Handling Birds on Range--The Youngsters Must Be Kept Growing All the
Time
The birds leave the Brooder House for their permanent Summer home on
the Colony Range, so far as the pullets in the flock go, at eight to
nine weeks of age.
The Colony Houses are prepared for the new tenants by being thoroughly
sprayed with a solution of Kerosene and Carbolic Acid, in a proportion
of one to five--one Carbolic and five Kerosene. Before spraying, the
canvas drops to the windows are let down, and after spraying the House
is left twenty-four hours in a perfectly closed condition, before the
drops are raised. The floor is then covered with straw litter to the
depth of four inches; the five gallon drinking fountain is filled
and placed on its stand close to the door; the feed box receives its
quantity of mash, and the grain is scattered over the litter.
We practice the filling of from six to eight Colony Houses at a time,
and with this coming season of 1912 we shall increase that number to
ten.
The Colony Houses are raised about eight inches from the ground, by
blocks, and, as it is not advisable for the small birds to get under
the House for the first few days, we have sets of boards which fit
around the House to prevent their making the mistake of huddling under
the House at night, instead of going up into it.
A Corning Wrinkle
Another preparation, on the outside of the House, is the digging of a
ditch, in the shape of a crescent, about two feet back of the House,
the ditch tapering out to nothing at the two ends, the dirt being
thrown to the side away from the Colony House. All houses face due
south. The heavy storms of the Summer come rushing up, as a general
thing, from the west and northwest, and this ditch, together with the
mound of earth back of it, prevents the rush of wind and rain getting
under the Colony House, protecting the large number of chicks, that, on
occasion of sudden storm, collect there for shelter. It has been found
that this materially reduces the mortality resulting from these heavy
Summer showers, accompanied by a strong wind. The ditch also keeps
dampness entirely away from the ground under the Colony Houses, which
is also a very great advantage.
All being now ready at the Colony Houses, a large wire cage (the one
now in use being eight feet long and two and a half feet wide, and
eight inches high, with sliding doors at each end, and two soft leather
handles to carry it by) is placed at the door opening into the chick
runs from the Brooder House, and the youngsters are quietly driven into
the cage. When a sufficient number to carry safely has been driven in,
the cage is carried out, placed on the wagon and driven to the Range.
The birds at this time are from eight to nine weeks old, we having
found it is better to have a sufficient amount of brooder room to carry
them to this age before placing on Range, as they are then much better
feathered, and are less affected by changes of atmosphere.
When the cages reach the Colony House the sliding door is placed
directly in front of the small chick door, and both slides pulled up,
and the chicks gently coaxed, by patting the box on the top and sides,
to leave it for the Colony House. We place in each of these Colony
Houses from two hundred and fifty to three hundred birds of this age.
As the cockerels develop they are separated, and those which are
perfect in formation, and as to toes, five pointed combs, etc., and
give promise of growing into proper Breeders, are placed in the
Cockerel House, and given the Range of the large enclosure surrounding
this House.
Until well along in the Summer, when the youngsters are first placed
in the Colony House, we make it a practice to hang, directly in the
center of the House and within about three feet of the floor, a large
barn lantern, and with the window drops closed this produces a very
considerable amount of heat, and helps materially to give a feeling of
comfort and contentment to the birds in their new quarters.
[Illustration: COLONY RANGE FEED AND WATER WAGON WITH “BILLY” IN THE
SHAFTS]
The afternoon following the day in which chicks are put into the Colony
Houses (which means that they have been confined for about twenty-four
hours), they are let out, but not until four o’clock, and they find
their grain ration scattered close to the door of the House. In fact,
it is not scattered until the small chick doors are opened for them to
come out, and then it is thrown on the runs, and through the doors, as
well as on the ground directly in front. The grain lying in the runways
acts in a double way; it entices them out, and as they see it on the
ground they eat very little on the runs, but later, after they have
cleaned up all on the ground, that lying on the chick runs attracts
them on back into the House at night.
The reason for letting the birds out so late in the day for their first
outing is that a chicken, late in the day, will never go any great
distance from where it has been confined, but works around close to
the quarters in which it has spent the previous hours, and naturally
returns there for shelter as the Sun goes down. The following morning
the chick doors are opened and the birds allowed to roam at will.
Grain and Mash Once a Day
From this on the regular routine of Range feeding is followed. The
Range Feed Wagon is low geared and broad tired. On the rear of the
wagon there is a large, square tank, carrying some two hundred gallons
of water. The faucet for drawing the water is placed on the bottom and
center of the rear, the tank being placed on the wagon with a slight
incline, and is of inch size so as to facilitate the rapid filling of
the drinking fountains, which are placed directly underneath it. The
front part of the wagon carries the tubs of mash and the grain ration.
As the Colony Houses are laid out symmetrically the broad tires of the
wagon soon wear smooth roads in front of them, and heavy loads are
readily pulled over the Range streets. The Houses are placed from side
to side about eighty feet apart. From the front of the Houses on one
street to the rear of the House on the next street is about one hundred
feet.
The question of shelter on the Range was quite a problem at first, and
to meet it in a measure we set out shelters, which were constructed by
stretching roofing over frames about twelve feet square, and set up
some two and a half feet on stakes driven into the ground.
It had been planned to carry the Colony Range in Timothy and Clover,
but we lost the catch, and as the ground had been very heavily
fertilized with the litter from the Laying Houses, a very rank and
luxuriant growth of all kinds of Flora sprang up, and we found that
what seemed to us a piece of very hard luck in losing the catch, was
really a blessing in disguise, for this rank growth of Flora, even in
its first year, was of sufficient height to give very considerable
shelter to the large flocks on the Range, and with the Colony Houses
just off the ground, the improvised shelters were practically abandoned
by the birds, and so they have been removed.
Plenty of Shade
With the yearly scattering of the increased amount of litter as the
Farm enlarged, the growth on the Range is becoming more and more
luxuriant, and now the entire Range has a succession of changing Flora
from month to month, and with some varieties, almost from week to week.
There is a considerable growth of Timothy and Clover, and many other
varieties of the grass family, which produce a varied diet of succulent
food, and of course the constant change in Flora also supplies a
varied diet of seeds which the birds harvest for themselves. Any oats
and wheat which have been missed in the litter from the Laying Houses
sprout here, and the birds also harvest this crop for themselves. The
condition of the Range under this method of handling, as we view it, is
absolutely ideal for the growing youngsters.
Fresh water is supplied daily to the Houses, and the grain ration
consists of two-thirds wheat, and one-third cracked corn. The amount
of grain fed to each Colony House depends upon the cleaning up of it
by the tenants of this particular House. The mash box is filled daily
with what is now known as the Corning Range Mash, which consists
of wheat middlings, bran, ground oats, corn meal, and a sufficient
amount of green bone, when mechanically mixed in a machine which has
been designed by the Farm for this purpose, to give the mash a slight
feeling of moisture, which is derived entirely from the juices of the
bone.
There is not so great a proportion of animal food in this Range Mash as
in the mash for the layers, and it should be noticed that there is in
it no gluten or oil meal. The early hatches particularly are not forced
along quite so rapidly, and are less liable to go into a Winter moult
than if they get these ingredients, and should they moult it comes at a
later date and does not extend over so long a period.
On such a range it is not necessary to have so great a proportion of
animal food in the mash, because the floral growth harbors myriads of
worms and insects, which supply a large part of the animal food needed.
Removed to Laying House Middle of September
It is now our plan to allow the early hatched pullets to remain on the
Range until the first or second week in September, according to the
weather and the way they are laying.
The time has now arrived for taking up the first fifteen hundred
pullets.
[Illustration: FEEDING ON THE COLONY RANGE]
The Laying House has been previously prepared for their reception, by
removing all the old litter, the nest boxes having been scraped and
brushed out, and the House then thoroughly swept, and all the corners
cleaned out with a scraper, after which, with all the doors and drops
closed, it is subjected to a most thorough spraying with Kerosene and
Crude Carbolic, in the same proportions given in the earlier part of
this chapter. This spraying covers every part of the House, and is
done with a force pump, so that the solution is forced into every nook
and cranny. The House is then bedded down with about eight inches of
fresh straw, the nest boxes made ready with excelsior, and the mash
for that day placed in the two mash boxes in each section, under the
dropping boards. The grain is scattered in the litter, this being all
done before the birds are brought to the house, so as to obviate the
necessity of disturbing them more than is absolutely necessary for the
first twenty-four hours in their new quarters.
The birds having been left shut up in the Colony Houses, a wire hook is
used to catch them, and a man who is accustomed to using it, standing
at the door, reaches in and easily catches one pullet after another by
the leg, gently pulls her to the door and hands her out to the man in
waiting, who drops her quietly into a large box, on the Farm Wagon,
with an opening, provided with a slide at the top. These boxes are
carried right into the Laying House, when the entire front slides out,
thus releasing the birds all at once, and any chance of struggling
through a small opening and injuring themselves, is done away with.
The method used in accustoming the birds in the Colony Houses to get
on without artificial heat is as follows: for the first three or four
nights, depending on the coolness of the weather, all canvas drops are
down, and a large, lighted, stable lantern is hung in the House. For
the next few nights after the lantern is removed the drops are left
closed. Then one drop is propped out an inch or two, and from night to
night the opening is increased, until the drop is left up altogether.
After that, for a few nights, one drop is left up and the other closed.
Next, the second drop is slowly worked up in the manner described,
until it reaches the height of the hook. After this they are never
lowered again so long as the birds remain on the Range.