legitimate department of agricultural industry offers richer returns on'equalcapital invested to those who work ^^ understanding^ . When prices are lowesi in ^ the summer months, there is an opportunity for a fair profit < n the cost of production; when prices reach twenty thirty and fortv cents a dozen in the open market, as they do in eariy wSter the poultryman whose flock is presenting him a toSA&d pocket a one hundred per cent profi on the cost of production, as pay for his labor. A special trade with families, clubs or ultra highclass hotels sometimes secures a standing price of fifty cents or more per dozen for eggs of choice quality delivered regularly and in stated numbers.

Under ordinary circumstances and conditions, with the cost of foods and prices of eggs about the average for the United States, profits of one dollar to two dollars per hen have been realized by those who make eggs the main feature but do not neglect to profit by the sale of what may be called the incidental products, as, the surplus males, the discarded layers and the poultry manure. Under specially favorable conditions of location, market, etc., greater profits have been made and are made today. The keeper of a small flock usually makes the greatest profit on each fowl, for a considerable part of the cost of maintenance is saved by substituting table scraps and kitchen waste for much of the grain, beef scraps, etc., that must otherwise be bought and paid for. The farmer's flock can be fed for a very small money outlay, especially in summer when fifty hens will obtain most of their living if allowed to range over the average farm. The exclusive poultry keeper finds the cost of supporting his fowls heaviest for he almost invariably buys all the food stuffs; yet his profits are satisfactory if his methods are right.

It is our purpose to present in this book such information as may be followed with success by the city back-lot poultry keeper with a dozen fowls, the village mechanic with his half-acre to devote to the production of eggs, the farmer with his barnyard flock, or the exclusive poultry raiser who depends upon the difference between income and expenditure to pay the grocer and the clothier and provide the means to educate his children. It is a matter of record that no one method can be described which will prove adequate and suitable under all conditions with which the egg farmer on a large or small scale may be confronted. On that account we present the advice of different successful poultry keepers, which, taken as a whole, thoroughly covers the field of information on the more profitable production of eggs.

WEBB PUBLISHING CO.

EQUIPMENT REQUIRED.

The Kind and Amount of Land Needed — Location and Drain=

age — The Question of Large Versus Small Houses — Neces=

sary Coops, Fixtures and Utensils — Comparative

Cost of a Complete Outfit.

By H. A. Nourse.

The amount of land required depends, of course, upon the size of the business carried on. There must be a certain relative proportion of the number of fowls kept to the amount of room occupied, or, as a general rule, results will not be satisfactory.

Where it is the intention to keep fowls profitably for eggs, with the least expenditure of time in caring for them,, at least one hundred square feet of ground should be allowed each mature fowl to range over, when the weather permits them to be outdoors a large proportion of the time. Therefore a flock of ten hens would require approximately one thousand square feet, or a piece of ground ten feet wide and one hundred feet long, or about thirty-two feet square. On city back lots, where a less space must be used to accommodate this number of layers, additional labor is required to keep the surroundings sanitary, i. e., to prevent the ground itself from becoming ■" tainted" or loaded with filth which in time becomes poison.

On farms where free range may be provided during the greater part of warm weather, yards need not be as large, for the ground has opportunity to become cleansed through the growth of fresh vegetation in such months as the flock is not confined. As a rule, however, one hundred feet of yard room is the minimum space compatible with good health of the fowls, which in turn is necessary for a high rate of production of eggs.

The Character of the Soil.

. The exact make-up of the soil is not so material as is frequently claimed in articles of advice to poultry keepers. Formerly, very light, sandy soil was considered most desirable because of the contention that in such soil impurities were quickly driven below the surface by heavy rains, thus making the yards self-cleansing, as it were. On such ground it is almost impossible to maintain a good sod and steady growth of grass, something of no little importance in a poultry yard. It is a fact that a good growth of vegetation will do more in a month to cleanse the soil of impurities caused by the presence of the fowls than will all the rains that may «beat upon it in a year. For this reason soil that is capable of producing a good crop of grass is to be preferred.

The selection of exceedingly rich soil is not to be advised because the additional richness, or fertility, is not required for this purpose and may be put to better use in other lines of agricultural industry.

Location and Drainage.

A good location, with reference to securing protection from the cold winds of winter and making the most of the sun during the cold months, as well as comparatively good drainage, is decidedly important. The ideal location is in an orchard protected on the north by hills or groves, on land sloping to the south sufficiently to afford good surface drainage.

Inexpensive and Practical Continuous Houses in Use on a Weil-Known Poultry Farm Where Producing Eggs is the Main Business.

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A Substantially Built Continuous House Which is Typical of the More Expensive Style of Construction.

Of these matters good drainage is the most important since dampness under or around the poultry house is a sure forerunner of unhealthful conditions. The orchard is especially well adapted for the purposes of a poultry yard because its trees furnish shade in summer, and in the winter, when the leaves have fallen, interpose but little obstruction to the rays of the sun which in that season are a valuable aid to the health and comfort of the egg producers. Also, the presence of the fowls is of much value to the trees which receive more nourishment from the better fertilized ground and suffer less from the attacks of worms, since the latter are consumed in great measure by the fowls.

Where it is a case of poultry yards first and orchards later, it is advisable to set out fruit trees of whatever variety does best in that location, in all of the yards which are permanently located and also on the land which is intended for use in rearing the young stock each season. The person who keeps poultry in thickly settled portions of a village, or on a city lot or part thereof, sometimes finds himself unable to secure any of these favorable conditions for his flock. Sometimes his location is so hemmed in by buildings that the sun strikes it only at noonday, and the shade obtained is only that furnished by the surrounding buildings and provided by structures erected for the purpose. In such locations much additional labor is required to produce good results from the fowls kept, but it is done time and time again and good egg records and satisfactory profits are made.

The Necessary Buildings.

It is decidedly important that the house for the laying fowls provide certain conditions favorable to health and productiveness. The exact manner of providing these conditions is of less importance. An investigation of the houses on the plants of a dozen poultrymen who make the production of eggs the main object of their poultry business is likely to reveal the same number of different constructions. Yet these buildings may all serve the purpose with about equal efficiency. The main points to be considered are provision for reasonable warmth, proper ventilation and sufficient light. It makes little difference whether comfortable, healthful quarters are obtained by the use of one combination of building material, whether ventilation is provided by means of straw lofts or curtain fronts, or whether light is admitted through glass windows or cloth-filled apertures; that no method is entirely superior in all respects all experience proves.

If the amount of money invested is considered in figuring the profits, the houses should be built as simply and cheaply as is consistent with requirements. It is a fact that on most successful poultry plants where the owner depends upon the profit for his support, as well as in many back-lot poultry houses, the lumber used is of the cheapest kind, covered and made tight with tar paper or some brand of prepared roofing and siding. Double-wall houses, that is, houses boarded up on the inside and outside of the frame and either packed tight with some sort of filling or made tight to serve as a dead air space, are rapidly going out of use. The single-board structure, covered on the outside with one or two thicknesses of prepared fabric manufactured for the purpose, and perhaps with lining added back of and above the roosts, are proving more satisfactory, even in the coldest parts of the United States and in Canada. It is a fact, usually easy to demonstrate, that a double-

EQUIPMENT REQUIRED wall house contains an atmosphere with a perceptible chill during cold weather which is not found in a single-wall structure on the same plant.

How Much Glass?

A fault of the past has been the use of too much glass in the fronts or south sides of poultry houses; but people now appreciate the fact that glass will radiate heat one way

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as fast as another and a temperature of sixty degrees on a sunny day when the fowls are at work in the house scratching in the litter, followed by a temperature of some degrees below freezing the following night when the fowls are on the roost, is not at all conducive to good health or a profitable yield. A greater or less amount of ordinary cotton cloth is beginning to appear in the place of glass in poultry houses north and south, as the means of providing more fresh air for the fowls to breathe, thereby enriching their blood with the oxygen it contains and making them better able to resist cold. Some poultrymen have gone so far as to replace the entire south walls of their poultry houses with cloth, but the safer rule appears to be to divide the space that would ordinarily be occupied by glass in equal parts, filling one part with glass and one with cloth. In parts of the country where the thermometer records very low temperatures, additional protection is furnished on cold nights by a cloth curtain in front of the roosts. This com-

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bination of cloth in the south wall and the curtain in front of the roosts has proved satisfactory in Maine, Minnesota and Canada, as well as in states in warmer latitudes.

Large Versus Small Houses.

The question of large or small houses is an open one. Whether the colony system or the continuous house system is best for housing the laying stock depends considerably on the prevailing conditions of environment, the size of the business to be conducted and other factors too numerous to mention.

EQUIPMENT REQUIRED

There is no question that five hunderd layers can be cared for at less expense, especially in winter, if accommodated in a continuous house than if divided in small flocks and scattered over a large area in Colony houses. On some large egg farms where no fences are used, the colony house plan is used because the owners believe that the flocks are more easily kept separate if the buildings are scattered widely. To the contrary of this may be mentioned one of the best known egg farms in the United States where no yards are used and practically all the fowls are accommo-

A Continuous House in Which the Windows of the Roosting Pens and the Fronts of the Scratching Pens are of Cloth.

dated in continuous houses, some of which are more than three hundred feet long. In general it may be said that if yards are to be used the long nouses enable the caretaker to do the work in less time, therefore for less expense, but the flocks divided among colony houses are less likely to contract disease one from the other, provided a careless attendant allows disease to gain a foothold.

Coops and Utensils.

The successful egg farmer of today, whether he handles few or many fowls, raises his own stock each season. Where one hundred laying hens are wintered, we advise the use of incubators and brooders. If a less number are handled we doubt if their use is to be advised in a majority of cases. It may be urged that by the use of incubators and brooders, chicks may be hatched and reared early in the season when sitting hens cannot be obtained. But we must remember that in order to secure eggs when the price is high, in the early fall and winter, we must have early hatched fowls. These in turn will show a desire to incubate in the early spring — early enough to have the chicks hatched at the proper time. This, of course, does not apply in cases where the breed used is of the non-sitting class.

Brood coops are needed where hens do the rearing, and roosting coops are required whatever the method of hatching and caring for the little chicks. In addition to the houses, coops, incubators and brooders, very little in the way of equipment and utensils is necessary. Cookers for heating water and cooking food, troughs and shovels for mixing mashes, and pails for carrying the food to the houses complete the equipment, aside from that in the houses themselves which includes feeding troughs, dry food hoppers, grit and shell boxes, nests and water fountains. Shovels and hoes are required for caring for and cleaning the houses and a chest of tools is needed for making repairs, building coops and utensils.

The Comparative Cost.

With lumber and other building materials selling at the present high prices, with no prospect of lower prices in the future, it is, of course, impossible to construct a plant for egg production without considerable outlay; but from the cost of erecting barns and stables for horses and cows and the cost of erecting brooding houses, incubator cellars, etc., for broiler plants, it is evident that the cost of making a practical poultry plant where the production of eggs is to be the main feature is not by any means high. There is no one thing required for the business that is costly to purchase or construct and the chief expense of producing eggs is in the labor of caring for the fowls and the feed required.

SELECTING THE STOCK.

Strength, Vigor, Health and Increased Power of Production

are More Important Than Any Particular Breed or Varie=

ty — Standard Bred Fowls are Best on Account of

Greater Uniformity in Production and Product.

By H. A. Nourse.

The question, "What fowls are the best layers?" is frequently asked and the answer varies considerably. If the reply is made by one who has bred a certain variety of the American class from which he has secured a good egg yield, he recommends that variety. A man who has bred Leghorns or Minorcas with the same result advises the inquirer to select a variety of those breeds. A breeder of Langshans or perhaps one who has secured a heavy yield from a flock of Light Brahmas will be equally solicitous that the would-be poultry keeper adopt Langshans or Brahmas, as the case may be.

The fact of the matter is this: the Langshans may produce more eggs for a certain breeder than a flock of Leghorns upon which he lavishes the same good care; again a flock of White Faced Black Spanish may outstrip all its competitors in a certain man's yards and be selected as the egg producer par excellence by that particular breeder. This is done with good reason; the fowls that produce the most eggs for the same amount of food and care are the most profitable fowls to keep, but the fact that one flock of a certain variety produced more eggs than a certain equal number of another variety of the same breed or a variety of another breed, is not positive proof that all fowls of the first mentioned variety will excel all fowls of the competing varieties. It is the breeding that makes the layer and not the breed or variety. Careful selection of the best layers and intelligent breeding of the same for several generations, together with proper care and feeding, will build up a strain of heavy egg producers in any variety.

The fact that the Leghorn breed is regarded as typical of greater egg production is due largely to the fact that since its body is too small to be profitable for the production of meat, the tendency of its breeders has been to improve itsusefulness for egg production. Its nervous, energetic disposition has made it a good forager and a constant exerciser, which in turn have given it stamina and health.

Characteristics of the Heavy Layer.

First of all, the productive hen must have strength and health. Without these she cannot stand the physical tax that accompanies the production of one hundred and fifty to two hundred eggs per annum. This strength and health come only as the legacy of vigorous ancestors.

Again, the heavy layer must be active and energetic; must be possessed of a considerable amount of nervous energy, the force that keeps her moving in almost a constant search for food, therefore preventing a sluggish circulation of blood and at the same time improving its quality by the added number of red corpuscles that are obtained from the oxygen of the air that is more rapidly drawn from the lungs. These attributes alone, however, will not produce an egg yield of over average number. The latter is obtained only from fowls which have been bred for heavy layers as we have before stated, and so fed and cared for that the strain of laying has not weakened their vitality, and which have transmitted to their offspring that activity of the organs of reproduction which make the two hundred egg hen possible.

Standard=Bred Fowls are Best.

The old idea that the mongrel hen was the healthiest hen and the best layer and that a mixture of different breeds was required for vigor is fast fading away. The properly handled standard-bred fowl is not only a better layer, but is capable of being handled by man in such a manner as to produce more uniform results.

Not only is it possible to secure a greater percentage of

SELECTING THE STOCK 17

high-power producers from standard-bred stock, but the product itself is more uniform and therefore more salable and capable of returning a higher price in discriminating markets. The fact that some trials with standard breeds have proved unsatisfactory, either from lack of productiveness or lack of health and vitality, or both, is due to the fact that the particular strain from which the fowls sprung was bred with a view to producing certain color and shape characteristics without proper attention being given to the basic principles of breeding. The intelligent breeder looks well to the vitality of his stock, the careless or ignorant poultryman does not, and the latter is the worst enemy of standard-bred poultry.

Consider the Market.

There is, however, one consideration that may not be safely overlooked, and that is the color of the shell preferred in. the market to which the prospective egg farmer desires to cater. In a majority of markets in the United States the discriminating trade is in favor of an egg with a dark brown shell, while in other markets, though they are less in number, an egg with a white shell is preferred. The finest trade will pay slightly more for the tint of shell that pleases; therefore, if the poult ryman is to cater to the fine trade in New York City, a breed which produces white shelled eggs, for example Leghorns and Minorcas, should, perhaps, be given the preference, provided, of course, not much attention is to be given to producing poultry meat in connection with the egg business. Where a dark shell is preferred, Boston for example, varieties of the American or Asiatic classes, namely: Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes, Rhode Island Reds, Langshans, Brahmas and Cochins, should be given the preference. But when every point is considered, the laying-bred fowl has the call rather than that of any particular breed or variety.

HATCHING AND REARING.

The Importance of Adopting Methods of Hatching and Rearing Which Tend to Produce the Highest Degree of Vitality — Uniform Development at a Normal Rate is Better Than a Rapid Growth.

By He A. Nourse.

It is not our intention to go into the details of operating incubators, caring for sitting hens, operating brooders, etc., because definite instructions for all these things arc more fitly the subject for another volume. There are, nevertheless, certain features in the hatching and rearing of chicks intended for the purposes of an egg farm which differ materially from those affecting the production of stock destined to the market. In the latter instance the business of the poultry keeper is to grow the youngsters to marketable age in the shortest possible time and to place upon their frames as much soft meat as possible, together with a reasonable amount of fat. Chicks started in life in this manner never possess the strength and stamina required for the best service as profit makers in other lines; they never recover from the effects of the unnatural conditions of the first weeks or months of their lives, whatever the environment, care and food may be later.

The future egg producer should make its entrance in the world and pass its early life under such conditions as promote perfectly normal growth, or the growth that nature intended it should make under the most favorable conditions. We have mentioned in previous chapters the necessity of strength in parent stock and the further necessity of so conserving that strength that it will be transmitted to the chick. A chick from such stock, properly incubated, begins life under favorable auspices and requires intelligent care only to develop within it the vitality of its parent.

Heavy feeding of overnutritious foods, too long confinement in overheated brooder houses and lack of sufficient exercise in pure air have seldom produced a developed chick with the constitution and vigor required to make it a first rank egg producer.

Conditions That Affect the Hatch.

Oftentimes a lack of success in rearing the chicks is attributed to improper brooding or feeding when the real fault lies in the manner of incubating. When the hatching is done by healthy hens which perform their work faithfully, the chicks, as a rule, come from the shell strong and vigorous. This is due in large measure to the fact that the sitting hen is almost invariably surrounded by an atmosphere pretty near as pure as the outdoor air. This air, circulating constantly through her plumage, applies to the eggs that amount of oxygen which is highly important to a successful hatch. Incubators are frequently operated in cellars, rooms above ground or in especially constructed incubator houses, where fresh air is pretty nearly excluded in an endeavor to maintain a reasonably constant temperature, or, in the early season, a fair degree of warmth. However well an incubator may operate under such circumstances, it brings chicks out of the shell in no condition to take up the business of proper growth and development. A chick not well hatched is never a profit-maker.

Healthful Brooding.

Occasionally a hen avoids the best laid plans of her owner and makes a nest for herself in a brush pile in a secluded corner of the farm or perhaps under the floor of a poultry house, lays there a sitting of eggs and in due time brings off a flock of chicks. If she is not molested by her owner, by four footed enemies or by hawks or crows, in nine chances out of ten she will raise a large per cent of the chicks she takes from the nest, without brood coop or other apparatus of later day poultry keeping and ofttimes without any food from her owner's bins. Chicks so raised are almost invariably strong. Their growth is not so rapid as is possible under different conditions, but their development is thoroughly normal and of the kind that accompanies health and vigor.

HATCHING AND REARING 21

The reason for this is largely the exercise they take during the day in the open air and the freedom they enjoy from stuffy, poorly ventilated and perhaps overheated coops or brooders at night. If it were possible to reproduce these conditions, chicks in brooders or with hens in brood coops would be equally strong and fit for their life work. But in actual practice we find conditions much different in a majority of cases. We find brooders and brooder houses to which the pure air of nature is denied admittance or in which so much filth exists that the air is quickly contaminated and loses its power to sustain the chick; wo find chicks crowding at night in brooders and allowed to overheat by careless operators; we find hens with broods confined in coops which offer excellent protection from wind and rain but which are closed tightly at night, thereby preventing proper ventilation and in summer time raising the temperature to a high degree. Reverse these conditions and we approach the conditions afforded by the hen of the stolen nest which reared her brood in the open air and produced chicks with strong constitutions.

Foods and Feeding.

The manner of feeding and caring for the chicks has fully as much to do with their growth and development as the exact make-up of the ration. A scientific feeder can figure out on paper a perfectly balanced ration containing exactly the right proportion of protein and carbohydrates, together with mineral matter, or ash, for the bony structure of the bird. This ration may be fed at regular intervals and yet fail to produce proper growth, or indeed to prevent a high death rate. The failure of such a ration to produce good results is not the fault of the chemist that compounded it or the ration itself, but is because the conditions surrounding the chicks are such that they cannot make proper use of it after they consume it.

Good food is useful only when it is properly assimilated and becomes a part of the blood, flesh and bone of the living body and this assimilation is possible only when the digestive organs are healthy. A well-ordered digestive apparatus in such cases depends almost solely upon the proper warmth, sufficient exercise and an abundance of pure air for the chick. That is why the chick brought up by the mother hen on the range seldom has digestive troubles.

Formerly the poultry keeper mixed various mashes with milk or water, or baked a johnny cake of corn meal and bran, for the broods during their younger days. In late years this method of feeding has given way to the use of prepared chick foods which are made of various grains and seeds, with some meat food added, and which are fed dry. These foods produce excellent results and this manner of feeding appears to be nearer nature.