| The General Management of Poul-

| try, with Instructions for Build-

| ing Poultry Houses and Incu-

1 bators, to Preserve Ege's,
Cure Cholera, &c.

1000 THINGS FOR THE POULTRY YARD!

| C.G.BESSEY, ABILENE, KANSAS.

COPYRIGHT SECURED MARCH 25, 1884.

POULTRY NATION STEAM PRINT,
toes ELYRIA, OHIO.

" +49750 PER YEARS

—>»¢ ORe~—

HOW | MANAGE MY POULTRY

The General jira sehen of Poul-
try, with Instructions for Build-
ing Poultry Houses and Incu-

_ pbators, to Preserve Eg;

| Cure Cholera, &c.

1,000 THINGS FOR THE POULTRY vad !

Jj

C. G, BESSEY, ABILENE, KANSAS,

COPYRIGHT APPLIED FOR. Sn ne

(fa.
Ff
:

PREFACE,

this work. All breeders meet with

much the same experience, and it has
been my aim to compile from all reliable
sources, a concise treatise giving instruc-
tions to beginners. I would express my in-
debtedness for valuable hints especially to
the “ Poultry World,” ‘ Poultry Nation,”
and also “Wright’s Illustrated Book of
Poultry.”

4 lay no claims to entire originality in

C. G. BESSEY.

The Poultry Yard.

The majority of farmers do not have much use
for yards unless it be to keep their breeding pens
separate from each other, but to the person living
in village or city, the yard is the first consideration,
It should be located if possible on a high gravelly
spot; avard sloping to the south or south-east is
preferable. It should be as large as circumstances
will admit, the larger the better. The one that I
am using contains about 1g of an acre, divided into
10 departments, and with proper management will
accommodate from 100 to 400 fowls.

A very cheap fence for poultry can be made out
of a good quality of plastering lath, with a six or
eight inch board at bottom and top, after the lath
are nailed on, nail a one inch square cleat on the
posts, let t.em extend about fifteen inches above
the top of the lath, then stretch three strands of fine
broom wire around on top of the fence fastening it
to the cleats, the first wire five invhes above the top
of the lath, the second ten inches, and the third fif-

teen inches. This fence will turn almost any va-
riety of fowls,

4 Profitable Poultry Raisins.

The Poultry House.

The poultry house should be roomy, the larger
the better. It is not necessary to build expensive
houses, but they should be warm. Where parties
can afford it, itis well to have them lathed and
plastered, but where a cheaper one is desired, it can
be boarded up and down cracks, well cleated and
lined with tar paper. A very cheap house can be
built without any sides, the shape of the letter A,
only more flat. The roofs commencing at the
ground on both sides, and raising to an elevation of
about 745 feet in the center, can be built of rough
lumber any width, but should be about fourteen
feet long. It should be covered with tar paper and
have plenty of windows to let in the sun, a door at
each end, a hall 3 feet wide running trom end to
end, made of plastering lath; this will leave ten
feet on either side which can be divided to suit cir-
cumstances. This plan gives the most room for the
least amount of money of any house ever built, and
is also very warm, but a house with walls is more
pleasant to workin. A great many farmers have
sheds, stables or small buildings about the premises
that, with a little work, several feet of lumber, a
window or two and some tar paper would make a
very good poultry house. _

My house is 18x25, and 8 feet to the ceiling,
boarded up and down, cracks cleated and lined
with tar paper, four windows to the south and one
to the east, ground floor; divided into four rooms.

My roosts are built of 2x2 scantling, about eigh- ~

Profitable Poultry Raising. o

teen inches apart, all on a level with each other and
three feet from the ground. Eighteen inches below
the roosts I put in a floor to catch the droppings on ;
the roosts and floor are built on one side of the
room, so that Ican get on three sides. They are
fastened at the one end to the wall, and in front to
scantling running from the floor to the ceiling.
This floor will catch the droppings, and the fowls
will have as much ground room as though there
were no roosts, and the house can be kept much
cleaner than without the extra floor. Some poultry
men think that a house is not complete without a
hatching room; for my part I prefer to have a hen
hatch in the laying nest, I think she will doit more
satisfactory than it moved. For nest boxes I use
small goods and tobacco boxes. Seton shelves or
fastened to the wall around the outside of the room,
they should be at least eighteen inches above the
floor or ground, and not higher than five feet. I
prefer to have them arranged somewhat promiscu-
ously, so that hens when hatching can the more
readily distinguish their own nest from others.
There should be a good supply of nests, as a general
thing where there are plenty of nests pretty close
together when a hen commences to hatch, others
that may be laying in the same nest will go to the
next nest. A sod turned upside down in a nest box
with clean wheat straw makes about the best nest.
This should be renewed when the hen is set, and
sprinkled with fine tobacco and sulphur, to prevent
vermin. No poultry house is complete for winter
use without a good supply of windows to let in sun~

6 Profitable Poultry Raising.

shine, and a number of dust boxes. I prefer road
dust, sifted coal ashes, with a little sprinkling of
wood ashes and sulphur.

—_——_—__~

Cheap Poultry Houses.
(From ‘‘ Farm and Garden.’’)

The first, which is a single and separate build-
ing, combines cheapness and warmth. It may be
built of any size desired, but the favorite dimen-
sions are ten feet square, and eight feet high, the
house ena a roof Re sanph feet) resting upon a foot

\ board. On the south
side should bea large
window, or twosmaller
ones, for the admission
an of light, and heat on

ON clear days. The door is
- : sees at either end preferred
and a lath partition awie will divide the house into
two separate apartments. For clieapness the yards
may be made of lath. The cost of such a building
in material, is the price of about 400 feet of lumber
(boards and studding included) but the labor is
extra.

The arrangement shown for three such houses,
with two yards in front and one in the rear, is
given in order to illustrate economy of space. It is
well known that the nearer we make the yards to
the square shape the greater space for the fencing
used. The twoend portions of the building have
yards to them extending toward the front, while

Profitable Poultry Raising. ‘¢

the centre portion has aire ae are leading to
the rear. The rear fiitiiaiiiy

yard takesexactly one- ‘
third of the entire
square enclosure while
the two-thirds in front -
is divided lengthwise =
for the end apartments. By Tag Caan a
building for the accommodation of three breeds the
cost of Inmber for the ends necessary for single
buildings may be saved by the substitution of lath
partitions inside, while the sashes of the windows
are nicely inclined to collect heat and light, at the
same time serving the purposes of a roof.

A small coop for the confinement of a hen with
her brood can be mad¢ cheaply, and yet havea pane
of glass for light, with a wire or lath run attached.

\\ It can be made with or
without a board bottom,
and should be easily re-
movable from place to

ae place. If the boards are
Scere to form a bottom they should be cleaned
daily, and sprinkled with sand or road dirt. In
cold, wet weather, a good dry floor will be of the
greatest advantage.

The combined house and shed has two yards,
which we give simply to illustrate the advantage of
dovble yards. While the fowls may safely and se-

8 Profitable Poultry Raising.

curely roostin the closed part at night the open
shed allows them to a

enjoy the open air un-
der shelter during the
day, and they can have TT ee i
the privilege of one of iat i i TT al age
the yards while some- a
thing may be grown in the other. By alternately
changing from one yard to the other, whenever
necessary, the frequent spalling of the recently oc-
cupied yard promotes cleanliness, while the small
crop of green food lessens the expense of keep and
affords material not always convenient by the use
of single ened

The double sheds or °
houses, which are com-
bined under the same
roof, are shown as a

method of economy.
Should changeable

owas he eiddeirad they may be placed at the rear,

——_—__»~» « —_____

My Idea of Poultry Raising.

Is to have some good breed or breeds—strictly
first-class birds—a good warm house, feed well so
as to induce winter or early laying. 100 good hens
and ten good roosters, properly housed and cared
for, should have 50 dozen of eggs ready to hatch—
either by incubator or natural—by the first day of
March or April, from this number one could expect
to have at the end of three months 400 chicks, and

Profitable Poultry Raising. 9

from this number could be selected, if the original
stock has been first-class, 100 chicks, such as are
sold by many of our noted breeders, a’ from two to
five dollars when nine months old. The remaining
300 chicks, 1f properly cared for, will sellin most of
our large cities at three months old for $3.50 to $5.00
per dozen. Now there is scarcely a locality where
a good breeder with a good reputation, good stock
and judicious advertising, will not be able to sell
from one to two hundred sittings of eggs at from
$1.00 to $3.00 per sitting. I aim to keep on hand as
breeding stock 100 strictly first-class Plymouth
Rock hens and 10 good cocks or cockerels, from this
number I have sold this season over 200 settings of
eggs and have raised 150 young birds that will sell
at from $2 to $5 each. The culls that we have used
on our own table and have sold in the market will
almost pay the feed bill.
——# => e@ _____—_

My Bill of Fare for Laying Hens.

Chemically speaking the shell of an egg con-
sists chiefly of carbonate of lime, similar to chalk
with a very small quantity of phosphate of lime and
animal mucus. The white of an egg—albumen—is
composed of eight parts ot water; fifteen and a half
parts of albumen and four and a half parts of
mucus, besides giving traces of soda, benzoin acid
sulpherated hydrogen gas. The yolk consists of
water, oil, albumen and gelatine. Now hens must
have something to form shell; oyster shells head
the list, bones of any kind are good and by roasting
or burning them until they are brown and brittle

10 Profitable Poultry Raising.

you have almost the genuine egg-shell; lime with
gravel and sand is good. Albutnen—the white of
the egg—is found almost in its pure state in fresh
sweet milk, and in wheat, oats, rye and buckwheat
—barley and corn in the order named, corn with
other grain furnishes oil and gelatine. While at
large and during the summer season hens get plenty
of seeds, weeds. &c., that furnish a yreat portion
of the items named. ‘lhe bones and shells they are
not apt to get, and they seldom ever can find al-
bumen enough. Now this makes plain what we
are to teed.

For Breakrast.—Take one part meal or cracked
corn, One part shorts and one part bran, or one part
meal, one part chopped oats and rye and ove part
bran, mix with milk, or water if in the winter sea-
son—the milk or water should be boiling hot. Do
not use enough milk or water to make the mess
sloppy. Occasionally season with red pepper. One
or two mornings during the week instead of the
above feed ‘‘ Buckeye Egg-Food.”’

For DInNER.—Feed either wheat or wheat
screenings, oats, rye, buckwheat or barley. I pre-
fer wheat.

For Suprer.—Feed corn. Parched corn is one
of the best feeds for evening and very healthy.

During the winter season they should have oc-
ca ional feeds of boiled vegetables and meat scraps.
If they get too fat feed less corn and more of the
other erains. Ruther underfeed than overfeed;
give fresh water daily, cleansing the drinking ves-
sel every time. Every three or four days give the

, Profitable Poultry Raising. 11

‘* Douglas Mixture”’ in the water—a gill tor every
25 head. If there should be symptoms of disease
give every day. Tbis simple preparation is one of
the best tonics known; it is alternative as well as
tonic, and possesses beside antiseptic properties
which makes it a remedy as well as a preventative
of disease. Place in your henery two shallow
boxes, in one put broken bone and oyster shells, in
the other lime, sand and charcoal. Have a good
sized dust box filled with road dust or fine sand,
sifted coal ashes, and a sprinkling of lime and wood
ashes. Now keep your house warm, sunny, well
ventilated and clean, and you will have an abund-
ance of eggs and healthy fowls the year round.

~~

A Model Poultry Yard.
[From the Western Rural. |
Summit Lawn Poultry Yards are located in the
suburban village of Arlington Heights, twenty-two
miles out of Chicago, on the Wisconsin division of
the Northwestern Railroad. Here the proprietor,
R. B. Mitchel], Esq., has located a beautiful home,
and for the last three years has been raising and
earing for his favorite fowls. Wethink that any
one visiting these yards will have impressed upon
them the idea that Mr. Mitchell has made a careful
study of poultry raising, which, with his experi-
ence and business habits, enables him to know the
precise expense and receipts of his various coops.
In this paper we shall briefly note the summer
method of handling, leaving the winter keeping to

12 _— Profitable Poultry Raising.

a later notice. Summit Lawn Yurds are on the
very summit of the elevation at Arlington Heights,
and embrace some five acres of smooth, rich prairie
ground, having numerous patches of vegetation
Suitable for teeding the fowls.

The large plat of all is the lawn, which is kept
closely shaven, and yieldsa daily feed of tender
grass eagerly devoured by the fowls. The vege-
tables raised, named in order of their relative quan-
tities, are carrots, onions, Russian sunfiower and
lettuce, all but the last being designed to furnish
winter food. The old fowls now on hand number
nearly three hundred and fifty, and the young
chicks about as many more. The breeds raised by
Mr. Mitchell are the white and brown Leghorns,
Jight and dark Brahmas, black, buff and Partridge
Cochins, Plymouth Rocks, 8S. 8S. Hamburgs, and
this season he is adding Houdans. The old bird’
are confined in thirty-six yards, each yard or pen
being in the form of a ridge roof, sloping from the
ground on each side to the top, and with vertical
ends. ‘hey are about sixteen feet long by twelve
feet wide, with an elevation of six feet. The pen is
made of four large pieces of slat work forming the
Sides or roof-like shape, each piece being sixteen by
four feet, and the two A shaped ends, in one of
which is the door of admission. in the other an
opening toa small coop about four feet square and
five feet high, water-tight, and provided with nests
and perches. Only ten or twelve fowls are con-
fined in one of these yards. Each pen is so con-
structed that it can be easily taken apart and re-

Profitable Poultry Raising. 13

moved to a new location, or by means of one spare
one, the fowls can be transferred to new quarters
while the ground of the old run is deeply spaded,
thus fitting the whole for occupancy anew. Being
made of light laths, the whole pen is cheap, while
it furnishes plenty of air and sun to the fowls.

Stretched across one side of the roof, Mr. Mit-
chell has placed a yard wide piece of tar paper to
shade a part of the inclosure if the fowls prefer
shade; and on the hot afternoon when our visit
was made, this shade was very agreeable to them.
The lower edge of this strip of paper being a foot
from the ground, gave a nice current of air below.
These thirty-six yards are so arranged as to form a
holluw square, and the boy starting with his barrow
of teed and passing round to all the fowls, finds him-
self at his starting place with vo extra steps. Such
an arrangement also enables one to see at a glance
che entire condition of all the coops and fowls.

The feeding is done fr¢m two to six times a day
and_is exceedingly liberal. Corn. oats, wheat,
screenings, cracker dust, oil meal, lard scraps, bran,
corn meal, with refuse from the house and offal
from the meat market, are all used freely, and the
high condition of the fowls, with their activity and
excellent health, show how wisely he eaters to their
appetite. But in another way yet do they show the
result of liberal feedings. Mr. Mitchell keeps a
perfect egg record; each coop has every egg
marked before itis taken out, and when the boy
comes out of the coop it is credited with the whole
number of eggs gathered init. This daily record

14 = Profitable Poultry Raising.

is then preserved and carried into a book of month-
ly and yearly record, and thus he can tell just how
many eggs he kas had laid in any day, week,
month or year, and so can tell to acertainty just
what food has paid in his egg factory.

From letters he showed us we found he had
furnished eggs to satisfied patrons in halt the States
of our Union; indeed, before our visit we had had
the representatives of these yards shown to us in
another State.

Mr. Mitchell is well pleased with tle egg yield he
has had so far, and thinks he has reduced the cost
of coops and keeping to the minimum for numbers
and breeds kept, and later will be able to show sim-
ilar cheap winter results. ‘These yards are open to
the inspection of all interested visitors any day of
the week, except Sunday, and Mr. Mitchell cor-
dially invites calls.

Is There Money in the Business ?

Proprietor of Summit Lawn Poultry Yards, R.
B. Mitchell, of Arlington Heights, Lll., makes the
following report:

During the year 1881 our average number of
laying fowls has been two hundred and thirty. The
extreme cold winter of 1880 and 1881, and the want
of room to properly house our fowls, prevented
them froin laying as many eggs as they otherwise
would have done, could we have given them more
commodious quarters. But take the season through
we have no cause for complaint, but rather congrat-

Profitable Poultry Raising. 18

——__—_—_—_

ulate ourselves on the success we have met with, aS
the following statement will show:

Some breeders might be averse to making a pub-
lic statement of their business, but as yet we can
see no improp iety in so doing, and as keeping
poultry is a mooted question—whether or not there
is any money in it—we deem it advisable to furnish
all the information we can on the subject, from ac-
tual facts and experience, for the benefit of those
who contemplate entering into it. Does it pay to
keep fowls? Our two hundred and thirty towls
have in eight months laid twenty-one thousand one
huudred and forty-three eggs; we sold, less five
hundred we used for setting;

LENO RS mean NE ARS Be Me ucts boa Sab eal $1,182 20
Fowls sold during the eight months..., 152 90

Total cash receipts. ... .......$1,285 10
EXPENSES.

Heed of ah kinds.,. see as. ee pe LOU OU

Boy cight months at $7 00 per month.. 56 00

$236 00

Leaving us as net cash receipts........ $1,049 10

We now have on hand to be added to this in-
come, two hundred very choice chickens, for which
we get from two to four and five dollars each. But
to close up the report, we will estimate them at
one dollar and fifty cents each, making $300.00,
leaving us a net profit of $1,349.10 for eight months,
Let us ask, who ean beat this with a hundred acre
farm ?

16 Profitable Poultry Raising.

Artificial Incubation,

Most persone ure aware that eggs may Le quite
as successfully hatched by means of artificial heat
regularly and constantly applied, as by the hen sit-
ting on them. The hen does nothing for the eggs
on which she sits, but protect and occasionally turn
them and keep them constantly of about a uniform
temperature, which is from 100 to 106 degrees of
heat by the common thermometer. This hatching
may be done by many other modes of applying the
warmth in the same degree and with the same uni-
formity.

Incubators have been made and used with vary-
ing success in this country for about forty years,
an lin England and France for double that period,
but until within the past few years they have never
given very Satisfactory results.

There are being manufactured in this country
at the present time, about thirty different incuba-
tors, of this number there are several that are being
used to good advantage. I have until quite recently
preferred the ‘Eureka,’ manufactured by J. L.
Campbell, West Elizabeth, Pa., but the ‘ Centen-
nial,’ manufactured by A. M. Halsted, Rye, N. Y.,
seems to take the lead at present.

——— « + 2 —

Jaques Incubator.

For the description of this invention we are in-
debted to C. R. Jaques, Metuchen, N. J. Thisisan
American invention, and the cheapest apparatus in

Profitable Poultry Raising. 17
the incubator line. The inventor says, the subject
of artificial incubation is increasing every year, and
knowing that the majority of the people do not feel
able to purchase those incubators which are in the
market, I conclude to give them at a small cost the
benefit of successful experience. I have succeeded
in securing a chamber in which I can regulate the
temperature and hold it at any degree desired, my
claim for it is, that it is the easiest to construct and
cheapest to make of any incubator offered to the
public. I do not claim that it will hatch as large a
percentage of eggs, as those constructed on more
scientific principles, yet it will hatch a large per-
centage if carefully managed.

DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING

JAQUES’ INCUBATOR.

In order to make the Incubator herein described
you need only the following articles: a sugar bar-
rel, a round tin clothes boiler about twelve inches
deep, see Fig. 1, a tin milk pan, see Fig. 2, and a
kerosene lamp with a chimney. Have a barrel

ates
Se
Fig. 1. | Fig. 2.

without a head place in the boiler, which must be

18 = Profitable Poultry Raising.

the size of the barrel so it can be supported in its
place by its rim resting on the chime of the barrel,
The pan must be of such a size, as when it is placed

Fig. 3.
in the boiler (asin Fig. 3) it will havea space of
about five inches between it and the bottom of the
boiler. It will be necessary to solder the pan in
this position. All the space between the pan and
the boiler must be filled with water; this can be
done by punching a small hole in the side of the
pan near the top, and inserting a funnel. It will
not be necessary to retill in three weeks, as the
evaporation is so slow, you will not lose a quart:
Make a door in the side of the barrel near the bot-
tom, of sufficient size to admit the placing of the
lamp under the boiler. Cover the outside of the
barrel with four or five thicknesses of paper, well
pasted on, to secure heat.in the barrel. Bore two
one-inch holes in the lower part of the barrel, one
on each side, with tubes running from them to the
base of the burner tothe lamp, in order that the
lamp may havea supply of oxygen to support the
flame. Bore three one-inch holes near the top of

the barrel, to allow the gas to escape. The cover
must be lined and wadded, so it will fit tight to the

Sel

Profitable Poultry Raising. 19

boiler, that the heat cannot escape. Cut a hole in
the cover 3x4 inches, paste a piece of glass over it;
directly under (which can lie on the upper shelf of
eggs), then you ascertain the temperature without
removing the cover; also bore two one-inch holes
through the cover, insert a tin tube in each for the
purpose of ventilating the egg chamber, which is of
sufficient depth to allow three layers of eggs;
cover the bottom of the pan witha thin layer of
cotton, on which place the first layer of eggs, and
at equal distaiice apart around the edge of the pan
put three blocks of wood zbout two inches square,
on which place a round sieve with one-half or
three-quarter inch meshes; on the top of this put
another sieve larger than the first, so the rim of the
lower one will support it. Cover the bottoms of
the sieves with a piece of a coffee bag or some other
light material, so the heat can pass up through it.
The tubes to supply the lamp with air can be made
by wrapping a piece of hardware paper around a
broom handle three times, pasting it together; after
the paste becomes dry, slip it oft.

20 Profitable Poultry Raising.

Directions for Using the Incubator.

Place the lamp under the boiler, turn on a good
flame, when the mercury runs up to 100 reduce the
flame so it can just be seen above the cone of the
lamp, keep the temperature 103 the first week, 100 the
second and 98 the third week. It is very easy to
regulate, provided the temperature of the room is
not subject to much variation. In case of very vold
weather, close the ventilators at night and place a
heavy woolen cover over the whole Incubator. As
the eggs need a certain amount of moisture, they
should be lightly sprinkled with warm water every
day, or as often as is needed. A good way to ascer-
tain the amount of heat in the egg chamber is by
keeping in a small piece of skin of a salt codfish;
this should never be allowed to get so dry as to crack
when bending it, nor to be so moist as to become
wet, but should always be so that you can easily
bend it. After the fifth day examine all the eggs
by holding them up toa strong light. If any are
perfectly clear, remove them, as they are not
fertile, yet ‘they are just as good for culinary
purposes. Do not place the eggs in until you have
secured and are able to keep the right temperature.
I use a large bracket lamp, and do not have to fill it
only once in 24 hours. After the sixth day turn
the eggs daily, which can be done by removing the
sieves; this will give them an opportunity to cool,
as in the case of a setting hen off her nest. After
the chickens are hatched they remain in the incu-

bator 24 hours, when they should be removed to the
artificial mother.

oe SDF Oe RP ee ee eT peer

se

\

oe oe Weld. nite Meh a ie

;

Profitable Poultry Raising. 21

Artificial Mother.

Artificial Mother.

To provide the artificial heat necessary, several
devices have been employed—perhaps none better
than the artificial mother illustrated above. This
may be made of any capacity required. A very con-
venient size is one that will accommodate fifty
chickens until three months old. Two feet wide

22 = Profitable Poultry Raising.

and four feet long, the sides are twelve inches high
under the glass, sloping to three inches at the back,
The cover of the back or inclined part should be
movable, and lined with sheepskin or with pieces
of flannel cut into strips three inches wide and
tacked to the underside of lid so as to hang down
lengthwise with the lid. From the highest part of
the Jid should hang a curtain made of flannel, all
across the box, and to within a half inch of the
floor. This keeps the cold air out of their roosting
place. The front half of the ‘‘ mother” is covered
by four panes of glass. This admits the sun. The
black dots in each peak are intended to represent
one-inch holes for ventilation.

Anordinary stone gallon jug (placed beneath
the lid) filled with hot water four or five times a
day, will furnish all the heat necessary. Feed little
and often, and a variety; for the first two days the
yolk of a hard boiled egg, then coarse Indian meal,
scalded or baked, occasionally onions, cabbages or
meat chopped very fine; after a month old cracked
corn or wheat screenings at night.

oe os

Hatching by Means of Heat Generated in Manure.

The following ideas are taken from a letter of
Mr. Keen, of Philadelphia, toa friend. They will
be found very interesting, and his plan of incuba-
ting by means of heat generated in manure will be
very practical with farmers. What a noble work
for the farmer’s boys and girls to busy themselves
in the beautiful days of spring, taking care of the

> a ws

=
~

eS Oe Ba i a ae)

i Bie) ee ee ete

Profitable Poultry Raising. 238

thousand chickens any farmer’s family may thus

raise per year at an expense of but atew days’ work

of a hand or the farmer, and all the rest done by the

little fellows with a richer enjoyment than play.
Mr. Keen says:

‘‘This mode will be more useful to the farmers,
as they have the material at hand, and the only cost
attending it would be a little labor to accomplish the
hatching of eggs to any desired extent.

‘‘' This Mammel (to use the Egyptian name) I will
give a minute description of, that every farmer may
build one for himself and be able to perfect the
hatching of eggs and rearing of chickens without
the aid of the hen.

‘It is a building 13x16 feet with a tight grooved
partition dividing it into two apartments, the front
one seven feet, the other nine feet. In this partition
are two openings to receive the front end of the
ovens. These ovens are six and a half feet long,
two feet two inches wide, nineteen inches high on
one side and eighteen on the other, in the clear; back
end closed and made entire of inch boards; lineg
with tin sodered water tight, with shutters in two
equal parts, hung to the bottom and in the middle
with hinges, and buttons toclose the frontend. In
the upper part of the shutter are twosliding valves,
each four inches by six, to give air and regulate
the heat. The outside of the ovens and partitions
should be well coated over with pitch to exciude
moisture and preserve the wood from decay. The
ovens should be placed eighteen inches above the
ground, supported with posts at the back end, and

24 Profitable Poultry Raising.

four feet apart, with an open board partition, the
boards running up and down, ten inches apart, to
divide the dung between the ovens, and yet not en-
tirely separate, so that in renewing the dung of one
oven the other may not be chilled. There should be
a window in the back to give air and receive th®
dung through. The dung should besuch as is made
in a well-litered horse stable, and used, straw and
dung mixed, and well watered while being thrown
into a pile, where it is to remain twenty-four hours
to soak, and admit the redundant water to pass off.
It should be placed loose around the ovens which
will not require renewing for two weeks; then only
renew half the length of the oven ata time, judg-
ing from the heat when more of it is to be renewed,
which will be required every week. Tan will

make a better bed under the oven than dung; the’

heat will last longer. The egg box four feet long,
two feet wide and three inches deep, lined with
balze, ten inches of one end covered with wire to
keep in the chickens that are just hatched; the
other part of the box should have a light frame,
with twine placed between the eggs and attached to
the frame, to turn all the eggs at one time. The
egg box rests on a carriage which runs on rails laid
on the bottom of the oven, with a movable attach-
ment, to run the carriage entirely out of the oven.
The egg box turns on a center, to reverse the ends
in theoven. The carriage is made in two parts ;
the lower part has sash pulleys let into it, to roll on
the rails; the upper part is connected to the lower
with four small bars of iron about eight inches Jong,

Profitable Poultry Raisins. 25

with holes for a wood screw in each end, and the
screw put into the top and bottom, when they lie
together (which moves like a parallel ruler), and
contined to different hights by a hook about ten
inches long, fast to the upper part, and hooking into
staples driven into a piece of wood running along
and fastened to the lower part. This arrangement
is to sustain the egg box at different hights, to suit
the required degree of heat, which [ have found to
be as near as it can be kept, to one hundred and four
degrees, from the first to the last stage of successful
hatching. My feed room can be made perfectly
dark. Through one of the doors is a hole one and
one-fourth inch in diameter, over which is a piece
of cloth tacked (an inch hole init) that will exclude
all the light except what passes through it, where
can be seen the first progress of the chick, and in
four days if there is no appearance of the chicken, boil
it for the young brood.

‘* Next 1n order is the rearing of chickens with-
out the aid of a mother. In the basement of the
first named building, on a level with the top of the
Eccalobeon, is a platform four feet by seven, with a
slide to open in fine weather into a small yard; also
one to open into a box with wire front (over the
Eccalobeon), which is moderately heated from a
small stove; in this box is an artificial mother
made of rabbit skins, (I have also one made of the
skins of fowls,) hung about two inches from the
bottom, where the chicks are first placed; in three
or four days they are let into an adjoining apart-
ment, where there is a sheepskin mother; over

26 Profitable Poultry Raising.

this is another, with a sheepskin raised higher at
one end than the other, for chickens further
advanced to run under, with a small yard attached.
In the glass building is a platform sixteen feet by
four, about four feet above the ground floor, for
chickens still turther advanced, with a yard to it.
They are next shut out from this apartment and run
with the full grown fowls.

‘All these apartments will accommodate about
five hundred chickens of the different ages. This
mode of hatching and rearing them is attended with
less than half the loss that usually takes place when
hatched and reared by the hen. With regard to the
feed for the first two or three meals, I give grated
stale wheat bread, laid on a sanded floor; next, I
give bread boiled ix milk, and while hot, mix coarse
ground Indian meal with it, making it nearly dry.
For the other fowls, I give wheat screenings and
whole corn, with once a week boiled meat.

‘* It will here be seen that [ have made the man-
agement of eggs as plain and simple as Cap. Cooke
did ‘ when he stood one on its point.’ ”’

—___—__# > q——___——__

Instructions for Constructing the Excelsior Incu-
bator.

‘Take two boards, each 4 feet long, 6 inches wide
and linch thick, and two boards each 2 feet 10 inches
long, 6 inches wide and 1 inch thick, and nail the
ends together firmly, and you have the sides of a
box 4 feet long, 3 feet wide and 6 inches high.

Now cover the top of this box with boards 1

Profitable Poultry Raisins. QT

inch thick, plowed and groved, or matched, so that
they will fit closely together. Then for the bottom
take a piece of zinc 4 feet iong and 3 feet wide and
nail securely with two rows of small nails, for the
bottom of the box. This makes a box 4 feet long,
3 feet wide and 6 inches high, with a zine bottom.
This box is called the heater.

Next make the egg drawer, by taking two pieces
4 feet long, 4 inches wide and 144 inches thick, and
and two pieces 844 inches long, 5 inches wide and
114g inches thick, nail these together, making the
sides of the egg drawer, 4 feet long and 2 feet 11%
inches wide; then cnt 23 slats 3516 inches long and
1 inch square, and nail the 23 slats on the bottom of
this drawer 1 inch apart. These slats are the bot-
tom of the egg drawer.

Now this makes a drawer 4 feet long, 2 feet 111s
inches wide and 5 inches high on the outside, and
4 inches deep in the inside, with a slat bottom.

Now take a-piece of wool sack, coffee sack, or
some other coarse, strong material, 4 feet long, 2
feet 8 inches wide, draw it tightly over the top of
these slats and tack to the slats and ends of the
drawer.

Now cut out of good timber two slats 3 feet 7 |
inches long, ! inch wide and half an ineh thick,
and two slats 32 inches long and 1 inch square, mor-
tise the ends of the two half inch thick slats into the
ends of the inch square slats, making a frame 38 feet
7 inches long and 32 inches wide; take good heavy
muslin and draw it VERY TIGHT, especially length-
ways over this frame, and tack it on solid, lay this

28 Profitable Poultry Raising.

frame, muslin side down, on the coarse cloth in the
egg drawer. On this muslin the eggs are to lie.

Next cut 20 stats 2 feet 11 inches long and half
an inch square, then bore 20 holes half an ineh in
diameter, in each side of the egg drawer, for the
20 slats to goin; these 20 slats should be 134 inches
apart, so the eggs can lie between the slats, and the
slats should be down just as close to the frame with
the muslin on as can be, to allow the muslin frame
to be moved easily between these 20 slats and the
slats that make the bottom of the egg drawer, then
place the eggs between the 20 half inch slats on the
muslin cloth, then, by moving this muslin frame 2
inches back or forwar d, you turn the eggs half over
or bottom side up.

Next take two boards 4 feet long, 8 inches wide
and 1 inch thick, and two boards 2 feet and 10 inches
long, 8 inches wide and 1 inch thick, nail these to-
gether, making the sides of a box 4 feet long, 3 feet
wide and 8 inches high, being similar in shape to
the heater, except 2 inches higher.

Nail on a bottom of plowed and grooved boards
linch thick. Now bore 12 holes in different parts
of this bottom, half an inch in diameter, and get 12
pieces of tin pipe, 7 inches long and half an inch
in diameter, and put in each of the 12 holes. They
should extend up above the bottom 6inches. These
are the ventilators. Now fill this box containing
the ventilators with saw dust, brand or sand, about
5 inches deep, or up to within 1 inch of the top of
the ventilators. Mind, this box has a bottom but
no top. Now set the egg drawer on top of the ven-

Profitable Poultry Raising- 29

tilator box, and then on top of the egg drawer set
the heater.

Now we want to arrange these boxes so the egg
drawer can be slid out and in, and the other boxes
maintain their position. To do this, take two boards,
each four feet long, 12 inches wide, 1 inch thick.
Nail one of these boards on each side of the heater
and the ventilator box, driving the nails into the
heater and ventilator, but be sure an'l drive no nails
into the egg drawer, as it should slide out and in
freely between the heater and ventilator. Having
got these boards nailed solid, cut another board 3
teet long, 12 inches wide and 1 inch thick, and nail
to the heater and ventilator, on the backend. Now
the heater and ventilator are connected on two sides
and one end, of course the other end must be left
open for the egg drawer to slide out. The bottom
of the Incubator is now protected by the 6 inches
of saw dust that is in the ventilator box. We now
want to protect the two sides, the back end and the
top with 8 inches of saw dust. To do this, take
two pieces of scantling 4 feet and four inches long,
lay them down and set the Incubator on them, so
that the scantling will extend out 8 inches on each
side of the Incubator. See that the scantlings do
not cover any of the ventilator holes in the bottom
of the Incubator. :

Now take two boards 4 feet and 8 inches long, 8
inches wide, and lay one on each side of the Incu-
bator on these seantlings for a bottom to the saw-
dust box, which will surround the Incubator.
‘Then, by taking a board 4 feet long and 8 inches

30°. Profitable Poultry Raising.

wide and laying it across the back end of the Incu-
bator, letting it rest on the ends of the two side bot-
tom boards which extend back, the bottom of the
saw dust box will be complete.

Now you want to make one end and two sides
of a box to set on this bottom, the side: should be
4 feet 8 inches long and 26 inches high, and at the
end 4 feet 8 inches long and 26 inches high. Now
set this box on the bottom already made and nail it
securely, and with two boards 26 inches long and 8
inches wide you can close up the frout end of the
box.

Now by aking a board 4 feet long and 8 inches
wide, you close the top of the end of the saw aust
box. This now makes a box within a box, with a
space 8 inches wide between the sides and the back
end, which is to be filled with saw dust.

Now go toa tin shop and get two pipes made,
take a lamp chimney with you and get the pipes
made to suit your chimney, so you can slip the lamp
chimney up in the pipe tight. A pipe 24% inches in
diameter is acommon size. The pipe should be 12
inches long, then an elbow, then 6 inches more pipe,
get two pipes with an L at one end.

Now make a hole the size of your pipe in the
outside, or saw dust box 8 inches from the front end
and 10 inches from the top, and make a hole the
same size in tie heater, 8 inches from the front end
and 2 inches from the top; then slide the 12 inch
part of the pipe through the hole in the saw dust
box into the hole in the heater, leaving the elbow
and the 6 inch part of the pipe on the outside of the

Profitable Poultry Raising. $1

saw dust box, and 6 inch pipe pointing down, for
the lamp chimney to be putin. ‘Then put the other
pipe in the same way, in the opposite hind corner.
These pipes should be seamed together, as soldering
will melt. Then light your lamps and push the
chimney as far up in the pipe as you can without
making them smoke. If the lamps smoke, lower
them a little, that some air may pass around the
chimney. ‘Two lamps should keep up the proper
heat in the coldest weather.

After putting the pipes in fill the saw dust box
with saw dust even full, but right around the tin
pipes instead of putting saw dust be sure and put
EaR1H, as the saw «ust might get afire. A little
box nailed to the outside of the dust box to cover
the tin pipe and elbow, and filled with earth, would
save much heat. Now your Incubator hus 6 inches
of saw dust underneath the eggs in the ventilator
box and 8 inches on the top. This makes such a
perfect protection that a change of 40 degrees in the
temperature of your Incubator room will not make
more than two degrees change inside the Incuba-
tor. Be sure and get a good thermometer, lay it in
the front end of the egg drawer with the top end.
slightly raised; it should be one inch higher than
the buttom end. Let the lower end of the ther-
inmometer point toward the back end of the egg
drawer, then by pulling out the egg drawer four or
five inches you can seein a few seconds how the
temperature is. Torches such as are used during
political campaigns make good Incubator lamps by
putting common lamp burners on them,

82 Profitable Poultry Raising.

Now get six pipes, 34 of an inch in diameter
and 15 inches long. Bore six holes in the top of
the heater, 3 on each side opposite to where the
heating pipes enter the heater. Bore first hole 3
inches from the corner, the second 3 inches from
the first and 3 inches from the outside; the third
12 inches from the second and 3 inches from the
outside. Then put the other three the same way
on the other side. Then put in the pipes and slide
them down to within half an inch of the zine bot-
tom. If the zine bottom is too loose, bore a hole in
the center of the top of the heater, and punch a
hole, the size of the bolt you will use, in the zine
directly below, and tighten up the burr until the
zine will not flop up and downany when the drawer
is moved. ‘Then by moving the drawer out slowly
and steadily, so as not to jar the eggs, the lamp will
not trouble. Make the egg drawer so as to slide
out smoothly and easily.

This Incubator, as above described. will con-
tain 250 eggs. It should be made 6 feet long and
4 feet wide, the same otherwise, to hold 500 eggs,
but remember that two Incubators that hold 250
eggs is much better than one that holds 500 eggs.
This Incubator is just as good a one as there is
made, for people who do not wish to travel and ex_

hibit their machine, anyone can make it and anyone
can use it.

a +

Dust Bath.

By instinct all birds are taught the need of a
dust or water bath for their well-being. They

voy

Profitable Poultry Raisins. 338

choose a sheltered and sunny spot of fine, dry soil,
in which they open their feathers and fill them with
dust, which, applied often enough and in sufficient
quantities, is death to all parasites which invest the
plumage or skin. As the domestic fowl is not a na-
tive of a cold climate, it becomes necessary for us to
supply the deficiency which exists during our win-
ter season. This is readily accomplished by the
dust box, which every one who has fowls should
provide. Fine road dust, coal ashes, sand, pulver-
ized loam, or clay even, are all very good, and with
a sprinkling of flour of sulphur, constitutes as good |
a bath as can be desired. This should be placed in
a sunny exposure of the room and kept dry and
clean, so that the fowls may enjoy its benefits when
they choose. |

When poultry is kept in a yard, it is best to dig
up a small corner occasionally, to let them hunt for
worms and beetles, and then sow it in oats and corn
and lettuce.

Clipping Wings.

Clipping one wing of fowls to prevent their fly-
ing is a necessary operation sometimes, but never
necessarily disfiguring. It generally is, however,
since the farmer’s shears almost always makes a
clean sweep of all the quills, and an ugly wing is
the result. Besides the ugliness, there are’ also
other disadvantages in such a sweeping operation.
A sitting hen uses the outer end of her wing to re-
tain the eggs under her in place, and those near the

34 ~ Profitable Poultry Raising.

body protect the skin being torn by her mate’s
claws. ‘The proper way is to trim the feathers part-
ly off with a pair of scissors, except about one inch
at the end. Itshows but little when the wing is
clo‘ed and does not disfigure the fowl, but lets the
wind through, so as to prevent flying.

—__—__ +» ¢—__
KEEP a shelter in the yard to protect your birds
from the sun and rain.

—_—_———__s3eo__—__——_—__

The Egg.

It is for the most part composed of albuminous
matters and oils and fats, together with fibrin, phos-
phorous, sulphur, iron, etc., in small but appreci-
able quantities. An egg is a potential chicken.
The hatching process adds nothing to the egg, but
only developes the chicken from the substance al-
ready there. Thus, in an egg there is a material
for bones, flesh, brains, nerves, feathers, and all the
organs of life. Hence egg production, considered
physiologically, is an exhaustive process, when
hens lay regularly and constantly. Furthermore,
the shells of eggs are composed almost exclusively
of carbonate of lime. When a hen lays treely she
requires a supply of the raw material from which
to secrece this carbonate, and it should be furnished
her at all times. Is it any wonder, then, that hens,
as they are ordinarily kept, do not lay in winter?
Their food must contain the materials from which
they secrete eggs, or they cannot lay. Probably
nine-tenths of all the poultry in the country is fed

Profitable Poultry Raising. 38

on whole, raw corn. We-know that corn contains
all the elementary substances that eggs do, but in
very much smaller quantities, bulk for bulk, and
when a hen has no other food she cannot eat enough
to afford the materials for an egg a day, or every
other day. She will get fat and lazy but cannot
lay. Hence the necessity for a variety of diet. In
summer, when at liberty, the hens can find the va-
riety of food that suits them, and generally lay well
without much care; but in winter they can get
only what is given them, and generally they do
not lay. Butif we know the wants of the hens,
and supply them, we may have as many eggs in
winter asinsummer. Poultry are large consum-
ers of grass when they can get it, and to keep in
good health they must have it, or its equivalent, in
winter. Cabbage or boiled vegetables of any kind
are good substitutes. Grass, if cut green and care-
fully dried in the shade, when cut fine and steeped
awhile in hot water, is nearly as good as green
grass, and is eagerly eaten in winter. Besides
grass, or its equivalent, we must give a supply of
lime. Oyster shells, when they can be had, are the
most convenient; when they cannot be had, ordi-
nary stone lime from the kilns will do as well, after
it has been slacked, but gravel must be supplied
with the latter.

— oo +

Charcoal and Lime.

These two articles play a very important part
in the management of fowls, whether bred in a fan-

36 Profitable Poultry Raising.

cier’s yard or ona farm. Charcoal shonld be liber-
ally fed, for no one thing is more conducive to
health than this. It should be broken into small
lumps and put where the fowls can get at it, and
they will eat it with great relish. We have seen it
fed to pigs with the very best results; and those
which, were treated to it were never troabled with
disease or sickness, while neighboring ones were.
This helps to prove its value not only for swine but
for fowls. Where the birds are kept in confine-
ment, it is a good plan to keep a trough in a shel-
tered place, full of small bits of fresh charcoal, and
the fowls will soon learn to help themselves. ‘he
value of lime in the shape of whitewash is well
known, and those who use it liberally are the ones
who keep their flocks healthy and cleanly. To ren-
der whitewash more effective in dislodging, driving
away or destroying lice and other parasite nuis-
ances, the addition of a little carbolic acid is inval-
uable, for scarcely anything else seems so distaste-
ful to the vermin. Air-slacked lime should be ocea-
sicnally seattered over the floor of the chicken-
house to remove unpleasant and unhealthy odors,
while a little of it should be scattered around the
yard and runs. For material for egg-shells, oyster-
shells and lime is the best for this purpose.—Ameri-
can Stockman.

Save None But the Best.

Whatever variety the breeder may cultivate he
will find every season among both his old and young

' Profitable Poultry Raising. 37

stock specimens that have failed or do not come up
to the average points of the rest of the flock, and
far below standard requirements, either in plum-
age, symmetry, size, shape, and many other quali-
ties. This showing year after year seems to be un-
avoidable where a large number are raised annu-
ally, and this is the experience of every breeder
with all known breeds. Save none but the best is
very expensive, and should be understood clearly,
however. And we suggest that while the breeder
aims to attaining perfection in the selection and
breeding of the very best specimens continuously,
he should have for his object the survival of the
fittest in his yard, and this ean be accomplished by
the slaughtering process to good account, inasmuch
as the work may be made to pay him fairly by it-
self, while he is getting rid of the birds which are
a drawback to his efforts towards a higher perfec-
tion among his selected breeding stock. Now if
the fancier in breeding a hundred fowls of any given
variety finds but a score of cockerels and pullets
which come up to the standard requirements, the
other eighty should be culled and sold for consump-
tion. And altogether this may appear a large pro-
portion to be consigned to the biock, nevertheless it
is best in the end. provided the breeder aims at
reputation in the future for raising the best stock
birds; for the score selected as breeders and exhi-
bition birds are worth more to him than ten times
the nominal value of the enlls, if he desires to sell
them or retain them for himself, and out of these
perfect specimens he may the next year produce a

38 Profttable Poultry Raising.

largely increased percentage of superior fowls over
the average of the past season.—Poultry Journal.

Poultry on the Farm.

Farming is made upof many home industries, and
to neglect poultry as one of the sources of income is
poor economy. At certain seasons, when most of
the other farm products are disposed of, eggs and
early broilers in the spring, summer, and roasters
in the fall, are in the aggregate quite an item, and
may furnish all the supplies needed. We have al-
ways maintained that the farming class have facili-
ties and advantages over the ordinary village poul-
terer in the way of range and keeping them cheap-
ly at all seasons of the year. It costs very little to
keep a flock of fowls on the farm. They usually
provide the greater share of their own living from
the stable, the orchard, the stubble field and the
straw stack. The grain and seed which they pick
up, if left unmolested, would be of no earthly use
to the farmer, and the worms, grubs and insects
which they destroy would injure his growing crops,
vines, fruit trees, ete.

Poultry Raising as a Business.

There is just now much interest in poultry
raising, and a disposition to take it up on a large
scale. The following extract from one of our re-
cent letters will give an idea of the many inquiries
made of us; ‘“‘Is poultry raising a profitable busi-

i oe

Profitable Poultry Raising. 39

ness, and would you advise a young man to invest
one thousand dollars in it??? This might be an-
swered in brief: Poultry is profitable, but we
would not advise a young man (nor an old one) to
at once invest one thousand dollars in it. Farmers
find the poultry yard the most profitable part of
the farm, in proportion to the capital invest d.
Many reckon in this way: If fifty fowls are profit-
able, five hundred will be ten times as profitable.
This is an instance in which figures do not tell the
truth. As soon as the number of fowls is doubled,
troubles are quadrupled. A range and _ houses
which will keep fifty in perfect health will be over-
crowded with one hundred, and all the troubles due
toa dense population will follow. While we be-
lieve that poultry keeping ona large scale may be
made profitable, capital to purchase birds and build
houses is not the only thing needful. Those who
undertake the business must give their whole time
and attention toit. One pointissettled—fowls can-
not be kept together in large numbers and thrive.
The whole matter requires careful study and expe-
riment. The beginner should start in a small way

and increase as success seems to warrant it.

Eggs and Chicks.

Eggs should be regularly collected every day.
The wide-awake fancier can often learn to disti-
guish the eggs of individual hens, and when this is
possible it is very desirable. Thereby, when it is
desired to set a hen, the eggs can be retained only

40 Profitable Poultry Raising.

from the finest hens or those that are the best lay-
ers. Hens of the laying breed will lay 150 to 250
eggs per annum; common hens average about 100
eggs per head. Every nest must always havea nest
egg (white china is the best), as it prevents the hens
from laying away. Hard-shelleggs are always pre-
ferable, and hence it must be seen that the hens
have constant access to shell-forming material. It
is not best to give them this in the form of broken
egg shells, as they may from that acquire the un-
profitable habit of eating their own eggs. Thecure
recommended, if the habit is detected early, is to
place in the nest an egg shell fille : with the strong-
-est mustard, mixed rather thick. We often have
inquiries as to whether eggs for hatching can be
sent safely by express for long distances. We an-
swer, unhesitatingly, Yes! We have sent eggs
hundreds of miles by express, and had 11 and 13 to
hatch out of a clutch (13). . And again, we have sent
eggs equally as far and had none to hateh; then the
purchaser, if he is a novice, is apt to think himself
swindled, and write a very ungentlemanly letter.
There is, of course, always some risk in transporta-
tion, but there are many other reasons why the
eggs will sometimes fail to hatch, whether sent by
express or set at home. When eggs are ordered
from a distance a setting hen should be in readiness
to receive them as soon as they arrive. If none of
the hens are ready a brood hen can always be
bought at a low figure from some neighboring
farmer, or ‘‘ swapped’”’ for a laying hen. To make
the hen take to her new rest she should be changed

Profitable Poultry Raising. 41

at night, and it should be as nearly as possible like
the old nest. She should first be given some china
eggs until she settles down quietly to incubation.
The period of incubation istwenty-one days. Right
here we might say that to preserve the eggs for
family use, the best plan recommended in Wright’s
Poultry Book is to pack them closely together and
keep tightly covered up in a mixture prepared as
follows:

‘*'To four gallons of boiling water add half a peck
of new lime, stirring it some little time. When
cold, remove any hard lumps by a coarse sieve, add
ten ounces of salt and three ounces of cream of tar-
tur, and mix the whole strongly, The mixture is
then to be let stand to temper, for a fortnight, be-
fore use. Thus treated, if put in when newly laid,
at nine months after they will eat quite as good as
though only laid six days, though, of course not
quite like new laid.’’

sfens should be set in the evening, and should
be furnished with comfortable nests in a dark and
unmolested spot. The nest should be made flat
(when very concave the eggs do not lay so well),
and is best made out of an inverted sod, or three
lavers of dry earth or ashes, with straw, hay, or
forest leaves placed thereon. Thirteen eggs are the
best number covered by average hens. But in cold
weather eleven, or even nine or seven—according
to the size of the hens and eggs—are amply sufti-
cient. A larger number would only become chilled.
The hen should be taken off the nest (if she does
not go off of her own accord) for food, water, brief

42 Profitable Poultry Raisins.

exercise and a good dusting. Do not, asa rule, re-
move the young chickens until twenty-four hours
after all are hatched. Occasionally one may need
some assistance to get from the shell. This should
be given cautiously, and only in extreme cases, by
gently indenting the finger into the shell (without
touching the inside membrance), in a circle from
where it is clipped. When the chicks are hatched
the mother should be placed in a coop about two or
three feet square, placed on the ground and with
slats in the front, through which the chicks ean run
out and receive food. Young chicks should always
be kept dry and where they can get plenty of sun-
light. It must be remembered that fowls attain
their growth in from four to eight months, and can
never make up for any ‘‘ back-sets ”? in that period.
Feed regularly and often until five or six weeks
old, at first with cooked meat and hard-boiled eggs
mixed. Give fine-chopped green food, and let them
have the benefit of a grass run. The floor of the
chickens’ coop should always be kept clean and free
from vermin by a fresh supply of dry dirt. Chicks
should always be kept growing while young. If
intended for marketing they should be foreed and
marketed early; spring chickens pay the best by
all odds. For breeders, however, it is not neces-
sary to hatch the chicks too early,as those hatched
in milder weather require less care, grow better,
and are fully as profitable. Asiaties, however, in-
tended for fall shows, should be hatched by the
first of March. April, May and June, however, are
the best months for hatching fowls intended for

Profitable Poultry Raising. AS

breeders. After tlre first few days a bit of meat can
be chopped with the food once a day. Soft food
should be fed fresh very often—only so much each
time as is entirely consumed. A little bone meal
should be added to the food. A'ter the ch.cks are
two or three weeks old the evening meal can con-
sist of cracked corn and wheat, or good screenings.
Chicks should always have a grass run; if deprived
of this green food must be furnished to them daily.
Chopped cabbage leaves are highly relished by
them. A plentiful supply of pure, fresh water must
be constantly athand. [n winter the chicks require
more stimulating food than in summer. Beef scraps
can be boiled and mixed with the soft food. If the
chicks have been liberally fed they will be in prime
condition tor the table without any extra fatting.
Growing chicks must always have plenty of exer-
cise, and should not be crowded together 1n too ciose
quarters. In raising fowls for market, as a rule,
the chicks should be killed as soon as ready, cer-
tainly as soon as they have attained full size, as then
better prices are generally procured than later in
the season. ‘he food afterwards ted is, therefore,
worse than waste'l. Besides this, there is consid-
erable risk from disease in holding a large lot of
poultry. In breeding faney fowls the young chicks
that turn out inferior, ‘culls’? or ‘‘scrubs,’’ as
commonly called (and alas! even the best strains
will sometimes throw these despised and ought-to-
be-rejected specimens), should be marked as soon
as distinguishable, at from three to six months old:
Don’t be afraid to kill your poor chickens; it is the

‘

44 Profitable Poultry Raising.

only way to ultimate success. If all are killed this
year there will be tewer next year.

Havanna Method of Preserving Eggs.

Put into a barrel 24 gallons of water, 12 pounds
unslacke:l white lime, 4 pounds of salt, let settle
until clear, then draw off 20 gallons of the clear
liquid. Then take 5 ounces of baking soda, 4d
ounces of borax, 1 ounce of alum, 1 ounce tattar,
pulverize, mix and dissolve in one gallon of boiling
water and pour it into your 20 gallons’of lhquid;
put the liquid into a whisky barrel or coal oil bar-
rel which has been previously burned out. This
will hold 150 dozen eggs. Let the water stand
about one inch over the eggs, then spread an old
cloth on top of the eggs and put a bucket or two of
the lime settlings on it. Do not let the cloth hang
over the edge of the barrel. After being in the
liquid 30 days, the eggs may be taken out and piled
in boxes in a dark room or packed ready for ship-
ping—but it is customary to let the eggs remaiu in
the liquid until ready to ship. Do not use the
pickle but once. You can putina few dozen at a
time, but always keep the eggs covered with the
liquid; as the water evaporates put in more. Put

in none but fresh eggs. A dry cellar is the best
place to pack eggs.

The Haws Egg Compound.

Use clean barrels or tank, free from all smell.
Dissolve 5 pounds of salt,15 pounds of unslacked

ee

Profitable Poultry Raising. 45

lime, | pound of cream of tartar, 1 ounce saltpeter,
4 ounces of soda, and 4 ounces of borax, mix in 16
gallons of water. Let it stand two or three days,
Stirring frequently. Drop the eggs in carefully
with a ladle, until the brine is full. Do not move
the barrel after the eggs are in. Cover the barrel
and keep in a cellar or cool place. It the brine
evaporates add lime water. Do not allow eggs to
remain out of brine.

—_——_—__—___9—~<>_ q—————_—__“—_—

To Preserve Hogs.

Place the eggs in a close box, burn some sul-
phur in the box and shut itup tight. Let it remain
closed half an hour, then put the eggs away dry.
They will keep for six or eight months. This is
the celebrated ozone (!) process. ‘To preserve fruits
or vegetables, put a jar of water in the box with the
fruit. Burn sulphur, close tightly, let remain
closed for half an hour, then put the fruit in the
jar of water, cover with a piece of paper and stow
away. ‘To preserve meat, omit water. Take it out
of box and hang up dry. It will keep months. So
will fish. No taste of sulphur affects it, as cooking
liberates it, it being a gas in this form.

a

Keep the Chickens Growing.

It is a mistaken policy to stint young fowls of
rich food, and plenty of itis what they need; and
no danger of overfeeding if they are growing and
have their liberty. Old fowls that have their

46 Profitable Poultry Raising.

growth and are shut up, can easily be fed too much,
but do not fail to feed the young ones all they will
eat. A good feed of whole grain of some kind, just
_as late in the evening as they can see to eat it, is
one of the means of making fine stock. Also g ve
them a plentiful breakfast of soft food early in the
morning. Let no food lie on the ground, or any-
thing that will sour; it will be very likely to make
the little chicks sick. A few cents’ worth of food,
given at the proper season to a fine bird, nay make
several dollars difference in: the price when yon
come to sell. It takes a certain quantity of food to
keep up the waste of sustai. ing animal life; so
every ounce of food properly digested, in addition
to their actual requirements, goes to increase the
fowl. Remember this, and never neglect the grow-
ing stock. ‘Time lost here can never be regained.
Neglect the little cl:icks and you will surely see the
effects of the neglect in the mature fowl.

Artificial nest eggs may be prepared very sim-
ply by breaking a small hole in the round end of
an ordinary egg, removing the contents and filling
the shell with plaster paris, sufficiently moistened
with water as to be easily poured into the shell;
after it hardens paste a piece of white paper over
the hole, or the hens will peck out the plaster
paris and destroy the egg. It is easily made, and
will last a long time. It is advisable to always
have such nest eggs, and fowls will not acquire the
habit of eating their eggs; hens are also less liable
to wander off and hide their nests when plenty of
nest eggs are placed in the nests,

Profitable Poultry Raising: v4

Ege Production in America.

Although these United States are so rich in
grain, mineral, lumber and the different commer-
cial productions, the first among which may be
placed the raising of cattle, etc., yet they are
obliged to send to Europe for a part of the necessary
quantity of eggs to meet the demand, a thing almost
impossible to believe, yet it is unfortunately but
too true, I could hardly believe it, until I had re-
ceived it trom the Hon. Ed. Younds, Chief of the
Bureau of the Government Statistics at Washing-
ton—several reports,of which, unfortunately, are
too sparse.y scattered through the States—and one
of these reports shows me that there was imported
into the United Stares during a period of eleven
months in 1872, 5,025,958 dozens of eggs, worth
$688,796, and during the same time in 1873, 5,467,-
264 dozens, and worth $732,234. ‘he increase is
again repeated in previous years, not necessary to
enumerate, for it would make these statistics weari-
some.

So it can easily be seen that there is no danger
of overstocking the markets, and I firmly believe
that the consumers would rather have their eggs
fresh than coming from Europe, as the voyage
would not improve their flavor. After having read
these figures, that so lucrative a business is not more
generally followed and better managed; why poul-
try does not take its place among other industries
and occupy that rank which it ought to among other
commercial affairs is, that the thing is too simple;

48 Profitable Poultry Raising.

and if I was to tell a father with two sons to teach
them a trade of some sort, he would very likely re-
ply that they may be doctors or lawyers. If IL was
to ask him the question: ‘t Have you any forture, or
have your sons any disposition for those profes-
sions? he would reply: ‘‘ Not much; and I do not
know if they are so inclined.”? And suppose I
had added the advice: ‘‘ Have them taught the art
of raising poultry,’’? I should make that man my
enemy, and he might ask me if I took him for a
madman. Don’t getangry, my friend, I might justly
say, for itis not every one who can raise poultry
with profit.

——__—_*-~+¢

Plymouth Rocks.

Among the many fine breeds of domestic fowls
raised now-a-days by poultrymen generally, the
Plymouth Rocks appear to hold a very prominent
position. This fowl is comparstively new, having
originated by crossing the Dominique cock with
Black Java hens, and keeping on breeding the
progeny of this cross until uniformity was secured ;
the color, hardiness, and other good qualities of the
former being preserved with the important addi-
tion of an increase in size. The Plymouth Rocks
are yearly becoming more popular as their merits
become known, the demand keeping pace with the
supply. They area good sized fowl, dress well,
and fill a void between the Asiaties and the- smaller
breeds. When well bred they are comely, and can-
not help but prove attractive to the farmer, mer-

Profitable Poultry Raising. L9

chant, mechanic, and others who do not belong to
the fancy. The Plymouth Rocks may be consid-
ered a ‘‘general purpose breed,’’ well adapted to
the practical poulterer as well as the novice. They
are very hardy, easily reared, mature early and at-
tain large size. The hens are good layers and an
excellent table fowl. [n their case, therefore, there
is no need of keeping two breeds to obtain a good
share of eggs and acceptable broilers and roasters.
They are also a clean legged fowl, their combs and
wattles of moderate size and not likely to become
frozen when Jack Frost puts in an appearance.
They are good layers, if provided with comfortable
quarters and the proper kind of food. The pullets
lay at an early age, on account of rapid develop-
ment; being early maturing they attain their
growth and are ready for market sooner than any
other large breed. A nice spring chicken will sell
for as much money as a full-grown towl, and in this
is one of the chief merits of the Plymouth Rocks.
—Poultry World. '

Douglas Mixture.

Take of sulphate of iron (common copperas) 8
ounces, sulphuric acid 44 fluid ounce, put into a bot-
tle or jug one gallon of water, into this put the sul-
phate of iron. As soon as the iron is dissolved add
the acid, and when it is clear the mixture is ready
for use. This mixture is to be given in the drink-
ing water every two orthreedays. A gill for every
25 head. If there are any symptoms of disease it

50 Profitable Poultry Raising.

should be given every day. This is one of the best
tonics known to the poultry fraternity.

Buckeye Egg Cure.

Buckwheat, 8 quarts; Indian corn,well parched,
8 quarts; oil cake, or meal, 8 quarts; oats, well
parched, 8 quarts; Egyptian rice corn, or wheat, 8
quarts. Grind all together, then mix the oil cake
in and add one pint slacked lime, 1 pint ground
bone, 6 tablespoonsfull of common salt, 5 table-
spoonsful capsicum. Put all the above ingredients
together and thoroughly mix. This will make about
two bushels of feed after being ground. Cook as
much of this feed as your fowls will eat at one
time, and feed it in the morning, warm. Do not
put in too much water that the feed will be sloppy,
but have it dry enough that when thrown down it
will not break apart. Feed this food two or three
times a week, and not oftener, for remember the
feed is very strong.

—_—__—_——__0 > ¢—______

Atlantic Egg Food and Condition Powder.

Take 4 pounds ground dry meat; 2 pounds
ground bone, 1 pound oyster shells, one-half pound
of salt, one-half pound of ground cinamon, ginger,
or black pepper (any kind of spice will answer).
Mix the above thoroughly. Now mix in a separate
dish one ounce each ot sulpur, copperas, bread
soda, saltpetre, ground saffron, asafcetida and hypo-
sulphite of soda. When these are well mixed add

. Pew ee:
a Se

Profitable Poultry Raisins. 51

to the above, well mixing the whole. Now parch
2 pounds of ground oats and 2 pounds cracked corn,
mix, and add to the above. You will then have
about 15 pounds of poultry food, at a cost of about
50 cents. If the fowls are in good health the saf-
fron and asafcetida may be omitted. Feed a table-
spoonful daily to each fowl.
——_ —<_e —____

Young Turkeys.

The best preventive for sickness in these birds,
as well as to help them through the red, is to mix
finely cut onions or chives in their food, which
ought to consist of Indian meal mixed with either
water or milk, but small potatoes boiled and mashed
with plenty of pepper may be used with raw onions
chopped fine instead.

a

To Insure Success, Observe the Following Rules.

Keep your fowl houses clean and well venti-
lated, but do not allow any draft to strike your
roosting places.

Feed little and often of sound grain; give your
fowls a variety of food during the day; at night
always feed whole corn.

Have your drinking vessels washed every morn-
ing, and keep them full of clean water every day;
in winter, give warm water; in summer, give a
fresh supply two or three times a day.

Always keep a box of crushed oyster shells
where the fowls can get atit. -

52 Profitable Poultry Raising.

Never trust your birds to the care of another,
no one but the owner can appreciate their wants and
attend to the little details, which are all important.

Always separate the sick fowls from the well
ones, as most of the diseases of fowls are conta-
gious.

Use kerosene oil freely on, the roosting perches
once a week—this prevents the accumulation of lice
in the poultry house, and the fumes of the oil per-
meates the feathers of the fowls at night and drives
the vermin from their bodies. Whitewash the in-
terior of the coop every three months or oftener.
The following receipt for making a wash is the best
I have seen: ‘Toa pail of whitewash add one pint
of crude carbolic acid; make a starch of a pound
of flour and mix while it is hot; apply this freely
to every part of the hou-e. For outside work omit
the carbolic acid and add a teaspoonful of salt anda
pound of rice boiled in two quarts of water.

Permit all your hens, so inclined, to sit and
hatch one brood in the year. It is better for the
fowls, and you will thus get just as many eggs from
them in twelve months as if you bothered your
brains ‘‘ to break them up.”’

Keep but one kind at first of whatever kind you
may fancy. When you can breed that well, try
something else, if you get tired of this. But don’t
venture upon too much inthe “ variety line,”’ at the

commencement, or you will tail with all.

Don’t attempt to raise five hundred birds within
limits fitting the needs of five dozen or less. Crowd-
ing fowls into close quarters wiil breed thousands
of lice, but precious few chickens, remember.

Profitable Poultry Raising. 58

Dont’t try to breed too many varieties at once.
You will succeed better with one or two in the be-
ginning.

The best plan for all breeders is to raise chick-
ens every season to be layers of the next year, and
kill off all the old stock.

Rats are great enemies to chickens, and often
they have their seasons of carnage and destruction
before they are found out.

The poulterer who expects to make profits on —
the poultry he habitually neglects, has expectations
that will never be realized.

It is well to introduce fresh cocks of pure blood
in the breeding pen every second year. ‘This pre-
vents deterioration in the stock. A two-year-old
cock with pullet and vi e versa.

No oue kind of food will make hens lay well. A
judicious rotation of the best. kinds of food. accom-
panied with the requisite concomitants and calcer-
ous matter. '

A little ingenuity and skill, at a comparative
trifling expense, make comfortable quarters for
fowls out of the various erections which are to be
found connected with the farm and suburban home:

oe

Carelessness.

Carelessness in the liutle details necessary to
good management will show in the condition, health
and preductiveness of the fowls. The more care
and attention to their daily wants the better their
appearance and health, and the more cleanly they

S4 Profitable Poultry Raising.

are kept in well lighted and well ventilated houses,
and the more uniformly they are fed and watered,
the better returns they will give their keepers. Re-
member, this course of treatment always brings the
best results, not alone in raising poultry, but any
kind of domestic animals. The inexperienced nov-
ice is too apt to think that any kind of care or food
will do in raising poultry, and when cold weather
sets in he atlows his fowls to forage for themselves
anywhere and everywhere, neglects to provide
suitable shelter and proper food when the season
and necessities to their comfort and well-being de-
mand them. Poultry requires good food and good
care to be productive, and without productiveness

there is no profit.
——_—+e—___—_—_-

Kerosene as a Curative.

We have seen, recently, testimonials from so
many quarters, as well South as North, as to the
efficacy of kerosene oil in chicken cholera, as to in-
Spire a hope that an unfailing remedy has at last
been founda for this hitherto most desolating disease.
A Woodville, Mass., correspondent of the New Or-
leans Home Journal says: ‘‘I tried all the remedies
mentioned in your paper for cholera, but none
seemed to do any permanent good until I tried coal
(kerosene) oil; this has effectually arrested the dis-
ease, and [am satisfied it isa good thing.”’ In addi-
tion to this the editor of the Journal says: ‘‘ We
had a pullet which was actually on its last legs, not
being able or willing to feed any more. Our better
half took some grist and mixed a sufficiency of

Profitable Poultry Raising. 55

_kerosene with it to make into pills and crammed
some of it down the throat of the fowl. The effect
was almost instantaneous, as, at the next feeding
time, it appeared with the other fowls and partici-
pated in the meal, and since then has been constant-
ly improving. We now feed corn mixed in kero-
sene oil three times a week, and since adop ing this
mode have had no cases of cholera.

A correspondent writing to the Country Gentle-
man trom Habersham county, Ga, says: ‘“‘ I have
found kerosene oil a cure for chicken cholera. Last
year I lost my entire flock. This year, by soaking
my corn in kerosene, but one has died, although
several have been sick.

—_____ e+

Cholera Cure.

As soon as symptoms of cholera appear clean
up your poultry houses and completely shower the
floor from a watering can with one-half per cent.
solution of sulphurie acid, and the yard so far as
practicable t.eatin the same way. Feed nothing
but cooked food—very sparingly. Use the Douglas
mixture in the drink freely. Remove the fowls
that are diseased toa warm dry room. Take blue
mass and cayenne pepper, each one ounce, camphor
gum half ounce, and a teaspoonful of laudanum ; mix
well and make into pills of ordinary size, Giveone
pill every hour until purging ceases. Then take
two ounces each of alum, resin, copperas, lacsul-
phur and cayenne pepper, pulverize and mix. Feed
three tablespoonsful of the powder with one quart

56 Profitable Poultry Raising.

of boiled or soft feed. This powder may also be
fed as a preventative once or twice a week.
—_ + —____
To Cure Chicken Cholera.

Place a saucer of water in a close box, burn
some sulphur in the box, shut tightly, and at the
end of half an hour open the box, take out the
water and dissolve hyposulphite of soda in the water
until it dissolves no more. Let settle, pour off the
clear water, and give the sick fowl a teaspoonful
three times a day, pouring it down the throat. Do
not compound hyposulphite with sulphite or sulphate

of soda.
——-—-© > ¢

Cholera.

Investigations of the cause and nature of chicken
cholera, made by the Department of Agriculture at
Washington, have not been without good results.
From experiments made it has been found that the
germs of this disease are taken into the body with
the food and drink, and seldom ever with the air in-
spired; that the ground on which diseased fowls
are kept becomes infected with the virus from ex-
crements of the fowls; also, that one-half per cent.
solution of sulphuric acid will destroy the germs.
These are not the only facts brought out by these
investigations, but they are enough, if intelligently
acted upon, to make poultry raising a much safer
business than it has been of late years.

If their highest happiness is to ‘‘ scratch,’’ and

Profitable Poultry Raising. 57

itis thought best that they be indulged in this,
turn them into the field or even the vegetable or
flower garden, where they can have fresh ground
in which to amuse themselves, but never let them
range and scratch and eat on the same ground.

The almost universal practice is to throw the
food for the poultry on the ground. In this way
the fowls take up more or less dirt, if present, the
gerins of the disease. Asa preventative of the in-
troduction or spread of the disease in this way, the
fowls should always have their food and water sup-
plied them from clean vessels. Every dry grain, as
corn or wheat, should be given them in small boxes
or troughs, from which they can pick the feed but
cannot tramp it with their soiled feet.

The other point cf interest and to be remem-
bered is that if the disease makes its appearance it
may be checked and finally banished by the use of
sulphuric acid. The floor of the poultry house,
after being cleaned, should be well showered with
the solution from the nose of a watering can, and
the yard, so far as practical, treated in the same
way. Sulphate of iron copperas is also a deadly
poison to these germs, and is safer to handle than
the sulphuric acid. One pint of dry copperas dis-
solved in two gallons of water will be found strong
enough, and [am not sure but a solution of less
strength wou'd answer as well.

AEE ag gg

Cure for Cholera.

A Kentucky farmer cures fowl cholera by boil-

58 Profitable Poultry Raising.

ing a bushel of smartweed in ten gatlons of water
down to three gallons, and mixing the decoction
with their food twice a day, for three days, then
every other day for a week.

PMOL bee 2 PE LAAN Bei

Lice.

To guard against the encroachment of lice and
other like vermin, the walls of the shed should be
regularly washed every year with a strong lime-
wash, containing a pount of sulphate of iron to
every three gallons, applied hot from the slacking.
A thorough syringing either with parafine or a solu-
tion of carbolice acid will also be efficacious in get-
ting rid of the annoyance. Carbolic acid is certain’
death to all insects, and is an invaluable aid to the
resources of the poultry keeper.

Experience proves that the use of dry, sifted
coal ashes is an excellent exterminator of these
pests. The ashes may be sprinkled over the roots,
and a commodious box filled with the material
should be provided for the fowls to dust in—a pro-
vision of which they seem to take pleasure in avail-
ing themselves. In making up nests for hatching,
it is advisable to put ashes in the bottom and cover
with clean straw. After the chicks make their
appearance, the nest should be thoroughly cleaned
and the straw and litter destroyed. In localities
where coal ashes cannot be easily procured, good
dry sand may be substituted, in which carbolic
powder or sulphur, or both, has been sprinkled.

_It sometimes occurs that, in spite of all the pre-

Profitable Poultry Raising. 59

cautions, the vermin accumulate to such an extent
that the house becomes literally alive with them.
In such cases a thorough cleaning is necessary.
All the hay and straw in the nests should be burnt,
the hens driven out and the house closed tightly
and fumigated with sulphur. This may be done
by putting a pound or so of brimstone in an iron
pot and dropping on it a piece of hot iron. Keep
the house closed two or three hours, after which it
should be well ventilated and swept out thoroughly.
The walls, inside and out—in fact, every place that
can be reached—should.be washed with hot water,
in which has been dissolved potash, one pound to
every quart of water. Then follow with the kero-
sene oil. Fresh hay is needed for the nests, and as-
surance is made doubly sure by whitewashing.
This radical treatment is not accomplished without
some trouble, but the result amply repays the labor.

———_—_—_e —>_—_____
Roup.

Probably the amateur, and sometimes even the
experienced breeder, turns more anxiously to the
treatises on this disease than to any other, for the
reason that it is at once the most annoying and de-
structive of the whole catalogue, though less to be
dreaded now than formerly. Nearly all writers
agree that roup results from exposure to damp,
draughts and confinement in tainted coops. It is
highly contagious, the germs of the disease being
communicated by drinking or other contact. The
symptoms of roup are at firstidentical with those of

60 Profttable Poultry Raising.

a severe cold; the discharee trom the nostril, how-
ever, soon loses its transparent character, becoming
more or less opaque, with a peculiar and offensive
odor; froth appears in the inner corner of the eyes;
the lids swell, and sometimes the eye-ball is entirely
concealed. In very severe cases the cavity of the
nose becomes filled with the diseased secretion,
which cannot escape, owing to the small size and
closure of the nostril, and then the face swells con7
siderably.

TREAIMENT.—In this disease, nearly equal num-
bers recover, under various modes of treatment, so
far as relates to internal remedies. But in all cases
the bird is at once to be isolated, and the water ves-
sels immediately disintected. McDougall’s Fluid
Extract is excellent for this purpose. Warm, dry
lodging znd stimulating nutritious food are the first
essentials to recovery. ‘The eyes and head should
be frequently bathed with warm water and reme-
dial agents of some kind applied to the diseased
membrane, ‘This is somewhat difficult, on account
of the nostrils being closed up, but may be overcome
by inserting the point of a small syringe into the slit
in the mouth and turning it rather to the outside
for each nostril. Labarraque’s solution of chlori-
nated soda is the injection most in use by a number
of the best fanciers. Tegetmeier says he has used
a few drops of a dilute solution (10 grains to the
ounce of water) of sulphate of copper, with very
favorable results. This internal treatment is a dose
of castor oil, to be followed every morning and
evening by a pill of balsam copaiba, 1 oz.; licorice,

ts

'

Profitable Poultry Raising. 61

in powder, 16 0z.; piperine, 1 drachm, with enough
magnesia added to make the mass into sixty doses
or pills. A few drops of tine ure of iron or Me-
Dougall’s Fluid Extract should be added to the
drinking water.

Excelsior Roup Pills.

Equal parts of ground saffron, asafoetida, and
hy posulphite of soda, made into small pills the size
of a pea, or given in as much powder as will lay.on
a cent, twice a day to each towl.

——_ > e@—___——_-

Gapes.

This disease is caused by the windpipe of chick-
ens or young fowls being infested with worms,
eventually causing suffocation. How the disease is
propagated is a debatable question. The worm is
usually found double, of a pale reddish color, and
rather less thau three-quarters of an inch long.

The number in one chicken usually varies frona
two tox dozen. Dirt and damp have undoubtedly
a predisposing tendency, as it is well known that
gapes rarely ever trouble a clean and dry yard.

By many it is supposed that the worm is gen-
erated in some manner by lice or a similar parasite
which infests the head of young chicks, and as a
preventative the following ointment, applied very
lightly on the back of the head, on the throat, and
under the wings, in a melted or fluid state, at the
time of taking chickens from the nest, is said to

62 Profitable Poultry Raisins.

remedy the evil: Mercurial ointment, 1 0z.; pure
lard, 1 0z.; flour of sulphur, 4% 0oz.3; crude petro-
leum, 1 oz. It is stated on good authority that
chicks annointed in this manner have never had
the gapes, while others of the same broods not an-
nointed have been affected. Another method of
keeping the chickens free from the parasites that
are supposed to produce gapes, is to apply once a
week, under the wing and on the breast of the hen,
a small quantity of carbolic soap in solution. The
effect of the ointment beginuing to destroy the para-
sites, would seem to give color to the theory that
gapes are the result of the presence of lice or simi-
lar vermin, and would also tally very well with the
fact that disease is comparatively unknown in clean,
comfortable quarters. A free use of carbolic disin-
fecting powder is an excellent preventative. ‘The
disease may be checked, after it has entered the
yard, by using fluid carbonate camphor or lime in
the drinking water, and the affected bird made to
imhale the vapor of carbolic acid by placing a tew
drops on a red hot shovel, and holding the bird in
the fumes until itis nearly suffocated. This kills
the worms, and is an effectnal cure.

The worms may be taken from the throat, also, in
the following manner: ‘Take a medium soft quill
feather, pluck the web from both sides to within a
short distance of the tip, and wet with a solution
of 20 grains carbolic acid and one ounce of glycer-
ine. Run the feather down the windpipe, give it
three or four turns and quickly withdraw. Repeat
two or three times with a new feather each time,

Profitable Poultry Raising. 63

The acid paralyzes the worms, and the glycerine
sticks them to the feather, and they are thereby
drawn out of the trachea. The feathers and all ©
matter drawn from the throat of the fowl should be
burnt, in order to prevent the exposure of the rest
of the flock to contagion.

Another remedy is to administer a kernel of
black pepper to the chick affected; which is said to
destroy the worm.

———_®~<> ¢—_____
Gapes in Chickens,

In a recent conversation with an experienced
chicken raiser, he informed us that he had been
very successtul in conquering that precarious dis-
ease in his young fowls by the application of air
slacked lime. As soon as a manifestation of gapes
in his fowls appear, he confines his chickens in a
box, One at a time, sufficiently large to contain the
bird, and places a coarse piece of cotton or linen
cloth over thé top. Upon this he places the pulver-
ized lime, and taps the screen sufficiently to cause
the lime to fall through. This lime dust the fowl
inhales and is made to sneeze, and in a short time
the cause of the gapes is thrown out in the form of
a slimy mass or masses of worms, which has accu-
mulated in the windpipe and smaller air vessels.
‘This remedy he considers superior to any remedy
he ever tried, and he seldom fails to affect a perma-
nent cure. He has abjured all those mechanical
means by which it is attempted to dislodge the
entozona with instruments made of whale-bone,

64 Profitable Poultry Raising

hog’s bristles, horse hair or fine wire, alleging that
people are quite as certain to push the gape worm
farther down the throat of the fowls as to draw
them up.—Poultry Nation.

Selecting and Mating of Stock.

In selecting fancy stock, of course the standard
must be followed, and only the best and most near-
ly perfect specimens of their kind retained, provided
they are all suited to each other. No hen should have
the same faults as the cock. If one is faulty in a
certain point, the other should be equally good in
that particular, so as to counteract the bad impress
upon the offspring. Experience with each breed
must teach the fancier the best birds to retain for
breeding. Often a bird that is not up to the stand-
ard, and sometimes even a disqualifid bird, is desira-
ble in the breeding yard, nay, of the highest im-
portance; for instance, in breeding Leghorns, a
straight comb hen is inevitable to raise the finest
and most erect combs on cockerels. So a spotted-
breasted Dark Brahma and Brown Leghorn cock
will produce the most beautifully penciled pullets.
We remember seeing a communication in one of the
poultry journals, by the late Mr. J. W. P. Hovey,
in which he stated the case of a friend who ordered
a trio of Brahmas, at a high price, mated for breed-
ing, from a celebrated English breeder, and who
was disgusted at receiving a poor-looking trio of
birds, whose equals in looks, could have been pur-
chased anywhere at $2.00 a head. But appearances

Profitable Poultry Raising. 65

are deceitful, and blood will tell, as was proven by
the result. From that trio sprung noted prize
birds. And so it is, the skillful breeder knows how .
to mate his birds to produce the best offspring.
Amateurs, in starting, make a great mistakein pur-
chasing exhib tion birds (as birds matched for exhi-
bition are seldom rightly matched for breeding), or
in purchasing low-priced birds from unknown
sources. The best plan is to send the price of a
pair or trio of breeding birds to a_ responsible
breeder, who has a reputation to maintain, and state
plainly that you want birds whose progeny will
speak their praises. In nine cases out of ten you
will be satisfied, not only in the birds received, but
in the chicks they breed. In mating fowls, it is
generally believed the hens effect mostly the size
and form, and the cock the plumage and market-
ings of the chicks. If a choice can be had, it is pre-
ferred to mate a cock (over one year old) with spring
pullets. Be sure you select a good, vigorous cock,
and the one who is, the ‘‘ boss rooster.’? One cock
will readily serve 10 to 15 hens of the larger breeds,
and 15 to 20 hens of the small breeds.

——

VARIETIES OF FOWLS.

BRAHMAS.

No breed of pure bred poultry, from the days
of the hen fever to the present, have so universally
maintained a front rank in the estimation of all
poultry men as the Brahma. ‘They are quiet in
their disposition,’ and very tame. A_ three-foot

66 Profitable Poultry Raisins.

LIGHT BRAHMAS,

fenee will confine them, and no breed in the world
is so well adapted to close confinement. They thrive
well in the smallest quarters. They are excellent
winter lavers; their eggs are of varied shades.
That pure Brahmas should lay eggs of one uniform
eolor is an exploded bubble. They are very much
inelined to sit, and this is a great drawback. They
do not mature early, and are not so desirable for
spring market pure bred as when crossed. For
mothers, they are the very best, when net too
heavy. They have plenty of loose fluff, and will
cover a goodly nninber of eggs. They should be of
large size, but no giants. The days of the “‘long-
legged Shanghaes that could eat oft the top of a

é

Profitable Poultry Raising. | 67

barrel and . 11 that wasin it,’’ is past. Farmers and
poulterers are beginning to realize that utility of
form must be studied. It needs no demonstration
to prove that it is highly unprofitable to feed corn
wid wheat to produce such bony parts as neck and
leg. Matured cocks of 12 pounds, and hens of 10
pounds, are fully as large as can generally be had
in Connection with meritorious points. One pecu-
liarity of this breed is the pea comb, which, being
so small, is safe against the winter’s frosts.

*Light Bramahs, with us, are perhaps more gen-
erally bred throughout the entire country than any
other bree, and yet there is always a very lively
demand for good stock at satisfactory prices. ‘They
are often inclined to be long-legged; this must be
guarded against by judicious selection. In mating,
the cock and hens should not both have dark hack-
les, or the progeny will be very unsatisfactory.
‘There is a prejudice in the minds of Some that Light
Brahmas are delicate, on account of their plumage.
This is entirely a mistake. ‘They are altogcther a
most worthy breed, and invaluable to increase the
size, laying and early maturity of a lot of ‘¢dung-
hills.” !

Dark Brahmas have nearly the same character-
istics as the Light. They are, however, deeper and
more compact in body, with shorter legs. ‘They are
like the Lights, well feathered down to the ends of
the toés, but should be free from vulture-hock.
‘ey are very hard to breed to the ‘‘ standard ;”’
only four or five birds out of every hundred will be

68 Profitable Poultry Raising.

DARK BRAHMa«S.

meritorious show birds, even from the best stock.
But all the remaining birds are by no means worth-
less. Many of them are generally as good, and some

even better, for breeding.
COCHINS.

Cochins are large, noble-looking fowls, with an
abundance of loose, fluffy feathers, especially in the
hens, thus making them the very best mothers.
Mature cocks should weigh 10 to 13 pounds, and
hens 8 to10 pounds; small weights should not be
tolerated, neither should extra heavy birds be bred,
if, as is generally the case, they are correspondingly
badly proportioned. The legs should be abundantly
feathered to the toes, but not ‘‘ vulture-hocked,’’

- Profitable Poultry Raising. 69

BUFF COCHINS.

They are very docile, can be picked up by a child,
and are easily confined. They are rather poor fora-
gers, and must be fed liberally. They are good
winter layers. Their eggs are of various shades.
They are very much inclined to sit, and hard to
break. On account of their large size they are in-
valuable for crossing, whereby they can be im-

‘proved in early maturity and flesh. They have sin-

gle, erect comnbs, of fine texture. Recently a strain
of Pea Comb Partridge Cochins has been intro-
duced, and it is claimed for them the undoubted
advantage for cold winters. We fear, however, that
should this variety become popular, the distinct
types of Brahmas and Cochins would be lost—

70 Profitable Poultry Raising.

PARTRIDGE COCHINS.

merged into one common mixture. Cochins have
so long been bred almost exclusive:y for large size
and fashionable form and markings, that the econo-
mic qualities have been neglected. Much can be
done in the way of improving their laying, ete.
The varieties are the Buff, Partridge, Black and
White Cochins. There .s also a new breed, styled
the Sebright Cochins, not yet recognized in the
standard, nor will that name be allowed. Buff
Cochins are fowls of unusual beauty. They should
be one of clear buff color throughout, free from any
‘white or colored. feathers, or uneven shading.
Partridge Cochins are very aristocratic, with the
deep black breast and beautifully resplendent and
varied plumage of the cock, and the exquisitely pen-
ciled hen, For small city yards a more pleasing

Profitable Poultry Raisins. 71

LPG iC CREB Ss

breed eonlel searecel, be desired. Black Cochins are
only recently established, but are very heautiftel
and profitable. Phey cannot fail soon to tuke a
prominent position among their fellows. White
Cochins, being ofa pure showy whiteness through -
out, do not present the difficulties to the yvoune
bree ‘er which are sure to be experie ve din raising
the other varieties o' Coehins. and henee sare one
of the best varieties to start with, Ali Cocehins pas-
sess thesame characteristics, and the smatearsheuld
select the variety best sited to his faner.
LANGSHANS,

This new Asiatic breed has alveady attained
considerable popularity. In color ot plumage Elias
Langshan arearich metalic black, and resemble
the Black Cochins, but are a distinct breed. They

72 Profitable Poultry Raising.

WHITE COCHINS.

are round and deep in body, with breast broad, full,
and carried well forward. They attain maturity
early and grow to a large size; a cockerel of 7 or 8
months old, fattened, will weigh 10 pounds, and
pullets, same age, 8 pounds.- Their meat and skin
are white, and they are an excellent table fowl;
the meat being of a delicate flavor. They are jirst-
rate layers and not inveterate sitters; they lay better
than any other Asiatic.

The laying qualities of the Langshans are cer-
tainly remarkable for so large a breed; none are
better winter layers, and a few so good the year
round, and when their large size and quick growth
are taken into consideration, the Langshans must
certainly be acknowledged a profitable breed. It

sacks

Profitable Poultry Raising. 73

is not too much to say that they lay as well as the
best laying strains of Plymouth Rocks. Being a
new breed, they will commind a more ready sale
than the older varieties that are more generally dis-
Sseminated; hence it will pay farmers and others to
grow them, to sell surplus stock to neighbors.
Their fine qnalities, together with their handsome
appearance, aid fine, stylish carriaXe, cannot fail
to make this breed prove eminently satisfactory.

—

LEGHORNS.

Of late years Leghorns have attained a won-
derful, almost a miraculous popularity. And well
deserve it, too. They are, without doubt, the best
layers. They are non-sitters. although, as in all
non-sitting varieties, a hen will take a notion to-
wards incubation, and will often perform her unac-
customed duties very satisfactorily. Leghorns lay
as many as 200 and 250 eggs per year. The pullets
begin to lay at,four and one-half and five months
old. The cockerels will crow at seven weeks old,
and a very amusing sight it is to see a large flock
of chicks at this age. They very soon learn to run
after the hens. From the very egg, almost before
‘‘their mother knows they are out,’’ they are the
liveliest of all chicks. They are splendid foraers,
and after eight weeks old they generally pick up all
their food among the wheat and stubble around the
barn, ete. Their eggs are pure white, rather thin
shell, and nearly transparent. They are nota large
breed, but where eggs are desired, are all the more
profitable on that account; i. ¢., with less machinery

74 Profitable Poultry Raising.

to feed, they will shell out larger results than any
other breed. The cocks weigh 416 to 6 pounds, and
the hens 334 to 4 pounds. They are very hardy and
easily raised. For market, although not large, they
ure very presentable, with bright yellow Jegs anal
skin. They have high single combs, which, in this
climate, are apt to get frozeu.in winter. |! his <peils

WHITE LLEGHORNS.

their looks, but does not hurt their breeding quali-
ties. No breed will so improve the laying qualifies
of barnyard fowls as pure Leghorns. <A cross of a
White Leghorn cock on Light Brahma hen makes
excellent farm chickens, early maturing, good size,
fine quality of flesh, and excellent layers.

White Leghorns were the first introduced, and
are the most generally disseminated. They should
be pure suowy white throughout, and entirely free
from any colored feathers, or a shade of yellow.

_

—_e

Profitable Poultry Raising. 75

Their ear lobes should be solid white or creamy
white, and in this particulir good strain: breed re-
markably true. Their comb should be of medium

' BROWN LEGHORNS.

size, perfectly erect and evenly formed, deeply ser-
rated, with five pronfinent points, wattles pendant,
legs bright yellow, carrizge proud and upright,

Brown Leghorns are of more recent introduc-
tion, but are already the most popular. They are
very beautiful, resembling the Black Red Games in
plumage, and from their fighting qualities we have
reason to believe they contain some good blood.

In England this breed is becoming very popu-
lar, although as yet quite rare. They are pre-emi-
nently an American breed. L. Wright, in his Eng-
lish Book of Poultry, says: ‘‘ We consider them the

76 ~~ ~Profitable Poultry Raising.

best layers we have ever met with.’ They have always
been our favorites, and wherever intreduced soon
take the lead for eggs, on account of the immense
quantity and acmirable quality of the same. They
have all the desirable qualities of this breed to a

pre-eminent degree.
WYANDOTTES.

This new breed has so may good points to rec-
ommend them, both to the fancier and farmer, that
they will surely become very popular. Their plum-
age is white, heavily laced with black, the tail alone
being solid black; the lacing on the breast being
peculiarly handsome. They havea small rose comb,
close fitting; face and ear lobes bright red. Their
legs are free from feathers, and are of a rich yellow
color. In shape they bear more resemblance to the
Dorkings than any other breed. Hens weigh six to
s2ven pounds, and cocks seven to eight pounds each.
They are very hardy, mature early, and are ready
for market at any age. Their flesh is very fine fla-
vored and coarse grained, which, with their yellow
skin, model shape and fine, plump appearance, par-
ticularly adapts them for market. They are extra-
ordinary layers, surpr sing every breeder at the
quantity of eggs they produce. If allowed to sit
they make most careful mothers, are content any-
where, and will not attempt to fly over a fence four
feet high. ‘Their great beauty and good qualities
will make for them a host of friends wherever the
breed is introduced.

Profitable Poultry Raisins. Ch

BLAG@K SPANISH.

The White Face Black Spanish are one of the
oldest pure breeds. ‘hey are everlasting layers of
very large eggs, of excellent flavor, The yolk of
the egg is not larger than of the ordinary egg, the
white or albumen predominating. They are very

J WHITE FACE BLACK SPANISH,

properly bred, the only danger being from their
large, erect, single combs, which will become frozen
in very severe weather. They are very high in
body, with fine, srylish carriage. Their legs of a
lead color, becoming lighter with age. Breeding
in-and-in also produces pale legs, and then a cross
should be made with a bluish-black legged cock of
fresh blood. They are very poor table fowls, but
their fine eggs entitle them to a high rank.among
the breeds of domestic poultry.

78 Profitable Poultry Raising.

PLYMOUTH ROCKS.
Plymouth Rocks, for a ‘general purpose
breed,’”’? are unsurpassed; desirable alike for eggs
and early mirket chicks; while they neither lay as
many eggs as the non-sitting breeds, nor attain the
great size of the Asiatics, yet they most nearly com-

PLYMOUTH ROCKS.

bine the excellencies of each. of these classes of
fowls, and where one breed alone is kept, it would
be hard to make a more suitable selection. Their
origin is generally believed to have been from a
cross oi the Black Javas and American Dominique.
Certainly it is that they possess the good qualities
of the latter with increased size. Their p'umage
isan even Dominique color throughout, the cock-
erels being severa! shades lighter than the pullets,
and both having single combs. For exhibition it is

_

| Profitable Poultry Raising. 79

necessary that the cock and the hen should assimi-.
late as nearly as possible in colors and markings.
It is, however, disastrous to mate a dark cock with
lizsht hens or breeding, as some dark chicks will
result from such a mating. Plymouth Rucks are
first-class layers and good mothers, but not invet-
crate sitters. They probably lay more eggs than
any other large breed that hatches and rears its own
young. hey are of large size and mature very
early. For spring chickens, ‘* this breed, as soon
a~ it gets disseminated, will undoubtedly be one of
the most profitub.¢.”??) They have bright vellow legs
and area first-rate table fowl. Their many good
points can scarcely be over-estimated. They are a
* veneral purpose’? breed, and are the best farmer’s
fowl, take them all in all, yet produced. They are
remarkably hardy and healthy, excellent foragers,
and not high-flyers. The cocks weigh vine to
eleven pounds, and hens s ven to nine pounds,
Their plain, Quaker-like attire is a suitable every-
day work dress, and even farmers, who have an in-
bern dislike to fancy chickens, cannot but admit
that the pure bred Plymouth Rocks are far ahead
of any cross for farm stock. Every farmer will find
a trio of the fowls a protitable investment, while
fanciers will find no breed of fowls in so great a
demand.
HAMBURGs. -

Liamburgs area very popular breed of non-sit-
ting fowls. They are unrivaled in variety and
beauty of plumage. All Hamburgs possess the same
general characteristics. Stylish and active in car-

80 Profitable Poultry Raising.

riage, slender, rather short, blue or siaty-blue legs,
with deep red rose comb and close-fitting, pure
white ear lobes. They require free range, and are
then easily kept, as they are excellent foragers.
They will lay upwards of 200 eggs in a year. While
their eggs are not so large as those of the Leghorns,

BLACK HAMBURGS.

yet, as long as eggs are sold by the dozen this makes
littl e material difference in supplying the market.
Mr. A. Beldon says of their early maturity, he has
found that pullets of the penciled varieties lay at
five months; the spangled not quite so early. The
varieties of the Hamburgs ere the Silver and
Golden Peneciled, the Spangled and the solid Black.
The Black are the largest of all, and lay the largest
eggs. They are also considered the most hardy. A
great fault with many Black Hanrburgs is a tend»

Profitable Poultry Raising. 8 i

ency to white on the face. This should never be
tolerated. ‘The face must be one rich, deep red, like
the wattles, contrasting strikingly with the pure
white ear lobes. We have also seen fowls awarded
a premium as Black Hamburgs that showed very
plainly the carriage and formof the Black Spanish.

GAMFS.

Games are generally familiar to every one, and
are by many considered the fowls. Even those who

jSSSaSSSS==
| BLACK BREASTED KED GAMES,
rightly disapprove of the pit and its uses, admire a
really dead game cock. No breed can equal them in
true symmetry, elegance and style, with fearless
expression. ‘hey are light feathered and all
muscle. A game fowl will weigh much heavier
than it appears. Cocks of good size will weigh six

§2 Profitable Poultry Raising.

and a half pounds, and hens five to five and a half
pounds. Their flesh is unsurpassed, being the finest
flavored of any breed of fowls. They are excellent
layers of fine. rich eggs, much esteemed. The hens

are the very best mothers, and will faithfully pro-
tect their young broods. They are easily reared,

——

WER

Vee gee=
Ee HRor

DUCK WING COCK.

and are undoubtedly a very profitable breed for
economic purposes—the only drawback for domes-
tie use being their fighting qualities. But these
latter adding so to their beauty and elegance, be-
sides the extra quality of their flesh, surely war-

Profitable Poultry Raisins. 83

rant a little extra trouble with the young stags.

When the young stags are troubiesome in fighting
each other, they can be penned in small coops, ar-
ranged in tiers, and each one let out occasionally in
asmall yard, to exercise. There is always a lively
demand for pure games of fine strains, at very sat-
isfuctory prices, and they are consequently one of
the most profitable fancy breeds. The varieties of
gumes are numerous; our limited space does not

Sy

RED PILE GAMES.
permit a description of each. The most prominent
are the Black Breasted Reds, Brown Breasted Reds,
Duekwings, Derby, Piles, Sumatra, White and

Henry games.
POLISH.

The Polish’ fowls belong to the non-sitting
breeds and are excellent layers. Their flesh is very

S4 Profitable Poultry Raising.

fine, tender and juicy. They arereasonahbly hardy,
if kept from wet and dampness, which they cannot
stand. They bear confinement well, better than
any others of the laying breeds, and can be bred
suceessfully in very small quarters. They are very
tame. Asan ornamental fowl they are ne plus ultra,
and combining, as they do, so many good qualities,
are excellent fora gentleman’s park, while for farm

SILVER POLISH HEN.

use they cannot equal the Leghorns. The varieties
of Polish are, the White Crested Black, pure White,

Profitable Poultry Raising. 85

Golden and Silver; the three latter being both plain
and bearded,

For a gentleman’s henery, where a_ plentiful
supply of fresh, rich eggs is desired, we know no
more ornamental or ‘‘ striking’? variety of fowls
than the White Crested Black Polish. These fowls
are entirely black in color, of a rich glossy shade
excepting the crest, which is pure white, with only
a few black feathers at the base in front. They are
proud and stylish in carriage, and ever active, being

WHITE CRESTED BLACK PULISH.

peculiarly wide awake. Of late years they have
become exceedingly popular, and we have even been
Surprised at the great demand for first-class stock
and eggs; but we consider that they are the most
attractive variety of a very beautiful and useful

86 Profitable Poultry Raising.

breed of fowls. As old breeders know, most Polish
are subject to the vertigo, but we have never had a
case of this among our White Crested Black Polish,
they seeming to possess unusual vitality and strength
of constitution.

DOKRKINGS.

The Dorking is held in high repute in England,
and is well deserving of general cultivation by the
farmers and fanciers of America. [n_ perfecting
this fowl, John Bull—true to his old-time reputa-
tion—has admirably catered to the tastes of an
epicure. As a table fowl the Dorking is unsur-
passed; affording an extra portion of very fine
meat, remarkably abundant in the points mos¢
esteeme(i—the breast and wings are all of the very
richest quality. They are avery heavy bodied fowl,
well put up, with long, broad back, and close feath-
ered. Altogether, they are one of the very best
breeds for the ‘‘ general purpose’’ of both table
fowls and eggs. The varieties are the Pure White,
the Silver Gray and the Colored Dorkings, the lat-
ter not being bred to any speciak standard of color.
The Silver Grays embrace two varieties, the Rose
Combed and the Single Comb, the latter being the
most generally bred. They are so handsome that
they have many admirers. The White Dorkings,
as their name indicates, are spotless white in plum-
age, contrasting nicely on a green sward. The
Whites must all possess rose combs, square in front,
firm and close-fitting, terminating in a point be-
hind. All pure Dorkings should have a supernu-
merary fifth toe, We will conclude with the fol-

Profitable Poultry Raisins. 87

lowing remarks from the pen of a well-known Eng-
lish breeder :—

“This good old-fashioned breed is so well
known, and every where so appreciated, that we need
say but little about it. Tuey have one fault, how-
ever, which detracts from their value, viz.: that
they will uot thrive well where ducks are largely
kept, whether from the fact that the damp soil
which suits ducks is prejudicial to their health, or
from other unexplained reasons. We have, our-
selves, certainly proved that ducks are ‘death ’
to DorkIngs, and are compelled to keep them away
from ground which is tainted by waterfowl. They
lay a large white egg, are great favorites for table
purposes, owing to white meaty-_breasts and the
whiteness of their flesh.”

HOUDANS, |

88 Profitable Poultry Raising.

Houdans, with their fine. well-formed bodies,
covered with a beautiful plumage of black and
white intermixed, pinky legs, and their head al-
most hidden by the large crest, muffs and beards,
and triple antler-like comb, and supernumerary
toe, cannot fail to attract attention everywhere.
They are the best and most hardy of any of the
French breeds, and are a fine farmer’s fowl. They
also beav confinement well and are easily reared.
As a table fowl they are well entitled to the cogno-
men of ‘‘The French Dorking.’”? They are excel-
lent layers of fine eggs of large size. The cocks are
very vigorous, and can serve a large number of
hens. The chickens usually hatch some hours be-
fore their time, and it is a rare occurrence to find
an unfertiie egg. They are non-sitters. Houdans
make excellent crosses on common fowls or on Asi-
atics.
LaFleche and Crevecceurs are also French
breeds of poultry bred to a small extent in this
country, but on account of their delicate constitu-
tion are not valued for farmer’s use. All the French
breeds, it is believed, originated from a cross of the
Polish and Creveceurs, and are, in fact, a Polish
fowl, to all intent and purposes, but increased in
size; the same ancestry is shown by the delicate
constitution which characterizes nearly all the vari-
eties.

AMERICAN DOMINIQUES.

These fowls are like the Plymouth Rocks in
plumage and bright yellow legs. But unlike the
Plymouth Rocks they are an old established variety

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Profitable Poultry Raisins. 89

and breed very true to color; the cocks, however,
are lighter colored than the hens. They have neat
rose combs, are excellent table fowls, good layers,
free breeders, very hardy, and one of the most val-
uable breeds for the general farmer. They are not
quite as large as the Plymouth Rocks.

BANTAMS.

There are several distinct breeds of Bantams;
the Game, Silver, and Golden Sebright and Black
African, being the most important. All are culti-
vated almost solely as pets, and hence it is not in
our province to speak of them here. Bantams can,
however, be bred in so small a yard (five or six feet
square) that they can be kept by many who have no
better facilities. They also will produce as many
eggs, although of small size, as larger fowls. Noth-

SEBRIGHT BANTAMS.
ing can exceed their eggs in delleacy of flavor

90 Profitable Poultry Raising.

Small Bantams can be run in the same yard with
large Asiastics or Plymouth Rocks, without danger
of mixing.

TURKEYS.

The varieties of turkeys are the mammoth
Bronze, White Holland, Black, Slate and Buff Tur-
keys. The Bronez Turkeys are gene ally considered
the largest. Adult gobblers will weigh 40 and 45
pounds each, hens 15 to 20. Young turkey gob-
blers, at eight months old, will weigh from 20 to 25
pounds each, and hens from 12 to 15 pounds. These
are fair average weights. They will gainabout one
pound in two weeks. But occasionally, and also
when birds are especially well fed, they will ex-
ceed these weights. For breeding stock, however,
it is not well to force them too much. Further
north, where the snow is on the ground for a longer
period, and where, consequently, the turkeys are
fed more corn, they will weigh heavier. The new
American standard only recognizes the light-tipped
turkeys, while the dark bronze are really the more
beautiful, and by many breeders pr.ferred. Both
colors can be bred from the same stock if they are
so mated, but some of this off-spring will be of a
mixed bronze plumage. The silver-tips, however,
are generally purer bred. The dark bronze will
often throw buff or cinnamon birds, showing that
they have beei: crossed with that variety to secure
the desired color. Pure Turkeys are believed to
have originated from a cross of the wild turkey and
_ the gray Narragansett. |

Profitable Poultry Raising. 91

BRONZE TURKEYS.

The White Holland Turkeys are a very hand-
some and showy variety. The rich red beads and
the glossy black beard of the male, contrasting
beauti'ully with a plumage of snowy whiteness.
For a lawn, a finer or more aristocratic ornament
could not be desired. They are not only *‘a thing
of beauty,’’ but are also a very valuable breed.
They are very much larger than the common white
turkey, and also unlike them, very hardy. Their
flesh is much esteemed as of a superior delicacy:
They are especially valued on account of their supe-
rior laying qualities and early mating. While their
eggs are not quite as large as the Bronze, they are
produced more abundantly,

92 Profitable Poultry Raising.

Black turkeys are distinguished by an intense
deep black color throughout, and are of large size.

Blue turkeys, sometimes called Slate turkeys,
shoul | be of an even slaty color throughout. The
best stock of this breed was imported from France.
They are much esteemed on account of their pro-
lificacy, early maturity, large size, and rich flavor
of their flesh; being, in many cases, fully equal in
size to the Bronze. This breed is well worthy of
more general cultivation.

Buff turkeys are, as their name indicates, of a
pure buff color throughout. They are compara-
tively but little bred. In no stock is the importance
of a good male so fully evinced, and every farmer
should, each year or two, as already hinted, pro-
cure a good thoroughbred gobbler, of either the
Bronze, White Holland or Blue varieties.

PEKIN DUCKS.

The duck of the period, ani the coming duck.
Although of recent introduction into this country,
they have become remarkably popular in a very few
years. They have already gained the preference
over the other varieties. They are in constant de-
mand, which proves their real merit. The plumage
of the Pekin Duck is of a ecreamy-white, and they
have yellow bills and orange legs. They are very
ornamental, so much so that they are kept in some
of our public parks. -Their average weight is from
14 to 16 ponnds per pair. They, like all Asiatic
fowls, appear decidedly larger than any other vari-
ety of the duck family on account of their loose

Profitable Poultry Raising. 93

PEKIN DUCKS.

fluffy feathers, but sometimes they are equaled in
weight by the very best Rouens. They are also
highly esteemed for their early maturity, hardiness»
flesh and eggs. They are the very best laying ducks
known; a single duck has been known to lay 150
egys per vear.. Tiiey are easily confined, and re-
quire no more Water than chickens.

’

AYLESBURY DUCKS.

They are deservedly popular on account of
their prolific qualities, size and early maturity.
They are of a spotless white, with flesh colored
bills and bright orange colored legs. ‘hey lay
large and well flavored eggs in abundance, between
the months of March and June. They are an ex-—
cellent table fowl, their flesh being beautifully
white, and always commanding a high price in the
market.

94 Profitable Poultry Raising.

AYLESBURY DUCKS.
EMBDEM GEESE.

The Embdem Geese appear first, so far as at
present known, in Holland, although they receive
their name from a town in Germany. -They were
first imported into America in 1821, having been
shipped from Bremen, for which reason, doubtless,
they are sometimes called the Bremen. The Emb-
dem goose is pure white, the legs, feet and bill being
yellow, the eye of a peculiar blue. In shape, they
have some advantage over their rivals, the Tou-
louse in the absence of the depending belly, which

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Profitable Poultry Raising. 95

is, in some eyes a deformity. This variety of geese
reaches nearly, if not quite as large size as any
other. The light feathers of the Embden variety
make them more popular with some, since these
bring a better price in market. The flesh is spoken
of with great praise’ as being less dry than that of
the common goose; the breed is of a quiet disposi-
tion, and therefore grows rapidly. The Eimbden is
an early layer, and under proper circumstances
often produces two broods a year. Whoever will
keep them will find them profitable, while their
beautiful, snow-white plumage makes the flock an
ornament to the poultry yard.

AFRICAN, OR HONG KONG GEESE.

They area very ornamental breed. They are
as hardy and as easily rearel as any other geese.
In color they are of a grayish brown, with
a brown stripe down the back of the neck.
Taney have black bills and dusky orange-colored
legs. A marked peculiarity is a black protuber-
ance or knob at the base of the upper bill. They
matere early and area gool table fowl. They are
decidedly the best layers of a goose family, laying
25 or 30 eggs before showing any inclination to sit,
and will lay three or four litters in a season, while
other varieties rarely lay over 15 eggs. They com-
mence taying in February if the weather is mild,
and again in September.

f

96 Profitable Poultry Raisins.

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