4-90 1910a $6.41 per Hen perYear Th% Corning Egg Book PUBLJSHEQ BY THE FARM JOURNAL PHILAD ELPHIA Ifmzfj&fyiw MEMORIAL POULTRY LIBRARY CORNELL UNIVERSITY "fffE Gift Of \ r«iv»ivwviyiil«>MV«BB^ ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY New York State Colleges of Agriculture and Home Economics at Cornell University Cornell University Library SF 490.B79 1910a $ 6.41 per hen per year.The Corning egg 3 1924 003 089 079 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003089079 THE CORNING EGG-BOOK ? COPYRIGHT, 1909 COPYRIGHT, 1910 BY WILMER ATKINSON CO. TENTH EDITION ONE HUNDRED AND TENTH THOUSAND Book 8 Section 22 $6.41 Per Hen Per Year THE CORNING EGG-BOOK / Illustrating the Poultry Methods originated by the late Prof. G. M. Gowell, of Maine, and perfected ,££» Edward and Gardner Coming V if* ^ ^ Edited and Published by WILMER ATKINSON CO. 1910 25 Cents 5^ tffQ £*??■ „ _ Contents E 7938 — Page Introductory 5 Egg Farming as a Profitable Undertaking 7 The Story of the Corning Egg Farm 8 Sunny Slope Farm lI Over Six Dollars Per Hen Per Year n Premium Prices for Corning Method Eggs 14 Marketing the Eggs l( > The Breed to Keep x 9 Pullets or Yearling Hens ? 20 House Room and Size of Flocks 21 Buildings on Sunny Slope Farm 23 Fresh Air and Sunlight : 2 3 Incubator Cellar 2 4 The Brooder House . N 26 Colony Houses 31 Main Laying Houses 33 The Breeding House .• 39 The Cockerel House 39 The Feedhouse and Workshop 39 Operating the Incubators 4 1 Ventilation and Moisture of Incubator Cellar 43 When to Hatch 45 Taking Care of the Chicks '. 46 Feeding Newly-Hatched Chicks 48 Feeding Pullets While on Range 48 Feeding "Laying Pullets. 49 Feeding Cockerels for Broilers 5° Feeding the Breeding Stock 52 Feeding Hens Through Molt 52 Mash — Morning or Night ? 52 Fresh Cut Bone S3 Green Food : 54 Drinking Water 56 Charcoal, Grit and Oyster Shell 56 Hard Coal Ashes 57 Eggs for Hatching 57 Selection of Breeding Hens 57 Cleanliness 59 Punctuality and Regularity 60 The Corning Method Applies to Small Plants 60 The Corning Egg-Book Revised Edition for 1910-11 "Here everything but an egg is a by-product." These words of Edward Corning hold the secret of the great success of the Corning egg farm. That little farm, with its immense product of "fancy" eggs, is a capital illustration of the great possibilities of specialization when applied to poultry products. The great demand in large cities for a year-round supply of the finest eggs, even at fancy prices, makes their whole- sale production very profitable; and the success of the Comings at Sunny Slope Farm will be an inspiration to many of both sexes, old and young, who want to engage in a safe and profitable business, and who will find in this little book a guide to almost certain success. But the Corning Egg-Book appeals also to a class of people far outnumbering those who raise eggs to sell; that is, to the millions who wish to raise them for their own use. This book makes it possible for even families living in cities to produce for their own table a daily supply of fresh eggs, in January as well as June. Experience has proved that a few hens can be kept in the smallest back-yard; and thousands of women can bear testimony to the value of a sure supply of even three eggs a day, in "bare seasons" like that of late winter, or where invalids require eggs of a quality not to be found in market- houses or stores. With the present strong and growing desire of city dwellers to get "back to the land," the subject of egg raising becomes more and more important. As city and suburban dwellers generally come to realize the ease with which the raising of eggs for the home table may be accomplished, it will no doubt be taken up by thousands of peo r pie who at present would no more think of keeping hens than of keeping cows or horses. To sych egg raisers the Corning Egg- Book is invaluable, for it gives formulas for the best feed and full directions lor the care of fowls, which are just as safe and certain with twenty hens as with two thousand. Moreover, the buildings used and described by the Comings can be duplicated in sections as small as may be necessary for the space available. To the city family with a back-yard only twenty feet square, who have never dreamed it possible for them to keep chickens, this O CORNING EGG-BOOK suggestion may open a new field of business, as well as a new source of food supply. Probably no book on poultry subjects has ever had such instant success as this one. Of the first issue nearly one hun- dred thousand copies were sold in six months. It stirred up comment and discussion in all parts of the country. The Corning egg farm was so novel in its methods and results that to many its story seemed incredible, but it has stood the test of time, as well as that of inspection and criticism. The farm has now had another year of experience which fully answers the expectations raised by the book ; and this new edition, revised and brought up to date, is issued in the confident belief that it will prove one of the most widely useful books ever printed. When Edward and Gardner Corning, whose chronicles of success in egg raising are recorded in this little book, ' had de- cided that poultry offered the means of a good livelihood, they began to study all the literature they could find on the subject. They were soon impressed with the wonderful amount of com- mon sense and wisdom contained in the writings of Professor Gowell, of the Maine Experiment Station. Edition after edition of his writings had been printed and almost as quickly exhausted. The Comings secured all that he has written and studied it dili- gently and to a good purpose. Their methods of work, their theories of profitable poultry raising are all here set forth, plainly and clearly. Their success will be an inspiration to every poultry raiser the country over. What they have done with a large flock can be accomplished with a few hens — the same principles apply. When Prof. Gilbert M. Gowell's sudden death was an- nounced (May 6, 1908), the poultry world sustained an irrepar- able loss. He gave more than twenty years of his life to the service of the University of Maine, during which time he won a reputation which made his work regarded by the United States Department of Agriculture as the most important ever carried on in this country in poultry experiments. Professor Gowell taught the poultry world better egg pro- duction, and poultry husbandry has greatly profited by his un- ceasing and persistent efforts in that direction. Editor. Egg Farming as a Profit- able Undertaking Egg farming is considered generally to be more profitable than any other branch of poultry-keeping, it being reasoned that the profits therefrom are surer and larger. Success in any branch of poultry-keeping, whether for egg production, broilers for the table or exhibition specimens, re- quires infinite care, great regularity and close attention from daylight to dark, for seven days in the week and fifty-two weeks in the year. The duties in any one branch are so multitudinous and ex- acting that the man or woman who can multiply them by three, or even two, and succeed on a commercial basis, is very rare. In the limited number of instances where a dual plant has been operated at a profit, it has always been a question in the mind of the writer if the net returns would not have been much greater had only one branch been attempted. Specialization is a characteristic of the age. It has found its way into every branch of human activity, with the result that the world is passing through the greatest period of its develop- ment, in every department. To succeed with poultry, speciali- zation is necessary. It is the intention of this book to describe one of the most successful egg plants in America, and to show how two novices in the short space of three years have built up a plant that is net- ting a profit of several thousand dollars a year — a net profit ex- ceeding $6 per hen. This is the plant at Sunny Slope Farm, at Bound Brook, N. J. It is owned by Messrs. Edward and Gardner Corning, father and son. When they made up their minds to go into egg farming for a living, they read everything they could get hold of on the sub- As Sunny Slope Farm was built, partially on a plan originated by the late Prof. Gilbert M. Gowell, M.S. ; in charge of poultry investigations, Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, it might be stated that for many years poultry work has been carried on at the University of Maine. It was not, however, until 1897 that the Station decided to begin a series of poultry investigations on a somewhat extended scale. Since 1904 this work has been carried on in co-operation with the Bureau of Animal Industry of the United States Department of Agriculture. — Editor. 8 CORNING EGG-BOOK ject, particularly the valuable writings of the late Professor Gowell in connection with the Maine Experiment Station, adopted what appealed to their reason, rejected what did not measure up to standard by their rule, invented other plans and methods, and from the whole evolved the Corning Method of Poultry-Keeping. The plant and experiments have cost more than $20,000, but these men now have the satisfaction of knowing that what has been a dream to thousands is a reality to them, and that they have a business that will net them annual incomes on a par with other large and profitable enterprises, give them plenty of health- ful exercise and absolute independence. Any person who will closely follow the simple rules laid down in this book can make the same great success of poultry- keeping for eggs that Sunny Slope Farm has achieved. The Story of the Corning Egg Farm Sunny Slope Farm is a young establishment, with only a brief history. Its first year was, in all but experience and edu- cation, a year of loss and failure. The second was still unprofit- able ; but with the third year the tide changed, and success came quickly. The story is inspiring to all who have to meet failure and disappointment in the beginning. "We began operations on the farm," says Edward Corning, "in March, 1906. Our expectation at that time was that pigeons would prove the more important end of the business ; so we erected a house 16 by 100 feet for pigeons, and a house 12 by 48 feet for hens. We bought three hundred pairs of Homer pigeons and a sixty-egg incubator, which was placed in the cellar of our residence in Bound Brook. Later this incubator was exchanged for one holding 125 eggs, and that again for one holding 250 eggs. "In our first incubators we hatched Buff Plymouth Rocks three times, securing about the ordinary proportion of chicks. These, as soon as old enough, were moved to Sunny Slope Farm. Owing to our inexperience and ignorance of right methods, we got no eggs from them until the following spring ; so that the first year in the chicken department was utterly unprofitable. "With pigeons the beginning was still worse. For about eighteen months we worked on them, hoping to make pigeons our chief business. We tried Carneaux, we tried Maltese Hens, we tried a cross of the Homer and the Runt pigeon, also a cross of the Runt and the Maltese Hen. The pigeon experiment proved an utter failure, and it cost us about $1,500 to find it out. CORNING EGG-BOOK 9 "In the spring of 1907 we bought thirty Single-Comb White Leghorn hens, expecting at first only to get chickens and eggs for our own family use ; but in that year, becoming convinced that we would have to abandon pigeons, we concluded to embark in the chicken business in a thoroughgoing way. After consid- erable investigation we decided that the Single-Comb White Leg- horn, as an egg producer, was the best chicken extant. We therefore purchased, from two different places, thirty 'White Leghorn hens and three cockerels. That season we filled our 250-egg incubator twice and our 125-egg incubator once. "We also paid $20 for one hundred Black Orpington eggs. These proved another failure. Out of the one hundred eggs we were able to hatch only eight chicks, though the balance of the incubator was filled with White Leghorn eggs, which hatched well. Of the eight Orpingtons, one was eaten, three were sold at $1 each, and the balance died. "During the summer of 1907 we built what is known as No. 1 Laying House, which was 12 feet wide by 100 feet long. In this we succeeded in placing that fall about 250 White Leg- horn pullets, using three sections of the house, or sixty feet in length. During the summer we also built the small incubator and brooder house, then 50 feet long. "At this time we began to seek private egg trade in order to sell the product of these 250 pullets, and succeeded in finding private families who took the whole output. "In November, 1907, we bought two pens of yearling hens, which, with our own yearling and two-year-old hens, made up a pen of about 250 breeders. The purchase of these for breeders was made because from the start we have refused to breed from pullets, as they are too immature." The winter of 1907-08 the income was a little beyond ex- penses of running the place ; the two Comings and one hired man doing all the routine work of the farm. The Comings planned the buildings and did a considerable portion of the manual labor thereon. The results of that winter's experience satisfied them that a business could be worked up which would afford a large profit, and they determined to increase the size of the plant. In the summer of 1908 the No. 2 Laying House was built and addi- tions were made to the brooder house, which more than doubled its capacity. That season they also built twenty colony houses. In spite of care they suffered some heavy losses. Within a period of ten days, while Mr. Gardner Corning was laid up with hay fever, unable to get out and inspect the range as usual, about one thousand chickens were stolen from the colony houses with the collusion of an employee, before it was discovered. In the summer of 1909 some windows of the brooder house were care- IO CORNING EGG-BOOK lessly left open and some of the chicks were chilled, entailing a loss of 250. In May, 1909, the original pigeon house, some 100 feet long, which had just been expensively altered for use as a laying house caught fire and was totally destroyed. After the second year it was evident that the tide had turned. They had learned how to raise eggs all the year round and how to find a steady sale for them at good prices. Notwithstanding losses and backsets, they could see success ahead and they de- termined to push vigorously forward. "In the spring of 1908," says Mr. Corning, "we had ten 390-egg incubators installed in the incubator cellar. We pur- chased hatching eggs from various sources, and through channels which left the sellers in the dark as to where their eggs went. Eggs were bought in larger quantities than necessary to produce the pullets planned for, because it had been determined before- hand to select and keep only those that showed a tendency toward the ideal type, which, from the beginning, we had in mind. The operations of that season, which were so remarkably successful, and the methods learned from our varied experience, are described in the Corning Egg-Book. "In the summer of 1909 Laying House No. 3 was built, and during the following winter we carried about 3,500 laying hens. The prices obtained during this winter were practically as good as the previous winter; but owing to the increased cost of feed and labor, and also to the unusually long, cold, hard winter, the net returns were not quite so good, proportionately. "During all this period we have been constantly studying our birds, selecting them to produce our ideal type ; placing in the breeding pen only those which approach our standard for the great layer, until this year (1910) all the birds in the Sunny Slope Farm flocks are very close to our standard, unsurpassed in size, shape, and carriage, and great layers. In short, we have evolved a large, strong, fertile, utility White Leghorn, and not a toy bird for the show-room." CORNING EGG-BOOK II Sunny Slope Farm Sunny Slope Farm comprises twelve acres of land, the soil being a reddish sand loam. From a line through the centre from east to west, the land slopes gently to both north and south. It is on this higher ground that the poultry buildings have been placed, and care was taken to have every one of them face due south. The northern part, which lies alongside the turnpike, is used exclu- sively for raising wheat and clover for green food. During the summer season the southern part is devoted to the colony houses and range for the growing pullets. The first building, as one enters from the road, is the office. Next comes the workshop, chief attendant's home, egg packing room, etc. This is a two-story building, described in detail in a later chapter. 1 South of this, over one hundred feet away, is the breeding pen for producing unrelated, but line bred cockerels, as described in another chapter. To the east of the office building is the incubator cellar and brooding house. This is one of the most perfect houses of its kind in America, judging by the results obtained. In line with the laying houses and to the west thereof is the breeding house, now enlarged so that it carries 1,500 breeding hens and their mates, supplying not only all the hatching eggs needed on the farm, but a large surplus which is shipped all over the country for breeding purposes. Twenty-five feet east of this is No. 1 Laying House. Fifty feet south is No. 2 Laying House, and fifty feet south of that again is No. 3 Laying House. These three houses, each 160 feet long and 16 feet wide, carry a total of 4,500 laying pullets, where, through the winter months, they shell out the eggs in close to record breaking quantities. In front of all these buildings are the colony houses, in which the young pullets are matured after being removed from the brooder house. There are thirty of these, and they are moved as occasion demands. No architect or master carpenter has had anything to do with the construction of these houses. The Messrs. Corning did all the work of planning the buildings, and, with the aid of unskilled helpers, erected them. There is a splendid drilled well of sparkling water on the farm, 117 feet deep, and by the aid of a windmill and tank it is piped to all neces- sary parts of the plant. There is not a tree on the place, and the shade for the growing stock has to be artificially furnished. Over Six Dollars Per Hen Per Year The layers on Sunny Slope Farm are making a net profit of over $6 each for their owners. This is over the cost of incubating, feeding, marketing and hired help. No exceptional methods are employed in making this profit This farm was established to produce eggs for table purposes, and this is the main source of profit. The surplus cockerels and the pullets after com- pleting their laying season are simply treated as by-products, and are disposed of as quickly as possible. Every effort is bent toward a large production of eggs, especially in the winter months, and it is the success which has attended these methods which has brought the big margin of profit named. Accounts are carefully kept on Sunny Slope Farm, and the profit or C E/iTRAL • R -R • QF-71EW JERSEY. HOO' PULLET RA/JGE £ COLONY HOUSES EACH-HOU3E-6xlO BUILT- Oil -SKIDS MOVABLE I I6'x)60' I LAY1/JG HOUSE /103 16*x 16Q' ' n LAY1/IG HOUSE /»£ L-U- FEB FON YARD FOR BREEDLTK HErtS lEO'x ISO' 3HED LAYI/KHOU5E/10-1 SLeH ioI — l BROODER H0U5E «■ I/ICUBATOR CELLAR. WELL 117 DEEP 3-W1/1DAULL, yoo ADW1IS- TRATIOn DUILD1/1Q [^OFFICE YARD 100x150' Boutcd Brook. - TROLLEY- LLME- - PHlL7KDEL.PHIA-TURAiPlKtV 50J-1ERVILLE PLAN OF SUNNY SLOPE FARM CORNING EGG-BOOK 1 3 loss on any day's business can be readily told. These books are kept in the same methodical way that everything on the farm is looked after. The exact amount of food consumed each day is kept on record. For instance, on January 12, 1908, the feed used by 1,953 pullets in the laying houses and 210 breeders was as follows, with the cost of same : 150 lbs. cracked corn and wheat $2.40 52 lbs. oats .85 26 lbs. meals $0.44 13 lbs. ground oats .26 26 lbs. bran .37 150 lbs. cut bone 1.50 Gasoline for engine .08 2.65 35 lbs. cut clover .35 Grit, shell and charcoal .15 $6.40 This was an average day, and shows that the cost of feeding each hen runs a little less than 3/10 of a cent per day in the winter. In the summer and fall months the cost for clover or green food is practically wiped out, as much other food is not needed to supply the fowl's requirements. This reduces the cost to very little above a quarter cent per hen per day for feed. To keep a pullet for ten months after reaching the laying point at this rate will cost 86 cents for feed. To this should be added the cost of hired labor, which brings the total cost of keeping a hen on this farm through her first laying period, $1.11. It requires something less than 40 cents to raise a pullet to the laying period, including cost of incubation and hired labor. During the summer of 1909 the constant services of two men, in addition to those of Edward and Gardner Corning, were required to do the work, and also the services of a boy — one-half of each day — to assist in gathering and packing eggs. This makes the cost of keeping a pullet up to the point where she has completed her first laying season just $1.50. It costs approximately 15 cents to raise a Leghorn cockerel to the broiler size, when they are worth about 30 cents each, alive. Once a strain of birds has gained a reputation for p heavy egg pro- duction all the stock raised can be sold at remunerative 'prices. This is particularly true of the females, for which there is a ready market at $2 each. All the females sold on this farm have been disposed of at this figure. The pullets averaged 143.25 eggs each for the ten months from De- cember 1, 1908, to September 30, 1909, but owing to the application of Corning methods the average for the same period ending September 30, 1910, for every pullet in the laying house was oyer 145 eggs each. These eggs were disposed of at prices as high as 65 cents per dozen, and never for less than 40 cents, averaging nearly 50 cents a dozen. Con- tracts for the entire yield of eggs have been made guaranteeing these prices for the next year. The secret in securing the advanced prices is the fact that the Sunny Slope Farm caters to practically a retail or select trade. The low cost they record for feeding stock, or raising pullets to ten months of age, or getting cockerels up to broiler weight, can only be obtained by purchasing feed in large quantities. The smallest details are attended to with fixed regularity, each employee on the farm strictly attending to his work. — Editor. 14 CORNING EGG-BOOK The product of 1,953 pullets was 279,792 eggs, or 23,316 dozen. This gives the following result : Revenue 23,316 dozen eggs at 49c. (average price) $11,424.84 1,900 pullets as breeders, at $2 3,800.00 800 live broilers at 30c 240.00 Manure --. 2S0.00 Expenditure Raising 1,953 pullets to laying point $781.20 Maintaining 1,953 pullets through laying season of 10 months, including feed, grit, labor, coal, gaso- line, etc 2,167.83 Raising 800 cockerels to broiler size of i}4 lbs 120.00 Cartons, postage, etc -. 125.00 $15,714-84 Leaving a net profit of $6.41 per head of laying stock. 3.194-03 $12,520.81 Premium Prices for Corning Method Eggs There is always a demand at a big premium over market prices for eggs that can be depended upon — eggs that are known to be fresh and of uniform good quality. In the bigger cities this demand is more pronounced than in smaller places, but the demand for fancy first-quality eggs is universal. In the big cities a premium ranging as high as 40 to 50 cents a dozen is paid for eggs of this quality, doubling the retail price of them in the late fall and winter months. Except in the summer months it is very difficult to get eggs that can be depended on for table use. The demand is so great, and the price paid so profitable, that many poultrymen cannot resist the temptation to mix their first-quality eggs with cheaper ones. Several dealers in the East make a practice of gathering the eggs in the cold months from the farmers weekly and disposing of them to the commission men. These eggs are two or three weeks old, as a rule, before they reach the consumer, by which time they are no longer fresh enough for table use, and particularly so because they have almost invariably been fertilized. Yet they are everywhere sold as "near-by fresh" eggs, and are graded ahead of "western fresh," although in reality they are seldom any better. A New York matron, shortly before Christmas, bought a quarter's worth of these eggs at the rate of 60 cents a dozen, for the purpose of making a cake for a special occasion. The batter was prepared and at the proper time the eggs, one by one, were broken in; the first four seemed all right, but the fifth was bad, and the whole lot, eggs, batter and all, had to be thrown away. A grocer in a Jersey city had a call for newly laid eggs for a sick patient, regardless of cost, the only stipulation being that they must be absolutely fresh. An hour or two later a farmer walked into his store with three dozen eggs which he said had been laid the day before. He was' paid 50 cents a dozen for them and they were sent by special messenger to the sickroom, the grocer congratulating himself that he had been able to accommodate his customer so promptly. It turned out, CORNING EGG-BOOK IS however, that every one of these eggs was rotten. On investigation it was found that the farmer had gathered them the day before he brought them in,_ but they were apparently a lot that hens had been sitting on the previous fall but that had failed to hatch and had not been discovered for weeks after. It is circumstances such as these that make the housewives of the East willing to pay a big premium for dependable eggs. 4.75 4.70 4.65 U55 1.60 L45 1.41 i.30 .30 .SO [■.25 t>e» iBc; ton W. ck- <*- E M o M u 30 CORNING EGG-BOOK where they learn to live without the brooder in the warm natural tem- perature of the room. , Much thought was given to the matter of ventilation in this house. If large, healthy, well-developed chicks are to be had, it is very essential that their little lungs should be constantly fed from the moment they leave the incubator with an abundance of pure, fresh air. At the same time no draughts must be allowed to touch them. Roofing paper * \ V Boarding E"x io" Raftera Window stop Hinges Roofing paper. Elevation iSccti'on. Detail of ventilating window of Brooder House The main ventilators in this house are in the highest point of the east and west corners of the building respectively. These ventilators are two windows about two and one-half feet square, hinged at the bottom and opening from the top. They are fitted with a set of cords and pulleys so arranged that an attendant can open them or close them at will from the alleyway. They have "V"-shaped solid sides, built out so as to enclose the windows when open in such a way that all air must be taken in or out from over the top, thus preventing any cold air striking down directly on the chicks. By keeping the windows on the non- weather side, or the side opposite to that from which the wind or storm is coming, open, the foul air is sucked over the top and out without creating a draught. The south windows through which the light is obtained are hinged at the top and open at the bottom in the same way as cathedral windows. They can be hooked out more or less as required. Along the entire length of the house are run five 2-inch hot water pipes, placed alongside of the north wall about two feet from the floor. The hot water system is regulated so as to never allow the temperature CORNING EGG-BOOK 31 in the brooder house to drop below 70° F. When the water indicator shows between 180 to 200 F. in ordinary April weather, the temperature in the house can be readily kept above that point. Details of wire divisions for Brooder Pens In case the house gets too warm, the fire in the boiler is not dropped but the amount of fresh air is increased. ' It is realized that if healthy chicks are to be raised it must be done with pure air. In the Sunny Slope Farm brooder house no consideration is overlooked to reproduce summer conditions as nearly as possible. Colony Houses The pullets are brought to maturity in the colony houses, thirty of which were used on this farm last season. These houses have a floor space of 6 x 10 feet. They are six feet high in front and five feet at the back, with an ordinary shed roof, except that it does not project either in front or in the rear. The framework is built on three skids. The outer ones of these are made of 3x4 studding, rounded at the ends in order that they may slide readily, and are 12 feet in length projecting a foot at either end beyond the sides of the house. The centre skid is made of 2x4 studding. These three skids are securely fastened together by four pieces of 2x4 studding. Across this is nailed the floor, which is made with inch stuff, tongue and grooved. The upright studs are made of 2 x 4 stuff. This framework is covered by matched boarding, and over the roof is placed heavy asphalt roofing, the joints of which are cemented. In the front of the house is a door through which the attendant may enter, 2 feet wide and 5 feet high. On either side of this, and well up from the floor, are windows 45 x 27 inches. These windows are covered with medium-weight cotton duck and open outward. The advantage in having them open thus is that when open they act as an awning to exclude the sun from the coop and keep it much cooler than it other- wise would be. Wire netting is also placed over these windows on the inside. The colony system for growing stock is practiced quite extensively throughout New England on all the large poultry farms, and where such range can be had over rich grass land, it is a wonderful help in growing the youngsters. The objec- tion, however, to most of these ranges is that there is too little natural shade for hot 'weather, and artificial arrangements must be provided. Professor Gowell was a great believer in this colony plan for developing pullets. The cockerels should be separated from the pullets as soon as sex can be distinguished. — Editor. o x o z > a o _ o a < H < « 0§ B^ B O J o (J CORNING EGG-BOOK 33 front Hevatdii 5ide Elevation Plaa Defeil of Window Plan and Elevations of Colony House The pullets come in and out of this house through two small doors on either side of the main door. With each four of these colony houses is provided a shelter 12 feet long and 9 feet wide, made of a framework covered with asphalt roofing. The front of this shelter, which faces north, is 3 feet high, and 2 feet at the rear. Main Laying Houses The main laying houses are 160 feet long and 16 feet wide, facing due south, without outdoor runs. Theoretically, there would be no economy in having more than 1,500 birds in one flock, and this size house has been found abundantly large for this number of layers. True, this breaks all previous theories as to the floor space required for each bird, but in practice it has been found ample. It is also better to have the building only 16 feet wide instead of 20, because the sun cannot be made to readily reach all parts unless the front elevation is made unnecessarily high. If the ceiling is high enough to allow the attendants to go through the houses without stooping, and it certainly should be, the sun has no difficulty in reaching to every foot of a house 16 feet wide. It is, therefore, economical to make it that width instead of narrower. The foundation is placed on 8-foot cedar posts, placed 3 feet in the ground on a large rock or cement bottom. These posts are 8 feet apart, and are braced at the ends and cross tied at the corners. They are also braced both ways every '50. feet. This prevents the building from rock- ing. On top of these posts are placed 4x4 sills, and on these the frame- work rests. / H- 1 /<£ 1 w 1 / / M 1 /A\ > Mi --11 I----*' ---n =0 ~-c i o A) aj H H X) # rt V Ph o Q a T3 2 O * a o W • m M u .C a: w •- a C o o £ H •o en * O O (U « W c X K h J3 O 2 H E £ U O en 3 0J > £ < Si x: •a c Q. CM s 4) D O 9^ X 2 -C (0 >• o -* B G ta a o •* a <■> o o 5 •5 a 2 o s -< fi o •ff H h CORNING EGG-BOOK 35 The floor joists are 16 feet long, of 2x10 timbers, and are placed 3 feet apart. The elevation of the building is 7 feet in front and 5 feet behind. The uprights are 2x4 studs, placed 3 feet apart. At the corners the studs are doubled and spiked. The plates are also made of 2x4 studs. The rafters are made of 2 x 10 studs and have no projection beyond the plates. This saves something in lumber, and makes it easier to make the walls at the back air tight. The floor is doubled. The under floor is made of rough inch- boarding, running lengthwise of the house. On top of them is placed The three Laying Houses. The interior of No. 2 is shown in the frontispiece a covering of heavy asphalt roofing paper, every joint of which is care- fully cemented. This prevents any draughts coming up through the floor. On top of this, laid crosswise of the under boards, is another floor of No. 4 matched tongue-and-grooved flooring. This floor is not only absolutely air tight, but on account of its construction and the fact that it is 5 feet from the ground, it is proof against rats, skunks, weasels or vermin of any kind that prey on poultry or are a nuisance around a poultry house. On the outside of the uprights, on the back and sides, inch-boards of good quality lumber are nailed. These are planed on the outside and covered with heavy two-ply asphalt roofing paper, well nailed down and carefully cemented at the joints. The nails have large galvanized heads, and are used so generously as to prevent bulging. On the inner sides of the uprights another covering of heavy roofing paper is used, the joints carefully cemented, and over this is placed matched lumber. This gives an air-tight 4-inch vacuum, which is at the same time the warmest and coolest wall known, on the back and sides. Professor Gowell, on the Go-well Farm, built his houses 20 feet wide, believing it was better economy than having them narrow, and, in Bulletin No. 144, says: "Nearly two years' use of this wide house shows its advantage over the narrower ones to be greater than was anticipated when it was planned. Its great width and the low-down door in the back wall make it much cooler in hot weather." Sunnv Slope Farm does not have outdoor runs, but the Maine Station has, and, especially ' during July and August, Professor Gowell said the fowls delight to go out into the yards early in the morning. On Sunny Slope Farm, however, open =heds are constructed under the house (something on the order of the plan sold by the Philo System), where the fowls can have a change of diversion — scratching in the loose soil. ... „ ~. — . . . .. ,, . No glass is used in the laying houses on Sunny Slope Barm, but at the Maine Station the front side of each section has two windows of twelve lights of 10 x 12 "lass screwed on, upright. 2 feet 8 inches from each end_ of the room. They are % feet above the floor. The space between the windows is 8 feet 10 inches long, and the top part of it down from the plate, 354 feet, is not boarded, but left open to be covered by the cloth curtain when necessary. ... Another change that Sunny Siope Farm has made in constructing the laying houses after the plan of the Maine Station, is that they have the house all in one room placing 1,500 birds in one flock, while the Maine plan has the building divided by tight board partitions in twenty sections, each section being 20 feet long. — Editor. 36 CORNING EGG-BOOK Under the floor, the back and sides are all boarded in and covered with paper, as in the upper part of the house, except that only a single covering of boards and paper is used. Except for the window openings, the front wall of the house is con- structed in the same way as the other walls. The roof is made of seven-eighths sheathing, on top of which is a layer of two-ply asphalt roofing paper with all joints carefully cemented M-i' H-Roc || -I- Bearding Do irdrr Find paper rdlnb. (Section Details of inner and outer doors of Laying House. Two doors are provided, as the openings at each end of the house are six feet wide 3 feet and well nailed down. The under side of the rafters is ceiled with a cheap grade of matched flooring. Care is taken to have the paper lap at all the corners and joints and around the ridges, so as to prevent any draughts from getting through at these points. There are eight windows on the south side of the house, and each of these is 3^ feet by 9 feet. They are 3 feet from the floor and run up to the plate. The object of this is to keep the draughts from blowing in on the floor, striking the fowls and scattering the litter. The window frame is made of 4-inch stuff, seven-eighths of an inch in thickness, with two 4-inch supports placed so as to divide the window into three 3-foot sections. These come against the upright studs of the building, the latter not being cut out or weakened in any way to reduce the strength of the building. This frame is covered with medium-weight cotton duck. Cheese cloth is too flimsy, and the duck lets in abundant air if care is taken to brush the accumulated dust off at regular intervals. Not a square inch of glass is used on the plant, outside of the brooder house and office and feed buildings. A water shed 8 inches wide is built over each window, extending 2 feet beyond the opening to prevent driving rains or storms from the 38 CORNING EGG-BOOK south from beating into the house. The roofing paper from the roof extends down over this storm shed. The windows may be opened or closed as desired by being hinged at plate. They are kept open throughout the year, except on cold, blustery days and on winter nights. Across the front of the window openings is placed 1-inch mesh wire netting to prevent the fowls flying out when the cotton-duck window is swung up. The entrances to these houses are at each end. Seven steps lead to a platform 5 feet square, large enough to set feed pails on, which is surrounded on two sides with a hand rail. The doors are made of heavy matched lumber, of two thicknesses, with roofing paper between, the inner boards being nailed diagonally with those on the outside. The door is put together with one and one-half inch No. 12 screws. This makes the door very substantial. It is 6 T / 2 feet high and 3 feet wide.* A second door is also provided, which opens outward, the main door opening in, the upper half of which has panel removed and is covered with wire mesh. At the bottom it is tight boarded. In milder weather the double door is opened, and the latter is used as a ventilator. The roosting closets are built differently to those in any other house known to the writer. The-y are built in 20-foot sections, with close board partitions extending 12 inches beyond the dropping boards, which are 6 feet wide. This extra width in the partitions is very important, as it obviates entirely the dangerous draughts which so baffled the late Professor Gowell in his large flock houses. When cross winds are blowing the fowls will go back into these closets to work and sun themselves. The dropping boards are placed 3 feet above the floor, leaving plenty of room for the hens to work in the litter thereunder, and sufficient for the attendant to easily get under to. gather the eggs that may be laid in the litter. A hen dearly loves to round out a nest in the straw littef and deposit her egg therein. It also gives the sun a chance to reach every corner of the floor from the front to thje back at some period of the day. There are two sets of roosts in each closet. These are made of five perches of 2 x 2 stuff, rounded at the top, nailed to crosspieces. The first perch is placed 9 inches from the back wall, and the suc- ceeding ones are 13 inches apart, measuring from centre to centre. This distance has to be regulated by the variety kept. The crosspieces to which the roosts are nailed are securely hinged at the back, a foot up from the dropping board, and are hooked up to the ceiling when the dropping boards are being cleaned. They are sup- ported by a leg a foot high in front, which keeps the perches up the required distance at roosting time. There are openings to the yards under the house, which are placed under the roosting boards at the rear. There are five of these openings in each house. Boxes are built up around them a foot high to keep the litter in. A runway therefrom leads to the ground 5 feet below. From the time the pullets are put into the laying house until warm weather in the spring comes they never leave the laying house. But they are as happy and contented as can be, and sing, and lay eggs each livelong day. In the late spring they are allowed the use of the space under the houses, but never beyond this. The floor of the laying house is covered with a litter of at least *Since the above was written, it has been found expedient, in practice, to increase the openings at each end of the laying and breeding houses, by substituting double doors for single, making the openings 6 feet wide instead of 3 feet. This is a great improvement for ventilation in warm weather, and facilitates the handling of litter, in and out of the houses. — Editor. CORNING EGG-BOOK 39 eight inches of wheat straw. When this litter should be renewed is a matter of individual judgment. At Sunny Slope Farm new litter is added from time to time as the straw becomes broken up, but the old is not removed, being left till spring. It has been found that the dust which accumulates from the breaking up of the litter supplies all required by the hens for a dust bath. Nests are made of soap boxe"s and other boxes bought of near-by stores at a much less expense than it would be to have a carpenter make them. There are about three hundred boxes in each house. They are put up in four tiers and fill in the spaces between the windows, as shown in the frontispiece. Excelsior is placed in the nests. The Breeding House The breeding house is built exactly the same way as the laying house. The original house was 50 feet long, but in the spring of 1909 an addition 16 x 72 feet was added. Both buildings show in the illustration on page 34. The new building at the left of the picture. The combined houses give Sunny Slope Farm a capacity of over fifteen hundred breeders. The small doors through which the fowls reach the ground are kept open every day, in order to allow the fowls free access to the open yards except on very wet or stormy days. The Cockerel House In the summer of 1910 a new cockerel house, 16 x 60 feet, was built to care for the large number of cockerels raised for breeding purposes, for Sunny Slope Farm and also for sale. This is at front of the farm, in one enclosure 100 x 150 feet. This house is built upon the same plan as the laying houses. When the. sex are separated, all cockerels are placed here. As they develop, those . showing defects are removed and sent to market, leaving a large number of carefully selected cockerels for breeding purposes. The Feedhouse and Workshop This is a building two stories in height, with an area of 20 x 30 feet. At the present time the upper story is used as a dwelling by one of the attendants, the stairway leading thereto being from the outside. On the ground floor are the food bins for each variety of grain and meal used in the fowls' rations. A room 12x12 feet is provided for receiving, packing and shipping the eggs. The machinery used in preparing the feed is all of the approved type. The gasoline engine is a 10 h. p. and furnishes the necessary energy for the bone cutter and the mash-mixing machine. The bone cutter was especially built for this plant, the ordinary sizes being too small to grind expeditiously the 175 pounds of bone used daily. It is the rule on Sunny Slope Farm that the fowls must not be exposed to wet and stonrry weather. Poultrymen are apt to be too careless in this matter. A fowl is just as miserable when exposed to drenching rains, or snowstorms, or heavy wind- storms, as woujd be a human being, and an uncomfortable hen will receive a severe check in her laying. It is important that the hens be kept comfortable. — Editor. Professor Gowell used vacated brooder houses for his cockerels. When the chickens reached the age of nine or ten weeks, and the cockerels weighed a pound and a quarter to a pound and a half, they were placed by themselves into vacated brooder nouses, one hundred to a house. Each house has a yard in front, about twelve feet square. — Editor. CORNING EGG-BOOK 41 The mixing machine stands in close proximity to the bone cutter. This machine was also specially built for this plant, and is constructed on something the same lines as a cement mixer. The various ingredients of the mash are placed therein in the required proportion, and are mixed much more thoroughly than they could possibly be by hand. The thorough mixing of the mash is regarded as one of the secrets of its effectiveness in producing large quantities of eggs. A small shed, 12 x 16 feet, built of rough lumber, is conveniently placed. It is used for the storing of the droppings, and the side boards are placed on the inside of the upright studs in order that they may not be pushed off by the weight of the manure. If these droppings are sprinkled occasionally with sand or ashes there will be no odor from them. The ice house is also one of the buildings on the plant, and is used for the preservation of the green bone until such times as it is required for food. Operating the Incubators The arrangement of the incubators in the cellar is worth some con- sideration. In purchasing the machines care must be taken to buy them built right and left. This will permit the lamps of the two machines being placed side by side and means a considerable economy in time in attending the lamps as well as floor space. They are placed side by side along the north and south sides and close to the wall. This arrangement leaves a good aisle through the centre for the operators. When installed they are carefully leveled with a spirit level. Five tables are provided for convenience in turning the eggs. These are made three feet wide and a little longer than necessary to take two of the incubator trays side by side. They are built on revolving castors and their height is gauged so as to make them a trifle lower than the tray slides in the machine. By having five of these tables much time can be saved. While the eggs on one are being turned those on the others can be left to cool. By taking trays out of alternate machines the time for cooling can be increased as desired. On the leg of each machine is placed a tag, six inches long, three inches wide, on which is provided blank spaces in which the following information is filled in : 1. The day and hour that the incubator is set. 2. The number of eggs placed in the machine. 3. The day, which will be the third day, when the eggs are turned for the first time. 4. The day, which will be the fourteenth day, when the eggs are tested out. Many incubator men test their eggs for the first time all the way from the third to the seventh day, but no test whatever is made on this farm until the four- teenth day. The principal reason given for testing on the seventh day, or earlier, is that the eggs taken out may be saved to boil for the newly- hatched chicks when they come. There is not enough in this, however, to take chances of losing valuable chicks thereby. In addition it saves time and labor. INCUBATOR .Itei 7 P.M. CI*ar ~7~ 14th l *y> . J»H> .'// -«^'.. &••'';,. from any cause as they '■><■ . , '",:' '"''" '* occur. These tags are L. . Jj^-jc '.',, — -, also filed away from season to season for reference, and they form a valuable guide as to what can be banked upon. On account of lack of room in the brooder house a number of chicks had to be re- moved when they were between three and four weeks old to the colony houses to make room for new hatches from the incubators. Among these there was a con- siderable mortality, as they were not suffi- ciently feathered to provide the necessary warmth in the cold nights. The total loss of birds in the colony houses, in season of igo8, from hawks and other causes was about 400. There were 899 cockerels raised to sufficient size for broilers or were matured for breeders. The pullets placed in the laying houses numbered 1,953. Of these 453 were placed in what is known as No. 1 house and 1,500 in No. 2 house. It is a fixed belief at Sunny Slope Farm that the chicks should be handled as little as possible ; so when a change is being made from one place to another it is accomplished by removing the sliding board, open- ing into the alleyway, which is then blocked so that the chicks can only go in the one desired direction. The board opening into the nursery pen to be occupied is raised, then the attendant walks behind these chicks and quietly and easily moves them along until they are in their new quarters. When removing them to the colony house a box is placed at the little door leading from the house to the yard. In this box is another door corresponding to that in the brooder house, and the front of the box is made of wire mesh. The chicks are quietly driven into the box and when it is comfortably filled the door is closed and they are carried down to the colony house, which is to be their home until they are suffi- ciently matured to take their places in the laying house. To facilitate the emptying of the boxes just described, doors are placed at either end Tag 6 inches by 3 inches con- taining record of chicks placed in hover. Tag for recording chicks when moved to nursery pens. Records shown the writer, upon his visit to Sunny Slope Farm, gave a very small loss in the brooders. In the spring of 1909 7,505 chicks were hatched at Sunny Slope Farm. There were 1,192 deaths in the brooder house, and up to August 15, 1909, 481 deaths on range from crows, hawks, etc, — Editor. 48 CORNING EGG-BOOK Feeding Newly-Hatched Chicks The chicks hatched at Sunny Slope Farm are not fed for forty-eight hours after they come out of the shell. The last act which the chick performs before breaking the shell is to absorb the yolk, which makes food unnecessary for at least two days. The third day after hatching, the chicks are fed every two hours, of a good commercial chick food, not heavily, but just enough to enable them to readily fill up their crops. The feed is placed on the floor in close proximity to the hover. The fifth day after hatching they are allowed to run in the little hover yard and then their feed is thrown to them in litter. Small sized grit is mixed with the chick feed. This litter is made of wheat chaff, or the screenings taken out of the bottom of the haymow. If neither of these is available, straw is cut fine with a clover cutter and is used as a substitute. The litter should be put in deep in these yards— at least a couple of inches of it. While the bulk of the feed is fed in this litter, a small portion is scattered around the hover where no litter is kept, so that any weak chick may get it without too hard work. From -the start the chicks have water before them, placed in sanitary drinking fountains which are thoroughly washed and refilled three times a day — first thing in the morning, at eleven o'clock and again at three- thirty o'clock. These hours are not set arbitrarily, but were decided upon from the fact that it is at these hours approximately that the chicks drink the greatest quantity. . When the chicks begin to work in the litter, they are fed but three times a day instead of every two hours. While not overfeeding, enough grain is thrown into the litter so that the little fellows in scratching will always find something to reward them. About this time beef scraps are added to the ration, and care is taken that these are ground fine. This is fed at noon. To each 100 chicks at the start a couple of little piles are thrown into the litter. Each pile contains about one handful. The amount of beef scrap is increased day by day until six handfuls are fed to each pen of 100 chicks. The chicks are fed in this way until they are six weeks old. Then they are given wheat and cracked corn. This change is made gradually by mixing with the chick feed, each successive day feeding less of the latter until it is taken out altogether. Feeding Pullets While on Range At Sunny Slope Farm the pullets are moved from the brooder house to colony houses and are given free range when they are six weeks old. From that time until they are mature enough to be placed in the laying houses they are made to do a lot of hustling for their living. Some ■ poultry breeders throw corn to the pullets in the vicinity of their quarters early in the morning. This is a serious error. At this stage in a chick's life it is greatly to its advantage in developing stamina and hardihood to make it hustle for its food. The pullets, also. enjoy ranging, as can be seen by watching them ' playing tag with each other and chasing the worms and insects. The colony range for growing pullets is left in a wild state, with a luxuriant growth produced by heavy fertilizing, giving a large variety of rank, green stalks, affording excellent shelter from sun and storm, and providing refuge from crows and hawks, which will not descend into the dense foliage. This condition of the range also produces a variety of seeds for which the pullets forage, thereby getting both food and CORNING EGG-BOOK 49 In the mornings the grass is thick with insects, and there are always plenty of pickings to be had if the pullets are forced to look therefor. To satisfy their appetites they are kept busy until about eleven o'clock, when they come into the shade for rest. It is late, in the afternoon before they are given any grain, when it is scattered on the ground near the colony houses. This is a mixture of two-thirds whole wheat and one- third cracked corn. At this time they are given all of this that they will pick up clean. Inside each colony house is a feeding trough for mash, and this is supplied in such quantities that it is never entirely consumed.. Every afternoon at three o'clock fresh mash is placed in the trough, and what- ever little may be left over from the day before, is mixed therewith.' The same mash is fed to pullets on 'range as is fed in the laying houses. To provide a sufficient amount of grit two basins are placed at each colony house and are always kept filled. Care is always taken to use a grit which carries a large percentage of lime. This helps to make bone, and the pullets come into laying without causing any trouble. The pullets also have a wonderful affinity for hard coal ashes, and large quantities of them are regularly provided. It is surprising the amount of ashes the pullets will consume. This system of feeding sends pullets to their quarters with full crops, which is very essential if rapid growth is to be had. There stands in each house an automatic drinking fountain, which holds five gallons of water, so that it has to be filled only every other day. This affords a considerable saving in labor. Feeding Laying Pullets When the pullets are put into the laying houses they still receive their main feed of grain at night. Six quarts of wheat and corn, varied in proportion according to the weather, for each hundred pullets are scattered in the litter an hour before sunset on clear days, and fifteen minutes earlier on cloudy days. The litter is at least eight inches deep and preferably of wheat straw. The grain is thrown on top of this, and being fed in this quantity the pullets are able to fill up quite easily at just the time when you want to get their crops chock-full. As she moves and scratches, the pullet buries the remaining grain in the litter. When she leaves the roost in the morning she has to work like a beaver to get out the remaining grain, which gives her the needed exercise and starts her blood well in motion for the day. By thus feeding the extra quantity at night the attendants are saved the necessity of another trip with the morning ration of grain, and the burying of it in the litter. It is necessary that this feed more than any other should be so fed as to make the fowls work hard for it, and con- Professor Gowell's method of feeding laying stock and that followed by Sunny Slope Farm are practically the same. There is a difference in the Gowell mash, as follows: Wheat bran * parts Corn meal f. 1 part Wheat middlings '. » Part Linseed meal . . . '• - ■ * part Gluten meal 1 Part Beef scraps • * z P art The mash contained one-fourth of its bulk of clover leaves and heads obtained from the cattle barn. The clover was covered with hot water and allowed to stand for three or four hours. The mash was made quite dry, and rubbed down with the shovel in mixing, so that pieces of clover were separated and covered with the meal. This masV was fed to hens in artificially heated houses where the temperature was always above freezing. This method of feeding green food in mash was abandoned by Professor Gowell some years after, and clover cut in half-inch lengths was fed dry, separately. — Editor. 50 CORNING EGG-BOOK sequently it must be buried deep in the litter. At eleven o'clock a small quantity of oats is fed in the litter (two quarts for each hundred hens). In very cold weather a little buckwheat is mixed with the oats on alternate days. Buckwheat is too fattening to have a part in the daily ration. The mash troughs which are placed under the dropping boards, two troughs being provided for each 20-foot section, are filled with mash, twenty-two pounds of mash being given to each 200 hens, at three o'clock in the afternoon. This mash is made by thoroughly mixing the following ingredients in the proportions named, either by measure or weight : Wheat bran 8 parts Ground oats (not fine) 4 parts Wheat middlings I part Old process oil meal 1 part Gluten meal (highest quality) I part Corn meal 1 part Cut green bone ; 16 parts This mash must be thoroughly mixed, so as to have the juices from the animal food taken up entirely by the ground grain. Absolutely no water, only the animal juices in the cut green bone is used in making this mash. It is sweet-smelling and palatable enough looking to tempt any man. When ready for the hens there is not the slightest appearance of the green bone in it, all these particles having been thoroughly covered by the adherence of the meals. Where it is not convenient to cut green bone, beef scraps may be sub- stituted. Where small flocks are being handled, the mash can readily be mixed in a tub — or large pan — with a wooden paddle. This method was practiced at Sunny Slope Farm until the flock became so large that labor- saving machinery became an absolute necessity. Feeding Cockerels for Broilers At six weeks of age, as a rule, the cockerels are transferred from the brooding house to the fattening pen, or just as soon as their sex can be surely determined. The Leghorn cockerel is very precocious and develops the masculine traits at a much earlier age than those of American or heavier breeds. The first thing in the morning the cockerels are fed a mixture of grain, composed of two parts of cracked corn and one of wheat. This is thrown on the floor, on which no litter is- placed, as it is desirable that they should do as little moving about as possible. They are given all they will eat up clean. At ten-thirty o'clock they are given a bountiful supply of green food. At three-thirty o'clock the mash boxes are filled full and they are given all of this they will eat. This mash is made in the same way as that Bulletin No. 90 of the United States Department of Agriculture states: "A very large proportion of the cockerels raised in New England are sent to the market alive, without being fattened. Quite extended experiments at the Maine Station with many birds, in different years, indicate very clearly that keeping the cockerels for a few weeks with special feeding will add materially to the selling price. Not infrequently this will make the difference betwen loss from the low price obtained for slow-selling unfattened birds and the profit from comparatively quick-selling specially fed birds at a much higher price. The higher price is due partly to the increased weight and partly to the superior quality of the well-covered soft-fleshed chickens. As the bulletins containing the results of these feeding experiments with cockerels are out of print, the -following brief summary of the results obtained is given: _ "The number of pounds i of grain required to produce one pound of gain in fat- tening cockerels was ascertained in experiments comparing the effect of housing, the effect, of age, and the effect of skim milk. The grain mixture used in these series of experiments was the same, consisting of 100 pounds of corn meal,, 100 pounds of wheat middlings and 40 pounds of meat meal. This was fed as a porridge thick enough to drop but not to run from a spoon." — Editor. < o o o o o z D O 52 CORNING EGG-BOOK described for the laying pullets, except that the proportion of corn meal is very considerably increased. This method of feeding has been found superior to any of those which use large quantities of milk in the mash, as it produces a broiler the meat of which is sweeter and more juicy. It has also been found more effective in' pushing them to maturity. Feeding the Breeding Stock The birds in the breeding house are fed in exactly the same manner as those in the laying houses. That this method is correct is amply proved by the fact that in the past two seasons, since it has been adopted, the fertility of the eggs has averaged 90 per cent, or better, and the germs have been exceptionally strong. The chicks from these hens have great vigor and vitality, and grow rapidly. It keeps the males as well as the females in a strong, healthy condition, and does not make them too fat. To. secure a heavy supply of eggs the hens must be well fed, but to have a high percentage of fertility it is important that they should not be allowed to become overfat. Feeding Hens Through Molt At Sunny Slope Farm no hens are carried through the molt except those required for breeders. As soon as the pullets finish their first laying season, which lasts approximately ten months, they are sold at once for breeders. There is always a demand for these birds. Care must be taken in feeding a molting hen not to let her take on fat. At this period in her life a hen is much less active than when she is laying, and is much given to "standin' 'round." It is therefore necessary to see that all the grain is buried deeply in the litter. The amount of cracked corn given is materially lessened and the quantity of mash feed is cut down by at least one-half. If the hen is going to feather well and keep her strength some animal food is necessary, but she does not require it in so large quan- tities as when being fed for eggs. With the exceptions noted, molting hens are fed the same as layers. When the hen begins to lay, the amount of mash is increased to the requirements of the hen, gradually, until it reaches the point of the laying ration. Mash — Morning or Night? It is a much disputed question whether mash should be fed in the morning or at night, but on Sunny Slope Farm it has been definitely answered to the satisfaction of its proprietors. Professor Gowell used to feed his layers twice a day only, and kept the mash always before them. On Sunny Slope Farm better results have been obtained by feeding the mash in the late afternoon. To keep her body in a perfectly healthy and natural condition, the hen must spend the greater part of the day in activity. If she is per- mitted to cram her crop with mash in the early morning she will lie Care is exercised on Sunny Slope Farm that the hens are kept in good condition without becoming overfat. Like the layers, they are kept active. The high percentage of fertility proves that their method in this particular is correct. — Editor. Molting is a period that is a great strain upon the vitality of the fowls, and in order to carry them through safely it is necessary that their feed be of a more stimulating nature than when they are in laying condition. This fact is plainly exemplified at Sunny Slope Farm. — Editor. CORNING EGG-BOOK 53 around until the middle of the day or later, in a serai-dopy, sluggish condition. The theory of the "morning mash" poultrymen is that by giving the hen warm mash in the morning it heats her blood and makes her more comfortable. This is a fallacy. It does not send the blood coursing through her veins nor make her nearly so comfortable 'and happy as to be forced to hustle, and hustle hard, for her morning meal. If a hen is going to lay well she must be sent to roost with a full crop. For this reason, on Sunny Slope Farm she is given the mash late in the afternoon, and this is followed a short time before she goes to roost with an abundant feed of grain. Before she starts to pick the grain at all her crop is full of mash, but there are always a number of small cavities into which the hard grain can be pushed, which puts her to bed with a full crop of egg-making material — "It works while she sleeps." Fresh Cut Bone Fresh cut bone is a valuable egg producer, and an average of more than an ounce a day is fed to the layers and breeders at Sunny Slope Farm. It forms half of the mash mixture, and the hens are given all of this they will eat at one feeding. Green bone is cheap in price and highly nutritious, easily digested and heartily relished by the fowls. It is stimulating to the egg-producing organs, but more in the way of strengthening than simply inciting to greater activity. The feeding of it is not followed by reactionary results, as is the case when condiments are used. It not only imparts strength to the egg organs, but it contains in about equal proportions the same elements as the egg. Consequently, it is a valuable food. It has a noticeably favorable effect upon the fertility and hatchability of the eggs and upon the chicks after they are hatched. Great care must be exercised in the selection of bones and meat put into the cutting machine. Unless this is done it is a very simple matter to give the fowls an aggravated dose of diarrhea, and diarrhea caused in this way is practically incurable. From a financial standpoint, it is much better to kill the fowl than to try to doctor her back to health. The bone and meat scrap as it is supplied by the butcher is gone over piece by piece, and all the salt or putrid pieces are thrown to one side. No chance is taken of allowing any meat that has been in brine to get into the hen's mash. The attendant soon becomes quite expert in selecting the fresh from the salt bones. If the flavor of the eggs is to be maintained, care must be taken that no tainted bone or meat is used. The bone is weighed out in exact proportion in preparing it for the mash, and as much ; bone is used as all other ingredients in the mash combined. This gives the laying stock something more than an ounce per head each day. On this point, in Bulletin No. 90, Professor Gowell says: "Years ago the 'morning mash,' which was regarded as necessary to 'warm up the cold hen' so she could lay that day, was given up, and the mash was fed at night. The birds for several years prior to 1903 were fed daily throughout the year as follows: Each pen of twenty-two received one pint of wheat in the deep litter early in the morning. At 9.30 A. M. one-half pint of oats was fed in the same way. At I P. M. one-half pint "of cracked corn was given in the litter as before. At 3 P. M. in winter and 4 P. M. in summer they were given all the mash they would eat up clean in half In all the Maine Station feeding formulas Professor Gowell ^ does not include green cut bone. While the writer has never read or heard of his opinion on this article of food,' it is known that Professor Gowell personally • preferred beef scraps. Green bone should be fed the day it is cut, and care should be taken that no tainted bone or meat is used. This is a hard matter to avoid where a large amount of bone daily is needed.— Editor. 54 CORNING EGG-BOOK Green Food All the birds on Sunny Slope Farm are given an abundance of green food, the supply starting when they are three days old and con- tinuing until they are finally disposed of. The little chicks are given grass and clover cut fresh every morning and reduced to lengths of about one-eighth of an inch. This is thrown into the litter in abundant quantities and they are allowed to eat it at will throughout the day. As soon as the chicks are removed from the brooder house they are placed on range, and of course get their own supply of green food. When the pullets are placed in the laying house the green food has to be supplied to them. This is obtained by sowing a sufficiently large patch of ground with winter wheat in the late summer. This comes up very readily and is cut and fed in large quantities every morning, at least a bushel basket packed down being given to each 200 hens. When this wheat gets covered by snow so that it is not cutable, green food is supplied by feeding short cut clover or alfalfa which has previously been gathered and cured. This is prepared for the fowls daily. It is placed in large tubs and over this is poured boiling water through a watering can. It has been found that the clover takes up water much more evenly when it is thus sprinkled on than when it is poured on. Sufficient water is used to thoroughly moisten it- Then the tub is covered with burlap or old sacking and allowed to stand for thirty minutes. This limit of time is very important, for the reason that clover or alfalfa becomes brownish in color as well as soggy if allowed to steep longer, and it is not nearly so palatable to the hens. The quantity of water used in making this green food mixture is not always the same, for sometimes the clover will suck up a good deal more moisture than it does at other times. The weight of the food is always more than doubled by the addition of the water. The yards of the breeding pens are plowed as soon as they can be worked in the spring and are sown heavily with oats. The oats grow very quickly and after they have a fair start they will beat the hens, what is eaten down during the day being fully made up by the growth over night. In the winter and early spring months the breeders are supplied with green food in the same way as the layers. A large amount of green food fed to the breeding stock adds greatly to the strength and fertility of the eggs. To the stock in confinement in the summer and to all the birds in the winter and early spring months the green food is fed to them warm at nine o'clock each morning. Much has been written about sprouted, or "processed" oats, but the whole matter is very simple. A frame made of flooring, or any boards 4 or s inches wide, and set upright, gives the growing bed. Roofing paper, laid on level earth, makes a good bottom ; concrete or board floors are equally good. In any event, the water should be allowed to drain away. Frames 3x6 feet are used at Sunny Slope Farm, but any desired dimensions can be made. Dry oats are spread in the frames, not over one inch in depth, and are thoroughly and evenly sprinkled with cold water every day, for ten to fourteen days, when the green sprouts are about six inches long. Professor Gowell was a firm advocate of clover. He said: "Poultry-keepers do not begin to realize how valuable a food we have in clover." Clover supplies the much-needed mineral elements (ash) so necepsary to the vigor of the new-hatched chick, and that much-desired mineral element must be in the egg from which the chick is hatched. — Editor. 56 CORNING EGG-BOOK A dark, cool cellar is best adapted for this operation, though sheds or other buildings can be utilized. Oftentimes, as the oats swell and sprout, there will be upheaving spots, or islands, showing an uneven surface over the bed. _ These "islands" should be most thoroughly soaked with water, which will in a day or two bring the whole bed to a level growth. In bulk, this process produces - a full four parts for one part planted, and makes a most excel- lent green and oat food. Better results are obtained by following this plan than other methods. Drinking Water Chemical analysis shows that more than three-fourths of an egg is composed of water. It is therefore essential that the fowls should be given an abundant supply of water, that it should be pure, and placed before them in such a way as to prevent their fouling it. At Sunny Slope Farm the water is given in automatic fountains which hold about five gallons apiece. A sufficient number of these are placed in each house to meet the requirements of the day. • In the laying and breeding houses this is given in the morning, and in the cold months it is put in the fountains boiling hot. This meets all the advantages claimed by the advocates of warm morning mash in heating up the fowl's system if it has been chilled through the night. It has the same effect upon the bird as a cup of hot tea or coffee has on a man whose system has become chilled from ex- posure or other causes. Together with the work the hen has to do to dig her breakfast out of the litter, it sends the blood circulating rapidly through her veins and makes her active and lively almost as soon as she is off the roost. If cold water is given, the pullet will stand around dumpy, often for a couple of hours after leaving the roost in the morning, and much of the advantage that has been obtained by discarding the morning mash will be lost. After a little experience the amount of water that the hens require can be readily gauged, so that the fountains are practically empty at night. Young chicks are given water simultaneously with their first food, and plenty of it is always before them. Water is kept in each of the colony houses for young stock and replenished just as often as the fountains are empty — about every other day. Charcoal, Grit and Oyster Shell Charcoal is kept regularly before the fowls. It is fed in automatic hoppers, which are filled once a week. It does not affect all breeds alike, but it seems to make the Leghorns on this farm susceptible to colds, and for this reason it is not kept constantly before them, unless a hop- perful lasts them a week. The hens are very fond of it, however, and this supply usually is consumed in a couple of days. Charcoal has no equal as a bowel regulator, and it purifies the crop and keeps it sweet. Only coarse charcoal is used, as there is less waste in it and the fowls seem to prefer it. Professor Gowell considered water one of the greatest, if not the greatest, "egg foods" that could be given hens. In his class in the Uuiversity he urged a constant examination of the drinking fountains, that they not only are filled, but that the water in them is fresh and clean. — Editor, CORNING EGG-BOOK 57 The hens have free access to grit all the time, and care is taken to secure a grit that is really sharp, that does not crumble, and that carries a stiff percentage of lime. Do not make the mistake that a limestone is desirable. » Coarse oyster shell, perfectly free from dust and fine particles, is also kept at all times in front of the fowls. If there is a good percentage of lime in the grit used, less oyster shell will be required. Growing birds also need it for bone-making material. Good shells cannot be had on the eggs unless plenty of lime is supplied, and a good shell adds materially to the appearance of the eggs. Hard Coal Ashes The affinity existing between a chicken and hard ■ coal ashes from the time the chick begins to eat until its final passing is remarkable. The experiments at Sunny Slope Farm, with hard coal ashes, have been on the increase from year to year. Ashes were first placed in heaps on the colony range, and disappeared like frost before the sun. Next they were placed at the end of the chick runs, and the "yellow babies" made way with them, greatly to their own benefit. Charcoal was then abandoned in the laying houses and sifted ashes, in feed hoppers, were substituted, resulting in a marked saving in grit and oyster shell. The necessity of keeping the brooder house runs in a clean, dry and sanitary condition, has been successfully met by spreading ashes over the surface of these runs to a depth of about three inches. It is found to be necessary, from time to time, to add a fresh, thin coating of ashes over the surface of these runs, as the chicks make way with such a large quantity. Eggs for Hatching As is stated in another chapter, the layers are disposed of imme- diately at the close of their first laying season, or when the birds are between fifteen and sixteen months old. This is true of all the stock that is kept for the production of eggs for domestic purposes ; but each season a sufficient number of the best pullets are selected and transferred to the breeding house, for the eggs of yearling hens hatch stronger and better chicks than those of pullets. Selection of Breeding Hens The plan of breeding, from the very inception of Sunny Slope Farm, has been to produce hens which would not only lay a large number of eggs, but also eggs uniform in shape and of large size. The usual method of selecting breeders is by trap-nests. Certainly the use of a mechanical device for the selection of breeding hens should long since have been discarded, because it is impossible for the trap-nest to be accurate. In every pen of laying hens, more or less eggs are laid in the litter, making it impossible to know the individual hens which laid them. Again, a hen which, up to a given time, has made a wonderful record, may have an upset in her digestive organs, or otherwise, and cease laying for a time. And thus a hen whose qualifications as a breeder far surpasses another whose egg record is seemingly better, is discarded in favor of the poorer bird. It is believed at Sunny Slope Farm, that as Professor Gowell preached:- "Keep clean water, charcoal, granulated bone, oyster shell and sharp grit always before the chicks; and cracked bone, oyster shell, grit and water before the hens all the time." — Editor. 58 CORNING EGG-BOOK the hen is an animal, she should be bred, if actual and exact results are to be obtained, as other animals are bred. This is not accomplished by resorting to a mechanical device, as a guide ; but by the careful and scientific study of the animal's anatomy, and by the selection of type, for the reproduction of the same type. It is impossible to produce a great performer, jn any line, unless the animal is so built as to be capable of the performance. For an ideal egg producer a hen needs a long body, a deep keel and an appearance of broadness as she faces out. Other points being equal, this is the hen which will lay many large eggs of uniform shape. At Sunny Slope "Farm nothing but real yearling hens are used for breeding purposes. A hen does not become a yearling until she has passed through her first molt, and here, no eggs are incubated, neither are any. eggs, for hatching sold, from any birds which have not molted. A pullet hatched, say in April, would be twelve months old the follow- ing April ; but is not a yearling, in the true sense ; and the percentage of chicks hatched from her eggs will be smaller, the mortality_ greater and the vigor and size of those that live much less than chicks hatched from eggs produced by real mature* yearling hens. If all breeding was done with real yearling, hens, not so rfany hatching eggs would be sold; but probably more chickens would be hatched, and these would be strong, healthy birds, able to live, and not develop white diarrhea and other weakling diseases, because the parent stock back of them would be of the same vigorous nature. A better grade of fowls in all varieties would inevitably result. The method of breeding with small pens does not produce the same continuous high fertility, throughout the breeding season, as does the large flock system practised on Sunny Slope Farm. During the season of 1910 the fertility ran, for long periods, above 96 per cent. — and the chicks hatched were large, strong, fluffy, livable youngsters. The economy of handling the large flocks is self evident. With these yearling hens are mated carefully selected cockerels, one for every twelve hens. No attempt is made to divide these breeders into flocks, but all run together in the one room and yard. Cockerels are used rather than cocks because experience has proven that they throw a larger percentage of pullets. The experience on Sunny Slope Farm backs up this theory, only one-third of the chicks hatched in the last season being males. It is also believed that cockerels produce a larger percentage of fertility than can be obtained from older males. The birds are not mated until within ten days or two weeks of the time that it is desired to start the incubators. Experience has proven that Leghorn eggs are fertile within three to five days after mating. The eggs produced by birds mated this way are gathered at regular intervals and placed in turning machines, beincr carried so as to lie on the end and not on side. They are turned regularly every day until they are placed in the incubator. This is done to prevent the germs adhering to the side of the shell. The sooner an egg goes into the incubator after being laid the better. At Sunny Slope Farm an effort is made not to have the eggs over two days old. Sunny Slope Farm does not use trap-nests, believing that it makes the Leghorns too scary. The experience of the writer, however, not onlv proves that Lep-horns very quicklv get over their nervousness when trapped and handled a few times, but become very tame. Professor Gowell was a staunch believer in the trap-nest, and had between 400 and 500 nests for the 2,001 to 2.500 hens at the Maine Station Farm, and 400 traps on his own Go-well Farm. It is the only absolutely sure way to pick out drones. Sunny Slope Farm estimates that to trap-nest 5,000 hens would cost at least $1,000 a year labor, which is one reason why they do not do it. — Editor. CORNING EGG-BOOK 59 Quality, not numbers, is the motto of Sunny Slope Farm. The increase of the quantity of live stock from year to year is a question of quality. It is impossible to produce the quality here found, except where the owners have direct- oversight of all details, as is here thoroughly and systematically practiced. Experience has demonstrated that when a plant gets beyond this point, it is doomed to failure, because when supervision and oversight have to be left to men who have no interest beyond their pay for service, carelessness and neglect are sure to creep in. Cleanliness Only five birds were lost from all causes after the pullets were re- moved from the colony houses to the laying houses on Sunny Slope Farm last season. This is attributed to the absolute cleanliness which is maintained there. Cleanliness is a vital element in chicken raising. The dropping boards in. the laying and breeding houses are cleaned every day, the droppings being carefully stored in a • shed specially provided for the purpose. The drinking fountains in these houses are washed and scoured with a brush every morning. This removes all the slime which naturally clings to the sides from the water. The nests are gone over every day, and any filth which may have been taken into them by the fowl is removed. Excelsior has been found capital material to use in the nest boxes. It is clean and sanitary. The birds are not allowed to roost anywhere except on the perches provided for that purpose. This prevents the birds inclined to steal their roosts from befouling any section of the house except the dropping boards, and helps to maintain the general cleanliness. Every few days the canvas drops which act as windows are brushed with a stiff whisk-broom to remove any dust adhering to them and which may prevent the free access of the outside air. No disinfectants or lice killers are used, for the reason that they have never been required. The absolute dryness of the house probably makes it uncomfortable for lice. At any rate, they have never yet appeared in the houses on this farm. When the laying stock is disposed of in the fall the laying houses are thoroughly cleansed. All the litter is removed and the floors are swept. Then the entire interior is gone over with a mixture of kerosene and crude carbolic acid, about twelve parts of kerosene to one part of acid. New litter is placed on the floor and the houses are ready for another flock of laying pullets. At the same time the nest boxes are all removed, cleansed and, painted with the above-named mixture. The colony houses are all cleaned out at least twice a week. There are no roosts in these houses, and consequently the litter has to be removed at every cleaning. The hover parts of the runs in the brooder house are scraped and thoroughly cleaned every day while they are in use. In the yards covered with litter the floor is swept and everything removed every three weeks, or at the time the chicks are moved to the cold hovers to make room for another lot. The alleyway in this house is regularly swept and the hot-water pipes are frequently dusted. At the end of each hatch the incubators are thoroughly gone over. The lower diaphragms, drawers and trays are carried outdoors and laid in the sun. When thoroughly dry they are swept with a stiff brush until every foreign substance is removed from them. All who visit Sunny Slope Farm mark the order of cleanliness that is kept. The writer never saw cleaner houses, and this is remarkable, too, considering the large number of fowls that are housed all the time. Without strict cleanliness it would be impossible to keep such a number of birds in the pink of condition. — Editor. 60 CORNING EGG-BOOK All this detail is gone over regularly. Older poultrymen do not think such close attention to this matter of cleanliness is necessary, but here there are very fixed opinions thereon. Punctuality and Regularity It has been said that the hen is a systematic animal. One thing is very certain — she works on time. Close attention to this characteristic of the -hen has been one of the important factors in bringing success to Sunny Slope Farm. Everything there is done by the clock — a large eight-day one, which hangs in a prominent place in the workshop. Following is the day's schedule : Between five-thirty and six o'clock every morning in summer, and as soon as it is light in winter, the attendants open the house and put water — boiling hot in winter — into the drinking fountains. At nine o'clock green food is fed, and the first gathering of eggs follows. /■ • At ten-thirty o'clock green food is given the cockerels. At eleven-thirty oats are fed, sometimes mixed with buckwheat, and the second gathering of eggs follows.- At two-thirty o'clock the third gathering of eggs is made. This is always the principal collection of the day. At three o'clock in the winter months mash is placed in the troughs. In the summertime it is fed at four o'clock.. At three-thirty o'clock the cockerels are given their mash ration. At .five o'clock in the summer grain is fed in the litter. In the wintertime this is varied to make the feeding one hour before sunset, in order to give the fowls plenty of opportunity to fill up before it becomes dusk. ■ According to the weather the houses are closed for the night, and at dusk a final careful search for eggs is made, not only in the nest boxes, but particularly in the litter. At seven-thirty o'clock the houses are again visited and all birds not so roosting are placed on the perches. This schedule is adhered to rigidly throughout the year, nothing whatever being allowed to interfere with it. The Corning Method Applies to Small Plants as Well as Large The question is often asked whether the Sunny Slope Farm methods can be successfully used in handling a few hens, as well as with a large number. The start at Sunny Slope Farm was made with a breeding pen of thirty Single-Comb White Leghorn yearling hens and three cock- erels — one 390-egg capacity incubator, and three portable brooders. While it is believed that a width of 16 feet is the standard for poultry houses in most climates the length of the house is a matter of individual requirement. It must, however, be borne in mind that in a house 16 feet -wide by, say, 20 feet long, one cannot carry as many birds. In proportion to the floor space, as in a house, say, 60 feet long. And the same is true as between a house 60 feet long and one 100 feet long. This because, in a long house, while the square feet of floor space, per This is another great secret of success. It was no easy task to get such a large farm like Sunny Slope down to such a good system. The poultrymen who will "go and do likewise" will find that in poultry culture there are no more important acts than punctuality and regularity. — Editor. 62 CORNING EGG-BOOK hen, is small, this is offset by the fact that each hen has the range of the entire floor of the house. This general system of feeding can be carried on for a small flock of hens, by substituting beef scraps for cut bone — where there is no bone cutter — and mixing the mash with paddles, in a tub or other convenient vessel. Small bone cutters, operated by hand, cost but little. A man living near Sunny Slope Farm, who carries about ioo pullets, always had a very small egg yield, until two winters back, when he adopted Sunny Slope Farm methods, beginning in January. Even with this midwinter start, his egg production increased in what, to him, was a most astonishing degree. The following autumn he bought a small pen (IS hensand one cock) of Sunny Slope Farm stock, and bred from them the following season. He increased his flock of young chicks by obtain- ing hatching eggs from the same source, and thus produced pullets whose parents and grandparents had been bred under the Corning System. His present tgg yield largely exceeds all previous records. To further illustrate the working of this system on a still smaller scale: A gentleman living in Bound Brook had a mixed pen (hens and pullets) of a8 Barred Rocks and R. I. Reds. The pullets were hatched early and should have been laying by October. The hens molted early and looked well, but neither hens nor pullets laid any eggs. The owner having "tried out" various "sure egg producing" feeds and methods, tried the Sunny Slope Farm way, the latter part of December, 1908. He reported that after ten days' hard work in the litter the birds began fo lay and continued laying through the winter and summer. The above illustrations — taken from many others — seem to fully answer the question : How will this system work with a small flock? 1; W •**• m> 4ft m* A'Aftft'Aftv^ m am .M-mm. A; AikiiAAift F^: : ' i: ^BtimK mmi. * ,„ m ^:;.:;.-i| THE COMPLETED PRODUCT Cartons of fresh, clean, heavy-weight, fine flavored, sterile Corning eggs, ready to go to market Index Page A Advanced prices 13 Air, fresh 23 Air-space in walls 35 Alfalfa 54 Animal food . . . 52 Ashes 49, 57 Atmosphere, dry 43 Automatic drinking fountains 56 Awning to exclude sun 31 B Beef scraps 48, 49, 50 Bins, food 39 Boiling-hot water 60 Bone , 13, 50, 53 Bone cutterr 39, 62 Bowel regulator 56 Boxes, paper « , 15 Bran, wheat 13, 49, 50 Breeders 14 Breeding house. 38, 39. Breeding pens 20, 58 Breeding stock, feeding 52 Breed to keep 19 Broilers . '. 14, 50 Brooder house.... 22, 24, 26, 28, 45, 46 * Brown eggs 19 Buckwheat * 50 c Carbolic acid, crude 59 Cartons, paper. 14 Ceiling height 33, 43 Cellar, incubator 24, 26, 43 Cement floors 24, 26 Cement walls .. 24 Charcoal 13, 56 Cheese cloth-.'. 36 Chicks, care of 46 Chjmneys, ventilating flues in 24 Circulation of air 24 Cleanliness 59 Close partition house 23 Cloth curtain 35 Clover, cut 13, 49. 54 Coal ashes 49, 57 Cockerel house 39, 40 .^-Cockerels 22 ' '-'Cockerels, feeding 50 : r Cbld air 30 Cold storage eggs 15 Colds. ..23,-24 Cold water 54, 56 * Colony houses ..22, 31, 33 Concrete floor 43 Concrete sills 26 Condiments 53 Corn !3, 19, 48 Corn meal - ...49. 50 Corning method applied to "small plants ' 6o > 62 Cost of feeding 1 J » 1 3 ' Page Cost" of housing poultry 2r, 22 Cotton-duck 24, 31, 36 Crows . . . r 46 Curtain-front house. ........ 23 D Daily shipments .16 Dampness 23, 24 Dark room .' 26 Death, premature 23 Diarrhea 53 Disease in large flocks. . .V 21 Disinfectants 59 Doors 28, £1, 38 Dopy hens . . , 53 Draughts 23, 24, 28, 30, 35 Drinking water 56 Drones, to pick out 58 Dropping boards. , .38, 59 . Droppings 28, 59 Dust 39, 59 Dust bath 39 Dusting 59 E Early pullets 20 Economy in building 23 Economy of space, etc. ........ .21, 22 Egg farming" 7 Egg record 18 Egg shells 18 Egg shells, color of 19 Egg three-fourths water 56 Eggs, cold storage 15 Eggs, fertile 26, 43 Eggs, flavor of 53 Eggs for hatching 57 Eggs, fresh 14 Eggs, gathering 60 Eggs, infertile 26, 43 Eggs, marketing the 16., 18 Eggs, packing 13 Eggs, price of 15 Eggs, sealed : 18 Eggs, sterile 19 Eggs, testing, 26, 43 Eggs, turning. 41, 45 Eggs, weight of 16 Eggs, winter ... 45, 59 Emergency pipes 26 Engine, gasoline '. 39 Entrances 38 Excelsior for nests 59 Exercise 23, 24 Exposure 39 F False floor 28 Fat, . over 20 Fattening pens 22, 50 Feed hoppers 56 6 4 CORNING EGG-BOOK Page Feed house 39 Feeding 60 Feeding breeding stock 52 Feeding chicks . . r 48 Feeding cockerels 50, 52 Feeding cockerels for broilers. ..... .50 Feeding, cost of 13 Feeding during molting '. . 5 2 Feeding laying pullets 49, 50 Feeding on range 48, 49 Feeding pullets .48 Feeding troughs 48 Fences . ., 1 1_ Fertile eggs. 26' Fertility 57, 58 r lav or of eggs 54 Flocks, size of 21, 22 Floor, concrete 43 Floor joists 35 Floor space 21, 22, 28, 31, 60 Floors 35 "Flues, ventilating 24 Food bins. 39 Food, gree^ 54, 56 Foul air. . A 30 Foundation 33 Fountains, automatic 56 Fountains, drinking 48, 49 Freezing ,, 26 Fresh ,air 23, 24, 30 Fresh cut bone 53 Fresh eggs 14 Full crop 53 G Gases, poisonous 43 Gasoline 13 Gasoline engine 39 Gate 28 Gathering eggs 60 Germ adhering to shell 58 Glass .. . 35 Gluten meal 49, 50 Go-well Farm . . 6 Gowell, Gilbert M 6 Gowell mash 49 Granulated bone 57 Grass and clover 54 Grassy range 48 Green bone 41 Green bone, cut 50 Green food 13, 50, 54, 56 Grit 13, 48, 49, 56, 57 Ground oats 13, 50 H Half-breeds 19 Handling chicks-. 46 Hatching 41, 43 Hatching, eggs for 57 Hawks 46 Hens, feeding molting 50 Hot water 56 Hot-water heater 26 Hot-water pipes 30 House room 21, 22 Housing poultry, cost of 21 Hovers 21, 26 1 Ice house 41 Inbreeding 19, 20 Incubator cellar 24, 26, 41, 43 Page Incubators 4 1 Infertile eggs 26, 43 Insects 48, 49 K Kerosene 59 L Labor 13 Lamps 28, 41, 45 Large flocks, economy of 21, 58 Laying houses 22, 23, 33 Laying pullets, feeding 49, 50 Laying too soon 20 Level, spirit 4 1 Lice killers 59 Lime 49i 57 Limestone 57 Line breeding 20 Linseed meal 49 Litter 38, 39. 48, 59 M Machinery 39, 4 1 Manure ." . 14 Markets ^ 14 Marketing the- eggs 16, 18 Market quotations. 15 Marking chicks. . ; 20 Mash /..... ...41, 48, 49* 5o, 52 Mash, Gowell •' - ■ 49 Meal 13 Meat meal 50 Middlings 49. 5° Milhen eggs 15 Milk, skim 5° Mixed pen 60, 6% Mixing machine 41 Moisture 24, 41, 43 Molting. 20,^45, 5i» 52 Mongrels J . 19 Months, best hatching 45 Morning or night mash 52 Morning ration 49 N Narrow- houses 23 Nests 39 Nests, trap 58 Netting, wire 31. 38 New York quotations 15 Nursery 22, 26 o Oats 13, 50, 54, 56 Oats, green for food 54 , Oats, sprouted -. .50 Operating ^incubators 41 Overfat hens .52 Oxygen 23, 24 Oyster shells 57 ■V P Packing eggs 13 Paddle for mixing 50 Paper boxes 18 Paper, building 35, 36 Partitions .- 38 Pens 28, 50 Page Percentage of loss 46 Perches 38 Philadelphia prices 15 Pipes, hot-water 30 Plan of Sunny Slope Farm 11 Portable brooders 60 Postage 14 Posts under houses 23 Premium prices 14 Processed oats 54, 56 Pullets, feeding 48, 49, 50 Punctuality 60 Pure air 30 Pure water 56 Q Quality 18 R Rafters ■••■35 Range 20, 31.48 Ration, morning 49 Ratproof building 26, 35 Record, keeping a 41 Regularity 60 Retail trade 14 Roofing ....26, 31, 36 Roofing -paper r 26 Roosts '. 38 Roup ' *. ■ - .- 24 Runs, . keeping clean 57 Runway - 28 S Salt Meat 53 Scraps, beef 48, 49, 50 Scratching in litter 48 Screenings 48 Sealing egg packages, 18 Securing a market... 16, 18 Sex, age to . determine 22 Shade '....'. 11, 31, 48 Shell . 13, 19 Shells, need lime 57 Sills ....26, 35 Single-room laying house 23 Site, selecting a . » 24 Six dollars per hen 11, 13 Size" of eggs 19 Size of flocks 21, 22 Skim milk 50 Skunks .735 Slime in drinking fountains 55 Sluggish hens 53 Small egg yield, increasing 62 Small plants 60 Snow storms 39 Space, floor 21, 22, 60 Spirit level 4 1 Page Sprouted oats 56 Stamina, inherited 20 Sterile eggs 19 Stormy weather 39 Strain, importance of 19 Straw .* 48, 49 Sunlight 23, 24 Sure egg-producers 62 Sweeping 59 Tables 41 Tag, record 41, 46 Tainted meat or bones 53 Tar paper ..**... 38 Temperature 24, 26, 30, 43 Testing eggs. . . ; 26, 43 Time to feed 49 Trade, how attracted 14, 18 Trap nests 58 Trays, incubator 41 Troughs 49 Turning eggs 41, 45 Ventilating windows 26, 30 Ventilation 23, 24, 30, 38, 43 Vestibule entrance •. 26 Vigor, constitutional ". . 23 Vitality 23 w Water, drinking 56 Water shed 35 Weaklings 43 Weasels 35 Web, punching 20 Weight of eggs 16 Wheat bran 49, 50 Wheat chaff 48 Wheat straw 48, 49 When to hatch 45 White eggs f 19 Whole wheat 50 Wide houses 23 Windmill 11 Windows 28, 30, 36, 43 Windows, ventilating 28, 30 Wind storms 39 Winter eggs 45, 59 Winter wheat for green food 54 Wire netting 31, 38 Workshop 39, 40 Worms 48 Yearling hens 20 ». CONSERVATION