bad se : cecceccecceecceceececces ~ 200 Eggs a Year t Per Hen: ow to Get Them. : By EDGAR WARREN. sopy 1 a ~ 4) ‘ a CETECE ww wy ow w Ww w WwW a w w Ww Ww w w we W w } a x ‘ Price, 59 Cents. Syracuse, N. Y. : Ciarence C. De Puy, Publisher. 1905. -% S iO > ieee Po io te oe ee ee ee ES Dp 3 33 3 3 3 33 333333333535 5525 4 @ 3323223322322 Poultry Supplies ——— We Manufacture the Famous | Empire State Incubators and Brooders 1$5 Russ Prize-Winning Brooder. Sole New York and ako Agent for Prairie State Incubators and Brooders. Star Incubators and Brooders. : : : f All Makes of of ft Green Bone and Vegetable Cutters, Grinding Mills, ‘ Exhibition and Shipping Coops, White Washing Machines, § Beef Scraps, Oyster Shells, Charcoal, Egg Foods, Condition Powders, Dog Cakes and Medicines. = And everything necessary for breeding and rearing all kinds of Poultry, Pigeons and Pet Stock. Our immense 1905 Catalogue of Poultry Supplies contains over 208 pages” ‘ * and is the largest and most complete one published. It’s free for the asking. Send for one. Excelsior Wire and Poultry Supply Co. W. V. RUSS, Prop., 26-28 Vesey St., Dept. P. P. Lage 3 NEW-YORK CITY. | Pg eee ct dy js eS ae Sa orien te FIFTH EDITION 200 Eggs a Year Per Hen: How to Get Them. A Practical Treatise on Egg Making and Its Conditions and Profits in Poultry. By EDGAR WARREN. Price, 50 Cents. Syracuse, N. Y. GEARENGE «C.- De PUY, Publisher. 1905. LIBRARY of CONGRESS {wo Goples Hecelved APR 3 1905 aby 88 74. i A bs E > a KX Not ERIS COPYRIGHT 1899, 1990, 1902. By EDGAR L. WARREN. COPYRIGHT 1905. By CLARENCE CC) De PUY: CHAPTER =I. The Two Handred Egg Men.- We hear a good deal said in these days about the 200 egg hen. Some are disposed to deny her existence, and to class her with such fabulous or semi-fabulous birds as the phoenix and dodo. Others admit that she has appeared in isolated instances, but is by no means common. Others contend that if she should appear in large numbers it would be a misfortune rather than otherwise, for such excessive egg production would weaken her system so that her eggs would not hatch healthy and vigorous chicks; and the 200 egg hen would be in constant danger of extinction from her own success. One thing is certain, however, the 200 egg hen is no myth. There are many of them scattered about, and the tribe is on the increase. My reputation for truth and veracity is reasonably good; yet I am willing to make oath that I had a flock of 14 White Wyan- dottes that from October to October gave me a total of 2,999 eggs, an average of a little better than 214 egys apiece. ‘There are others who can beat this. Men are already talking of the 250 egg hen, and before we realize it she will be here. I do not see how a man can draw an arbitrary line, and say how many eggs a hen may or may not lay in a year. The hen in her wild state lays from six to ten; the average farmer’s hen not over 100; while on egg farms the average is raised to 150. But why stop here? ‘here are 365 days in a year; and I do not see why a pullet that is fully matured, that comes from an egg producing strain, that is properly fed and cared for and kept steadily at work, may not lay at least 200 eggs in that time. 1 am prepared to admit that a hen will not lay 200 eggs a year without constant and intelligent care. 1 am also prepared to admit that in some cases the number of eggs extra a hen will lay where she has this constant and intelligent care will not pay for the time consumed, and that it may be more profitable to get an average of say 150 eggs a year than a larger number. But I believe that in the poultry business, as in every other, it is well to have a high ideal. ‘The man who inscribes on his banner, “Two Hundred Eggs a Year Per Hen,” and then comes as near it as he can, will make more money and have more fun than will the man who is content to take what comes along. 4 THE HEREDITY OF THE TWO HUNDRED EGG HEN. When I was a boy a mile in 2:40 was regarded as a great per- formance for a trotting horse. ‘here were horses that had trotted under 2:40, much under, but they were few. I remember it was the custom for us urchins to cry out whenever a man drove by at a slashing gait, “Go it, two-forty!”’ J am not an old man yet by any means—my wife tells me that I am young—but I have lived to see the trotting record come down and down until it has dropped below the two minute mark. A horse that cannot trot in less than 2:40 is regarded as a good horse for a woman to drive, but out of place on the track. What has brought the record down and down until men are looking for the two minute horse? Heredity and handling! A trotting horse now has a pedigree as long as a European monarch. The blood of generations of trotters flows in his veins. It may be the ancestral lines converge in the great Messenger himself. Heredity and handling! These two things are as necessary lor the 200 ege hen as for the two minute horse. Men do not gather grapes from thorns nor figs from thistles. The 200 egg hen must be bred to lay. She must come from an egg-producing strain. No matter how scientifically a man may feed or how hygienically he may house, he cannot take a flock of hens of any old breed or no breed and get 200 eggs a year apiece from them. It is impossible. By carefully following the instructions of this book he can largely increase the egg yield of such, a flock, but he must not expect to get 200 eges a year apiece. I cannot impress it too strongly upon the reader’s mind that if he expects to get 200 eggs a year apiece from his hens he must start in with a great laying strain. WHAT BREED IS BEST? There is an old Latin proverb, De gustibus non est disputandum which I will take the hberty to translate for the benefit of those who have been out of school for some time. Its meaning is this: In matters of taste there is no argument. ‘lhis is as true in the poultry business as it is elsewhere. Other things being equal that breed is the best for a man which he likes best. There is no breed that combines all the excellences and has none of the defects. There is no breed that does not have its admirers. In general it may be said that the most profitable breeds are to be found in the Asiatic, American and Mediterranean classes, as follows: In the Asiatie class the Light Brahmas, Black Langshans, Buff and Part- 5 ridge Cochins; in the American class the Barred, Bufl and White Plymouth Rocks, all the Wyandottes and the Rhode Island Reds; in the Mediterranean class the Black Minoreas, Brown, White and Buff Leghorns. These are ihe great money-making varieties. The Asiaties are excellent table fowls and prolifie layers of dark brown egos. ‘They are good sitters and mothers, although, somewhat clumsy. They are inclined to be sluggish and readily take on fat. They stand cold well, and make good winter layers. ‘The Mediter- raneans are egg machines, turning out great quantities of white- shelled eggs. They do not stand cold as well as the Asiatic and American breeds, and are not as good fowls for the table. The Americans on the whole are the favorites. They are all-round birds, good layers of brown eggs, excellent for the table, good sitters and mothers. They stand cold well, and are the birds for farmers and breeders. ‘The danger with every breed is that it will get into the hands of the fanciers and be bred for points rather than for _ utility. Stamina is the important thing, and not the show card. It will be a great day for the poultry business when farmers keep more pure-bred fowls, for then the great standard varieties may be kept sp without danger of deterioration. HOW MANY VARIETIES SHALL I KEEP? After studying the matter carefully, I have come to the conclu- sion that it is better for the average poultryman to confine himself to one variety. He will get better results and make more money if he concentrates his energies than he will if he dissipates them. After a man has made a success with one variety he may perhaps add another, and even a third: but the best poultrymen do not handle many varieties, and some of the most successful confine themselves to one. Where several varieties are kept I would sug- ~ gest that there be some principle of unity determining the choice. Let the birds all be of one color—say white, black or buff—or let them all be of one family, like the Leghorns, Wyandottes or Ply- mouth Rocks. Where the fowls are all of one family they will have the same characteristics and respond to the same treatment. In case of an accidental mix-up the damage is reduced to a minimum, for the birds are all of the same size, comb and contour. HOW MANY RECORDS ARE WRECKED. Some time ago I received a letter from a young lady who is an enthusiastic poultrywoman, in which she said that she was getting 6 a goodly number of eggs, but that her record was lowered because she had kept over half a dozen hens which had laid well the year before. She said that she knew better, but could not resist the temptation. 1 mention this case because it is so typical. More ege records are wrecked by keeping old hens in the flock than in any other way! ‘There is always a temptation when a hen has laid well to keep her the second year. This temptation must be re- sisted if one is in quest of a big egg record. ‘The fact that a hen has laid well for one year since coming to maturity incapacitates her from ever laying so well again. She has drained her system, and requires recuperation before she can lay even moderately. You may set it down as an axiom that it is the pullets that give the big egg records. If you have in your flock some hens that you desire to keep a second year as a reward for past services, or for breeders and mothers, put them in a pen by themselves and do not look for more than a moderate egg production from them. It is the pullets that lay, and the early-hatched pullets at that. Get out your chickens in March, April or May, according to the breed, if you want winter layers. WEED OUT THE NON-LAYERS. Reports from the Maine Experiment Station, where trap nests are used and individual records kept, show that among hens of the same breed and kept under the same conditions there is a great dif- ference in egg production. One Barred Plymouth Rock laid 251 eges in one year, while another in the same flock laid but eight. A White Wyandotte pullet laid 219 eggs, while another of the same breed laid absolutely none. These figures are most significant, showing as they do the absolute necessity of weeding out the non- producers. Suppose you have two hens in a pen, and one lays 200 © eggs a year and the other none. The average for the two is 100 eggs apiece. In other words, the non-layer has reduced the pen record one-half. It costs a dollar a year to feed a hen, and this money is thrown away if the hen does not lay. The one absolutely sure way of identifying the layers and non-layers is by the use of the trap nest; but this takes time, and many do not feel that it pays. Still without the use of the trap nest, by keeping one’s eyes and ears open, one can pick out the layers with sufficient accuracy for all practical purposes, as I shall show before I get through. THE THREE CONDITIONS OF EGG PRODUCTION. It was a maxim of Lord Bacon, one of the greatest men that ever lived, that Nature is the great teacher, and that in order to learn we must interrogate Nature. If we study Nature with open eyes she will often give us suggestions of great value and fruitful- ness. The poultryman must continually go to Nature, the great teacher, and he will not go in vain. In the state of Nature in which wild fowls live, or in the state of semi-Nature in which the farmer’s fowls are kept, what is the season of egg production? Summer. Why? Because in summer the conditions of egg pro- duction are present. What are these conditions? Warmth, proper food and exercise. Reproduce these conditions at any season of the year and the fowl will be likely to lay. The poultryman should keep this fact in mind and govern himself accordingly. IS THERE AN EGG TYPE? Before I pass to the next chapter I wish to take up a subject upon which there is a wide difference of opinion—Is there an egg type? Some of those who ought to know claim there is not. But I am of the opinion that as there is a type of cow that we associate with large production of milk, so there is a type of hen that we may associate with large production of eggs. I believe that a hen with a broad breast, a long, deep body and straight underline (the so- called “wedge-shape” fowl) will lay better than one with a narrow breast, a short body and curved underline. The reason is not far to seek. The vital organs are confined within the body, and in a hen with a broad breast and long, deep body there is plenty of room for the organs of assimilation and reproduction; while in a hen with a short, curved body these organs are necessarily con- stricted. Ifa hen is to lay well she must eat well, breathe well, and have large ovaries; in other words there must be plenty of room inside for all the great organs to perform their functions. ‘his explains why there is a tendency on the part of the egg-producing breeds to increase in size. CHAP EER we The Home of the Two Hundred Egg Hen. Much of a man’s success or failure in the poultry business will depend upon the location and construction of his plant. Where hens are kept in small numbers and given free range, they do well almost anywhere; but where they are kept in large numbers and in confinement, they must have as favorable conditions as possible or they will prove a source of loss and not of profit to their owner. The best location for a poultry plant is on sandy soil, where there is a gentle slope to the south or southeast. If there is a wind- break of some kind on the north and northwest the location becomes ideal. Such a location, however, is hard to find—nor is it indis- pensable. Poultry can be kept on almost any soil, provided it is not saturated with water for a considerable portion of the year. Even a clay soil has its advantages; it produces a luxuriant growth, of grass which not only provides the fowls with forage, but which also by its roots takes up the excrement which otherwise might contaminate the ground. Before the poultryman drives a nail or does a stroke of work he should carefully consider the possibilities of his situation, and lay out his prospective plant in his mind. If he is to build largely at once it might pay him to consult an expert. But if he is to build only one small house, he should build it with reference to others that he may put up in future years. So I say, have a plan. The details may be filled in at the poultryman’s convenience—or they may never be filled in. But if the man lives and his business grows the time will come when he will thank his stars that he was wise and far-seeing enough to have a plan at the very start, and not have to waste time and money moving buildings about or in tearing them down and replacing them with others. THE COLONY PLAN. There are three methods of keeping hens in large numbers. The first of these is the colony plan. The principle of the colony plan is that of keeping hens in small segregated houses—twenty- five to fifty hens ina house. These houses are scattered at regular intervals over the farm, and are visited two or three times a day Q by an attendant. The hens are given free range. It has been found that when houses are one hundred yards apart, or even less, flocks will not mingle, but each flock will keep in the neighbor- hood of its own house. This plan has its advantages. It is inex- pensive. The houses may be of the cheapest kind. No yards are required. The hens at certain seasons of the year pick up a good j PT OA IY UNG : oer ! i ‘i Me Wi, 298 j \y Wr Vy a Colony house to accommodate from 12 to 25 fowls. This house is eight feet square on the ground, and eight feet from floor to apex of roof. There is no frame, but the roof boards are uailed to the ridgepole and to plankbase boards, deal of their hving. If the houses are located in an orchard the hens fertilize the ground around the trees and eat the wormy fruit. No dangerous disease is likely to break out among hens kept in colonies. But on the other hand the plan has serious drawbacks. Even in pleasant weather it requires a good deal of time each day to visit the scattered flocks; but in winter, when a blizzard is raging, to make the rounds of the houses is an experience calculated to make one appreciate the perils and hardships of a Polar expedition. Then, too, these isolated, detached houses are shining marks for thieves; and unless the neighborhood is exceptionally honest, the poultryman may wake up some morning to discover that two or three hundred of his fowls have vanished. THE COMMUNITY PLAN. The second method of keeping hens in large numbers is what I may call the community plan, and is sufficiently described by the 10 name. ‘he majority of large poultry plants in the country are constructed on this plan. The great argument in favor of this plan is economy—economy in labor, economy in land. The orig- inal cost of a plant on the community plan is somewhat greater than the cost of a plant on the colony plan; but when the plant is erected and equipped the saving begins. ‘There are, however, some objections to this plan besides the initial cost. It has been found very difficult to keep the houses perfectly dry, where the length exceeds sixty feet. Moisture collects on the walls and roof, and in cold weather congeals, so that in these long houses there is often a coating of frost. In cleaning out the long houses it is somewhat difficult to reach the central compartments, requiring as it does a long walk and the opening and shutting of many doors and gates. Where a virulent disease lke cholera or roup breaks out in one compartment, as it sometimes will, it has been found almost impos- sible to confine it to that compartment—germs traveling in the air, or being conveyed fiom one pen to another in excrement which may stick to the feet. With the community plan go long, narrow yards or parks, which can be fenced only at considerable cost. The scratching shed has now become an integral part of many of the long houses. The scratching shed, as its name implies, is a place for exercise under the same roof with the laying room, but more open to the weather. ‘The scratching shed has many enthu- siastic advocates who claim that it is indispensible to the health and comfort of the fowls in the winter, and will more than pay for it- self in an increased egg output. The claims for the scratching shed house seem so valid that if I were building a house more than sixty feet in length, I should certainly add scratching sheds. It is impossible in an article like this to give a plan for a house that will suit every purse and every place. I can only submit a cut of what I consider the best community house | have yet seen, and give a brief description of it. The house is on the Gardner Dunning Poultry Farm, of Auburn, N. Y. ‘Nhe house shown in the foreground of the view is 180 feet long by 12 wide, and is divided into 10 sections, each 18 feet. Each sec- tion is in turn divided into a scratching shed of nine feet, and a laying and roosting room of the same length. The house is made of the best material, double boarded with paper between and ceiled overhead at the height of six feet. In each pen is a large window, a small ventilating window into the hallway and a ventilating hole- The Gardner-Dunning Poultry Plant of Auburn, N. Y. , Showing community house described on following page, No expense has been spared in building and equipping this plant, which is one of the best in the United States. WZ cut through the ceiling which draws off the foul air but forms no draught. The scratching sheds are open in front, with a canvas which can be let down to keep the snow out. The yards are 150 feet long, with a row of fruit trees in each, and are plowed and sowed each year. At present there are three of these long houses on the plant and more will be added as they are needed. THE MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION HOUSE. An important and in many ways desirable variation from the ordinary scratching shed house is the main poultry building in use at the Agricultural Experiment Station at Bozeman, Montana. “The building is 72 feet long and 14 feet wide with a four-foot passage in the rear. It is divided into pens 12 feet long and 10 feet wide, and is set upon a foundation of stone 18 inches wide and two feet high. The slope of the roof is for the main portion to the south, the ridge coming just above the passage way four feet from the rear wall. This slope of roof is of great advantage since the sun rapidly melts the snow on the southern incline, making it warmer and drier, while on the other side the slope is so steep that the snow does not lodge there. “The next most important feature is the double floor. The exit from the pens is through the floor.into the space underneath the building. This basement has a ground floor, and it is two feet from the ground to the sills. Jn summer this makes a fine, cool and shady place when doors shown in cut are down and portholes open, while in winter with the doors raised the low sun enables the sun- light to extend more than half of the distance from front to rear, making an ideal place for dusting and scratching. This feature adds greatly to the usefulness of the building, since it so materially increases the floor space without affecting the area of the roof.” THE COLONY-COMMUNITY PLAN. The third method of keeping hens in large numbers is, so far as I know, original with me, and may be called the colony-com- munity plan. ‘The plan in brief is this: To keep the’hens in small detached houses built in streets and situated close to one another, with yards running to the rear instead of the front. It has always seemed to me a great mistake to run the yards to the front of a hen house instead of to the rear. There are in- numerable occasions when the poultryman wishes to visit a pen in 13 The Montana Experiment Station House, ‘he peculiarity of this building is that the scratching sheds are underneath the laying and rooms, instead of beside them, thus economizing cost of construction. roosting 14 the middle of a long house, and in order to do so he must open and shut half a dozen doors to pass along an alley way for fifty or one hundred feet. When he wishes to remove the litter or shovel sand into the middle pens it is necessary to open and shut a number of gates before he can do so. But with the yards in the rear the’ poultryman can drive along the front of his house and reach the middle pen as easily as he can at the ends. Colony-community houses arranged in streets, with yards running to the rear. The houses that I use in the colony-community plan are all alike, and are very simple in construction. Each house is 12 feet long, seven feet wide, seven feet high in front and five feet high in the rear; and is designed to accommodate 50 brooder chicks, 20 head of laying stock, or a breeding pen of one male and 12 females. The house rests on cedar posts or old railroad ties put in the ground below the frost line and sawed off eight inches above the surface. There are six of these posts, three on each side, and where old railroad ties are used the whole cost of the foundation is 15 cents. On these ties are laid two main sills and four cross sills, each 2x4 spruce. The plates are 2x4 stuff, but the other timbers in the frame—posts and rafters-—are 2x3. SS After the building is framed the floor is laid. ‘This is double, and between the upper and lower floor Neponset black sheathing is used. The covering to the frame is then put on, and over the boards Neponset black sheathing is tacked, This is to be covered with Neponset red paper. All the boards in the frame are hemlock. The roof is a very important part of a hen house. When the rafters are put on they are sawed off flush with the plate; and when he sides are boarded the boards are brought up so that they cover the ends of the rafters and also the edge of the roofing boards, mak- ing an absolutely tight joint. Neponset black sheathing is then laid Colony-community house desigued to accommodate 50 brooder chicks, 20 head of laying stock, or one male and 12 females. over the roof boards, and a double course of shingles laid along the lower edge of the roof. The object of this course of shingles is to throw the water from the roof away from the house. ‘The roof is then covered with Paroid, carefully put on and allowed to project a few inches at the ends. ‘This flap will eventually be turned in and held in place by the finish. The house is supposed to face south. There are two windows, one on the south side and one on the east end. There is a door in front, and a panel in the rear which can be raised or lowered at will 16 to Jet the hens out into the yard. After the house is finished all the outside woodwork receives a coat of dark green paint, which forms an eifective contrast with the brick-red of the Neponset- paper. Indeed, all who see the house remark how neat and pretty it is. INTERIOR CONTRUCTION. The interior of the house is of the very simplest. I have learned from hard experience to have as little furniture in a hen house as possible, and that many of the things advertised as helps for poultrymen are really hindrances. The house, as I have said, faces the south. ‘The roosts, instead of being in the rear, as is commonly the case, are in the west end, away from all possibility of draughts. The roost platform is two feet and a half above the floor, and is constructed of dry matched pine boards, which I get from old dry goods boxes. he platform, as soon as built, is cov- ered with a coat of hot tar. There are two roosts, or perches, parallel and on the same level. I forgot to say that the roost plat- form is three feet wide, which enables me to place my perches one foot apart, and one foot from the back wall and one foot from the edge of the platform. The perches are of spruce, 2x3, with the upper end slightly rounded, and set in sockets cut out of boards. They are removable. The perches are also covered with hot tar, as are the sockets in which they are set. Red mites let my houses severely alone. . The materials used in the house are as follows: Hemlock boards, 500 feet; matched pine for doors, trimmings, etc., 60 feet: frame (board measure), 100 feet; windows, Neponset black sheath- ing, 250 feet; Neponset red rope, 250 feet: Paroid, 100 feet; hard- ware, etc. The cost of such a house, exclusive of labor, in New Hampshire to-day would be not far from $20. ‘Two men, working together, can complete the house in two days. Such a house always finds a ready sale, and if the owner wishes to moye out of town or go out of the hen business at any time he can sell the house for about half what it cost him. In case a somewhat larger house is wanted, the dimensions may be enlarged as follows: Length, 14 feet: width, 8 feet: height in front, 74 feet; height in rear,54 feet. This will preserve the pro- portions and give nearly one-half more floor space. 17 HOUSE MADE FROM PIANO BOXES. Possibly there are some who desire even a cheaper house than the ones I have described. It may be they expect to remain but a short time where thev are, or wish a house for young steck, and do not care to invest even $20 in a building. ‘lo such I would say that a good temporary house can be made from two piano boxes at a cost of about $3. ‘The simplest way to make such a house is as fol- lews: Ona level place lay down two joists eight feet long. Take Three Dollar Poultry Houses. Good summer buildings, and in a warm climate suitable for winter, the boxes and carefully remove the boards on the tallest side. Spike the boxes to the joists, so that the open ends will face each other. With the boards you have taken out close up the gap be- tween the boxes on the back and roof. Puta door in front, a pane of glass on either side of the door, or two panes in the door itself, complete laying the floor, put in a roost, cover the building with good roofing paper, and you have a house that will accommodate a dozen hens at a trifling cost. CHAPTER: ILE Sanitation as a Factor in Eqa Production. Sanitation is one of the most important factors in egg produc- tion. As blossom and fruit are the culmination of the tree’s activ- ities, so the egg is the culmination of the activities of the hen. The hen cannot lay heavily unless she is in perfect physical condi- tion. One of the ways in which disease first reveals itself is in the dropping off of the egg product. The poultryman who desires the largest return from his investment must make a careful study of sanitation. A SANITARY HOUSE. The style of house a man builds will depend something upon his means and personal preferences. ‘There are houses costing thousands of dollars, and there are houses built for less than a dollar a running foot. I have known hens to do well in houses made of piano boxes, costing, when completed, three dollars apiece. But whether the house is cheap or dear, elaborate or simple, it should have three characteristics: 1. It must be dry. Dampness is fatal to fowls. Roup, rheu- matism and kindred evils go with a damp house. The house should always be built in ample season so that it may thoroughly be dried out before winter, and unless the ground on which it stands is as dry as powder it should have a board floor. 2. The house should be warm. Nature has provided the hen with an ample covering of feathers, and she will not freeze even if the temperature falls far below zero. But under such conditions she will lay but few eggs. How can she? All her food goes toward making caloric, and there is no surplus for anything else. In a properly constructed house there is no need for any artificial heat. A house should be so built that in the coldest weather water will not freeze solid in it. If it does a curtain should be provided to drop down behind the hens and shut them in when they are on the roosts. 3. The house should be sunny. Hens love the sun. See them stand in the path of sunlight on the morning of a clear, bright win- ter day. The house should face the south or southeast, whenever 2) possible. ‘There should not be too many windows, for windows let the heat out as they let it in, and the difference in temperature between noon and night is too great. KEEP THE HOUSE CLEAN, Cleanliness is the most important element in sanitation. Dis- ease germs find in filth a congenial soil. ‘Phe hen house cannot be kept too clean! ‘Che room in which bens are confined plays many parts—it is their sleeping room, dining room, workshop, their bath room and water closet. Suppose a large family to be shut up in ope room and obliged to use it for every purpose. Do you not see how careful they would have to be to escape disease? It is a won- der to me how hens manage to live through the winter in the ma- jority of houses, to say nothing of laying eggs. The hen house should haye its daily, weekly, monthly and yearly cleaning. ‘The windows should be opened in the middle of the day for two or three hours on every day in winter when the sun is shining. The droppings under the roosts should be removed every morning! When poultrymen realize that poultry manure is a virulent poison and should not be allowed to pollute the houses or the yards where the hens are kept, they will make a great step toward success. it takes but a few minutes to a house to remove the droppings, and the gain in looks and in wholesomeness is worth the cost. After the droppings are removed the dropping board should be sprinkled lightly with earth, coal ashes or land plaster. Once a week, summer or winter, the drinking vessels should be scalded out, and once a week in winter the litter should be shaken up, and if you have a board floor, the dust and dirt that settles to the bottom should be removed. If the floor is of earth the surface droppings should be taken out and the earth raked up. Onee a month the cleaning should be more thorough. ‘The litter should be renewed, and the floor swept. ‘Uhe roosts should be kerosened and in summer the walls around the roosts sprayed with kerosene or with a kerosene emulsion. Nest boxes should be emptied, painted with a good lice killer, and when dried out filled about one-third full of dry planer shavings. "The dust box should receive attention. The annual cleaning is still more radical. On some sunny day in autumn—the earler the better—shut the hens out in their yards and begin work upon their quarters. Everything iovable in the house should be taken outside. Sweep the dust and cobwebs off the walls, windows and ceiling. Sweep the floor, if you have one. The walls should then receive a generous coat of hot whitewash, put on with a spray pump to save time. 62700 Two Hundred Boo Hen: :.2. eel V Varieties, How Many....... . 2 eee Werminweto iid Wouse of: leet ete 21 Ww Water Testy. 25.2 sstus ge rae ee 65. Winter Eggs from Pullets...........-: 41 Winter Begs, Heeding for... 2. 3. ee 43: Winter Byes) Not Menulene: seen 60 Whitewash, Guvernment.........%.... 93° Yard, Poultty<: 4h": «p-2-ee ae 23: : Gardner & Dunning’s BARRED PLYMOUTH ROCKS Have Won More Prizes at New York and other large shows since 1898 Than Any Other Strain In America. PR __ Over icoo fine breeding and exhibition birds for sale. Our catalogue and mating list, giving full descrip- tion of stock and method of mating, and letters from many pleased customers, sent on request. ad aia SE GARDNER & DUNNING, M. S. Gardner, Mgr. AUBURN, N. Y. LEARN TO Raise Poultry PROFIT ABLY lr’: you raise Sa “do it right”. Make it pay as itshould, Learn to avoid costly mistakes. Con- duct your yard, large or small, on established, money-making principles. Poultry Culture can be made to pay bigger dividends in proportion to invest- ment of time and money than any other branch of farm industry. It offers equal opportunities to women and men. Complete success comes with thorough preparation. Our correspondence course of instruction will make you an expert. The lessons are sent you regularly to yourhome. The benefits areimmediate. Each student is taught individually. ‘You can begin any time, AM/@W is the BEST time. Our teaching is an unqualified success, We make a business of placing graduates in good paying positions. No | charge for the service. Many fine positions open at present. Qualify yourself for one of them. : _ Write for interesting free literature. COLUMBIA SCHOOL OF POULTRY CULTURE, Box 838, — Waterville, N. Y.. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ti ti | | \ WNAAAL AML | "@ 002 849 579 1 @ Cyphers Incubator Co. GRANT M. CURTIS, President, Extends Greeting and Wishes Everybody a Happy and Prosperous 1905. Loony, The past year (1904) has been by far the most successful and progressive in the his- tory of this company, and we have always mude it our business to “set the pace.” We have made many important additions to + our line and have materially improved all fold patterns. “Competition is the Life of Trade,” and for the year 1905 we Challenge Competition both as to Quality and Prices, The New capreye Thermostat and Regulating Device of the 1905 pattern Standard Cyphers Incrbators, is the high- est type of scientific self-adjustment, combined with durability and practical working value that has ever been aoe to anincubator. You can’t make it go wrong. Itis set right in the factory and stays that way. The Patented Exclusive Features of epBeES Incubators, enable us to positively warrant and guarantee all Standard page Patent-Diaphragm, Non-moisture, Self-ventilating and Self- regulating Incubators. Sold under reg- istered trade-mark. The following guar- 1906 Pattern Uneubators, lis company of any of its guthorias $6.50 to $60.69 Each. agents . ; DP DOD TOSS ID ODO OD ODPPIDI DODD F95-90O0 0090 OOOHS 0996 OO OOOO OOOO ODOC COTOOVOSO TOSS « That each and every Standard Cyphers Ineuba- 1905 Guarantee * tor we send out will do satisfactory work in the ° ° $ $ hands of the purchaser, provided he will give it a fair trial, or it can be returned e z e to us, within niaty (90) days in good repair, less reasonable wear, and purchase price will be returned, ‘ Sy h tter of pride ) This Company, both as a ma Ghe Cyphers Company’s New Policy ja’ of ‘profit, is dotermined to. serve faithfully the interests of its customers to the limit ofits ability. Itis the habit of the pusiness world to enlarge its profits to the greatest possible extent—and pocket the pro- ceeds! Cyphers Inculsator Company is conducting its business on a different plan. During the coming season it positively will share its profits with its customers. A LARGE REDUCTION IN THE PRICE OF STANDARD CYPHERS INCUBATORS has been made pos- sible by reducing “‘the cost of production,’ as the direct result of increased capital, a larger manufacturing plant and improved machinery. In keeping with our new policy we now offer our patrons the large saving we have accomplished, and quote the following low prices on our Standard Incubators for 1905 < Our $14.— 60 Eeg Size Incubator for. .$12.00. Our $29.—220 Reg Size Incubator for. $24.00, Ounsea0. 190 Eee Size Incubator for. .$17.00. Our $37.—360 Egg Size Ineubator for. $30.00. Our $58,440 Ege Size Double Decker. _ Our $78.—720 Egg Size Double Decker Incubator foro... 222025 $48.00. Incubator for). .00.5-.00: Two Special Low Priced Incuha- tors: FKarm-Economy, 100-Egg ca- pacity, $10.00. Boy’s Choice, 50-Eg¢g capacity. $6.50. These are practi- cal, reliable hatchers with nothing pee avery them but the price. Two New Styles of Brooders: Storm King, an outdoor, brooder, two sizes, which sell at $6.00 and $8.00, holding 50 and 100 chicks respec- aphee fe Send today for Complete Catalogue and Guide. Please men- tion this book. ‘CYPHERS INCVBATOR COMPANY, Buffalo,N.Y., Courtix Wilkeson Sts. Chicago, [)1., 310. Fifth Ave. Boston, Mass... 34 Merchants Row. ‘Kansas City, Mo., 2325 Broadway. New York City, 21-23 Barclay St. ines cSan Francisco, Cal. Storm King Outdoor Brooder. Two Sizes, 50 and 190 ‘London, Eng., 119-125 Finsbury meres chicks, $6.99 and $3.09 each. : Pi avement,