THE BUSINESS HEN oe (THE LATEST HATCH) THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, NEW YORK CED Class S Fyge7 Book __~ f—-— Cement es COPYRIGIIT DEPOSIT. rie Cwntale ie ms h 5 te ee iL THE BUSINESS HEN ( THE LATEST HATCH ) HERBERT W. COLLINGWOOD ; EDITOR 7 #0 ccc AAO ASSISTED BY PROF. JAMES E. RICE PROF. F. H. STONEBURN PROF. C. A. ROGERS GEO. A. COSGROVE C. S. GREENE A. F. HUNTER F. Q. WHITE F. T. FINCH W. W. HIGGINS JESSIE F. CLGSE AND MANY OTHERS PUBLISHED BY “THE RURAL PUBLISHING COMPANY NEW YORK { CoPpYRIGHT, 1910, By THEr RvurAL PUBLISHING Co. All rights reserved. ©clA278044 FOREWORD There’s lots of folks that love a horse About as well as they know how. We ain’t all built alike—of course There’s them that do just love a cow Above their wives. Some folks will sleep When hogs or horses have the talk, But start a word edgeways on sheep And see the way their tongues will walk. And some folks sit up half the night To paint the virtues of a hog, And I know folks uncommon bright, Who rub their love thick on a dog. I have, *s now I do rejoice No quarrel with my fellow men, But of all animals my choice Forever is—the Business Hen. She may not average quite so strong As sheep or hog or horse or cow, But then she rolls her eggs along And pays her bills—that suits me now. I’m not the one to fight or knock When others claim big things—but then My mind is made up like a rock; You can’t fool se—I love the hen. INTRODUCTION It is now nearly twenty years since the first edition of “The Business Hen” was published. That book was prepared in order to answer thousands of questions which were asked by readers of Tue Ruray New-YorKer. ‘The original volume was crude and imperfect, yet it met with a large sale, chiefly because it was practi- cal and gave the everyday experiences of working hen men. The questions continued to come, and we found as the years went by that poultry culture was developing rapidly. Many new ideas were being developed, and continued years of experience gave a vast amount of new and useful information. Six years ago we issued a new edition of the book which was called “A New Brood.” With the help of expert poultry teachers and successful hen men the book was greatly improved in every way and many thousands were sold. The edition was soon exhausted, yet though many new poultry books have been published, there were still calls for ““The Business Hen.”, We found that the poultry business was still developing. Study and experience were constantly changing some of the old ideas, and the questions still continue to come. We have therefore prepared this new volume which we call “The Latest Hatch.” We started its preparation with the ambition to get together the most useful poultry book in the language. ‘The reader must decide for himself how far this ambition has been gratified. We have read all the poultry books we could find. Most of them seemed to us to be published for certain definite objects—to tell some “great story,” to exploit some personal views or to advertise either the book itself, some breeder’s stock or some manufactured article. “The Business Hen” does none of these things. We have purposely avoided all reference to big stories in the book, for those things do far more harm than good to the beginner in poultry, and there is no such thing as a con- cealed advertisement to be found in this volume. We have simply tried to tell in simple language which all can understand how to breed, hatch, raise and handle the hen that is capable of feeding the family or rolling a mortgage away upon her eggs. ‘That is what we conceive the “Business Hen” to be, and we have tried to hold INTRODUCTION. fast to the subject. As we have stated, the original book grew out of an effort to answer thousands of poultry questions which were asked by our readers. ‘These questions have become more numerous than ever, and in “The Latest Hatch” they have been grouped and classified for answer. Our plan has been to go to some expert with each group of questions and let him cover them in a concise and practical chapter. Thus the chapter on “Incubation,” by Mr. Finch, is, we believe, the most useful discussion of the subject ever given in condensed form. In like manner the chapter on “Brooding,” by F. Q. White, is the boiled-down experience of a life spent in the chicken yard. The entire book has been prepared in this way. The chapter on “The Business Hen House,” by Professor Rogers and the chap- ters by Professor Rice and Professor Stoneburn, in fact the entire book, form a solid foundation for the study of poultry culture. Our effort has been to give facts and state principles clearly. No man can give another “instinct” or that peculiar quality which makes the successful hen man. We realize that no one can obtain this quality from the printed page. The reader must understand that he must develop that for himself, and if he will do it he will find no better friend on the farm than our little servant in feathers, “The Business Hen.” Chapter I. Chapter II. Chapter IIT. Chapter IV. Chapter V. Chapter VI. Chapter VII. Chapter VIII. Chapter IX. Chapter X. Chapter XI. Chapter XII. Chapter XIII. Chapter XIV. Chapter XV. Chapter XVI. Chapter XVII. Chapter XVIII. Chapter XIX. Chapter XX. Chapter XXI, CONTENTS PAGE ThéewBysitess “Breeds ni. (lV. a 8 Oe 9 What Ws an Eee ucuties wat doe aie ae oe 14 Hatcinn gine Pee Yoo. cn ak sks tee ee eee 24 BroOainge : sehen ei tk utp ei ieee: ae 40 Tie Past: SurMies lod oe be eg any ee ae 50 The, Basiness’ Henhotise.. siveo... 2670s. SA 56 Diseases ‘or POuleryice . 54s. Lead) Gem nae bee 68 Feeding the Business Penis + Woe tens eel epee Breeding the Business Hen................ 92 A Connecticut Man’s Experience........... 108 Marketing Boos. o. uiitics esi 1o Ube ae eeaai eee 116 Killing and Marketing Poultry............. 121 A Woman's ensi. + iy dloskioas fs Renee 126 The Poultry “Systems” Discussed.......... 131 Side*Lanes in Poultice .stce eos ee ee 136 Homemade Poultry Devices................ 143 Powiry in lacie: Pistks rire ceceeess os oe 154 Companions ‘of thegitems os ss figs Pew tea'd 163 A Bit Pamily of Roasters....00,.. 2... nase 169 All Sorte*ef Hen Methods: ..:.. 0.05 173 Oude amends ; sca. vst + vies o:5,0 ao 180 CHAPTER T. THE BUSINESS BREEDS. No man can succeed with poultry unless he is “half hen with feathers growing on his back.” This means that such a man must love the business and also love and understand a hen, otherwise he can not gain that “instinct” which is the foundation of all success - in handling animals. We recognize this at the beginning, and there- — fore do not attempt to lay down any cast-iron rules for poultry keeping. A man who gains this hen instinct can make a success with any breed of poultry. To such a man, any breed, no matter what, is the best business breed, but as a rule any man will do his best with a breed which possesses temperament and action not unlike his own. There is much human nature in a hen, and a man may well look for this quality in his feathered friend, just the same as in his human companions. That is why we would not pretend to select a breed of poultry for a stranger, nor would we lay down any definite advice regarding this point. All that we can fairly do is to give the simple characteristics of the various business breeds or types, leaving the reader to study the hen himself and make his own choice. The wisdom of this will be recognized by anyone who remembers that there will be as great difference in profit between two flocks of the same breed as there will be between two flocks of different breeds. There may be mutual exchange of character between a man and his flock of hens, and possibly that is one reason why some men grow better when they become hen keepers, while some flocks grow poorer through association with men. » The average man will not care so much where the breed comes from or for its fancy points of feather and shape, as for its general characteristics, and whether it is adapted to his temperament and condition. This book is not for the fancier or for the men who pay most attention to feathers, comb and feet, but rather for plain people who do not want to keep hens so much as to have hens keep them. For such purpose we may roughly class the business breeds for profit and quality under four heads—the Mediterranean or ner- vous, non-sitting breeds; the American breeds, those originated or made up in this country to suit local or special conditions; the Asiatics, which represent a large, heavy type of birds, useful mainly 10 THE BUSINESS HEN. as meat producers or for crossing upon other breeds, and the Euro- peans or breeds native of Europe and Great Britain, which combine to some extent the good quality of the three other classes. The Leghorn is the best example of the non-sitting class. This is a small nervous high-strung hen with a very large comb. The Leghorn without question is the best breed for those who want an abundance of large white eggs, and are willing to hatch the chickens very largely in incubators. In our own experience the Black Minorca, which resembles the Leghorn in many respects, lays a larger white egg, but we find this breed is not as hardy as the Leg- horn. In fact, it is quite tender in a damp climate and requires on the whole considerable more food. The Black Minorca with us stands confinement better than the Leghorn, but does not mature as early. There were originally two distinct types of the Leghorn, the Brown and White. We have found the Browns rather smaller than the Whites. The young greatly resembling young partridges. The Brown lays a smaller egg, except in a few families which have been selected or bred with a view to increasing the size of the egg. The Brown is probably hardier than the White, does not appear to be so nervous, will stand confinement better, and the average speci- men will probably lay a few more eggs than the Whites. The Browns, however, are very difficult to breed true to color, and they do not make as good a carcass when dressed. The White Leg- horn may be said to represent in the poultry world about what the Jersey cow does in the dairy—nervous, active, small in size, but great in production. Some of the most successful poultry plants in the country use the White Leghorn exclusively. The objections to Leg- horns are the small size in some families, the large comb which makes them tender in Winter and in some places the fact that the hens rarely sit, so that an incubator must be used. This, however, is not much of an objection in modern poultry keeping where the incubator is considered a necessity anyway. The White Leghorn hen is not only a most excellent layer, but her brother, the cockerel, makes a good broiler, growing rapidly, and when properly fed and handled giving a good proportion of breast meat. One argument in favor of the Leghorn is their small size, which will enable one in a town lot or in a back yard to keep a good number of them in one house. From our experience, however, we should prefer the Wyan- dottes or Light Brahmas in such situations, since they are tamer and will stand confinement better. As a rule, the eggs from the Leghorn are very fertile, and the hens mature rapidly when given good care. There are several other breeds which are put in this " class, but the Leghorn is typical of the lot. THE BUSINESS. BREEDS, 11 ) Of the American breeds the three most prominent are Plymouth Rock, Wyandotte, and Rhode Island Red. These are all ‘‘made” breeds, originated by crossing two or more breeds and carefully selecting through several generations until a definite type has been fixed. The history of the Rhode Island Red gives us a good instance of this. For a good many years certain farmers in Rhode Island selected red fowl out of their flocks. ‘The reasons they gave for doing this was that they believed these red birds were particularly hardy. At that time there was much foreign shipping from the ports of Rhode Island, and the sea captains brought home fowls from other countries. ‘These birds came from Europe and Asia, and the result of bringing them over and mixing them with Rhode Island flocks was the production of what was practically a new breed. Through the selection of these red birds, naturally when picking by color many different types of birds were brought out, but finally it was decided to select not only by color, but for definite form, shape and other characteristics. The result was an ideal hen, and by holding to this ideal in the selection of birds the Rhode Island Red breed, as we have it now, was brought out. This breed is very popular in many places. It is probably the best Winter layer of any of the American breeds. The hens are good sitters, mature early, and are quiet and good-natured under confinement. ‘They make a good carcass, and are greatly prized for their color. ‘This color, however, is not as well fixed as in the case of the Plymouth Rock and the Wyandotte, and those who breed Rhode Island Reds are still obliged to reject a fair number of their birds each year for this reason. The Plymouth Rock is an older breed than the Rhode Island Red, sttpposed to have resulted from crossing the old Dominique and the Java with the Brahmas. It is also claimed that Game blood was used. The breed now, however, is thoroughly fixed. Originally the Plymouth Rocks were barred or speckled, but of late years half a dozen colors have appeared such as White and Buff. It is not claimed that the colors particularly improve the quality or value of the bird, although without question new blood of other breeds was used with the original Plymouth Rock to produce the new colors. The Wyandotte is also a “made” breed, produced by crossing two or more other breeds. As between the Plymouth Rock and the Wyandotte there is much argument as to which is the better bird. It would be easy to find a single flock of one breed which is better than another flock of the other breed, but this would be due more to the care in selection of the owner than to the natural qualities of the breeds. Generally speaking, the Plymouth Rock is a larger bird than the Wyandotte, and also lays a larger egg of a more dis- ) 12 THE BUSINESS HEN. tinct color. While some flocks of Plymouth Rock will lay more eggs than the Wyandotte, the two breeds are probably about equal in this respect. ‘The Plymouth Rock as a rule will average larger than the Wyandotte, although it is claimed for the better class of Wyandottes they are of somewhat better shape and that when dressed for market they have fewer dark pin feathers and also show clear, yellow skin. The Wyandottes also, as a rule, being smaller birds, will mature quicker than the Rocks. Good arguments can be made for all three of the leading American breeds, so that it is largely a question of the man behind them rather than the birds themselves. A new breed known as Buckeye has now appeared. These Buckeyes are said to have been made by crossing a Pea Comb Rhode Island Red with an Indian Game. ‘They are very much like the Rhode Island Red fowl, except in the under color, but for practical purposes the Buckeyes are much like the Reds, and very useful as general purpose fowls. One feature of this American breed is the fact that, with the exception of the Reds, they are bred in various colors and also various forms of comb, both single and rose comb being found. The Asiatic breeds are very much larger and less active than either the Mediterranean or the Americans. ‘The most prominent example of this class in this country is the Light Brahma, a very old breed which has been kept true to type. With us the Light Brahma is a very useful breed. ‘They are very slow, very quiet in disposition, and well adapted to a cold country or to limited space. They stand confinement well and are exceedingly good birds to have upon a lawn, as they present a beautiful appearance, and will not do much damage in a garden. We have seen them lying down in the shade under the lawn trees very much like a flock of sheep. The comb is small, the legs are well feathered and the hens seem to be well dressed in fur for Winter. We find it harder to keep Brahmas free from vermin than the lighter and _ thin-feathered breeds, and they cannot be fed safely on food that would be suitable for a Leghorn. When given too much corn, they fatten and stop laying. With us Brahmas rank as good layers, some families being quite equal to the smaller American birds. They grow rapidly when young and fatten easily. At broiler size they are rather skinny and bony, but for roasters they greatly excel. We think there is likely to be a revival of interest in Brahmas in coming years. They have been crowded out by the smaller breeds, but they are likely to come back in popular demand. The Light Brahma has been used in devel- oping many of the newer breeds. The Columbian Wyandotte has the white color and black neck marking of the Brahma without the THE BUSINESS BREEDS, 13 feathered legs. The Cochins, like the Brahmas, have yellow legs and skin and are slow, good-natured birds. The Cochins are not as good layers as the Brahmas. ‘They are very clumsy, and with us are heavier eaters and not as profitable. ‘The Langshan is a large black bird not so heavily feathered on the leg as the Brahma, and more active than that breed, quite desirable where a black, heavy breed is wanted. The great majority of what we call business hens will belong to one of the above named breeds. Still there are other breeds which demand attention. In recent years the Orpingtons have gained many friends. Originally an English breed, they have been well tested in America and greatly liked by some breeders. Like the American breeds, the Orpingtons were “made” by mixing the blood of several breeds. In most cases when a new breed is developed some of the Asiatics were used, and probably the Langshans are partly responsible for the Orpingtons. ‘They are classed as fine layers and with a good carcass, but they lack the yellow skin so prominent in the American breeds. ‘The Dorking is a very old English breed, large and well shaped. ‘They are fair layers, excellent mothers, and probably the finest of all as table fowls, but not as hardy as others. Games have a reputation as fighters and are not much used as business birds, as we use the term. The hens lay fairly well and the flesh of the Game is excellent. In some districts where the hens run on a wide range purebred Games are crossed with Leghorns or other breeds. Such half-bred Games are good layers, very active and with enough of the fighting spirit to protect themselves against vermin. A hen with Game blood has been known to face a hawk and give it a gocd battle in defense of her brood of chicks. As we have stated, every breed can be used to produce the true business hen, if the man back of her knows his business. ‘These various breeds, or most of them, appear in various colors. For example, the Plymouth Rocks and Wyandottes, originally speckled, are now to be found in white and buff. The new colors are usually produced by breeding in some outside blood and then selecting carefully for atype. There is little in the color of the plumage to indicate any superiority. The color is barely skin deep, but each variety has its admirers, and all are capable of becoming the “Business Hen.” CHAPTER II. WHAT IS AN EGG? The egg is the first stage in the production of birds. Its func- tion primarily is to produce offspring, secondarily to furnish food for man. - The hen, therefore, fulfills dual purposes which, in a measure, are antagonistic in their requirements. The demand of nature is that the hen shall produce eggs that possess all the quali- ties of life and nutrition necessary to produce strong chickens; the demand of man is that she shall furnish eggs good to hatch and to eat and lots of them. In order to satisfy the commercial requirements of man the hen often is compelled to sacrifice the higher demands of nature. It becomes a vital question, therefore, for every poultryman to decide to what extent he can force heavy laying without sacrificing the fertility of the eggs or the vitality of the chickens. It is well, then, that we inquire what an egg is and how it is formed. HOW THE EGG IS MADE.—The first stage in the develop- ment of the egg is the formation of the “yolk.” The “ovary” or “egg cluster,’ which forms a part of the muscular tissue on the left side of the spine, contains many yolks in various stages of development, depending upon the condition of the hen, from the full-sized ripe yolk ready to be detached, to the microscopic cells so small that they cannot be discerned by the naked eye. Within this ovarian tissue is the power to develop countless other yolks not yet apparent. The number of these yolks or “ova,” which may be developed, is not a fixed quantity, certainly not exactly 600, as is frequently stated. The number of eggs which a hen will lay depends upon the inherited tendency of each hen to reproduce, and upon her vigor and vitality to withstand the heavy drain upon her system. The ovary of certain hens is absolutely sterile. Others have the power to produce a few eggs in short litters, while some have an ovary so strong and reproductive that they lay almost without cessation, and continue to do so for years. The egg-laying power is a matter of inheritance. It is a question of selection and breeding and of stimulating the ovaries to activity by proper feeding. WHAT IS AN EGG? 15 The cut (from Duval’s “Embryology’) shows the ovary and oviduct of a hen; (1) is the ovary; (2) is the yolk held within the ovisac or follicle (5). When the yolk is fully ripe,/it bursts from the follicle and drops into the neck of the oviduct (3). Here 4 : r Wess aN 7 6 aM ys Za | ching i MSM CY ws EGG ORGANS OF A HEN. Fie. 1. we see a wise provision of nature. In order to prevent rupture of blood vessels where the follicle opens, there is a suture mark around the entire surface, where the blood: vessels meet, but do not cross (4). If, for any reason, the follicle is ruptured before 16 THE BUSINESS HEN. it is matured, through rough handling of the fowl or because of weakness due to debility, a slight clot of blood may escape. This remains on the surface of the yolk or mingles with the white, which leads the consumer to suspect an egg which is perfectly fresh to have been slightly incubated. Occasionally, when hens are in perfect laying condition, two yolks will ripen and burst their follicles at the same time, and be encased within the same shell, producing a double yolked egg. It is perfectly apparent, then, that if the yolk is the first part of the egg to be formed, all the condi- tions for its development must be met, or the hen cannot make a perfect egg. The activity of development of the ovary depends first upon good health. The hen in the best laying condition is in the best health. Reproduction is a question of nerve strength, which is dependent upon physical vigor. The over-fat hen does not lay well, because over-fatness is an indication of physical weakness, which ends in debility. A poor hen cannot lay because there is no surplus fat with which to make the egg. Analysis of the dry matter of an egg shows it to be more than one-half fat. Unless the fowl can supply the available fat, the yolk cannot develop. Therefore, it will be found that the hens in their best laying condi- tion will have a little surplus fat in their bodies. When the yolk has entered the oviduct it is quickly passed along where the albumen or “white” is deposited (10). During the passage it is pushed forward by the contraction of the muscles of the oviduct, which, being twisted and convoluted, gives the yolk a turning motion as it advances, so that the albumen is: deposited in several layers. These layers may be seen by examining carefully a hard-boiled egg. The twisting motion of the yolk in its passage causes a special deposit of albumen to form twisted, string-like fibres on two sides of the yolk. These are called the “chalaze” Fig. 3-1. They cause the yolk to swing in the watery albumen like a hammock. This tends to prevent injury to the yolk by any jarring or jolting which the egg may receive. Whatever way the egg is turned, the yolk quickly assumes its natural position. The yolk, containing a large amount of fat, is lighter than the albumen, there- fore has a tendency to float upward toward the surface, which, during incubation, allows the young germ of life, which is on the © surface of the lightest portion of the yolk, to float in the warmest portion of the egg, which is in contact with the body of the incubat- ing hen. The yolk is covered by the “vitelline’ membrane (11). The yellow liquid within the membrane is called the “vitellus,” which WHAT IS AN EGG? 17 is used, for the most part, to nourish the young chicken just before and for several days after it hatches. The color of/the yolk depends upon the kind of food fed. Yellow corn and/green food produce a deep colored yolk, while oats, wheat and buckwheat pro- duce a light yellow, due to the absence of coloring pigments in the grain. One of the first signs of weakened vitality in hens is a tenderness of the vitelline membrane, which often ruptures when eggs are roughly handled. This allows the vitellus to escape and mingle with the white. The yolks, therefore, of perfectly fresh eggs, from such hens, are likely to rupture even when the egg is carefully broken. Keeping eggs weakens the vitelline membrane. Just under the vitelline membrane, and at the surface of the yolk, is the “germinal vesicle” (12), the vital life principle of the egg. Without fecundation by the male no life would be developed in the germinal vesicle, and the egg would be infertile. If fecunda- tion should take place and the hen should not be in vigorous con- dition, life would not necessarily be developed. Infertility is due quite as much to lack of vital force of the hen, because of close confinement, excessive laying or improper feeding, as to any fault of the male. Fecundation probably cannot take place until the yolk has burst from the tough skin of the follicle (6) and has entered the oviduct (9). Here/it comes in contact with the “spermatozoa” of the male, which there swarm and live for several weeks, growing less numerous and less active with age. The spermatozoa pene- trates the vitelline membrane, unite with the germinal vesicle and life is begun. If the eggs should be retained for any considerable time, which often happens, the body heat will start the process of incubation, which will continue until the egg is placed in a tempera- ture too cold for development. Eggs which are not fertile will, therefore, continue, without danger of incubation, in a temperature that would ailow life to develop within a fertile egg. é After the albumen has been secreted in the part of the oviduct indicated (9), it is pushed along to a point where the shell mem- brane is formed. This is supposed to be somewhere at or between 13-14, after which another membrane is added. Then the egg passes to position marked (15), where the glands secrete a liquid which contains carbonate of lime and other mineral matters. The hardening process is completed frequently while the hen is on the nest. A color pigment is sometimes secreted with the shell-making liquid, which gives to eggs their characteristic colors. The color of the shell is largely an individual characteristic, and remains prac- tically constant with the individual, except that the egg shell grad- ually fades in color toward the end of the laying period. This is 1s THE BUSINESS HEN. particularly noticeable in comparing the first and the last eggs laid by turkeys. The shell-making fluid appears to be secreted by tiny ducts, which leave their impression by numerous fine depressions or pores in the egg shell, which can be easily seen upon close inspec- tion. The importance of providing mineral matter in the form of cracked oyster shell, mortar and bone, is seen in the fact that if the hen lacks these materials or through debility cannot assimilate them, her eggs will be soft-shelled. Naturally, when the egg production has drained her system of this material, her appetite craves it, and if it is not otherwise supplied, she will instinctively eat the egg shells. This is the most common cause of egg eating. When the egg rests in the “cloaca,” (5), before being laid, it is covered with a secretion that assists in the depositing of the egg, which, when dry, gives the shell its natural fresh appearance, and which, undoubtedly, has much to do with controlling the evapora- tion of the contents of the egg. Therefore eggs for hatching should not be washed unless it be to remove dirt which would materially stop the pores in the shell. This oily coating is particularly apparent on duck eggs. It is to be doubted whether a hen can voluntarily stop the forma- tion of an egg up to the point of its completion. But she can retain the egg at will for considerable time thereafter. It is per- fectly certain, however, that improper feeding, neglect, fright, or any condition that interferes with digestion or peace of mind will stop the process of egg making in any of its stages. Frequently the white is deposited without yolk or shell. It is very common to find eggs devoid of shell, and occasionally a yolk will be laid without shell or albumen. It is not uncommon to find an egg with white and shell complete without the yolk. In rare instances a perfect egg has been found within an egg. This is brought about by the completed egg being forced back by injury through the portion of the oviduct where additional albumen is secreted and then returned to the place where a new shell is deposited. When the egg evaporates, the outer membrane continues to adhere to the shell, while the inner membrane follows the contents of the egg as it shrinks in size, thus forming the air space, which is usually at the large end of the egg, occasionally on the side and rarely on the small end. SHAPE, SIZE AND COLOR OF EGGS.—The shape of the egg is determined by the form of the mold in which it is cast, which differs with breeds, varieties and even with individuals of the same strain. The form of egg peculiar to an individual remains WHAT IS AN EGG? 19 Practically constant, so much so that one can pick out an egg from certain hens from a large flock with quite a degree of certainty, purely by the shape of the egg. The groups of eggs shown on next page, Fig. 2, show this point very accurately./ The eggs marked (a) were laid by hen No. 56; those at (b) by hen No. 148, both White Wyandottes; those at (c) by hen No. 70; those at (d) by hen No. 75, both Single Comb White Leghorns; those at (e) were laid by a White Plymouth Rock; those at (f) by a Barred Plymouth Rock. It will be seen that each hen has a type of egg which is peculiarly her own, differing only ‘slightly from day to day, except in a case of abnormality due to some unusual condition. The eggs marked a, b, c and d were picked out of a large tray full of eggs which were laid by different hens. The selection was made strictly upon their shape and color, without looking at the number of the hen, which is marked on the large end of the egg when it is gathered. The peculiar characteristics distinguishing the egg were so marked that scarcely any error was made guessing the identity of the hen that laid them. The eggs marked (a) were distinguish- able by their large size, extreme length, and rich, uniform light brown color; eggs marked (b) by their perfect egg shape, large ‘size and dark brown color; eggs marked (c) by their long, thin form with a tendency to a slight ridge in the center; eggs marked (d) by their almost abnormal roundness; eggs marked (e) by the - peculiar wart-like excrescence on the small end of each egg. ABNORMAL EGGS.—Abnormal eggs are due either to injury to the fowl while the egg is being formed or to faulty nutrition. Various types of abnormal eggs are shown in the cut (c) and (1) are too long; (m), (e) and (0) too round; (k) is wedge shaped; (0) has a decided ridge at the center; (f) and (q) are flattened on one side; those marked (j) are elliptical; (1) are almost cylindrical; (a) is drawn out at the point; (p) are eggs with rough, weak shells; (g) is as round as a marble and about the size of a hickory nut; (h) is about the same size, but elongated; those marked (r) repre- sent the two extremes in size, a double yolked egg and a diminutive but perfect shaped egg. These small eggs are nearly always devoid of yolks. It does not follow that a hen that lays a diminutive egg has laid similar eggs previously or that she will do so again. Eggs marked (g), in the cut, were all laid by the Single Comb White Leghorn hen No. 85; those eggs marked (h), were laid by the Single Comb White Leghorn hen No. 82, the two normal eggs in each case being laid a few days after the abnormal. The abnor- mality, however, may continue. One hen laid seven diminutive eggs continuously and then stopped laying. Of the five eggs marked 20 THE BUSINESS HEN. afr TYPES OF EGGS. Fia, 2. WIIAT IS AN EGG? | 21 (a), Fig. 2, the first two eggs which are perfect and normal were followed by the abnormal long-drawn-out egg which was/so weak at the point that it scarcely retained the egg contents. os two - or three days following the other two eggs were iy) ‘which were perfectly normal and sound. TIME REQUIRED TO MAKE AN EGG—Just how long it takes for each part of the egg to be secreted is not known. The whole process is supposed to take about eighteen hours. Consider- able time is taken for the shell to be deposited ‘and to harden. Two eggs can be under way in the oviduct at the same time. When the hen is not laying the oviduct is shrunken’ and not more than one- fifth its natural size. Like all secretory organs, the oviduct enlarges when it is active. In this one respect it may be compared to the udder of a cow “fresh in milk” and one “gone dry.’ The oviduct when stretched out and congested is normally a little over twenty inches long. EGG MAKING AN EXHAUSTIVE PROCESS.—The develop- ment of an egg is more elaborate and more exhaustive than a simple secretion like that of milk-making. It is both a reproductive and a secretory process. The perfect egg contains the materials and the life to form a new animal, a shell to protect it during subsequent development, and the food to nourish it for several days after it is born. A good hen is expected to lay, that is, in reality, to give birth to about 150 offspring in a year, which is equivalent to about five times her own weight. This is a heavy drain upon her system. Something of its immediate effect will be seen by the fact ascertained by one of our students (Henry Jennings) that a hen’s temperature immediately after laying is from two to three degrees higher than normal, the normal being about 106. COMPOSITION OF THE EGG.—The composition of the egg remains practically constant. This is true even under different systems of feeding. Careful observations of two Plymouth Rock hens was made and the eggs analyzed after they had been fed about three months on radically different rations. Pen No. 1 was fed largely on protein-rich foods; pen No. 2 was fed largely on foods deficient in protein, the former being a ration for making muscle and the latter for making fat. Nevertheless the eggs from the two pens remained practically identical in composition. This illustrates one of the highest laws of nature; namely, that the animal will sacrifice its own bodily strength in an effort to make a perfect offspring, which is a necessary provision to insure the per- petuation of the species. There is little difference in the composition 22 THE BUSINESS TEN. of eggs from different breeds, or between light-shelled and dark- shelled eggs. There is a difference between hens that are well fed and those that are improperly fed, as shown in their fertility, the strength of the germs and the vitality of the chickens. The chemist may not be able to find the difference in the composition of the eggs, but the difference is there, nevertheless. Hens that are closely confined to limited quarters where they do not get exercise nor have access to sunshine and fresh air, even though well fed, are almost certain to produce eggs low in fertility and weak in vitality. Over-fat hens and very poor hens, if they lay at all, are certain to produce eggs which are almost devoid of the life-giving principles. While forced feeding of highly stimulating foods during Fall and Winter might result in a condition of nerve ‘exhaustion during the hatching season and would naturally result in less fertile eggs, it does not follow that just because hens do not lay during the Fall and Winter they will give more fertile eggs during the Spring. Most frequently the hens that do not lay during the Winter have not been properly cared for, they being either too fat from over- feeding or improper feeding, or too poor because under-fed. The fowl that lays the most fertile eggs is the one that is in the best health. She may be the hen that has laid regularly for a long period of time. To get fertile eggs, open-air exercise and plenty of meat and green food are necessary. FERTILITY.—The proportion of males to females in the breed- ing flock depends upon the breed, also upon the individual. One vigorous, active, prepotent male will give greater fertility than three or four sluggish males. I have known almost perfect fertility with 36 White Leghorn females to one male and have seen almost abso- lute sterility where one male ran with eight females. Other con- ditions being equal, the Mediterranean class (Leghorns, Minorcas, etc.) can usually be mated, 20 to 25 hens to one male; the American class (Plymouth Rocks, Wyandottes, Javas, etc.), 15 to 20 females to one male; Asiatic (Cochins, Brahmas, etc.), 8 to 12 females to one male. Where fowls are kept in flocks which require two males (for instance, 40 or 50 Leghorn females), it is better to allow only one of the males at a time with the flock. The other one should be kept in a coop with plenty of water, grit and food containing an abundance of meat. Two males running together in the same flock dissipate too much of their energy in fighting. This is particularly. true if they are in limited quarters. Very good results, however, are obtained by allowing one male to 25 females where fowls run together in flocks of several hundred on unlimited range. WHAT IS AN ECC? 93 EGG TYPE A BREED CHARACTERISTIC.—The shape, size and color of the egg being comparatively constant with indi- viduals, it is evident that like other characteristics, they can be transmitted from one. generation to another, and therefore by selecting only eggs of a certain size, shape and color for hatching, their characteristics become fixed so that a strain of hens will be developed which will lay eggs of the desired type with great regularity. This has been demonstrated where, for years, only eges have been used that weighed two ounces or more, of perfect shape and pure white color, for hatching. Each year the per- centage of hatchable eggs astonishingly increased, and the number of eggs which would have to be thrown out because of not fulfilling the requirements, materially decreased. The result is that the average size and beauty of the egg has materially increased year by year. This principle also has been strikingly illustrated on a farm where the person who took charge of the hens believed that round eggs would hatch pullets and long eggs slightly wrinkled at the small end, would hatch cockerels. For years she would select the roundest eggs for hatching, with the result that year by year the eggs became rounder and rounder, until they were abnormally so and it became almost a trade mark of the eggs from this farm. Of course the per cent of pullets continued as usual. Mother Nature could not be thwarted thus. The sex of an egg can- not be determined by shape or other external conditions. It is well to select only perfectly shaped eggs, uniform in color, of good texture and firm shell, neither over large nor very small, because they will be more likely to produce chickens that lay similar eggs, which look better and therefore sell for a higher price and which also hatch more satisfactorily. KEEPING EGGS FOR HATCHING—Keeping eggs weakens their vitality. If they are held at too low a temperature the chill- ing injures them. If they are kept in too warm a temperature, development begins. Just what temperature is best for holding eggs for hatching is not known. It appears to be between 45 and 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Eggs evaporate moisture very rapidly if kept in a very dry room. Therefore they should be kept from a direct draft of air. They should be turned daily in order to prevent the yolks rising to the surface and adhering to the shell, in which case the vitelline membrane may become ruptured when the egg is turned. Eggs should prove fertile within three or four days after the male has been introduced to the flock. They should be fertile with the second egg after copulation takes place and may be fertile with the first egg. CHAPTER III. HATCHING THE EGG. Inasmuch as strong, vigorous chicks are not always the result obtained from properly incubated eggs, it will readily be seen that successful chicken hatching does not depend entirely on the methods of incubation. The production of perfect baby chicks necessitates care and consideration further back than the development of the embryo. ‘The selection of strong, fully matured breeding stock, well mated, properly fed and housed, has as much, if not more, to do with the production of strong offspring as proper incubation. Egys from hens that have been laying heavily all Winter, or that have not had a sufficient amount of green food, can hardly be expected to hatch well. Eggs from hens fed a forcing ration will not produce as strong chicks as those from hens allowed to take a more natural course. The egg provides the nourishment on which the embryo grows, and it must contain the proper material to produce desirable chicks by any system of hatching. It is just as essential that we feed our breeders for strong germ production as it is to feed our layers for heavy egg production. SELECTING EGGS.—A great deal of improvement can be made in the flock, as well as bettering the hatches, by carefully selecting the eggs for incubation. ‘Take out all the ill-shaped eggs as well as those with thin, porous, or coarse shells. On close examination, the shells of some eggs will be found very thin and wrinkly at the little end. Such eggs are often broken during incubation. It is well to sound each egg as they are selected, by tapping two together. In this way one will soon be able to tell those with weak or cracked shells. Eggs with defective shells are sometimes selected by testing, but this method takes some time and is not considered worth while. If possible, set the eggs from each breed separate, for the eggs from some classes of fowls hatch earlier than others. ‘The Leghorn eggs, if fresh, will hatch earlier than those from heavier breeds, and con- sequently some of the younger chicks will be trampled on or even prevented from breaking out of the shell. For a good, even hatch set eggs as near of an age as possible, the fresher the better. “* KEEPING EGGS.—Eggs should be set as soon as possible after they are laid. It has been found that eggs set the same day they are laid HATCHING THE EGG. 25 will hatch from 18 to 20 hours earlier than those kept two weeks. I believe that eggs kept over one week before setting lose hatching power, but experiments have been tried at the Department of Poultry Husbandry, Cornell University, which show that eggs can be kept two weeks under proper conditions, and still hatch well. If they are to be kept more than two or three days, it is best to turn them once a day. The eggs can be turned satisfactorily by packing them in a common egg crate and turning it each day as a new lot of eggs is packed. As soon as the eggs are gathered they should be placed in a cool place, preferably 50° F., or as near that as possible. The air of the room in which they are kept should be just moist enough to prevent evaporation of the egg contents. In cold weather, the eggs intended for incubation purposes should be gathered several times a day to prevent chilling. However, eggs containing strong germs will hatch after being subject to a very low temperature. I recently set 30 eggs which had been in cold storage two weeks, and hatched 16 apparently strong and healthy chicks. The eggs you wish to incubate should be clean, but not washed unless just before set- ting, and if washed, the water should never be allowed to soak in. SHIPPING EGGS.—Nature has so perfectly constructed the egg that it will stand considerable rough handling without injury, if properly packed. Good hatches can be obtained from eggs shipped a long distance, if the shipper understands packing them. A light, well-constructed box or basket should be used. First, place a layer of excelsior in the bottom and around the sides of the basket. Then roll each egg, first in soft paper and then in excelsior. See that they are well covered and do not touch each other in the basket. After a layer has been packed, place a layer of excelsior over them. Put as many layers of eggs on top of these as you wish, but be care- ful to pack them with a layer of excelsior between the layers. After all the eggs are in the basket, place a good layer of excelsior over them, and sew a stout cloth cover over the top. A large, conspicu- ous label marked “Eggs For Hatching. Handle With Care” should be fastened on the basket. ‘The shipper’s and consignee’s name and address should be plainly written on a shipping tag and securely fastened to the handle. Never ship other than strictly fresh eggs. Sometimes eggs going only a short distance are delayed several days on the road. After receiving eggs for hatching, they should be allowed to stand three or four hours before starting to incubate. DEVELOPMENT OF THE EMBRYO—Just beneath the vitel- line membrane in the upper surface of the yolk of all eggs is found the life germ. The yolk floats in a dense mass of albumen, called the cha- laza, which is in the form of cords or a hammock, The chalaza keeps 28 THE BUSINESS HEN. the life germ near the surface of heat, and also protects the growing embryo from injury. Although the life germ exists in all eggs, it will not develop without the introduction of the male element. ‘The germ is fertilized while in the oviduct, and a certain stage of devel- opment is reached before the egg is laid. After the egg leaves the body development is retarded unless kept at the proper temperature. Occasionally a freshly laid egg is found to contain a partly developed embryo. In such a case the egg has doubtless been delayed for some time in its passage through the oviduct, and development continues until the egg is laid. As soon as the egg becomes heated to the proper temperature, either by contact with the hen’s body or by other means, the germ again resumes its course of development, and if kept under the proper conditions of moisture and ventilation, it will continue to grow. It was formerly supposed that the germ cell con- tained a very small chick and that the process of development was simply enlargement. It has later been found that the germ cell contains no organs, and that its only function is to reproduce other cells like itself, these in turn having the same power of reproduction. This reproduction takes place through division; each cell becomes divided into two, each enlarging to the size of the original cell, and with the same functions. The fertile egg germ can be determined before incubation only by breaking the egg in a saucer. The fertile germ has a clear outer rim or circle with little white dots in the center, while an infertile germ is whitish in appearance and lacks the clear outer rim. After about 24 hours of incubation, blood vessels may be seen and the heart commences to beat about the twenty- seventh hour, and it commences to pulsate about the fortieth hour. The network of blood vessels continue to grow until they form a complete membrane lining the shell membrane. ‘This is called the allantois, and its function is to take up the oxygen which penetrates the shell through the pores, thereby performing the duties which are to be performed by the lungs about the nineteenth day. The embryo appears about the second day of incubation. The eye, head, neck, heart and wings are about the first to be distinguishable. The heart may be located the third day, and the embryo which has been lying mouth downward, is turned on its left side. On the fourth day the legs appear; and the lungs begin to be formed on the fifth, but are inactive until the nineteenth day. Up to the sixth day, the embryo has been lying very still, but soon shows signs of voluntary motion. From that time on the different parts of the body, including the bill, legs, and wings, take their form, but are soft until the ninth day, when bone begins to form. During the remaining days the yolk becomes thinner, the rapidly growing embryo drawing very PareING THE EGG. | 2% heavily upon it for nourishment. By the nineteenth day the chick is fully formed and the yolk should be nearly all taken into the body. Very soon the chick should break through the air cell and use its lungs both to breathe and utter sounds, and by holding the egg to a tester the chick may be seen pushing through. After the air cell has entirely disappeared the shell will soon yield to the interior force and the chicken will begin life in a new world. DISTINGUISHING THE SEX.—There is no means by which we can distinguish the sex before incubation. Neither is there any method of mating that will govern the sex, notwithstanding the fact that many claim that sex is indicated by the shape of the egg, such as round eggs for pullets, or that the air cell, which has a base parallel to the width of the egg, will produce a cockerel, while those which vary from this position will produce pullets. POSITION OF EGG.—The position of the egg during incuba- tion has some influence on the development of the embryo. If the small end is up, the head of the chick will develop in this end and the chick will be unable to free itself. In natural incubation an egg with the small end up is very rarely found. As the air space increases in size, the center of gravity lowers. In this way the large end is kept uppermost at different angles. NATURAL VS. ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION.—Both meth- ods of incubation have their points of merit and demerit. The meth- ods that should be used can only be satisfactorily decided by weighing the advantages and disadvantages of each system as they would be realized if employed by you. “A good hen is, all things considered, a better incubator than man has yet invented.” The old hen will very often hatch all the fertile eggs given her with very little trouble to the owner, but we must consider that all hens are not good sit- ters. Also, it is hard to find enough hens to cover the eggs, if a. large number are to be set at a time. Often the owner has to search the country for broody hens. It is often difficult to make them sit ‘in their new quarters. ‘There is also great danger of breaking eggs in the nest and smearing the remaining eggs. The filthy condition draws lice and the hen is very often driven from the nest, leaving the eggs to spoil before the trouble is noticed. It is very difficult to get sitters early in the season, especially if the Winter is severe, for the laying season will be delayed somewhat, and a late broody season will be the consequence. Yet in spite of all these difficulties we cannot get around the fact that hen-hatched chickens have every reason to be perfect, as far as incubation is concerned. To be certain that the process of incubation is not at fault is enough to make us decide in favor of the hen when only a few chickens are to be raised 28 THE BUSINESS HEN. each season. The proof of the real value of artificial incubation in hatching large numbers of chickens lies not only in its growing popu- larity, but in the great advantages and remarkable results obtained, if properly handled. To be able to incubate eggs at any time, and in large numbers, is one of the great advantages which does not apply equally to hens. One incubator holding 300 eggs will do more work with less trouble than 20 hens. It is possible with machines, to hatch enough chickens in two hatches to replenish the stock and have chickens to sell. By starting the hatch early, it is possible to get out chickens before the other fellow’s hens are ready to sit, and in this way have the surplus cockerels on the market when they bring the best price. Artificial incubation also makes it possible to develop practically non-sitting strains. By breaking up the sitters we are gradually doing away with the broody instinct. It is said that in Egypt, where hatching in ovens has been practiced for centuries, the hens have entirely lost their desire to incubate. Next to these valuable factors we must consider the cleanliness of incubators. With proper precautions, artificially hatched chickens are absolutely free from lice, while it is almost impossible to find a broody hen that isn’t lousy, the insects are sure to get on the small chickens just when they need vitality most, causing great mortality and unthrifti- ness. Along with the advantages of artificial incubation comes the disappointments due to carelessness and improper management, such as overheating the eggs, lack of moisture or improper handling. There are also unjust insurance restrictions. Insurance companies refuse to admit that a building is safer with a modern incubator in it than with the common portable house lamps. ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION.—Before installing incubators, one must consider that the operator is not relieved to any great extent. The work becomes more exacting than with hens; the results depending very much upon the operator’s good sense, and a great amount of careful, regular attention, even with the best of incu- bators. Do not invest any money in a cheaply constructed machine. There are a great many good machines on the market; in fact most of the low-grade machines have been forced off the market or improved. When it comes to capacity, consider a long time before purchasing a small machine. Nearly all incubator firms manufacture small machines, not because they possess any special merit, but because some people demand a small one or none. There are no great ad- vantages in buying a 60 or 65-egg incubator for the following reasons: First, a lamp that will heat a machine of smaller size will also heat one of a much larger capacity. Second, the small machines lack air capacity and are more easily affected by outside temperature, HATCHING THE EGG. 29 Third, by the time the second test has been made there are not enough eggs left to pay for the oil consumed and time spent in caring for them, and the chickens hatched would get lost in a fair-sized brooder. Incubators holding from 100 to 250 eggs are most commonly used, but a 400-egg capacity incubator will produce just as good results, with not a great deal more oil, and only a little more labor. Some machines will work well and hatch a good per cent of chickens under certain good conditions. The machine to buy, however, is the one that will bring out all the healthy chicks possible, almost anywhere and at any time with the least possible care. The value of a machine should not be measured by flashy advertisements but by the results. WHAT TO EXPECT OF AN INCUBATOR. —The novice very often expects too much of his machine, and is ready to condemn it when a few unhatched eggs are found on the trays after the hatch is completed. The fault-finder must stop to consider that when hens hatch all the eggs they are usually set on one hen’s eggs, very oiten stealing their nests and sitting on their own eggs. These same re- sults may be obtained in an incubator if one will go to the trouble of using trap nests and setting the eggs from each individual hen, sepa- rate from the others in pedigree trays. In this way it will be found that many hens lay strictly hatchable eggs, while the eggs from other individuals will be nearly all infertile or nearly all fertile, but too weak to hatch. Then remember that the eggs usually set in an incubator are a collection from the whole flock, and on a much larger scale than those set under a hen, and consequently the number of unhatched eggs would increase accordingly. We think very little of finding two, three, or four unhatched eggs under a hen, but the Same per cent of unhatched eggs in an incubator seems destructive. INCUBATOR CELLARS.—Owing to fire insurance restrictions, it is best to operate incubators in a building set aside from the others. They may bé run above ground with some success, but generally best results are obtained under the conditions existing in a well- ventilated, partly-submerged room. It is much easier to keep an even temperature in such a room than above ground, and in warm weather is much cooler. An ideal incubator cellar should have a very high ceiling, from nine to 10 feet being a good height. ‘The distance from the floor to the top of the ground should be about six feet, making the room about four feet above ground. The windows should be about seven feet from the floor. To afford air and water drainage, erect the building on sloping ground, having the lower end of the room above ground and the end in the slope almost entirely submerged. Plenty of windows are essential, and if 30 THE BUSINESS HEN. made to drop down from the top they will afford good ventilation as well as light. The windows may be shaded on bright days if the sunlight affects the temperature. DISINFECTING.—Each time before putting in the eggs, the machine should be thoroughly cleaned, disinfected and aired. The lamp should be started and the machine kept closed for a day or so, then the incubator doors should be opened until it is well dried out and odorless. To disinfect properly, remove all diaphragms and trays, give them a good washing or spraying with some good disin- fectant and put them out in the sun to dry. Then spray the inside of the machine in the same way. Leave the trays and diaphragms out until the machine is thoroughly dry. Caution: Never use kerosene oil in an incubator. If the operator is not careful, about as much harm can be done by disinfecting as without it. An oily machine, or the odor from a strong disinfectant, is fatal to embryo chicks. Nevertheless, it is essential to use some disinfectant. There are several good liquids, but a weak solution of creolin, or five per cent solution of carbolic acid which is one part carbolic acid to 19 parts water, will kill all bad odors and is also a germicide. The necessity of using only thoroughly disinfected machines is shown by experiments tried by Dr. Jones, of the New York State Veterinary College, Cornell University, in which it was found that the germs of white diarrhcea reached the incubator from the egg shell. There is also some danger of lice reaching the machine in the same way. REGULATING.—The operator must remember that he is to do the thinking. Most machines are self-regulating to some extent, but a severe change in the weather will be likely to change the tempera- ture in the machine unless the operator looks after the lamp flame. The thumb screw attached to the regulator should be screwed down until the temperature is kept at the proper degree, with the disk raised a third of an inch above the heater. After the machine is regulated it will be necessary to change the regulator only slightly, except in rare instances. The less you change the thumb screw after once it is regulated to run with slight variations at the proper degree, the better hatch you will get. Remember that raising the disk over the heater lowers the temperature and lowering it raises the tem- perature. Never put the eggs into the machine until it is correctly regulated, FILLING THE TRAYS.—After the machine is heated and reg- ulated to the proper temperature and thoroughly dried, remove the egg trays and fill them with the selected eggs. The trays may be filled full if necessary, but it is not wise to place the eggs on top of each HATCHING THE EGG. 31 other. Before putting the eggs in the machine see that the ventilators are arranged according to directions sent out with the machine. After the trays are placed keep the machine closed until the next day, when turning should commence. CLEANING AND OPERATING LAMP.—The lamp should be filled once a day, each morning preferred. When filled in the morning _ the operator has time to get the flame regulated before leaving for the night. Otherwise the flame may run up and smoke the heater after being newly trimmed, especially if a new wick is used. The lamp should never be filled quite full. The charred portion of the wick is easily removed by drawing a burnt match or a knife across the wick tube. Never cut away the unburnt portions of the wick. This method of trimming makes it harder to get an even flame and uses up the wick very soon. After the wick has been trimmed turn it down and clean the wick tube and other parts of the burner. This can be done with a knife or piece of sandpaper and then wiped off with a cloth. The burner should always be kept bright and the screen around the wick tube should be kept free from dirt. Always wipe the lamp thoroughly before replacing. It is best to keep a comparatively low flame at first until the operator becomes accus- tomed to the work. The flame will always increase instead of dimin- ish after the wick is trimmed. After the operator becomes familiar with the lamp, the flame should be run high enough to keep disk ‘slightly raised over the heater during the day. Then if the night is cold you have an extra supply of heat ready to be used. Otherwise the temperature in the machine will lower. The flame should never flicker. If it does there is something wrong, and the operator may look for a broken isinglass in the heater or a disarranged screen in the burner, or perhaps a draught. Use only high-grade oil in incu- bator lamps. THERMOMETER.—Always use the make of thermometer sent out with the machine you are using. It is well to test the thermome- tereach season. This can be done by placing a doctor’s thermometer in a basin of warm water with the one you intend to use. The water should register at least 100° F. and the thermometer should be held upright with the bulb submerged. If the incubator thermometer registers incorrectly, the difference may be marked on the metal part _of the thermometer or on a tag fastened to it. Be sure your ther- mometer rests in the proper position in the machine according to directions sent out by the incubator manufacturers. In case the mercury becomes separated, take hold at the top of the thermometer and swing the bulb end downward with a jerk until the mercury comes together, 32 THE BUSINESS HEN. TEMPERATURE.—With machines where the thermometer hangs above the eggs it is advisable to keep the temperature as near 10214° the first week as possible, 103° the second week, with a gradual increase to 104° after the nineteenth day. In machines using a con- tact thermometer, 102° is sufficient for the first week, 103° the second, witn a gradual increase to 104° at the latter end of the third week. The temperature should be allowed to increase gradually to the proper degree, and should be kept as near there as possible. However, a slight variation may be expected, and without injuring the eggs. Good hatches have been obtained when the mercury has run up to 110° F. for a short time. There is more danger of injury from a high tem- perature at the beginning of incubation than toward the last, owing to the very delicate blood vessels which are being formed the first few days, and are very easily injured by excessive heat. For best results, the.temperature should never exceed 106°F., and this only at hatching time. In case the mercury rises to 106° at any other time than at hatching, it would be better to take out the lamp or open the door for a while than to chance the regulator. The temperature will always drop on opening the machine door to remove the trays, and will remain low for some time after the eggs are replaced, but do not change the regulator, as the mercury will reach the proper degree in due time. At hatching time the operator should watch the ther- mometer carefully. The heat from the chicks will usually raise the temperature to 104° if there are enough eggs containing live chicks. If not, the lamp flame should be turned up a little. When the chicks start to break through the shell, the temperature will very often rise to extreme height. If the chicks seem to be suffering from the excessive heat, the lamp flame should be turned down until the temperature lowers somewhat. If the heat still remains too high, the lamp may be removed for a time. Very often the heat will remain high with the lamp out for several hours. If the chickens pant when the temperature is only 105° there is no need to worry, as this will not injure them. As soon as the hatch has passed its best and the number of chicks hatched per minute is gradually de- creasing, the temperature will drop, sometimes very rapidly. This is a critical period, and the operator should be on hand to turn up the flame. Sometimes it is necessary to turn the thumb screw until the disk drops down on the heater. Otherwise the mercury will drop down to 100° F. or a little lower, and the chickens that are a little late in pipping, will be unable to hatch. MOISTURE AND VENTILATION.—Correct moisture, evap- oration, circulation, and ventilation are the very important factors of incubation 2nd all are too closely linked together to be considered HATCHING THE EGG. * 33 apart from each other. Proper ventilation is as necessary as moisture, but we cannot have excessive circulation without too much evaporation. Too great a change of air absorbs the moisture in the egg too rapidly for successful development of the embryo. The result of incubation under such conditions would be a few small, weak chickens and a large per cent of unhatched eggs. Yet a deficient supply of air would be disastrous. Evaporation of the egg contents should be greatest toward the latter part of incubation, with a small amount of evaporation at first. To obtain these conditions we must have very little ventilation the first few days. This makes it plain that moisture is as necessary at the beginning as at the close of the incubation period. Eggs will stand a great amount of moisture and hatch well. The best of hatches will be accompanied by more or less moisture on the glass and door of the incubator. Very often the glass will be so wet that it will be impossible to read the thermometer for some time. Evaporation of the hen’s egg will be about 16 per cent of its weight before incubation, but the amount of evaporation varies so much that it is hardly possible to determine just how much evapora- tion should take place. However, the amount of moisture, ventila- tion, and cooling necessary for correct evaporation can be deter- mined to some extent by noting the size of the air cells and testing the eggs. Most incubator companies send complete directions for supplying moisture and operating the ventilators. Follow these directions closely. Only operators with thorough understanding of incubation and its laws should depart from the rules laid down by the manufacturers. However, there is no set of rules that will fit the needs of incubation in every locality without some altera- tions; but the general principles should always be followed. A general plan is to keep the ventilation restricted for the first few days of incubation, and gradually increase it from day to day there- after. There are good machines in which ventilation is controlled by the machine itself. With these, there is no need for worry on the part of the operator as long as he does not tamper with the ventilators. It is generally considered advisable where the ventila- tion is controlled by slides, to close the ventilators at pipping time and leave them so until the hatch is completed. As moisture helps to control evaporation, it is just as essential when the eggs are first put into the machine, and we are trying to prevent more than a gradual amount of evaporation taking place, as it is at a later stage of development. When using a sand tray machine keep the sand wet at all times from start until finish. If hatching in cold weather, use warm water to replenish the supply. If you are using a non-moisture machine you must consider the weather 34 ’ THE BUSINESS HEN. conditions and the humidity of the air in the room your incubator is in, before supplying moisture. If it is a very dry place it is best to keep the floor of the room wet. Or if in a living room, place pans of water under the machine. Use water in the machine only as a last resort. TURNING THE EGGS.—The objects in turning eggs during in- cubation, are, first, to keep the germ from drying fast to the shell, also to equalize the heat units by changing the position on the tray, it being impossible to supply the same amount of heat to each egg on the tray at the same time. Operators vary in opinion as to the proper time to commence turning, but the writer’s rule is to turn the second day of incubation, and continue turning, twice daily up to the nineteenth day, and as near 12 hours apart as possi- ble. As the most important factor in turning eggs is to keep the germ from drying to the shell we only do them justice by giving them a good thorough rolling around. Do not be particular about turning them just half way over, as old operators believed. If there is a tendency to dry in the shell a careful half way turn would be of little value. Shuffle them around on the tray with the palms of the hand as though you were mixing up dominoes, avoid- ing sudden jerks. If there is only one tray in the machine write “Morning” one one end of the tray and “Night” on the other. Then see that the end marked “Morning” is out at morning turn- ing and the reverse at night. If there are two trays change them from one side of the machine to the other in the morning and change ends at night. In this way you are aiding in distribution of equal heat units to all the eggs in the machine. THE NECESSITY OF COOLING.—There is some disagreement among authorities as to the proper value of cooling eggs during incubation, although it may be possible to secure fair hatches in some incubators without paying much attention to airing. In most cases it is a great deal better to use a good common sense system of cooling. In natural incubation eggs receive more or less cooling. The hen, if allowed her liberty, in most instances remains on the nest for the first few days and then leaves her nest for a very short time each day, early in the incubation period, increasing the length of time off the nest as the hatch advances. The number of times the hen leaves the nest varies with individual hens and the weather conditions. We are led to believe that the hen leaves the nest not only in search of food and recreation, but to aid in the development of the chick within the shell. The result of the proper amount of airing would be the giving off of bad odors which would naturally collect and the taking in of a new supply HATCHING THE EGG. 35 of fresh air which would assist in evaporating the egg contents. As the ventilation the eggs receive in artificial incubation is crude compared to natural methods, it is all the more necessary that a system of airing be followed out as near to the natural process as possible. COOLING DIRECTIONS.—As the eggs receive sufficient cooling the first week during the process of turning, it is not advisable to give it further attention until the seventh day, especially in cold weather. It would be impossible to form a set of rules for cocling which could be satisfactorily used with all machines, and under the various weather conditions. The length of time to cool must rest very much with the operator’s good judgment. Never use your watch, as this system is too mechanical to meet the changing conditions. The most satisfactory way is to go entirely by feeling of the eggs and the number of days they have been incubating. When properly cooled they will feel quite cool, but not void of warmth when brought in contact with the face or eye. The first few days after extra cooling is commenced, it will take only a few minutes, perhaps three or five or even 10 to cool them properly. The length of time will increase as the development of the embryo progresses. By the end of the second week of incubation the live embryo will supply such an amount of animal heat that it will take some min- utes to cool them sufficiently, and toward the eighteenth day if it is warm weather the operator will be almost afraid to leave them out so long. Very often in warm weather it will take from 30 to 60 minutes to cool them properly. If the weather is cold, the hatch would be ruined by such treatment. Always consider the tempera- ture of the room and never expose eggs long in a very cold room while they are undergoing the process of incubation. There can be some dependence placed on the size of the air cells at different periods of incubation. Although the size of the air cell in two certain eggs may differ greatly at the same period of incubation and under the same condition, a degree of uniformity will be found if a number are examined. By testing the eggs at frequent inter- vals that are being incubated by a hen, it is possible to get a good idea about the size of the air cell; compare these with those in the incubator if set at the same time. If, after cooling for a week or more, the eggs in the machine show air cells much larger than those under the hen, and you have been following the incubator directions in regard to moisture and ventilation, you may feel quite certain that you have cooled them too much and the egg contents have dried down too rapidly; if much smaller, you should air them longer. The eggs can be successfully cooled on top of the 36 THE BUSINESS HEN. machine or by dropping the doors down and leaving the eggs in unless you are using an incubator containing a sand tray. With such a machine it is best to put the egg tray on top and close the doors unless it is very warm weather. A number of trays of eggs can be cooled at the same time by taking them out or dropping the doors down before commencing to turn the eggs, if you are sure you can finish turning them before they are too cool. To be sure no mistake is made, you should try only two or three machines at a time, at first, and increase the number as the eggs take more cooling. In this way a great amount of time can be saved, espe- cially if you are handling several hundred eggs. If only two or three machines are set at a time, cool only these at a time unless you are very familiar with your work and can handle several batches of eggs without an error. TESTING EGGS.—To learn the per cent of fertility and strength of the germs is not the only object in testing eggs. By removing the infertile and dead germs there is more room for the strong germs and the machine is more easily kept free from bad odors. The infertile eggs may be used for cooking purposes. Unless a dark room is handy, it is best to do the testing in the evening. Never allow draughts in the room while the testing is being done. If it is cold, the eggs should be kept covered, and the work done as rapidly as possible. Eggs may be satisfactorily tested in sunlight by hanging a dark cloth over the window with a round hole cut in it a little smaller than an ordinary egg. If a large number of eggs are to be tested care should be exercised in locating the tester. If not at the proper height it will become tiresome to hold the arm extended toward the tester. It may be found convenient to have the tray of eggs at the left of the tester, and in front of the operator. There should be an empty tray at the right on which to put the eggs which prove satis- factory. There should also be two small baskets handy, one for infertile, and one for dead germs. The person doing the testing should stand a little to one side of the tester so that the right hand is directly in front of it. In this way it is much easier for the eyes if looking directly into the light. Take three eggs at a time with the left hand and pass them to the right one at a time. Hold them before the tester in the right hand, large end up. As the eggs are tested, hold the good ones in the hand and place those con- taining dead germs or that are infertile in their proper place. As each handful is tested place the good ones on the empty tray and take three more with the left hand. In this way a great many eggs can be successfully tested in a short time without breaking them. The first test should be made the seventh day. HATCHING THE EGG. 37 White eggs may be tested the fourth or fifth day, but there are generally weak germs which do not die until the sixth or seventh day, and if testing is done earlier, these remain until the second test. At first test an infertile egg is distinguished by a small dark spot with spider-like veins branching from it in different direc- tions. This is the embryo. Ii the embryo is living, it will be mov- able. A small stationary dark spot, without the blood vessels, is a dead germ, stuck to the shell. Other indications of the dead germ are blood rings. These indicate a hemorrhage. A dead embryo sometimes floats about in the white of the egg. If the egg con- tents appear cloudy, with no indications of life, the germ has started and died. Perfectly clear eggs are infertile. With proper condi- tions of moisture and ventilation, the air cell in the large end of the egg will not be much larger than in an unincubated egg, if the testing is done on the seventh day or before. The usual time for the second test is on or about the fourteenth day of incubation. By this time the embryo should be so far developed that the space between the air cell and the embryo should be very firm and dis- tinct, the air cell being much larger than at first test. The embryo will very often move about when held to the light. If only partial development has taken place and the division between the air cell and the chick is very dim, the egg is usually worth- less. The above drawings were made from eggs which had just completed the first seven days of incubation. Nos.1, 2 and 3 rep- resent live germs. Nos. 4, 5 and 6 represent dead germs. No. 1 shows a weak germ, with a few blood vessels branching from it; the rest of the egg being very clear and the lowest end of the yolk is easily seen in the small end of the egg. No. 2 shows a strong germ with a net work of blood vessels surrounding it. No. 3 is the same egg turned half way around. The germ is not visible. No. 4 shows a dead germ stuck to the shell with a blood ring around it, the blood settled in this way from the burst vessels. No. 5 represents an egg which once had life. A blood clot is visible near the air_cell. No 6 shows a floating dead germ and blood 38 THE BUSINESS HEN, clot, also a misplaced air cell. Eggs with air cells in such a posi- tion often hatch. THE HATCH.—Before the chick commences to pip the shell, the operator should arrange the ventilators according to direc- tions, also arrange the trays so the chicks will drop into the nursery as they come toward the light. If pedigree trays are to be used, they should be placed the eighteenth day, after which the machine should be kept closed until the hatch is finished. If the warm air is allowed to escape, the cold air rushes in chilling the chicks. As soon as the hatch is completed, the egg trays should be removed and the ventilators opened full width. After the chickens have dried off thoroughly, the door can be fastened open about a half inch at the top unless the weather is too cold. The chickens should remain in the nursery until the afternoon of the twenty-second day, then they can be removed to the brooder. The trays, nursery drawers, if any, and the felt or burlap diaphragm should be removed and given a thorough scraping and then scrubbed with a stiff brush, using warm water or hot svap and water. The disinfectant may be mixed in this or supplied later with a spray pump. After disinfecting, the removable parts should be placed in the sun to dry. If more hatching is to be done the lamp may be left in and the eggs may be put on the trays as soon as the machine is thoroughly dried and aired. If no more eggs are to be incubated, close the machine and empty the oil out of the lamp. This will prevent the evaporation of oil into the heater, causing the lamp to smoke badly when relighted. NATURAL INCUBATION.—Not all hens make good sitters. Nervous or ugly hens will make poor work of hatching and will doubt- less trample on some of the chicks before they are strong enough to get out of the way. The best sitters are generally of the general-purpose breeds. The hen, if allowed to choose her nesting place, will often find some secluded spot in a heavy growth of grass or weeds. Under such conditions perfect hatches are often obtained, and it is customary to make the conditions as near as possible like those. A piece of sod placed in the nest can easily be shaped to conform with the hen’s body. This should be covered with leaves, hay or short straw. The nest should not be placed where the hen will have to fly to and from it, and should not be so deep that she will have to jump down on the eggs when returning; but deep enough to prevent the young chicks from leaving the nest. Sitters should be placed where the other hens cannot lay to them. If many are to be set at a time, it is best HATCHING THE EGG. 39 to use a separate building or pen if one is available. If not, sev- eral small coops can be constructed with run-ways attached. These coops should contain a large, roomy nest, also a place for the hen to dust in during stormy weather; and they should be high, afford- ing plenty of air space. A common board roof is better than tin or tar paper, for such a coop, as it does not draw heat so easily. Before setting the hen, give her a good thorough dusting with lice powder, then sift some powder into the nest. The hen should be allowed to sit on china eggs for a few days before putting good eggs under her, especially if she is moved from her usual resting place. Do not use rotten eggs to start the hen with; they are easily broken and are more or less filthy, at best. The eggs may be tested the seventh day, and all clear eggs and dead germs removed. In this way one hen will often cover two hen’s eggs, and the other may be broken up or given a fresh lot of eggs, CHAPTER IV. BROODING. “Dwelling on, with anxiety.”—Webster. The rock that wrecks more poultrymen than all else, is raising the necessary young stock. In other words, more people get dis- couraged, give it up and go out of the business because they cannot raise enough chicks to keep their flock up as it should. The trouble is not in hatching the eggs, but in rearing the chick after it is hatched. There are a good many incubators made that will, if given good fertile eggs, hatch a large per cent of strong chicks. We never worry over the hatching part. The machines.are in a cellar where there is a fairly even temperature, and they are bunched so it is easy to care for them. But after the hatching come entirely different circumstances. The chicks are taken to small brooders that are = 27 | SS ————— = SS Ben Se TY ites Rk Hf if i | : = ) aM 3% = Fia. 4. Fia. 5. SMALL OUTDOOR BROODER. scattered around an acre of land, or else taken to the long pipe brooder-house, and now their troubles commence. In the small outdoor brooder we have instead of the even tem- perature of the incubator cellar, a variation, 50° to 75° between noon and midnight, and we have to guard against getting them too hot and weakening the chicks or having them get chilled, which is still worse for them. The small outdoor brooder is an ideal way to raise healthy chicks, if anyone has time to attend to them properly. The great trouble is, it takes so many brooders and so much running around to care for many chicks that way, and in stormy weather it is almost out of the question to give the chicks the proper care. Anyone down on his knees behind one of these little brooders in a driving rain- BROODING. 41 storm trying to fix the lamp, knows what trouble means. Now the other extreme is the long pipe brooder-house, which is the easiest way to care for little chicks, for you can work inside, storms cease to worry, and the temperature is more even; the chicks are not likely to get chilled, and they are together where you can care for them handily. But because the chicks are together there is much greater danger of disease spreading among them. The runs soon get foul, and unless the surface soil is changed in the runs some way they become a menace, and in a few years a brooder house is “to let’; some one has gone out of the business, or else there is a fire and an expensive plant goes up in smoke. These are the extremes, and I would advise neither of them for the best results. We come naturally to the colony house brooder, as some- thing large enough to accommodate 150 to 200 chicks, where the caretaker can get inside and so care for them during severe storms, “it “ ; SAS TD : a r B jz . 2 = at J iy EMT ONG ‘3 LA Se Ai bys iW heh a Ss hal ii BRITT LARGE BROODER-HOUSE. Fi@. 6. yet not so large that they cannot be readily moved to new ground each year. The colony-house brooder system has been very care- fully worked out at Cornell University, which has given us the Cornell A type brooder. When Prof. James E. Rice took charge of the poultry depart- ment at Cornell he carried with him the idea of the gasoline-heated colony-house brooder which they had been building and using on their plant at Yorktown. Mr. White is still using one of the houses built when Prof. Rice was on the farm, and has the best of success rearing chicks in them. There are certain necessities which must be provided the chick in the brooder which we never worry about when the hen is caring for them. First is heat from some source, either steam, hot water, hot air, or from their own bodies, as in the tiny fireless brooders. The proper temperature for the baby chick is from _90 to 100 degrees, and the brooder that will always give 100° at its 42 THE BUSINESS HEN. warmest place is right in this particular. Along with the right tem- perature must be fresh air, which should be supplied freely, but never must cold air or a draft be allowed to strike the chicken. Plenty of exercise must be provided, which can be done by feeding in the fine litter on the floor of the brooder so the little fellows must scratch for their living. Chicks running with the hen get too much se aT / s exercise unless the hen is confined part of each day. But the average brooder caretaker seems to think that as long as the chick eats well and does not “holler” he is all right; then when the chick goes off his feet, he will lay it to the brooder, forgetting that no brooder can know more than the one caring for it. Some advantages of this Cornell gasoline-heated colony brooder house are that it gives plenty of pure air, without drafts; provides ee ee oe . dap whe . Neate ” Give le held haater SIDE VIEW BROODER-HOUSE, Fic.8 SECTIONAL VIEW. Fria. 9. proper temperature, plenty of sunlight, a place for the chicks to exercise, and is roomy for the attendant. The building is eight feet square inside, side walls two feet, and is six feet from floor to top of ridge board. When intended to be movable, it should be set on sills 2x12-inch, beveled at the ends to be used as runners, The four floor joists are 2x4’s, halved into the runners, making a strong BROODING. 43 frame that will hold its shape when hauled. A double floor is best, the first being of rough material laid diagonally as a brace. On this is put building paper, and the top floor of matched dressed lumber is laid on this. Studding, 2x2 inch, is toe-nailed to floor flush with edge and plates are nailed to top of the studding. Figs. 8 and 9 (from Cornell Bulletin, 277) show sectional —and side views of this brooder-house, and Figs. 10 and 12 give vertical and ground plans of the gasoline heater, the same letters applying to both cuts. A is the burner box; B a standard Dangier lamp burner No. 154; C, pipe connecting burner and outside supply — ¢— |] E 5. ee <= a ee) —_ 77 = ——— $$$ 2 2 r-sI—f): at ue) ie , Cake oi patls a ae : C2 ‘ ” e--O-ewKe 2 - e+ 97 20-- + Fi. 100.—-Seitlom plan of the parts of the gasolina heater S)) ding SECTION OF HEATER. Fre. 10. GROUND PLAN. Fie. 22. pipe; D, drip pan to carry outside any escaping gasoline, or when fire goes out unexpectedly; E is door in front of burner box, covered with wire cloth to admit air, draft being prevented by tin shield inside. Air also enters through holes in bottom of rear end of burner. F is chamber above heater box, where air entering by four one-fourth-inch holes at inside end is warmed by contact and sent through perforated tin of chick guard. G is floor collar fitting over collar of chamber F. H is chick guard, fitting over collar, G, protect- ing chicks from hot steam, I, and giving entrance for fresh air under hover. I is stem connecting with radiator, K. L, is tin diaphragm with thick layer of asbestos on top, supported three-fourths inch 44 THE BUSINESS HEN. above bottom of radiator, and extending within three-fourths inch of its outer rim. M is outlet to radiator. N connection between outlet and vent pipe, P. O is sheet of tin nailed to rear wall of house, through which vent pipe passes. Q is guard to prevent hover from resting on radiator. R is gasoline tank; §, filler plug; T, filler cap, and U outlet connecting with supply pipe, C. The method of feeding the chick in the brooder makes less dif- ference than the care with which that feeding is done, also the kind of feed fed is not of as much importance as the condition of the feed. You cannot exercise too much care in feeding. Never feed any sour, mouldy or musty feed. Nearly all the trouble among brooder chicks comes from this cause. Either the feed dealer has ground up some feed that has started to spoil, or the feed has heated after it was ground, and, although not bad enough to be readily detected, it will cause indigestion and finally death to the chick. _ To start the baby chick there is nothing finer than bread dried in the oven, ground fine and, mixed with hard-boiled eggs, run shells and all through a meat chopper; a few onions, also chopped fine, is very good to add to this. In a few days we begin mixing chick feed with this, gradually adding more until we are only feeding the chick feed for the grain ration entirely, then at three weeks old begin to add more wheat and cracked corn to the chick feed, and so in a short time you have switched them on wheat and cracked corn in equal parts without making any abrupt change in their feed. This is one of the secrets of success in feeding, to give the greatest possible variety of feed all the time and never make an abrupt change in the feed. In feeding the soft feed or mash, follow much the same plan, starting with clear, flaky bran in cake tins and switching gradually over to the regular ration of mixed dry mash, and also changing from the cake tins to deeper basins until you can use the big outdoor hoppers that only have to be filled once a week, and where the chicks run whenever they want to and help themselves. Grit is best furnished by having the floor of the brooder covered with nice sharp sand, which should be renewed every time the brooder is cleaned. Later, when the chicks are fed on the range, the grit should be scattered over the range; this is a much better way than small hoppers in the brooder. For green feed there is nothing better than fine chopped onions and lettuce for early; later on a clover sod placed in the brooder is greatly relished. But we should get the little chicks out on the grass just as soon as it is possible. The weather and temperature will change this rule, but we like to get them out on the ground when one week old; at least for an hour at the middle of the day, and just as soon as they can } BROODING. 45 be trusted to go inside if they feel cold at all, they can be let out in the morning and not shut up until night. Another necessity for little chicks is plenty of fresh water always before them. The water basins should never be allowed to become dirty or dry. If the chicks become thirsty because their basins are dry, you are in for trouble, for when water is given they will pile up around the basins, and a lot of drenched little chicks will result, which may cause chills and heavy loss. Some partisans of the long pipe brooder-house system claim that you can raise the chicks there until three weeks old and then place them out in fireless brooders on the range where they can develop. This is all right in theory, and although all poultrymen admit a chick has very little brains, yet they have a wonderful home instinct and, if possible to get around it, should not be moved from one brooder to another. It is much better to move the brooder, chicks and all, than to try to move the chicks to new quarters while they are small. Great loss has frequently occurred after moving chicks to new quarters by their huddling on account of fright at the strangeness of their new quarters. The many diseases of chicks should not come under the head of brooding, although they are all part of the anxiety of the poultry- man, and many of them occur only during the early or “brooder stage” of the chick’s life, and are nearly all caused by some neglect or blunder of the one running the brooder. Neither should vermin come in this chapter, although they are the torment of the poultry- man’s life, especially during the brooding season, and must always be taken account of when figuring on the season’s work. ‘The old saying, “Not every egg becomes a chicken,” is true, and with the best of care “not every chicken becomes a hen or even a rooster.” The awful loss among brooder chicks is responsible for a new busi- ness called the “baby chick” trade. There are lots of poultrymen who have ample capacity in their incubators for all their needs if they could only raise a fair proportion of the chicks hatched. But as the season advances and they figure up their mortality, in despera- ation they send to some hatchery and buy baby chicks by the thou- sand in order to come somewhere near the number of birds they need to fill their houses. Of course there is a demand for these baby chicks from people who have no incubators, but that this is small can be reasoned, because anyone going into the poultry busi- ness extensively will have his own incubators, as the hatching is the easiest part of the business. | Some years ago it took a whole lot of nerve to pack a lot of freshly hatched chickens in a box and ship them away by express.. 46 THE BUSINESS HEN. and if the one who first tried it was very familiar with the express companies’ methods how surprised he must havé been to find the chicks had arrived safely at their destination! From some such small experiment has grown the new business, that of selling and shipping baby chicks or “day olds” as they are sometimes called. This business is done by large hatcheries, in mammoth incubators and on an immense scale. There are men with their incubator capacity of many thousands of eggs who make a business of hatching and shipping baby chicks all over the country. Many smaller breeders are advertising eggs for hatching and baby chicks at the same time, counting on hatching the eggs they can’t sell for others to hatch. This is no business for the amateur to start, as only an expert with the incubators can be sure of “good hatches,” and there is no money in anything but the best of hatches from vigorous stock, for one has to get a reputation for strong vitality in the chicks if he would sell twice in the same néighborhood. It takes lots of nerve for a lover of chickens to take a hundred of the little downy balls and pack them in a flat box, nail down the cover and leave them to the tender mercies of the express company. Yet there are thousands shipped every day throughout the hatching season. Baby chicks must be shipped direct from the incubators before they have been fed. We commonly use a box with sides about five inches high and large enough to hold 100 or more chicks, first spreading some muslin or burlap over the bottom of the box, on which we spread a good layer of cotton and then fold back the cloth on which we then place the baby chicks just enough so they will not pile up on each other, then back over the chicks goes the cloth, to be again covered with cotton and after folding back again over the cotton the box is ready for the cover to be nailed on. Some shippers use feathers instead of cotton, and it is wonderful how they will stand transportation if rightly packed. A CONNECTICUT MAN’S OUTFIT. If the average poultryman would spend as much for a chick raising outfit adapted to natural methods, as he does for equipment based on artificial methods, he would get considerably better results, and at the same time reduce the cost for labor and feed materially. When I first began raising chickens I was not able to find that anybody had put much thought into the problem of raising chicks with a minimum of attention. The outfit illustrated at Figs. 13-14 is the product evolved through experience, and after several season’s use I cannot suggest any material modification. In round numbers I have in one year raised to broiler size or beyond, BROODING. 4? 700 chicks out of 1,000 hatched. So far as I could see practically all that loss was due to lack of inherited vigor. Given a good chick to start with, the problem is to protect from vermin and storms, and at the same time maintain favorable environment. The latter requirement means frequent change to fresh ground and my “chickery” is designed to provide this with _a minimum of labor. Everything is so that it is only necessary to lift slightly on the end away from the coop and drag as far as may be desired. On rainy days an old sack is thrown over the open part of the top, so the storm danger is practically eliminated. By running the eggs under the hen for nineteen days and then shifting to the incubator to hatch, the little fellows have a couple of days to get on their pins, safe from lice or being trodden under- foot. ‘Then I take them out, grease their heads, put about a dozen under a hen, and keep them in the “chickery” for three weeks. When they are about a week old I grease their heads again, and SMALL CHICK HOUSE. Fria. 13. WITH YARD ATTACHED. Fra. 14, then make a final application when they are given free range. For three weeks they seem perfectly contented in their confine- ment, but after that they grow restless, and do better running free. These outfits are 7 feet long over all, 2 feet wide and 20 inches high. The chicks are fed commercial chick feed by means of an automatic device made of wire screens. By pecking at this they work out just what they need but no more. The slatted partition lets the chicks into the feeding compartment, but keeps the hen out. The saving in feed at 2%4 cents a pound is no small item of advantage. The water can hangs from above, the same as the feeder. The hen can reach it to drink all she pleases, but she cannot tip it over, or scratch it full of dirt. Beef scrap is supplied after the first week, in a little hopper tacked to the corner post, opposite the feeder. The old hen is fed principally on whole corn. With these outfits it is not necessary to go near the little chicks oftener than once a day in good weather. Any attention may be given after dark as well as at any other time. I have 48 THE BUSINESS HEN. frequently gone out in the evening, moved the chicks to fresh ground, filled up the water tanks and feeders, thrown in some whole corn for the old hen’s breakfast, and then returned thirty-six hours later to find everything all right. But best of all, the feed 1s right there waiting the moment the chicks wake up in the morning, and that is several hours earlier than a good many people realize. System and the right equipment make it possible to raise first-class chickens without much interference with the regular daily routine. HOMEMADE BROODER.—“The material required is an empty one-pound coffee can, a two-pound coffee can, a piece of gal- vanized sheet iron 24x36 inches, with a hole in center that wiil just fit the one-pound can, 85 feet of seven-eights-inch matched pine and six feet of one-half-inch pine. Make the four sides of the box nine inches high; that will just take in the sheet iron; put strips 7x1 inch inside the box two inches below top edge, for the sheet iron to HOMEMADE BROODER. Fie, 15. rest on. Take the one-pound can and cut slits a half inch apart all around the top edge; cut just down to where the bulge in the tin is (about one-half inch), put the slit part through the sheet iron and bend the slit pieces down flat on the iron. The bulge prevents the can from going through the iron, and if the slit pieces are ham- mered down tight it makes nearly an air-tight job, but to make sure that no fumes from the lamp get above the sheet iron it is better to solder it tight. Place the iron in the box and nail strips on top of iron, pressing it down tight on the under strips. Nail a floor of 24-inch stuff on top of box, cutting a hole in center the size of the two-pound coffee can; slit the can like the other, bend the pieces out and nail on top of floor, but first punch the top of can full of t4-inch holes to let the hot air out. ‘Then bore five or six half-inch holes on the two ends through sides of box between sheet iron and floor of brooder to let in air; also four holes in each end of box BROODING. 49 one inch in diameter near bottom edge to let in air for lamp. The rest is plain carpenter work. Take a piece nine inches wide, length of box, and nail or screw on back end, letting it come down only an inch or so below the edge of box. Then nail on sides, using two 2x2-inch posts 30 inches long to hold up front end. I line the hover part with 14-inch pine 6% inches wide, nailing on strips at top and bottom edge one-half inch square, so that it makes a half-inch air space on ends and back. “The hover cover of 7£-inch stuff rests on this lining and is not fastened, can be lifted out to clean out brooder, and as chicks get old enough is removed entirely. To the front of hover cover are tacked strips of cloth two inches wide, reaching the floor. Some of these cloth strips can be turned up on top of cover to let out hot air on warm days. On front part of sides bore holes as shown in figure, and make a sliding cover so as to close or open these holes. The amount of air entering the half-inch holes above sheet iron and passing over chicks is governed by these ventilators. ‘The front half of roof is screwed to sides and front and middle bar. The back half is loose and projects three inches under front part; can be lifted up as shown by dotted lines, then by lifting hover cover the floor can be easily cleaned.” CHAPTER V. THE FIRST SUMMER. The business hen should make her start early in the year. Hatch as early as possible and get the chick well on its way before hot weather comes on. You want the pullets to begin laying early, while the old hens are moulting. This means 200 days or more of growth, and this growth must be rapid and steady if you expect the pullet to attend to business early. If the early part of the season is warm the chicks will be weaned at eight to 10 weeks old. Then the old hen deserts them, or they leave the brooder and must shift for themselves. The growth they make during this “first Summer’ determines most of their usefulness. We should give the pullets free range, within reasonable limits. We find an apple orchard with reasonably low trees a good place for the pullets to make their growth. They will occupy the brooder or colony house for a time, but finally, as they gain size and strength, will fly up and roost in the trees. They do no harm, but benefit them- selves in this way, and we permit them to stay in the trees until late Summer or early Fall, when they are put into the Winter houses. It is something of a job to catch these tree roosters, but the free life through the Summer does them good. If the pullets are kept free from lice and given what they want of pure water and clean food they will pretty much take care of themselves, and be the better for doing it. The great point is to keep them con- tented and growing steadily, with plenty of exercise. The old plan of feeding is now giving way to the modern method of keep- ing a hopper of “dry mash” constantly before them, so that they can help themselves at will. A feeding outfit used in Minnesota is shown at Fig. 18. A “dry mash” is a mixture of grains or dried meat—much like the old wet mash with the water left out. There is some controversy as to the value of dry mash in unlimited quantities for laying stock, but it seems to be demonstrated that for young birds the dry food is superior. It is a more economical way of feeding—saving much labor and time. One method of dry mash feeding is described by A. F. Hunter. He uses a commercial dry mash mixture already mixed, but if a man is raising chickens on a large scale he may mix his own dry THE PIRS E SUMMER. 51 mash. A good mixture is recommended by the Maine Experiment Station. This consists of 200 pounds of wheat bran, 100 pounds cornmeal, 100 pounds middlings, 100 pounds gluten meal or brewers’ grains, 100 pounds linseed meal and 100 pounds of beef scrap. These materials are spread on the floor in layers, one above the other, and thoroughly mixed with a shovel or hoe. Smaller amounts in the same proportion can be mixed in the same way. Mr. Hunter thinks this dry mash is too forcing for some breeds, at least, and he would recommend leaving out the linseed meal from the mixture. The commercial feeds often contain small quantities of buckwheat, some sunflower seed and Kaffir corn, all of which add to the variety, and that pleases the birds. This dry mash is fed to the young birds in a hopper, such as is described in the picture, Fig. 16. One picture shows the hopper complete, and the other with the top taken off, so that it may be filled. The roof is made of a good quality of roofing paper, and as shown in the pic- DRY MASH HOPPER. Fie. 16. WITH COVER REMOVED. Fre. 17. ture, projects four inches beyond the edges of the trough, and this protects the grain from a driving rain. This hopper can be made of any desired size. The one shown in the picture holds about half a bushel of grain on each side. The slats, through which the hens put their heads to feed, are made of lath, and there is a slanting lip made of a planed lath along the front of the trough, which pre- vents the grain being thrown out when the birds are feeding. Such a hopper will provide a dry mash for about 50 birds, and require filling once a week, so there is little labor required in caring for the birds. In some systems of colony feeding the water supply is pro- .vided by filling a barrel with water with a faucet draining into a small pan. The faucet is arranged so that it drops slowly, drop by drop. This provides water enough for the chicks and can be regu- lated properly, and the barrel, if covered, will hold pure water enough for a week’s supply. In this system little labor is required, and the chicks grow rapidly and well. Under Mr. Hunter’s system the cockerels are leit with the pullets until the former weigh about 52 THE BUSINESS HEN. 3% pounds; that is, for Plymouth Rocks or Wyandottes. At this weight the cockerels are taken out and shut up for fattening. We would rather remove the cockerels earlier and fatten them from the time they can be separated from the pullets. It is understood that the pullets alone are to be fed in this way. It would not pay to handle the young cockerels in like manner. They should be sold as soon as a profitable buyer can be found, or eaten at home. As soon as they can be detected, separate them from the pullets and put them in a small covered pen by them- selves. With the pullets, the object is to force them to make bone and muscle without too much fat, while the cockerels are not to be kept any longer than is necessary. Running at large, they will worry and fight and eat their heads off without growing fat enough to sell. Cooped up and stuffed with a fattening ration they can be sold as squab broilers or as larger birds. There is a good demand for squab broilers, weighing from 12 to 14 ounces each. MINNESOTA HOPPER. Fic. 18. FATTENING COOP. Fa. 19. It requires considerable skill to pick a squab broiler nicely. The skin is tender and the appearance of the bird adds much to its value. A broiler with the skin torn in pieces would be rejected by many buyers. Skillful pickers of larger birds frequently give up in disgust after trying to pick the broilers. Only those with yellow skin and legs are desired, and, of course, they must be plump and well shaped. These little birds are deprived of food for at least 12 hours before killing, so as to have the crop empty; hang the chickens by both feet and bleed them by opening the mouth and with a sharp knife cutting the main artery at the base of the tongue. Draw all the blood quickly, pull out the large wing and tail feathers first, then the smaller feathers and finally the pin feathers. The greatest care must be taken in picking the wings and breast, for there the skin tears easily. As soon as the feathers are off throw the little bird in ice water, as this cools it quickly and prevents discoloring. When ready for shipment take them from the ice water and pack in pounded ice. Squab broilers are a luxury, THE FIRST. SUMMER. 53 high priced at that, and like the production of fancy strawberries or apples, certified milk or any other form of luxurious food, require special knack and “instinct” to do the work properly. Unless a man can master come of these qualities he would better let the birds grow larger and sell as large broilers or roasters. Cockerels fed well until they weigh about two pounds often make very profitable brothers to the business hen—far more so than when they are permitted to run at large. One cause of loss on some poultry farms is the failure to handle the cockerels prop- erly. Where they are wanted for breeders, of course, they should not be handled in this way, but given free range and fed like the pullets, but the great majority of them should be put by themselves as soon as they are recognized and fed a fattening ration. A good mixture is four parts by weight of cornmeal, two parts wheat mid- dlings and one part beef scraps. This is wetted with skim-milk into a soft mush or porridge, wet enough to run from the spoon. When cockerels are fed all they will eat of this, with plenty of water and kept quietly in the shade, they will grow fast and give soft, sweet meat, far superior to that of the skinny bird, which runs at large. Anyone who has ever tasted the flesh of “milk fed” poultry will appreciate such meat, and this plan of separating the cockerels early and feeding them this porridge may well be prac- ticed even by those who have but a small flock. Some poultrymen who follow the colony plan—that is, hens in small houses scattered over a large field—winter the pullets in the housés, which serve as brooders early in the season. A cheap and sensible house of this character is shown in the illustrations, Figs. 20-21-22-23, and thus described by C. M. Gallup, with whom it originated. Early in the season the little chicks can be brooded in such a house and later a flock of matured pullets wintered in it. “In addition to the advantages common to all colony houses, this design has several all its own. The space beneath the floor provides shade from the hot sun, shelter from storms and protec- tion against hawks. The absence of a foundation or underpinning leaves nothing to harbor rats. Then the weight of the structure makes moving to fresh ground a very simple matter. One horse will drag it any distance, and for a matter of a few hundred feet it can be kedged along with a chain and a crowbar. Ample ventila- tion at night is provided by the cloth screen, which slides in grooves. If birds are to be confined during the day, a wire screen is desirable. The depth of the house makes cleaning with a hoe easy, so that the lack of headroom is no objection. I use this house for an outdoor brooder shed early in the season, a roosting coop 54 THE BUSINESS HEN. later on, and then do the culling and leave the pullets right where they feel at home. Then there is no break in the continuity of their lives just as they are ready to lay. “The house is seven feet long by five feet deep, three feet high at the rear, with a pitch of three inches per foot to the roof. The frame is of ordinary hardwood boards, 3x7% inches, assembled as FRAME OF HOUSE. Fic. 20. REAR VIEW. Fic. 21. shown by the picture. The sills are 2x6 inches, and the flooring is %-inch stuff, laid parallel to the ends of the house. The sheathing is 7-16-inch Southern pine, tongued and grooved. This is nailed vertically on the ends, and horizontally over front, top and back. This makes the whole thing remarkably rigid for its weight, and there is no tendency for the house to rack when it is moved or propped up. The patent roofing, which covers the top, ends and rear, makes it wind-tight and dry. Battened down with lath, this covering lasts for a good many years. The materials used in build- ing this house cost almost exactly six dollars three years ago. Experience developed the interesting fact that the hens were just as ready and willing to lav in a nest outside the house, as one <= E hh Soe Vez Se" iba gape nae AS LAYING HOUSE. Fra. 22. AS BROODER HOUSE, Fie. 23. within, so that makes a further saving of floor space possible. The perches are simply light horses, which are taken outside for spray- ing, and to make cleaning out easy. The size of this house makes it just right for a breeding pen. Of unmated females, it will house 25 without much crowding. In growing capons, I have wintered 35 or 40 in it and had them do well.” THE FIRST SUMMER. 55 The lighter and more active breeds of cockerels may be fattened in a pen, but the heavier breeds will make quicker growth in a fattening crate. The Minnesota Experiment Station recommends a crate such as is shown at Fig. 19, and described as follows: “The fattening crate is quite easily constructed and will last for years if properly made. It is usually six feet long, 16 inches wide, 18 inches high, and is divided into three equal-sized compartments, each holding from four to six birds, as the case may be. The slats or laths, which are usually 1% inches wide, are placed 1% inches apart at the ends, sides and top of the crate, but those in front are placed vertically and are two inches apart, giving the birds plenty of room to put their heads through to eat from the trough. The .floor of the crate is made of slats, which run lengthwise and are placed one inch apart, leaving a one-inch space on either side _ between the first lath and the sides of the crate. The crate should stand on short legs or trestles to allow for convenience in cleaning out the droppings which fall to the floor. The trough is made the full length of the crate, and should be about three or four inches deep.” At this station the pens for fattening cockerels are made movable. The roosting coop for such a pen is three feet wide, six feet long, two feet high at back and three feet in front. The yard is made of two hurdles of wire netting 12 feet long and 18 inches high and one six feet wide. A large hurdle covers the top. ‘This outfit will hold 25 to 50 cockerels and is moved around from day to day. CHAPTER VI. THE BUSINESS HENHOUSE. The writer of this chapter wishes to describe the construction of a poultry building which is comfortable, inexpensive, and simple in design, and to include in this discussion the principles to be con- sidered when designing poultry houses. It is, of course, impossible to meet all conditions or suit all tastes in one type of house. Familiarity with the principles of poultry-house construction, how- ever, makes it possible for one to mould this type of house, or any - other, into a type more suitable to his tastes and convenience, and to climatic conditions. It is of prime importance that the house be located in a con- venient, accessible place, one protected from the cold Winter winds, and at the same time exposed to warmth of the morning and mid-day sun. A southern or southeastern slope, because of the more direct exposure to the sun’s rays, is consequently more desirable. Such a slope, furthermore, is drier, often making it possible for the fowls to get on to dry ground several weeks earlier in the Spring and later in the Fall. Sunshine, dryness, warmth and accessibility are the influential factors in locating the site of the house. In the construction of the “Business Henhouse” illustrated in Fig. 24, a rectangular enclosure is staked out 16 feet wide and 32 feet long, with the long side running as near east and west as the slope of the land and the nearness of other buildings will allow. A trench about 12 inches wide is next dug around the edge of this enclosure, the outer edge of the trench being about three inches out- side of the 16x32 foot enclosure. In ordinary soils this trench should be about 30 inches deep, but in sandy or gravelly soils it need not exceed one foot in depth. The trench should then be filled with cobblestones or coarse gravel to within four inches of the ground ‘level. In this manner a well-drained bottom is prepared for the foundation wall of the house, and prevents its heaving and cracking by frost. A cement wall six inches thick makes an excellent founda- tion for the building. This wall should be at least six inches above the ground so as to turn surface wash aside and to make a raised floor possible. If the ground is uneven the wall will need to be higher in places to bring the top edge level. The outer edge of this 57 THE BUSINESS HENHOUSE. ‘UleyIno Uljsniu “7 (]]IS eAoge SayoUL g ‘SOYDUT ETXOT ‘sus OF xO QT ‘shem Yjoq Sursurms Joop ‘gq ‘faprm oof PF ‘soyosod 0} plarys ‘O ‘sjsou 0} 100p dorp ‘N ‘pieoq ssurddorp ‘TT ‘ysrof yout-gxg jo seyotod “yy ‘ortIM Axjjnod YM pesopouse ‘dooo Apoosq “FZ + UOTILIWOA JOWIUING 10} Stoop “4 “YS epiM joof g “1OOp “Y ‘ued JojemM ‘q ‘roddoy pooy ‘9 fo8ed yxou yo [eUOT}IeS UT UMOYS o1e YOTYM jo s[rejop ‘soxoq jsou “q SIOOP & OAT] Ul Surms 0} pasury ‘ssejS OTXS JO SMOPUIM 918 W VY ‘pesn St Surpis AyoaoN ‘“Suyoos 0} uorppe ur soded surpyinq pue spreoq poyojyeu ys} YM poroAod “Yiede soyoul gE ose SioyeYy “Ivel Ul Gg pue Jor} Ut Ysiy Joop 24g Joo} YexgT Isiof FX ST owWeIy oY], ,,esMOYUSFT Ssoursng,, oy} Jo ued [e1ouas UMOYS ST 9AOGY 76 SIH “HSQOHNWH SSHNISNG AHL 58 THE BUSINESS HEN. top should coincide with the original outline of the proposed build- ing. All is now ready for the floor. In Fig. 25 details of the roost and nest arrangements are given. K is the roost; M, droppings board; B, nests, and N, drop door to nests. At the rear is a wire-screened jail for broody hens, and in front is the shield O, protecting the roosts from drafts. Fig. 26 from the center front shows arrangement of cloth curtain oe CENTER FRONT. Fic. 26. END VIEW. Fie. 27. and small exit for hens, and one end of the house, with place for feed hopper, water pan and outer door is shown at Fig. 27. The warmth and dryness of the house greatly depends upon the construction of the floor. The average soil is sufficiently heavy to retain enough moisture to make the house damp and exceedingiy dangerous to the fowls’ health during certain seasons of the year. This condition can be forestalled by filling in with cobblestones, gravel or cinders, The level of the floor should be raised above that THE BUSINESS HENHOUSE. 59 of the ground outside, even if the dirt floor is to be used. ‘The cement floor, however, is preferable to either the wooden or earth floor, since it is so much more easily cleaned and freed from rats, mice and vermin. Moreover, it is dry when properly constructed. To make it so, fill in the space between the foundation walls to within two inches of the top level with stones and gravel. The last two inches can then be filled with concrete similar to that used in the wall. If the mixture is made rather watery, the top can be troweled off smooth and level, making it unnecessary to add a finishing or wearing surface of richer and finer material. A good thickness of tarred paper laid beneath the layer of concrete helps to keep moisture from coming up into the floor. A well-drained floor, however, will be dry without this precaution. The framework of this house can be constructed from two by four-inch timbers, as illustrated in Fig. 24. If the roof is very flat the rafters should be of heavier material. One thickness of tight matched boards is sufficient covering for any part of the building. In localities where the temperature goes below zero for weeks at a time, the extra protection of a roofing paper, on the side exposed to the cold winds, is desirable. ‘The house can be made still warmer by covering the inside studding with unmatched boards, or fine mesh wire, and filling the air space with straw. ‘The inside boards should be far enough apart to allow cir- culation of air in the space between the walls, or it would be even colder than the single matching. Unfortunately, such a wall fur- nishes an excellent hiding and breeding place for mice and vermin, and is, consequently, advised in extremely cold climates only. The sides should be built low in order to lessen the amount of air which the fowls will have to warm. For this reas6n also the house is often ceiled with either matched boards or straw, sup- ported loosely by boards or poultry wire. When used, the ceiling extends from the front plate to the rafters opposite, thence down to the rear plate. Although a ceiling adds to the expense of the house, it does make the house warmer in the Winter and cooler in the Summer by virtue of the fact that the air space above holds the cold coming through the roof in the Winter, and the heat in the Summer. When using either kind of ceiling openings should be made in each end of the peak in order to allow a slight circulation of air in both Winter and Summer, otherwise the extreme outside heat, or cold, will eventually penetrate this air space and make the ceiling as hot or cold as the roof. The amount of ventilation given this chamber should, of course, be greater in the Summer than in the Winter. 60 THE BUSINESS HEN. A ceiling is more appropriate in a gable or combination-roof house than in a shed-roof house. The shed-type house is rarely ceiled unless very wide and very high in front. The shed-type roof, however, has the advantage of being easy to construct. It turns all the water to the back and gives a high front exposure to the sun’s heat. It does not make as attractive a building as the combination or gable. The combination style utilizes a lower rear wall and a higher front exposure than the gable. In this way it economizes on both lumber and cubic feet air space. Both these types require that the rafters be securely tied to prevent the weight of the roof from spreading the plates. The tie beams should be near the peak unless the roof is ceiled. Undoubtedly, the most economical covering for the roof is a good grade of roofing paper or tin on a tight board surface. Such roofing material makes it possible to use a flat pitched roof. If the roof is shingled instead, the pitch or slope must be at least one- third, or 30 degrees, thus increasing the air space of the house, and unless the roofing boards are tight, making a looser and colder roof. Such construction makes the inside ceiling more necessary. Probably most important of all is the front of the house where the glass windows and other openings are placed. All the openings are placed on the one side, so that by keeping the other three sides tightly closed a draft is prevented from passing through the open front and out through the opening on the other side, or vice versa. The glass windows should be large, and placed vertically extending from a few inches above the floor to a point six or seven feet higher. This position of the windows allows the sun’s rays to reach every part of the floor from front to back, thereby keeping the house brighter, drier and healthier. The windows can be opened by slid- ing to one side, or by swinging outward from hinges placed at the top or bottom of the sash, but when arranged as in Fig. 24 the separate sash are fastened together and hinged at the side to open like a door. Enough blank wall space should be left at the side of the window to allow it to open fully against the wall where it will not be broken. The window opening should be covered with poultry mesh wire, so as to prevent the fowls escaping when the windows are open. This wire can best be put on the window studding and be cased in by the siding. The size of the windows to be used should provide about one square foot of glass for every 10 to 16 square feet of floor space. The “business henhouse” has one square foot to every 12.8 square feet floor space. Each window has three sash of six 8x10-inch lights fastened together and hinged to swing back against the wall. THE BUSINESS HENHOUSE. 61 An additional window covered with cloth is used for ventilating this house. The size of this window should be varied according to climatic conditions, and should be placed where it will allow the least amount of draft to reach the fowls, especially while roosting. The window in the “business henhouse” is 3x4 feet in size, and placed near one end of each pen. ‘There is also a shield between this window and the perches. ‘The curtain frame is covered with light muslin and hinged at the top to swing up and fasten to the ceiling. ‘The opening is covered with mosquito mesh wire which serves to turn the storm and wind better than poultry mesh wire, and makes it unnecessary to drop the cloth curtain except on very cold nights or during prolonged storms. ‘This ventilating window should be placed at least three feet above the floor in order that the incoming air may be broken up and distributed before reaching the fowls on the floor. For Summer, additional ventilation is necessary. It is well to have a small trap door in the back of the pen which can be opened as soon as the hot weather comes and closed tightly in the Fall to remain so all Winter. If perches are piaced in the rear of the pen a shield should be placed in front of this opening to prevent the air blowing on to the roosting fowls. INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT. When considering the comfort of the fowls and the convenience of the caretaker, the interior arrangement of the pen is nearly as important as the construction of the building. The warmest part of the building should be selected for the perches. It is even advisable in very coid climates to give them the additional protection of double walls and a cloth curtain in front. The arrangement of the roosts in the “business henhouse” is such that the fowls of the adjoining pens are next to the same partition where each flock can be of mutual assistance in providing warmth. ‘The perches are placed high enough to make their removal unnecessary when cleaning the droppings platform. All the perches must be of the same height, or the fowls will fight for the higher warmer ones. Each fowl should be allowed from six to eight inches linear perch room. ‘The droppings platform, on the other hand, may have a slight forward pitch. This will keep the fowls from squatting on it at night, as well as facilitating clean- ing. Usually at one end of this platform a small space is parti- tioned off by a wire screen and fitted with a hardware cloth, or slat- bottom frame to be used for breaking up sitters. The slatted bottom can be removed when cleaning or when the cocp is used for an extra cock bird or injured fowl. 62 THE BUSINESS HEN. When droppings platforms are used, which is advisable, they make an excellent cover for the nests. However, the nests are fre- quently built on the side wall and a separate slanting cover put over them. If placed under the droppings board as shown in Fig. 25, the nests are made in the form of a frame with a bottom of wood or quarter-inch mesh hardware cloth. Each nest should be about 14 inches square and six to eight inches deep. A hinged door covering the, front darkens the nests and makes them seem secluded to the fowls. They are entered from the enclosed runway behind which has an opening at either end. These openings can be closed with small sliding doors and the broody hens and pullets kept from roost- ing in the nests at night. Each pen should be further equipped with a dry mash, self- feeding hopper, a water pan, and with a grain supply can in case the pen is distant from the feed barn. The feed hopper and water pan may be placed on a raised platform from 15 to 18 inches above the floor both to give greater floor space and to prevent the litter from being kicked into the feed and water when the fowls work in the litter. These devices should be arranged in the most convenient places left vacant after the doors and perches and nests are located. The entire back wall or side wall can be used for these purposes in the “business henhouse.” No obstruction should be placed along the front wall because the passageway to adjoining pens is so close to it. Many would wish to put a box or form in front of the win- dows to be filled with dust-bath material. This would not be advan- tageous in the “business henhouse.” ‘The box should be put at the rear or on one side. The partitions between pens in open front houses should be solid from the floor to the ceiling. Wire partitions endanger the fowls to drafts. Half board partitions finished with cloth to the ceiling are sometimes used, but the partition near the roosting chamber should always be of tight boards. The door between pens is located in the most convenient place with reference to the roosts and nests and feed hoppers. It is placed in about the center of the partition when the roosts are along the rear side, but in houses arranged like the “business henhouse” with the perches along the partition wall, the door can best be placed near the front. With the door in this posi- tion there is little chance of a draft between pens. All partition doors and exits should have a six-inch threshold to hold the litter in the pens. This description of the “business henhouse,” and the principles upon which it is based apply to many other styles of buildings and make it possible for one to alter the size or style of this house to their own desire or requirements. THE BUSINESS \HENHOUSE. 63 The “business henhouse” is designed for flocks of about one hundred fowls. The two pens make it possible to separate the old from the young, or the better from the poorer ones. For smaller flocks the same design can be used with shorter measurements. This style also enables the construction of a long house with a number of pens. REMODELING HOUSES OF FAULTY CONSTRUCTION. It is quite as possible also to use these principles in remodeling — an old house or fitting up an unused barn or outbuilding into a com- fortable poultry house. Occasionally after building. a house of approved design it is found to be too cold or dark, or poorly ven- tilated and damp. At such times a slight alteration or addition will often remedy this condition and make the house desirable instead of dangerous. A frequent mistake is to build a house with high walls back and front and without ceiling, making it very spacious and cold. It is a simple matter to spike 2x4-inch supports to the side walls. and with cross beams to construct a ceiling about 6%4 feet above the floor. ‘This ceiling can be covered with tight-fitting boards, or with straw 18 inches thick, supported by poultry mesh wire or by loosely joined boards. In either case, there should be a small ventilating door to this air space above in each end of the house. A less serious error is to use an alley-way. It is an expensive - luxury, occupying valuable space which cannot be used by the fowls for exercise, but has to be warmed up by them. Such an alley-way can easily be torn out and the pens arranged as suggested in the “business henhouse.” Practically, the only advantage of an alley- way house is its cleaner appearance and separate entrance for exhibit- ing stock to visitors. As such pens are generally arranged they do not expedite work even in long houses. It is also a fallacy to believe that the fowls are frightened more when fed directly in the pen than from the alley-way. They soon become accustomed to the feeder, and can be watched more closely to discover any sick or poor ones which would be hidden from the alley. Probably, the most faulty construction in the old types of houses is the lack of proper ventilation. In those styles ventilation was possible only when the door was opened and closed by the feeder, or through small exit doors. Such houses cannot accommodate their full capacity of fowls, and the moisture given off in the fowls’ breath is retained in the pen, making it damp, and in the Winter frosty. This moisture-laden air should have a chance to escape and drier, pure air take its place. Such a condition can be provided by substituting a porous cloth curtain in place of a glass window, or 64 THE BUSINESS HEN. if there is too little glass area already, by cutting an opening in the front of the house and fitting in a cloth curtain similar to the one in the “business henhouse.” This opening should provide about one square foot of cloth to about 16 to 20 square feet of floor space. Under normal conditions this ventilation will keep the house dry and the air pure. Other methods of ventilation have been found less satisfactory, and in some instances, the more expensive systems do not work at all, due to the slight difference in temperature of the air inside and outside. When fresh air is abundant, a larger num- ber of fowls can be kept in the same pen with safety. The working rule is four square feet of floor space per fowl. During extremely cold weather even the cloth window does not always prevent the frost from collecting on the walls. The frost will usually be found in houses where the fowls are roosting at the back or coldest side, where the moisture in their breath striking against the cold wall is condensed and frozen before it is removed. To relieve this condition tightly enclose the roosting chamber on the back and top by ceiling from the droppings platform up the rear studding and under the rafters, leaving a space so that the air can circulate between the rafters and entirely about this chamber as rep- resented in Fig. 25. The circulation of air within this space caused by the warmth of the fowls roosting nearby carries off and dis- tributes the cold before it penetrates to the inner boards. In this way the air within the roosting chamber, moist with breath, is allowed to pass off before being condensed and frozen. It is occasion- ally necessary, however, to enclose this chamber on the front with a cloth curtain hanging several inches in front of the perches to allow sufficient air to enter and give the fowls opportunity to get down to the floor early in the morning. Such a curtain must be used judiciously, since there is much danger of overheating and weaken- ing the fowls if it is dropped on warm nights. Dampness in a house also comes through the floor. Ground floors which are not raised on the inside or filled in with sand, or concrete floors constructed without under drainage, allow the mois- ture to rise through them and into the house. The dirt floor can be remedied by filling in with sand or by building a concrete floor if found to be necessary. The dampness in an improperly drained concrete floor can be temporarily lessened by covering it with an inch or two of sand. When concrete floors are laid in early Winter, their drying can be hastened by covering them with sand. This will. also help protect them from freezing. In these and similar ways a cold, damp and disagreeable house can be made warm, dry and comfortable. Ee BO SUN ESS HENIOUS E. 65 COLONY HOUSES VS. LONG HOUSES. The design of the “business henhouse” is adaptable to either the single pen colony house or a long house with several pens. Usually the farmers’ small flock requires but a small house with two pens. Larger houses or more of them, however, are necessary for the occasional farmer or poultryman who keeps several hundred mature fowls. It is the custom among such poultrymen either to scatter their flocks in colony houses or to keep them in one or two long houses. Each system has advantages and some disadvantages. The colony house system allows the fowls greater freedom. They can go in all directions from their house, whereas in the long house they are usually restricted to one side, and frequently to a narrow patch leading away from their pens. A hen always wishes to get on the other side of the fence, and for this reason, if no other, do away with fences as much as possible and instead run the fowls together in large outdoor flocks, or in colonies far enough apart so that they do not mix easily. Fences are very expensive and a nuisance in every way. There is less chance of disease spreading from colony to colony © than from pen to pen in a long house. And because of the greater freedom and the lesser contamination of the ground around a colony house fowls get diseased less frequently. It is generally accepted that fowls kept in small flocks give greater returns both in the num- ber and the hatching power of the eggs produced. For these reasons the colony system should be used for the breeding stock. The long house system on the other hand, minimises the time and labor needed in feeding and caring for the fowls, thereby enabling one to person- ally manage a much larger plant. All of the work is done indoor and under shelter, and because of the compactness of the plant many labor-saving devices, such as the overhead feed car, can be used advantageously. The long house also can be built much more economically than the colony houses of the same capacity, for in bringing two colony houses together one end of each house is saved. For this reason, too, the long house is less exposed and is conse- quently warmer. Perhaps the greatest objection to the long house is the probable contamination of the ground in front of the pens, unless the land be very sandy. This condition can be prevented by using the double yard system, with one yard in front and one in back. ‘These yards can be used alternately, and one yard be cultivated and cropped while the cther is used by the fowls. In this way contamination is pre- vented, and in addition the valuable fertilizer from these fowls, otherwise lost, is turned into excellent crops. A consideration of 66 THE BUSINESS HEN. the advantages of each system leads to a natural combination of the two methods, a combination which at present is practiced too seldom. ‘This combination would make use of the colony houses for the breeding stock only, and of the long houses for the bulk of the stock kept primarily for egg production. This practice would pro- vide the breeding stock in colony houses with conditions conducive to the production of strong eggs capable of hatching out vigorous Uses, = LAYING HOUSE. Fia. 28 chicks, and on the other hand it would enable the poultryman to care for large numbers of laying hens in the long house with the least amount of labor and expense. The “New York State Model Laying House,” in use at Cornell University, is shown at Fig. 28. This is a good illustra- tion of the shed-type, fresh-air house. The back and ends, as well as the roof, are covered with paper to make the house tighter. There is a Summer ventilator above the glass windows and a | Li ie A TWO-FAMILY HOUSE, Fia. 29. covered dust wallow just inside the lower sash. This house can be used singly or in series. Fig, 29 illustrates a two-pen colony breeding house, built by D. J. Lambert, Apponaug, R. I. The shape of this house makes it economical. The fowls roost next to the partition between pens. The opening in front is covered by a frame of cloth, which swings open against the side, THE BUSINESS HENHOUSE. ; 67 A MAKESHIFT HOUSE.—Some good hen records are made in cheap houses not built on scientific lines. Such a house is de- scribed below. In such cases it is not so much the house as the man who knows by instinct how to make the hens comfortable. “What results would you expect from 75 hens wintered in a coop of this cost? I had 75 May-hatched pullets to winter. I built a coop 12x18 feet, inside measurement. The material was sod for the sides; the roof was straw, covered with corn fodder; the floor, Nature’s deodorizer, natural earth. I first selected a well-sheltered location, then proceeded by setting three crotches, each crotch set three feet deep. This for the peak of my roof. Next I set ordinary six-foot fence posts on side four feet apart, two feet deep, leaving sides of coop four feet high, plenty high enough for sides of any coop. Then I spiked poles on to those fence posts on top, and nailed on small poles on sides of posts; laid poles in those centet crotches, then laid poles from post plates to crotch poles for rafters, Ci oh , ies ——— Mie Os SOD AND POLE HOUSE. Fria. 30 and my frame was complete. I put in a window frame of plank on south side 2x8 feet, covered same with muslin curtain (no glass) ; but door in east end. I cut sod and sodded up sides; put a little brush crosswise of rafter poles, covered with straw and shingled with corn fodder. The foundation of my coop is raised slightly so water runs away from it, which is very important. So my labor and all would amount to about $12. I put pullets in coop in December and they soon began laying. In January, February, March and April I averaged close to five dozen eggs per day. My income was a little better than $1 per day clear of feed; and they have continued lay- ing well all Summer till molting this Fall. Now they are mostly through the molt and are going right into the egg producing busi- ness again.” CHAPTER VII. DISEASES OF POULTRY. It is unquestionably true that a large number of the failures in poultry enterprises are due directly to disease and that these diseases are, as a rule, not of a communicable nature, but rather the result of mismanagement, unskilled feeding, and too little attention to gen- eral sanitation. Any system of feeding and care which does not keep the fowls active, bright-eyed, of keen appetite, slick in appear- ance, and of hard flesh, is fundamentally wrong. It is by careful housing, feeding and management that the diseases described in the following paragraphs may be prevented. One must recognize that disease is a sign that proper care and sanitation have not been prac- ticed and must take immediate steps to rectify these conditions. The individual treatment of fowls is expensive and unsatisfactory, for after the fowl is cured it usually takes a little longer time to get her back into laying condition. The preventive method of treat- ment is the safest and most economical. For this reason importance should be attached to sanitation. The pens should be thoroughly sprayed with a disinfecting solu- tion or whitewashed at least twice a year. It is advisable to spray the perches and nest boxes frequently during warm weather. As soon as the litter becomes damp or filthy, replace it. Use the drop- pings board underneath the perches and remove the droppings at least once a week, always sprinkling coal ashes or land plaster on the clean boards and again over the droppings once or twice between cleanings. This practice not only keeps the pen cleaner and sweeter, but makes it easier to clean the droppings board and greatly increases the value of the manure because it absorbs the liquid and retains the nitrogen. Provide a dust wallow in which the fowls can remove the scurf from their bodies and fight their body lice. For disin- fecting with whitewash, the addition of one pint of crude carbolic acid to every two gallons of the mixture makes it much more effec- tive in destroying both animal parasites and bacteria. For spraying, a solution of three parts kerosene and one part crude carbolic acid, gives excellent results. BLACK HEAD is a disease common and fatal to young turkeys and quite serious among chickens. It is usually recognized in the DISEASES OF POULTRY. 69 turkey by the stunted growth and emaciated condition of the body. Internal examination usually discloses large, discolored diseased areas on the liver and greatly enlarger ceca (blind intestines). Ili recognized in time and careful, sanitary conditions of feeding and brooding are provided, many of the afflicted chicks can be saved. Sour skim-milk has been found quite effective in checking the disease. After one experience with the disease, it will be readily conceded that the preventive method is most satisfactory. In hatch- ing, use incubators or strong, disease-free hens, and wash the eggs in 95 per cent alcohol before setting. Furthermore, since the disease commonly spreads through ground infection, the newly hatched brood should be taken to ground not commonly used by either turkeys or hens. Here they should be brooded in carefully disin- fected quarters and their coops frequently moved to fresh places. If hens are used to brood the chicks, strong, healthy individuals, show- ing no evidence of having had the disease, should be chosen. Should the hen have the disease, it may be transmitted to the young. The older chickens should not be encouraged to join with the later _ hatches while feeding, but should be fed elsewhere and their place of feeding changed from time to time, to prevent contamination. BLEEDING FROM THE COMB.—In cold weather it is not uncommon, especially among large comb breeds, for a laying pullet to bleed to death from an injury or a crack on the comb. The blood being started from either of these causes continues to flow, both on account of frequent shaking of the head and because of the slow coagulation of blood on a very cold day. If this flow is not speedily stopped, the loss of blood and consequent exhaustion, to- gether with the cold, overcome the fowl. As soon as this condition is noticed, remove the fowl and wash the comb in warm water. This is usually sufficient to stop the flow of blood, but if not, touch a styptic pencil or a hot iron to the wound. Before returning the fowl to the pen, grease the comb with vaseline. BLINDNESS.—There are at least three causes for blindness in fowls: 1, accident; 2, the effects of another disease; and 3, a parasite. When accidental, the fowl is usually blind in one eye only. There is no economic treatment. ‘The inflamed part should be bathed in a weak solution of boracic acid and greased with vaseline in order to effect a speedy healing of the sore. The most common form of blindness closely follows or accompanies another disease. When due to roup a swelling among the tissues of the eye, caused by the hard- ening of the mucus secretions of the head and eyes, destroys the sight. When roup has progressed to this stage, there is little profit in treating it. ‘There is also an eye worm or parasite which infects 70 THE BUSINESS HEN. poultry, causing inflammation of the eye and occasional blindness. This parasite can be removed by surgical means only. The wound should be bathed with a weak solution of boracic acid and kept greased with vaseline until healed. BUMBLEFOOT.—Bumblefoot is a term commonly applied to the condition when an injury has resulted in the formation of pus in the fleshy part of the foot. The injury may be received in various ways, such as dropping or falling from a high perch on to a bare, cement floor, or scratching on a floor of cinders. The formation of pus causes a swelling and wears down the tissues until it breaks forth either at the upper or lower surface. A scab forms over this opening, but the continued formation of pus repeatedly forces open the wound. y For treatment, remove the scab or lance the swollen area and thoroughly clean and disinfect the cavity with a dilute solution of carbolic acid or hydrogen peroxide. Keep the sore well greased with carbolated vaseline until healed. CHICKEN POX.—Although in cold climates chicken pox is almost unknown, it is all too common in the Southern States. It is easily recognized by yellowish, wartlike sores which appear on the face and head and inside the mouth. Often, if only local, these sores spontaneously dry up and disappear, but if they extend to other portions of the body, the fowl becomes emaciated and dies from exhaustion. Dr. D. E. Salmon in “Diseases of Poultry,” advises feeding sulphur and applying a sulphur ointment to the nodules twice a day. Others have successfully checked the disease, greasing the sores with carbolated vaseline or with glycerine, con- taining two per cent. of carbolic acid. The disease is communicable and necessitates thorough disinfection. See communicable diseases. CHOLERA.—It is a common error for the layman to think that every disease among his fowls, which manifests itself by a looseness of the bowels, a yellowish discharge, and a pale or yellow color about the face and head, is cholera. As a matter of fact, this disease is common only in the warm climates and is rare elsewhere. It is communicable and very destructive. Fowls often die within a few days after being exposed to the disease, even before they are suspected of being stricken. In other cases it takes on a chronic form, It requires a bacteriological examination definitely to recog- nize the disease. Scientists have failed to find a cure for it. Thorough disinfection of the entire plant and a rigid separation of the exposed from the non-exposed flocks should be practiced. See communicable diseases. DISEASES OR POULELRY. 71 COLDS.—The first indication of a cold is a snuffling or a rattling in the throat. Usually the secretions which cause this sound have but little, if any, perceptible odor. A cold is due to exposure to conditions under which the body has difficulty in keep- ing its normal temperature. Common among such conditions are crowding at night by young stock, which have outgrown their quar- ters, contact with damp floors and filthy houses, and especially, exposure to draughts which blow on the fowls while they are work- ing or roosting. The obvious treatment is to correct those conditions which have induced the cold, to disinfect the drinking water and, in severe cases, to spray the perches as suggested in the treatment of roup. CROP COMPACTION.—Crop compaction is usually a ciog- ging of the outlet of the crop by twisted grass or rough grain. Occasionally the ration contains too much middlings, or other sticky foods, fed either dry or moist, which, under certain conditions, bake together and clog the passageway. In a vain effort to satisfy the increased appetite, the fowl distends its crop with food. In a few days, unless the obstruction is removed, the fowl shows signs of weakness and eventually dies of starvation. A common way of removing the contents of the crop is to give several teaspoonfuls of castor oil, at the same time massaging the crop till the contents soften. ‘Then hold the fowl by the feet and gradually work the _ contents of the crop out through the mouth. Sometimes crop com- paction cannot be relieved ,in this way. It is then necessary to cut into the crop. After the contents are thoroughly removed, the crop should be carefully washed with a weak solution of boracic acid and the edges of the wound drawn together and sewed once or twice with silk thread. If an operation is necessary, it should be made before the fowl has become badly weakened from the lack of food. COMMUNICABLE DISEASES.—There are a number of com- municable diseases, such as cholera and diphtheretic roup, which are very difficult to treat successfully. In fact, it is almost useless to attempt a cure of the stricken fowl. The most that can be done is to keep the mortality as low as possible by the rigid culling and burning up of diseased individuals, and the thorough disinfection of their pens, and especially of the eating and drinking utensils. It is frequently to the owner’s advantage, unless the stock be highly prized, to kill and burn every individual showing symptoms of the disease and to dispose of the healthy ones of the flock on the public market. ‘This practice is especially advisable when there are several flocks in houses well scattered. This radical practice, together with 72 THE BUSINESS HEN. thorough disinfection of the pens where the disease has not yet appeared, will prevent the spread of the disease throughout the plant. One of the best reasons for such wholesale disposal of the stock is that many communicable diseases are carried in a dormant state in the partially cured individual until conditions are right for another outbreak. When all stock is sold and the houses care- fully disinfected, new stock can be put into these quarters without fear of a recurrence of the disease unless it be brought in through a bird purchased elsewhere, or through fowls exposed to the disease at a poultry show. The houses occupied by diseased fowls should not be used again until carefully disinfected. All other fowls should be kept off the ground on which the diseased fowls ranged until the following Spring, at which time the ground should be cultivated. Chickens hatched from these fowls, before or at the time of their sickness, can be brooded on separate land with safety and be used to refill those houses emptied by the disease. DIARRHCG£A.—Diarrhcea in some form accompanies and is a symptom of many common communicable diseases. Because of this fact, the layman interprets diarrhoea as the indication of a dangerous disease. As a matter of fact, diarrhcea is more often the result of indigestion. It is caused by over-consumption of rich, highly stimu- lating foods, by tainted meat, musty grain, green or milky grain in the stalk, irregular feeding of green foods in the Winter, excessive amounts of green cut bone, or a stale or irregular supply of water. It may also follow the sudden, radical changes in diet. The extent of the trouble is limited only by the amount of unwholesome food eaten. The best treatment of such diarrhcea is to remove the irritant or to shut in the fowls from it, giving them a regulating ration. They will soon readjust themselves. Diarrhoea frequently follows a change to hot weather, which quickly taints meat and other foods which the fowls pick up, and, in addition, makes the process of digestion more sluggish. At such times the fowls have great diff- culty in readjusting themselves, even when their rations are better balanced. It then becomes necessary to provide food in a form which will be quickly and easily digested and assimilated. This ration should be composed of fresh and finely ground grains, mois- tened with buttermilk or sour skim-milk. One such feeding should be given daily, in addition to their regular ration. Clabbered or sour skim-milk is also valuable for drinking. They should have fresh water all the time. General cleanliness and occasional disin- fection is advised at such times. Diarrhcea brought about by the presence of a communicable disease cannot be treated in this way. See communicable diseases, : DISBASES OF POULTRY. 73 BLOODY EGGS.—Objection is always raised to eggs con- taining blood spots. They are not due to deterioration of the eggs or to disease, as many people conjecture. However, since there is this aversion to using such eggs, it is well to check their produc- tion. The presence of the blood is due to a hemorrhage of the blood vessels in the glands of the oviduct. The hemorrhage is the result of fright, injury, or forced feeding, which overworks the blood vessels carrying supplies to the organs of secretion. Blood spots are usually found in the albumen, since the glands secreting this material are delicately responsive to forced feeding. If the fowls are producing bloody eggs in numbers, the rich meat materials should be decreased and green food increased. Exercise should be encouraged and disturbing conditions eliminated. Occasionally an individual hen, through weakness or disease, will produce bloody eggs regularly. Such a fowl should be removed from the pen and fed carefully until her body regains its normal condition. EGG-BOUND.—Pullets, producing their first eggs, and over-fat, weak or injured hens, often become egg-bound. The most common symptoms of this trouble are frequent trips to the nest and much squatting and straining. In extreme cases the fowl will crawl along with her body upright and her tail dragging. Fowls in this condition usually die from exhaustion unless relief is speedily given. It is advisable to remove the afflicted bird to a quiet place and inject sweet oil into the cloaca and oviduct. ‘This will relieve the _ fever in these organs, encourage proper secretions and assist the fowl in laying her egg normally. Unwise forcing of pullets to early egg production and breeding for large-sized eggs are the com- mon causes among pullets. When this trouble is prevalent among mature fowls, it should be taken as an indication of low physical vigor and attention given to feeding well balanced rations in a way which will encourage exercise and regulation of diet. EGG EATING HABIT.—An accident is very often accountable for starting the vice of eating eggs. ‘he accident occurs when a heavy fowl drops on to an egg in a deep nest, or in flying out of the nest, especially when frightened, kicks an egg against the side of the box. The first hen to observe the broken egg eats the con- tents and begins scratching in the nesting material for more. Another egg is broken, as a result, and the habit started. Such accidents occur more commonly when the egg shells are weak and easily broken. At this time, also, the fowl is most eager for the egg and its shell, since her body is deficient in shell-forming materials. The habit is seldom acquired when the body health is good. This absence of shell-forming secretions is not necessarily due to the 74 THE BUSINESS HEN. absence of lime and other minerals in the ration, although without lime in the form of oyster shells or lime grits, this cessation of the shell-forming secretions would result. But this condition is fre- quently the result also of over-feeding and consequent lack of exer- cise, which disorganizes the organs of secretion and produces gen- eral weakness and debility. The obvious treatment is to correct the method of feeding and to provide sufficient mineral and animal food to supply the body needs. The use of china eggs or eggs filled with red pepper and mustard is not highly recommended, although occa- sionally they are effective. In extreme cases a special nest box can be used. Such a nest is made by padding the center and edges of a box about a foot square and eight inches deep, and loosely fastening over the top a burlap sack with a hole in the center. The egg rolls into the box beneath as soon as laid. When using this box, place it in the position occupied by the regular nest. AN EGG WITHIN AN EGG.—Several instances have been reported of finding within an apparently normal egg a second fully formed egg. The production of such abnormal eggs is due to injury, to fright or to paralysis of the muscles of the oviduct, which sends back up the oviduct an egg, ready to be laid. In due course the egg again starts down the oviduct and stimulates a secretion of albu- men and later of calcareous materials, which enclose the original egg in another layer of albumen and put a shell around the whole. Such an egg rarely has a yolk in the second formation, unless, by chance, a yolk sac emptied its contents into the oviduct at the time the first egg was forced back. EGG WITH TWO YOLKS.—There are two possible explana- tions for the formation of double yolked eggs. The usual one is that during a period of heavy production two yolks sacs deposit their yolks in the oviduct at so nearly the same time that both are encased in the same albumen and shell. The more feasible explanation is that the two yolks are originally contained in the same yolk sac and consequently are deposited in the oviduct at the same time. This theory is supported by embryologists, who have found the two yolks enclosed in one sac in microscopical sections of the ovary. If incu- bated, double yolked eggs, as a rule, do not hatch. FATTY DEGENERATION.—When over-fed fowls become fat, sl*ggish and inactive, a general breaking down of their body tissues gradually takes place. This is called fatty degeneration. With the heavier varieties this condition is commonly indicated by the accumulation of fat'in a large bunch under the abdomen, causing their fluff to hang low # In so debilitated a condition, the fowl is unable to produce the greatest possible number of eggs and those DISEASES OF POULTRY. 75 eggs, which are produced lack, when incubated, the strength to develop normal, healthy, livable chicks. Soft shelled eggs and egg eating habits may well be feared in such a state of health. Fowls which have broken down under forced feeding or over-feeding can- not entirely recover their normal condition, but judicious feeding on wholesome grains, with plenty of green food and exercise will in a great measure restore their health. FEATIGER PULLING.—One of the most distressing and unmanageable vices of fowls is feather pulling. It starts through fighting or accidents and continues for lack of sufficient mineral and animal fool. The vice spreads rapidly among the fowls in a flock. It is seldom acquired in properly managed flocks. This vice is the result of erroneous methods of feeding and management, similar to the conditions which encourage egg eating. Give the fowls as much’ liberty and freedom as possible. Increase the amount of animal food in the ration. If the pens are small, it sometimes becomes necessary to change the fowls to a different house, or to harness their bills with feather pulling bits, which prevent them from getting a grip on the feather. FROSTED COMBS AND WATTLES.—On extremely cold nights, unless warm roosting places are provided, the fowls’ combs and wattles will get frosted. The resulting pain stops the hens from laying, and, in severe cases, even kills them. When frosted, these appendages swell up and turn to a purple color. The frosted parts should be thawed out with ice or snow and greased with vaseline. It is often well to cut away the frosted parts entirely, using a hot iron to heal the wound. GAPES.—The frequent gasping for breath by chickens suffering with parasitic worms in the windpipe is called gapes and the worm, the gape worm. The difficulty of eating, combined with the weaken- ing effect of the parasites, stunts the growth of the chickens. Its feathers become soiled, torn and ruffled for lack of proper nourish- ment. The worms and their eggs are coughed up by the chickens on to their food or into the drinking water, where other chickens consume them. In this way the parasite is transmitted. A common treatment of the individual is to thrust a twisted horsehair or stiff thread, saturated in turpentine, down its windpipe. The turpentine loosens and kills the worms. ‘Those which are not withdrawn with the horsehair are coughed out. A second method of treatment, somewhat more dangerous, but easier and quicker, is to place about 25 chickens in a box covered with burlap and to surcharge the air with the fumes of burning tobacco stems. The fumes can be sup- plied through an opening in the bottom of the box, this opening 76 THE BUSINESS HEN. being fitted over a firebox containing the burning stems. The chickens should be removed as soon as they show signs of exhaus- tion. The fumes overcome or even kill the worms. Their hold on the windpipe is relaxed and they are coughed up. Ground on which chickens suffering with gapes have ranged becomes infected and should not be used in succeeding years. The trouble can be mini- mized by practicing rigid disinfection and cleanliness in the coops, yards and eating places. Feeding strong onions or garlic, chopped and mixed with other food and fed before the worms gain a foot- hold, is beneficial in keeping down the growth and development of the parasite. Early hatching also is advised. Keeping the chicks on a board floor—away from all soil, will prevent the trouble. GOING LIGHT.—This is a term commonly applied to a bac- terial disease which interferes with the assimilation of the food and allows the body to starve to death. The symptom is a gradual loss of flesh, which results eventually, in weakness, debility and starva- tion. The disease, although communicable, spreads slowly. Fowls thus afflicted should be destroyed and their pens disinfected. Strict cleanliness will aid in warding off further outbreaks. LEG WEAKNESS.—There are two different kinds of leg weakness. One is rheumatism, caused by dampness and insufficient ventilation in the pen. This form is remedied by correcting the method of housing and ventilating. The other form is due to over- feeding and lack of exercise. This combination of mismanagement makes the fowls over-fat and heavy and their muscles, at the same time, become soft and flabby. Their physical condition is such that a marked increase in humidity or any extra demand made on their body debilitates and partially paralyzes their legs. Cleanliness, more careful methods of feeding and increased range will overcome this weakness. LICE.—There are many kinds of lice which are common among domestic fowls. They have the same general characteristics, how- ever, and all are combated in the same way. Lice may remain on the body of the fowl both day and night. They are also commonly found on the perches and nest boxes. This necessitates treating both the fowls and the perches. A very effective spray for the perches is a solution of one part crude carbolic acid and three parts kerosene. It can be applied with a brush or, preferably, with a pump and spray, which will force the mixture into the cracks and crevices, where the lice accumulate. The fowls can be treated by dusting a fine powder into their feathers. The dust fills up the breathing pores on the body of the louse and suffocates it. Such a powder is more effective if it contains a drying and burning ingred- DiseIses OF rOURTEY. v7 ient, or one giving off fumes. R. C. Lawry, while an assistant in the: Department of Poultry Husbandry at the New York State College of Agriculture at Cornell University, formulated an exceed- ingly effective homemade lice powder. It is prepared as follows: One-fourth pint of crude carbolic acid, mixed with three-fourths pint gasoline is thoroughly stirred into 214 pounds plaster of paris. The whole is forced through a sieve to break up the lumps. It is then allowed to dry in the air and when dry is tightly bottled. The stock mixture remains effective indefinitely. To apply this powder, make nail holes in the top of a tin can and use the can as a shaker. The fowl should be held by the legs with its head down. In this position the feathers fall away from the body and readily receive the powder, making it easy to work it down to the skin, by ruffling the feathers with the hand. ‘This treatment is especially recom- mended for setting hens. ‘Ten days later the dusting should be repeated in order to destroy the lice which are hatched out after the first application. It is not often necessary to dust every indi- vidual of an entire pen of fowls. ‘The economical way to keep a pen free from lice is to spray the perches when necessary and to provide a dust wallow of coal ashes, land plaster or road dust, in which the fowls can wallow and kill body lice. This dust wallow should be in a warm, dry part of the pen, so as to attract the fowls to it. A small amount of this material can be scattered on and under ’ the perches, and this part of the pen kept freer from lice. LIMBER NECK.—The general paralysis of the muscles of a fowl, especially those in the neck, produces a condition known as limber neck. The fowl is unable to lift its head from the ground and, in fact, has very little power of locomotion. ‘The cause is usually directly attributable to ptomaine poisoning, resulting from eating decomposed meat or flesh. The disease is consequently confined, usually, to the warmer months of the year and is most prevalent in the Southern States. The disease is not necessarily fatal nor is it communicable. Relief quickly follows any treatment which speedily flushes the digestive system. ‘The usual doses are Epsom salts or one grain of calomel. Recovery has followed the use of a simple tonic known as the Douglas Mixture, which can be used to advan- tage in all digestive troubles. A stock solution of the Douglass Mixture is made by dissolving one-half pound sulphate of iron in a gallon of water and adding one-half ounce sulphuric acid. The clear liquid is used in the proportion of oné pint to a pail of water. During the warm months all dead or dying fowls or animals should be removed from the yards or pens at once and no tainted or fly-blown meat given to them. 78 THE BUSINESS HEN, MITES.—The mite is another external parasite of the fowl, which sucks the blood at night and returns to the perch before morning, remaining there during the day. It is only when mites have accumulated in large numbers and are unable to get enough blood during the night that they remain on the fowl during the day. The most common variety is red, and when these gather in numbers, they make a reddish black spot. The mite is killed by the direct application of a burning solution. They withstand ordinary sprays better than lice can. However, the solution of one-fourth pint crude carbolic acid and three-fourths pint kerosene has been found very destructive. ROUP.—The term roup is used to cover several distinct diseases of the throat and head, some of which are very dangerous and difh- cult to cure, while others are comparatively simple. The most com- mon form of roup is an exaggerated cold, which causes a fevered condition and stimulates the nasal secretions. These secretions have a strong, pungent odor. They stop up the nasal passages, producing a rattling sound when the fowl breathes. Many times this sound is heard when the secretions are not noticeable in either the nasal or throat passages. In such instances, look for a soiled place under the bow of the wing, where the fowl often puts its-head. The odor alone, however, is sufficient indication of the disease. The cause of this kind of roup is exposure for a prolonged period to those conditions and surroundings which produce colds. It is thought that this disease is not communicable from one fowl to another, but spreads because conditions are favorable to the development of the disease in many individuals. If the disease is allowed to run its course, the fevered condition hardens the nasal secretions into a cheesy substance which accumulates in the tissues of the head, caus- ing the eyes or other parts of the face, to bulge out. When this stage is reached, the irritation and fever becomes so great that the fowl soon dies from weakness and exhaustion. It is quite useless to attempt to cure at an advanced stage. Treatment should be given during the earlier stages. It is obvious that the first step is to rectify those conditions which encourage the disease. In addition to making the pens clean and dry, the following simple remedies can be used: One ounce permanganate of potash in three pints of water; use one pint of this stock solution in every three or four pints of drinking water. This will serve to disinfect the mouth and throat. It can also be administered, in its undiluted form, as a head dip To do this, grasp the legs and wings of the fowl in one hand and the back of its head in the other. Thrust the bill into the solution nearly to the eyes and hold it there long enough so that the fowl DISEASES*Or POULPRY. 79 will draw in some of the solution while striving to breathe. Fifteen to twenty seconds is usually long enough. This cuts and loosens the accumulated mucus so that the fowl can shake it out. Another simple but very effective and wholesale treatment of roup is to paint or spray the perches with any coal tar product which gives off penetrating fumes. These fumes are breathed by the fowls all night and during this long period are effective in loosening up the nasal secretions and in checking the disease. Such treatment will serve also to check cankerous and diphtheretic roup, which are communi- cable forms of this disease, but, in most instances, it fails to effect a cure of either. The disease germs of these forms of roup develop more rapidly and are not so dependent upon damp and unsanitary conditions. The germ is usually introduced through newly pur- chased fowls or through exposure to the disease at public exhibi- tions or competitions. Cankerous roup is accompanied by and takes its name from the sores in the mouth and on the head. 5 treat- ment, see communicable diseases. SCALY LEGS.—The term scaly leg is applied to a condition of the fowl’s shanks, in which the scales have become roughened, swollen and filthy. A small parasite, working underneath the scales on the shank, causes this roughness. ‘The parasite spreads by crawling along the perch until it reaches another fowl. A simple treatment is to soften the shanks in warm water and carefully remove the filth from underneath the scales. This should be fol- lowed by a thorough washing with five per cent carbolic acid, which kills the parasite. ‘The shank should then be well greased with carbolated vaseline to keep the wound soft and clean until it heals. VENT GLEET—A communicable disease which affects the cloaca or vent is called vent gleet. This disease greatly irritates and inflames the vent, producing a sense of fullness and causing the fowl to attempt frequent voidings. A diarrhcea and a mucous discharge from the vent accompany this condition. The fluff becomes soiled and looks filthy. This discharge has a strong, offensive odor. If not treated at once, ulcers develop on the skin near the vent and the inflammation extends into the oviduct. At this stage the disease becomes critical. For treatment, the male should be removed from the pen until the trouble ceases, since he is mainly responsible for spreading the disease. ‘The afflicted fowl should also be taken to quiet surroundings, where it can receive medical treatment. The principle on which a cure is effected is to cleanse the vent and fluff daily with warm water, to which a few drops of carbolic acid are added, following with an injection of sweet oil or a greasing with vaseline. This also should contain a few drops of carbolic acid. , 80 THE BUSINESS HEN. The afflicted bird should be kept in a warm, protected place and fed on soft, nourishing foods, until it is strong enough to return to the pen. VERTIGO.—Congestion of the brain is readily recognized by the giddy actions of the fowl and a habit of bending the head as far backward as possible. The bird assumes this attitude when frightened in order to relieve the sudden blood pressure on the brain. The disease is usually found among over-fat, plethoric fowls. It is one of the evils resulting from over-feeding. Irritation from worms in the intestines will also produce it. A few such cases should warn the feeder to exercise greater care in his method of feeding and the kinds of food provided. For individual treatment, Dr. D. E. Salmon suggests cooling the head of the fowl with ice until it is thoroughly chilled and giving one dose of either thirty grains of Epsom salts or one and one-half grains of calomel. In case the congestion is caused by intestinal parasites, treat to remove the cause. WHITE DIARRHOEA IN CHICKENS.—The term white diarrhcea is used indiscriminately to apply to a large number of chicken diseases and troubles, including indigestion, pneumonia, coccidiosis, bacillary white diarrhcea, aspergilosis, and others, all of which produce very similar external symptoms, prominent among which is some form of diarrhcea. These diseases result from various causes. Some of them are produced directly by specific organisms, whereas others are the result of erroneous feeding and brooding, or are due partially to the careless selection and management of the breeding stock. The method of incubation also may be responsible for some weakness. Very little can be done to cure chickens suffer- ing with this disease. The sick ones should be removed and burned, the brooders and feeding places kept sanitary, and the chickens given wholesome, nourishing food, free from much rich material. Clabbered milk is destructive to certain bacteria and should be fed liberally. A few crystals of potassium permanganate dropped into the drinking water free it from germs and make it an internal disinfectant. The preventive treatment is the best safeguard against these diseases and troubles. Exercise the greatest care in selecting the breeding stock, choosing strong, vigorous, healthy yearling or two-year-old fowls. Use a method of feeding which will force them to exercise while obtaining their food. This practice, in connection with feeding a variety ration of hard grains and succulent food, will do more than anything else toward keeping their bodies in a normal, healthy condition. Eggs from such fowls will produce strong, able chickens, capable of living and growing under ordinary DISEASES OF POULTRY. 81 conditions. It is comparatively easy to raise a large percentage of chickens from strong, healthy stock, but even a good feeder has great difficulty in rearing weak chicks. Practice thorough sanitation while the chicks are young more than at any other time. Feed liberally, but do not allow food to accumulate in the brooder. Make the chicks clean it up between each feeding. In this way the ordi- nary chick troubles, commonly called white diarrhoea, will be avoided. Such a practice, however, does not entirely prevent the ravages of all. This is especially true of bacillary white diarrhea, which is, apparently, born with the chick and is usually fatal within the first two or three weeks. ‘The only practical treatment of such a disease is to replace the breeding stock with disease-free indi- viduals. Unfortunately, it requires a bacteriological examination to determine the presence of this and similar diseases, making it impos- sible for the layman to diagnose the trouble. In such instances he should seek the aid of his State college of veterinary science. WORMS.—There are a large number of species of parasitic worms found in the digestive organs of the fowl. The most com- mon of these are the round worm, the tape worm, and a small worm, which bores into the walls of the gizzard. Fowls infected with worms become stupid and indifferent, and subject to sudden fits of wakefulness. Their appetite often becomes poor and their bodies _show emaciation. Such symptoms are sometimes accompanied by a slight diarrhoea. For positive evidence, post mortem a dead fowl and examine the digestive tract. A dose of two teaspoontfuls of essence of turpentine is generally sufficient to dispose of the parasites. Powdered areca nut, in doses of 30 to 40 grains, is advocated by Zurn. Dr. Salmon advises mixing a teaspoonful of powdered pome- granate root bark in the food for 50 fowls, following with a purga- tive dose of two teaspoonfuls of castor oil. CHAPTER VIII. FEEDING THE BUSINESS HEN. The poultryman has frequently been referred to as a manufac- turer, with laying hens and growing stock for machines, the various poultry feeds the raw material, and eggs and meat the finished pro- duct. Obviously his profits will depend largely on two things :—the use of raw material of the right l:ind and in the right condition, and of efficient machines especially adapted to a definite purpose. It is difficult to say which of these factors is the more important. Cer- tain it is that no machine can do its best work with unsuitable raw material, nor can a poor machine use to advantage the best of material. There is ample reason, therefore, for the poultryman to study carefully how to feed his birds to get the best results, and how to breed stock that will satisfactorily respond to proper feeding by economically producing eggs or meat. Birds lacking in vigor and vitality are never profitable, and therefore, should be discarded by the commercial poultryman. Every effort should be exerted to secure stock possessing great vigor of constitution and the ability to consume, assimilate and convert a large amount of food into the special product. Attention to this point is as much a characteristic of a successful feeder as is a knowledge of feeds and the compound- ing of rations. For some years the columns of our poultry publications have teemed with the expressions “balanced rations,” “nutritive ratio,” “scientific feeding;” and as a result much confusion exists in the minds of those who have had no opportunity to study the matter carefully. Some poultrymen seem to think that a knowledge of the principles of feeding will enable one to determine absolutely the amount and character of the ration which will exactly meet the requirements of a flock of birds of a given number and weight. As a matter of fact, but few scientific experiments in poultry feeding have been conducted, and our knowledge of the subject is based largely upon the work of successful poultry feeders, and upon cer- tain conclusions drawn from experiments conducted with other domestic animals. Under existing conditions, therefore, we must content ourselves with a knowledge of the chemical composition of various feeding stuffs suitable for poultry, and so be able to make FEEDING THE BUSINESS HEN. 83 up rations from the available materials which will approximate those used by successful feeders who are operating under conditions similar to our own. Such information will not only enable us to use to best advantage the feeding stuffs produced locally, but it will help us to determine what materials should be purchased to make the ration complete. In the limits of a single chapter it is impossible to discuss at any length the principles of nutrition and feeding. But for a better understanding of our subject it is necessary that a few of the important points be briefly stated. COMPOSITION OF FEEDS.—The chemist can readily analyze our various feeding stuffs and accurately determine their chemical composition. He finds a large number of substances, but for con- venience these are placed in five groups, viz., water, ash, protein, carbohydrates, and ether extract. Every feed contains a certain amount of necessary moisture varying from eight to 90 per cent of the total weight. It is the most abundant constituent of the animal body and must be supplied abundantly, but because it can be easily and cheaply furnished in other ways it need not be considered in the feed. The roots of plants derive from the soil certain mineral matter, which, though comparatively small in amount, is absolutely essential to the ration. This ash, so called because it is the residue after the complete burning of the food, is largely used in the skeleton of the animal, and is present in every portion of the body. With- out a sufficient supply of this material no animal can long retain health. In the protein group are placed any ingredients of plant or animal in which nitrogen is present. Common examples are white of egg and lean meat. Protein has been aptly described as a “flesh- former, a machine maker, the repairer of wear and tear.” It is evi- dent from the above that no other group is more important. The carbohydrates are almost exclusively vegetable products. They con- tain sugar, starch, gums, and other substances. Included is the crude fibre or skeleton of plants, and the nitrogen-free extract. The materials extracted from feeding stuffs by ether, such as fat, resin and wax are placed in the ether extract or fat group. The functions of fat and carbohydrates in animal nutrition are the production of muscular energy and heat, and the formation of body fat. It is evident that the value of food is determined by the amount digested, not by the amount eaten. While the scientists can tell us the chemical composition of food they cannot, without resorting to digestion experiments, inform us just how much of the material can be actually used by the animal. To conduct such experiments complicated apparatus is required, but briefly stated the food given and the wastes thrown off by the animal are weighed and analyzed, 84 THE BUSINESS HEN. the difference being the amount digested or the digestible nutrients. Unfortunately there have been but few digestion: experiments con- ducted with fowls, so for the present we must depend upon the results secured from other domestic animals. For convenience, the table on next page gives both the chemical composition and the percentage of digestible nutrients of the various feeding stuffs used in poultry feeding. When a ration is compounded in such a manner as to supply the animal with a sufficient amount of each group of digestible nutrients it may be called a balanced ration. The aim of every feeder should be to use a ration that furnishes enough of each group of nutrients fully to meet the requirements of the animal, but with- out an excess which might be wasted. Investigators have endeavored to ascertain the amount of diges- tidle nutrients and the proportion of the different groups required in rations intended for specific purposes, and as a result of this work we have a series of feeding standards for most domestic animals. Though far from being perfect as yet these standards are extremely valuable as they furnish a definite starting point. A ration com- pounded theoretically by the use of these tables may not work out well in practice, but using it as a basis the feeder can make such changes as experience and observation warrant or economy dictates. The relative proportion of the various nutrients in a ration is termed the nutritive ratio. ‘This is easily ascertained by the use of the accompanying table, and is expressed by the proportion of protein to all the non-nitrogenous digestible materials reckoned in terms of carbohydrates. For instance, in 100 pounds of wheat are found the following digestible nutrients: Protein, 10.2 pounds; carbohydrates, 69.2 pounds; ether extract, 1.7 pounds. As each pound of ether extract has 214 times the heating value of the car- bohydrates, the first step in ascertaining the nutritive ratio is to multiply the amount of ether extract by 214, and thus reduce it to its carbohydrate equivalent. This product added to the amount of carbohydrates present gives the carbohydrate value of all the diges- tible nutrients in the ration aside from the protein. The sum thus secured is divided by the amount of protein present, and the result expresses the relative proportion of these two classes of nutrients present in the ration, or the nutritive ratio. Taking the figures quoted above and following this rule we get the following: 1,7 2.25= 3.8 3.8-++69.2 —73.0 73.0+-10.2 = 7.1 85 ANALYSIS OF FEED STUFFS. FEEDS. AVERAGE COMPOSITION AND DIGESTIBILITY. Compiled from various authorities. PERCENTAGE DIGESTIBLE NUTRIENTS. ‘tee A1q PERCENTAGE COMPOSITION. ‘VOVlIgxy TOYI 1D P= SH OD Od SHS = HH OCONEE © GONE GN) et TE rma) ESIGN Ca “SOIBIp ATL -OG.18() i. "HIO4 01g ese{UV1O FT 2 aN Ce ena 5 SO SHO HOS I SH SHLD DBOOOAAr Dona >n WO SHOM ANOS SS SH = 001) S rf SH HCO 19 SS SH DOM SH Hix co AICS AICO CO 20 G2 GO 5 66 GO GO CO Ga CO Ga CO “1OVI9XT TOUT CRG | —Ued01IN “LOC TT Opuety "UL0JOIT "USV *1OVU AN | SCOmMHOODNKONS ‘oO HEIDE NON SIO tsGch also ar) SHH OOM COIN IDO HH FG SSHSHOOHANHKOE his BESLSESSLENS +S D> A~OOMD-ERHRIG : Cot mllOR NSD IE Ch alhea lier . $7 OD 1D SS SD CO SH SO GD 43. CO SOonnnANcoo Or Anh 1 Oc oe UU \rvent 9 | 12.5 1D SHS) CO SHS B19 OF MARTON WMDWIDO MOOomos =) on me Von sem coe Fh col ore FEEDING MATERIALS. Rep ap ee eye Rey Le) Naka. ere fe, lowe ep ae im) eS RL Ge ey seul shl= (Or he) 10). “el ~ “epee | ee Reh cae Math. 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OnsbeG es tae 3B Bera aie ‘es Pemee rn .. See= reane ial Seles sane feb tl =a aia AS 5S a BON Gene ~O ANE Soo wi § HgkzAlo WED gtaa MoSeCHe: ue. SEBS ota o seo Beg Lacs (o} EeSa ees oOo oO-— ee ROR Saag ona ROOTS, Erc.— MmmmnAmAsN -: aon vee te, eles is) peta Te. Je) eye. ease) 0-5 e — ‘ears Ci ae IOS EC) ea sete) Qenane. SCornoinod a a) lene te. se sataloe, Honononn . IDG DOS : wOSsSsoneous: CO Oo) SG) 00 Co L- Sd 10000 rik Oc Gr ee tar ee tae eo el ee a eee te elites, abit, Whe Secor plea” Denice oae Ee pete ey a eae eee ere ees eae te aS eS Pe al ld ead Nace. Cat crea Caples, CRC Clan wer beach atime | ®D (cal Se "roO* Can creo) stint! aes eae) Dineen (apart Sea ine CS [aa mop (nS ss Be | Peet eas cA emSte ty 8 « HEROS CHE ORe es GeO HH. 4 4 oc Peek aeee sess c= Ss Feo oy swe ea Pore) Ineh 4 me Eee © Seka ghror or Aos a Rome Eh aD SHEHOUROHEAS - ZaneAan = => 3s. ba — = ax == = ——— = HAWK-PROOF COOP. Fie. 31. HANDY FEED HOPPER. Fia. 32. the hen away till I want to put them in the Winter quarters. They are easily shut in by pulling the brick out. G. W. S. Vermont. We devised and are using the hopper shown at Fig. 32 for feeding fattening fowls of all ages. The front consists of two strips two inches wide, with a space of three inches between. The ends are made of thick boards six inches wide, seven inches high at front and 10 inches at back. The lid consists of two boards two inches and four inches wide respectively, the wider attached to the narrow by means of hinges. A board two inches wide is sufficient for the back, which is placed against one side of the room in which the fowls are confined. On each side of front space small nails are driven about two inches apart and in nearly to the head. To prevent crowding and smaller fowls from creeping in, wire clipped from baled straw is stretched across from one nail to another in front space. The bottom is a separate piece sawed to fit inside and on which the feed is placed. It may be 144 THE BUSINESS HEN. made any length desired. One eight feet long is sufficient for 20 fowls, broiler size. J: Ga Pennsylvania. I make lice-proof roosts as follows. Get one-half-inch round irons, stick through the floor into the ground far enough to be firm, and on these the 2x4 stick for roost. Then make a cup of (x) me xX } LICE-PROOF ROOST. Fia. 33. GATE DEVICE. Fa. 34. tin and core to fit on the round iron, and fill cup with kerosene. Fig. 33 shows how it is done. H. G. Washington. Fig. 34 shows a device I am using on partition doors in my hen houses. As far as I know it is original. The door swings on pins for hinges so it opens either way without the attendant stopping to fasten or unfasten. The string passes between two spools over the front end of the door. A brick makes about the right weight. Connecticut. ro he The Figs. 35-36 show a homemade gate that I find of consider- able service around my poultry yards. I arranged this gate at first Ln » x xX x) SS ¢@ iV x4 5 SSX SSCS %* OD OS oS 0 90% 8 soe OX) ae ae — =~ — = a, = — GATE CLOSED. Fia. 35, GATE OPEN. Fra. 36, to allow my dog to have free access to the poultry runs, so that if there was any disturbance night or day he could get there right HOMEMADE POULTRY DEVICES. 145 away and see about it. I also found that I could use it to my own advantage in passing through the gates with feed or water pails in each hand. I take a rope about the size of a clothesline, or what is better, three small ropes and braid them, the braided rope will not chafe out so quickly as the single rope, then fasten to the top of gate post. To the other end of rope I attach a block of 2x3 joist 12 or 15 inches long, and throw over the gate as shown. This will close the gate, and dog or man can push it open, and pass under the rope. In making the gate allow the upright near the rope to extend up a few inches to keep the rope on, and bevel the top part of gate where the rope passes over. It did not take over five minutes to teach the dog to open the gate from either side. Massachusetts. H. W. R. Here is a picture, Fig. 37, of a drinking fountain that has proved valuable to me. It is made from any jug. The jug should USING A FRUIT CAN. FiG. 37. Fie. 38. have a rim around the top as this is what it rests on when inverted on the frame or support. The support is triangular in shape and is made to fit under the rim of the jug. I usually make the sup- port out of some strips three inches wide and one inch thick. There is a leg at each corner made of the same stuff. The legs should be long enough to place the mouth of the jar about three inches from the ground. In that case they will be six inches long or perhaps a little longer. This is regulated by the depth of the pan under the jug, the mouth of the jug should be aboxt a half inch below the top of the pan, and the jug will keep that much water in the pan until the jug is empty. I use gallon jugs, carry them to the well two at a time and fill with a hose. They are carried to the frame under which the pan is kept and inverted. The jugs being white they will keep the water cooler than any other thing I know of. W. Dz S. Virginia. 146 THE BUSINESS HEN. A good water fount for chicks can be made out of a Mason fruit jar by taking the cover and putting a hole a half inch from the edge. Solder a lip on. Then notch two pieces of board and nail slats to sides to lay jar in. This is easily kept clean. A, Fig. 38, is top of jar cover, B, hole in cover, C, lip to be soldered on. A good way for town poultry" keepers to keep green feed before the chickens at all times, without much labor, is to make a frame of three-inch boards, the boards standing on edge and cover with one-half-inch square mesh wire cloth or netting. This can be made any size to suit, the one I have reference to is 6x4 feet. Take a piece of ground the size of frame and after spading in a lot of manure rake it level, sow oats on it rather heavy, and cover with good soil. Then put the frame over and let it grow. The chickens will see that it does not grow above the wire. Pennsylvania. G.-G) We live out on this Western prairie, away from any good source of supplies. I wanted something to feed and water my CAN MADE USEFUL. HOW IT HANGS UP. Fia. 39. Fic. 40. chickers out of, that they couldn’t soil, and made it for them from tomato and salmon cans. I opened the cans, when I wished to use the contents, down the side and a few inches on either end, then turned the opened piece of tin back and made a couple of holes in it to hang up by. The birds cannot get into them and they are very easily cleaned. Figs. 39-40 show how this is done. North Dakota. Vv. EB When the chicks are too small to feed in a trough, and you want to put feed for them on a flat board, the old hen gets on and scratches it to waste. Fasten a section of wire netting on to the board, flat, and put on the feed as before, no matter whether it is dry or wet. Next time the hen tries to scratch her body will move instead of her feet. To provide green food for chicks early in the season, get a block 6x8 inches square, or 6x10 would be better; saw a notch in HOMEMADE POULTRY DEVICES. 147 the upper side, three inches deep and three wide at one side, and six at the other. Get a piece of light sleigh-shoe steel, about two feet long, and get the smith to draw out one end to put a handle on, punch a hole in the other, and grind, hammer or file to a sharp edge a section of the steel wide enough to reach across the notch in block and about six inches from end, with hole in it.. Bolt the knife to block a little lower than bottom of notch. Bevel to knife should be all on one side and away from block. When grass gets long enough to cut with knife or grass hook, take some of it, put in notch in block and feed it along with left hand, and with the right hand on knife you can cut it as fine as you please. When the bottom of notch gets worn away, insert a section of stout hoop iron for knife to play down beside, so as to make clean cut. Figs. 41-42 show how this is done. When chicks get older and you want to give them weeds or any kind of large leaves, tack some wire netting on a frame and GRASS CUTTER. Fic. 41. _ TOP OF BLOCK. Fic. 42. place it on the weeds to hold them down. The fowls can tear off what they want as well as if plants were growing. They are very fond of plantain leaves and clippings from too vigorous Dahlias. When you have surplus sweet corn to give the chickens, drive wire nails, five or six inches long, through a stout board, turn it over and set the ears on these nails, and chicks will clean corn all off without rolling it about in the dirt. O. H. L. New Hampshire. Flour barrels make excellent coops, roomy and cheap. A little frame is made for the front, consisting of four pieces of board, the uprights 6x24 inches, and two crosspieces, top and bot- tom, 2x20 inches. Fasten frame to front of barrel by wire, leaving opening for door. Fix so that a slide door, eight inches wide, can be easily dropped in from the top. This door is made of one-half- inch mesh cellar window wire, nailed or stapled to strips of wood. This gives good ventilation and is absolutely vermin-proof. Cover 148 THE BUSINESS -HEN. barrel with old tin roofing or spouting, so as to make rain-proof and prevent the sun from warping it. Of course, a coat of paint will add to its attractiveness, put is not necessary for practical pur- poses. Runs of any size made of wire netting can be attached to barrel, and with the netting over the top of runs the chicks are safe from crows or the annoyance of grown chickens. Barrels and runs can be readily moved on to fresh ground. The runs are made substantial by the addition of a few stakes driven into the ground to support the wire netting. Front and side views are shown in Figs. 43-44. For feeding dry mash, we use a box two inches deep at sides and three and one-half inches deep at ends, seven inches wide, 42 inches long, inside measure. For feet, have four pieces, one inch square and 12 inches long, Nail these to ends BARREL COOP. Fria. 43. SIDE VIEW. Fra. 44. of box, having top of three and one-half-inch ends, eight and one- half inches high. For top have board five inches wide, nailed on to cleat at each end of top, to prevent its slipping out of place. This trough keeps the feed clean and chickens do not scratch it out. A. E. F. Pennsylvania. In Fig. 45 is shown a scraper for cleaning the droppings boards. The blade, indicated by arrow a, is made of three-six- teenths or one-fourth inch sheet steel. The bottom edge is twenty- four inches long and the top twenty-two inches. The width of the blade is four inches. The handle is made of three-quarter inch pipe and threaded on one end. A hole is bored near the top in the centre of the blade. This is threaded with an ordinary tap HOMEMADE POULTRY DEVICES. — 149 and the handle is then securely screwed in place. A scraper made in this manner will last a lifetime, and prove to be a very practical tool. In running an egg farm there often is a good deal more young stock in the Summer than there is house room for. Unless these young pullets are trained to roost soon after they leave the brood- ers, there will be trouble teaching them this accomplishment. A standardized roost for temporary quarters has been found a great convenience. Take some rough-backed young saplings, cutting a lot of supports about two and one-half inches in diameter and 54 inches long, drive in a four-inch spike 15 inches from each end and one in the middle, leaving two inches of the spike to protrude for a sup- port. Then set these poles at an angle of 45 degrees, against the walis of any building to be used for temporary roosting place, and put any convenient length poles on the spike in the supports for DROPPINGS BOARD SCRAPER. TEMPORARY ROOST. Fie. 45. Fia. 46. roosts. They can be used year after year if kept in a dry place when not in use. The cut, Fig. 46, shows this. Pe) Bi Michigan. One of the most provoking problems in poultry keeping is the determination of the hens to lay in one nest. No matter whether half a dozen other nests exactly alike in every respect are right near that one, they will crowd and fight around one or two nests, often smashing a couple of eggs, soiling the nest and causing trouble all around. Last year I found a way to prevent this. I made a frame out of 14-inch strips of pine boards, size of frame 16x36 inches. Next I took a piece of galvanized poultry netting 14-inch mesh, size 24x48 inches, stapling this to the frame, turning the corners in. This forms a continuous nest, about 3 feet long. After one hen has squatted down to lay the next one will sit down close alongside of her, and I have had as many as ten of them sitting in a row, as peaceful as it is possible for that number of biddies to be. As soon as one hen is done and leaves, the nearest one of the hens next to her will carefully roll that egg 150 THE BUSINESS HEN. under herself, and most of the time the last hen or two will have all the eggs under them. Two or three such nests will be suffi- cient for fifty to sixty hens. One improvement I have lately added, by making the frame out of old pieces of %-inch pipe, using elbows for the corners. This way I can take the nest outside and set fire to it. I believe anyone who has tried to keep the old wooden nest boxes clean during hot weather, will appreciate the improvement. Cc. H. Illinois. INSIDE HOUSE ARRANGEMENT.—“I enclose sketch of sectional view of our henhouse, Fig. 47. A indicates an aisle three feet wide running full length of building, which is 40 feet; B, scratch- ing and roosting section; I, partition with studding eight inches apart INSIDE HOUSE ARRANGEMENT. Fic. 47. and covered with poultry netting; C, row of nests, each 15 inches square, raised four inches off the floor. On these rests the droppings board G, and above on brackets the two lines of roosts H. Board E is hinged every four feet at the bottom, that it may be dropped to facilitate cleaning’ and disinfecting the nest boxes. The hens, being in the scratching pen, enter the nests from that side. The doors, D, being separate for each nest, made of 1x3-inch pieces into a square frame and covered with fine netting, are hinged at the bottom and kept closed by a wooden button, except when gathering the eggs from the alley. When a hen becomes broody she is given her complement of eggs in the nest she has selected, and trespassers are kept from troubling her by hanging on the hook F a lattice door made of pieces of lath. The door D is then left open and the sitters HOMEMADE POULTRY DEVICES. ‘181 exercise in the alley where food and water are at hand. We hatched over three hundred chicks here last Spring and the plan worked beautifully.” W. H. FISHER. Ohio. THE TRAP NEST. It is generally conceded that trap-nesting is too expensive a plan of selection for the average poultryman to use. On page 95 feos (ed we Oe cee = vee sen TRAP NEST OPEN. Fic. 48. Prof. Rice states that it costs about 50 cents to trap-nest a hen for a year and keep the necessary records. For the convenience of those who wish to try the experiment the accompanying illus- trations and notes by a practical poultryman are given: ccc wees 2 Sethe Bees wey Q Gn ee es Soe brent NEST a ne: Fl os TRAP NEST SHUT. Fic. 49. “The accompanying designs show a trap nest of my invention, closed and open. Both cuts show a side view of the device. The nest proper is in an outer box. This outer box may slide like a drawer at under side of droppings board. The outer box may be without bottom, thus saving lumber. Fig. 48 shows trap A open. As the hen steps in at B her weight closes the trap A. Cis a 152 THE BUSINESS HEN. catch or button that automatically operates when trap closes and locks trap. D. D. D. are half-round hardwood mouldings, fastened across trap and rear end of nest which revolve in half-inch holes in outer box at F. F. E is a moulding across trap and projecting enough to strike against sides of outer box, preventing trap from closing too far in. The shoulders of this moulding E, as also shoulders of catch C, may be provided with a piece of felt or rubber, to lessen the noise of closing trap. Dimensions may vary with size of fowls. Inside of nest may be about 11x11 inches and four inches high. The device is very easily operated. A weight of 2% pounds at B, easily closes trap. After the hen has laid, she will put her head through a hole that is cut at each G. G. After egg is deposited, the hen has sufficient room in front of nest to keep nest from fouling. Excepting nails, there is no hardware about this device, as strap in which catch C plays, may be wood.” MOVABLE POULTRY YARDS. The essential features in poultry keeping are clean quarters, grass and exercise; coops that are easy to clean, easy to feed and not expensive to make. After many years of study and experiment with all the different kinds of poultry houses I find the following plan is the simplest and by far the best, except in the snowy period of Winter, when the birds and yards can be placed in an open shed facing south. The yards are built in sections four feet wide, two feet high and 16 feet long. Fig. 50 shows the plan. One or 20 sections can be placed end to end and the length of the yard is only limited by your boundary or whatever else there is to restrict you. A grass and clover field is the best, but when I started my yards they were on corn stubble and a fine grassy yard has grown without seeding in two years. The materials are kept in all lumber yards. Six arbor laths 1x2x16 white pine finished and free from knots and other weak spots, cost about 25 cents each, will make the frame. The sides, ends and top can be made up of plaster laths nailed one inch apart for small chickens and 1% to two inches for adult fowls. Porch lattice strips are neater, better and a little more expensive, but if painted would make a neater appear- ance and be more lasting. The end section should be closed at the ends with a sliding door to shut all birds in when moving yards; intermediate sections are braced on the ends and left open otherwise. The top of each section should have four feet closed with light lumber or a sheet of galvanized iron which will furnish shade for the fowls on warm days. For brooder yards these sections should have the whole top covered with galvanized iron or light lumber and HOMEMADE POULTRY DEVICES. 158" it will save much loss from sudden showers, but make them light enough to move easily. The roosting room should be four feet square and two feet high with two roosts and open at the top like a box. These coops are easy to move by just dragging them along. They will hold 12 or 14 Leghorns and have roosting coops enough to accommodate your flock. Laying houses are the same size with four nests on each side opened at the top. These houses should be closed at the evening feeding time to stop birds from roosting in the house or nests. Dry mash hoppers are kept in another house of the same pattern and each house should have one or more sections between them. These yards make ideal Leghorn yards (they are always in their own place and not scratching at your neighbor's garden), which is their greatest recommendation. I am a trucker and my neighbor’s chickens do me more harm than all the bugs. Each morning a A: SATA A ,PG TO OOO OEE. A=. 5 A areca baete oe ck ty ea Ame a ° t BAB-2.B-VA-VA-1-Z. VA ty x. MOVABLE POULTRY YARD. Fia. 50. little grain is thrown in the end section, and when all the birds are in close the slide and then move each section over sideways till all are on the clean grass, then move the end section, birds and all, taking care not to pinch their toes, but they are usually too eager for the new grass to get their toes pinched. Roosting houses should have no bottom. Laying houses have only wire netting on bottom of the nests to keep in the straw when moving the house. The dry mash feeding house should have a wood floor. Water, grit, shells and charcoal can be kept in tomato cans or lard pails on the outside of the yards where the birds can reach them easily by putting their heads through the slatted sides of the yards, and the feeder can see at a glance if each pail is full. The water, grit, etc., will always be free from droppings, which is never the case when these utensils are kept inside a poultry house. The ground will have grown up to grass in about two weeks’ time when you can move the yards back to their original place and move over daily, a task that will but take about two minutes per section. CHAPTER XVII. POULTRY IN LARGE FLOCKS. The “colony plan” of poultry keeping, that is small houses scat- tered over a wide area, has its advantages and its drawbacks. So has the opposite plan of crowding large flocks of birds into one building. As is stated in the following chapter by Dr. Buchanan Burr, the plan of feeding a “dry mash” has given renewed opportunity for large flock feeding. The statement which follows tells how it is done. As the object of most persons who engage in poultry raising is to have a flock large enough to support the owner, and as most fail- ures in the business arise from ignorance as to how to enlarge the successful small plant, this chapter will endeavor to take the poultry- man or poultrywoman who has arrived at this point safely over this bridge. Assuming as the basis of this chapter that 1,000 laying hens are needed to support the owner, it will be at once apparent that to raise the 3,000 chicks yearly to keep up this number of healthy well- developed egg machines, fireless brooders, lamp brooders, colony brooders are out of the question, and we are forced by every reason of economy and sanitation to build a proper brooder house with heater and pipe system. BROODING IN LARGE FLOCKS.—The pipe system brooder house fell into disrepute some years ago for two reasons; first because the pipes were put too low over the chicks, and second, the heat was not run high enough. With four 1%-inch pipes from 12 inches to 14 inches from floor, run at a temperature on your heater thermometer of 120° to 140°, the chicks will not only never feel chilled but will be forced apart and found lying comfortably along the edge of the flannel curtain which comes to within two inches of the floor. The roof is the most expensive part of the building. My own preference is for a two-story brooder house 21 feet wide by any length needed to supply the necessities of the plant. This makes a double house facing east and west, with pens three feet wide upstairs and four feet wide downstairs. The baby chicks are taken to the upstairs pens, not more than 50 in a pen, for 10 days. Then they are sorted by size, and all defective ones killed, and the others taken to the larger downstairs pens, where they have outdoor runs. The POULTRY IN LARGE FLOCKS. 155 water pans for all pens are, upstairs, 614x1)4-inch galvanized iron or agate pans, setting one-third in passage and two-thirds in pen, — the pen portion being covered by having nailed to the board par- titions one inch above the hole through which pan is pushed into pen, a semi-circle of wood two inches smaller than pan, on the edge of which finish nails are driven one inch apart, Fig. 51. By this arrangement the chicks cannot get in the water to soil it anda glance at each pan in going through the house tells where water ‘is needed. ‘The pans can all be washed daily without going into the pens. For the downstairs brooders a 10x2™%-inch pan can be used. I find it a great advantage to cut the hole high enough to place a board under the pan, coming out in the pen about three inches beyond the pan. This keeps the pan above the sand and litter in the pen and keeps the water cleaner. I said take the chicks from incubator -as soon as dry to these pens, but they are not to be fed for 48 hours, so in front of the flannel curtains in each hover I drop a board six FEED TROUGHS WITH TURNED IN SIQES SECTION OF HOUSE INTERIOR. Fra. 51. inches wide in slots, converting the hover into a dark, warm pen with clean, fresh, sharp sand on the floor, and there they stay warm and quiet until the yolk is absorbed. ‘Then the front board is removed, a little chick feed scattered on the floor, and they get their first feed and drink. After another 24 hours the back board is removed. For feeding chicks I use the“Burr” chick trough, keeping mixed grain and dry mash in separate troughs before them all the time. For small chicks a trough two feet long and 12 inches wide with sides three inches high is ample. Take a 12-inch board two feet long and bevel sides and ends to 45°. To these four beveled sides nail half-inch strips three inches wide and you will have a trough as shown in Fig. 54. By laying this trough on the floor and piling the sand up against the sides and ends chicks 48 hours old can run in and out of them easily. The object of the turned-in sides is to prevent the chicks scratching feed all over the pens. By sifting out with a flour sieve once a week, all the sand will be removed, and 156 THE BUSINESS HEN. with a coarser sieve all the manure, and the feed remains always clean. Once in two weeks the mash troughs may be dumped out and the. contents scattered in the henyard, where it is eagerly scratched over and eaten, so that no waste occurs. For the lower section where chicks are 10 days old the same troughs are used, only they are made three feet long, 16 inches wide and the sides are five inches high, Fig. 55. Chicks of this age will scratch feed out of the smaller troughs. These larger troughs are also used in the colony houses up to three months of age, when they are replaced with the “Burr” hen trough. By this system of feeding chicks are only fed once a day, which is a great saving of labor, and there is always feed for strong and weak with no danger of over-eating or under-feeding. Once a day they should receive green feed, in Win- ter beets run through a meat chopper or sprouted oats, with a quart of swamp muck if it is obtainable to each pen twice a week. After they are a week old a hopper of beef scrap should be kept filled in each pen and grit, chick shell and ground bone kept before them all the time. The dry mash used for chicks is the same as used for the laying hens and the formula will be given later. The great objection raised against the brooder house and in favor of the colony system of brooders has been that the yards will get foul, but with removable fences, fastened to the houses and to the end posts 50 feet away; with simple L posts in between, all these fences can be taken down in a few hours, the yards limed, plowed and seeded to rape and fences replaced. After chicks are all out of brooder house these yards may be plowed again and seeded to White clover and lawn grass for the following Spring. With this objection removed, there is no comparison either in economy or the health of chicks raised between the two systems up to six weeks of age, when your April-hatched layers are ready to be put in colony houses, without heat, where they will remain until housed in laying houses for the Winter. STARTING A FLOCK.—As the line between profit and loss in a large poultry plant lies between 100 and 145 eggs per hen per year, it is very necessary that the individuals composing this flock should each be healthy and to all appearance able to hold up their share of the load, but more than that, the owner should know that the ances- tors as far back as he can trace them have been Winter layers of large eggs. The buying of day-old chicks, or of eggs for hatching, except from known breeders without a guarantee that they are from aged hens only and not from pullets’ eggs, is a very serious source of loss and disappointment. ‘The safest and surest way is to raise or buy enough yearling or two-year-old hens. These hens should be POULIN WNi ARG E FLOCKS. 157 mated to healthy cockerels, say in February. Hold them back from laying by a grain diet and plenty of exercise until this time. Keep them in colony houses and their eggs will hatch chicks that want to live and that when they mature will lay, and lay when eggs are high. After your first year the close culling of your flock of yearlings will give better and better breeders each year, and bred to cockerels each year there is no danger of inbreeding. Any unusually good cock bird can be kept for another year or two and bred to a special pen of the best hens to tone up the grade of the whole flock. HOUSING AND FEEDING.—It may be roughly stated that the advent of dry mash before the hens all the time made possible the keeping of large flocks together. Before that time with feeding three times a day the active, hustling hen got more than her share to the detriment of the less active members of the flock. Under pres- ent conditions of feeding there is no limit to the size of a flock that can be kept profitably except the element of labor. As 2,000 hens can be easily cared for by one man and kept in perfect condition all the time, so in a complete one-man plant 1,000 hens may be con- sidered as a unit, leaving time enough for incubator and brooder house work. It is of course an advantage where the farm is large enough to pay to keep a man for this other work and to help with the rough and heavy work on the poultry plant. My own preference is for the two-story type of house with two short roosts on each side of a central passage running at right angles to the passage, 22 inches apart and 22 inches from the floor, simple 2x2-inch with upper corners rounded, five feet long and sup- ported on three-eighths-inch iron rods driven into floor and into hole in roost. ‘This in a house 20 feet wide and 100 feet long gives 16 roosts between four-foot windows on each side of house, with a passage along each side in front of nest boxes on the wall. ‘These windows being 4x5 feet, with upper half muslin and lower half glass, give perfect ventilation Winter and Summer. The downstairs part being for feeding and watering and exercise, with 1,000 hens in such a house each hen has four square feet, but in reality has the freedom of 4,000 square feet, except that occupied by the other .999 hens. A much less expensive house of the regular type can be built 18 feet wide and 100 feet long, 4% feet high in the rear and 6% feet in front, shed roof with rear wall sheathed to plate, and roof sheathed up six feet. Droppings boards are 2%4 feet from floor, four roosts 12 inches from droppings boards. ‘The front of this house could be boarded up for two feet from the bottom and a foot from the top, leaving three feet that could be closed in with 3x6-foot screens 158 THE BUSINESS HEN. covered with unbleached muslin, with a 3x2-foot sash in between each muslin screen. The muslin is closed on stormy days only and at night in cold weather. Such a house would house 500 hens com- fortably, where a two-story house of the same size would hold 1,000. Either house should be faced a little to the south of southeast, as this gives the most sun in Winter and the least in Summer. Any laying house should be built on posts with a grade at top of sill of 18 inches above the average natural grade. Fill this 18 inches in with dry dirt to top of sill. This makes the best floor. By keep- ing this dirt loose it makes all the dust baths necessary. The top can be raked off weekly and spread on the droppings boards. It will be necessary to fill in about six inches of clear dry dirt in May and Sep- tember; thus the house floor is renewed and never becomes foul. If it can be placed in a field with say 150 feet front and back for yards and a fence running from each end to make a front and back yard, by plowing and sowing oats, millet, rape and Crimson clover in rota- tion in each yard, you have continuous green feed from March until December, which is both healthy and economical. Avoid plant- ing fruit trees in either poultry or brooder yards, as the continuous plowing necessary for health will ruin the trees before they are large enough to be productive, and artificial shade is much better, the cheapest way to make the latter being to tack two-inch mesh wire on a frame 3x6 feet and nail on legs one foot long on one side and 18 inches on the other. Cover with burlap or building paper. The legs can be knocked off in the Fall and the screens stored away. A crop of potatoes or corn can be taken alternately from the front or back yards, following potatoes with rye and Crim- son clover, and planting in rape and rye with the last cultivation of the corn. FEEDING FOR WINTER EGGS.—If you have culled out 500 or 1,000 of the best of those pullets we left in the colony houses last May, when some of the combs begin to redden the last of Sep- tember, put them in your laying house, leave them shut in for a few days, until they feel at home, and the feeding and watering problem now presents itself. For watering a large flock there is nothing as convenient as one or more 10-foot lengths of five-inch double-lipped galvanized iron eaves trough or gutter. Have the plumber solder in two sloping ends, and near one end a piece of ¥%-inch brass pipe. I say brass pipe because it is even enough to have a cork fit tight, whereas the galvanized iron pipe will leak. Take two pieces of board three inches wide and the length of your trough, and nail to two square end pieces, so that each board will fit under one lip of trough to support it. Set this trough on a POULTRY IN LARGE FLOCKS. 159 platform high enough above the floor to get a pail under the pipe to empty it into, and build a running board on each side of it for the hens to stand on when drinking, and you are fixed. In Winter the trough can be emptied at night, and filled through the day at intervals with hot water to keep ice melted. Put the pail under the pipe, remove cork and brush out trough with a sink brush and it is clean. The object to be attained by feeding these hens is to keep them healthy, make them eat egg-making food and drink clean water, so as to produce the most clean eggs with high-colored yolks, and no bad smell or flavor. If left to herself she would much rather spend her time scratching in a manure pile or old wood pile for a bug or two, eat turnips or onions, and not lay any more than she had to until Spring. While the man does not live who can make a hen lay, you can so feed her in the Fall that there is a super-supply of protein, fat and mineral matter that will, against her inclination, THE BURR HEN TROUGH. Fia. 52. go to the development of the embryonic ovules, and as they grow they cause a drain on her system which she locates as hunger, and supplies, hence Winter eggs. This can only be done by confining her in large yards and not letting her out of the house in the morning until she has eaten her breakfast, giving food she is fond of to encourage her to eat more than she otherwise would, and keeping such a mixture before her as will develop the ovaries and the albumen secreting glands. If these pullets are all April and early May hatched, and are housed by October, go through your flock on December first and cull out any immature, undeveloped pullet, in fact every one that does not show a developed comb, and sell them for roasters. I say developed, and not red comb, for some of the April pullets that laid through October and November will be rest- ing now, and the combs will not be so red. What I want to impress on you is that any pullet in the flock that does not look like laying on this date will be carried through the Winter at a loss, and would better be disposed of now. 160 THE BUSINESS HEN. After trying all the hoppers made and making many more, I finally hit upon what is known as the “Burr” trough as the simplest and most economical appliance for feeding. To explain Fig. 53, if you take two pieces of half-inch board six inches wide and eight feet long, and nail them together, you will get a V trough six inches wide on one side and 6% inches on the other. Take another piece of board six inches wide and rip it in two, one piece being 234 inches wide and the other 3% inches. Nail the first piece on the inner lip of the wide side, and the latter on the top edge of the narrow side, and you have your trough; nail on the ends and put on the top. The hens cannot waste any feed out of this trough, cannot soil it, and yet it is always there before them. Ten Fie. 54. PRE ees Saher ec | ¢+-----99'--- => SECTION OF BURR TROUGH. Fia, 53. FOR LARGER CHICKS, Fia. 565. such troughs, half for grain and half for dry mash, are enough for 1,000 hens, and need be filled only once a day. Of course the grain ration before them all the time applies only to Leghorns, who can- not over-eat. With the heavier breeds the mash may be kept before them all the time, and the grain fed in litter night and morning. Even with the heavier breeds, grain troughs that can be closed except at supper time are an advantage, as where all grain is fed in litter many hens go to ped without enough supper, which means less eggs. For the grain ration almost any mixture of wheat, cracked corn, with some buckwheat during Winter, will do. Watch the troughs and mix your grain to suit the hens’ appetite, using more of one or the other grain as they eat them more eagerly. For the “POULTRY IN LARGE FLOCKS. 161 mash I use as a standard: 200 pounds bran, 100 pounds ground oats or barley, 200 pounds coarse cornmeal, 100 pounds shredded wheat (waste), 100 pounds middlings, 100 pounds best beef scrap (with some bone in it), if not add 25 pounds granulated bone, 100 pounds clean sifted charcoal (granulated), no dust, 25 pounds salt. Vary this by adding in Summer 50 pounds oil meal. This mash is kept before them all the time. Sprouted oats are fed once a day, all they will eat up readily, or alternately with mangels or sugar beets run through a meat cutter. These they eat greedily, and where green bone cannot be obtained I mix 25 pounds of beef scrap with 100 pounds of ground beets and feed it. The sprouted oats and beets should be fed in flat troughs six feet long, 12 inches wide,ewith three-inch sides; these when not in use can be hung .p. Of course there is no egg-making food that can compare with green bone as a maker of Winter eggs, and if it can be obtained even at three cents per pound cut it is worth it. Feed every other day up to one pound for every 30 hens, and reduce the percentage of beef scrap in the mixture by one half. As the markets require in Winter eggs a high-colored yolk it is necessary to feed three times a week cut dry clover or Alfalfa. While sprouted oats will help it is very much cheaper to produce this color with clover or Alfalfa; which they eat greedily. Too much clover or Alfalfa will cut down yo r egg yield, as they will eat too much of it in place of more nutritious food. With dry airy houses, cleaned daily, with plenty of dry dirt on the floors for absorbent and dust baths, with roosts and nest boxes gone over carefully twice a year with crude petroleum and any coal-tar insecticide, with this system of feeding only sweet clean grain, there can be no question of your success, if you like hens, and if you do not you would better leave them alone, for they have very pronounced ideas of their own, and while if they trust you you can coax them, you can never drive them, and a scared hen in a large flock tells her story in the egg basket for several days. The best cure for all poultry diseases is the ax, and burn the remains. Much trouble is caused by curing(?) mild cases of roup or canker and using these birds for breeders. It will take years to eradicate a taint thus bred in. There is much, however, that can be done in the way of prevention. By breeding only from healthy mature stock, by proper hatching and good brooding the chick gets a living start. White diarrhoea can be absolutely prevented by this means, by thorough sterilizing of the incubators after each hatch, and in cases where there is any suspicion of tuberculosis in the flock, by dipping the eggs for hatching in a solution of corrosive sublimate one part to 5,000 of water, All breeding hens should be carefully 162 THE BUSINESS HEN. examined before putting them in the mating pens, as I have found some of the best hens to look at infected with canker of the vent which would infect every egg. Some apparently healthy hens have at all times a strong roupy smell at the nostrils and should be killed at once as, while immune themselves, they scatter roup germs which are taken up and develop in the other hens who are not immune. In every normal hatch there will be a few chicks that do not properly absorb the yolk. They drag along, usually showing some signs of indigestion; an examination of the abdomen shows a hard lump in addition to the gizzard. Kill them at once as they drag along and cost more to make broilers of even than they are worth. If the brooder conditions are not correct and chicks get chilled and huddle, the flock will show in a few days all the appearance of white diarrhcea; they mope, drop their wings and huddle together. The only thing to do is to separate the healthy ones and kill off all moping chicks. When chicks learn that they can get warm by crowding, the whole flock is doomed; therefore keep up high temperatures in your brooder pipes so that as they snuggle together at bedtime, as they always will, the heat will be uncomfortable, and before the crowding can do any harm the flock separates for the night. Watch every flock at bedtime and prevent any settling in corners, as they will always go back to the spot they first settled in. This is also another reason why flocks should never be more than 50 when young, as the animal heat of a larger number will overheat some, and an overheated chick is doomed. With chicks normally hatched and brooded there is but one other serious trouble that can occur. For want of a better term I call it secondary bacterial infection. Unless the yards are disinfected, spaded up and seeded, after the first lot have been removed to the colony houses, the next lot getting out on the foul yards will, especially during a hot day following a cold rainy spell, eat everything they can scratch up and become infected with bacteria, and die like flies. ‘The intestines will be filled with blood from infection, and unless you recognize the con- dition you will think some one has poisoned the flock. There is no cure; prevention is all; recognize the danger ahead and prevent it. In feeding lawn clippings, and they are excellent feed for hens and chicks, be sure that the fruit trees are not being sprayed with some arsenical preparation or trouble will ensue. Good healthy stock, with clean water, fresh air, clean feed, using the same horse sense in caring for them that you would in any other business, and there is no mystery or secret about the raising of poultry in large numbers. CHAPTER XVI COMPANIONS OF THE HEN. DUCKS.—We do not offer advice to the extensive duck raiser who keeps birds by the thousand, but to the farmer who keeps a flock of reasonable size. If a man intend to make duck raising a specialty, he should go to some large duck ranch and study the business. The principal breeds are Pekin, Rouen, Cayuga, Muscovy, Aylesbury and Indian Runner. The Pekin is the most popular bre>], and is usually kept by farmers. The Indian Runner is the best laying duck, ranking with the Leghorn among hens as an egg pro- ducer. Ducks are usually hatched in incubators or under hens. For the first few days they are fed much like young turkeys, on bread crumbs and boiled eggs or rolled oats. After five days sand or gravel is added to the food, and gradually meal and bran are substituted for egg and bread—with later beef scraps, salt and abundance of chopped green food. Ducks need shade—an orchard makes a good place for them. Breeders should have a place to swim, but fattening ducks should be kept from the water. Mr. G. A. McFetridge tells how ducks are handled on a large duck ranch. With proper modi- fication this plan will answer on a farm. “Anyone who wishes to succeed at raising much have his ducks in market at the age of 10 weeks. At that age they should, if prop- erly cared for, average at least five pounds apiece. It is a good plan to pick out your stock ducks, at the same time (10 weeks) selecting the finest shaped and active ones. Arrange to have the males at least one month older than the females, and keep them separate. Give them a stronger feed, with about five per cent scrap; they will require it. With the females it is different, for they do not need a strong feed, but a light bulky feed. If they are picked out in May at the age of 10 weeks and fed on strong feed they will start to lay in September, which is too early; the middle of November is about right. A good feed for them is something like this: By measure, four parts of bran, four of middling or red dog, one of corn chop, one-half part sand, and one-third of the whole amount of some kind of filler. Use what is at hand, almost any green vegetable, second crop clover and Alfalfa. This mixture makes a good light feed, and if fed properly will give good results at this time when muscle-forming is the main object. 164 THE BUSINESS HEN. “By all means get them on a clover plot, keep visitors out and keep them quiet. In case a clover plot is not obtainable, then man- age to get some kind of greens for them to pick at; it will aid diges- tion. Supposing they are selected by the 20th of May, then they are fed the above feed judiciously up to September 20, then use the same kind of mixture, but give them all they can get away with, being careful not to overdo them, and you will find by October 20 they will be shed pretty well. The drakes, of course, are in a sep- arate yard, and can be fed more corn chop and about 10 per cent beef scrap after September 20. “Suppose they have shed all their feathers, wings and tails, as they will by October 20, and their Winter quarters are all in shape, then comes the mating. ‘To every five ducks put one drake; you can put 20 ducks and four drakes together safely, although I have seen good results when mated up to 150 in each yard. I find it to be a good plan to keep some extra drakes at the start and distribute them among the rest; then by keeping track of your yards you may find one or more yards that fail in fertility; a change of dralses will be all that is required. After mating them, a more substantral food can be fed, as follows: By measure, two parts bran, four parts middlings, two parts corn chop, four parts whole corn, four parts cut second crop clover, one part sand, one-half part oyster shell, 10 per cent of beef scrap (not counting clover). You will notice that they will not eat near so much of that feed as they do when fed the former, but it is a great egg output by increasing or diminishing the whole corn and beef scrap.” TURKEYS.—Many hen men and women have an ambition to keep a few turkeys. In northern New York or in some other locali- ties turkey raising on a large scale is carried on with much success. The turkeys have a wide range, and on the clean, wind-swept hiils are healthy and strong. In such places the business is often profit- able, though blackhead and other diseases sometimes sweep off entire flocks. Rhode Island was once a famous turkey country, but black- head has nearly ruined the business in that State. These large turkey raisers are often women, who seem specially adapted to hand- ling these birds. They often give advice to beginners, and seem puzzled to find that there is any great trouble about making the little turks live. The fact is that until one gets the “instinct” turkey raising is the most hazardous kind of poultry culture, for the little things will persist in dying in spite of all your care. Our own experi- ence as beginners may help others to start. ‘The two most popular breeds of turkeys are Mammoth Bronze and White Holland. The Bourbon Red is popular in some parts of the West, and is highly COMPANIONS OF THE HEN. 165 praised as a hardy, handsome bird of medium size. he Bronze turkeys are larger than the Whites, but we chose the latter because they are more domestic and do not roam away as the Bronze do. We have frequently had flocks of Bronze travel from distant points to visit our Whites, while the latter have never failed to remain at home. This is a good feature in a settled country where the farms are small, for in such situations the Bronze birds become a nuisance to the neighbors. We bought a trio of birds—the gobbler not related to the hens. Our observation is that this a surer than to buy eggs, although it may seem a slow way to start with but two hens. The children were afraid the turkeys would freeze when they insisted on flying into the trees during the Winter, but it is their nature to prefer the outside of a house. We drove’ them inside during cold storms, though they went unwillingly. They were fed much the same as the hens, but they were cleaner about their food and drirk. One reason why many fail with turkeys is because they will not keep the birds dry and clean. Late in April we noticed the hens looking about in an uneasy way, and wandering further from the house. We had been told to let them find their own nests, but to tempt them if possible by leaving barrels and boxes with clean straw near the henhouse. This failed to tempt them, and we should not have found where they layed but for the gobbler who waited for and thus betrayed them., One hen climbed to the loft of the wood shed and began laying on a board. The eggs would have rolled off, but we put a box with straw on the board and put the eggs in it. The foolish bird came back, accepted the nest and kept on laying. We left the eggs there as they accum- ulated. ‘The other hen went along the fence by the side of a tree . and made her nest there in the open. We kept these eggs-in the house until the hen began sitting and then they were all put under her. A box was fitted over the nest so as to give shelter. Between them these hens laid 24 eggs and hatched out 19 turks. One died at once.. The other 18 were given to one of the turkeys. The other, after grieving a day or so, mated again and proceeded to lay another clutch of about a dozen eggs. The season was so wet and unpromis- ing that we did not set these later eggs. It is said that a young turk will die if it run against a wet blade of grass. They are remarkably tender, and wet weather usually melts them down. We were also told that they would die if kept in a coop. A neighbor had a good hatch, but the young birds died rapidly. They seemed to become tired with chasing the hen. In the morning they were draggled by the dew and fell behind, where they 166 THE BUSINESS (EEN. were captured by cats or chilled. As the rain continued we put hen and turks in a large coop, and kept them there except at intervals when the sun came out. Then they had the run of a small yard. For feed they were given chopped boiled egg and dry bread crumbs with chopped onion. They had all they would eat clean of this four times a day, and plenty of fresh water frequently changed. A cake or biscuit made of horse feed (which on our farm is a ground mix- ture of cornmeal, oats and wheat bran) crumbled up fine was relished by the turks. ‘The old hen was fed a quantity of cracked corn, and in a few weeks the little birds began to eat that also. Rain continued, and we were obliged to keep the turks confined in the coops until the latter part of June. We did not expect to save any of them, judging from the advice we received and the experi- ence of neighbors who let the young birds run with the old hen through the wet grass, but out of the 18 put in the coop 15 were alive in July. When the weather turned dry we let them follow the old hen about the farm. Cats and vermin captured several, and others died from various causes, and we ended the season with five turkeys. This may seem like a poor record if we judged from the stories of parties who claim to raise every turkey, but actual experi- ence as reported to us shows that the great number of persons who tried to raise turkeys on a small scale had a worse record even than we did. Some of them lost every bird, while others raised only one or two from a flock of three or four hens. Turkey raising evi- dently requires greater care than chicken culture, and it appears as if printed or spoken advice is of little help in learning how to raise the birds. Personal experience alone can show how to do it. We can do it much better another and drier season. In a general way it must be remembered that the young turkey is more tender than the average chicken. It is cleaner in its habits and requires clean food and pure water. The old hens do not show good judgment in caring for the turkeys, but will lead them through wet grass or upon long journeys where the little things are quickly tired. We should be careful to keep them in coops until the sun has thoroughly dried the grass and watch the hens carefully so that they will not wander too far away. PIGEONS AND SQUABS.—We would not advise an amateur to expect to make any fortune or even a living at producing squabs. Probably as much money has been lost in the poultry business try-— ing to make good on squab breeding as in any other department. The stories told of the great success of a few people are very plausible and have led many unfortunate men and women on to loss and disappointment. Our advice would be to start with a few COMPANIONS OF THE HEN 167 pairs of pigeons and not attempt to go into the business on a large- scale unless experiments with a few pigeons indicate success. It is often a desirable thing to have a few pairs of pigeons on the farm, as squabs make delicate food for invalids and there is nothing bet- ter in some cases of sickness. In a town yard these squabs can be grown to advantage, but let no one expect to plunge into the busi- ness at once and make a fortune out of it. Almost any room that is fairly warm can be fixed up for pigeons. You must have a good roof, no cracks or holes in the sides and a building that is strictly rat proof. Rats will clean out the squabs if they ever get a taste of them and can get near them. Allow about 250 square feet of floor space for each 50 pairs of pigeons. THE GUINEA FOWL.—There are two distinct varieties of. Guineas, Pearl and White. There is no difference in their character- istics save in their color. The Pearl variety should be bluish-gray in color, each feather covered with white spots resembling pearls, hence its name. It should be free from any white feathers in any part of the plumage. The neck is covered with black hairs near the head, and between that and the feathers is a soft down, of a light brown color, that glistens in the sun. On the top of the head is a horny spike that turns backward. The bill and legs are brown. The White variety should be a pure white in plumage, with a yellow orange or yellowish-white bill and legs, this being the only difference between them and the Pearl variety. Some birds of the Pearl variety have white feathers in the breast and wings, but are mon- grels, being a cross between the two varieties. They are great forag- ers, and will pick up enough bugs and injurious insects more than to pay for themselves. They do not stand confinement well, and will not lay more than one-half as many eggs as if allowed to run at large. If fed regularly morning and night they will always be on hand for their share. "They desire to roost in trees near the barn at night, and are most excellent guards either night or day; anything out of the usual astir, they will set up a great cry. They roost so high that they are out of the way of thieves or wild animals. In their wild state they wili fight and drive other fowls, but if used kindly as other poultry, they will stay and feed with other fowls without showing much of this pugnacious habit. The Guinea hen is a Spring and Summer layer, and lays from 90 to 120 eggs yearly. They like a secluded place to lay in. When their nests are found, leave two or three eggs, or they will leave the nest for another place. Better set their eggs under hens to hatch, as the Guinea does not sit until too late in this latitude to have the young get grown before Winter, Besides, if raised by common hens, they can be taken care 168 THE BUSINESS HEN. of better, for they must be fed often, as the young eat but little at a time. Fifteen to 17 eggs can be set under a good-sized hen, and with good care all can be raised. Their eggs are small, but make up in quality what is lost in size. Their meat is excellent, and has a gamy flavor. The cocks can be distinguished by their screeching noise, also by the spike on their heads being larger, and by hoidinz their heads higher. ‘Their ear tubes are larger, and generally curl in a sort of semi-circle toward the beak. ‘The hens make a noise that sounds like “too quick,’ and seldom screech. BANTAM BREEDING.—‘“Bantams need but little room, and little feed. They are very attractive and useful, not merely pets, as they are good layers of good-sized and rich eggs. I have used an incubator for hatching, but prefer hens. Ii I have Bantams that I can spare I use them, but usually common hens. If large hens are used their nests should be in a low box six inches deep, the nest made but little dishing, as the eggs will move more readily as the hen steps among them. For this reason the fewer eggs under a hen the better. The eggs are quite as likely to be fertile and hatch as any larger breeds. A box should be placed over the hen after she has been fed and watered each day. This not only secures her from being disturbed, but prevents her from coming off many times a day, as some will, each time endangering the eggs. I do not find the chicks quite as hardy or as easy to raise as larger breeds until feathered. They feather so young and fast that they need good feed and care at this time. For a few days when first hatched, hard- boiled eggs and bread crumbs chopped fine are best for them; later cracked wheat, millet and ground beef scraps, and some whole grain. For head and throat lice and around the little cluster of feathers in front of the vent use a little grease. Fresh butter is good; sweet cream is still better, and will not injure if used liberally on turkeys or chickens. This will do little good, however, if the hen has lice. This season I have taken a feather, and with a liquid lice killer touched the hen under and above in many places. If this is done in the morning when the chicks are a few days old, and the hen in an open coop, so the chicks can get plenty of air, it will not hurt them, but will rid both hen and chicks of lice for a long time.” CHAPTER XIX. A BIG FAMILY OF ROASTERS. One of the most successful poultry men in the country is Henry D. Smith, of Massachusetts. Mr. Smith makes a specialty of raising roasters, which are young birds large enough to stuff and reast. He started in a very modest way and slowly increased his business until he turned off from 5,000 to 7,000 roasters each year. This required 400 hens, and Mr. Smith made the statement publicly that one man could do all the work provided he had everything fixed properly. When we asked him how this was possible he made the following statement. The incubators have a capacity of about 3,000 eggs and the brooder houses will accom- modate from 2,500 to 3,000 little chicks. Of these about 1,800 will live to a size large enough to enable them to go out to colony houses, which are 6x8 feet and which will hold 50 chicks. Each house has a feed hopper, a box for scraps, another for grit and shells and a water vessel. Here is Mr. Smith’s programme: “Allowing that we have saved a few cases of July eggs we will now lay out the work for a year, beginning August 1. Get up in the morning at six o’clock, feed the horse and the hens and turn the eggs in the incubators before breakfast is ready. Feeding the hens is done by taking sufficient grain in a bag on your shoulder and going through one house of six pens and back through another of the same size, and scattering said grain in the litter; then take another bag with a dry mash and go through again, and put the necessary amount in boxes provided for the purpose; time for both trips 25 minutes; then turn the eggs, which will take from two to three minutes to each machine. Eight machines will be sufficient at the most, and they will not all be running all of the time. The eges will have -to be tested twice to each hatch, time one hour, and another hour will carry out a hatch of chickens and reset the machine, which takes two hours to each machine, setting every three weeks. Clean out the horse stall and curry the horse, when breakfast should be ready. The water barrel should be placed in the farm wagon and a hose led to it from the water system and allowed to fill while some of the above chores were being done, so that after breakfast, say from 7.45 to eight o’clock, you harness 170 THE BUSINESS HEN. into the farm wagon, and after putting on what grain, scraps, grit and shells you will need, start for the colony houses, which have got your 400 pullets and several cockerels for the coming season. The barrel being fitted with a two-inch molasses faucet it does not take long to rinse out the water bucket (using a little broom-corn brush), fill it and replace; then put in some grain, scraps, grit and shells, where necessary. Speak to the horse and pass to the next house and repeat, finishing each house on the one trip, and this job will be all done by nine o’clock. This leaves three hours before dinner and the only chore at noon is to feed the horse. At 4.30 to five o’clock you will go through the hen houses again with one bag of grain only, and pick up the eggs, feed the horse, turn the eggs and fill and trim the incubator lamps. I can turn the eggs and take care of the lamps to the eight machines in less than 30 minutes, so that you will be ready for supper before six o'clock, and this makes not over 10 hours of actual labor per day. The above arrangement leaves six hours per day for the next three weeks, in which time you can clean out the brooder houses if you have not already done so, spread on the grass land and fill up again with fresh sand. This will take four days, and allowing for a few stormy days there will be ample time to clean out and fill all of the empty colony houses before the brooder will have to be started, also to clean off the droppings boards once a week and spray the roosts, and give the hens some green stuff at least twice a week. “Now we will start one of the brooder houses and bring what chicks you have hatched, and until you have more than one house will hold, there will only be one fire to attend to, and the pens, as fast as you are able to fill them with chicks. We will have the grain room between the two brooders and to feed will take a bucket of mixed grains and a small scoop; walk right along throw- ing the proper amount according to age, number, etc., all over the pen, and coming back pick up the dead ones, then take another bucket of dry mash and scraps. Keep moving right along, throwing this on to the feed board placed on the floor just beyond the pipes, so the feed can be put on it easily. Then take a bag of cut clover and go up through the pens, this time putting a little in each pen, and opening the slides for the chicks to go out of doors on the same trip. If your partitions are too high to walk over you will have to have self-closing gates. You will remember that these are all watered automatically, so that this takes care of the brooder in the morning excepting shaking down the fire and putting on some coal, and 20 minutes will take care as above of both brooder A BIG FAMILY OF ROASTERS. 171 houses, 2,500 to 3,000 chicks, with no worry about the heat. After all of the morning chores are done, say about 9.30, come back to brooder and give the little chicks less than two weeks old a little grain to scratch for, and sift your ashes, putting the screenings back into the heater; time 15 minutes. You now have two hours before it is time to feed the two kinds of grain again and fix the fire at noon, and there are three hours in the afternoon before beginning the night chores, with the exception of about five min- utes at 2.30 to feed those smallest chicks, and about twice a week give them a little grit and charcoal in boxes for the purpose within reach of the walk. Clean out under the pipes about three times while the chicks are in the brooder, time two hours each time, and then have a thorough cleaning between each lot; time refilling and all 20 hours. “PREPARING FOR WINTER—The above figures are based on both brooder houses being full, the work in the incubator cellar begins to decrease and finally stops by October 15, so that there will be nearly five hours daily on the average in which to clean out and fill up the balance of the colony houses, clean and refill the henhouses, whitewash (with a spray pump) and make the necessary repairs for Winter, and haul into the barn cellar or some suitable place 30 to 40 loads of sand to be used here and there during the Winter. During the past month or so you have been selling off the old hens as fast as they stop laying, and crowding together the remaining ones, so as to empty the pens as fast as possible, and as soon as ready pick your most forward pullets and put into these pens. As soon as the incubators are set that are required to fill the brooders, sell off all of the old hens and put in the remainder of the pullets as soon as you can. Then as soon as the chicks in the brooder are feathered out enough, say eight to nine weeks old, they go out to the colony houses and as soon as you see that one of the brooders will be empty, cleaned out and refilled, in three weeks you start up the incubators again, this time on the pullets’ eggs, throwing out the small ones. “We will now begin November with practically all of the odd jobs cleaned up. The incubators are getting started again as fast as the pullets furnish the eggs, and the youngest chickens in the brooder are about to pass the delicate age, so that three times daily is all the care the brooder needs, which can be done in 20 mintites each time. The work in the brooder now decreases about as fast as it increases in the incubator house, and the care of the horse and hens remains about the same the year round, but the work in the colony houses is gradually increasing all the time, for 172 DAE BUSINESS Ene Ne by the last of November you will have nearly all of the first lot of chickens (say 1,800 to 2,500) out in the colony houses, which means about 1% hour as soon as you can get to it. The morning chores will now take until about 10 o’clock, and 20 minutes at noon, with 1144 hour at night, will leave about four hours per day to do the regular chores, and this gives for the whole month about 100 hours, in which time is done the testing, carrying the chicks to brooder, setting machine, cleaning off droppings boards, cleaning out brooders, refilling with sand from the cellar, etc. The work for December is practically the same as November, with the excep- tion of the caponizing. By the first of January the brooder house will be nearly full again, if not quite, with the incubators about stopped, so that in January while there is a little more work in the brooder there is less in the incubator house. The regular amount of work remains about the same until more chickens go out to the colony houses, and during February and the first of March the remainder of the colony houses will be full, and as they fill the brooder grows empty, and will take another hour per day for the regular work, leaving only three hours per day for the odd jobs. In the meantime the incubators have started again for the last time. By the first of March the oldest pullets will begin to lay and must be sold, and the second lot must be capon- ized. The brooder is being filled for the last time, so that by April 1 the incubators are all done. The brooder house is full, as well as the colony houses, but we will now gladiy devote two or three hours per week to selling off the oldest birds as fast as they get “ripe.” As soon as any of the colony houses are empty they are cleaned out thoroughly and refilled again with chicks from the brooder house. “VACATION TIME.—By the middle of May the brooder house is empty and the regular chores begin to decrease, and some time in June the caponizing will be done, leaving just the hens and colony houses to see to, and the money to take in. The brooder houses may now be thoroughly cleaned and refilled ready for the next season, and there will be many an hour between now and August 1 to lie in the shade and make short pleasure trips, or get a neighbor to do the few chores and stay away awhile. The number of chickens raised for the 13 years that we have been here is about as follows: 700, 1,000, 1,200, 1,500, 2,000, 2,500, 3,000, 4,200, 3,200, 4,200, 5,000, 5,100 and 5,200, and I have 3,400 on hand now (January 25). I hope and expect to get a good 2,000 more before this season is gone.” CHAPTER, XX. ALL SORTS OF HEN METHODS. We have said that a true hen man can take any breed and evolve the business hen. That is correct, and he will do it by studying the hen and adapting her whims and needs to his conditions. There are hundreds of ways of keeping hens. The methods may differ, but the foundation principles are the same, viz., selecting a good ‘hen and keeping her clean, healthy, contented and well fed. That is the entire story. The majority of hen failures are due to a violation of one of these principles. Sometimes it is the hen. People will persist in breeding from birds which they know do not lay well and which have been lazy scrubs for generations. ‘The flock is inbred ' year after year with no effort to select the best. The result is what you might expect from selecting small seed potatoes from the pile year after year. It is now known that most of the small potatoes are all grown by certain definite hills. If you keep planting these small potatoes you will grow more small ones, because that is the habit and destiny of such tubers. When you pick the seed out of the pile where all have been thrown together you never know what you are getting, but the chances favor the poorest selection you could make. When you select the best hills in the field, and use that seed, you know what you have, and are breeding for improvement. It is just the same with hens. A man who wants to improve his birds should get an ideal hen in his mind and hunt through his flock for it. Pick out the hens which come up to this ideal, and use them for breeders with the best male bird you can afford. ‘There is not a farm in this country where such practice could not be followed out, or where it would not pay better than any ordinary farm operation. Mr. Geo. A. Cosgrove gives sound advice to a would-be farmer, but he does not tell us how he worked out this theory with such success. Mr. Cosgrove took Wyandottes and followed the plan outlined above, selecting the hens which came nearest his standard of what a busi- ness Wyandotte ought to be. As a result he finally produced a bird which attracted attention—first at home, then through the State, and Gnally throughout the country. The same thing can be done with any breed, or one can start with a flock of common barnyard scsubs and by selection and good breeding turn out a uniform flock of hens that will pay twice the profit the old ones did. 174 I SUR MEXOLS OME SS SHENG But unless this superior hen is healthy and contented she will not pay. Contentment in a hen is not based on any intellectual experience but on comfort, cleanliness and good food. Some people have a curious idea of what a “clean” henhouse is. Lice are respon- sible for more failures with hens than those who make the failures will admit. The man who can stay by a lousy henhouse until it is actually clean deserves to succeed and usually will. The insects are small and the cracks are large, and every hair’s breadth must be covered. On a fruit farm where lime-sulphur is used for killing the scale a hen man can hardly do better than soak the inside of the henhouses with this odorous mess. ‘The profit on some hen farms is largely eaten up by the young roosters when they are permitted to run at large with the flock. These birds become a great nuisance. They should be separated as soon as possible, shut up and fattened rapidly and sold. Let them all go except the few needed for breeders. As for feeding, probably the greatest mistake is made in the Fall just aiter cold weather starts in. At this time the hens seldom lay, and are profitless. ‘They are also deprived of most of the insects and . green food which make a good share of their food as they range about. With both pullets and old hens there will be a “drought” of eggs for at least 60 or 75 days. No profit can be expected at this time, yet these hens should be full fed in the most careful manner— just as an athlete should be fed on strong food through the weeks of his training. These hens will never pay if they are scrimped in their food during the Fall and early Winter, yet the temptation is great to neglect them then; in fact, this is one of the hardest things for the beginner to learn. It will help to have a good flock of old hens and fat young roosters to sell at this time. With money com- ing in at this season it is not quite so hard to pay money out for feeding the idle hens. During the Summer the idle hens may be left on a ration that will merely keep them going, but when the Fall comes and they go into their houses stuff them with good food. These principles are understood by all successful hen men, and it is interesting to see how they are applied under different condition. A hen man in New Jersey has a small place on which he grows vegetables and fruit. There is not enough land to follow the colony plan of having small houses scattered over a large field, so he follows a sort of hen soiling system. The hens are kept in small flocks of a dozen or more—each flock in a small house with a light yard of wire fence panels attached. No food is put inside the house or yard, but in dishes outside—the hens putting their heads through the fence to eat and drink. Every day or two the house and coop are pulled on to fresh ground—usually sod. In this way the hens are always on ‘\ ALL SORTS OF HEN METHODS. 175 clean ground and always have good pasture. Many coops can be’ kept on an acre, and the manure is deposited evenly over the field. Of course the labor of changing. the coops must be considered, but this plan is well suited to a small farm where the land is needed for fruit or vegetables. You can easily see how such a system would fit the land for a crop. The hens will tear up weeds, burrow in the soil and leave the manure behind them. ‘They are clean and con- tented. so they are in a California fruit orchard where much the same plan is followed. In this case the houses and yards are on runners, and are just about long enough to stretch from tree to tree in the rows. After standing for a few days in one place they are hauled one row ahead or back as desired by hitching a horse to the house. Thus they travel back and forth through the orchard, working the soil and leaving the manure near the trees. The orchard mentioned is well filled with these movable houses, and the hens give a good income and take good care of the trees. If such an orchard can be seeded to rape and Crimson clover the hens will get one-third of their living from such a green crop. In great contrast with this is the way a farmer in North Dakota winters his hens. In this cold country the hen cannot be contented unless she be kept warm, and lumber may be too expensive to make the business henhouse profitable. So this farmer puts up a frame- work of poles and throws straw around and over it. Straw has no commercial value out there, and it can be piled on four feet thick if necessary. A door and windows are put in, and the hens are literally stacked up against Winter in comfortable quarters. Such hens when well fed and watered do well inside their straw houses, and imagine that Summer has come in February. These stack houses are also often made for cattle. The cows have the advantage of the hens in the fact that they can and do turn in and eat up their own house of straw. ‘The hens cannot do this, and if they leave the house well filled with vermin it is an easy matter in that country to burn down the old house and build another like it the next season. Something of the same plan is followed by a farmer in Virginia, near the opening to Chesapeake Bay. In this mild climate the hens may run out all Winter. Crimson clover is seeded in late Summer to serve as pasture for them. Little houses like army tents are made by driving in poles and heaping hay or straw over them. The hens live in these little houses and range on the clover, obtaining a good share of their living from it, and giving a good supply of Winter eggs at low cost. The reverse of this plan was followed for some years by Mr. Hayward, of New Hampshire. He also had little 176 THE BUSINESS HEN. tent-like houses, but his were well made of lumber, with solid back, but a wire screen front. Pullets were put into these little houses in the late Fall and kept there without removal or range for about a year, when they were taken out and sold as hens to make room for a new supply of pullets. Mr. Hayward did not hatch any stock himself, but bought young birds in northern Vermont and brought them to his farm. He kept 5,000 or’ more of these hens, and made a good profit—buying all the grain and putting the hen manure on an apple orchard. ‘The contrast between this plan of close confine- ment and the Virginia plan of free range on green clover is great, and shows how the business hen can be adapted to almost any con- ditions. This plan of close confinement is the principle employed in the - so-called Philo system. ‘The idea is to hatch the chicks in the ordi- nary way and raise them in a “heatless brooder;” that is, a box so padded and protected that little if any heat will escape. Gentle ventilation is provided, so that the animal heat of the chicks is retained, and this is sufficient to keep them warm. Under Philo’s “system” the birds are kept closely confined after they graduate from this heatless brooder. ‘They are supposed to pass their entire life in a cabinet somewhat smaller than a piano box. ‘Those we have seen in their narrow quarters were of good size, but seemed listless and dull. The plan might work with a few hens in a back yard, but we do not consider it adapted for really business hen keeping. The so-called “Corning” system is largely adapted from the excellent methods worked out at the Maine Experiment Station. ‘The hens are crowded close together in the houses, but are kept clean and given good food and care. As one visitor remarked, “The hens are packed so close that they seem to be piled up in heaps.” It is a special method of forcing hens to high production, but it remains to be seen whether this heavy forcing will give chicks strong enough to keep up the vigor of the stock. The egg yield is said to be heavy, and high prices are obtained, in some cases 60 cents or more per dozen for table eggs. It is claimed that with these high prices the hens give a profit of over $6 each. While such “systems” are interesting as showing the possibilities of poultry keeping, it is a mistake to present them as if anyone could follow out the plan and obtain similar results. ‘That is impossible—as much so as it would be for an average man to take the place of a great lawyer before a jury, or for an untrained clerk to step right into a blacksmith’s shop and shoe a horse. Let it be clearly understood that these various “sys- tems” all have some merit, but that the chief reason why they are talked about is not to benefit mankind, but to sell the “secret” con- ALL SORTS OF HEN METHODS. tee nected with the system, and usually this secret has been talked for years. A very good statement of many principles of the Corning system is given in Dr. Burr’s story of large henhouse in Chapter 17. Some of the English farmers have a modification of the colony system. They mount small poultry houses on wheels and haul them from place to place in the grain fields. The hens pick up the scattered grain and come back to the wagon houses to lay and to drink. In this way the fields are well gleaned and a good supply of eggs obtained. We have heard of a man who sailed down the Mississippi River on a flatboat with an outfit of bees and ducks. The bees hunted honey all the way along, while the ducks made their home on the boat and got nearly their entire living as they went along. In other cases vessels on the ocean have carried hens in coops somewhat like those built for the Philo “system,” and had a supply of fresh eggs for the entire voyage. Another strange experience was that of a man who carried an outfit of baby chicks to Florida in the early Fall. His theory was that these little chicks could be forced so as to provide good-sized broilers for the great hotels, which do an enormous business during the Winter. ‘The scheme did not work properly, for during the short Winter days the baby chicks did not grow as was expected. It would seem as if Florida would furnish a wonderful opportunity for the business hen. The State is thronged every Winter with thousands of visitors literally shaking money and calling for good things to eat. And yet most of the chickens and eggs served to them come out of cold storage houses at the North. In Florida a remarkable remedy for hawks is advocated. Chickens are fed strychnine in their food, or the poison is pasted on their heads. The theory is that this poison will not kill the chickens, while it zl destroy the hawks. ‘The belief in this remedy is quite general throughout the State. ‘The explanation is a theory that both the animals and plant are natives of India, and probably the animals become wonted to it before they were domesticated. No doubt the younger animals would be more immune than older ones. . The “colony plan” has been worked out with variations in all the © corners of the country. In New England are several large farms where the hens practically wait on themselves. ‘The feed is kept in hoppers—either in the form of dry mash or with the different grains in separate bins. ‘There is usually a brook or pond where the hens range, and in Winter they often depend on snow for their water supply. Some experiments have been tried in keeping hens in small tents during the Winter—with grain fed in hoppers and snow to “drink.” This would not suit the large-combed breeds like the Leghorns, but the warmer clad breeds with small combs like R. I, 178 HeLa VE USHONES Ss elo lo yi) Reds or Brahmas actually keep good natured under such treatment > and lay eggs. In fact we think the great supply of market eggs in the future will come from these large “hen ranches.” ‘These will not ’ produce the expensive Winter eggs, but will send out great quan- tities of Summer eggs which can be held in cold storage or preserved in water glass. Considering the low cost of production when things are fixed so one man can care for over 1,000 hens, there is profit in producing Summer eggs on the colony plan. The latest scheme is to raise the chicks in scattered brooder houses, separate out the roosters early, and then by changing the inside fixtures to use the house for wintering the pullets. The increased use of the colony plan or range system has increased the peculiar disease known as “limberneck,” which is described under the chapter on diseases. At one time the greater number of our questions referred to colds or bowel troubles—now they deal with blindness or the nervous trouble called “limberneck.” The chief cause is eating putrid meat, and this the hens pick up on the range. It may be some dead fowl or the carcass of some vermin which they eat, but there is evidently serious trouble from it. All such carcasses should be buried at once. Do not let them stay near the yards and houses. We put them in deep holes by the side of fruit trees or vines. It is a mistake to throw them on the manure pile where the hens and other animals can get at them. There are still many places where large flocks of hens are kept in one house. In some cases such are very successful, but the general tendency is to break up the flocks and separate them into smaller houses. ‘The liability to diseases is greater when the hens are crowded in close quarters, and the sick hen must be attended to at once. She will show her condition in various ways, but when a hen drops her feathers, puts her head down and mopes about it is time to attend to her. Get her away from the rest at once. We have a small room known as the hen hospital, where such sick hens are taken. A barrel with clean straw at the bottom is a good hospital bed: for a hen. She must be kept warm and dry, and in many cases a few days of “rest” with food and some tonic like “Douglas Mix- ture” in the water will revive her. Read the chapter on “Diseases” and treat the hen as directed, but it seldom pays to try to dose an ordinary hen. She is hardly worth it, and nine times out of 10 if vied “8 and free from lice and permitted to ace dry she will not “mope” or drop her feathers. It cannot be repeated too often that in all Bias different methods one of the hardest battles is that against vermin. We are often asked how to destroy lice on the living hen. Mr. Cosgrove mentions HLL SORGS. OF FEN METHODS. 179 one method, but it is often necessary to sift the hen’s feathers full of powder. A good powder for this purpose is described under “Diseases.” We hold the hen up by one leg and sift the powder among her feathers by dusting it out of a pepper box or from a tin can with holes punched through the top with a small nail. In some cases the hens are put into a box hung like a revolving churn. A handful of the powder is put in with them and the box turned over and over. The hens flutter and are well dusted. Head lice are harder to kill, and they often torture the chicks. A mixture of sulphur and lard will get them. Another question often asked about all these systems is how to prevent loss from chicken thieves. This is a serious problem in many localities near a large town or close to a well-travelled road. In some cases electric alarms are connected with all doors and win- dows, but these do not always work, and a bright thief can cut the wires. A good dog is the best protection. He should be trained to sleep by day and watch by night, and given full swing of the premises. The doors of the yards should be built to swing on a weight so the dog can make his way anywhere. The right kind of a dog will prove a genuine uncle to the business hen. He should not be per- mitted to make friends with everyone. A dog with a dash of bull or bloodhound blood will be better than some good-natured breed. A poultry keeper in New York had such a dog with a cross of Cuban bloodhound. ‘This terrible animal was respected by every chicken thief within 20 miles. Another man kept a large, good- natured dog as chicken guard. Thieves stole the dog, carried him away and “got acquainted with him.” When he came home his master thought he would guard as before; but when the thieves came back he welcomed them as friends. CEUAD YT Wie pcxule ODDS AND ENDS. in thickly settled regions there is often great loss from cats. Many so-called pet cats are little better than wild animals and unless they are carefully watched they will do great damage to the young chickens. A good shotgun and a marksman will do much to get rid of these marauders, but it will usually make great trouble with the neighbors if cats are killed in this way, because most people will not admit that their pets would ever kill a chicken. We have found it an excellent plan to cover the runs where the chickens are confined with twine netting such as is used by fishermen. This is cheaper than wire netting, lighter and easier to handle and can be taken down with ease when the chickens are large enough and packed away for the next season’s use. These nets are also a good protection from hawks and a large pen can be protected in this way at reasonable cost. The poultryman must understand that dampness will be death to his flock. He must try above all things to give the hen a dry place in which she can scratch and dust, for a damp cold house will be sure to bring’ on cases of rheumatism or colds. Special pains should be taken to have the floor of the house well drained. In case a dirt floor is used ditches should be dug around the house and filled with stones. We know of one case where even this precaution did not prevent damp floors as there was a heavy drip from the eaves all along the house. This was overcome by running a trough along the eaves so as to carry the water away to the end of the house. This made all the difference between dampness and dry floor. It is now generally agreed by poultrymen that where fowls are feeding heavily on a mixture of food an ample supply of charcoal is necessary. We have tried the experiment again and again of taking the charcoal away from the hens and we are thoroughly satisfied that it is a necessity if we would have best results, especially in ODDS AND ENDS. 181 Winter. When the hens are housed, we would keep the charcoal constantly before them where they may help themselves to it from a hopper and they will show that it is a necessity by the way they clean it up. The trouble from egg eating eiten becomes a nuisance, espe- cially where hens are kept in close confinement. ‘The poultryman sometimes finds the habit firmly fixed before he is aware of it. We have found that some birds are confirmed egg-eaters. They are smarter than the rest and know how to break the shell and get at the contents. We have seen them wait until the egg was laid and then deliberately break the egg and set the example of eating it. We should never attempt to tarry with these hens, but kil] and eat them at once. They are a nuisance in the flock and cannot well be cured. Various plans are suggested for handling them, such as cutting off the end of the beak so that they cannot strike the egg without hurting themselves or of blowing out the contents of the egg and filling it with a mixture of red pepper or some bitter substance. The theory of this is that the hen will break such an egg, get one taste of it and certainly conclude that she never did like eggs any way. This is a pretty theory but will not work in practice. We advise killing the confirmed egg-eaters, feeding an increased supply of meat and grain food, making the hens work for their grain and arranging the nest so that the eggs must be laid in the dark. Hens sometimes become cannibals. Little chickens sometimes turn upon one member of the flock, chase it about, peck it to death, and then deliberately consume the body. We have known this to happen in a number of cases. Full grown birds will in the same way sometimes turn upon one of their members and peck it to death. This trouble is generally started by some bruise or injury on the victim. The blood starts and the other fowls peck at it curiously and get a taste. If they have not been properly fed with meat food this taste of blood appears to craze them and they will chase the afflicted fowl about pecking at it, opening the wound and weakening it until it dies. The best remedy is to feed meat and take the wounded bird out of the flock as soon as found. We are frequently asked what substance is best for use in the dust boxes. The hen must have a chance to dust herself through the Winter, for this is her method of taking a bath and she will not get along well without it. A dry dirt floor raised above the 182 THE BUSINESS HEN. surrounding ground so that dampness will not rise to the surface will give the hen her choice, but it often happens that on concrete or board floors dust boxes must be provided properly. Sifted coal ashes will do as well as anything. The cinders should be sifted out and the dry fine powder used. Do not use wood ashes. They contain lime and will take the gloss off the plumage. A mixture of coal ashes and floats or ground phosphate rock will make a very good dust for the birds. Road dust taken up from the road during a drought will work well. Coal ashes are also excellent for use under the droppings board; they do not contain lime and will not drive the ammonia away. It frequently happens that all through the Summer as the chicks grow up a number of them lose all their feathers and go about naked except for a few wing feathers. We are frequently asked the cause for this trouble. Most poultrymen have observed it. It appears to be characteristic of some of the heavier breeds like the American breeds or the Asiatics and various reasons have been given for it. It is probably due more than anything else to a lack of bodily vigor or ability to assimilate the food properly. Now and then these naked chickens grow and clothe themselves properly before the Winter, but as a rule they suffer when cold weather comes and are not likely to thrive. As a matter of business it will hardly pay to keep them. The hen keeper must not only use his eyes but be trained to use his ears as well, for he must be quick to distinguish the char- acteristic rattle or sound of roup. During the season when roup ‘is dangerous it will pay a hen man to go slowly at night after the hens are on the roost and listen carefully for this roupy cry or sound. Practice will enable him to distinguish it and whenever it is de- tected his best plan is to take the afflicted bird out at once for treatment. It is folly to let her remain in the house, also with the little chicks. The hen man soon comes to know from the sound which the chickens make whether they are happy or, ailing. In fact the chicken is like a baby in making its wants known. We know of a case where a man who was succeeding well as a hen man found that he was losing his hearing and he quickly realized what a loss this would be to him because he had come to depend upon his ears in detecting disease or lack of food. His wife and children came to the rescue and went with him at night listening to the hens and chickens and acting-as ears for him. In this way he was able to detect disease in spite of his defective hearing. This ODDS AND ENDS. 183 picking out ailing hens or chickens before disease has a hard grip on them is one of the tricks of the trade. Every poultryman should keep a medicine chest. While we do not approve of drugs or of dosing hens continually, there are a few remedies which a good poultryman will always keep on hand. The chapter on diseases gives simple methods of handling disease, but in the medicine chest we would recommend the following. First of all a sharp little ax and the inclination to use it even upon your best hens when they become afflicted with an incurable disease. After all the ax is the best agent for the help of the flock. Then keep a good quantity of vaseline. It is excellent for frozen combs, wounds, and many other things noted in the disease chapter. The Douglas mixture as is noted in that chapter is made by dissolving one-half pound sulphate of iron in a gallon of water and adding one ounce sulphuric acid. The clear liquid is used in the proportion of one pint to a pail of water, and is one of the best tonics to be used. Also keep a package of ginger and a package of red pepper. In many cases small quantities of this in the mash will act as a stim- ulant and help the hens. Charcoal would hardly be called a medicine. We regard it more as a food and you will need more than you can get in the medicine chest. Fair quantities of chlorate of potash and permanganate of potash are useful and are mentioned else- where. A bottle of peroxide of hydrogen is very useful to apply to wounds and stop the flow of blood. There should also be a quantity of tincture of iron. Kerosene will of course be on hand for the brooders and incubators and a quantity of carbolic acid and gasoline with plaster of paris to be used in making lice pow- der, which is described elsewhere. The meat supply for the poultry flock often presents something of a problem. Beef scraps are excellent, but they are high priced and they will not keep properly for a long time. Many farmers can obtain through the Winter various carcasses of horses, cows or similar animals and they are able to grind or chop them up with great benefit to the hen. During Winter when the weather is cold the disposition of these carcasses is not difficult. We have known cases where large chunks of the meat were hung up attached to a string in the henhouse so that the hens were obliged to jump up and peck at the meat, after the plan in which cabbage is usually fed. | This gave the hen exercise and it was surprising to see how they polished off the bones. In many cases the carcasses are chopped up | and packed away in ice or snow, using barrels or boxes for the 184 THE: BUSINESS HEN. package. In this frozen condition they will keep until late Spring and are fed as above described, run through a bone cutter or cooked in Kettles. We have heard of cases where such meat kept reasonably well even in warm weather by packing it as soon as the carcasses were cut up in layers of ground limestone. We do not mean the burned lime, but the limestone crushed without the burn- ing. With the meat entirely surrounded with this limestone it remains sweet for a long time. Charcoal will keep the meat for a reasonable time, but it makes it dirty and dries it out consider- ably. Where there is a cooker on the place, the meat can be thor- oughly boiled and jammed down into airtight packages of stone or wood packed in solidly. It is done in much the same way that sausages are kept in the country. Such meat can be kept for several weeks at least. Where one is keeping a large flock the plan of utilizing such carcasses in Winter is a good one whenever the animals are not diseased but are killed, as many are, when they are too old for work or when they meet with some accident. Some years ago we gave an old mare to a poultryman who was to kill her humanely and feed the meat to his hens. A month later we found that the horse was still alive. She had been put in one end of a house and acted as a stove, her bodily heat keeping up the temperature. As the hen man put it, “A hen would get cold feet, fly on to old Katie’s back, warm her feet and then go and lay another egg.” One of the most annoying things in poultry keeping is to have a supply of rats with access to the feed house. It is often much cheaper to buy a large supply of grain in the Fall, keep it and feed it out through the Winter, but whenever this is done great care must be taken to keep the feed dry and away from the rats. It is often possible to save from 10 to 20 cents per hundred in buying at the right time. If, however, the feed house is not rat proof you will more than lose the money saved on the feed. All feed houses of this kind should be raised above the ground from 18 inches to two feet at least and are better when perched upon cement posts. Let the timber be put directly upon these posts, and, in order to make doubly sure that the rats shall not enter, an inverted tin pan may be placed at the top of the posts. Then proceed to build in the ordinary way, making the steps of the door ~ movable, and never leave them against the building, except when some one is in the house. Never under any circumstances permit piles of rubbish to be placed anywhere near the building. Other- wise the rats will run to the top of these piles and jump from ae Ce ee ae ODDS AND ENDS. 185 them into the house. They can only enter by crawling up the sides of the posts, getting in through the steps or jumping from a pile of rubbish. As we have stated they cannot climb the cement posts, and if they are of wood the inverted pans will turn them back. If you forget and leave the movable steps in place over night the chances are that your house will be over-run by rats and that you will lose a fair share of your grain. A sheep kept in a henhouse has been found useful in keeping down the supply of vermin. It is stated that the hens and roosts were freer from lice when the sheep was on hand. The wool of the sheep is oily and oil is death to lice. There seems to be no better explanation of it. Every poultry keeper should know how to make the lime- sulphur wash. It is the great medicine for trees and will kill all the lice it can reach. Take 40 pounds of stone lime, 20 pounds of sulphur and five pounds caustic soda for 60 gallons of water, or smaller proportions for less water. Slake the lime by pouring water over it. Make a thin paste of the sulphur and pour it in while the lime is slaking. Keep stirring. Dissolve the caustic soda in water, pour into the lime water and keep stirring. It will make a reddish brown liquid which may burn the fingers and eyes—but it will kill the lice. People who live in town often keep a small flock of hens and some of them make great records. We find the larger breeds better for this back-yard work and from choice would take Light Brahmas. Good strains of this breed will lay well if properly handled, and they stand confinement well. The hens are good sitters and the chicks erow rapidly ,into a large carcass. R. I. Reds, Wyandottes and Plymouth Rocks are all good for the back yard. We would rather give such active breeds as Leghorns a chance for more range and a larger yard. Some people keep a dozen hens in a piano box with great success, but it is not safe to figure that because a dozen hens pay a large profit each 2,000 will do equally well. Mr. S. D. Hainley, of Pennsylvania, wrote us that he made his hens pay a profit of $4.68 each. When asked for the figures he gives them. They are correct, but you must remember that Mr. Hainley is one of the men who are “half hen.” His estimate of the value of good hen manure is right, if you have a good garden of vegetables or fruit. “You ask me how I made $4.68 a year per hen and what kind they were? About the best way I can explain that is to give you 186 INEUE VEO SILNIBSS JSUBING the account for that year, which was 1905, when I had 12 hens. In January they laid 194 eggs which sold for $5.66. February they only laid 126, for it was a very cold, stormy month all through. Cold, stormy weather affects all live stock (human included). It seems more severe on fowls for they do not have the body to hold the ani- mal heat to keep them warm. If we do not protect them they will fall off in the egg production, and as I have not the time nor inclina- tion to do this, my chickens go without it. But these 126 eggs sold for $3.67. In March they laid 267, sold for $6.70; April, 188, sold for $3.92; May, 150, sold for $2.75; June, 98, sold for $1.64; July, 126, sold for $2.10; August, 54, sold for 90 cents; September, 30, sold for 62 cents; October, 31, sold for 64 cents; November, 42, sold for $1.05; December, 72, sold for $1.80. About the first of July I sold tive hens so that left me seven to lay the rest of the year. I set 76 eggs and hatched out 55. You may think that was poor hatching, and it certainly was, for I had six hens sitting on these eggs and there was one old thing that went from one nest to another and would fight the other hens off and break the eggs. From these 55 chicks I raised 48. A rat took the other seven when they were three weeks old. The way I feed is to have a deep litter in which I scatter all the grain they get, which is corn, oats, buckwheat, and at the present time I have wheat screenings. ‘This is fed at night, and as soon as they get off the roost they go to work. Whatever they get they have to work for, for I have to work for everything I get and I am going to apply that rule to everything on the place, for I believe that work is the best cure for most ailments. I have not had a sick chicken on the place for five years, for they have to hustle for a living and that gives them a good hardy constitution. The chicks when hatched are rugged and they start in to scratch for a living, for they get no soft feed, no mashes for me. The chicks have a grist mill of their own and nature does not supply feed of this kind. I know it will make those fowls grow ‘faster that are bred to it, but I believe it weakens the digestion and they grow soft and weak so that they cannot put up a successful struggle against the many diseases that attack them. I like to give them all the green food I can, such as small potatoes (raw), beets, cabbage and anything bulky and green that they will eat. I also have a green bone cutter and they get bone three times a week in Summer or when I can get it fresh, and in the Winter it is before them about all the time. ‘These 48 chicks with what stock I sold in Fall brought me $31.43; eggs, $33.45; total, $64.93. Eggs set were worth $1.58; feed, $10.76. Dr. Burr says that the droppings are worth 30 cents a head per year, %3.60; that would give me a grand total of $68.53; less ODDS AND ENDS. 187 eggs and feed, $56.19, leaves an average of $4.6814 a year. This is an average of 138 eggs per year. A dozen of these eggs weighed 29 ounces. ‘These chickens are Barred and White P. Rocks. All stock and eggs are sold at market price. I never received over 35 cents for a dozen of eggs and not over 15 cents a pound for stock. You may think that was an off year, but in 1907 a larger flock paid me a net profit of $4.7714 each. This year I cannot count them before they are hatched, but I am going to try to make them pay me $5 apiece. But when I look at the price of feed, corn $1.10, oats 70 cents, wheat screenings $1.15 per bushel, it makes me smile but it will show what is in me.” To show how hens may sometimes be left to take care of them- selves, we give the following little statement from Massachusetts. We have had many statements from clerks and mechanics who worked long hours and in Winter could only look after the hens at night and morning. Yet by arranging their work systematically they made the hens lay and developed a fine flock. In several such cases these men were finally able to give up their town work and make a good living from the flock which they developed from a few hens. “T began 1907 with three mongrel old hens and 16 purebred R. I. Red pullets. I could give the fowls no attention except at the two ends of the day and on Sundays and holidays, for I worked all day in the city, nine miles away; so they got no care by daylight during the short Winter days. Before leaving for work each morning in Winter there was the following hen work to see to: Open up the henhouse, raise the window curtain and adjust the ventilator, fork over the scratching litter, adding to it a little hay or dry leaves, together with such grain as would tempt the hens to scratch, replen- ish the feed hopper, give the hens some green food such as a turnip, beet or cabbage to peck at, fill the drinking pail with warm water, and leave hot mash in the feed pan. ‘This mash consisted of table scraps and meal, shorts, middlings and ground oats, with beef scraps or animal meal added, and the whole seasoned with a little salt. Occasionally charcoal was added. Many of the hens learned to come down from the roost and eat by lantern light; the others got their mash co!d. On the south side of the henhouse was a glass- covered run where the hens sunned themselves. ‘The run was really an A-shaped coop made of old windows with the broken panes replaced by tarred paper or shingles. During the Summer the hens had the run of an inclosure which included a gravel bank and some brushy hillside, and sometimes they were let out to forage in the dooryard. . 188 HE BUSINESS LEN. “T set the first hen on 10 R. I. Red eggs, January 22, in the cold loft of the barn, but the nest-box was packed all around with excelsior. Fach evening I took the hen off the nest and waited with the lantern while she took food and water. On February 13 all 10 eggs had hatched, but the temperature that day was five below zero and one of the chicks got chilled and died. The remaining nine survived and proved to be seven pullets and two cockerels. Though the loft floor was strewn with gravel and hay, a place where water froze in a few minutes was not suitable for young chicks or for the old hen either, so I moved them outdoors into sheltered coop packed inside with fine ashes and hay and banked up outside with coal ashes and snow. The top of the coop was flat and was made of an old window hinged to swing upward. Here the chicks got all the sun to be had, and when they had outgrown this coop they were put into another and larger one, made of old windows partly covered with bagging to give shade. ‘They were fed commercial chick feeds, with other ingredients added, such as beef scraps, millet, rape seed, hemp seed, or chopped cabbage or onion. They seemed to grow visibly between morning and night. The first cockerel crowed at 10 weeks of age. The first pullet laid May 31 at three months 19 days; the second laid June 5 at three months 24 days, and on June 8 three pullets laid. In June this flock of seven February-hatched pullets laid 42 eggs, and in July 69 eggs. At the close of the year my 19 hens had paid a profit of $1.35 per hen.” OL jeies During the Summer we receive many questions about preserv- ing eggs. The hen does not distribute her favors evenly through- out the year. She lays well from April to August and then takes a vacation. Many a farm flock will not give an egg for four months. The theory of preserving is to take a one-cent egg and hold it so that 1t may be used when eggs are worth four cents or more. Formerly eggs were packed in salt or in thick lime water or wash. This kept them after a fashion but the salt eggs were likely to taste, while the limed eggs had a brittle shell, which pre- vented their use for some purposes. Commercial eggs are now kept in cold storage, such handling having become a great business. It is out of the question for a farmer to put up cold storage but by using water glass he can hold the cheap eggs of May and June until needed in Winter. Water glass, or silicate of soda, can be bought at most drug stores or from large manufacturers. It is a thick creamy liquid which dissoives in water. The operation of preserving is simple. Nine parts of water are put in a wood or stone vessel and one part a ODDS AND ENDS. 189 of the water glass poured in. It is better to boil the water thor- oughly before using, letting it cool of course before mixing. Stir up the solution thoroughly and cover with a lid which prevents evap- oration and keeps out the dust. Put the package in a cold cellar until it is wanted for use. Perfectly fresh eggs kept in this solution will be good at the end of a year, but they must be sound and fresh when put into the solution. You cannot expect it to restore stale or spoiled specimens. . One pound of water glass prop-— erly diluted with nine pounds of water will cover about 14 dozen eggs. Put the eggs into the liquid gently so they will not crack and then put on a wooden cover so as to keep them in the solution. Dirty. eggs should be wiped clean before putting in. We have used the same solution two years in succession, but it would be better to start each year with a fresh supply, as the cost is not great. The only change that you will note in such eggs is that the white or albumen will appear more watery than it is in perfectly fresh eggs, otherwise they resemble new-laid eggs in appearance after being thoroughly rinsed and dried off. They can be used for all house- hold purposes except it may be boiling in the shell. When boiled they crack and they are likely to split if heated too suddenly and again when boiled the interior does not look as inviting when opened. For most cooking purposes, however, they are quite equal to the fresh eggs and we have found that in cold weather these eggs will keep well for two weeks after coming out of the solution. We must understand, however, just what the limitations of this process are. These eggs are not fresh and should never be offered for sale as such. Some people have endeavord to do this by putting up barrels of them when eggs were cheap and tried to sell them through the Winter as fresh eggs. In every case they came to grief and practically ruined their trade in actual fresh eggs, as their customers had no confidence in them afterward. If commercial eggs - are to be kept they would much better be put in cold storage. The water glass method is an excellent one for household purposes and where but a comparatively few dozen will be needed. With a stock of fresh eggs preserved in April and May there will be a supply for family use all through the Fall and Winter, but it must be repeated over and over that there is no use putting a stale egg into water glass. If you attempt this method make special prepara- tions to have the eggs fresh. Some people do not gather the eggs for several days and in such cases the egg may remain on the nest under a sitting hen for two days or more. In that case such an egg is about 15 per cent chicken and will prove a nuisance when put into water glass. When eggs come to the city for sale they are 190 THEW BUSINESS EEN. promptly candled, that is, passed before a powerful light so that the candler can quickly tell their condition. This is a business by itself and it would be impossible to deceive an expert, but some farmers do not realize just what a stale egg is. We know of one case where a man sent a quantity of eggs from the country guaranteeing that they had all been candled and were fresh. The candler in the city found a large proportion of them stale and so notified the shipper. He still insisted that they had been candled, but when asked how he candled them he said he stood inside of a barn and held the eggs up to a knot hole and looked through them. That might suit him but not the buyer. The best eggs for preserving are those from pens where no male birds are kept. The “rot” of the egg is due to bacteria, of which there are several kinds. This has been proved by cultivating these bacteria and putting them into perfectly fresh eggs. The rot developed rap- idly just as cream will ripen when a “starter” is put into it. Some of these bacteria are in the hen and enter the egg before it leaves her. Many eggs are infected while in the nest before they are taken up. In Connecticut nine different kinds of bacteria were taken from one nest. This ought to show anyone the folly of letting the nests become as filthy as some of them are. It has been found that eggs contain most of these rot bacteria in late Summer. They are most free from them in April and May and that is the best season for taking eggs for preserving. You will notice that the American and Asiatic breeds lay brown eggs varying from light to very dark. ‘These breeds are well feathered and are bred with very small combs so they will stand the cold. The hens which lay white eggs are of a different type, ner- vous, with thin feathering and large combs, and this large comb is the special target for Jack Frost. The white egg is desirable in most market but many poultrymen want a more rough and ready breed than the Leghorn. They are after the “hen in fur,” that is, one which can stand frost and still lay a white egg. Mr. Cosgrove says in his chapter that the Connecticut Experiment Sta- tion is trying to breed a Wyandotte strain of white egg layers. The hen they are working on is not a pure Wyandotte but a mixture of breeds. You will see that a Wyandotte, a “Rock” or a “Red” can squat down on the nest and in this way keep her feet warm. Her comb is small and she can put her head under her wing. Thus she is fully protected by her warm feathers. A Leghorn under the same conditions could not put her big ccmb in her “pocket” and on a cold night in a colony house it would be frosted. ODDS AND ENDS. 191 Thus what is wanted is the Leghorn’s ability to lay white eggs with - the “fur” of the warmer breeds. It seems strange that in all the attempts at breed making this idea has not been worked out before. It is practical and the combination has already been made in Connecticut. Of course, in “making” such a bird, blood of the Leg- horn will be used to obtain the large white egg. Naturally the breeders who are now breeding Leghorns with success will say that this new breed is not needed. In their warm and comfortable houses there is little danger from frosted combs. ‘They must remember, however, that new conditions have made new methods necessary. It has been frequently pointed out that the use of a dry mash in feeding has more than doubled the size of the flock which one man can control, while thick feathering and small comb will without doubt cheapen the cost of housing hens in a cold country. The “hen in fur” therefore has her place and it is worth while to try to develop her, though, as a rule, cross-breeding is to be avoided. In fact we may end this book, as we began it, by saying that there are few, if any, cast iron rules in poultry keeping. The hen man must fol- low certain general principles, yet he must win success if at all by learning from the hen how to adapt his particular circumstances and conditions to her needs or requirements. a PAGE SYM AW REH COIS eRe hat cewtrh UB ites ea MERER Pai oe 168 Breeds, Crossing ............ 102 Breeding, Limitations of..... G2 Brooder House, Colony...... 40 House, Gasoline- Heated. 42 OWS y MWA Ze. ochny secon vores 41 rSHCTTS LTT RS oer a ear ae Ns tS 40 Chick Brocder, Homemade 438 IBD AGOVO UNE BAIA Alo era raasoe 4, 115 Embryo, Developing...... 25 Outmt, “Comvemients 4.) .\-1. 47 Chicks, Baby, Selling........ 46 TRS YeY0 bird) 2A aoe Aer RSS ea eu 112 In Broodez, Trouble with. 40 Chicken Thieves: .o.r......- 17Y Chickens, Naked............. isu Cockerels, Hattening......... o2 Combs, tn MAIR CERT Bay i) Cosgrove, Geo. A., Experience of ue IDMEAWEElNGeh Sia lo ere Mic ccs 72 NV TEE hacia create a ereme ble temeuenen cus &0 Diseases, Communicable...... Ti Ducks ixeeping 2 Rye) eee siete 163 Dust Boxes, Material for..... 1$i Heg Constituents of.......... 16 Distinguishing Sex in.... 27 JOR Teton, 25 eed oe) 73, 181 TENN GUILT ON eye 8 hy GON Ala ale 22 VOW MEIC ice heya cces sacuaieus 14 linia (Greve wag Ale cisio'sen Acie 17 Quality, Improving ....... 98 Shell, When Made....... 18 Time Required to Make... 21 Ae! ANIC aay Mee Ualtols tones 23 With Two Yolks........ 74 Walia Palos 74 Eggs, Abnormal........ Sais sit 19 BOO Gite eee setae 73 RES CIMA ROM sey sree roree rele 95 Hor Fancy Trade. Aleit WPAN) For Hatching, Cooling. spine For Hatching, Keeping. ees Hor Hatching, Shipping... 25 Miarele timo soa. 5 Lee ee 116 Natural Incubation of.... 38 PA CKAa Se)! LOW a8 apie teeleliers 118 PMESSTAVAMIS) Leese cele srielscene 188 1 BoCay] Ri TRAN tenet Saal a Ace ton a 189 Selecting for Ilatching... 24 Shape, Size and (olor of. 18 MOSHIME i iiamsantoencte choiens: eleven e 36 CPST SN Mca anes oe Nivel Neji 34 Meenas, Je\biliines | A edo eo oO as 75 Weed Hopper, Hunter........ 51 Hopper, Minnesota....... 52 Migoisdal MISHAP EG SOW ibabieD 6c 160 Weeds, Analysis of........... 85 Gapes, Treatment for........ 65) Gasoline Heater, Details of... 4a Grits. NCCU OR ee ie ete ie 88 Guinea On AUS PAVESI Voi tae Gav aan 167 Hen, Egg Organs of.......... 15 MSS aI A ae ee ieo shine 82 1 Gra WNT DSB ioe WM NSH epes Neem clave AQUA 190 MDA W a KOE ee apse castes lone stent nents 140 Manure, Handling........ 138 Young, Caring: for......-. a0 1SranS) ausrtel Mebiine bh eines Gib bo 174 Bleeding from Comb..... 69 ABUT AON PAIR NENA Giciee cerRahou eI LORS) 181 CA MMUD AL cop aistalg bietete pierce INDEX PAGE Df DEV EAE Sy a RANA baie 18 How Mechanic Kept acuretaees 187 In Back Yard....+...... 185 Kept by Woman........: 126 Selecting Thue ena Ae 173 With Bumble Foot....... 69 Henhouse, Business.......... 06 Dam pish: (eo bs Mee Sea 180 LITE LUT) eae iene hie ee 61 { Saw Cie te ee 175 TNE AGOT MC ellat seas ae ee 29 Disinfecting ......... inion XO) Lamp, Regulating BIHAR AH eH obs 31 Regulating Sia NERS aCe 30 Thermometer SCO EN 2 a 31 Temperature for......... ae) Viertilapiim oii, ess esr eae 3 Kafiir Corn for Poultry.. 8 Tug Gl celitaes ab Shue) eles eae ee 76, 112 Limber aiNeck irik ae eae 7 Lime Sulphur for Vermin. 185 Lene ent y Breeding for...... 97 Mash, Dry, Liow Made and Ved 89 Meat 2 Geed ine: fone ss seis 99 : Foods for Epens 125 hs 88, 183 WV GUMe TOUR MIXON Gty kyo oboe a Se $8 MELEE S ORR Di, Seca 8 ba ee ae 18 Nest: .\ Difaoy tei hnek aye een a eae ie Oats) “SprOuUtea s/o hoi ee eee 87 Pigeons and Squabs......... 163 Poultry, Breeds of........... a Devices, Homemade...... 143 Diseasésn ian Oo 68 Dey) Pack me 2/2 Sesleri 122 Pattening Coop.......... 52 Witting for Hxhibition.... s41 (Greaclihne Od 6 eed coe 4 1038, 123 House; Burr Vee ee 155 House, Colony .«......... 6d Houses Galt) sei 54 House, WMamee) voi eee 66 Howse Sods: Ween ee 67 Houses, Dampness in..., 64 Houses, Remodeling...... 638 In-Breeding ............ 106 In arse) Wocks) a ares 154 FU ON ee On er 121 Line Breeding .......... 107 Medicine Chest ......... 183 Packing) eo eee ee 122 Purebred! oy ns Seino tele 100 Sealing, ces oes en ae 122 Selling Notesiiais denice 12 SyStemis lice ae hye eee 182 With Chicken Pox....... 70 With Colds) ona sence: ml With Crop Compaction... T1 With Farm Crops........ 136 Yard, Movable ......... 152 Rats, Damage from.......... 184 Roasters: Raisins oes s. seaeagene 169 Roosters, Care of.......5305. 105 Getting Rid of....... ... 174 Number Required........ 104. Roup, Treatment for...... 78, 483m... Sheep: in.) Henhouse. .... ccs 185" Turkeys, Blackhead in....... 68 IGG INS ees Se eee Fees diia'\ el Oreos VentiGileet fea sane dcsemictene erica 79 Vertigo, Catise of. )fi sane oie. 80 Worms in Powltry...-,r:2++: Of Hi.