Square Foot Per
Bird Said Good
As 3.5 Sq. Feet
PROGRESS REPORT —NO.
41 Pennsylvania Agriculture
Experiment Station The i
Pennsylvania State Univer
sity .University Fark, Pa.
With only one square fopti of
floor space per- bird)- the 270 Q
White Leghorn layers m the ex
perimental solar poultry house
at Penn State are laying as’ con
sistently high as those with thd
recommended 3% square feet
per bird. I
Dr. G- 0. BreSslet, in charge
of the Studies, reports that the
birds hatched last 'May, theii
reared on range last summer and
housed in late October averaged
77 iper cent production in Janu
aiy. Tfifen. in February egg pro
duction rose to 80 per cent, with
a peak of 83 pfer cent, as the
birds took turns in the battery
of individual wall nests in the
house.
Betters Earlier Tests
Actually, this is
bettor than three years ago when
the solar house -was used in
studies that gave' The layers 1.9
square feet of floor space per
bird. Dr. Dressier says. ;
This year’s arrangement of the
interior of the solar house has
a. few slight modifications over
last yfear’s studies when the orie
square-foot-per-bird was tried for
the first time. Two narrower
droppings pits extended the
length of the building instead of
one wide pit. but mechanical
cleaning of the pits continues,
same as last year.
Sawdust Used for Litter
Over each of the pits extended
four tiers of feeders
tiers of roosts, and one tier with
water. Sawdust is used for the
litter which has been maintained
m a dry condition regardless of
rainy cold weather and high
humidity outside- A pressurized
ventilating system also aids in
maintaining low humidity in the
crowded house. Temperature is
maintained at 55 degrees F
Mortality and culling com
bined has been maintained at a
late of IV2 per cent per month,
Dr Dressier says, a comfortably
low ratio considering the number
of birds in thus year’s studies.
All operations evcept egg gather
ing are automatically operated,
the same as last year’s experi
ments, he explained.
Egg Production
In January over
State Declines
HARRISBURG For the first
time in nearly five years, egg
production on Pennsylvania
farms this January dropped be
low the output for the same
month of the previous year, Dr.
William L.‘Henning, State Sec
retary of Agriculture, announced
today.
Over a period of 57 months
since April 1951 egg produc
tion in the State was record high
for'each succeeding month until
January 1956 when it declined
1 6 per cent from January of last
year, he declared following Fed
eral-State surveys,
January output totaled 316
million compared with 321 mil
lion for the same month last
year. Dr. Henning said the num
ber of layers at 19,354,000 was
down 192,000 from a year earlier.
Dr. Henning explained that
egg production this January
showed a decline due largely to’
fewer additions to laying flocks
and retention of more older birds
during 1955.
Poultry farmers during Janu
ary began buying more flock re-,
placement chicks. Dunng that
month chick production in the
State totaled 7,603,000 or 46 per
cent above the January 1955
hatch. A near-record hatch was
indicated for February.
Farmers on February 15 were
averaging a return of 46 cents a
dozen for eggs, down nine cents
from January 15, but three Cents
a dozen more than in February
1855,. the survey showed.
Pullets Thrive in Close Quarte
One square foot per bird was alloted this year to 2,730
pullets housed in the Solar Laying House at the Pennsyl
vania State University Agricultural Experiment Station.
High egg production, 75 to 83 per cent in winter months,
indicates that they did not object to close neighbors. This is
the fifth year of use of the Solar House in which the birds
are roosted, fed and watered over droppings pits fitted with
mechanical cleaners. Large insulated glass windows facing
due south capture heat from the sun. Thorough insulation
and thermostatically controlled, pressurized inlet ventila
tion keep winter temperatures around 55 degrees and the
litter dust dry. (See accompanying story).
CUTTING REMARK
A certain minister, while
preaching said that every blade
of grass was a sermon. The next
day he was busying himself by
mowing his lawn when a parish
ioner passing shouted, “That’s
right, reverend, cut your ser
mons short.”
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FOR
oisrx-ir si.oo
MR. FARMER-
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PUBLIC SALE HELD
At a public sale field recently
on the Isaac Kiebl farm, Green
Tree, two tractors sold for $1,555
and $1,310. Other prices includ
ed: bale elevator,* $294; side rake,
$255; transplanter, $223; egg
washer, $80; and egg grader,
$77.50.
iIKIHIIIIIIIIiIHIIiiIIUIIIIIHIIRIHIIRIiIIIItIIIiIfIII
TJBSCRI
ONE YEAR ... 52 ISSUES . . .
Today!
Sc
Lancaster Farming, Friday, March 16, 1956
Bee Diseases
Newest Field of
Wonder Drugs
PROGRESS REPORT —No.
12 Pennsylvania Agriculture
Experiment Station The
Pennsylvania State Univer
sity University Park, Pa.
Use of antibiotics for diseases
of bees is the latest application
of the modern “wonder drugs”
Prof. E. J. Anderson heads
the apiary research at the Penn
sylvania Agriculture Experiment
Station and he reports “promis
ing results” in using terramycin
for control of one of the most
serious diseases of bees—Ameri
can Foulbrood. The terramycin
was mixed with powdered sugar
in several proportions and dusted
between the supers of the hives
Prof. Anderson -finds the
terramycin "as effective, and
in several cases, more ef-
fective” than sulfathiazole
which previously had been
used to control the costly
disease. The new material
has several advantages over
the sufa product in that it
is more easily applied, less
honey must be removed
from the hive, and bees
have not shown resistance
to the materials*-
Terramycin was used on those
colonies which showed evidence
of foulbrood and in each instance
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Lancaster Farming
QUARRYVILLE, PA.
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Name
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Address
JUICY GRAPEFRUIT
HAS SMOOTH SKIN
Looking for a juicy grape
fruit Then choose one that has
a smooth, thin skin, advises Elsie
Bamesberger, extension consum
er information specialist of „ the
Pennsylvania State
Grapefruit with a coarse skin
or one that is puffy or
isn’t a good buy-
This season’s crop is large and
boasts of quality. Use the spark
ling freshness of grapefruit as a
contrast to heavy winter meals-
Broiled grapefruit adds a zestful
finish to a dinner-
IT HAPPENED IN KANSAS
The horse ambled along for a
short distance and then stopped
This procedure was repeated sev
eral times. A curious bystander
approached the farmer and asked
kindly- “Is your horse sick?”
“Nope,” answered the farmer:
“he’s so afraid I’ll say ‘whoa’ and
he won’t hear me, that he stops
every once in a while to listen-”
three doses, about two weeks
apart, in the spring plus several
later in the season, seethed to
be sufficient to control the disea
se, he reports. In addition,
Anderson is trying occasional
dusting of the terramycih as a
disease-preventive but "that ad
ditional testing is needed' to de
termine its value.
During the coming season.
Prof. Anderson plans to test a
number of the newer antibiotics
for use against bee diseases.
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