A Time for Everything--Everything on Time
In any business, or occupation, that one attempts to carry on
successfully there must be system. Nature teaches system, and the hen,
as a part of Nature, is a very regular performer. She does everything
on time, and at a given time, and if her routine is broken in upon she
is a very much upset individual. The owner who rudely disturbs her
routine suffers in the loss of eggs.
The schedule of work among the fowls on The Corning Egg Farm is without
variation each day. In Summer the houses are always open and need
no attention in the morning, but in Winter the drops are raised in
ordinarily cold weather, as soon as it is light enough to enable the
hens to work in the litter for grain. On very cold mornings the raising
of the drops is deferred until the Sun is up, and when this is done the
drinking cups in the fountains are filled with hot water.
Fixed Feeding Hours
As close to eight o’clock as possible green food is fed to all the
hens, and, if the ground is in a reasonably dry condition, the green
food for the cockerels is scattered outside their pen, and the entire
flock is driven out of the House, where they are soon busy consuming
the green food and whatever grain may have been left on the ground from
their outdoor feeding of the previous day.
For a number of years it was the method at The Corning Egg Farm,
between the hours of nine and ten o’clock, to make a gathering of
eggs. This has now been abandoned for the reason that so many birds
were disturbed on the nests during such an early visit to the House
for gathering, and the first gathering now on the Farm is made at
eleven-thirty.
In the study of feeding, extending over a term of years, it has been
found that a considerable economy in time can be made, with exactly as
advantageous results from the layers, by the following routine. Fresh
water is placed in all the laying and breeding pens at one o’clock,
P.M., and it is boiling water during the Winter months. Directly
following the watering the mash is placed in the troughs, and the grain
ration is scattered through the litter, both in Summer and Winter.
It has been found that the hens work just as hard, and continue to
do so, as they did when the mash and grain fed were given at hours
which practically followed the Sun, that is, earlier in Winter, and
later in Summer. In past years, the oats were fed to the flocks as a
separate ration, at eleven-thirty o’clock. This we have discontinued.
The grain ration is made up of cracked corn, wheat and oats, in varying
proportions according to the season of the year.
[Illustration: PART OF THE OLD INCUBATOR CELLAR
The New Building with the 15,600 Egg Machines was not Sufficiently
Completed for Interior Photograph]
Four Collections of Eggs Daily
At three o’clock another collection of eggs is made, and at five
o’clock eggs are again collected, and at this last collection all the
corners of the litter under the dropping boards are carefully searched
for eggs laid by the wayward Biddy, who prefers her own scooped out
corner to a good nest.
The Houses are closed for the night, according to the condition of the
weather, and at this time still another collection of eggs is made. At
seven-thirty the Houses are again visited, and all birds not roosting
as they should be are removed from the nest boxes or windows and placed
upon the perches.
Mash Fed in Afternoon
During the Summer months, when the birds are on Range, they are fed
their mash and grain ration between the hours of two and three in the
afternoon.
Throughout the year nothing whatever is allowed to interfere with the
Schedule, and, if one would succeed with poultry a rigid adherence to
regularity is most necessary.