Moisture
On The Corning Egg Farm moisture is provided in the Cellar by thoroughly wetting the floor with a hose twice a day, the floor sloping gently to a drain in one corner. Large earthen-ware vessels, of about three inches in depth and eighteen inches in diameter, are stood at different points throughout the Cellar, and are constantly kept filled with fresh water. This is done, not so much for the purpose of increasing the humidity of the air, as it is to take up the impurities. As an illustration, if you stand vessels filled with water in a freshly painted room, the odor of paint is almost entirely absorbed by the water.
As even a temperature as possible is carried in the Cellar, and at all times there is a constant flow of fresh air, but it is so controlled that it does not produce a draught. It should be remembered that while a moist cellar is desirable, unless it is well ventilated, it is utterly unfit for the purpose of incubation.
Chicks Handled Only Once
The chicks, at the end of the 22d day, are counted out of the incubator into large baskets lined with Canton Flannel, and in these they are carried upstairs to the Brooder House.
The last act of the chicken, before pipping the shell, is to absorb into its system the yolk of the egg, which supplies it with a sufficient amount of nourishment to last at least forty-eight hours. This supply of nourishment is what really makes possible the tremendous business carried on in “baby chicks.” But, as The Corning Egg Farm views it, the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals should step in and stop this business. After exclusion is accomplished the chick is thoroughly exhausted, and for a number of hours, if left to its own devices, it lies in a deep sleep.
Baby Chick Business Cruel
Consider then the torture that this small animal is put through when it is taken out of the warm egg chamber, or nursery, as soon as it is dry enough, packed like a sardine in a box, and then hustled to an express office, placed on a train, and, by the swaying of the train, kept in constant motion.
The sellers of day old chicks in many cases guarantee the arrival of the small “puff ball” alive. Unless the distance is extreme this is not such a difficult feat. They are alive on arrival, and perhaps continue to live in apparently fair strength for some days, but somewhere between the 7th and 10th days the mortality usually runs into such numbers that the purchaser finds the remaining number of youngsters has cost him about a dollar apiece. As the season advances many more of them drop off, one by one, from causes which, to the unsophisticated, are unknown.
A short time ago a gentleman who has been engaged in the Baby Chick business for a number of years was making a call at The Corning Egg Farm, and expressed his regret at having placed an order with a breeder of White Rocks for eggs at too late a date to insure their delivery before the first day of May. The breeder, however, had offered him some day old chicks. Our amusement was considerable when he remarked that he would not accept a day old chick as a gift if he was expected to pay the expressage.