The land set apart for the use of the Poultry Division contains about seven acres. It is below the hill and protected by it from the north and east winds. On the west and south where the wind has full sweep, a double row of trees, Austrian Pines and Larches, were planted for a future wind break. The ground slopes to the west and south and is enough above the plain to be safe from spring floods. The soil is a gravelly loam and naturally dry. A brook runs through the southern and lower portion of the ground and except during the dry part of the season furnishes an abundance of water for ducks and geese. A natural spring in the northeast corner gives a continuous supply of excellent water for drinking, and other purposes. A work shop or feed room was fitted up in the quarry blacksmith shop, which was on the poultry department grounds. This room was floored and sealed and provided with windows, workbench, grain bins, stove for cooking feed, sink, &c. Adjoining this, a narrow room for setting hens was made and, on one side, tiers of nests were arranged on shelves. A poultry house 8 x 8 with open shed the same dimensions attached, and several small movable shed-houses 3 x 3 1-2 for hens and chickens, were built. A small flock of Light Brahma fowls was procured and from them a nice lot of chicks were reared. The hatching and rearing of chickens in winter by artificial heat has received much attention in various parts of this country and especially in New Jersey. In that State scores of people are engaged in the extensive production of chicken broilers for the Philadelphia and New York markets and establishments having a capacity of several thousand chicks are quite numerous. monton so many have taken up this industry that the town has become famous as a broiler raising centre. Probably more incubators and brooders have been operated at one time in this place than in any other part of the United States. In the past so many from In Ham all parts of the country have visited its broiler houses that operations have been hindered and much loss has been caused so that now visitors are admitted to but very few places. Though many formerly engaged in this business here have located elsewhere, this place, with so many studying the problem and with so much available practical experience, is still a leading source of information regarding this line of work. We visited the place and saw several houses in operation and in one house, eighteen hundred chicks from two to four weeks old. We were informed that there were in this place 150 incubators in use. Here and in other Jersey towns much was learned that we shall endeavor to carry out in the work of this division. A trip along the south shores of Long Island enabled us to see the methods followed by the most extensive duck raisers in this country. On these different farms we saw 1,000, 2,800, 3,200 and 4,000 young ducks from one to nine weeks old. From one small place in which $3,000 is invested and on which were 4,000 young ducks, 8,000 to 10,000 are marketed each season. The success of these operations and the necessity of artificial incubators and brooders for duck raising on an extensive scale, as well as for broiler rearing, was very apparent. Visits made to duck farms in Massachusetts and to some of the large and successful egg farms in this State and New Hampshire have given us the plans on which they are conducted and much material for future work. The result of our studies of the various buildings that we have seen and used in the past and have viewed on these trips may be seen in the Experiment Station poultry buildings. Among these is an Incubator House 12 x 18, built in a bank and, except at the west end, under ground to the eaves. The bottom of the excavation was dry and sandy and the sides were built of stone laid in cement. The room is double floored and sealed on both sides and overhead. Double windows and doors and sawdust packing between the sides and above ceiling, protect the room from outside temperature. An under ground drain, 40 feet long, opening into the hillside, gives, when desired, fresh air of a modified temperature and with a roof ventilator, enables the operator to have as much or as little draft as is desired. Here are one 200 egg, and one 100 egg Prairie State Incubators, a hot air machine much used in New Jersey, and a "Monarch" hot water machine, 300 egg size. The latter is in use but is not owned by the Station. A "Challenge" hot water machine, 300 egg size is soon to be put in. In this room eggs for hatching, are also kept. For the double hot water brooder used the past season a small brooder house 8 x 8, covered with "Neponsett" was built. A building 12 x 14 that was used as a temporary office by the contractor of the school buildings and which stood near the Laboratory, was moved down the hill, covered with "Neponsett" paper and fitted for a poultry roosting and laying house. A building 12 x 18, built of the second hand lumber from the carpenter sheds is intended for the storage of sand, road dust, coops, &c., but a part has been partitioned off and is temporarily used as quarters for a breeding pen of fowls. A duck house, 6 x 10, with a low shed roof, a goose house 12 x 12, four shed roofed houses 6 x 10, built on runners, with four open sheds 4 x 10 to match, also on runners, and two double pitch roofed buildings, 6 x 10, with raised floor and 2 foot space or shed beneath, (also on runners that they may be readily drawn about the farm by a pair of horses) completes the list of buildings. A brooder house, 15 x 40, covered with "Neponsett," and a shed for turkeys is soon to be put up. In building we have endeavored to bring together as much as possible, the various models of the most practical poultry houses that may be built at a moderate cost. In putting our ideas into shape we have received invaluable assistance from the Agricultural School instructor in wood work, Mr. Thomas C. Rodman. |