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Poultry, Pet and Live Stock
. _ _ Section of= , =
The Atlanta Georgian
' . AND NEWS •
DEVOTED TO POULTRY* PET AND LIVE STOCK, PIGEONS AND KENNEL
■ ATLANTA, GA„ SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 1911.
POULTRY WORK AT THE MICHIGAN. STATE COLLEGE
A Description of the Equipment Furnished the Poultry Department at This College—Economical Method of Brooding Chicks—
Food Given Chicks and Fowls—The Poultry Courses—Service.Poultry Department Is Trying to Render Farmers of Michigan
H. L. KEMPSTER in Reliable Poultry Journal
Poultry * work at the state colleges i
throughout the country .has been increas- j
ing during the last tew years and the
indications are that during the next tew
years the growth will be even more
rapid*. We quote the following from
the report of the A. P. A. committee on
college work:
• “At the end of our first year's work.
1906-1907. it was reported to us that
there were eleven men teaching poultry
in' the United States and Canada. This
year. 1908-1909. we have 65 teaching
poultry and 42 investigating.**
Realizing the importance of poultry
on the general farm and also the possi
bilities for poultry as a commercial
field, there was established at the
Michigan State Agricultural college in
1906 a department of poultry husband
ry. A visit to this department would
leave no doubt that it has been a de
cided success and that its popularity
Is gradually Increasing. A great deal
of the credit for the success of the
work so far must be given to Mr. J. G.
Halpln, wfco left last summer to take
charge of a similar department at the
University of Wisconsin. The writer,
now in charge of the poultry depart
ment here, hopes that he may carry
on as successfully the work started by
Mr. Halpln.
The college is located three miles east
of Lansing* The campus consists of
about 80 acres; the whole farm of about
700 acres. The students at the college
number about 1,500 for the whole year.
There are several courses of instruc
tion. fitting the student for almost* any
branch of agriculture or engineering
that he may wish to take up, and there
is also the home economics course for
girls.
Should the visitor follow one of the
walks he would soon come within
1 sight of a large bqllding known as
“The New Agricultural Building.” Ini
this building Is the main office of the I
poultry department. “Chlckenville,” or I
* this* poultry yards, is located within a
- few rods of the main grounds, so that
It is /easily accessible to the students
: and visitors. The poultry department
covers an area of four acres with prac-
* tically unlimited area for range for the
growing chicks. There are 550 running
1 >et of buildings, consisting of thirteen
colony brooding houses, one exhibition
* house 16x84, one laying house 18x180.
three colony laying houses 14x24. one
Incubator cellar and feed house. It is
J* located on a knoll of sandy soil, the
yards sloping to the south and east,
making it an ideal place on which to
keep poultry.
To the right as you ^ass toward the'
- Incubator house Is a yard used for
brooding purposes, which in the spring
Is covered with little active chicks. Dur
ing the brooding season, small colony
* houses are grouped together in a con
venient manner for the brooding work.
The Incubator house is a plain building
with a well-ventilated cellar contain
ing several makes of incubators. The
second floor is used as a laboratory
with an adjoining office and dormitory
rooms for the assistant. Just beyond
the incubator house is a laying house
used for the exhibition of stock, prac
tice pens for students and breeding
pens. This house is 16x85 feet and has
seven 12x12 pens with an alley-way in
the rear. Koch pen contains a different
variety or mating..
The next house Is the long laying
house; 18x180 feet. It la a commercial
house, divided into ten pens, connected
by swinging doors, but there Is no al
ley-way. because It would talcs up the
room. In this house the muslin front
method of ventilation Is used. The front
of each pen Is 71-1 feet high and II
feet wide. In the center is a glass door
consisting of two nine-light windows.
3x2 feet, making a door 2x6 feet On
hinged at the top so that it can be
hung up during the day If desired.
There is hardly a day but that one of
these frames is raised, thus making the
air fresh and maintaining an even tem
perature in the house. These frames
are 3x5 feet and are 31-2 feet from
the floor, so that when open the air
circulates over the birds, but there is
no draft on them.
The interior of each pen is simple.
All furnishings are portable so they can
be easily cleaned. The roosts or drop
pings boards are three feet from the
floor a^. the back of the house. The
nests are hung on the walls in sections
and are so arranged that a hen can
enter from the rear. A door in the
front lets down to permit the removal
of the eggs. The darkened nest is very
satisfactory The yards are practical,
being 36 feet wide, or twice as wide
as each pen. They run both north and
south. This affords & yard for each
pen and during the summer the pens
are doubled up so that one yard may
be growing green stuff while the other
is used. Connected with this house is a
feed house, work shop and killing room,
where the student mixes feed, makes
fixtures or kills and dresses poultry for
the market. Off to the east ore three
experiments houses, known as the
farmers* houses, because .designed to
meet the needs of the general farmer.
They have been used as experimental
houses in house construction work.
They have the muslin frame for venti
lation. the frame * taking the place of
one sash of the window.
Practical Brooding Methods.
The method of brooding Is one that
impresses the visitor and it Is so prac
tical that he can not help carrying,
away' some suggestions for bis own use.
A great proportion of the poultry of
this state Is raised on the farm and
not in quantities that will permit the
use of large hot water brooder systems.
With this In mind the colony house
method of brooding was established.
Small colony bouses. 8x12 feet with a
6-foot front and 4-foot rear, with an
ordinary shed roof, are used. These
houses have two 2x3 windows in the
front and a door. They are large
enough to accommodate two Indoor
brooders or hovers, which makes the
brooding capacity of each bouse about
120 chicks. The hovers are preferred
because they are more economical.
These houses are built on runners so
they can be drawn from one place to
another. Aj soon as the chicks are
large enough to do without heat, the
house on the range, during the sum
mer. In the winter they can be used as
store houses or breeding pens, so that
they are not idle at any time of the
year. That they are practically as
cheap as outdoor brooders and are use
ful at all times. Is a strong argument in
their favor.
The stock consists of Light Brah
mas, Barred and White Rocks, Brown
and White Leghorns, Partridge and
White Wyandottes, Pekin and Indian
Runner ducks. There are other varie
ties which are used only for class room
work and not for breeding. The larger
part of the stock consists of White
Leghorns, but the other varieties equal
them in quality and are of sufficient
quantities for practical use. •
Methods of Feeding at College.
The method of feeding the laying
stock is very simple and effective. A
scratch food is given morning and
night In a heavy straw litter, thus com
pelling the hens to exercise. Practical
ly twice as much is fed at night as In
the morning, th& aim being to keep the
birds active during the day and to sup
ply enough so they can have full crops
at roosting time. The scratch food va
ries with the price of grains, but is ap
proximately equal parts of cracked corn
and wheat. Sometimes wheat screen
ings are substituted, or barley or oats
added, but not In large quantities. At
noon a dry mash is fed which consists
of equal ports, by weight, of bran, mid
dlings, cornmeal and beefscrap.
Green food Is supplied by feeding
beets and cabbage. Grit and oyster
hsells are before them at all times.
Green bone Is fed about twice & week
during the winter. By affording a va
riety of food, plenty of fresh air and
good, clean water, one has gone a long
way toward egg production.
About 2,500 chicks are raised each
y$ar. Their first feed Is fine grit. After
being removed to the brooder com
mercial chick food is scattered in the
litter of clover chaff in the brooder,
about twice a day. This chick food is
used until the chicks are large enough
to eat cracked com and wheat. In ad
dition to the chick food a mash consist
ing of bran and raw egg is fed about
three times a day until the chicks are
four weeks old, when they are given
more In quantity at less fqeruent per-
rlods. The first week the mash con
sists of bran and raw eggs, tho Infertile
and cracked eggs being thus disposed
of. The egg is stirred In the bran and
Is diluted with a small amount of wa
ter to make It crumbly. At the end of
the first week a small amount of bone-
meal, com meal, beef scrap and pow
dered charcoal is added. The amounts
of these are gradually increased until
at the end of four weeks the mash con
sists of equal parts «of bran, middlings
and com meal, and one part consist
ing of beef scrap, bone meal and char-
coal.
Crumbly mashes are fed until the
chick has learned to use the hopper
feed and then they are discontinued.
As soon as possible the chicks are re-
znoved to the range, preferably to an
orchard or edge of a com field where
the chicks can have plenty of shade,
fresh, clean ground and access to in
sects. One can not overestimate the
importance of shade and where arti
ficial shade Is necessary, sunflowers ore
hard to beat and they also furnish con
siderable feed.
% The Poultry Course.
, The student Is Impressed with the
practical features of the course given.
It is necessary to learn the practical,
then they are better prepared for the
higher work. With this in mind the
courses In poultry were designed. The
person who specializes In poultry is re
quired to take the course outlined for a
whole year’s work. This Is taken dur
ing the senior year when the student Is
best prepared and It occupies three
hours a day, including lectures and
practice work. At the end of the
year the student has cared for mar
ket stock and laying hens. Incubators
and brooders and learned how to build
and plan poultry houses—In fact, he is
in a position to start a poultry farm
of his own or to run someone rise’s.
There are others who are not able to
take the regular college course, but who
are anxious to obtain poultry instruc
tion. For them there is a special short
course extending over a period of right
weeks. This course covers thfi same
Held as the first, but is not as thorough,
nor does the student obtain the practice
work. In this course are a lot of men
who Intend to go into poultry raising as
a profession and they are able to obtain
a great deal of gpod.
Realising the importance of poultry
on the farm, there is another course
especially for the graduate who expects
to go back on the farm—a lecture
course extending over eleven weeks and
dealing with the care and management
of farm poultry.
' Throughout the year the department
assists In other courses by giving lec
tures on breeds, feeding and general
farm poultry. Special features are put
on during the year. The college poul
try show has come to be an annual af
fair when the student learns how to
prepare, show and judge poultry. He
also gets acquainted with other poui-
trymen. such as judges and exhibitors,
who usually make him more enthusi
astic. Representatives are sometimes
called on to judge the poultry ex
hibitions at the fall fairs. Bach year
the institute train makes a trip of near,
ly two weeks, during which time lec
tures and demonstrations along poultry
and other lines are given.
Excursion Wf*k * at the colege is a
regular event and people flock in by the
hundreds to visit the departments in
which they are most interested. Special
efforts are put forth to entertain vis
itors at that time. -In addition there Is
the daily visitor and the farmers* insti
tute work, so that the Influence of the
poultry department is extended
throughout the state.
, There Is some experimental work
being carried on. At present those In
charge of the department are endeavor
ing to learn and meet the needs of tho
greatest number of people. "How to
Improve Poultry" Is the slogan and this
includes housing, yarding and summer
care. These are the problems that they
are trying to solve. The Importance of
cleanliness, fresh yards, etc., are a few
of the things that .they are , trying to
teach poultry raisers.
A few minutes spent at the depart
ment Is worth hours of reading. So
much can be absorbed In a moment, se
many details that can not be mentioned
can bo seen at a glance. Problems are
constantly confronting us. How to
meet them Is the work of the depart
ment. More and better poultry is tho
object. How to get more returns at
less cost, how to reach more people, how
to do more good, how to make the peo
ple realise the possibilities and Impor
tance of the poultry part of their busi
ness, are only a few of the things that
the poultry department of the Michigan
Agricultural college Is endeavoring to
accomplish.
each aid* of tho door Ui an opening borers sre removed, roosts sis put in
flttsd. with s muslin frame which Is sad the bouse ess be used ss s colony
