6—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 6,1967
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EGG PROCESSING at I. R Musser Poultry Farm, Inc. proceeds at the rate of
800-1000 cases per week. Employees are shown here handling eggs as they come off
the 24-case per hour Seymour grader-packer in dozen cartons and on filler flats.
L. F. Photo
SKYLIGHTS ing the skylights from the out-
Another Musser innovation side with sheets of galvanized
(Continued from Page 1) 18 the skylights in the galvan- steel roofing, raised six inches
, . , ized steel roof These are 2xlo- to keep out the direct light;
b-rd f<K>t fiberg i ass pan els spaced made panels of black plastic
The birds are housed m every 24 feet either side of the which can be inserted into the
IS , in effect one large cage pe?J .' skylights from inside the build
measuring 38x174 feet- Eg-=s m g x { necessary. These will
are gathered from the rear ot i n adding these panels, Mus- permit complete light control
three-tiered, rollout nests Io- ser figured he’d keep the nat- in case he decides later to op
cated along both sides of the ura i factor of sunlight m his erate the building under condi
pen In collecting the eggs, the operation He felt this would tions of controlled environ
operator pushes a lightweight be particularly important dur- men t
plywood cart along a three-foot mg the winter, but realized
wide platform located outside he’d have to baffle that heat HIGH PRODUCTION
the cage source somehow during the The first flock in this new
The floor of the pen is eon- summer He has prepared for building were housed Febru
structed in s, mh a way— clr ">e summer in two ways by cover- ary Ist ‘'Since April 7th they
plus Ix 2, 12%-gauge, welded'
wire with the cross pieces on
tne unaersiae—that any floor
eggs roll to the outside and
are collected on a special tray
below the nests
POLE TYPE
d Musser Poultry
The building is a pole type
with six-inch, pressure creosot
ed poles spaced every 10 feet
through the center of the
building The "cage” itself is,
in effect, hung on these poles.
The roof is supported by
2\6’s spaced 24 -nohes on cen
ters, and spiked into the ridge
pole The floor is similarly sup
ported, except that the joists
are spaced 16 inches on centers
DEEP PIT
Manure from the 8500-brrd
flock at Musser’s is collected
directly in a deep pit under
the building The pit, which
runs the full length of the
roosting area, is eight feet be
low the floor level at the cen
ter and six feet deep at the
outer edge
Musser figures the pit will
have sufficient capacity to store
manure for the entire 15-
month laying cycle without
cleaning However, it is readily WITH THE PLATFORM REMOVED from inside,
accessible through two, 12-foot this 12-foot door is one of two such openings to the deep
outside doors should any prob- m anure put 'that runs the full length of (the new slant
bTremoved taS floor house at Musser ’ s - Here - Mi^r & Bushong
weie still m the house, Musser serviceman Jack Renshaw, left, and farm work
notes He plans to spread the 61 James Kolp observe the actions of the birds from be
manuie on his com land low L. F. Photo
•SHOWN WITH REFRIGERATED trucks in which they deliver butter, eggs,
and cheese for I. R. Musser Poultry Farm are drivers John Miller, John Wenger, and
Wilbur Heasey. L- F. Photo
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have never produced less_ than
88 percent ‘(hen-day basis), and
have laid ns high as 93 per
cent on at least one occasion,"
Musser slates.
His mortality has averaged
l'& percent per month to date,
he notes, adding that cannibal
ism during the early days oi
production was the chief cause
of death After reducing the
amount of direct light enter
ing the building, this was
brought under control.
Musser noted that one reason
he chose this house was be
cause of its reputation for
maintaining high - producing
birds He added that, being lo
cated in a relatively built-up
area, he will have to be able
to control his odor and fly
problems He feels this will be
accomplished more readily with
this building than with a caged
layer house
Musser has found that many
poultrymen in the area have
been interested in looking the
house over, and several plan
to build similar sti natures as
a result. But, being concerned
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J
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RENTAL EQUIPMENT
J. U. Baker Whse.
1133 Manheim Pike, Lancaster, Pa. -
Phone 393-9949
that any unnecessary disease
problems should hit’ tills Tiigh
producing flock, he has restrict
ed visitors’ entry to the house.
FEED PROGRAM
Corn from Musscr’s 50 acres
is processed through his own
gram dryer which has a capa
city of 2000 bushels in 24 hours.
From there it goes to a 6000-
bushel storage bin to be auger
cd to one of his four 15-20 ton
overhead bins, as needed. His
own production is later supple
mented with purchased corn.
He also buys 40-pound oats in
bulk, adding them to his feed
mix at the rate of 200 pounds
per ton. (Musser feels the ad
dition of oats was important
ih helping him control his re
cent cannibalism problem.)
A concentrate of cage-layer
quality is prepared for him .by
a local feed manufacturer.
“The concenfiate is designed
for optimum performance in
our feeding program,” Musser
explains “When production
diops to 75 percent,” he adds,
(Continued on Page 7)