I UMASS/AMHERST IIHHilll 31EDbbDDSEEbl3E Price 26 Cts. DePUYS POPULAR POULTRY BOOKS. V/',: LIBRARY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURAL EGE 3F 487 SOUF £U_ .ipLurixis. DATE DUE 1 n/ ^^m Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2009 with funding from Boston Library Consortium IVIember Libraries http://www.archive.org/details/allaboutbroilersOOboye SECTIONAL Vir.Wa FRO.\ THE MODEL POULTRY English Mastiff ARM OFTHE WEST. )GS AND PeRRETS, Write for prices stating requiremeii nclosing stamp for Catalogue. Address, 1-IE EUREKA POUL TRY CO., Port Huron, Mich. The Eureka Poultry Co., PORT HURON, MICH, -BREEDERS OF- HIGH CLASS THOROUGHBRED POULTRY AND DUCKS. 20 Leading Varieties. 1000 High Scoring Birds TO SELECT FROM. EGGS IN SEASON MATED FROM PRIZE WINNERS, CORRESPONDENCE SOLICITED. Broiler Eggs by the loo furnished from Pens mated for that purpose. M. K. BOYER. DePuys Popular Poultry Books No. 1. All About Broilers And Market Poultry Generally BY M. K. BOYER. SYRACUSE, N. Y.: CLARENCE C. DePUY, PUBLISHER. 189I. PRESS OF CLARENCE C. DePUY, - BOOK AND JOB PRINTER, SYRACUSE, N. Y. ? REFAGE. In undertaking the task of writing a treatise on broilers and market poultr}', it shall be the aim of the writer to overdraw nothing, but to present things in their true light. It is with the object of teaching the novice, and avoiding mis- takes so often made by those who take their maiden step into the business, that this book is written. No theories are used, ever}' line is but the record of the experience of one who has spent considerable time and money in gaining the knowledge; and in the hope that all who read may be benefitted, we beg leave to remain, THE AUTHOR. Hammonton^ N . "J. Contents. CHAPTER I. IS BROILfK RAISING A FAILURE? HOW MUCH CAPITAL IS RE- QUIRED? HOW MUCH LAND, AND HOW MUCH TIME IS NEC- ESSARY? WHAT ARE THE PROFITS? CHAPTER JI. INCUBATORS, AND HOW TO RUN THEM. BROODERS, AND HOW TO MANAGE THEM. FEED, AND HOW TO GIVE IT. CHAPTER III. MISTAKES IN BROILER RAISING. PURE-BREDS FOR BROILERS. GOOD CROSSES FOR BROILERS. HOW BROILERS ARE PRE- PARED FOR MARKET. CHAPTER IV. AN EGG FARM. HOW TO BUILD HOUSES. HOW TO FEED LAYING HENS. HOW TO GET FERTILE EGGS. HOW TO MARKET. CONTENTS. CHAPTER V HOW TO FATTEN. CAPONIZING. PURE-BREDS THE BEST. MONEY IN DUCKS. HOW LARGE A FARM. DISEASES AND REMEDIES. CHAPTER VI. SIZE OF BREEDING PEN. A VIRGINIAN'S EGG SECRET. FRENCH LICE REMEDY. "SOUR KROUT" FOR FOWLS. E. C. HOWE's BROILER FOOD. PETERSON's FEED FOR LAYING HENS. PETERSON'S FEED FOR YOUNG CHICKS. POULTRY AT THE EXPERIMENT STATIONS. Fici. 2— PERMANENT POULTRY HOUSE. AN OUT DOOR INCUBATOR CELLAR. CHAPTER I. IS BROILER RAISING A FAILURE.'' HOW MUCH CAPITAL IS RE QUIRED? HOW MUCH LAND, AND HOW MUCH TIME IS NEC ESSARY? WHAT ARE THE PROFITS? These are questions put to us almost every day. They are not the easiest to answer, by any means. So much depends up- on the man and the conditions. "Is broiler raising a failure?" No. Man}' have failed at it, 'tis true, so have hundreds of mer- chants, farmers, and other tradesmen. Because the man has failed in the dry goods business is no reason to suppose that the dry goods trade is a failure. Because farmers are annually sold out by the sheriff dtjes not prove that there is no monej^ in growing crops. Because manufacturers have been closed by the sheriff does not go to say that their goods are of no value. Then neither can the broiler business be called a failure because so many have been compelled to blow out the lights. Most of the failures in all business come from some cause in the main chargeable to the operator. This is not the business for a novice, unless the novice i.« willing to pay a reasonable sum for his experience. The success- ful broiler raisers of to-day are men that have generally paid pretty dearly for the whistle! If there were no failures, if every Tom, Dick and Harry could step right into it and make money,' it would not be long before prices would drop, caused by a gkitted market lO ALL ABOUT BROILERS This may noL be pleasant to the ambitious novice. He had supposed that to raise chickens for market was as easy as rolling off a log. On the other hand it is hard work ; "eternal vigilence." The successful broiler raiser is a man of pluck, energy, perse- verence. He has good business principles, and he puts them to play. He is up and doing. You will always find him at his post. From October to July he fairly resides in the brooder house. God pity the poor "invalid," the delicate woman, the "child" that undertake the task without knowing what is before them. We have seen men start up the farm, get good incubators, erect substantial houses, put in a number one brooding system, start out with good hatches, fill up a number of pens with fine chicks — and then greet us with mouth and eyes wide open, saying: "I didn't know there was such hard w-ork connected with the raising of chicks." It is not so much the muscular work, in fact there is very little of that, but the staying up late at night watching the incubators, the getting up early in the morning for to care for those hatched, the continual vigilence for signs of sickness, the lookout for enemies of all kinds, and the myriads of little things that take up so much care, and that dare not be neglected. A neglect of these little things is what has caused more failures than anything else. Business principles must be applied to poultry affairs as well as anything else, only all people do not think so. They find out, later on, hoAvever, to their sorrow. "How much capital must I have.^" It is a stunner. It depends upon many things. Some men in some places can start in a small way with three hundred dollars. We have known others to invest two thousand dollars in the start. But the best plan is to begin small. Commence at the bottom of the ladder and climb up. There are a great many things to be considered. First, — There must be the incubator house and incubators. Second, — The brooding house and the brooders. AND MARKET POULTRY GENERALLY. 11 Third, — The eggs for hatching. Fourth,— Fuel, feed, vour board, and general running expenses for five or six months. All these need capital, even after the chicks are hatched it will take four months to grow them to the marketable size. Up until the first shipment is made, there is no chance for a penny of income, but all outgo. The best and safest plan is to put up a brooding house to accomodate several hundred chicks at a time, get two small incu- bators (say two hundred capacity each), and thus begin. Of course this will only do when run in with other work. The other worjc must ^ive you your living, and when you have fairly educated yourself then will be the best time to enlarge your plant, and devote your entire time. If those who have failed could have started in just that way, there would have been less disaster. A small plant, like the one just described, would be profitable for the farmer. He could install his son, daughter or wife into the general care of it, and it would become a valuable adjunct. Of course the drudgery work, like carrying water, cleaning up, etc., should not fall to the lot of the woman— it's man's work; but the madam will run the incubators and brooders, nine times out of ten, better th^n the man. In Henry Phillips's immense brooding establishment in Hammonton, one of the largest in this country, Mr. Phillips's mother attends to the incubators, and she does remarkable work, keeping that mammoth brooder filled up right along. So Mrs. Bradbury, wife of W. H. Hr Bradbury, of the Valley Avenue Egg Farm, Hammonton, successfully runs the incubators. And the Misses Pressey, daughters of G. W. Pressey, manufacturer of the Hammonton incubators, have made many sales for their father's machines by producing plump and extra fine broilers. We might mention more, but these show that the patience, per- severence and grit of the women count wonderfv;lly in the work. 12 ALL ABOUT BROILERS "How much land?" Well, you cannot run a broiler estab- lishment on a town lot. We ivould want five acres. The space taken up by the brooder will not be much, but to guarantee suc- cess, there must be plenty of room left for old fowls, to supply the eggs. The wise broiler raiser, and the one that makes the most out of it, raises his own eggs. Last year, those that bought up their eggs, averaged a hatch of about 35 per cent. Such costs cut deep into the profits. "How much time.^" All the time possible. Those that raise large numbers are always at their post. Incubators must be \vatched, brooders must be watched; and between cleaning the brooders, preparing the feed, watering the stock, testing the eggs, and all the other necessary work, time goes very fast, and the day is spent before one is well aware of it. The more time you spent at the work, the better results you will have. Now, "what are the profits.'"' Profits vary. The average cost of an egg in winter can be safely put down at two cents. Two hvindred eggs would cost four dollars. To run a lamp machine (supposing you are using that), will average a cent a day — twenty-one days would bring it twenty-one cents. Say that you have a good test when you examine your eggs about the seventh day, and that you find seventy-five per cent of them fertile. That would reduce the number of eggs down to one hundred and fifty, making their value, say two and a half cents each. The hatch comes off, you get one hundred chicks (50 per cent, is a good average — incubator manufacturers claim to the contrary, notwithstanding), and each chick costs four cents each, or, in other words, the one hundred chickens cost when one day old, four dollars and twenty-one cents, counting in the cost of the oil. But they won't all live. Twenty-five are most apt to die. Then the seventy-five will be worth to you about five and a half cents. To take a chick, and raise it up to a pound and a half or two pounds weight (broiler size) will cost, including brooding, and not counting labor at all, about fifteen cents a pound — two AND MARKET POULTRY GENERALLY. 1 3 pounds, thirty cents, original value of chick five and a half cents, total, thirtj-five and a half cents. The market price for broilers is from thirty cents per pound upwards. The early birds capture the best prices. Thirty cents is a good average, making sixty cents for a two pound chick, leaving, after subtracting the cost given, a margin of twenty- four and a half cents on each bird. But then it costs five cents each to have a bird stabbed and dry picked, and this leaves about nineteen and a half cents profit, out of which must yet come your labor. Now this estimate is given after interviewing nearly all the broiler men in this section. But even that profit amounts to considerable where several thousand birds are annually raised. It is a hard matter to get down to the cost and profits of a busi- ness that varies as does this, but our figures are impartially drawn, with no intention of misleading. ALL ABOUT BROILERS CHAPTER II. NCUBATORS, AND HOW TO RUN THEM. BROODERS, AND HOW TO MANAGE THEM. FEED, AND HOW TO GIVE IT. Which is the best incubator.'* Who can tell.^ Ii depends, upon the person in charge. It is so with all kinds of machinery. Simply because Jones don't know how to rim a certain machine is no criterion that the machine is no good. We have run machines that have been condemned by others, and yet our success has been good ; on the other hand with a certain incubator we could not do any hatching at all, and we gave it to a lady who suc- ceeded wonderfully. During our experience with incubators we have tried many different makes, but we have failed to secure as good hatches and strong birds from hot air machines as from those in which hot water is used. The reason for this, to our mind, is that the hot water gives more of a moist air and even temperature than hot air. If it is not this, what else can be the cause, as the con- struction of the machines are alike .^ The French are skilled poultrymen. They make money in the business. Read the descinption of their hatcheries and brooders, and you will find that hot water is the agent clean through. Here in Hammonton, however, hot air is chiefly used in hatching, yet we fail to find the vigorous chicks, on an average, that we can daily see in the broods that have been brought into this world by means of hot water. AND MARKET POULTRY GENERALLY. 1 5 The Pineland Incubator Company, of Jamesburg, N. J., have built a machine partly from the patterns used in France. It is yet on trial, but the hatches so f^r have been remarkably good. When this machine is perfected there will be a revolution in hot water. Nearly all the new makes are on the hot water plan, it having become a pretty well settled fact that it is the only true method that can be employed. So much for our opinion ; others may prefer hot air. We use both at present, but our success is very closely attaching us to the old system. But as we have hinted at before, it is not so much the make of the machine that gives us success or failure, as the manner in which it is handled. In the first place the operator must strictly follow the man- ufacturer's directions. Where novices generally fail is in the attempt to teach the manufacturer. Their ability increases too rapidly. Here are a few rules which are imperative for success: There must be an even tetnperature in the machine. That is, the thermometer must register the same in all parts. To secure that, the incubator must stand perfectly level. The outside temperature of the room must be even. We have yet to hear of a machine that is not affected by a variation in temperature on the outside. For that reason we recommend a dry cellar. The engraving shown in this book (which we repro- duce from the American Agriculturist) of an out-door cellar, is by far the best arrangement that can be had. The illustration is a likeness of the cellar on Frank Hopping's broiler farm, in Hammonton: Mr. Hopping tried it last year, and it has worked to perfection. The temperature of the chamber was even, and there was less trouble with his incubators than formerly. It can be made any size wanted. Regulators on machines need regulating. A regulator should be set at loo degrees, so that when 103 degrees are reached it opens sufficiently to let off the surplus heat. Anything from l6 ALL ABOUT BROILERS loo to 105 will bring good results. A fall of temperature to 90 degrees will not kill the hatch, but prolong it, while no degrees, if allowed to continue so for more than an hour will end the experiment. Therefore, the regulator needs proper regulating. Moisture is very tiecessary. It is nature's provision. Hens set in a cool place, on the ground, have the best hatches. The hen that goes off to the woods, lays a clutch of eggs and then incubates, returns with a big percentage, notwithstanding that she has exposed herself and the eggs, to the inclemency of the weather. We favor moisture, and plenty of it after the eighteenth day. Turning the eggs is also imperative. "The hen don't turn her eggs," said a gentleman to us one day. But she does. Watch her when she returns to her nest after you have fed her. See how she twists herself about — she is then turning her eggs. We turn them in the incubator morning and evening, aboiit twelve hours apart. But we stop turning them after the chicks begin to pip the shell. Eggs must be tested. We test on the seventh and fourteenth day. White eggs can be tested on the fourth day, but dark eggs can never be satisfactory examined until about the seventh day, and we have made that the time of our first test. We take out all the clear ones, which have no germ in them. They can be used in cooking. We replace all doubtful ones. On the four- teenth day we retain only the strong ones, and the cloudy or weak germed eggs we break up into the soft feed for our laying hens. The hatch must not be ta7nfered -with. After the hatch is started, keep the machine closed. Start turning the eggs about the fourth da}'. When you take the tray out of the machine, close the door or drawer and after you have turned every egg, replace the trays. There wall be a fall of temperature. Stay by the machine until the heat goes up again, and see that every- thing is all right before you leave it. Do not open the door or drawer to show inquisitive people how the eggs look. There is AND MARKET POULTRY GENERALLY. 17 nothing for them to see, and jou are running- a great risk. The hen sits very closely, not even coming off for her feed, for the first few days. The second week she is off more than at any other time. Towards the close of the hatch she again resumes her close work. Leave the chicks alone. When the chicks are coming out the shell is when there is the most danger. Leave them kick about all they want to. Don't try to help them. . They need no help. Those that are too weak to come out will be too weak to live even if you help them out. Do not remove a chick from the incubator for twenty-four hours. For every time you do so, you lower the temperature, and imperil the hatch. Do not let your curiosity get the best of you. There are more suggestions that could be given, but the manufacturer's circulars will explain the balance to your satisfaction. Having hatched the chicks, we must have a good brooding system. In Hammonton the Pressey, Packard, Smyrna, Pine- land, and nurseries are used. The Pressey brooder is run by an oil stove, a stove being required to each brooder. They have given the best of satisfac- tion, the onl}' drawback being that they require more care than any of the other three systems named. The Packard system is the original plan used for large houses. The heat is given by a large stove, sent by hot water through the pipes laid under the brooders, giving a bottom heat. The Smyrna and Pineland systems are worked upon the same plan, giving top heat, and those using these claim they do better work than the bottom heat plan. We always favored top heat, as it is more after the hen fashion. She gives the warmth from her body over the eggs. In all our operations in artificial incubation we must pattern after the hen. Nurseries are valuable for chicks until they are a week or ten days old. We keep them in there vmtil they have become strong, and accustomed to feeding, when we remove them to l8 ALL ABOUT BROILERS the regular brooding house. By the use of nurseries, the mor- tality among the chicks can be greatly reduced. A few hints on the management of brooders will not come amiss : In the first place do 7iot have brooders too ->.varjn. The heat in the nurseries should be kept up to about 90 degrees for the first week. But when the chicks are removed to the brooding house, they should be gradually accustomed to a temperature of about 80 degrees. We raise better chicks at this temperature than at a higher one. Too much heat does more harm than good. Before we leave our brooder at night we take a look at the chicks. If they are squatting about the brooder they are comfortable, and the heat all right. But if they are crowding, the temperature has fallen, and you will need more heat. There must be perfect cleanliness. A departure from this rule will bring about sickness. Clean up every day. It is but a little work at a time, and it pays. On bright days, w^hen the chicks are running out in their yards, open up the windows, and hus thoroughly ventilate the house. Have sand in the brooder run. It gives the chicks a dust bath, which is not only relished by them, but very beneficial in many waj's. Avoid dampness. Nothing will kill off chicks so rapidly as this. Set the house about a foot above ground, have a board floor upon which put about six inches of sand. This makes it proof against damp floors, and as we line the outside with the best quality of Neponset Rope Roofing Fabric, we have a warm, dry building throughout the whole year. Under our floor we have quarter inch ware netting, which keeps rats from getting into the brooders. Rats are dead enemies of chicks. The style of brooding house can be according to the wishes of the builder. Those in Hammonton are built with slant roof, glass sash on top, as per diagram herewith given. We, however, do not favor too much glass, and prefer a house on the same plan as the hen house which we illustrated elsewhere. Instead of full sash, onl}' half sash is used. All glass Avindows should AND MARKET POULTRY GENERALLY. I9 be covered at night by curtains, which will keep out a great deal of cold. Mr. Pressey uses no glass at all. Instead of the sash he has oiled muslin blinds. On nice days he removes them, and lets both the sun and air come in with full force. In feeding chicks, we must give them such food as will grow them rapidly. Our plan is to put rolled oats before them from the start, with boiled milk as a drink. After several days we give a mash made up of two parts bran, one pai't corn-meal, and a handful of meat scraps to a pail of the mixture. This is scalded several hours before feeding, and fed Avarm— not hot nor sloppy. Cracked wheat, and cracked corn is added after about tAvo weeks of age. Gravel, or grit of most any kind, is con- stantly before them. About twice a week we add bone-meal to the mixture. We never feed hard boiled eggs, nor do we use any condition powders. The finest chickens we ever grew was on this meal and bran diet. We keep forcing them right along, feeding every two or three hours for the first two weeks, after that about three times a day. By Avay of variety we roast potatoes, and then cutting them into halves, we place them about the brooder. It does not take long before they know all about it, and the potato is highly relished. The broiler men in Hammonton vary the diet. There is no fixed rule. Corn-meal and bran, however, go into the composi- tion of all. Some bake regular Johnny Cakes, Corn Bread, etc., all of which are very good. Chopped up cabbage leaves, onion tops, and any greens available, are beneficial. There must be green food of some kind supplied. After the chicks are about a month old, we change the feed somewhat, by giving equal parts of ground corn and oats, and bran; to which meat scraps are added. But at the same time, cracked corn is before them most of the time. If we have chicks from good crosses, or suitable purebreds, our experience has been that this bill of fare will make marketable birds quicker than any other mode of feeding. 20 ALL ABOUT BROILERS CHAPTER III. MISTAKES IX BROILER RAISING. PURE-BREDS FOR BROILERS. GOOD CROSSES FOR BROILERS. HOW BROILERS ARE PRE- PARED FOR MARKET. To take up the "Mistakes in Broiler Raising," we know we tread upon delicate grounds, what may be our opinions may not be accepted by others. We do not desire to open up a sub- ject for debate, but instead wish to note a few errors in the busi- ness and which has proven of no little consequence among the broiler men of Hammonton and elsewhere. In the first place we do not like the present style of brood- ing houses. There is entirely too much glass about it; while the glass will let in considerable sun during the day, it likewise becomes a conductor of cold at night. In the present style, nearly the entire front of the roof is composed of glass — hot bed sash. It has become necessary to cover the glass on the inside with a curtain, at night, to keep out the cold. One-half the sash used would give better results. There is room for improvement in this. Then, it is a great mistake to crowd the pens. Without exception, the capacity of brooders is over-estimated. In lOO capacity brooders we never put more than fifty chicks, and not that when we can help it. It is an undisputed fact, that small flocks in chicks, as well as fowls, do best. Overcrowding causes more deaths than anything else, and when broiler men realize this, there will be better success. AND MARKET POULTRY GENERALLY. 21 Then, we consider it a mistake to run a broiler establish- ment without an egg farm attached. If every raiser would keep just enough old fowls to supph' the eggs needed, there would be more chicks hatched. Buying up eggs here and there, and every\vhere, does not onlv put a heavy expense upon the concern, but insures more unsatisfactory results. Then, we consider it a mistake to raise chicks on a high temperature of heat. Brooding at loo degrees is not conducive to health or success. Begin at 90°, and gradually reduce as the bird ages. A great many ills are caused by too much heat. Then, we think there is too much soft feed; bran and corn- meal with cracked grain at noon and night, we have found will grow chicks better than a mess of soft stuff the whole day through. Then, we think using eggs from dunghills is wrong. We look upon it as unprofitable, and believe the day is nearing when the thorough-breds, either in their puritj', or in the first results of good crossing, will be used entirely. While it is true that a thorough-bred cock mated to dunghill hens will make a better class of birds, we know that they will not do as well as the first mating of pure-breds. During the past year we have experiinented with thorough- breds— Wyandottes, Plymouth Rocks, and Langshans. We have been enabled to grow plump birds in less time than those have who have used eggs from common fowls. Besides, later in the season, when broiler prices were down, we could pick out the best marked birds to be used, or disposed of, as breeders, and at good prices. The prejudice that white skinned birds would not sell in the markets, is fast dying out. Large lots of them are annually shipped from Hammonton, and the returns are the same as from the yellow skinned ones. The Plymouth Rocks and Wyandottes are excellent broiler fowls, especially the latter. The American Dominique makes a capital bird for this purpose. The Leghorn is likewise much used, although we like it better crossed upon some other breed, than in its purity. Why more Houdans are not used by broiler men we 22 ALL ABOUT BROILERS cannot understand. They are a quick growing fowl, plump, and affording an excellent flavored meat. Besides, the Houdan eggs are remarkably fertile. The subject of pure-breds for market poultry is yet in its infancy, but the time is not far off when the common fowl will be entirely wnped out. Last year we made quite a number of experiments in cross- ing fowls, and met with remarkably good success. Among the many tests we made, were Houdan crossed upon Cochin, Brahma and Wyandottes, and Plymouth Rock upon Leghorn. In the Houdan crosses we secured more than we expected, especially in our Houdan-Cochin mating. We had a chick from the start plump, hardy and quick growing. At twelve weeks of age it was ready for market. Although the idea was entirely original to us, we afterwards heard, that W. Cook, the English poultry authority, made the same kind of e5:periment, and produced such meritorious birds that he has placed them upon his list of fowls for market purposes. Houdan crossed upon any breed is profitable. Our Plymouth Rock-Leghorn mating, while it also proved to be good, did not reach the mark attained by the aforesaid crossings. Yet we secured plump and quick growing carcasses. We have found, and so has every practical poultryman, that in the endeavor to get the exactness of feather, the thorough- breds have been crippled in health. Expose a pen of thorough- breds, and a pen of birds from crossing, to contageon, and the former will catch the disease quicker than the later. This is no theory; we have experienced it. The infusion of new blood attained by crossing improves the constitution of the offspring, and where one aims for market poultry exclusively, we advise a mixing of two breeds. Of course, there must be good common sense used in the matter. The male must be of a quick growing breed, and the female of a solid body, broad breast variety. Then we g'et the meaty broilers. But if we cross birds of like merits, we get nothing better than what each of the class used affords. AND MARKET POULTRY GENERALLY. 2^ Speaking of crosses, recalls to us a query, and one which may interest our readers; "what makes the dunghill fowl, are not crosses dunghills?" When we mate two thorough-breds we have a cross. The young from this cross gives us the idea we are working for. Then we must stop. If we mate up the birds from one cross, by themselves, we are losing the benefits, and each succeeding cross lessens the value. Likewise if we promiscuously yard all breeds, and allow them to mix up hap- hazard, we are breeding dunghills, for we gain only to lose again. In fancy poultry breeding, crossing is still more of a hard problem. There considerable inbreeding is resorted to in order to retain certain points and add others. It is this inbreeding that produces the weakened constitutions we have referred to. So, then, we must in broiler raising, either use the fowl in its purity or else the results of the first cross of pure-breds. In no other way can we successfully conduct the business. The preparing of broilers for market is generally done by experts. The legs are tied to a rope suspended from the ceiling, and the operator then takes the bird under his left arm, and with killing knife in right hand ptabs the bird in the roof of the mouth. No sooner is the bird stabbed, when the operator begins pulling the feathers, and before the chick is through struggling it is perfectly bare. Women generally do the pin feathering. All birds are dry picked. ALL ABOUT BROILERS CHAP LER IV. AN EG(i P\\R>L HOW TO BUILD HOUSES. HOW TO I'EED LAYING HENS. HOW TO GET FERTILE EGGS. HOW TO MARKET. We herewith give a few extracts from articles we have written for the several journals with which we are connected, and which fully cover the ground: To successfully run an egg farm — the eggs for table use only — pullets are the best to start with. We have always argued, and proven by our own experiments, that hens or pullets will lay more eggs when not receiving the attention of males, than with them. Some writers disagree with us on that score. Eng- lish authorities like to use one male with twenty-five or thirty females. We always looked upon the matter in this light: When a cock or cockerel is used, the hens or pullets much sooner show signs of wanting to hatch. When they get broody they stop laying, and idle away their time. This is a loss to the owner. Our plan is to exclude the males from the yards of laying hens, but keep several small houses or yards, domiciled by young, vigorous cockerels. As soon as a hen becomes broody, we put her in one of the yards, and, in nine cases out of ten, she will change her mind and will again start to lay. Then she is returned to the fiock. In this way much time is saved. So many make a grave mistake to build one long poultry house. We know of some hen-houses five hundred feet long, divided up into departments ten feet each. The size of the departments AND xMARKET POULTRY GENERALLY. 2^ is correct, for not more than ten fowls; but the danger in having the houses all in one is the liability of the spread of contagion. Better have houses forty, feet long, four .apartments in a hovise. and the houses separated some distance apart. This will give less chance for the spread of sickness. One other great mis- take is to start in with a large flock. It is all well enough if all other conditions are equal, but in the majority of cases they are not. — rdxva Homestead^ Des Moines. That there is money in supplying eggs for table use there is no doubt. We believe that more money can be realized in this than in the sale of eggs for fancy. If farmers I alnd poultry men generally would create retail markets — sell direct to the con- sumer— they would not only secure good prices, blit would give more general satisfaction. The home market is crying for 'Afresh eggs." Do they get them.^ We venture to say that there are more stale eggs, over one week old, palmed off to hotels, stores and families, than fresh ones. How many eggs are broken open that do not show a red streak in the yolk.'' How many are used that do not have a stale flavor.? Hotels are getting sick of it; merchants are afraid of it; families are indig- nant about it, and no wonder. Here is a farmer that lets his hens run at large. They lay wherever they please. In his search for eggs he picks one up here and one there. Perhaps a week afterwards he discovers a whole nest of them; they may have been laid hy different hens the same day, or they may have been the accumulation of one hen in so many days. It is the later, more likely, but off -to tiiarket they go anyhow; go as fresh eggs. Here is a man running an incubator. At the end of the fourth or fifth day he makes his test of eggs; those perfectly clear are infertile; if the germ has started and died it can hardly be seen in so short a time. Off they go to market. The con- sumer never knows any better. They are perfectly safe to use, but they have a stale flavor nevertheless. They may have been laid two or three weeks before they were put into the incubator. 26 ALL ABOUT BROILERS Four days under the heat of 103 degrees is equal to one week with no heat. But the consumer buys "fresh eggs" all the same. — lozva Homesteady Des Moines. It is necessary to have comfortable quarters. We give an illustration of one of our hen houses, which is complete in every way. It is a big mistake to have too large a house, as in the case of contageon, the entire flock are placed in dan^fer. We like board floors in hen houses, and on this about six inches of sand or dry earth. They prevent dampness, and are more readily cleaned. In feeding laying hens, care must be taken that they are not given too fattening food. Wheat is the best grain for laying hens, and oats comes next. A morning feed of bran and ground oats and wheat, with a pint of meat scraps to a bucket of the mixture, slightly moistened; with a scattering of wheat or oats among leaves or other litter to keep the fowls exercising, and an evening feed of wheat or oats, we find the best &^^ food. We suspend cabbages in the hen houses, just high enough so the fowl must jump up to pick off a piece. Gravel is strewn all over the yards, and boxes of oyster shells within access. We give all the food they will eat up clean, but no more, and as a rule w^e never are troubled with overfat. During the winter months w^e give a little corn at night. The subject of fertile eggs is one that is commanding con- siderable attention. Some writers advocate a few hens to a cock, others a large number. The best results in our yards have come from flocks of eight hens and a cock with the lighter breeds, and six hens and a cock with the Asiatics. It is a good plan to change males several times during the season. A good range, and plenty of green food are great helps. Two males in one yard never do well. One will be master, and the other cowed down. One of the shrewdest poultrymen we know of, is continually catering to the demands of the market. He ships broilers when broileis are high; he rushes his roasters to the stalls when the demand is great; all stock goes in an attractive style. AND MARKET POULTRY GENERALLY. 2'J CHAPTER V. HOW TO FATTEN. CAPONIZING. PURE-BREDS THE BEST. MONEY IN DUCKS. HOW LARGE A FARM. DISEASES AND REMEDIES. There is nothing to beat corn and cornmeal for fattening, and these articles, along with boiled potatoes and meat scraps, will do better work than anything else that can be given. Our plan is to give scalded cornmeal and boiled potatoes in the morning, to which is added a pint of meat scraps to a bucket of the feed. At noon give whatever green food is on hand. For evening feed, all the whole corn they will eat. Besides, a box of grit, and a box of broken charcoal must be constantly within reach. It must be borne in mind, that the less exercise the foAvls have, the quicker they will fatten. Confine them to small yards. George W. Pressey, of Hammonton, N. J., has a fattening house with slat flooring. The fowls are continually roosting and eat- ing. In about a week or ten daj^s he is enabled to send heavy weights to market. He uses the house principally for fattening his broiler stock. He grows body first, and then fattens them in this house about a week prior to shipment. Caponizing is drawing the attention of poultrymen all over the country. It improves the quality and increases the quantity of flesh. The best prices for Capons are obtained in February JS ALL ABOUT BROILERS and March. The Plymouth Rock makes an excellent capon, Dow recommends a Dorking cock crossed on Brahma or Cocjiin hens, and then re-crossed with Plymouth Rocks. We have not the space in this work to go into details, but would recommend Dow's book on ''Capons and Caponizing" which can either be secured of C. C. DePuv, Syracuse, N. Y., or the author of this book, for fifty cents. Piirebrcds are the best for the market poultryman. It is a mistake to suppose that the common scrub hen is just as good. In an article in the Delaware Farm and Home, the author of this manual gives these pointers: In breeding purebreds each season there are a lot of pulls. The best marked birds should be picked out, and some of the rest could be yarded and the offspring sold as broilers. Cock- erels could be fattened up and sold as roasters. In this way tAvo objects can be accomplished, and the income increased. In fact, whether we are raising fancy poultry or not, it is always best to stud}' various methods by which little financial extras cah be secured. They add considerably to the amounts necessary to reduce the expense column. And let us likewise assure our farmer friends, that whether they use or sell the poultry drop- pings, it is an item to gather them each day. They pay for the labor. If a man goes into poultry farming to win, and is persevering, he cannot do otherwise than succeed. He can have his pure- bred stock, his broilers, his roasters, his eggs, his ducks, his geese, his turkeys and even his squab pigeons. All come under the one head, and one helps the other along admirably. Ducks are valuable acquisitions to a poultry farm. They are always worth their money. Duck culture is becoming a very important industry, A great many farmers are taking up this branch, and the public is rapidly being converted toward it. The Pekins, Cayuga, Rouen and Aylesbury varieties are the market birds. They need no bathing water, and are valuable fowls. Ducklings are very easily raised. About the only pre- AND MARKET POULTRY GENERALLY. 29 caution necessary is to keep them from getting their backs wet before they have assumed their feathers. The best duck feed is bran, to which should be added one-third scalded cornmeal, and a little meat scraps. jNIiddlings makes a good change with the cornmeal. Ducks can be bred for six or seven years. A duck at seven years of age is not as old, and is more useful, than a land fowl at half that. Change drakes about every three years. Top much inbreeding gives dwarfs, and, in our experience, makes the birds susceptible to cramps. Too much whole grain is also apt to bring on cramps, and a damp house at night is almost always sure to. Ducks thrive in all kinds of weather during the day, but at night they want warm, drv quarters. Cover the house floor with leaves or chaff. The feed for ducks is about the same as for ducklings. Less cornmeal must be given during laying season, and ground oats used instead. Hoxv large a farm should a man starting in the business have.^ The author, in^an article in the Western Farm jfournal, answers as follows: "What do you call a large poultry farm.^" "How many fowls can a man manage well.^" These are every-day questions. They can be briefly answered, and they can be spun out to fill columns. The size of a poultry farm is measured by the results obtained. A man may have a thousand hens and yet only enough to do credit to a hundred good layers, therefore it is necessary to start small. Erect your house; build it wai-m and strong. Have every convenience. Have it in a dry situation. Put in a board floor, and on top of this several inches of dry earth. Attach to this house a large yard. Then put in your stock and begin. Watch all their movements. Study their habits. Cater to their wants. After this has been successfully accomplished, put up another house, being equally careful to make it as good as the first. Building up in this way, success 30 ALL ABOUT BROILERS can best be obtained, as the operator has a better chance of learn- ing the details, and will know just exactly how to treat each pen. It is not unusual to find fowls, even of the same breed, that vary in appetite and general characteristics. By thus giving indi- vidual attention, three hundred hens can be made to pay a better profit than a thousand. Too large a flock requires so much labor that the work is apt to be neglected, and the many small affairs are overlooked. These small matters very often count tremendously in failure or success. One thousand would nec- essitate the employment of extra labor, and it is not every day we can get help that is of any value. Seven hundred extra hens will also cost $700 more a year. They must be good hens, and you must have the best of help, if you want three times the income from one thousand fowls that three hundred can give. Hence three hundred hens make a big farm. "How many fowls can a man manage.'"' He knows that best after he has tried the work. Some men can easily handle five hundred fowls. It would take others the same amount of time to take care of three hundred. The best way is to begin with one hundred — then keep on growin'g, but the moment you find that the work is becoming too bulky, stop. Don't go any further. Make it a rule from the beginning that each pen is to receive all the attention they need, and just as soon as you can- not do that stop growing. If people starting into this business would use such a system, there wovild be more paying enterprises. The diseases of fowls are not so extensive as some writers would make us believe. Take roup and cholera and we have two-thirds of them implied. Both are contagious, and the sooner the victim is put to death, the quicker will the trouble be arrested. It is a mistake to fool away time and money on a sick hen, only to spread the disease still further. We believe in preventatives, and treatment in mild cases, but when the disease is rooted, the best economy is decapitation. The best preventative of disease is good housing, pure water and good feed. We must keep our fowls from catching cold. AND MARKET POULTRY GENERALLY. 3l We must see that they are comfortably quartered, that thej are regularly supplied with pure, fresh water, and that only good, sound grain is given them. We. believe in tonics, as for instance tincture of iron in the drinking water. But our opinion of condition powders is that a little of it goes a great ways. \Vc never use any of ihe patent egg foods, as sad experience has taught us that over stimulation produces many of the ills in the fowl family. An occasional evening feed of onions, chopped up, breaks a cold better than the best ofcondition powder. Cayenne pepper once a week in the soft feed is the best of egg producers. Linseed meal, a pint to a bucket of feed, once a week, will brace up the fowls. Tincture of iron, fifteen drops in a gallon of drinking water is the best of stimulants. Fumigation is a good thing in the hen house. Remove the fowls, close the doors and windows and burn a pound or so of sulphur. Place in an iron vessel, and ignite by a piece of burn- ing paper. It is needless to add, get out of the house as soon as the sulphur is on fire. Keep the house closed for several hours; and the smoke will reach every crack and crevice, killing lice and destroying the germs of disease. Whitewash the interior. Put an ounce of carbolic acid to a pail of the wash. Put it on thick. Kerosene the roosts and nests. Keep the floors clean. Remove the droppings daily. Cover the floors with chaff or leaves, and scatter the grain among them. Exercise prevents idleness — idleness breeds disease. Don't crowd fowls nor chicks. A house ten foot square is not a bit too large for ten birds. It is a mistake to put more in. Crowded quarters increase the louse familv. Lice are the cause of numerous ailments. The moment a fowl gets sluggish, the amateur poulterer is apt to dose it. Ten chances to one the bird has lice. Remove them, and the trouble generallj^ ceases. Good common sense is a necessary article on a poultry farm, but we are sorry to say it is a remedy often neglected. ALL ABOUT BROILERS CHAPTER VI. SIZE OF BREEDING PEN. A VIRGINIAN S EGG SECRET. FRENCH LICE REMEDY. ".