The Corning Egg Farm book, by Corning himself

The Brooder House is built over the Sprouted Oats Cellar and the Incubator Cellar. Its total length is 264 feet. 118 feet of this is 16 feet wide, and the balance is 22 feet wide.

Incubation might be termed a mechanical operation, and, as outlined in the previous chapter, a very fair hatch is usually obtained. But after all is said and done artificial rearing of young chicks is the most difficult problem which a poultryman has to solve.

Chicks running with a hen will stand climatic conditions, and in fact thrive under conditions, which, if they were being handled in a Brooder House, would mean a tremendous mortality. The hen will feed her brood on substances which would mean the annihilation of ones’ entire flock of youngsters, should one attempt it, and, perhaps, the most curious feature of the feeding part is the fact that one may give the brood, running with the hen, food Nature never intended a small chick to eat, and many of the brood will thrive on it, and the mortality will, in most cases, be confined to the weak ones.

Corn Not Proper Chick Food

In past decades, wet corn meal seemed to be about the standard ration which the chicks were fed on by the farmer’s wife, and in fact this practice has not yet entirely gone out. Naturally, it brought about a large mortality which everyone deplored but could not understand. Corn in any form was never intended for a chick to eat, but when you place it before them in the form of meal, and this made into a sloppy mass, the wonder is, not at the largeness of the mortality, but rather that any of them live at all.

But the advance in Poultry Culture has brought about feeding of whole grains, to a large extent. For years the proper feeding of chicks, even on farms with modern brooding equipment, has been a stumbling block, causing serious loss, and, in many instances, failure, to those attempting to raise chickens either in large or small numbers.

Follow Nature’s Teaching

In Poultry Culture, in order to succeed it is essential to study Nature, to find out how the hen in a wild state cares for her brood, and then bring the artificial conditions as near to Nature as possible. In almost every chick food put on the market the main ingredient, namely corn, was never intended for a young chick to eat. Consider for a moment, and you will realize that the hen in a wild state could not possibly feed corn to her young. For the sake of argument, however, suppose that corn did ripen at a time when it would be possible for the hen to procure it for her brood, the size of the kernel is so great that the small chick could not possibly swallow it. Thus Nature plainly points out that corn, for young chicks, is not the proper food.

A Balanced Food

On The Corning Egg Farm the question of chick food that could properly be called “chick food” has been a study for years, the problem being to procure a balanced ration containing, as closely as possible, the ingredients intended by Nature for a young chick to eat and thrive on. Many experiments were made with different mixtures, both with chicks running with natural mothers and with those being reared in the Brooder House, and it was found that in all cases where corn was fed in the mixture the results were bad. The youngsters running with the hen did not show the large mortality which those did in the Brooder House, but even the broods running with the hen did not do nearly so well where the corn was fed, as did those not having this ingredient in their food.

The great mortality in young chicks is produced by the upsetting of their digestive organs. Corn is very heating, and as soon as the chick’s blood is over-heated its digestive organs fail to work properly, and what is now known as “White Diarrhœa” almost invariably develops. It is claimed by some authorities that this difficulty comes from a germ which is in the egg before incubation. This may be the case, but it is certainly true that wrong feeding will bring this germ into active life, and snuff out the existence of the chick.

Another phase, which has been a special study on The Corning Egg Farm in the brooding of chicks, is an abundant supply of fresh air, not only in the room itself, but also to have the oxygen fed to the chicks properly when they are under the hovers. The use of gas for heating the hovers was found a decided improvement over the lamp, so far as the freshness of the air went, but, for procuring the purest hot air, to flow up into the hovers, we are now installing a system of hot water pipes.

In a dwelling house, properly constructed, the entire heating apparatus is a hot air furnace, with a cold air box connected with outdoors constantly bringing in a fresh supply of pure air to be heated. If it were possible this would be the ideal way of supplying the heat to the hover, but of course in a long Brooder House it is impossible to do this. The nearest approach to this system of heating is a trunk line of hot water pipes, extending beneath the hover floor, with the pipes enclosed in a long box, standing some two inches from the floor, and with orifices of proper size to allow the fresh air to circulate around the pipes, and then, through the radiating devices, to flow out underneath the hover, and thus to be diffused over the backs of the chicks. On The Corning Egg Farm this box is constructed of galvanized iron, and covered on the top and sides with asbestos board, with an air space between the asbestos board and the hover floor. Through this floor comes a thimble which connects with the radiator above. The top of this radiator is a spiral screw, which works like a piano stool reversed, and with a tripod device which carries the thread but allows the hover itself to be removed without changing its position on the screw. As the chicks grow the hover can be slowly raised away from them, until it is finally removed entirely, and the chicks learn to do without it for a considerable time before they are moved to the Colony Range. The thimble is most thoroughly insulated with asbestos, so that there is no possibility of the much dreaded heat on the hover floor, which, when it does exist, tends to dry up the chicks’ legs.

From the hover floor there is an inclined runway down to the main floor of the Brooder House, which is covered with a fine litter, preferably short cut wheat straw, to a depth of about two inches.

The inclined runway is hinged to the hover floor and works with a cord passing through a pulley on the ceiling, enabling the operator to raise it and retain the chicks directly around the hover. The trough surrounding the trunk line of hot water pipes is closed by a partition corresponding to the width of the hover run, which prevents the heat from flowing by the radiator in each section, and in this way equalizing the heat in every hover.

Never Build a Double House

The Corning Egg Farm is much opposed to what is known as the Double Brooder House, which is advocated by many builders of Brooder House equipments, and, in which, in the majority of cases, the use of concrete floors is also practiced. The advantages in the supposed economy of this construction are more than off-set by the disadvantages. The proper place for the windows of the Brooder House is on the south front, and likewise the south side of the building is the proper place for the chick runs. The roof should be a shed roof sloping to the north, thus carrying all the water to the back and allowing none of it to drip down into the runs. The north side of the Brooder House should be absolutely tight, for, from this quarter, comes the great majority of cold storms, and the tight wall means an economy in fuel. And every item of expense must be carefully watched on a poultry farm.

In these different respects let us look at the double house. First, it must run north and south; second, it must have windows on the east and west, and the chick runs must go the same way; third, it must be built with a peaked roof, the drippings from storms thus falling directly into the yards.

Must Drain Chick Runs

In the Corning plan of Brooder House the yards are sloped toward the south, and, as there is no possibility of dripping from the roof, in a few moments after a hard storm the slope and the sun combined put the yards at once into a usable condition, so that the youngsters can be let out. All day long in this style Brooder House the yellow babies enjoy the sunshine. In the double constructed Brooder House the yards are bathed on the east side with sunshine for a short time, and the west side receives the Sun for a few hours before sunset.

Concrete Floors Mean Dampness

An added menace in this double style of construction is the concrete floor generally used. It is almost impossible, with the greatest care and forethought, to produce a piece of concrete which does not constantly take up and give off moisture, and one thing to be absolutely avoided in poultry houses, little or big, is dampness.

The dollars saved in the construction of double houses are usually dollars which would have been made ten times over by the expenditure necessary to build a proper house.

The chick yards on The Corning Egg Farm are sloping, and are twenty feet long, and correspond in width with the hover runs inside the house, which vary from three to four feet in width. The diameter of the hover varies with the size of the run, from 26 to 30 inches. The sloping runs of the Brooder yards are covered with Anthracite Coal ashes, which have been found to entirely eliminate the much talked of danger of contamination of soil, the surface being constantly renewed as the ashes are consumed by the chicks.

Each hover is numbered, and directly back, on the north wall of the Brooder House, is a corresponding number, and a nail, on which is hung the record card. When the chicks are carried up in baskets from the Incubator Cellar, they are carefully examined, all weaklings being excluded, and counted into the hover compartments. Careful selection and the “survival of the fittest” begin at this point with the stock on The Corning Egg Farm.

Before speaking of the number of chicks carried in the hover compartments, it must be understood that running along the north wall of the Brooder House is a coil of hot water pipes, capable of maintaining a temperature of 85 degrees, three feet from the floor, and in zero weather.

Corning Heated Brooder House

The Corning Egg Farm believes absolutely in Brooder Houses heated beyond what is supplied by the hovers, and this is the reason it is possible to carry such a large number of youngsters in each hover compartment. In large hatches, when we have been crowded for room, two hundred chicks have frequently been carried in one compartment of four feet in width.

Corning Feeds Dry Food Only

When the chicks are first placed in the hover compartment the inclined plane is drawn up and they find two drinking cups ready—the style that feeds itself into a small cup, into which it is not possible for the youngsters to get. They also find waiting for them their first meal of Corning Chick Food. For the first twenty-four hours the inclined plane remains up, and the hovers are visited every two hours. If the amount of Chick Food has been well cleaned up, another feeding is evenly distributed over the boards. It must be understood that litter is never placed on the hover floor, though it is kept two inches deep on the floor of the pen.

Three Feeds Daily

The following morning the inclined plane is let down, about five handfuls of Corning Chick Food to every hundred chicks is thrown into the litter, and a little is scattered just at the top of the inclined plane to entice the youngsters down. No more food is given until the noon hour, when, into the litter is thrown two handfuls to every hundred chicks, and again a small quantity is placed at the top. No more feeding is done until four o’clock when five handfuls of Corning Chick Food are again thrown into the litter.

For the first two or three nights, or more if necessary, the chicks are quietly driven up to the hover, and the inclined plane pulled up after them, it being let down the first thing in the morning.

Fresh water is supplied in the drinking cups each day, morning, noon, and night, and, with the night filling, a brush on the plan of those made for the cleansing of milk bottles, is used to give the cups a proper cleaning.

On the back of the record cards, hung behind each hover, the mortality is kept.

The hovers are raised every morning to learn the exact condition of the entire brood after the night.

Green Food Third Day

On the third day green food is added to the ration, in the form of the tops of Sprouted Oats. Never feed the rooty mass to the youngsters for it is almost sure to upset them. The smallest chick has no difficulty breaking up and getting away with Oat Sprouts from one and a half to two inches long, and there is nothing they like so well.

Animal Food Tenth Day

The regular ration is continued with judgment, for in feeding it is to be remembered that judgment must be exercised at all times. After the tenth day animal food is added to the ration, commencing with a small handful of The Corning Egg Farm Mash, thrown on top of the litter. Where beef scraps are used to supply the animal food they may be fed alone, and this was done at first on The Corning Egg Farm, but for the last three years we have fed the green bone in the mash mixture. It, however, must be fed with great care, and the bone used for this purpose must be most carefully selected, and must be absolutely fresh.

It must be remembered that even one or two ham bones, or corned beef bones mixed in the ration would mean the loss of a great many chicks. Shank bones and briskets, when obtainable, are ideal for this purpose, and during the Brooding season these are selected out and kept for what is termed the “baby’s mash.” With the introduction on the tenth day of the Mash, the noon-day feeding of Corning Chick Food is discontinued.

By the time the youngsters are four weeks old the hovers have been removed entirely, and one finds that the little fellows will lie very contentedly, spread out on the floor, so long as the temperature in the Brooder House is kept up to 85° three feet above the floor, as before indicated.

Avoid Moving Chicks Often

The removal of the chicks from the hover runs into the nurseries, as formerly practiced on The Corning Egg Farm, has been entirely discontinued. A chick in many respects resembles a flower; every time it is moved or transplanted it receives a certain setback. For this reason the great Brooder House has all been turned into hover runs, and the chicks make one move from the Brooder House to the Colony House. A moving generally represents not only a slight setback, but some mortality through accident and the change itself.

The small chick doors into the outside runs are opened, if the weather is propitious, about the fifth or sixth day in the early part of the hatching season, and on the third or fourth day later on. The chicks are never driven into the yard, any more than they are driven down the inclined plane, but it is always our method to allow the youngsters to seek a new field for themselves, and slowly. When they go out into the yard they are watched, and if there is any inclination to huddle up against the warm side of the building they are driven back into the Brooder House.

Another great advantage of the heated Brooder House (and we speak of this as entirely separate from the heat under the hovers) is that it allows the chick to seek different degrees of temperature. There is one temperature under the hover; another temperature outside of the hover, on the hover floor; still another degree on the main floor of the Brooder House; and, then, there is the outdoor temperature.

When the chicks are first placed under the hovers, during the first day, we carry the temperature at 95 degrees, and then slowly decrease this by raising the hover. Where an adjustable hover is not used this may be accomplished by turning down the lamp.