The Chicken of Tomorrow (1948)

after all these years whether the chicken or the egg came first is still the subject of a lot of good-natured debate but one thing there's no argument about chickens and eggs are the most widely grown farm products in the country there's not a single county in the United States that does raise them in recent years this poultry business has become a giant moneymaker for farmers three billion dollars a year and second only to dairy and beef cattle raising just to give you an idea of the size of this poultry business Americans eat a hundred and forty million eggs a day that's one for every man woman and child in the nation chickens well the per capita consumption is 25 pounds a year which means just about everybody must eat chicken at least once a week yes indeed chickens and eggs are big business and like big business there's a serious effort to improve the product a three-year program to breed a better chicken is now being carried on and on large and small farms everywhere the search for a better chicken goes on come along with us on a visit to one of the large breeding farms and see how the old-time barnyard flock has grown up of course they have to be hatched before they can grow up so let's start at the beginning in the incubators good chicks come from good eggs fertile eggs from hens with a pedigree the pedigree is important because in the search for a better chicken its breeding that counts it's a far cry from the warm breasts of a broody hen to a modern incubator but actually the conditions are very much the same the temperature is held at 99 degrees to approximate the body heat of the hen then a forced draught gives plenty of ventilation this one unit holds 85,000 eggs did you ever notice the old hand turning the eggs over occasionally a she sets here the same thing is done automatically and now we'll wait 21 days for things to happen but thanks to some very special photography we can see what's happening by the end of the third day the embryo and the egg has begun to form another three days and the heart has started to be after 10 days you can see the chick itself beginning to take shape a few more days and that mass has some resemblance to a baby chick and finally the fully developed chick is ready to start breaking out of its shell at this stage mother nature gives it a sharp spike on the end of its beak sharp enough to poke a hole through the shell little by little the chick works its way around the shell finally the end of the shell is weakened enough so the chick can push it out after a lot of struggling it tumbles out exhausted but free it will rest now for several hours and then get up on shaky legs and begin to live old-time poultry menina business for many years say they still get a mighty kick out of the miracle of the birth of a baby chick the ratio of bullets and [ __ ] balls among chicks is about fifty-fifty course you may order straight run chicks then again you may order all bullets sexing the chicks are separating the males from the females is a highly specialized trade call for long experience in training but the experts seldom miss they can't afford to miss because when you order bullets you want all bullets not a few cockerels mixed in [Music] wait a minute you may be saying and those chicks just out of the shell be sent without food on trips of a day two days even three indeed they can nature thought about that too the baby chick has within its little body enough unabsorbed yolk to nourish it for 72 hours three days and nights of travel with each chick carrying its own lunch nevertheless speed is essential and it's here that the motor truck plays such a big part in poultry raising in fact the industry couldn't exist as it does today without motor transportation and the petroleum industry that supplies the quality fuel and lubricants that make this high-speed transportation possible [Music] but to get back to our baby chicks this made a cute picture but it's really not the scientific way to handle chicks their immediate destination after leaving the incubator is the brooder house IRRI stove is needed to keep the temperature up around 95 degrees for the first week almost any kind of stove will do one of the most common being a kerosene stove the circular guard is to keep the chicks near the heat and prevent floor drafts for the first few days the litter should be covered with paper so the tick's can't eat it they need plenty of food have lots and lots of water from now on their main job in life is to eat and grow after the first few days the paper can be removed the floor should be covered with litter to keep the floor warm and absorb the droppings peat moss fine cut straw peanut shells ground corn cobs or anything that will pass rather closely is good for litter after the texture two or three weeks old they can be allowed out of doors at the weather do it at from eight to ten weeks the bullets being reared for egg production are ready to be transferred from the brooder house to the range range life is good for chickens but there are a few things you ought to know about it rain shelter should be fairly small holding not more than 100 Birds the shelter protects them from the Sun gives them a safe place to roost out of the way of rodents [Music] proper diet a body of water are required a good grass sod is a must to give the birds an abundant supply of fresh tender leaves rain shelters ought to be spaced about 75 to 100 feet apart so the hens won't go wandering off to gossip with other flocks you know how chickens are oh it's a fine life this life on the range but like all good things that must come to an end and when they're about six months old the pullets are ready to move to the lane house to fulfill one of their main functions in life remember the old handout it's now a hotel a pullet hotel every room with an outside exposure or if you prefer the bungalow type we've got that too 400 feet of it altogether room for thousands of guests but seriously housing your chickens is important whether they're egg or meat producers they ought to have three or four square feet per bird depending on the breed they've gotta have roosts too but I huddled pretty close together and two or three birds can perch on one foot of space one of the most important advances ever made in poultry racing is the trapped nest the bird can enter the nest easily to lay her egg but she can't get out again until you let her out this simple device permits you to know which birds lay which eggs and to keep a record of each hen's egg production the whole secret of profitable chicken raising is to make them produce more than they cost the feed a hen that lays 210 eggs a year and eats 70 pounds of feed is giving you three eggs for every pound you feed her keep that one but if she eats 70 pounds of feed and only lays 70 eggs a year you better send it to the market or to your dinner table and it's the trap nest that lets you keep a record of how well each hen is lay its records like this to that help in developing the chicken of tomorrow you can't take it for granted that every hen is earning your keep even though laying an egg ought to be easy for any chicken that's what you think big boy well anyhow the trap nests the answer to discovering which of the lazy hens and this is a good place to point out a few facts about 8:00 the temperature of an egg when laid is over 100 degrees every minute it's left in a hot nest in a hot henhouse takes away some of its moisture and freshness gather your eggs often three or four times a day and they'll cool out twice as fast in a wire basket as an appeal clean eggs bring a better price than dirty ones when you gather them off and they don't get a chance to get dirty the secret of profitable eggs is to cool them quickly and keep them cool and keep them clean [Music] when you've got as many birds to look after as this hatchery you're pretty receptive to labor saving devices and this carrier system is one of the best it runs the length of the building and is used to carry feed to the different pens it can be used also for gathering up manure saves a lot of back-breaking work another labor saber is the automatic watering trough it makes certain there's always fresh water for the birds to drink still another handy gadget is this grading machine you feed the eggs in machine separates them by weight the first group will average 24 ounces to the Dozen which is the most profitable size the next 23 and a half ounces the next 23 and so on but besides being a good egg player the chicken of tomorrow will be an improved meat producer here's an example of the progress that's been made already notice how breeding has increased the amount of meat on the breast look at that drumstick this bird was fattened in the same length of time and on the same amount of feed as the other one make your own guess as to which is the more profitable to raise and when the chicken of tomorrow gets to the dinner table its advantages are still more about but it's your pocketbook that profits most when you send this bird to market our unique method of marketing chickens and eggs that's grown in popularity in recent years is the option the first one is said to have been the hundred and county auction at Flemington New Jersey but the idea has spread to all parts of the country the farmers bring their crates of eggs to market the day before the auction [Music] on auction day the buyers gathered to purchase eggs and poultry at prices openly arrived at - - - over there - the bid it's sudden he's in on this lot 17 accord and a half it's 17 I have three cause the bid one one's a bit no one caught I believe me I have one a half Sheikh was to be had to Tuesday bid not doing a quarter it - in a corner over there they go at - in a corner here's some needs a bit believe me 17 o'clock I believe me a habit suddenly to have three cause to be had one ones have been to one quarter one the half one and a half 155 over there do I get 175 yes over there they go haired 170 and after the eggs and poultry are sold once again the motor truck plays its big role hundreds of live chickens can be speeded on their way to the dressing plants one truck can handle thousands of eggs and take them anywhere there's a market speed flexibility that's what the industry must have in its transportation and that's exactly what the motor drug-fueled and lubricated with quality petroleum products offers ask any poultry man and he'll tell you that the industry could not flourish as it's doing today without the efficient fleets of trucks that whisk baby chicks to waiting farmers rush chickens to the grocers and butchers shelves and speed fresh eggs to your breakfast table [Music]