A Living from the Land Part 10

_Feeds and Feeding._--There are two groups of materials that are essential in food rations for all ages of poultry. The organic feeds include grains and grain by-products, hays, gra.s.ses and vegetables. The inorganic feeds include salt to increase palatability and digestibility of the ration; lime, to aid in building bone and body tissue as well as to furnish the sh.e.l.l material; bone ash, especially for growing chicks, and water in liberal amounts supplied by a fountain as well as from succulent green foods. The fact that a dozen eggs contain approximately one pint of water demonstrates the necessity of having drinking water before the flock at all times.

The feeding of baby chicks, young stock and laying hens has been scientifically worked out by research and practical experience over a period of many years. The poultryman, especially if he is a novice, will do well if he carefully observes the recommendations of competent authorities. The ration for each of the three ages will consist of a grain feed and a dry mash composed of grain by-products reinforced with materials that supply the birds' daily nutrition requirements.

The following rations and recommendations for management have been prepared by the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, New Brunswick, New Jersey:

CHICK RATION

Baby Chick Grain

200 pounds finely cracked yellow corn 100 pounds cracked wheat

Fed morning and evening, beginning when chicks are 36 hours old.

Baby Chick Mash

20 pounds ground yellow corn 20 pounds wheat bran 20 pounds flour middlings 20 pounds pinhead oats 10 pounds meat sc.r.a.p (50 per cent protein) 5 pounds dried b.u.t.termilk or skim-milk 2 pounds oyster sh.e.l.l meal or limestone flour or bone meal 2 pounds cod liver oil (mixed with the pinhead oats) 1 pound table salt

This mash is fed to the chicks as soon as they are placed under the brooder stove. It may be placed in hoppers. Let the chicks have all they want to eat; some of the mash should be before them at all times.

Teach the chicks where to find the warmth by enclosing them for a few days with a 1/2 inch mesh wire one foot high and set from 10 to 12 inches from the edge of the hover.

Put some clean grit on bits of cardboard in several places around the hover when the chicks are first brought from the incubator.

A little sour skim-milk or semi-solid b.u.t.termilk, diluted 1 to 7 in founts should be available from the beginning.

After the chicks are 60 hours old or when you are sure they are hungry, begin to feed, using cardboard in the same manner as before.

Follow the feeding chart.

Feed little and often. Keep the chicks slightly hungry.

Watch for dead chicks and remove them as soon as they are noticed.

Attend to heaters early and late; be sure at all times that they are in good working order.

Clean out litter, particularly beneath the hover as often as it becomes soiled.

Induce exercise and keep the youngsters occupied.

Get them out-of-doors as early as possible, even if only for a few minutes in the warmer part of the day.

Feed green feed. Feed early and late. Keep the chicks growing.

_Growing Stock Ration._--The baby chick mash can be used for feeding the growing birds, omitting the cod liver oil if they are on range. The baby chick grain ration can be used also during this period but it need not be so finely cracked. Plenty of grain should be available at all times.

_Laying Ration._--When the birds are getting ready to lay, the ration should be changed so that during the winter laying season the mash will include equal amounts of yellow corn meal, wheat bran, wheat middlings, ground heavy oats and meat sc.r.a.p. Twenty-five per cent of dried b.u.t.termilk or skim-milk may be subst.i.tuted for an equal amount of meat sc.r.a.p.

The grain ration should consist of equal amounts of cracked or whole yellow corn and wheat. This should be fed in the late afternoon, giving sufficient to satisfy the appet.i.tes of the birds between the time of going to roost and a light morning meal. It should be fully consumed by eight o'clock in the morning. Adequate consumption of mash is a prime requisite in egg production. The feeding of semi-solid b.u.t.termilk at the rate of 3 to 5 pounds to 100 hens daily is recommended. Ten pounds of mangel beets per 100 hens or 1 square inch of well-sprouted oats per bird will supply needed green food during the winter.

In many cases it will be found more satisfactory to purchase ready mixed rations from a local dealer who handles reliable and scientifically compounded feeds for poultry. This is particularly applicable where the number of birds is of ordinary proportions. Little, if any, economy will be found in purchasing small quant.i.ties of each ingredient and attempting to thoroughly mix them at home. If the flock is very large there may be worth-while economy in home-mixing of the ration. The efficient poultryman will compare the cost of branded feeds with ingredient costs to guard against being overcharged.

In addition to the standard rations the growing stock and laying birds should have access at all times to grit, sh.e.l.l and charcoal, kept in suitable containers. These may be obtained of the local dealer.

_Sanitation._--When growing stock and laying hens are kept under modern intensive conditions the observance of the rules of sanitation is essential. Failure to observe them is likely to result in loss of production, serious sickness of the flock and the nullifying of all other constructive factors.

Dropping boards beneath the roosts must be cleaned frequently and regularly to prevent acc.u.mulation of filth. If the dropping boards are constructed of matched lumber with the boards running in the direction in which they are to be sc.r.a.ped it will facilitate the cleaning process.

Before the birds are placed in winter quarters the laying house should be thoroughly cleaned of all litter and debris. The interior may then be thoroughly sprayed with a disinfectant composed of some good coal tar preparation, and this repeated in the spring. The surface will need to be painted with a good disinfectant, of which there are a number of commercial preparations on the market. A close watch should be made for vermin in the house and on the birds, and if lice or similar parasites are discovered, immediate action should be taken to destroy both the adults and the eggs, since these parasites will debilitate the flock and prevent their development and may seriously check their ability to lay.

_Management of Artificial Lights._--The electric lights mentioned in the previous chapter should be turned on about four-thirty in the morning and kept on until daylight or used for an hour in the late evening. When lights are used there should be plenty of food and water available to enable the birds to take advantage of the additional feeding period. The scratch grain should be increased by 2 pounds daily for each hundred birds when lights are used. Many poultrymen find it advantageous to have a low wattage light burning all night so that hungry individuals may get a meal and return to the perches at all times. Three to five kilowatt hours per month for each hundred birds represents the average current consumption where lights are used.

_Practical Suggestions for Efficient Management._--A number of successful poultrymen were recently asked to state the requisites for success in the poultry industry, with particular reference to what is known as the one-man poultry flock. Such a flock is of adequate size to take practically the full time of one person in its operation. As the result of the development of standardized feeding practices, improved equipment and better methods of management, the maximum number of birds that can be successfully managed by one person has greatly increased in recent years.

Likewise, the problems of proper feeding, adequate disease control and successful selling have increased as the size of the unit has grown and as greater intensiveness is practiced.

All of the successful men questioned advised that the keeping of poultry should be begun in a small way in order that experience can be gained without the risk of losing the initial investment, or that the intending operator should gain practical knowledge of the business by working on a poultry farm for a year. Valuable knowledge can also be gained by attending short courses in poultry husbandry that are being offered at most agricultural colleges with a very moderate expenditure of funds.

One of these successful men writes as follows: "We are working with a man now who was let out of a position recently but who has some savings and who desires to go into the poultry business. He has purchased six acres of ground, has built a bungalow on it and has the foundations in for three laying houses of 500 birds' capacity each. He will have ample range for a two-yards system for each laying house, and, in addition, will have two ranges to alternate yearly for growing his young stock. His program calls for putting out about 2,400 chicks yearly from which he should have at least 1,000 pullets, which he will house in two of the laying houses. The following year he will carry over about 500 of these birds and can fill up with 1,000 pullets. This is to be a one-man plant with possibly some a.s.sistance in the spring.

"I feel that 1,500 birds is the minimum required from which one man can make a living, and five acres devoted to poultry, properly laid out, is sufficient area for this purpose. If more land is available, so much the better. These are minimum requirements, as I see it, and with regular feed deliveries directly to the poultry house, running water and other labor-saving devices, there is no reason why one man cannot successfully take care of this number of birds, particularly where a man is starting on new ground where there have never been any chickens and therefore less chance of disease. We advise buying baby chicks rather than partly grown or mature stock. If he follows a definite economic and sanitary program right from the start, there is no reason why his plant should not carry on profitably, indefinitely."

This practical man says further: "It is our experience that the majority of the people going into the poultry business go in 'blind.' Their chicken houses are put up irrespective of range facilities and then after two or three years when they begin to run into trouble they find their mistakes.

I would suggest that you point out to prospective poultrymen the advisability of first, buying land and developing their own poultry plant rather than trying to make over someone else's plant; second, buying in a location where buying and selling facilities have been developed; third, getting in touch with a reliable local poultryman for guidance in laying out his plant and following only one advisor. By hooking up with only one poultryman he is presented with one way of doing things which this poultryman has found successful in his own business."

Another successful man states that the most economical time to start the business is in the spring when day-old chicks can be secured and purchased at a lower cost than is possible in the buying of laying stock at other seasons of the year. He further advises that the greatest mistake made by many starting in the poultry business is the lack of adequate capital. Too many invest all of their money before any income can be secured, according to this man. Should there be a set-back during the first year or two, there is no way of continuing and the whole investment may be lost.

Still another practical man states that "Site is, in my opinion, the most important factor to be considered after the decision is made that a person wishes to go into the poultry business. Successful poultry keeping probably requires more careful selection of a farm than any other agricultural industry. There should be light soil with good air and water drainage and an area of sufficient size to permit shifting the poultry on different areas as a means of preventing disease infection and as a means of securing vigor in the birds." He, too, points out that old poultry farms should not be considered by prospective poultrymen unless they have been approved by an expert in these lines, for the reason that these farms are frequently offered for sale because of persistent disease infection which it is very difficult to eliminate, or because of some fundamental difficulty, such as poor soil drainage.

"In the construction of buildings," continues this experienced poultryman, "sufficient housing should be provided to prevent overcrowding and the difficulties that come in the train of that condition. About three square feet of floor s.p.a.ce per bird is required for the lighter breeds such as Leghorns, and four to five square feet per bird for the heavier breeds.

For the one-man plant, the recommendation is for a maximum of about 1,500 birds. This would require from 4,500 to 5,250 square feet of floor s.p.a.ce suitably arranged for the lighter breeds of the Leghorn type. For the young stock to be used as replacements, seven to ten brooder houses, 10 by 12 feet in size, would be required and about the same number of range shelters, usually 6 by 8 feet, for the purpose of sheltering growing young stock from hot sun and heavy rains when they are out on range."

_Probable Net Income._--Many persons who have started in the poultry business have been misled as to the amount of net income they will be likely to receive from a one-man plant. It is pretty well established that in normal times a net income of from $1,500 to $2,500 annually can be secured from a plant housing 1,500 birds. A great deal depends, of course, upon the skill of the operator, and a plant of this size requires the full time of one competent person. It should be borne in mind that this net income is in addition to the residence and such food as would be taken in the form of poultry products and from the garden.

_Sales Management._--Every prospective poultry keeper should determine the marketing possibilities for the product in the area under consideration before he makes a choice of location. There are at least four methods of marketing eggs and poultry meat, any one of which can be used exclusively or two or more used in combination as a means of disposing of the product to the best advantage. The system that he will adopt will depend largely upon his location, as well as upon his individual preference, and upon the facilities that are available in the area where he operates.

In many sections of the country there are cooperative egg marketing a.s.sociations where the eggs are received in bulk from the producers, are graded and marketed in large quant.i.ties, the producer receiving the full selling value less, of course, the costs of operating the distributing agency. In the northeastern states, egg auctions have been very successfully developed. Under this system the individual producer brings his eggs to the auction market where they are graded and sold on the basis of weight, size and other factors pertaining to quality. In this method of selling the producer receives a definite price for his eggs less a small charge per case made by the selling agency.

A successful type of direct marketing is through roadside stands. This is especially successful in or near large centers of population where eggs can be purchased, together with other farm commodities, at the same stand.

Another method is the operation of a retail route in which the producer sells the eggs by the door-to-door method in a near-by city. This method is followed successfully by many poultrymen who deliver eggs as regularly as the milk distributor or the baker deliver their products.

Still another method is the use of mail or express as a means of transporting the eggs to consumers in urban centers. This method, while largely in use some years ago, has not proved so generally successful as have some of the other methods previously given.

A well-organized program of work is essential in successful poultry keeping. The following schedule is followed by many successful poultrymen as a means of distributing their time to the best advantage during the day.

A POULTRYMAN'S DAILY TIME TABLE

Based on a One-man 1,500-bird Farm Producing Market Eggs 7:00-8:00 A.M.--Feed and water all stock.

8:00-9:00 A.M.--Fill mash hoppers and clean dropping boards.

9:00-11:00 A.M.--Two hours for cleaning houses, cultivating yards, repairing of buildings, preparation of egg cases, packing eggs and miscellaneous jobs.

11:00-12:00 M.--Feed green feed and collect eggs.

12:00-1:00 P.M.--Lunch hour.