| ERNEST COBB New Bork State College of Agriculture At Cornell University Ithaca, N. Y. Library “i Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003129263 METHOD OF HOLDING A FOWL The Hen at Work A Brief Manual of Home Poultry | Culture By Ernest Cobb \N4 We, Author of ‘‘ Garden Steps” oe, aA t¢ i tok } With 35 Illustrations /», fst wW! BP PELK ‘8, G. P. Putnam’s Sons New York and London The Knickerbocker Press I9I9 COPYRIGHT, I9I9 BY G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS The Rnickerbocker Press, Wew Work A WORD FROM UNCLE SAM In every household, no matter how economical the housewife, there is a certain amount of table scraps and kitchen waste which has feeding value but which, if not fed, finds its way into the garbage pail. Poultry is the only class of domestic animals which is suitable for converting this waste mate- tial, right where it is produced in the city, into wholesome and nutritious food in the form of eggs and poultry meat. Each hen in her pullet year should produce ten dozen eggs. The average size of the back-yard flock should be at least ten hens. Thus each flock would produce in a year 100 dozen of eggs which, at the conservative value of 25 cents a dozen would be worth $25.00. By keeping a back-yard poultry flock the family would not only help in reducing the cost of living 1li iv A Word from Uncle Sam but would have eggs of a quality and freshness which are often difficult to obtain. Remember that eggs produced by the back-yard flock cost very little, as the fowls are fed largely upon waste materials. United States Government Bulletin. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I.—POULTRY AND THE MEAT PROBLEM . I: II.—CHOOSING THE BREED : A 7 III.—Comparisons OF Four LEADING BREEDS : : : : . 25 IV.—Povuttry TYPES : ‘ i . 32 V.—STARTING A FLOCK . : : . 46 VI.—Coops FOR CHICKENS : : . 56 VII.—HouseEs For HENs . i ‘ . 69 VIII.—AnN IpEAL House. : : . 82 IX.—FURNITURE . : : . . 96 X.—HATCHING UNDER HENS . : . 109 XI.—HATCHING WITH INCUBATORS . . 123 XII.—RAIsING CHICKENS WITH HENS . 153 XIII.—RaIsInG INCUBATOR CHICKS. . 164 XIV.—METHODsS WITH GROWING STOCK . 176 XV.—METHODS with Layvinc Hens . . 184 v vi Contents CHAPTER XVI.— BREEDING FOR EGGs XVII.—Pou.try DISEASES : XVIII.—PARASITES XIX.—Ducks . ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE METHOD oF HoLpING A Fow. Frontispiece WHITE WYANDOTTES . 3 ‘ é 16 WuitE LEGHORNS : : ‘ ‘ 18 Rock AND LEGHORN COCKEREL . - . 20 SILKIES : ‘ j : ‘i 22 A BaALANcep Home FLock ‘ 50 BRAHMAS 54 Run AND Coop FoR RAISING CHICKS . 60 A CHEAP, DESIRABLE HEN HOUSE 86 Fruit Boxes TURNED To Goop UsE . 100 Dry MasH Hoprers . F ‘ 102 DRINKING FOUNTAINS . : : : 108 TURKEYS RAISED WITH CHICKENS : 156 FEED TROUGHS . ; : : 160 DOMESTICATED WiLD Duck WITH YOUNG . 230 Domestic Ducks ' . 232 viii Illustrations ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT PAGE Coop For SiTTING HENS : ; ; . 58 -FLooR OF PAPER COOP . : . i . 62 SIDE OF PAPER Coor_. . i : . 63 Back oF PAPER CooP . . 5 ; . 64 A PaPER CooP.. p ; ; : . 66 Roor TyPEs : ; ’ : : . 73 FRAME Parts FoR HEN House ‘ : . 84 FRAME SET UP... : ‘ x . . 85 An IDEAL House ‘ ’ . , . 88 Parts oF Dry MasH HopPEeR : . . 102 WarTER PAN AND SHELF ; : : . 107 OVARY AND OVIDUCT . i : ‘ . 130 Ecc SHOWING AIR SPACES. ‘ ‘ . 136 YOLK AND GERM . : ; ; : . 41 FERTILE EGG AT SixTH Day. . ; ; - 143 DEAD GERM. : ; F : . 144 Box FOR SHELL AND GRIT : ‘ . 159 LarGcEe Hover SHOWING STOVE 5 j . 168 The Hen at Work The Hen at Work CHAPTER I POULTRY AND THE MEAT PROBLEM DuRInNG the world war the world’s meat supply has been seriously taxed. The prices in all coun- tries show only too clearly how serious this short- age has become. Had the various governments not taken a direct control of such purchases, and re- stricted competition between nations in securing a supply of meat, these prices would have been far greater than they are to-day. Ten years ago roast pork could be purchased in many parts of the country at about twelve cents a pound. ‘Good beef to roast could be bought for twelve or thirteen cents. Other meats could be had for proportionate prices. Since then the supply has dwindled until to-day the cost of even I 2 The Hen at Work the poorer cuts is well beyond the means of any but the rich. The situation as to meat will improve very slowly under peace conditions. With the return of millions of able men, labor will be plenty, and wages must inevitably drop. At the same time, purchasing restrictions will probably be to a large extent removed. European nations must replenish herds and flocks at any cost. It takes at least three years to produce a respectable beef animal. The meat supply will be a long time in returning to its normal level; meanwhile prices will be very high, and money in the average family will be far less plenty than to-day. With grain the situation is very different. Eng- land, France, Italy, and other countries at war in Europe, have greatly increased their agricultural possibilities. They have installed farm machinery of the latest type. England, for example, has now under cultivation more land than ever in her his- tory. In other countries enormous crops of grain are raised. South America and Australia have millions of bushels waiting for ships, and those: ships are plunging into the sea from hundreds of yards. Thousands of these vessels will soon be Poultry and the Meat Problem 3 free to carry essentials between the more distant ports, and the fleets of the Teuton allies will be added once more to the carrying trade. This can mean one thing only—cheap grain be- fore very long. In the face of a situation where meat is high and likely to remain so, while cheap grain is an early probability, there is a solution to the meat prob- lem which appears at once and clearly: Poultry will supply us almost at once with an abundance of meat, and also of eggs, which in some respects are more valuable than meat itself. Fat, juicy broilers are ready for the table within ten weeks of the day the chick is born. In two months more the soft roasters follow the broilers, and the pullets of some breeds are beginning to lay. Fortunately the common feeling that we cannot have gardens, nor keep hens, unless we have just this or that equipment, has passed away. We know now that we can do these things, and if we wish to stand as patriots we must do them. With a building ten feet square we can house all the poultry a family needs, and on a very few square yards of ground enough chickens can be raised each year to keep the flock up to full quota. 4 The Hen at Work “‘But,’’ you say, ‘‘so many people go in for keeping hens and make a fizzle of it. Only a few people really succeed.” That is partly true and that is why this book is offered. The Hen at Work is written straight at the patriot who wants to help maintain his family and do his bit to relieve the meat and egg shortage, by keeping a few hens. There are a few simple rules which must be followed carefully in gaining success with hens. These are outlined and fully explained. There are many details which the poultry keeper will wish to know about as necessity arises. These are ar- ranged so they may be found and mastered at a minute’s notice. During fifteen years the author has been en- gaged at regular work which took him away from home daily. His profession has led him into several States, but, except when in a foreign land, he has never been without a flock of hens, and therefore never without fresh eggs, and fat- roasting chickens, at a cost easily within his means. Once, when spending a spring and summer in cramped quarters, a hundred chickens were Poultry and the Meat Problem 5 brooded in the bay window of the dining room, making lots of fun, and causing no trouble, till they were large enough to go into outdoor coops. All this has proved a source of interest, health, good food, and decided financial profit. The present book is an outgrowth of these years of experience under all possible conditions, com- bined with a careful study of poultry culture as it has progressed from year to year. Step by step from one phase of poultry life to another, the program is laid out along the simplest and most practical lines. No effort has been made to include all details on any subject, as there are special books on special subjects, where any enthusiastic poultry keeper may delve according to his interests. The particular need which this book seeks to fill is that of a definite, simple manual of general home poultry culture, put into language easily understood by all. Until normal conditions return, it is the plain duty of all who have even a small back yard to do their share in producing meat, the most needed of all foods. When it is realized that by doing this we also bless ourselves with a stock of fresh eggs and poultry, largely supplied from table scraps, 6 The Hen at Work otherwise wasted, the full value of such an effort can readily be seen. Entirely apart from the war and its consequences, a flock of chickens in the yard will help solve a food problem that was steadily getting more complex several years before the war began. The price of fresh eggs was rapidly putting them beyond the reach of the common people. The cost of poultry was likewise prohibitive -under normal circum- stances, and would have remained so in the absence of any definite change. The time to make this change is now, and the means lie in the power of the millions who have back yards now lying idle. Buy a few hens, learn their nature and their needs, add your quota to the visible meat supply, add a delicious and valuable food to the family menu, and you will never again be willing to return to a condi- tion where your poultry and eggs are of doubtful quality and difficult to obtain. CHAPTER II ~ CHOOSING THE BREED First consider your circumstances. I once had a large flock of White Leghorns in a lovely New England town. I kept them under cover the year round. My next neighbor, an old sea captain, had a flock of Rhode Island Reds, which had the run of a large yard, guarded by fish nets six feet high. He got along very well with his quiet red hens, had a fair crop of eggs, and lived in peace. As he saw me carrying my pail of white eggs into the house each day, he became restless. He ex- amined the egg record of the Leghorns. He started a record of his Reds. Then he asked the address of the breeder who sold me the chicks; and the next thing we knew, he announced the arrival of a hundred Leghorn chicks by express. The Captain put them in a brooder he had rigged 7 8 The Hen at Work up, ‘‘better’n any brooder they sell in the stores,” and his troubles began. He told his chicks just how to enjoy the benefits of his “‘better brooder,”’ and repeated the information so you could hear him across the corn, but the chicks failed to grasp the idea. The chickens ‘‘acted queer,’’ they drooped, and died in twos and threes. He was a proud old man, who had bossed the decks for fifty years without help; but when half the chicks were gone, he asked my advice. So, with many compliments for his better brooder, I ‘offered to loan him one of my store brooders. He accepted, and we saved the remnant of the flock. Soon the little sprites were scampering all about his yard, much to his delight. The feathers grew, the combs appeared, and the Captain was getting his egg pail ready, when new troubles descended. He found a group of them very busy one morn- ing in his lettuce bed, that lay near the hen yard. What he said to them could be heard across an acre of corn. Fortunately the season was young, so the corn had no ears. He spent a hot half hour in capturing those birds and putting them back in Choosing the Breed 9 bounds. Then he stopped all holes where they might have crawled through. The next morning they were out again. This time the chase was longer. The following day brought them out once more. Now he resorted to a fish net on a long pole. Stealing up behind the pullets he would clap the net over them, and then, clawing out a bunch of wing feathers, he would throw them over the fence, with a stern command to go and lay some eggs. As they grew more, they flew more. Pulling wing feathers did no good, and raising the nets did no better. He declared they could fly to a crow’s nest with their feet alone. Saddest of all, they learned to elude the hand net. At this, the old whaler lost what little temper he had left. Taking an old rake handle, he ad- vanced upon the unsuspecting fowl, and, with a skill developed by many a long whaling cruise, transfixed the guilty bird with his wooden harpoon. At this his neighbors decided that the limit was reached. He was advised regarding his hens. He took the advice, sold his Leghorns to a peddler, and returned to his Rhode Island Reds and peace. But he always held me to blame for leading him 10 The Hen at Work into temptation. The moral of this episode is, of course: Consider your circumstances before choos- ing your breed. IMPORTANT BREEDS In looking over the poultry yards scattered about the country, we find that four breeds of poultry predominate: three of these are American breeds, Plymouth Rock, the Rhode Island Red, and the Wyandottes. The other is the Leghorn, a bird of a different class. As these breeds are so important to the amateur poultry keeper, we had better discuss them before going on to other varieties of fowl. ROCKS, REDS, AND WYANDOTTES Plymouth Rock.—The Plymouth Rock, an American breed, has had a long test under various conditions in all parts of the country, and has, in some locations, no serious rival as an all-purpose fowl. The Barred, Buff, and White Rocks all claim attention. Although there are fanciers here and there who claim good points for the White and Buff Rocks, the general popularity of the Barred Rock is so Choosing the Breed II \ much greater that there is every reason to give it first choice in this breed. The Single-Comb Barred Plymouth Rock has so long been bred among the conditions of the American farmyard that its adaptation is now complete. It is a generous producer of handsome brown eggs, is hardy, and makes plump, heavy poultry, when dressed. A full-grown cock should weigh from eight to ten pounds, and the hen about two pounds less. . These fowl are tame, and as they are heavy and fly little, a five-foot fence will usually keep them safe at home. They are good winter layers, and if given comfortable quarters will earn many dollars during the months when the snow is deep on the ground, and eggs are high. ; Special care must be taken in feeding Plymouth Rocks not to give too much, nor too rich food, as they put on fat rapidly, and frequently die sud- denly without apparent reason, when they are fed beyond the danger point. They are excellent mothers, sitting quietly and persistently, and taking good care, in a clumsy way, of the chickens when hatched. A trait of the Barred Rock which especially 12 The Hen at Work recommends it to the amateur, who means to keep a small flock only, and to breed from his own eggs, is the certainty with which it comes true to type. The chickens from a flock of well-marked, high grade Barred Rocks will usually show the same good points. No one appreciates this more than the experienced poultry raiser, for the old saying, “Like father, like son,’ is unfortunately by no means always true in the hen yard. In fact, the children from many strains very often fail to do their parents credit. | Rhode Island Red.—The Rhode Island Red is a type of the American class which is rapidly making a reputation and becoming more popular each year, through sheer merit. The southern part of New England claims the honor of launching this bird, and the Red is seen there to-day at its best. The following note from Mr. F. W. C. Almy, known throughout the poultry world for his Reds, is of special interest: LITTLE Compton, R. I. June 7, 1918 DeEaR Mr. Coss: I know nothing personally of the origin of the Reds, but it is almost universally conceded that they started in this town. Choosing the Breed 13 A Capt. Macomber was first to bring the Yellow Malay fowl home from India. He anda Mr. William Trip used these yellow fowl to cross—some say on Buff Cochins, some say on Brown Leghorns and Red Games. I believe they were crossed on all three, or even more breeds, as eggs and males were constantly exchanged, back and forth between neighbors, time and time again. I am sure there was Leghorn blood in the earlier Reds, as they were quite small and wild. There was also Cochin, as a big proportion used to come with feathered legs. Red Games came in also, as they were frequently partly black and partly red when I first ' knew them. They were named, I believe, by Mr. Isaac Wilbur, and have been bred about here almost to the exclusion of all other breeds, as they were hardy, early maturing, fine layers with very little care. The present-day Reds very faintly resemble those I first knew, being much larger and redder, still better layers, and 1000 per cent. better lookers. Sincerely, (Signed) F. W. C. Atmy. The chief points of merit displayed by these birds are hardiness, ability to do well without expert attention, quiet disposition, early maturity, and great laying powers. They also dress well and make good market poultry, though not quite so heavy as the Rocks. 14 The Hen at Work During the cold winters and wet springs of the northern States these fowls seem to keep free from ills, and even if neglected, asso many home flocks are neglected, they often cheerfully go about their business, and lay brown eggs of good size and shape. They are not easily disturbed by children or un- usual sights and sounds. As hatchers and brooders, these hens are easily champions of the world. I have one at this moment that will not budge from her nest to eat or drink. There is no sign that she has left it during five days. When I lift her off, she sits motionless on the ground and soon steals back again. This is bad for the hen and also bad for the eggs, as they should have a chance to cool and air each day. It is not easy for the amateur to breed these birds. They represent a mixture of different breeds, and their traits are by no means settled, as are those of the Barred Rock. Experts them- selves do not depend so much on their knowledge of points and mating qualities as they do on a large number of chicks from which to choose. From the most carefully selected birds chicks of all varieties of color are likely to appear, so it is not Choosing the Breed 15 easy for one with a small flock to get enough high- grade birds to keep his flock up to standard. However, the average chicks from good Red hens, though they may not be standard in color and points, will prove good utility fowl. A rose or pea comb, and a poor color, seem to hurt the fowl very little for general purposes, so long as the shape is good and the vitality is high. Wyandottes.—The Wyandottes are found in seven varieties: White, Silver, Silver-Penciled, Buff, Golden, and Black, with a recent addition, the Columbian. Outside the yards of specialists, the White Wyandotte is the only variety commonly found. The Wyandotte is an American breed, and has certain qualities which recommend it to all, but especially to those who intend to give poultry serious study and care. The frame is compact, full-grown cocks weighing about eight pounds. It puts on flesh rapidly, and is desirable for market at any time after eight or ten weeks, either for broiling or roasting. It is reasonably hardy, and of quiet nature, hatching and brooding well. The Wyandottes, however, seem to suffer from lack of expert care. In laying contests, where the 16 The Hen at Work pens are given every comfort and care, Wyan- dottes frequently show surprising results, defeating other breeds which have had great reputations for egg production. Under the conditions of the or- dinary home yard, however, they often fall back rapidly. I once had a flock of White Wyandottes that I kept in a room in the barn. It was an excellent poultry house in every way except one—the sun shone in for only part of the day. Although they came from a flock which had a reputation for egg production they did poorly, and brought unsatis- factory results. A flock of Reds, later on, under exactly the same conditions, in the same room, enjoyed life and made a high egg record. Of course the particular strain of each breed counts, but Reds in general seem more hardy. The eggs of the breed are not considered so attractive in shape as those of other American breeds. Instead of an oval, they form a rather straight wedge-shape on the narrow end, and seem smaller than they really are. They are not so large as those of the Rocks or Reds. On the whole, unless they have conditions to suit their taste, they will not be likely to give such SILLOGNWAM 3LIHM Choosing the Breed 17 good returns in small poultry yards as Rocks or Reds. LEGHORNS There is much to be said in favor of the Leg- horn, as the most desirable fowl for a small flock, taken the year through. The Leghorn is very dif- ferent in many respects from the breeds just de- scribed. It isin the Mediterranean class, originating in that vicinity, and has several varieties, the White Leghorns and Brown Leghorns being the only ones found generally in utility flocks. The White Leghorn has gradually been de- veloped into a truly remarkable bird, and is rapidly being adopted by poultry men in all parts of the country. In California it has done es- pecially well, and millions of this variety are now raised there. As it has the same traits as the Brown Leghorn, let us consider the White Leg- horn as typical and the best exponent of the breed. The hardiness and rapid growth of the chickens is astonishing. It is not unusual to raise ninety mature fowl from a hundred day-old chicks, shipped fifty to a hundred miles by express. The 2 18 The Hen at Work common troubles of digestion and temperature, which carry off so many chickens of other breeds, pass lightly over this midget. The White Leghorn chick of the best strains will have a full battery of feathers and be attack- ing June bugs in single combat before a Rock or Red would get out of the downy stage. He eats heartily and digests his food well, because from early dawn to almost night he loves to run, and scratch, and fight. ; Once it was thought that the Leghorn could not succeed in the northern States, but this is not true of the White Leghorns as now developed. One of the most successful breeders of this strain has his place in Lawrence, Mass., where the winter temperature is often twenty below zero. While it is true that the egg yield during severe cold drops more than that of the Rocks or Reds, the birds themselves suffer no ill effects, and are eager to make up for it when the temperature rises. There are two periods when the White Leghorn becomes of special value to its keeper: in the fall, during October and November, when eggs are always very high, and the heavy breeds are just thinking about contributions to the égg basket, SNHOH5S37 3LIHM Choosing the Breed 19 and in the warm months, after the spring tide of eggs is ebbing. Nothing except stupidity and neglect will stop the White Leghorn from laying about the end of its fifth month, and nothing except the best condi- tions and expert care will induce the American breeds to lay until along into the seventh month. So if a flock of hens begins to lay early in October when eggs are very high, instead of late in Novem- ber, they may well receive our blessing. : Late in the spring, when the warm days come and lilacs bloom, Mrs. Rock and Mrs. Red decide to give up laying eggs, and attend strictly to the duties of raising a family. For one who has regu- lar customers, as most people have, this. is small pleasure to any but the hen. The time has come now when incubators and brooders could take her place very well, though she won’t admit it. But the Leghorn never heard of union hours. She seldom sits, and when she does, is easily induced to return to regular duty. Egg prices are now mounting again, and once more the Leghorn proves her worth by laying through the summer, till molting time begins in the fall. White Leghorns can get a good living and pro- 20 The Hen at Work duce a full quota of eggs from about three fourths the food required by the American breed. A flock of thirty Leghorns will do well on the food called for by two dozen Plymouth Rocks. When food is high, this is important. The Leghorn breed lays white eggs, and the best strains of White Leghorns lay beautiful specimens which will average twenty-four ounces to the dozen, about the average of the American breeds. In the northern States there has been a preju- dice against white eggs. The Boston market to- day places a discount on white eggs, while, the people in New York will pay a premium for them. Years ago the hens in the north all laid brown eggs, being the heavy breeds, while almost all those around the New York market were of the Leghorn type. Of course the people knew that white eggs in the Boston market were shipped from a distance, and the New York City people had reason to sus- pect that brown eggs were not laid nearby. This custom, like all other customs, had a real cause, and was not based on a mere whim; but con- ditions have greatly changed, and the age or con- dition of eggs can no longer be told by their color. Some people pretend that they can detect a TaH¥aWSOSD NYOHD]T GNV WOOH Choosing the Breed 21 i difference in taste between white and brown eggs. To such people one might offer the following incident. Mrs. Phineas Barnes lived for many years in the Warren homestead in Waltham, Mass., whence six stalwart Warren boys went forth to fight in the Revolution. One day, as she was clearing away the morning meal, a gentleman appeared at the side door. ‘‘Madam,”’ he said, ‘‘can you sell me some fresh eggs?’’ It happened that the hens in that neighborhood were mostly Leghorns, and she brought out a dozen white eggs. He eyed them. and shook his head. “My wife is an invalid, and she has a dainty appetite. White eggs offend her taste. She can- not eat them. Have you no brown ones?” Mrs. Barnes shook her head. Then she thought a moment. No one about there had brown eggs, and she knew something of dainty appetites. Pouring some coffee into a bowl, she dipped an egg and wiped it dry. It was a perfect brown. “How would that do?”’ she asked, presenting it for inspection. “Perfectly, perfectly, madam. May I have a dozen like that?” 22 The Hen at Work So Wendell Phillips, for it turned out to be the great orator, took a dozen brown eggs home to his invalid wife, and after that, during his stay nearby, he went personally to secure the brown eggs his wife found so well suited to her delicate taste. To-day high prices are paid for Leghorn eggs, where one can prove their quality. I have ob- tained fancy prices near Boston during the past ten years. As a fowl for the table, the Leghorn is not much to boast of, but here, also, breeding has done much during late years. The modern high-grade White Leghorn is very little like the birds our grandsires used to chase out of the cabbage patch. The breast is highly developed, and, if well fed, the dressed fowl not only makes a good appearance, but provides a far more substantial meal than one might suppose. Cocks from good breeds will weigh six or seven pounds, and hens about two pounds less. We must bear in mind that one dozen eggs in the fall, at sixty cents a dozen, will pay for two pounds difference in weight between these and heavier fowl. Another point to consider is the tendency of this breed to do their best the first season. It hardly s3aiwis Choosing the Breed 23 pays to keep a flock through the secoud winter in the northern States, unless you want the hens to breed from, and with this particular hen, it is far wiser to buy day-old chicks and brood them, for all except those who enjoy developing and improving their flocks through personal selection. This will be taken up more fully under the chapter on “Raising Chicks.” The nervous, flighty tendency of Leghorns must _always be kept in mind. Although it frequently happens that they will remain quietly in a yard that suits them, with a fence only six feet high, they may fly over a fence ten feet high, if they think they like it better outside. If they take the notion, over they go, with not so much as by your leave, and it is no fun catching them. If there isa large place to wander over, say half an acre, they seldom cause much bother. A six-foot fence will probably keep them in, but with a smaller space available the best plan is to keep them under cover entirely. This type is easily startled by strange sights or sounds. A new hat or Sunday suit will cause a lively time in a flock of a hundred hens. In large plants visitors are restricted, because 24 The Hen at Work of the bad effect they have on the feathered boarders. Taken all in all, the Leghorn, where eggs are wanted, is without question the best producer for the average poultry yard, and is rapidly spreading in a popularity that is in every way deserved. CHAPTER III COMPARISONS OF FOUR LEADING BREEDS A stupy of the records kept at the important egg-laying contests held each year gives us some very helpful and interesting facts about the four leading breeds in America. Out of a thousand birds entered at the annual laying contest we may expect to find the following: 490 Leghorns, 149 Plymouth Rocks, 147 Wyan- dottes, 130 Rhode Island Reds, with the remaining 84 made up of Anconas, Buckeyes, Buttercups, Campines, Dorkings, Faverolles, Hamburgs, Hou- dans, Langshams, Minorcas, Oregons, Orpingtons, Sussex, and one or two local and less well-known varieties. This shows more than three times as many Leg- horns as any other breed. The American breeds are very evenly divided among Rocks, Reds, and Wyandottes. These four breeds comprise more 25 26 The Hen at Work than nine tenths of the whole exhibit, making it clear that the wise poultry keeper would maintain a fair number of one of these breeds until he has assured himself by experience that some other breed suits him better. Weight and Value of Eggs.—The weight of all eggs produced by the four principal breeds and their average value per dozen, was made the sub- ject of careful:calculation. The Rocks lead in weight of eggs per dozen, with an average weight in ounces of 26.4, while the Wyandottes hold last place with 23.5. The Reds and Leghorns come between them. The highest average value, however, for eggs per dozen came to the Wyandottes, because they laid the most eggs during the months of high prices. The average value of all four breeds varied less than one cent, making this a matter of compara- tively small importance. It is interesting to note that the month of August gave the highest gross receipts for eggs. The price is then rising and the rate of production fairly high, so the income is the largest of the year. Whether this would be true of the ordinary flock or not would depend on the comfort of the fowls. Four Leading Breeds 27 The pens at laying contests are airy, and the birds are free from lice and mites. In stuffy, cramped quarters where fowls suffer more or less from insect pests, the spring record might be encouraging, but that in August would be low. Weight and Value of Birds.—It is customary at - laying contests to weigh contesting fowl frequently during the year, and the facts learned are of value. The Rocks are the heaviest, followed in order by the Reds, Wyandottes, and Leghorns. All birds gain steadily in weight until March first, when they are nearly a year old. After March first they lose slightly in weight during the warm months. The difference in value for the meat of the Rocks, the heaviest, and the Leghorns, the lightest, has averaged about fifty cents. Remember, however, that feed for the Leghorns costs about fifty cents a year less for each bird. Monthly Egg Production.—It is of great im- portance to know, if we can, the months when certain breeds will produce their heaviest egg yield, for if we decide to handle more than one breed, as many people do, we must arrange the flocks, if possible, to keep the egg supply steady. It is always most profitable to supply a few customers 28 The Hen at Work steadily throughout the year, at retail prices. To do this, a fairly regular supply must be maintained. Otherwise we shall have to lose good customers during dry times, and sell at low figures when the flood comes. A careful study of the monthly egg production of each breed shows that Plymouth Rocks gave the highest production in March, but took a lower position every other month. The Wyandottes, as a breed, exceeded all others in average produc- tion during December, January, September, and October. The Reds enjoyed a similar distinction in February, lost out by one egg in January and March, and shared honors with the Leghorns in April. During November, May, June, July, and August, the Leghorns outlaid all their competitors. As the Leghorns are laying their best while the American breeds are resting, a combination made with them and an American breed would balance things. In considering these figures we must remember that they concern a thousand picked birds under expert care. The conditions, however, are easily duplicated in any back yard where sun and air are abundant. . Four Leading Breeds 29 More than One Breed.—The general conclusion must be that to maintain a fairly even supply of eggs through the year, more than one breed is necessary. While it is unwise to scatter our atten- tion, it is good judgment to plan for two breeds. There is an increasing tendency for poultry keepers to do this, and to select the Leghorns in combination with some American breed. The American bird keeps the eggs coming during cold months and the Leghorns have their turn in the warm weather, while the heavier birds take a summer vacation. The personal element in selecting between the three American breeds is, perhaps, as important as the breed itself, for they have merits that are very nearly equal. If one bird suits your fancy more than another, it would be wise to give that preference due consideration. It is easy to make one flock do better than another merely by the interest taken, as hens respond quickly to personal attention. Cost of Feed.—The weight of a fowl seems to be an accurate indication of what she will eat. This is certainly true-of the four breeds here described. The heavy Rocks eat the most, and the others 30 The Hen at Work follow down the scale according to weight—Reds, Wyandottes, and Leghorns. It costs at normal prices for grain, fifteen and a half cents for each dozen eggs produced by the Plymouth Rocks, and only twelve and a half cents for a dozen Leghorn eggs. It is safe to estimate that the heavier a type of fowl is found to be, the more feed she will need, to produce a dozen eggs. The cost for feeding a single hen per year, where all food is bought, runs from one and one half to two dollars, according to breed. This figure, of course, is averaged on normal prices for grain. Hens which are laying heavily also consume much more feed. In a late test, a pen of ten Leg- horns which laid 2021 eggs, cost $20.09 for feed. A neighboring pen of the same breed laid five hundred eggs less, 1501, and cost $15.75 for feed. The first pen turned in $41.74 above cost of feed, and the second brought only $26.69 above cost of feed. This shows clearly that laying hens are hearty eaters and pay well for their board. Broodiness.—As the use of incubators and arti- ficial brooders grows, the broody hen becomes more and more of a problem. It is worth while to note the results of careful surveys regarding the broody Four Leading Breeds 31 habits of the four important breeds. In all tests the average number of days lost through broodi- ness amounts to fifty or sixty days. At the Dan- vers, Mass., contest during the year, 1917, not a Leghorn went broody, while the heavier breeds lost from fifty-five to sixty days. The report of the Storrs, Conn., contest, where one hundred pens are kept, is, of special interest on this point: The average Leghorn lost four days out of the year as against nearly forty days for the average Red, and twenty-seven days for the average Rock or Wyandotte. The combined loss amounted to 18,650 days. This means, we might say, 688.5 dozens of eggs. It would thus appear that broodi- ness is a rather expensive pastime in which the average American hen is prone to indulge. CHAPTER IV POULTRY TYPES WITHOUT attempting to include every type and variety of fowl, we may give a general view of the different breeds which find favor, here and there, among poultry men, which will prove of interest and value. The American Poultry Association includes in its official list those birds which the Association think worthy of recognition as pure bred poultry. It publishes a book, The American Standard of Perfection, in which these breeds are carefully described. A scale of points is given by which the fowls may be rated and compared. AMERICAN CLASS The important birds in the American class,— the Rocks, Reds, and Wyandottes, have already 32 Poultry Types 33 been described. Besides these are the Javas, black, mottled, and white, and the American Dominiques. The Java fowls are seldom seen now. They re- sembled in shape, size, and general traits the Ply- mouth Rocks, but by no means compared with them as all-round fowl. The American Dominiques have rose combs, a trim, neat shape, and gray hawk-colored plumage, and are about the size of the Wyandotte. They are the oldest American breed, and it was from a cross of these that the valued Plymouth Rock originated. ASIATIC CLASS In the Asiatic class we find the large, solid, quiet birds, the Brahmas, the Cochins, and the Langshams. Brahmas.—The Brahmas, light and dark, are the most important of the Asiatic class to the American poultry keeper. The Light Brahmas have been steadily improving in’ size, shape, and laying qualities, and many growers recommend them highly as a breed to keep in combination with Leghorns. While they do not quite compete with 3 34 The Hen at Work the leading American strains as egg producers, they do lay a generous number of large, attractive brown eggs. The special importance, however, of the Light Brahma is its quality as a meat producer. As now bred, the cocks will weigh over twelve pounds, and the hens frequently ten pounds. They are the largest of all the breeds, are hardy, very quiet, put on flesh easily and rapidly, and have little tendency to wander. A four-foot fence will restrain them. For making heavy broilers at eight or ten weeks of age, no other fowl can beat them. They are not again in shape for table fowl till well matured, as they begin to develop the bony structure more rapidly than the flesh at about the tenth week. In the late fall, however, when the holidays ap- proach, these birds bring fancy prices and big totals. The sight of one well browned, on a blue platter, will easily explain the reason why. Dark Brahmas weigh about a pound less than the Light Brahmas, and are shaped somewhat like Cochins, probably originating in a cross be- tweer. Light Brahmas and Cochins. Although not frequently seen in small flocks, the Dark Brahmas are grown by many who cater to the fancy market Poultry Types 35 trade, and make especially plump capons. It seems to be generally conceded that the Light Brahma, for general purposes, is the better fowl. Cochins.—It may be that you have seen, in sea- port towns, yellow hens with long necks, who stalked about as if they walked on stilts. These were probably yellow Shanghais. The old garden at the House of Seven Gables must have contained some of these. Years of breeding have shortened the necks and reduced the legs, and they are now called by a new name, Buff Cochins. They now have no more neck than seems necessary, and their legs are just long enough to reach from the bedy to the ground. , The bodies of Cochins are blocky, and weigh about the same as Dark Brahmas, covered with soft fluffy plumage of a creamy golden hue. Their plump form and yellow skin make them valuable birds for market, and their gentle, almost lazy disposition enables them to put on flesh easily. They seem to have small ambition for supplying the egg basket; and it may generally be taken for granted that a large, quiet bird will lay com- paratively few eggs. 36 The Hen at Work After their introduction into this country the Buff Cochins were used very widely for crossing with native stock, and have left their mark very definitely upon American poultry yards. There are also Partridge Cochins, Black Cochins, and White Cochins. They vary only from the Buff Cochins in color, having about the same size, shape, and habits. The Partridge Cochin, as one might guess, has plumage resembling somewhat the partridge. This is true, however, only of the hen, as the cock has a back not unlike the Brown Leghorn, with black breast and body feathers. A lively interest has been taken in these birds at poultry shows of late years, and very large prices have been paid for setting eggs, but this interest seems as yet to be largely confined to breeders of show birds. The ordinary citizen demands egg-producing qualities first of all, in any fowl that is to win wide popularity. Langshams.—The Langshams in both black and white were introduced, as many breeds have been, by way of England. Much was promised for them twenty-five years ago, but few are seen to-day. They have good plumage, are sightly, and make good market fowl, weighing a pound or so less Poultry Types 37 than the other Asiatic fowls, and having their quiet habits. MEDITERRANEAN CLASS Besides the Leghorns, of which we have spoken, there are, in the Mediterranean class, the Black and White Minorcas, Andalusians, Anconas, and Whitefaced Black Spanish. _ Minorcas.—The Minorcas resemble in many ways the Leghorns, but have longer, deeper, heavier bodies. The weight of a full-grown male should be about eight pounds, and the hen six and a half pounds. They are not bred extensively in this country, though well thought of by many practical people. Their eggs are of unusual size, and those laid by mature hens, after the first birth- day, are so large as to create interest wherever seen. Whitefaced Black Spanish.—If you ever see the Whitefaced Black Spanish you will not forget them. No Spanish grandee ever took his place in the world with more distinction. They look, in general, like the rest of the class, but their white face, black, silky-glossed plumage, and a boat- shaped body set well up on long slender legs, give 38 The Hen at Work them a unique appearance. They are about the size of the Minorcas, and lay large white eggs. Andalusians.—The Andalusians are in most re- spects, the same as the Leghorn, except that they are blue in color. They are handsome, and could doubtless be bred to a good service, but are not as yet receiving much attention. The Ancona is much like the Leghorn, mottled in black and white. POLISH CLASS Eight varieties comprise the Polish class, and the poultry show which fails to have two or three types of this variety is seldom found. No one claims that they compare in value with the Ameri- can breeds or the Leghorns, but their quaint hoods, their moustaches and beards, and general sprightly appearance attract the interest and attention of many fanciers. There are the White Crested Black, Golden, Silver, White,, Bearded Golden, Bearded Silver, Bearded White, and Buff Laced. They are about the size of Leghorns. The number of eggs produced by this breed is fairly large, but they are rather small and not welcomed by house- wives at regular rates. Poultry Types 39 HAMBURG CLASS It would not be easy for the inexpert to tell the Hamburg from the Mediterranean breeds. They are small, pert, lively, and very trig in their dress. Although they lay like champions, the eggs, like those of the Polish fowl, are too small to offer in regular trade, and there is no good reason for keeping them, if anything more than good looks is desired. There are six varieties recognized among the Hamburgs, the Golden Spangled, Silver Spangled, Golden Penciled, Silver Penciled, White, and Black. In the same class there are Red Caps and Cam- pines. The Red Caps are slightly larger than the ordi- © nary Hamburgs, having large rose combs. The Campines have single combs. FRENCH BREEDS The French breeds include Houdans, Creve- coeurs, and La Fléche. Of these the Houdan, shown in the picture, is most frequently seen in this country, and no great attention has been paid to improving the breed here. 40 The Hen at Work They have good qualities, however, and in their native land, where eggs are sold at so much each, and poultry almost by the ounce, they give their breeders great satisfaction. I never see a Houdan without remembering one which taught me a lesson in French thrift and skill. My better seven eighths went forth one day to market in France to procure a dinner, and returned with the plumpest, roundest fowl you ever saw. The little tuft of feathers on the head proved it a Houdan. At once I decided that when I ‘‘got home’’ I should raise some of these butter balls. It was plucked, but the carcass was apparently not disturbed in any way, and it was my duty to prepare it for the pot. Taking a knife I opened a slit to remove the entrails, and suddenly sought the open window to escape the vilest odor that ever saluted my nose. That specimen had been stuffed — with brown paper, and nothing else remained within, yet there had been no cut made in the skin. Upon examination, we found a greenish shade about the head, but until the fowl was cut, there was not the slightest evidence to show that it was not a choice morsel. Poultry Types 4l With averted face, I carried it down to the Con- cierge, and asked her if she thought her cat would touch it. She beamed, and accepted on behalf of the cat without hesitation, but from the odor and the merry song that rose from her kitchen window I judged that the cat was not to be served first, and felt that I had learned another lesson in home economics, @ Ja Paris. . The French breeds vary in one or two essentials : from most poultry. They have all white meat, a great recommendation to some people I have carved for, and have five toes on each foot. The Crevecceurs and La Fléche have black plumage and are rather larger than the Houdans. Although they are excellent fowl, they have found little favor in this country. ENGLISH BREEDS The English breeds, Dorkings and Orpingtons, are fowl which have, at different times and places, threatened to get a firm foothold in America and displace our native poultry. Almost my earliest recollection of hens is a long oration from a neigh- bor over the back fence on the merits of his White 42 The Hen at Work Dorkings. As he smoked long, black cigars, I felt sure he must know all about it, and was greatly surprised when he cleaned them all out the next year in favor of Barred Rocks. “They warn’t hardy, bub,’ he replied when I asked why ; I didn’t know just what ‘‘hardy”’ meant at that time, but I have learned since what it means in the poultry yard, and have paid well for the lessons. It is said the Queen Victoria insisted on having the eggs of White Dorkings for her breakfast, thus showing a patriotic support for the English breeds. The Dorkings are found in a variety of colors. The Silver Grays and other colored types are larger than the White Dorkings. This breed has white flesh, like that of the French breed. In many ways they resemble our Rhode Island Reds, being good layers. Orpingtons, also, were hailed as the new perfection in the chicken world. They have good size, about that of Plymouth Rocks, are quiet, handsome, good layers, and are said to be very hardy. Indeed, one is led to wonder after reading various booklets about them, that they are not found in every yard; but a review of contests, and inspection of poultry Poultry Types 43 houses, here and there, show that they have as yet failed to find an important place in America. It is usually true that a fowl, bred to the climates and conditions of a certain country, does its best in that spot. We do not as yet hear that the French and English have thought it worth while to exchange Houdans or Dorkings for Rocks or Rhode Island Reds. GAMES Games, Game Bantams, Cornish Indian Games, and some others, are classed under Games. The importance of the Game blood in breeding among the various types of fowl now esteemed has been very great. Wherever it has been used, the Game adds hardiness and courage, with a tendency to rapid growth and early maturity. The erect, peculiar shape of the Game makes it look the part it has so long played as the warrior among fowls. It ranges in size from rather small birds to the Cornish Indian Game, where the cock will weigh nine pounds. The common treatment by fanciers, called “dubbing,” where the single, erect comb and 44 The Hen at Work wattles are cut away, has helped to give it a fierce and warlike appearance. Game hens are fair layers and excellent mothers, usually raising their broods with great success. There was a time when the Cornish Indian Game promised to become very popular here, but the wave of enthusiasm passed, probably because its egg yield was well behind that of several breeds already at hand. In the long run, whatever other qualities a fowl may have, if her egg production is deficient, she will surely have to give way, so far as the home poultry yard is concerned, to her more prolific sisters. BANTAMS The last class to review is the Bantam division. Here we might find varieties without end, as peo- ple have taken lots of fun in crossing them back and forth. Some of these have been bred down so they seem hardly larger than sparrows. The Seabrights, sleek, pert little birds, are good examples of pure breeding, and are entered in many shows. The Bantam is hardly worth while in the barn- Poultry Types 45 yard, and is rather in the way among standard birds, which are very likely to crowd and worry it, but as a pet for children it is well worth while. Bantams are very tame, and can frequently be handled for hours together in apparent enjoyment. A small coop is sufficient for their needs, and the eggs they lay amply repay the little ones for the interest they take in their feathered pets. CHAPTER V STARTING A FLOCK HAvING decided on the breed we intend to handle, and having prepared quarters for the new family, the next step is to form the nucleus of the flock. For those who have never had poultry before, and especially for boys and girls who are starting, it is best to begin with well grown stock. In getting acquainted with any new business, there are always small mistakes and discoveries to be made that can be overcome and outgrown only through experience, and no occupation seems to be more certain to provide a chance for queer mistakes than poultry raising. A gentleman in a New Hampshire town became interested in hens and purchased a large flock. In May, they began to die. Their crops filled up, and nothing seemed to help them. He came to me for advice. I inspected his houses. All was 46 Starting a Flock 47 clean, bright, and in good shape for poultry. His feed was right, and fed according to a hen book he studied with care. Next I looked into his grit boxes. He had only oyster shells. “Where is the grit?’’ I asked. “Why, there it is.” “Those are only oyster shells, ’’ I replied. “Yes, but I should think they were sharp enough to grind any food. It says in the book to give them good sharp grit, and that was the sharpest I could find.” “But, my dear sir, that shell will soften almost as soon as it gets into the crop. It soon goes into the digestive organs, and is absorbed in a solution to make new egg shells. It is of hardly any use in grinding food.” At that moment his wife brought some grass and threw it on the floor. It was nearly a foot long and some was rather tough. “T guess I see your trouble,’ I said. “That long grass would be dangerous even with the best of grit; with no grit, it becomes deadly.” ‘‘But the book says to feed them grass, and clover, and other green stuff.” 48 The Hen at Work He did not realize that all green food for hens must be tender and brittle. We got some excellent grit from the grain store, at once, dosed the suffering hens with a little olive oil, and he was a happy man to see them recover quickly, and start for the nests again. He had studied his books with care, but was in a good way to kill his whole flock. A young man in Maine was anxious to make a start with poultry. He wrote to me for advice. I did the best I could by mail. “T can’t get oyster shells, down here,’’ he wrote, “will clam shells do?”’ “Yes, they are satisfactory,’’ I replied. The hens did not do very well. He had his troubles. I visited him a month or two later, and found he was feeding his clam shells whole. Whether he expected his hens to suck the shells or bite pieces from them I never found out. These incidents are merely samples of the errors that are almost certain to occur. Where grown fowls are concerned there is frequently time to correct matters, but with chicks it is all over usually before the doctor arrives. So we had better begin with grown birds; and will Starting a Flock 49 be getting poultry-wise when the chicks come along. . Do not buy from peddlers, nor buy poultry from men who go about with wagons and crates. The chance of getting a healthy fowl from those coops is very small. Men who keep large flocks usually inspect their birds, now and then, to pick out all those that seem weak or ailing. They seldom bother with cures, but put them in small coops and sell them to these men who travel about. It is clear that the crates on their wagons must be in- fested with every disease a fowl is heir to. After advising people against this for many years, I took a chance one day, and bought some bright looking pullets, that showed no signs of illness. It cost me about fifty of my best birds, some of them splendid specimens from high grade breeds. Go to a reputable poultry man in your own | vicinity if possible, and buy the fowls he recom- mends. It is not necessary nor advisable to pay fancy prices, but it is wise to pay a fair price and get good birds to start with. It frequently happens that exhibitors at poultry shows sell their show-pens at the end of exhibitions, 4 | / 50 The Hen at Work but there is some danger here. Unless they have prize birds, many fanciers dispose of such pens rather than return them to the home flock, for much disease has been brought home in this way. The danger is not great, however, if the hens seem lively, and not too much worn by their experience. We may at least feel assured that they are high- grade stock, or they would have not been exhibited. Never buy chickens from shows unless for some special reason, as their vitality is very low after a night and day performance. Always keep hens brought from shows in quarantine at least ten days, before allowing them to run with other birds. The quarantine rule is a safe one in any case when adding foreign stock, but as few people with small flocks have extra space, it is usually safe to take birds from the flock of a reputable and expe- rienced dealer without fear of illness. Spring Hatching. When the spring arrives, whether we have decided to start with mature fowl or not, the time comes when we shall want to start out with chicks, for certainly half the fun comes in raising the chickens and having the broilers and soft roasters. There are four ways of starting chickens, each M9014 3WOH GJONVIVE ¥ Starting a Flock 51 of which has its own advantage, according to cir- cumstances. We can set the hens and let them care for their own broods, we can have incubators and brood the chickens by artificial heat, we can buy day-old chicks and put them under mechani- cal brooders, or we can have our eggs hatched in custom incubators. The attempt to buy chicks _ and get broody hens to care for them is not prac- ticable. We know just what a mechanical brooder will do, but what a bunch of broody hens will do is sometimes more than an oracle could foretell. Hatching under Hens.—Hatching under hens has many advantages for busy people who must come and go. The mother is always on hand to guard her flock, to keep the chicks warm, and nurse them carefully during the days when a chilly hour might be fatal. It isa great comfort to know that if we are late home, the chicks will be tucked under the feathers safe and warm till morning. Hatching in Incubators.—If we can be at home at regular hours, hatching by incubation is de- cidedly worth while. We know just when it will “set” and if we plan to start hatching in March, we do not have to wait till April for lack of broody hens. Every two or three years there is a scram- 52 The Hen at Work ble in the neighborhood to borrow broody hens. When we have started it off, we are reasonably sure that it will not decide to change its mind and scream to get out of the cellar, while a five-dollar setting of eggs goes to ruin. No lice or mites can attack little chicks hatched in an incubator, and kept in clean quarters. While it is true that hens, properly treated, should’ be free from lice, the danger of lice on hen-hatched chickens is always greater. The chicks hatched in an incubator can be started all together, fed together, and, being of the same size, develop more evenly, and make a much better appearance than the assorted chicks from hens. Perhaps we do not realize that the familiar wail, “‘He’s pickin’ on me,”’ came from the poultry yard. Where big chickens and little chickens, with or without feathers, run together, some chickens get picked on, and not the big chickens. I have never been able to get the results with my late hatched chickens that the early ones showed. The little brothers always get picked on. The matter of feeding the little chicks is really of importance. If we have a hundred chicks, hatched together, we can measure the feed, and adjust the Starting a Flock 53 rations intelligently, but with assorted broods it is different. It is not well to keep each brood in a small run, and yet we do not want to keep big chicks on, the small chick feed any longer than necessary, while the larger grains are not suited to the small chicks. Again—the incubator, handled with care, hatches chickens with more uniform vigor. I have just been through a siege with a hen that simply refused to leave her nest. As it is necessary to air the eggs each day for at least fifteen days of the incubation period, I had to haul her off each day, and try to pet her to eat and drink. The chicks are now hatched, eleven out of thirteen, and while they seem lively, they are not well feathered, are long, and their heads are small and sharp, all in- dications of poor development in the shell. The enormous increase in the sale of small in- cubators during the past ten years is ample proof that this method of hatching has proved decidedly successful. Day-Old Chicks.—Another plan for starting a flock is that of buying a number of chicks from a dealer who maintains large breeding. pens and large incubators, containing thousands of eggs. For 54 The Hen at Work many who have small flocks in small yards, this is the very best plan of all. It is not convenient to keep a cock all through the year. He costs,money for feed, reduces the table value and keeping qualities of the eggs, and is likely to make himself unpopular with neighbors who do not care to rise before the dawn. The difference in cost between buying eggs for hatching and buying chicks is very small. If we consider the cost of the incubator, the expense is frequently in favor of the day-old chicks. If we pay one dollar a setting for eggs we are getting them at a low figure. A hatch of sixty per cent. is all we should reasonably expect, though we will. frequently get more than that. This would make the cost of chicks finally hatched at least ten or eleven cents each, and I have never paid over fifteen dollars a hundred for standard chicks, getting most of them for twelve. There is little danger of losing many chicks sent by express. I have had them sent a hun- dred miles with perfect success and others have found a thousand miles not too much, if rail- roads make good connections. White Leghorn chicks seem to stand these journeys especially SVAHVHS Starting a Flock 55 well, while other breeds stand travel if the strain is vigorous. There is usually no advantage in incubating eggs at home, if the eggs are to be purchased, unless the breed desired is a specialty. Day-old chicks from the standard breeds are all offered by large dealers in almost any quantity. Custom Hatching.—Another plan made use of by those having small flocks is custom hatching. In many localities men run large incubators for the purpose of hatching eggs for others. The charge is usually small, about three cents an egg, and the work well done. There has been some fear that disease, especially white diarrhea, spreads from brood to brood in custom incubators, but a reliable man always cleans and disinfects his compartments carefully between each hatching, and there need be little fear of disease in any up-to-date plant. If you have a flock of birds you wish to develop yourself, and do not feel able to attend to an in- cubator each day, this custom incubator is just suited to your needs. You send off your eggs and have no further bother till your chicks return. CHAPTER VI COOPS FOR CHICKENS So far as we know, old silk hats have not yet been used as chicken coops, but almost every other possi- bility has been accounted for: boxes, barrels, kegs, tubs, old bureaus, sewer pipe, tin bread-boxes, and fifty-seven other objects may be seen serving as a shelter for chickens. It is possible that many such quick-and-easy coops may at times bring the flock through to a successful maturity, but let us under- stand at once that there are more failures and disappointments in poultry ventures at this stage than reason gives any excuse for, and many of them are caused by faulty coops. The easy way most books and poultry papers speak of these coops is delightful. They are prob- ably jokes anyway to the writers, who handle chicks by thousands in brooder houses. ‘If troubled by rats to any extent,” says one, ‘“‘make 56 Coops for Chickens 57 the floor of the coop tight.” How do you know, and when do you find out if you are troubled by ‘rats? Well, some morning when you go out and find your chickens half gone, and the rest dead about the coop, with small holes in their necks, or just over their wings, you will know that you are troubled by rats. It will then be time to put a floor in the coop and wait for next year. Rats, cats, dogs, hawks, weasels, thunderstorms, and spells of stormy weather must all be faced before the flocks will be large enough to look after themselves. Unless you are in a position to give chickens adequate well-planned shelter when they are ready, don’t start. You will be discouraged, and lose interest in a venture which should be successful, and is of great importance to every one who shares family life. This does not mean an expensive outfit; far from it. The coop in the picture gives perfect protec- tion from rats, cats, and other enemies. It keeps the chickens dry under all conditions, and gives them ventilation on hot nights. If everything were paid for, it would have cost less than a dollar; but 4 58 The Hen at Work since the packing box came free, it cost less than fifty cents. ‘To make a coop like this is a very simple matter. oy Ban er Rien A NOVA NUCLEUS TAH ATTUGTRS UUM ATUL OTOL TAG QUCOTOCR AUT eee AT CTCL UST eT AMET 2 eR a 200g for sitting hens and growing chicks that will be safe, tight, and convenient. Made from a packing case that cost fifty cents For the beginning we need a wooden box about three feet long, by two feet wide, and a foot and a half high. These dimensions may vary somewhat without harm, but a box much smaller does not give space for the hen to move about, in comfort Coops for Chickens 59 and safety, with her chicks. If boxes about that size cannot be readily obtained, it is not much work to make such a coop from box boards, al- though such cases are plenty in most parts of the country. Remove the cover of the box, nail two strips of scantling which are six inches longer than the box, across the boards of the cover, and piece it out with an extra board, so that when it is replaced on the box it will extend three inches beyond the edges on all sides. Nail a piece of roofing paper to this cover with strips of lath to hold it firmly in place. Do not fuss about making this lid fit snug around the top of the box. Air space will be needed all around the top for ventilation. Now take a piece of board about six inches wide, the same length as the box, and saw it obliquely across from end to end. These trian- gular strips may then be nailed to the long, top sides of the box, supported by wooden cleats on the inside. These provide a slope for the roof. To strengthen these slanting pieces a strip two inches wide should be nailed across the front, level 60 The Hen at Work with their highest part. This leaves an opening in front four or five inches wide, which allows free ventilation. The opening should be covered with wire netting having a one-inch mesh. The door is nine inches high, by seven wide. This gives free passage for all but the big Asiatic birds. With Brahmas one inch more should be allowed for comfort, though it is surprising how small an opening will let hens out. As an experi- ment just leave a four-inch hole somewhere in the fence and find out for yourself. Up the sides of the door one-inch strips are nailed, one inch back from the edge, on the out- side. Two-inch strips the same length, nailed so they make a groove one inch deep, will hold a board an inch larger all round than the opening so it will slide up and down, and effectually shut out intruders of all kinds. At the bottom of the coop nail skids, pieces of board five inches wide, so they raise the box three inches from the ground. These also help in pulling the coop about from place to place. It is of great importance to keep the bottom of the coop above the ground, for wet is dangerous SWOIHS ONISIVY HOS dOOD GNY NNY Coops for Chickens 61 for chicks. Many serious losses have occurred because this detail was omitted. A woman had some Barred Rocks that cost her dear, and were valued accordingly. As the coop was on the side of a high, rather steep hill, she did net raise the floor of the coop above the ground. A heavy thunderstorm came, the water poured down the hill, backed up against the side of the coop, and ran in across the floor, drowning every chick. After a heavy storm in May, a census of your town would show many drowned chicks. What is the sense of taking a chance when ten minutes’ work will insure against such loss? The top should be fastened in front with strap hinges, screwed on. It is then easy to raise the lid for cleaning, and replenishing supplies. It will also stay in place during heavy winds and storms. Ten years’ use of this type of coop for small flocks, and small yards shows that it fulfills all needs at very small cost. It is light, easy to move about, protects the chicks from the weather, and prowling enemies, and will offer comfortable quar- ters for twenty chicks till they are large enough to go into the big house. 62 The Hen at Work A PAPER COOP Having a flock of fifty chickens a month old to move out into the open, a house was needed that would shelter them all and allow room for a small hover. As time, labor, and expense were impor- o e ° J ° a o J ° Floor of the paper coop. This is made of light boards securely nailed together tant items (they always are in poultry yards) wall-board was selected for construction. The wall-board was merely heavy paper stock, without wooden filling, or stays of any kind, one fourth of an inch thick, and would hold nails well. It cost three cents a square foot. Coops for Chickens 63 As this board comes in any desired lengths, and can be cut with a knife or saw very easily, the construction problem was extremely simple. First the floor is made by nailing box boards together on three cleats, either narrow boards or | i eee Side piece of the paper coop, with strips.of scaniling nailed on scantling, making a light but firm platform 5 ft. 10 inches long, by 4 ft. 11 inches wide. For the sides use two pieces of wall-board, six feet long and four feet wide. Cut it so the top edge will slant from four feet high in front to three feet high in back. Nail a strip of scantling flush with the upper and inner edge of each side, using roofing nails, with short points and large heads. Flush with the lower and inner edge of each 64 The Hen at Work side nail a strip of light board, as thick as the scantling, and at least six inches wide. Five strips of scantling are used as upright stays, nailed on the inside, between the edge pieces, as shown in the illustration. Remember that these slanting sides are not reversible. Before nailing on the supports, stand Back piece of the paper coop, reinforced with strips of scantling them facing each other to make sure which is the inside. The back wall of the coop is merely a strip of wall-board five feet long by three feet high, edged and strengthened with strips of scantling. To assemble the coop, lay the bottom on a level surface, nail the back to the floor by driving the nails through the scantling at its lower edge into the edge of the floor boards themselves. Then nail the side pieces on each side. As they are two Coops for Chickens 65 inches longer than the floor they will, if started flush with the front corner of the floor, extend be- yond the rear guard board and come flush with the edge of the back, so nails may be driven through the scantling on the edge of the sides, into that on the edge of the back, making a firm joint. This completes the coop, except for the top and front. . The top is made of two pieces of wall-board two and a half feet wide, edged and braced like the other pieces. The center brace, when the strips are pieced, should be a six-inch board, to give the middle a firm support. These will probably be six feet long, unless an overhang is desired, but new measurements should be taken now, after the sides are up, so the top will have its edges even with the back and sides. It is a simple matter to drive a few nails through the edge pieces of the top into the side trimmings, which will hold it solidly in place. Roofing paper of any good grade may easily be laid over the top, so it will extend beyond the edge four inches. In the picture this overlap is partly removed, showing the joint between the top and side pieces. s 66 The Hen at Work The front is mostly open. Across the top a strip of scantling holds the sides firm. From this to the bottom platform a four-inch board is nailed two feet from the right front side. This forms the doorway. Then three-foot boards, as shown in the picture, are nailed half-way up on the other A paper coop. This is cheap, easy to build, light, dry, and snug. It may be taken apart at any time, and lasts several years in good condition side. Through these the little door is cut, as described in the plan for the smaller coop. The large door is two feet wide, high enough to fill up the space, and swings on strap hinges. The space to the left of the door is filled with chicken wire with a one-inch mesh. When the house was built five years ago, some Coops for Chickens 67 doubt was felt about the rain-shedding quality of the wall-board, so the side shown here was covered with roofing paper as an experiment. It proved, however, that the wall-board took ordinary house paint extremely well, and the side not protected by roof paper is in good condition. Setting up the house is an easy matter. Choose the location, then drive four stakes into the ground in pairs, just far enough apart one way to allow the house to set in between them, and four feet apart the other way. : Nail strips of scantling across from one stake to the other so that the house can be set up on them, about one foot up from the ground. The stakes will stand about one foot in from the front and back of the house, as shown in the picture. . Take care to have the front bar an inch lower than that behind, so that any rain which may blow in will run out again through the front, and not settle in the back of the coop. Two people can easily carry the house and set it down on the cross-bars between the two stakes. A nail, driven through each stake into the floor of the coop, will hold it in a wind, which might tip sucha light dwelling upside down. 68 The Hen at Work This type of house has proved cheap, easy to build, and easy to move about. While it would not last so long as a wooden house, the present model is ample proof that it will last as long as most people care to have it. As a winter house for laying hens it would hardly serve, though it is well suited to shelter a few fowls who are in quarantine, and for roosters being fattened. The chief value of a coop like this is for growing stock. It gives space enough for a round hoover in the center, and will provide comfortable quar- ters for fifty chickens till they are large enough to go into winter quarters. CHAPTER VII HOUSES FOR HENS Ir chickens are housed in sixty varieties of coops, it is certain that apartments for hens cover a greater variation still. The reason for such a weird array of structures intended to shelter hens is probably because so many poets and newly- ~weds goinfor hens. Such people have vivid im- aginations, and surely only a quick and fertile imagination could plan out some of the chateaux dedicated to feathered flocks. Starting with the great poultry houses having every modern device and equipment, costing as much as a good dwelling, we can pass in review actually hundreds of various buildings. Among the houses built especially for poultry we find the shed-roof, the span-roof, the monitor, and hip- roof; we have the open front, the closed front, the house with scratching shed, the portable house, and 69 70 The Hen at Work finally the little A-shaped house, so small and cramped that one must either back in or back out, for there is no turning around therein, and even large hens wear off their tail feathers for lack of room. Beside the buildings purposely constructed, we find unlimited adaptations. Hens are kept in old barns, sheds, cellars, carriage houses, old horse, electric, and steam cars, to say nothing of ancient hacks. If we add piano boxes and back steps we shall just be starting the list. Although many of these various houses give satisfaction in some localities, and during certain parts of the year, the fact remains that if we expect results from hens we must provide certain essen- tials. Damp, dark, dirt, and drafts cause discom- fort, disease, and disaster in any hen house. This means that houses must be dry and snug, must have plenty of sunlight and fresh air without drafts, and must give the fowls ample room to move about and exercise. Fortunately all these requisites are to be had for small cost and little labor. Some of the adapted buildings prove excellent if they assure the poultry of sun, dry quarters, and good ventilation. Houses for Hens 71 On a farm near me is a barn twenty-five by thirty feet, which has been used during the past four years. It provides all essentials except ample sunlight. Still, by leaving the doors wide open during all sunny days, when the wind is not too high, the hens get some sunlight through the winter months during several hours of the day. Over a hundred White Leghorns have been entertained here in one flock with excellent results. In very cold spells they stop laying rather abruptly, as they are somewhat exposed. They start up again promptly, however, when the mercury rises to normal winter standards, and have averaged more than a hundred and sixty eggs a year. It is fair to add that the flock kept in this barn has paid during four years the coéperative bank dues on a four-thousand-dollar farm. Many more pictures and suggestions for make- shift poultry houses could be given, but such ad- vice would not be helpful in the end. Of many such buildings looked into, only one or two proved really suitable for poultry. Since a building which is suitable costs so little, is so easy to build, and contributes so much to the pleasure and comfort of both fowls and keeper, as well as to the eventual 72 The Hen at Work success of the undertaking, why use a makeshift and run the risk of failure? Your decision on this matter will tell what kind of a person you are. Unless you provide a build- ing which, when ready for the flock, has sunlight in all parts, has good ventilation, room for comfort and exercise, and freedom from damp and dirt, the chances of success are not great. Success with poultry is not a matter of grand ideas, but of strict attention to small details. ROOF TYPES There are several roof types used in poultry house construction which are to fill certain needs. The shed roof is the type experience has proved most useful in small houses. It requires little cost in labor and materials, and makes a high front possible, letting in ample light and air. All water is carried to the rear, making only one eave trough necessary, if such are used, and keeps the front of the house dry and clean. A shed roof is also cool in summer, for the slope of the roof is towards the north, and does not receive the direct rays of the hot sun. a Houses for Hens 73 A building having a span roof adds some details not given in the shed. This provides a garret, or upper chamber space, where hay and other rough- age may be stored for winter use, and the room below will be more protected from heat and cold. SHED tL] | a MONITOR HALF MONITOR ‘hd EVEN SPAN TWO THIRDS SPAN ' Roof types This advantage is more than offset however by the extra cost of construction, and the pests that may harbor in the litter. The monitor and half monitor roofs are used by some for large plants, where they want wide floors. They are not suited for smaller plants and prove none too good for large ones, making a peak into which the warm air rises rapidly in winter. 74 The Hen at Work The A-shaped roof has been advocated as an economical way of covering a small floor space. It serves as roof and sides also, but this is so cramped and so difficult to ventilate well without admitting too much weather that few practical poultry men make use of it. MATERIALS Probably the best material for use in the con- struction of hen houses is wood and roofing paper. Hollow tile is very satisfactory, but is expensive, and adds nothing that wood does not provide. When the argument is made that the hollow tile retards heat and cold better than wood, remember that the roof will not be of tile, and the front should be mostly open. The side walls and back make up about two fifths of the total exposed area of an ordinary poultry house, so that argument is not very important. Besides this, it is great fun tinker- ing round in the hen house, driving nails here and there to put up nests and roosts and feed boxes. I never have found any enjoyment in driving nails through hollow tile. Cement blocks are good for construction also, Houses for Hens 75 but have all the expense of tile and are not con- venient to handle. Brick and stone are costly, and are likely to be damp and cold. They are not equal to wood. Cement is not suited for building houses for poultry. Concrete and solid masonry draw mois- ture during damp weather, just as a wick does oil. There is no question that wood is the best and cheapest material under ordinary conditions. The lumber for poultry houses need not be new, but the sills and timbers should be firm and strong, for they will be depended on to stand the strain of time and weather. In buying lumber, southern pine boards of second quality milled with tongue and groove make very satisfactory material, at a compara- tively low price. Spruce and pine are good, and easier to work with than the southern pine, but in many places they are more ‘expensive. Any lum- ber that is available in your locality will probably give adequate service. LOCATION Yard or no Yard.—The first question to settle is where the house shall go, and before this is 76 The Hen at Work cleared up we must make up our minds whether we want a yard or not. There was a time when everyone who kept hens thought a yard was necessary, but this idea is rapidly passing away, for most excellent reasons. Unless you can provide a double yard, so hens can change from one to the other, or can give the birds room to wander over a large piece of well- drained ground, it is much better to have no yard at all. That type of yard where the hens gather in drowsy groups studying the insect problem; where the flies gather in summer, and the mud in winter; where rain stays for hours after a shower, and then leaves a hard, fowl-smelling surface in the hot sun, cannot be ended too soon. It spreads disease and disgust among the hens, and those who care for them. But there are still thousands in daily use, as your new tan shoes will find to their cost, if you go about looking for poultry items of interest. The Double Yard.—There are, here and there, especially in poultry books, double yards, which give great satisfaction, especially to editors and authors. The plan is to let the hens run on one side of a divided yard while you are digging up and Houses for Hens 77 planting the other side to some green plant that grows quickly, such as rye, or rape. When this is well sprouted you allow the poultry to run in and feed on that, while you cultivate the other half. Of course you won't be planting anything here in winter, and nothing will grow much in many States, except in the spring and early summer; but if you love work and don’t care what you work at, the double yard is all right. Your egg yield, however, if you keep the birds in a comfortable house, and throw them fresh greens, will be just as great, if not greater, and you can have the yard for a garden. The Large Yard.—A large yard, such as part of an orchard, or shady place so large that: the fowls do not kill off all vegetation, offers some advan- tages. The hens can wander about and get a good deal of their food in the summer: from insects, weeds, and fallen fruit. They eat many insects and grubs, and fertilize the earth, thus helping distinctly towards better crops. Practical men, however, who have let their hens run thus, and then tried them confined to the house, say that the egg yield is actually better when the 78 The Hen at Work hens do not wander. When confined, the hen must eat what and when her owner wishes; when she runs about she often eats what and when she wishes. The regulated diet proves the best. Besides this, there is a growing opinion that ground where poultry runs becomes infected far more easily than has been supposed, and even large yards expose fowls to this danger. The house is always under our control. We may clean it when we will and remove every scrap of litter, which can hardly be done in a yard. It seems reasonable, then, to consider the loca- tion of the house without placing too much impor- tance on yard space, and to plan the building so the flock will be comfortable, if kept confined. Off the Ground.—The matter of location is de- termined to a certain degree also by the floor of the house. If the floor is on the ground, the home must at any cost be on a dry, well-drained location. If the floor is off the ground you need not worry so much about drainage, and if you want to be up to date, and make a real profit, you will build your floor off the ground. When your hen-house floor is a foot or more off Houses for Hens 79 the ground you know it is dry, and safe from rats. When it is on the ground you hope it is. Hope gilds the uncertain stream we venture o’er, But knowledge guides us safe from shore to shore. A week ago I saw a chicken coop where fourteen Barred Rock chickens, three months old, were captured by ratsin a single night. The coop stands flat on the ground. There might have been a rat family right beneath it, while we viewed the scene, and probably was eating fourteen dollars’ worth of chickens. Fourteen dollars buys a good hen house, well equipped. If the coop had been above the ground, the cats could have followed the rats. Now the rats keep house in high style right next the base of supplies. If you think it is easier and cheaper to put the house on the ground, read the following instruc- tions from one of the latest professional books: “Excavate the soil inside the house to a depth of at least eight inches. Place a layer of crushed stone, cinders, or coarse gravel eight inches thick over the bottom, tamping thoroughly and leaving it level. Over this place a rough coat of concrete about three inches thick. Put one thickness of tarred building 80 The Hen at Work paper over the rough coat, lapping and cementing the seams, and nailing it down. One inch of finish coat should be laid over the paper.” All this, mind you, must be aided by a carefully planned drainage system to carry off water from all sides of the house. Asa fact, with all this care, such houses are not dry, and open fronts have been used to overcome the damp. | Have you lived in a house where the cellar was dry at all seasons? Few house cellars keep dry, though all houses are built with a careful plan to drain the water away. When the snow and ice pile up on the neat side of this house, in the late winter and early spring, it is going to be damp and you can’t help it. Does it not sound more simple to put in posts, lay your sills on them, and nail a good tight floor to the sill? A hen house built with the floor well | above the ground will be dry in all seasons, and no rain, snow, or slush can soak in. It will be free from rats, as they will have no place to harbor beneath it, and the cats will keep them on the move, as rats seldom linger far from a safe retreat. The floor and sills of such a house will not decay, as they would very promptly if near the ground. Houses for Hens 81 An additional point in favor, is the space provided beneath for-boxes, nests, wheel-barrows, and tools. A four-foot rise beneath allows a very conven- ient space for such storage. If we want a yard, then, we must place the house with respect to a yard the hens can use. But if we plan to keep the laying hens confined in a house above ground, a practice rapidly spreading among the best poultry men, we can choose any conven- ient location, sheltered as much as possible from north winds and open to the sun. Do not put the hens too far away from the house. To get the best results they should be visited fre- quently. They are fond of the house people, and ‘like personal attention. If they are remote, it is hard for women to go to them in snow and wet weather, and it is a temptation for people who have roast-chicken appetites and nocturnal habits. A neat hen house is an honor to the poor and a credit to the wealthy. There is no need to hide it. 6 CHAPTER VIII AN IDEAL HOUSE FORTUNATELY in this business the best is not only the cheapest, but, to a large degree, the cheapest is the best. It seems to be the general agreement that for the small flock a square house with a shed roof and ample window space is the cheapest and best form of dwelling you can choose. If we wish to enlarge the house we need only enlarge lengthwise, using the first square as a unit. If we have the first house ten feet square, and wish to double the size, we may simply put another house ten feet square next to the first, leaving out the side wall. If we want to put in a big house, one hundred feet long or more, it is better to make the width sixteen feet, as this width has proved most. eco- nomical in long houses. Changes may be made from the square house to 82 An Ideal House 83 one slightly oblong if we have lumber that cuts better that way. Instead of a house ten feet square we might have one twelve by eight, or ten by eight. It would not be wise to make one four- teen by six. Such a house invites drafts, and does not combine ventilation and shelter well. The nearer to the square we get, the better the house will be for hen purposes. Suppose, now, that we decide that we will be guided by experience, and build a simple, sunny house, and start out in a small, safe way. Size of House.—The size of the house depends on the number of laying hens you wish tokeep. As itis about as easy to care for twenty-five as for a dozen, and easier to make use of the table-scraps in a flock of twenty-five, the wise plan would be to build for that number. There is always a sale at retail prices almost at your door for the eggs such a flock would lay, and the cash return, is not to be sneezed at. Four square feet to each bird is the least which should be allowed for health and comfort. A flock of twenty-five would call for a house ten feet square. But, as a little more room will give a little better result, let us decide to make our house ten feet deep by twelve feet long. 84 The Hen at Work Foundation.—Eight stout posts are needed to set the sills on, one at each corner and a pair in the middle. These may be of cedar, of four-by-four lumber, of two pieces of two-by-four lumber nailed together, or of brick. For the amateur, bricks are 2 __] BACK UPRIGHT CORNER bers FRAME BRIGHT not easy to handle. Cedar is the best, six inches in diameter, as it will last a life-time. Sawed lumber should be painted with tar to protect it from decay. Posts may be set firmly in holes two feet deep, or in concrete about one foot deep and two feet An Ideal House 85 across. Either way is satisfactory. Set the posts so the house will face about south, or slightly south-east. Ifthe house stands four feet up, room will be given for storing tools beneath it. The Frame.—When the posts are set, lay the sills across them. These are pieces of two-by- Frame of house set up on posts, ready for side boards and roof four lumber, two, twelve feet long and two ten feet long. By cutting them, four inches back from the end, half-way through each piece, and sawing out a section four inches long by one inch deep, we can match the ends so the sills will lie evenallaround. A five-inch spike, driven through the corners into the posts, will hold all firmly in place. At the two front corners uprights of two-by- four stock, six feet high, should be erected, so that 86 The Hen at Work they stand exactly flush with the edges of the sills. For a building this size it is satisfactory to nail these in place by driving four- or five-inch nails through their lower edges, obliquely into the floor. After the cross pieces are in place, there will be no more strain at this point. These uprights should be cut four inches down from the top, on the front side, for the front top piece, and the rear for the back top piece, and a piece four inches long by two wide should be cut out. : Two uprights at the rear, five feet high, will allow for sufficient roof pitch, and room for reosts. These uprights should have their narrow two-inch edges facing the front and back. Now two pieces of two-by-four should be placed at the top of the front pair and the back pair of uprights, each being twelve feet long, the length of the sills. Then the long cross pieces may be seated flush with the front and rear of the uprights, so the wall-boards will fit tight all around. When the cross pieces are set in place a nail will hold them snug against the uprights. The ten-foot top cross pieces going from front to back need no cuts made for them. A small block nailed to the upright, four inches from the top, will 3ASNOH N3H 31svuISad ‘dv3HO Vv An Ideal House 87 support the weight, and nails driven obliquely into the upright make the joint solid. While driving these nails, have a heavy weight held to the post to avoid wrenching the joints already made. Now another long cross piece, twelve feet, should go half-way between the front and back cross pieces, to support the roof boards in the middle. This should be of two-by-four stock, and may be fastened in place by four- or five-inch nails, driven through the end top pieces into the middle roof support. A small block beneath each end will give added strength. Twenty inches up from the front sill, a two-by- four piece twelve feet long should be nailed. Drive the nails through the front uprights, and make the ends flush with them. This serves as window sill. There must be another piece above the window space to hold the upper part of the front wall. Just where this will go depends on the size of the window. Windows and Ventilation.—It frequently hap- pens that there are storm windows about the place, or other window frames in good condition that we can use, and save the expense of new windows. If these are at hand the size of the open- 88 The Hen at Work ing should be made according to the size of the window. If, for instance, the window is three feet An ideal house for a small flock. The pitch of the roof and the window space are greater in the specifications than they appear in the picture. There is no harm in giving most of the front to window space In winter the window may remain closed, and the door be opened in good weather for extra light and air. In stormy weather the small window provides air enough. In summer the door should always remain open, ' with a wire door inside to keep the flock at home high, we would put the upper window stringer six- teen inches from the roof. You can’t have too much window space in the An Ideal House 89 front of this house. Two ordinary frames like those used for storm windows, would serve well. No extra time or work need be taken putting these in. A six-inch board may be nailed from the front roof stringer to the sill, outside, in the middle of the front, and the windows may be screwed in place from the outside. These windows need not be moved or opened dur- ing thewintermonths, in Northern States, but should be taken off the first of April or May, when wire netting, nailed on the inside, will take their place. If windows are to be bought, we can choose from the illustration the type we prefer. A window that swings on hinges will serve well in this type of house. It is usually better to have them swing . inward than outward, as they are less liable to damage. On the whole, windows on hinges are better than those screwed in place, as they can be opened on warm sunny days all through the year. If they open inward, wire netting should be hailed on the outside. Double glass in such sash will give a slight ad- vantage in keeping the temperature a little more even as night comes on, but there is nothing to show that this is important. go The Hen at Work Ventilation in hen houses has been discussed widely, and at present open fronts and muslin windows, instead of glass, are advised. This ad- vice, however, is based on conditions in houses built on the ground. The problem is very differ- ent where the floor is entirely off the ground. I have never yet entered a house in winter, where’ muslin had replaced all glass, in which the hens seemed to enjoy life. They are cold, cheerless, and dull. There is little temptation to kick around and burrow in the litter, and, though ventilation is assured, the rays of the sun, the chief blessing of hen-kind, and Nature’s great purifier, are shut out. Where the floor is off the ground and the front is well glassed, the rays of the sun on cold winter days penetrate to all corners of the house, and fall warm and soft upon the floor. As this does not‘ touch the ground, there is no way in which these warm rays can draw up moisture. The house stays dry, and, during many hours of the day, will be warm and cosy. The fowls will be active and happy. _ The matter of variation of temperature is largely theoretical. Many declare that the drop from this warm room at midday to the cold surroundings at | An Ideal House gl night, will be harmful to the fowls, but there is little experience to support such a theory. The comfort and pleasure fowls get in a sunny, warm house during the day is clear to any one who knows hens. Itisa distinct factor in the winter egg total. In setting these windows, no special care need be taken to make them tight around the edges. A crack here and there will admit no more air than is needed. A crack’in the back of the house is a serious defect, but the front may admit air without harm. ‘Fresh air is as necessary for hens as it is for us, though with twenty-five hens in a house ten-by- twelve, kept clean, we may shut the doors and windows cold nights and blustery days without. fear of harm. It is wise, however, to plan in some definite way for ventilation which shall be con- stant, and this may be done by leaving small windows, as shown in the illustration, above the regular windows, and cover them with muslin. These are merely square or oblong openings, framed about with scantling. Such windows pro- vide adequate ventilation during those days and nights when storms and heavy weather make it necessary to close doors and windows, but when it 92 The Hen at Work would be too damp to leave the flock without a constant change of air. Such days come often in February and March in most States. During good weather the door may be left open, and the door of wire netting, which will be used through the summer in place of the wooden door, will keep the hens at home. The Roof.—The roof of a house ten feet deep is. very easy to construct. The boards should be cut eleven feet, or possibly two or three inches less, but should provide a generous overhang in front, to protect window spaces in storms. These boards should be nailed securely in place with strong nails. Cut-iron nails are the best, as they wedge into the wood and stay put. Galvanized nails will not serve well, as they are likely to work loose. A nail which works loose means a hole in the roof paper before long. After that is put on there is no way to drive them in again. Lay the boards flush with the edge of the rear roof stringer and allow an overhang seven eighths of an inch on each side, to cover the sawed edges of the side boards. If tempted to plan an overhang for the rear, remember that this side must be absolutely tight. An Ideal House 93 It is by no means easy to fit a joint up under an overhanging roof that will be wind tight, but it is very easy to lap the roof paper down over a flush corner, so no air can leak through. This rear roof corner is just where the hens are going to roost, and every precaution should be taken to shelter them. The Door.—The doorway should be about twenty-six inches wide and five feet high, placed on the east end of the house. Two pieces of stock, two inches square, or strong pieces of board, would do as uprights for door frames. They are nailed flush with the outside edges of the sill and roof piece. The door itself can easily be made of three or four pieces of matched board, five feet long, nailed securely on cleats. It swings on strong strap hinges. Side Walls and Rear.—The easiest way to plan the side wall and rear is to nail the boards vertically. These should be of sound stock, tongued and grooved, and should fit snug up under the lap of the roof edges. A double back wall, with dead air space, is often planned in the Northern States, and a double roof is sometimes used in hot climates. Floor.—If you can afford it, put in a double 94 The Hen at Work floor, in regions where winters are cold, with roofing paper between each layer. One twelve-foot piece of two-by-four stock will serve as a center brace for the floor. Support it in the middle by a stout post. If the double floor seems rather costly, a single floor, with thick litter will give good service. It must be of clear stock, and carefully tongued and grooved, as any crack or knot hole will let wind in and litter out. Waterproof Covering.—The cheapest and most practical covering to keep wind and wet away from our egg factory is good roofing paper, which comes down on all sides to the lower edge. Do not use cheap covering like tarred felt for this purpose, as that will last but a year or two. A good quality covering of standard manufacture will cost little more and will last a long time. In laying roof paper, as in many other jobs in life, we must begin at the bottom and work up. First carry a strip round the back from the door to the front edge on the west side, the lower edge even with the lower edge of the wall. The next, strip will lie flat on the lower part of the roof, lapping over on both sides and rear, enough to An Ideal House 95 overlap the first strip at least four inches. The upper strips are easily laid on in the same way. Full directions for handling and fastening the various covers always come with the rolls of paper. CHAPTER IX FURNITURE THE furniture for this dwelling is simple, in- expensive, and easy to install. It includes roosts, dropping boards, nests, dust box, mash and grit boxes, feed trough, and a place for water basins. Dropping Boards.—The matter of dropping boards in a house where the flock is confined has lately been questioned in some parts of the country. The accepted custom has been to provide board platforms beneath roosting hens, to catch the droppings at night. These may then be cleared away frequently, removing that much waste matter from the house. Experiments have been made with roosts set up on horses, so they never touch the walls, and allow the droppings to fall directly into the scratching litter, where they stay, even for months. No bad results were noticed from this practice, 96 Furniture 97 and, when the climate is dry, such a plan might work very well. Although unpleasant at first, the droppings would soon be dry, and ground to dust under the feet of active hens. It must be remembered that during the year droppings gather in large quantities in all houses, and are not harmful or offensive unless they get damp. Those voided at night, added to these, would probably make no great difference. Careful hen men, however, have declined this suggestion, and it is not because of fogey notions or hide-bound ideas. The poultry raiser to-day is a spry fellow; he must be, or he wouldn’t stay in the business long. A flock of hens will soon finish the acid test of their pastor, and prove the answer. In favor of the roost across horses, without dropping boards, is the labor saved in cleaning, and the protection against lice. These roosts touch the walls at no point, may be removed entirely from the house for a thorough cleaning, and will not be contaminated quickly when put back into the house. The dropping boards however are important for several reasons: 7 98 The Hen at Work In all locations where the air is moist at times, as it is in the Far West and all the Eastern States, it is really important to clear out as much manure as possible, which is always offensive in damp weather. The droppings themselves, when kept pure, or mixed with crude potash or rock phosphate, are highly valuable as dressing in the garden, and are easier to handle well in this state than when scratched into the litter. The dropping boards come up close beneath the hens and make their sleep more comfortable, shutting off most of the moving air on cold nights. Eggs which are laid at night, and many are laid from the roosts, seldom break, and are seldom touched by the hens on the dropping boards. If they fall to the litter below they are almost sure to break, where the hens will find and eat them in the morning. Here is the starting point of the egg- eater. Nothing gets on the nerves more than the habit of egg-eating. Hens always eat broken eggs, and if they get the taste, soon begin to break them for themselves. The dropping boards are impor- tant for this reason alone. Dropping boards give an extra space for fowls ' - Furniture 99 to wander over, and, if they are covered with sifted hard-coal ashes, they give a valuable addi- tion to the daily bill of fare. The weight of the argument is greatly in favor of dropping boards. Put them high enough from the floor so you can get underneath for fowls and eggs when you need to. Three feet is enough. The simplest way to support them is to nail a piece of board, about three feet long to the ends of the house, starting close to the back. In the center, a post of two-by-four, three feet and ten inches high, may be stood, three feet from the back wall. Then strips of scantling can be nailed, one at the top, and one three feet from the floor, reaching horizontally to the back wall, one sup- porting the middle of the dropping boards, and the other the roosts. Upon these supports the dropping boards, three feet wide, may be nailed. Shove them close to the back of the house, so they fit snug. They must be tongued and grooved, or be planed to fit without a crack. Roosts.—The. roosts go about ten inches above the dropping boards. They may be two-by-four, two-by-two, or even of scantling, unless it is frail. 100 The Hen at Work Pieces of scantling, nailed to the end walls, ten inches above the dropping boards, will support them. Two roosts, twelve feet long, give ample room for twenty-five hens. The first one goes ten inches from the wall,and the second ten inches from the first. Nail them lightly in place, so it will be ~easy to take them out. See to it that the edges of the roost are rounded and smooth. When a hen sits down, her claws contract, and they can’t let go, even if they would like to, when sharp edges hurt. Pleasant dreams never hurt the egg record, Some people nail the roosts on a frame, hinged at the back, and raise the whole frame in the morning, fastening it to the roof with a button or hook during the day. This is said to keep hens more active, and make it easier to clean the boards. It is one more thing to remember, however, morn- ing and night, and there is no proof that hens do not get benefit from a brief nap during the day, away from the crowd. Every one who has to scratch for a living is entitled to what rest he can get. If hens are not properly handled they will loaf anyway. It is the plan of feeding, not the furniture, that counts. 4asn good O41 G3aNHYNL S3ax0E LINKS Furniture IOl Nests.—Orange, lemon, or egg boxes make excellent nests. They cost nothing, and come already divided, just the right size for the hens. | All we have to do is to nail a strip of the cover. three or four inches wide. across the lower part of the open front, to keep the hay in place. Do not nail these to the wall. Make a shelf at the end away from the door, about the height of the dropping boards, and put the nests on that. Three boxes are enough for twenty-five hens. The nesting material may be of hay, straw, fine excelsior, or fine shavings. Soft hay is probably the best, though fine straw and excelsior give good results. Be sure to keep the nesting material fresh and clean. Dust Box.—A box about a foot deep, large enough for two hens to kick around in, must be provided, for a dust box. It should be set up on legs at least a foot high, so litter from the floor will not be thrown in. i The bath may be of dry earth or sifted ashes. Sifted hard-coal ashes can be had in most places, and seem to give the hens more satisfaction than most types of earth. Fill the box half full, and renew every three or four months, 102 The Hen at Work Mash Boxes.—A box for dry mash should be provided, no matter what the general plan of feeding may be. There are many good metal boxes, some with grated fronts, like that in the picture. Of the two shown, the wooden box has proved the better. It has a deep trough, from Tt, The soap box cut down for a dry mash hopper, and cover of front, cut so it will fit down into the tray which hens can throw nothing with their bills, and no new food can be touched until all before the fowls is eaten. There are always greedy hens, good fighters, who crowd in when the box is opened, and, if the box allows it, pick here and there for pieces of beef scrap and morsels they like best. Then they leave the common victuals to their weaker sisters. To make a mash box like that in the illustration, SY3ddOH HSVW AHG Furniture 103 a tight wooden box is needed. The one photo- graphed is a soap box, twenty-two inches long, by sixteen wide, and is one foot deep. Any box of dimensions about the same will do. First cut a hole in one end with a key-hole saw, about six by eight inches. The mash will be poured in here. By nailing strips one inch wide about the edges of the piece cut out, we can turn it into a good cover, if pieces of board are scarce. Fasten it in place by small hinges, or pieces of leather. Next remove the cover of the box. Now saw a triangle out of each side. To support the side pieces while sawing, and to strengthen them while in use later, nail a light strip to the side so it will run from the front upper corner, down to a point seven inches from the bottom, and four inches from the back. Then another strip should be nailed along a line slanting from the lowest point of the first strip to the front edge, five inches from the bottom. Cut along these strips, taking a tri- angle from each side, as shown in the illustration. The cover may now be used again, with a slight change. In order to nail it along the slanting front edges, and allow four inches of it to slide down below the sides of the bottom tray, the 104 The Hen at Work lower edges must be cut just enough, four inches up, to let it fit snugly against the sides of the lower tray. Before it is fastened in place, nail a strip one inch square across the front, five inches from the bottom, to hold the ends of the slats. The lower edge of the front should come about two and a half inches from the bottom of the tray. This leaves space for the mash to feed down to the hens by its own weight, as fast as it is cleaned up, but no more can come down until that in the tray is well cleaned up. A lip, or strip of wood two and a half inches wide, is to be nailed across the top of the front edge of the tray. This keeps the mash from being spilled out. Slats, as shown in the picture, should be nailed across from the lip to the strip on the front. These are two and a half inches apart, and keep the hens from scattering the mash about witha side swing of the head, which they will always do if they can. A piece of thin board, just wide enough to cover the open space at the top of the tray, should be provided to slide under these slats, and keep the fowls away from the mash during the morning. Furniture 105 The mash box should hang well up from the floor, away from flying bits of litter. A foot ‘or eighteen inches will be high enough. Bore small holes in the back at the top. Nail heads will pass through these and hold the box firmly in place. A low perch should be fixed in front of it, level with the lower edge, and about six inches away. Grit and Shell Boxes.—Grit and shells should always be where fowls of all ages can get them, and their absence from the laying house will be fatal. If we add dry cgacked bone in the laying house, and charcoal, under certain conditions, we shall add to our success with the flock. I spent ten years trying various hoppers for feeding these condiments to fowls, and have come down to a very simple plan. The bone is thrown into the tray of the dry-mash box. There it mixes with the dry mash more or'less, but is soon eaten, when more may be thrown in. The grit and shells are mixed. in the box described below. As there is much gravel on the floor of the house, and sifted coal ashes are always present, these hens eat little grit. Where grit on the floor is absent, a separate grit box will be necessary. If charcoal is served, that can be put into the same kind of box. 106 The Hen at Work i The hopper illustrated is simply a box six inches square, cut down. The cut is made in the middle, and leaves a tray three inches deep, with a hopper three inches wide by six inches deep. Holes bored in the back, near the top, serve to hang it up out of the litter. The type of hopper where several slots feed down grit, shells, and bone into small trays, side by side, has proved unsatisfactory. Hens will not eat shells or grit when the material is dusty or stale, and before long the shells in such a tray get mixed with other matter. If you want to dump it to clean out dust, you may have one slot nearly full, while the next is nearly empty. The various materials are, of course, all mixed together when the hopper is dumped. Beware of all fancy patent dishes for serving hens. Fowls are disciples of the simple life, and simple things appeal most to their taste. They will eat more shell and grit from a lot freshly placed in the little wooden box, than out of any patent device ever invented, and they can never eat too much grit or shell. Water Basins.—While chickens are developing through the summer months, the water fountains Furniture 107 described later, of the syphon type, prove the best. They are easily moved about; they keep the water in and the chickens out. But when the flock has grown, and is in winter quarters, this type of fountain gives place to an open basin.. This keeps dust out of the water, and prevents hens from stepping in their drink Perhaps the most satisfactory kind is an agate- lined pan, bought at the ten-cent store. It holds about a gallon, and is used frequently as a milk pan. In cold winter weather the ice forms slowly on such a pan, and may freeze thick without doing any harm. A heavy freeze splits and ruins the -syphon fountain, but the agate pan slopes at just % 108. The Hen at Work the right angle to avoid injury, and a little warm water will clear all in a moment. This agate pan is also easy to keep clean. A few strokes of a cloth or mop, daily, keep it fresh and sweet. Put a shelf about two feet from the floor in a convenient spot, wide enough to hold the pan. Set the pan in place. Then fasten another board with a V cut in it so it slants down and covers the pan. The slant keeps hens from roosting and sitting about on the board, and the V enables the hens to put their heads in to drink. DRINKING FOUNTAINS CHAPTER X HATCHING UNDER HENS BEFORE we can start to hatch with hens, the nests must be ready, the eggs must be ready, and the hens must be ready. The Nest.—As spring approaches make up your mind where you can best put Biddy away in seclu- sion for three weeks. Quiet and freedom from disturbance are essential; those being secured, we may set hens in many places with entire success. Perhaps the most satisfactory plan is to set her in a small coop like that in the picture on page 58. This ensures quiet, seclusion, fresh air, and a chance to exercise a little each day. A nest ina small house like that shown on page 66 with or without a run is also desirable. Other places where nests may be put with success are: a vacant room, with floor covered with paper and chaff, down cellar, if not too musty, under back steps, in 109, 110 The Hen at Work the barn loft, in a barrel, or in any sheltered spot where she can be by herself. It is not wise to have two hens sitting where they can visit together, and laying hens must be kept strictly away. Sitting hens have hasty tempers, and a first-class fight will turn a sitting of eggs into second-class omelette. A hen often decides to swap nests without asking the owner of her new choice, and this leads to trouble. If laying hens are in the same apartment, they are always glad to lay just one more in the batch, for good luck, and we are likely to find five or six extra eggs in our sitting that we don’t want there at all. Keep all sitting hens strictly in solitary confinement. In this business attention to small details spells success in the long run, and the nest must be care- fully prepared. Get a shallow box at least a foot square. It may be larger, even up to two feet square, any size to hold a hen comfortably on thirteen eggs without crowding. It should not be over five inches high. A deeper box may easily be cut down to about four inches. If two sides only are cut down, leaving two sides several inches high, the result will be satisfactory. Hatching under Hens III In the bottom of the box put fresh, damp earth, placed so that it makes a layer about one inch thick in the center, and slopes up to about three inches on the sides, making a ‘saucer-shaped hol- low, to keep the eggs from rolling away. It is true that eggs will hatch if placed on dry hay, but the results will not be so good. In the natural state a hen will hide her nest on the ground, which, in, the spring, is always cool and moist. This moisture plays an important part in in- cubation. Over the earth arrange some soft hay, fine straw, or soft excelsior, so that it forms a neat hollow, broad enough to hold the eggs lying loosely, side by side. Now sprinkle the hay liberally with lice powder to keep the mother comfortable, and the chick as free as possible from vermin. Powdered tobacco is good for this; and the powder sold by standard houses is satisfactory. . ‘Fhe box may now be placed in the corner of the coop. Leave no spaces between the box and the wall. Fill them up with earth or hay, so the chicks cannot get caught there when hatched. Pile earth or ashes beside the box, to make a slope from the floor to the top of the nest. Some of the chicks 112 The Hen at Work may run out before the hen is ready to leave her nest, and they will be unable to return to shelter unless a sloping bank is provided, but will die in a short time right under the beak of their poor mother, who can do nothing but cluck and watch them perish. Eggs for Hatching.—The eggs for hatching will be selected from hens you have set apart for breeding, according to the plan outlined in the chapter on breeding pens, or they will be pur- chased from poultry men who specialize on breed- ing stock. Do not buy eggs from flocks confined in houses, nor from people who are inexperienced in breeding, unless for some special reason. Reli- able dealers usually sell utility eggs at reasonable rates. For the home flock costly eggs from fancy matings are not necessary and will usually prove a useless expense. When eggs are shipped for hatching, the germs, which will later develop into chicks, are usually displaced by the shaking the eggs receive. If these eggs are started at once the germs will, in many cases, develop in the wrong position, and the hatch will be poor. Such eggs should be laid on their side in a cool, airy spot for about a day, Hatching under Hens 113 to allow the germs to swing back into place before incubation begins. In selecting eggs for hatching choose eggs as near the standard of your breed as possible. Leg- horn eggs should be cream white. Tinted ones should be discarded. Those of the Rocks and Reds should be a rich brown, and light shades should be thrown out. The shell should be smooth, and free from rings or warts or rough places. Any thick spots, or rings, make it hard for the chick to break out when he is ready for the great adventure. There is good evidence to show that hens which have done little or nothing in the winter often lay the largest, handsomest eggs during the hatching season. As chicks from such hens will probably lay few eggs themselves, be on your guard. Eggs much over standard size, from twenty-four to twenty-six ounces a dozen, as giv- en in the chapter ‘Comparisons of Four Lead- ing Breeds, ’’are not safe, however promising they may look. Every now and then a claim is made that the shape of eggs will control to some extent the num- ber of pullets in the hatch. Round eggs have been recommended most earnestly as producing a 8 114 The Hen at Work high average of pullets. No such results should be expected, however. If you set round eggs you are likely to get hens that lay round eggs, and the total results will probably be poor. Choose the egg that is recognized as standard in size, color, and shape for the breed you handle. In the early spring months, when many wish to get started with incubation, the nests must be visited frequently. During February and March the temperature will be low, and an hour or two in freezing weather may kill the germ in the egg. Even on mild days the eggs should be gathered at least twice daily, not only to keep them from freezing, but to get them as clean as possible. Dirty eggs should not be used. Washing hurts the egg for hatching, as it damages the pores through which oxygen passes in to the embryo chick. Those having small flocks can seldom provide enough eggs in one day for hatching, as only part of the total lay are satisfactory. Until the eggs can be used, they should be put in a cool, airy place. A well-ventilated cellar, or pantry, where the temperature runs between fifty and seventy ' degrees will be suitable. Below fifty the germ Hatching under Hens 115 may die. Above seventy it will incubate. They should lie upon their sides, and should be turned half over every two days, to keep the germ from rising with the yolk to the top, and adhering to the membrane. Eggs for hatching may be kept two weeks, if necessary, but the fresher they are when started, the stronger the germ is likely to be, and the better conditions it will have for development. Collect frequently, select at once, smooth, clean, standard-sized eggs, store in a cool, airy spot, turn half over every two days, and place under the hen within two weeks. Broody Hens.—One cluck does not make a ' broody hen, but clucks surely show which way the feathers blow. If you have a flock of Reds or Rocks, or any heavy breed, along in the spring you will find a hen that takes a long time in laying her egg, and makes a double racket when she leaves the nest. Later she refuses to leave at all, and now is the time to get the sitting nest ready. But do not hurry in taking such a hen from the flock. If she is removed before the sitting fever is well advanced, and put in a strange place, she is likely to give up the idea and mess things. Wait 116 The Hen at Work till she peeps out at you when you are serving supper, and stays right where she is. So long as she shows hunger, and comes off at evening feed, she is probably too restless to sit quietly. It is not wise to use Leghorns, or other light breeds, for incubation. They frequently sit on the nest and behave for all the world as if they never would quit, but if given a rest and a sitting of eggs they suddenly make up their minds they would rather lay after all. Once in a while a Leghorn will make a very good mother, especially if she can steal her nest, but they are not to be trusted in general. Another matter of importance is the body of the hen. The light breeds have little flesh and almost no fat. Both are needed in a good mother. A hen that goes on to the hatch in poor flesh will not have sufficient body heat to keep the temperature at a proper point. The strain of a long period of sitting will also tell on a thin bird, and she is likely to grow restless. For these reasons choose a fat, heavy hen for the sitter. When we feel sure that the hen has settled down to real business it is time to let her start house- keeping. It is by no means as easy as it seems to Hatching under Hens 117 get a fowl to start incubation in the right way, especially in the early season, when cool nights seem to quench their desire to sit. There are several don’ts at this point. Don’t take her to the new nest early in the day. There is a tradition among the race most intimate with chickens that they should never be moved by broad daylight. Do not attempt to set her directly on the eggs; such an introduction is too abrupt. Do not try to confine her in a nest where there is just room for the eggs; you will wish you hadn’t. Don’t keep running to see if she is covering the eggs, nor let the children visit her; she doesn’t like company at such a time. The best plan is to place the nest in the dark- est corner of the house, or coop, where she is to stay, and scatter a little corn in a trail from the door to the nest. Then about sundown, remove madam to the new quarters, put her near the door, and leave her strictly alone. I use the coop and run as shown in the picture. The eggs are placed in the back of the coop. Then a little corn is dropped near the entrance, both without and within the coop, and a dish of fresh 118 The Hen at Work water placed at hand. Then the quietest hen is selected, treated for lice, and, at evening, dropped into the run. At first she frequently runs about, and tries to escape; then she grows more quiet and stops to look around her. Seeing corn, her favorite food, and fresh water, she remembers that she is hungry. Gradually the hen works her way to the door of the coop. There is more corn just inside. She looks suspiciously about, but no one is watching. Cautiously she slips through the opening and follows the trail of corn. In another moment, by the fading light, a neat nest with thirteen eggs appears to her enraptured gaze. All is quiet; she is well fed and watered. Here is just the chance she has been looking for, and if the hen has a spark of real motherhood she will nestle down with a contented cluck, and start off on her three weeks’ vacation. If the hen is still ramping around the run next day she probably is not ready to sit, but it may be that she needs a little longer to get used to her surroundings. Another day will settle the matter, and if the second morning dawns on eggs uncovered she must be returned to the flock. Hatching under Hens 119 It frequently happens that a hen will-behave in this way at first, especially in early season, and will later quiet down and make a good hatch. If she fouls the nest and kicks the eggs about, how- ever, a band should be put on her leg to mark her as a bad performer. She might behave better at another time, but other hens should be used first if they are at hand. After the hen has settled down she seldom leaves the nest for forty-eight hours. Then she will want to eat, drink, and exercise a little, while the eggs are airing. There is no need of putting in food until the second day after she starts. Throw a handful of whole corn in the run. If she does not leave the nest lift her gently off the eggs and place her in the run. Inspect the eggs to see if they are whole and clean, and if foul, clean away the dirt. Whole corn is the most satisfactory food for a sitting hen. It quickly fills the crop, digests well, and provides heat and fat, much needed at this time. At the end of the hatch there is no stale food lying about for the chicks to eat, as there would be if she had broken grain or mash. Such musty food would be dangerous to the babies. 120 The Hen at Work Besides the corn, supply fresh water, grit, and oyster shell. Scatter sifted hard-coal ashes an inch deep over the floor of the coop. d As the hatch proceeds, the nest should be in- spected every two or three days, and, if the hen has not been off to eat her corn, she should be placed in the run and kept off for twenty minutes. This airs the eggs, which would spoil if kept covered all the time. If the sitter should quit in the middle of the hatch, and decline to return, it is often possible to change her for another hen if you have one. Careful experiments show that during the middle of the period the eggs may stand for fifteen hours in temperature as low as fifty degrees without fatal results. Place the eggs in a warm corner of the kitchen or near a radiator, at about eighty to ninety degrees, till the new hen is ready. A large jug of hot water, not over 120 degrees, placed in a covered box with the eggs will keep them going very well for many hours. Visitors in general should be kept away from the ‘sitting hen, but a daily visit by the one in charge will be necessary. It is well to lift and handle, and talk to a broody mother of the heavier breeds, Hatching under Hens 121 now and then, unless she resents it, as she will grow more friendly, and her chicks will be easier to handle. Scary hens have wild chicks, and wild chicks are hard to develop in the right way. The date when the eggs were covered should be set down, and after the eighteenth day the sitting hen should not be disturbed in any way. The chicks will frequently begin to appear about the twentieth day, and hatching may continue dur- ing two days more. Hens differ in this respect as. they do in many others. Some will leave the nest” on the twenty-first day, but most mothers will wait a day or so to give every egg a fair chance, and leave with her brood about the twenty-second or -third day. There are varying opinions regarding the wisdom of helping chicks out of the shell when they seem unable to break forth themselves, but the principle is well understood; any chick which is strong enough ' to be valuable is strong enough to break his shell. There are exceptions to every rule, and now and then a chick might be liberated from a tough shell that would be worth while. At the same time the hen usually resents interference, and the harm 122 The Hen at Work done by meddling is likely to be fully as great as the advantage to the brood. It is a safe plan to leave it to Biddy, and discard unhatched eggs. CHAPTER XI HATCHING WITH INCUBATORS Tue selection of a machine for hatching will offer no great problem, especially where others in the same town already own incubators of vari- ous types. There is no need to pay high prices unless you wish to hatch a large number of eggs at a time. Usually five or six dollars will buy a machine giving excellent results, and for ten dollars I have bought an incubator and brooder which hatched and brooded the chickens from one hundred eggs with perfect success. In winter issues of poultry magazines, various incubators are advertised and explained. Look them over, make up your mind about how many eggs you want to handle, and about what you want to spend. Unlike many ventures of modern times, there are few extras to pay for. When the incubator and brooder are bought, the oil for 123 124 The Hen at Work heating is the only added expense, as the ther- mometer, thermostat, egg-tester, and other ac- cessories are usually included with the machine. At this point visit neighbors who have machines like those which interest you. Get their ideas and experiences and look over their machines. If possible buy your incubator from a local dealer, rather than from a distant factory. It will cost no more, and you will have someone nearby to help you get it started, and supply broken or missing parts. Second-hand incubators may frequently be pur- chased at a low price. If they are of standard, well-known makes, and not over two years old, such a purchase might be wise, but the develop- ment in incubator construction during the past ten years has been so rapid that it is well worth while to have machines that are up to date. Ten per cent added to the hatch will make up for several dollars in first cost, and a new machine would probably give that advantage over a second- hand one of an older type. Order your machine by January first, and set it up as soon as it arrives, giving it a thorough test. Every year many beginners order incubators and Hatching with Incubators 125 leave them in the cases until a week or so before they wish to begin hatching, only to find that some part is hurt or lacking. It is rather late then to write letters and get needed parts in time to start promptly. Although an incubator is, after all, a very simple instrument to handle, when we understand it, the first experiments should not be carried out hastily. If you get yours set up along in January, test each part and run it a few days at the required heat. You can then leave it till hatching time with the assurance that everything will be ready and in order. If you put this off till the season operis you may join those who make a mess of the first trial through haste and lack of preparation. Location of the Incubator.—The successful operation of the incubator will depend to a certain extent upon its location. It is clear that in a room which has a temperature of seventy degrees at noon and forty degrees at night the problem of keeping the heat within the hatching chamber at the same point all the time will be difficult. In general we can figure that, however good the construction may be, the temperature in the egg chamber will fall one degree if the outside tem- 126 The Hen at Work perature falls ten degrees, and a drop of thirty degrees in the room would be a serious matter. For this reason the cellar is usually chosen for such a location, unless it is poorly ventilated and musty. A room where the heat is shut off, and where the sun does not shine directly in, will also give good results, unless the temperature varies twenty degrees or more, or the room is very cold. A room like a schoolroom, where the heat is maintained to a certain extent all the time, would serve. The sun should never shine directly on the machine while hatching is in progress. Fresh air is necessary in the chamber for incu- bation, but in no case must a draft play on the incubator. A muslin curtain, tacked over the window will admit air without much draft, but even then care must be taken to protect the ma- chine from currents of air. For the majority of those using a small incubator the cellar will be convenient and available. It should be thoroughly cleaned from all débris and decaying matter, and arranged for ventilation, so that it smells sweet and clean. Preparing for the Eggs.—It would be of no value to attempt detailed instructions in a book Hatching with Incubators 127 like this for running an incubator. Manufacturers send instructions for assembling and handling their machines which are compiled after a long series of experiments with that particular machine, and each detail is covered with minute care. In running the machine follow the printed instruc- tions that deal with that particular incubator, and you probably will have no difficulty. There are, however, general rules that apply to all incubators which should be followed. The inside of the machine and egg compartments must be thoroughly cleansed before each hatch. Hot water and soap, with a coal tar disinfect- ant, may be used as a wash, or the washing may be with soapsuds, and a spray used afterward. Many who run large incubators spray the egg chambers during the hatch while the eggs are out cooling. Level the machine with care before the eggs are put in place. Hot air and hot water tend to rise to the upper corner, and if there is a slope the eggs near the top will be much warmer than those at the bottom. If the egg tray is exactly level all the eggs will have the same degree of heat. Fill, trim, and regulate the lamp in the morning. 128 The Hen at Work Then if it draws up, or is not adjusted properly, the trouble can be remedied. At night no one will be about to observe such defects. Keep a clear, bright flame. The saving of oil from a low flame will be so small that the total value will not equal that of a chick. When the flame is kept high and clear the thermostat will take care of the surplus heat, but if the flame is low and the temperature in the egg chamber falls, the thermostat can do nothing to help matters. Toward the end of the hatch, as the body heat of the chicks increases, if the temperature stays at a high point, the flame may be reduced a little, but it should never be lowered so as to give the slightest odor, and should give constantly a bright, clear flame. Needless to say that only the very best oil should be used, and the wick and burner must be kept in perfect condition. After the location is secured, the machine set up, and all made ready, the lamp should be lighted and a careful test made for at least three days, making any necessary adjustments and getting command of a steady flow of heat before starting the eggs. In hatching with incubators the eggs to be Hatching with Incubators 129 used are selected and cared for according to the directions given for hatching under hens. They must be collected frequently, selected carefully, with. a view to color, smooth, perfect shells, and standard size, all dirty eggs being discarded. While waiting for the incubator they must be stored in a cool airy place with a temperature running from fifty to seventy degrees, and turned over half-way every two days or oftener. Inside Facts on Eggs.—It will be a great help in handling eggs during incubation if we know some- thing about the development of the germ within the egg. Most of us have’probably seen the little cluster of yellow balls gathered close to the backbone in the center of the fowl’s body cavity. These range in size from that of a pinhead to an inch or more in diameter. They may be seen in the illustration. These yellow globes are the yolks of what will be eggs. They are clear yellow yolk, except for one little spot; a germ, on the surface of the egg, or ovum, as it is frequently called at this stage. Leading from this’ group of egg yolks is the oviduct, a very elastic tube, through which the egg passes, adding the white or albumen, and the 9 130 The Hen at Work shell. In its finished stage it passes out at the lower end a complete egg. The illustration shows Ovary and oviduct. The eggs gather and develop in the ovary. One by one they enter the oviduct, forming their shell and complete size as they descend. The progress through the oviduct takes about twenty-four hours the egg, soon to be laid, near the lower end of the oviduct. The male germs are found in the upper part of the tube, and almost as soon as the yolk enters they attach themselves to the germinal spot on its Hatching with Incubators 131 surface. If they are absent or inactive, the egg will be sterile, and will not hatch. The germinal spot will remain unchanged, and be almost invisible in the yolk of the complete egg. The growth of the germ begins almost as soon as the meeting takes place, and continues as long as the egg is in the body of the hen, or in a temperature of about one hundred and three degrees. It does not stop entirely when the egg is laid unless the / weather is cold, but continues developing. In hot weather this germ dies, after growing for some days, and-the egg is spoiled. This is why sterile eggs, where no rooster is kept, stay in good condition much longer than those with the living germ. As the yolk progresses downward, the albumen, or white, gradually gathers about the yolk, and the membrane forms around the albumen. This membrane is found in two layers, and at the large end of the egg a little space is left for air, between these layers. As the liquid in the egg evaporates, this cavity becomes larger, and an expert can easily tell the condition of an egg from the size of this air space. About half-way down the oviduct there is a series of glands, and from these a fluid runs out to 132 The Hen at Work cover the membrane and form the shell. This fluid is white, and is chiefly carbonate of lime. In the natural state a fowl will pick up enough material to form this fluid for a few eggs in the spring, but when eggs are expected at all seasons, special supplies must be provided—oyster or clam shells, which were themselves formed of just such a fluid. In the digestive tracts of the hen the shell returns to a liquid state, and hardens again after it has formed around the egg. The egg remains in the lower part of the oviduct about twelve hours, while the shell is becoming solid. It isthen expelled by muscular contractions, narrow end first, and the process begins again at the upper end of the oviduct, if the hen is in active laying condition. The normal time consumed in finishing the egg is about twenty-four hours. This is frequently extended to a longer period. On the other hand a hen may lay one egg early in the morning and another before going to roost, if she is prolific, and the eggs happen to come along at just the right time. General Principles of Incubation.—The prob- lem of incubation is to place the egg under such Hatching with Incubators 133 conditions that it will hatch and bring forth a strong, active chicken; and the simple, inexpensive incubators of the present day prove how well the problem has been solved. A careful record shows that the hen has a temperature, after the hatch is well started, run- ning at 104° and 105°. The heat of the eggs beneath her is not so high, starting at about 98°, | at the end of the first day, and rising to 103° at the end of the hatch. Long experience has shown that the temperature of the incubator should be held about one degree lower than that of the sitting hen. If we stand the thermometer on a level with the eggs, so that it does not touch them, and keep the temperature at 101, 102, 103°, the result will be satisfactory, and we shall be well pleased with the hatch if other conditions are good. If anything happens and the thermometer drops to 50° for a short time, we may get fair results after all; but a temperature which fre- quently dropped below 101° would probably prove fatal. A temperature one degree higher, 102, 103, 104, would do no harm, but the vitality of the chicks 134 The Hen at Work might be impaired. A temperature of 103, 104, 105° is too high and will do great harm. The | heat may rise for a short time, however, to 110° and not kill strong germs. White eggs and brown eggs need the same degree of heat. The eggs of fowls, other than hens, require varying periods for incubation, and as all lend themselves to the artificial mothers as well as the hen’s egg, a list is given for guidance in handling the hatch. Variety : Days . PigeOM heaton sh Hon oS tolsg hes 17 Oth sce egestas winds es eee 21 PHCASAGE oer auhe kewsrwen «cow 24 Ducks piss na tees ate ate 28 Peafowls cesae nd osc dee ea we 28 Gumes Wen isccwrsoteeneswerwes 28 ED UTICEY. Selaresa cg oc ace asain ots cabeadaneecane 28 GOOSEs 4h 2 ks sees te sao ee 30 Muscovy Duck), .siesiucasse anes 35 TAU apis ata a hea aed Ones aca aree 35 Of course there will be variations from these figures according to the average heat in the hatch- ing chamber, and the season of the year, as well as the condition of the eggs, when entered. In look- Hatching with Incubators 135 ing after the incubation try to get the chicks out on time. This means steady heat. Trained men say that a chick hatched the twentieth day is worth two born on the twenty-second. Moisture in Incubation.—The amount of mois- ture in the air during incubation has an important effect in the result, and a generous amount is needed for a successful hatch. The average fresh egg contains almost seventy per cent water, and a large part of this is necessary to the growth of the chick. If the air about the eggs is too dry, this water evaporates through the shell so fast that the embryo suffers. There are no easy methods of determining the exact amount of humidity in the egg chamber, but fortunately there is no necessity for exact calculations on this point. The operator need not worry so long as he uses a cellar, or a room not too dry, and runs the machine according to the maker’s regulations. Reports of experiment sta- tions tend to prove that the instruments usually sold to show relative humidity about the egg tray, are not accurate, not valuable, and really not needed. : The nose can usually tell at once whether the 136 The Hen at Work air is sweet and fresh about an incubator, and the operator can usually tell by the ‘‘feel’’ whether The fresh egg has a small air Space as shown at the top. The second line shows the larger air space after one week of evaporation, the third line after two weeks, and the lower line shows the air space the chick will have at hatching time the atmosphere is damp or dry. It should have a distinct feeling of dampness. If the air seems too dry, there are several devices for supplying sufficient moisture. Hatching with Incubators 137 Some incubators are supplied with shallow trays. These trays are to be filled with sand, which is kept moist. In this case we have but to follow operating instructions. Remember that these machines are sold to be used with the sand. If the sand tray is left out the incubator will not do its best. Moisture may be supplied in the room about the incubator by sprinkling the floor each morning. If the air is very dry it should be sprinkled again at noon. Sprinkling the eggs themselves is another method that proves satisfactory. They may be sprinkled with water at about one hundred degrees, or that seems warm, not hot, to the hand. This may easily be done by a small whisk brush, dipped into a pan of warm water, and shaken over the eggs. Experi- enced incubator men follow this practice, as it moistens the membranes and makes it easier for the chick to get out of the shell. They begin sprinkling about the twelfth day, and stop about the nineteenth day, before the shells open. Cooling Eggs.—There has been an almost'univer- sal belief that it was necessary to cool eggs fre- quently during incubation in order to assure a good 138 The Hen at Work hatch. This idea originated, no doubt, from the fact that the hen leaves her nest almost daily to feed and dust, during the first eighteen days. Hens average from twenty minutes to a half-hour away from the nest, even during the cold spring months. Careful tests have lately been made to see if this cooling process helped in incubation. At Storrs, Connecticut, about four thousand White Leghorn eggs were incubated. Every care was taken to see that the eggs cooled daily should be, half and half, from the same hens, laid under the same conditions, as those which were not cooled. Half of the eggs were cooled on the third day, and after that were cooled night and morning till the eighteenth day. The cooling periods were five minutes long on the third day, and increased one minute each day to twenty minutes on the eighteenth. The other half, nearly two thousand eggs, were not cooled at all, but were left in the incubator, run at about 102-103°, except for the brief periods necessary for testing and examina- tion. The result was interesting. Sixty-seven per cent. of the fertile eggs hatched in the incubators Hatching with Incubators 139 that were cooled; seventy per cent. of the fertile eggs hatched in those where they were not cooled. The question still remained as to whether the chicks from the cooled hatches would be stronger ornot. Five hundred chickens were selected for a test. Half had been cooled and half had not been cooled. At the end of four weeks twenty chickens which came from the cooled eggs had died, and fourteen had died coming from eggs that were not cooled. 2 This experiment shows that cooling itself is not a vital factor in incubation, and the small difference is in favor of eggs not cooled. After an equally careful experiment the Station in West Virginia reports that: ‘In using incubators that were well ventilated, the chicks appeared stronger at the age of three weeks, when the eggs were not cooled.” The difference between the hen and the incu- bator is that beneath the hen the eggs can get little ornoair. Eggs closed in a box and kept at 102 de- grees for three weeks will not hatch. The germs will die. The situation beneath the hen is much the same, and the eggs get no real ventilation except when the hen is off the nest. ° Taking it for granted that your incubator is well 140 The Hen at Work ventilated, it may be assumed that the air thus supplied, and the brief period of airing when the eggs are sprinkled, will bring results which are fully equal to those gained by the process of cooling the eggs each day. If the eggs are cooled, remember that the life developing within grows more sensitive to low temperature as the incubation goes forward after the twelfth day. Great care should be taken during the last few days to keep the eggs from a chill, as a temperature of fifty degrees, which they would stand very well for several hours, about the tenth day, would be fatal during the last week of the hatch. | Turning the Eggs.—Some interesting experi- ments have been made to discover what effect will be made on incubation by turning the eggs. In one of the first tests three machines were used with twenty-five eggs in each. In one machine the eggs were turned five times daily; in another twice daily, and in the third they were left unturned. In the first machine, fifty-eight per cent. hatched; in the second forty-five per cent. hatched; in the third only fifteen per cent. of the unturned eggs produced live chicks. Hatching with Incubators 141 A glance at the picture below will show the germinal disk at the top of the yolk. As the egg The yolk and germ in a good position. If left several days the germ will rise tll 1t may lie next the shell and adhere. The two membranes within the shell are also shown remains on one side, the yolk slowly rises to the - top, until the disk is close to the shell. There it soon becomes attached to the membrane, and the 142 The Hen at Work embryo either dies or becomes so weakened that it fails to break the shell. Other much more extended and more careful experiments have been made which show that turning the eggs has a vital effect on the number hatched. If we turn them five times during the twenty-four hours, five or six per cent. more chick- ens may be expected than if we turn only twice. It is, however, no small task to turn eggs five times, at intervals of about five hours, during day and night, and as the return is a small number of chicks, which are probably not the strongest in the lot, most of us will be content with turning twice each day, unless the eggs are of unusual value or interest. ‘ Testing.—At about the sixth day it is time to test each egg to see if it has a growing embryo within. There are several devices for testing eggs. When many are to be examined a box is arranged to hold'a lamp or electric light. The eggs are then placed against a hole in the box. If the room is dark the light from within the box will penetrate the egg-shell and show much of what is going on. Where there are not many eggs to be handled a very simple and practical tester is provided by Hatching with Incubators 143 most dealers and incubator houses in the form of a heavy pasteboard tube, with one end adjusted to cover the eye, while the other will be filled by the egg, when held close up by the operator. A fertile egg about the sixth day shows a central spot and lines, much like a daddy-long-legs € Velvet or plush, pasted close about the edges of each opening, will-make it easy to adjust the egg at once so light will not sift in through small fissures about the shell, or the eye. This little instrument will serve to handle a hundred eggs very comfortably. It can be used 144 The Hen at Work most successfully in daylight by holding the eggs up to the sun, and will do well also with electric light, or a large lamp. The egg with a growing embryo will show red A dead germ about the sixth day usually looks like this. It may take other positions, and often is seen in a red ring against the shell lines radiating from a dark spot. This closely resembles a large spider with red legs. The yolk will be seen as a dark cloud about the germ, the size of a natural egg yolk. If this living germ does not appear at once, turn the egg slowly, and a better view may be obtained. ‘a Hatching with Incubators 145 All eggs showing this dark germ at about the center of the yolk, with the red lines running out like spiders’ legs, are probably fertile and doing well. They should be laid back in the tray. An infertile egg will show no dark spot at alll, but will be clear, except for the cloudy shadow of the yolk, which will appear in a strong light. These infertile eggs are not spoiled by staying six days in an incubator, and may be used in cooking, or may be kept cold, and boiled hard to feed the chicks when they are born. Eggs which show a dark spot without radiating lines floating about in a cloudy patch are those in which the germ began to develop and died. Many germs lack vitality to continue their development, and die after a few days. Sudden chills, or over- heating also cause early death. A bright red circle or half-circle, or dark spot, seen against the shell, shows a dead germ, probably killed by improper turning. . All eggs showing the dead floating germs, the red rings, or the spots on the shell, should be dis- carded, as they are unfit for use. There will be other eggs which seem to fit into none of these descriptions. They do not show the 10 146 The Hen at Work living germ clearly, neither do they show dead germs or rings. If incubation has been very rapid this may indicate an advanced stage of growth, and an exceptionally strong chick. It is a good plan to number such eggs, note their condition in a book, and keep track of them when the hatch comes off. Then we can have a better idea of what such eggs are likely to do another time. Second Testing.—In most works on poultry we are recommended to test the eggs again the fourteenth day. This is to note the growth of the air space in the big end, and also to detect any germs that have died since first testing. The amateur, however, would probably have his trouble for his pains in going through the eggs again. It is now by no means easy to judge the condition within the shell, and only an expert can make much use of the information. The number of eggs that would be detected in this second testing is small always, and where incubator space is not needed for other eggs, there is little advanage gained. Unless the beginner is interested in this particular work he will be as well off to give a careful test the sixth day and let it go at that. Hatching with Incubators 147 The Growth of the Embyro.—The growth of the chicken within the egg is remarkably rapid. At the end of the second day many important struc- tures, especially those about the head, are visible to expert eyes. In three days a new membrane forms inside the shell membranes. This new membrane serves as lungs to the growing chick. It has many hairlike sacks, which absorb the liquid contents of the egg, and turn them into blood. Contained in these tiny vessels, the blood is exposed to oxygen that enters through the pores in the shell. It is then returned to the center of life, and circulation is established. By the sixth day the elements of the chief parts are formed, and assume such size that the growing embryo may readily be seen through the shell when the egg is held to a strong light. By the ninth day the head is clearly visible, the beak and claws are formed, and the feathers appear. Four days later the hard, bony structures develop, and the chick is equipped with all impor- tant organs. Up to the fourteenth day the chick has been lying across the egg. Then it turns, so that the 148 The Hen at Work body is lengthwise, with its beak right against the inner membrane of the shell, near the large end. If the eggs are not properly turned while hatching, . the chick will have difficulty in making this change, and if its head is not at the right point, it will be unable to free itself from prison. Fully developed, it will die in the shell, because the beak cannot strike fairly against its inner surface. Rapidly the embryo grows during the last week, until it fills all the space within the shell except the air cell, which is just above the chicken’s head. On the last day the walls of the abdomen close about that part of the yolk not already absorbed, and the chick is ready for its earthly adventures. Hatching.—Nothing in poultry life is more interesting than the last hours of the chick within the shell, and his entrance into the new world. About the fourteenth day, the embryo turns about in the egg so its head is near the air sack. Thus it grows until it is ready to leave the shell, usually about the twenty-first day. Then it thrusts out its beak, tears away the inner shell membrane, and begins to breathe the air contained in the space at the big end of the egg. Now for the first time its lungs fill with air. Hatching with Incubators 149 Circulation through the tiny sacks of the tempor- ary membrane ceases, and pulmonary circulation begins, the blood going into the lungs to be purified, and into the heart to be pumped through the little body. But this new supply of air will soon be exhausted. Mother Nature whispers in the ear of the chick. Drawing back his head he strikes as hard as he can on the inside of the shell. Blow after blow he deals with his beak on the same spot. It becomes clear now why hatching eggs must be smooth and free from thick spots. If there is a ridge or thick spot at this point, he strikes and strikes in vain. His little beak cannot break through. At last the air is exhausted; his blows become weaker; his head droops, and he dies even before he has really lived, a victim of careless egg selection. If the shell is smooth and even, before long the beak goes through, and Chicken Little is rewarded with a long breath of fresh air. Having rested a moment, and refreshed himself, the chick picks out a new spot near the first hole. If the egg is smooth he can make one hole after another, round the egg, about one-third down from 150 The Hen at Work the big.end. Then, when the holes are well drilled, he gathers himself together, gives a big push, and is out. Summary of Incubation.—In carrying the eggs through the incubation period, observe the follow- ing directions: Use eggs carefully selected, not over two weeks old. Set up incubator according to manufacturer’s directions, ‘test it carefully at least three days. Also get a druggist to test your ones by his standard instrument. Be sure that there is proper ventilation in the egg chamber and in the room outside. Plan for some supply of moisture in the air if possible; if not, sprinkle eggs, starting about the tenth day. Place eggs in the machine at about Io1 degrees, and keep it so during the first week. Turn the eggs half over at least twice a day for nineteen days. This is best done by arranging them side by side, with space enough left at the edge of the tray so that the last egg may turn half over before striking the guard. It will be seen that if we turn the egg completely around, the yolk 4 Hatching with Incubators 151 will be in the same position as it was before. By passing the hands over the tops of the eggs we may roll them together into the new positions, and may roll them back again at evening with equal ease. Large machines have special arrangements for turning. See that the lamp is filled and regulated every morning. Take no chances toward the end of the hatch even if little oil is burned out. It may last - forty-eight hours and it may not. Watch the thermometer, to make sure that it is not touching the eggs, and keeps its position at about the level of the eggs throughout the hatch. Cool the eggs if you feel that you wish to do so, but remember that the best opinion to-day consid- ers that this will not increase the hatch. Test the eggs about the sixth day. Remove all infertile eggs, and those where the germs have died. After this, during the second week, the temper- ature will rise, and a smaller flame may be required. Regulate the thermostat, and keep the ther- mometer at about 102 degrees. The third week the body heat of the chicks will be still greater. Watch the thermometer and keep the temperature the third week at 103 degrees. 152 The Hen at Work After the eighteenth day let the eggs alone as far as possible. Keep the incubator door closed, and hold the heat constant till the hatch is over. Helping chicks out of the shell seldom pays. Those that are worth while hatching will take care of themselves. CHAPTER XII RAISING CHICKENS WITH HENS WHEN the chicks are hatched beneath the mother-hen there is always a temptation to find out how many there are, and to meddle with the old lady. At this point, however, she can be trusted to care for her little ones in the best way herself. One thing that may safely be done, how- ever, is to clear away pieces of shell about the nests, and all droppings and other litter. Remember that the chick absorbs the egg yolk before he comes out, and this provides him amply during the first forty-eight hours. He does not need food, and he ought not to have it. It frequently happens, however, that a few chicks run out around the mother before she is ready to leave the nest with the others, and it is a good plan to sprinkle some chick grit, some char- coal, and some cracked dry bone in chick size, on 153 154 The Hen at Work the floor about the nest. The chickens can scratch around and pick up what they please of these hard morsels, which will do them no harm and much good. Drinking Fountains.—Clear water must, of course, be provided at all times. The pictures show some useful fountains for watering chickens. Never place water in an open dish for chickens to drink. They are sure to fall into the dish now and then, often are drowned, and always scratch dirt into the water. The syphon fountains of crockery are especially good for little chicks. They: are easy to clean, heavy enough to keep upright, and provide water on all sides, if the chickens de- cide to take a drink together, which they fre- quently do. Syphon fountains made of galvanized iron are also good. Two types are shown in the picture. One allows the chickens to drink all around the edge. The other exposes the water at one point only. While the flock is small the chicks will find the water more easily from fountains where the water runs all around the edge. Later, after they are six weeks old, the large fountain is very satisfactory, as it holds a gallon, Raising Chickens with Hens 155 and exposes only a little water, keeping it fresh and clean for a long time. When the mother finally decides to lead the brood away from the nest, take the nest and unhatched eggs away, as it will be better for her to cover her chicks in a corner of the coop on fresh sand, ashes, or dirt. Insect life grows in the hatch- ing nest, and the quicker we can get it out of the way the better. The First Meal.—The first feed for the chicks after they have had their grit is an important matter. Among various feeds, one has found favor with so many experts, has given satisfaction over so wide a field, to such a vast number of chicks, as well as their owners, is right at hand in so many localities, and requires so little care to keep ready for the infant fowl, that it is recommended first, and before all others. This food is rolled oats. In the literature of poultrydom we find many receipts for preparing the first meal for baby chicks, and many of these doubtless prove satisfactory. Rolled oats, however, is the best diet for the small flock, for several reasons: Rolled oats do not vary. “Chick feed,’’ as it is known in the trade, may be one thing in Oregon, 156 The Hen at Work another in Ohio, and still different in Maine. The standard chick feeds of the last few years have varied so that a poor chicken would get cross-eyed trying to pick out the grains his grandma had when she was young. In all States and all seasons rolled oats are just rolled oats, and nothing else. They have the same food value, and you know what you are getting. Rolled oats are suited to young chickens. Testimony, from a wide field of experience, shows continued success with rolled oats as a food for baby chicks. The steam-rolling process seems to prepare them in exactly the right way to suit the _ chicks’ digestion. They are easy to see and pick up. The observer can readily tell when the chick has had enough. Chicks relish them greatly, being attracted both by sight and taste. Rolled oats are inexpensive, usually costing only a little more than chick feed, when purchased in bulk, and there are few spots in the country where they are not for sale. Where there is one fundamental food so dis- tinctly worth while there is no use wasting space discussing other foods. Make the beginning, then, with rolled oats. If you feel able to mix a hard- TURKEYS RAISED WITH CHICKENS Raising Chickens with Hens 157 boiled egg with them, so much the better. Infer- tile eggs taken from the incubator are good for this purpose. A hard-boiled egg, ground or crushed, shell and all, should be mixed with a cup of rolled oats. Sprinkle a tablespoon of this over a shallow pan, and place it where the chicks can reach it. Biddy will lead them aright. She should be fed, mean- while, with a handful of whole corn each morning and night, so she will not wish to eat too much chick feed. It is customary to advise removing the pans after ‘five minutes, and also to advise getting up with the sun to feed the babies before they get hungry. Busy people have a good deal on hand to be done, and while these rules may be proper for owners of large flocks, they are not suited, and fortunately not necessary, in all cases. If you can arrange it, leave the pan five or ten minutes, and then remove it, with what food is left. Tf not convenient to visit the chicks so often, simply feed just about what they will eat up clean. This is easy to adjust after one or two meals. While young they should be fed about five times a day. The food for the early meal may be 158 The Hen at Work sprinkled about the run after the chickens are abed. Plain rolled oats are suitable for this feed- ing. Then we can sleep on in peace without a thought of hungry chickens yelling for breakfast. Enlarging the Diet.—After the first day it will help to keep the chickens active if we sprinkle fine chick feed about in the run. Finely cracked corn and wheat, with pinhead oatmeal will do well, or any high-grade commercial chick feed, as we are not depending on this for a ration so much as for exercise. A handful twice a day for the first week and double that the second, will give them some- thing to dig for, assuming ten or a dozen chickens in the flock. A hopper should be hung on the inner wall of the coop, where the chickens can find it easily, in which fine charcoal, grit, and cracked bone are alwaysready. Oyster shell may be added, but this is not important for young stock. They will eat little from the hopper at first, but will soon be making frequent visits. Sifted coal ashes should be sprinkled over the floor of the coop. They are good to eat, makethe floor sweet, and keep lice down as nothing else of the kind will do. Worms for young chickens are of doubtful value. Raising Chickens with Hens _ 159 It certainly is not wise to feed many, or to let them run on land where many worms are present. Worms are heavy diet, and there is some proof that they may cause gapes, a disease of the throat, that weakens and often kills young stock. Se" =A ay i: Tr i Box for grit, bone, charcoal, and shell, hanging on the inside of a chicken coop, where chicks can help themselves Chickens which run loose, out of the coop, and round about, while the mother is confined, are always in danger. Cats, dogs, and other enemies are sure to get them, if they can, and if they run out in a larger yard, the other hens and chickens will pester them. They also get food not intended forthem. A wire run eight feet by four feet, eight- een inches high, will hold them comfortably for a 160 The Hen at Work month, when they can safely leave mother and run with the rest. The second week we can add bits of bread, boiled potato, and dry mash to their diet, while we double their ration of scratch grain. The dry mash should be three parts bran, one part corn meal, and one part good beef scraps. Feed a cupful of this for a flock of ten chickens’ in a little hopper, or long tray, during the afternoon. A tray made of three laths, nailed together, serves well for this. . Do not stop feeding rolled oats during this time. _ The other feed will form the addition needed to fill their crops as the chickens grow, but the rolled oats should form the basis of diet for three weeks. Feathers sprout evenly and quickly on a flock fed with rolled oats, and this is a result greatly to be desired. Green Stuff.—During the first week, chickens pay little attention to green stuff, and need little of it, but after that they crave it and should have it. Tender grass, cut short, is good. Tough grass, cut long, is deadly. Clover, cut short, lettuce, beet greens, and other tender leaves, are excellent. They want these greens fresh. There is no fear FEED TROUGHS Raising Chickens with Hens 161 of giving them too much, as they seldom overeat of this material. From now on, throughout life, summer and winter, some green stuff or succulent vegetable should be fed daily. It is of vital importance. When hens run about, in summer, they pick up enough for themselves, but when con- fined, and during winter months, such food must be provided. — The third week, then, the ten chicks will be having rolled oats, what they will eat clean in a few minutes, three or four times a; day, a cup of dry mash in the afternoon, charcoal, grit, cracked bone, and green food. After the third week the chick feed can give way to regular scratch grain—cracked corn, wheat, and cut oats. Whole oats are not relished, nor are they good food for chicks. If the rolled oats are continued another week, with cracked corn and wheat, the ration will be excellent. The dry mash, also, may now well give way to wet mash in the evening. Mix three parts of bran (pure, coarse, wheat bran), two parts corn meal, one part beef scraps. Wet this till it is thoroughly moistened, but not sloppy, and feed liberally, about an hour before they goto bed. The tray may be left before II 162 The Hen at Work them till they are all asleep. In this way we make sure that every one gets afull crop. It frequently happens that larger ones will push the others away at first, but if there is plenty of mash and plenty of time they will soon fill up and give every one a chance. No mash should be left in the run for them to get next morning. Chickens by Themselves.—After the fifth week it is safe to remove the mother and put her back into the laying house. If she stays longer with the chicks she will get fat and lazy. We are assuming now that the hens are confined to the laying house, and that the young stock has a separate place to run. The best plan is to arrange a yard, fifty feet square, or even larger, if possible, surrounded by a five- or six-foot wire fence. Inside this the various hatching coops and runs may stay in perfect safety from cats, dogs, and itinerant skunks. If this fenced-in yard is not possible, we can get good results by putting our runs on level grass lands, and moving them to a new bit of sod every two or three days. This is almost always possible even in a small yard, and strong pullets may be raised in an eight-by-four run, as many as twelve'in Raising Chickens with Hens 163- a run, until it is time to put them in the laying house. The coop should be cleaned out at least twice a week, and dry earth or coal ashes sprinkled on the floor. CHAPTER XIII RAISING INCUBATOR CHICKS _ ALTHOUGH it is not always desirable to use in- cubators for home poultry purposes, neither does it pay to fuss with setting hens, when you can possibly find time to give incubator chicks a fair start. If home incubation is not feasible we can depend upon ‘‘day-old’”’ chicks from reliable poultry men. The methods used are the same whether you raise chicks hatched in your own incubator, or buy them from others. In buying day-old chicks you know just when you are going to have your chicks, and how many you are going to have. You start the flock off together, give it the necessary care when young, wean it from the brooder in four or five weeks, watch it a little after that at nightfall, and you have no more bother with heat or cold, chick feed, and general nursery business. With setting hens ' 164 ‘Raising Incubator Chicks 165 we might have to fiddle around half the summer, building up the flock. Do not try to start day-old chicks unless you are ready to give them exactly the protection they need. Rapidly as this business has grown, it would have grown far more rapidly had it not been for hundreds of beginners, or lack-wits, who tried to offer the chicks something just as good. Poultry that is well grown will stand a good deal of neglect without fatal results, but little chicks droop and die quickly if their quarters are not what they need. It so happens that it is an easy matter, with modern machines, to supply them with just the right conditions at little cost. There are nearly as many hovers on the market as there are incubators, and many of them are excellent. For the large flock of chickens, a hun- _ dred or more, the coal-heated hover with the large metal drum, is so simple, successful, and easy to manage that it is hard to see how one can fail to succeed with it. It may be set up in any small house, large enough to hold it, and give room enough to move about, where drafts will not blow across the hover. 166 The Hen at Work With a hover of this type the warmest zone is around the edge of the drum, where there is fresh air, and no chance to crowd. Full directions will come with each machine as to regulation and temperature. About ninety-five degrees is usually correct for the high point. The great advantage lies in the fact that the chick is free to choose for himself just how warm he wants to be. On cold nights he will snuggle under the curtain and stick just his head outside to get fresh air. If the night gets warmer he will push out a little; and with a decided rise in the tempera- ture he will move an inch or two away from the rim, and the flock will lie on the litter in a big circle all about the hover, like camels about a desert caravan. If the brooder house is on the ground, be sure to nail chicken wire, two feet wide with one-inch mesh, to the bottom of the house, all round, and bury it slanting out, a foot or so under ground. This will keep rats from digging under. It may very well be that you do not plan to raise more than a hundred chickens, nor to spend ten or fifteen dollars for a large hover. For. such people a smaller hover is made in just the same Raising Incubator Chicks 167 style, heated by a kerosene lamp, and costing four or five dollars. | A brief consideration will make it plain that this type of hover is far easier to handle than one where a box or chamber is heated to shelter the chicks. In such a hover the temperature must be exactly right, for the chick has no chance to regulate mat- ters for himself. The matter of ventilation is also important. With this large drum the chick simply cannot be stifled, or stunted by poor ventilation, because he has all the air in the room about him to breathe, not that in a small enclosed closet. Another point in its favor is that the heat radiates from above.