SIDE LINE
POULTRY KEEPING

BY EDGAR WARREN

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PUBLISHED BY
CLARENCE C. DE PUY. Syracuse, N. Y.
1911

Glass

Book

SIDE LINE
POULTRY KEEPING

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“TWO DOLLARS a DAY
FROM POUUTRY ann EGGS”

REVISED AND IMPROVED.

BY EDGAR WARREN.

PRICE 50 CENTS.

Published by
CLARENCE C. DePUY,
Syracuse, N. Y.
1911.

Copyrighted as **l!'wo Dollars a Day from Poultry and Eggs,” 1902.

EDGAR L. WARREN.
(Edgar Warren.)

Copyrighted as ““T!wo Dollars a Day from Poultry and Eggs,” 1909,

EDGAR WARREN.

Copyrighted as “Side Line Poultry Keeping,” 1911.
EDGAR WARREN,

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CHAPTER I.

Side-Line Poultry Keeping.

This book is rewritten to meet the needs of those who
wish to keep poultry as a side line. So far as the author
knows it occupies a field peculiarly its own. Many books
have been written about poultry keeping the past few years,
and many articles have appeared in the papers on the subject,
but the books and articles have been written either to give
the general principles underlying poultry culture, to exploit
some “system” or to describe some mammoth plant in which
the writer or advertiser is interested. ‘The man who wishes
to keep hens as a side line, to add a few hundred dollars a
year to his income or to reduce family expenses has been
neglected.

Side line poultry keeping is destined to assume vast promi-
nence in the future. There are two great movements in
progress in the industrial world: the first is the movement to
shorten the hours of labor; the second is the tendency ot
everything we buy to increase in price. The mechanic re-
ceives good wages and works short hours, but he can hardly
support his family, to say nothing of laying up something for
astainy day. lithe isto get ahead,.if he os. 'to have a bank
account, if he is ever to own a home, he must have some side
line to occupy his spare hours and add to his monthly income.

The side line poultry keeper has certain great advantages.
He does not take the chances the man takes who gives up his
regular work to engage in the poultry business. His trade
or occupation will give him a living while he is learning. He
can besin ‘small)“and grow: Then he *has»a market. The
side-line poultry keeper is generally located in a city or large
country village, and has customers at his doors. He takes
every profit. He gets the whole of the consumer’s dollar.
Not so the man who is back on the farm. He sells to the
grocer, who in turn sells to the commission merchant, who
sells to the retail dealer, who sells to the consumer. At least
three profits are sacrificed. ‘The side liner can make his hens
pay him at least a dollar more a head a year than can the man
hack on the farm.

4

According to the census of 1910 there were 91,972,266
people in the continental United States, and of these 42,623,383
lived in urban and 49,348,883 in rural territory. ‘lown-folk
made up 46.3 per cent and country folk 53.7 per cent of our
people. In 1900 the two elements stood at 40.5 and 59.5 per
cent, respectively. Seven-tenths of our total gain in the dec-
ade from 1900 to 1910 went to urban territory ; in other words,
consumers are increasing more than twice as fast as pro-
ducers.

Such being the case, the city must produce some of its
own food or go hungry. Within the five-cent carfare zone of
many of our cities there are houses with land that can be
rented for less than a man would have to pay for far less
desirable quarters in the congested district. What a blessing
it would be to many a clerk or mechanic to move back a few
miles from City Hall and rent one of these places! Wath his
garden and small fruits and a good flock of hens he could
easily pay his rent and lay up something besides. The pro-
ductive years in a man’s life are few at best, and unless he
makes the most of them he faces an old age of penury and
want.

A CASE IN PROINT——MiR. FH. DUNWAP One Wito l
SALISBURY © NH. "CLEARED $1 183:05 EROM
POULTRY AND VEGES IN =tot0:

Up among the hills of New Hampshire, in the little town
of Salisbury, one hundred miles from the metropolis of New
England, lives a man whom I greatly admire and respect.
Big hearted, broad minded, breezy and optimistic, he is a good
type of the men who are making this country great. Con-
ducting the village store and postoffice, with not more than
two hours a day on an average to devote to outside affairs,
he has developed a poultry business which netted him
$1,188.05 profit in 1910.

There were three sons in his father’s family, and it was
quite a question which one should stay at home to look after
the old folks and carry on the father’s business. The lot
finally fell to Frank. He took his place behind the counter,
married and settled down, and became a permanent fixture in
the little village where he was born and passed his boyhood
days.

The young man was soon confronted by a serious prob-
lem, and that was how to get ahead in the world. The profits

5)

of the store were just about enough to support his family,
but not enough to enable him to lay by anything. So he
began to set his mind to work to devise means by which he
might add to his income.

The story of the way in which he was led to take up
poultry keeping as a side line is most interesting and amusing.
One morning after he returned home from the city where he
had been employed he was making a tour of the premises and
for some reason or other went down into the barn basement.
As he opened the door he was set upon by about twenty
gaunt. and eager hens, which, as he expressed it, seemed
hungry enough to eat him up. Returning to the house, he
asked his mother who fed the hens. She said, “I don’t know;
your father, I suppose.” Hunting up his father, he put to
him the same question. ‘Fred does, I guess,” said his father.
Hunting up his brother, he asked, “Fred have you fed the
hens?” “Well, no, not to-day; I fed them yesterday, or day
before, I forget which.” “That settles it,’ said Frank. “I
will feed them myself.” So he got some grain, gave the hens
a breakfast, rinsed out the water dish and gave them fresh,
clean water to drink, and in this way “adopted” the home-
flock of poultry as his part of the family chores. He kept an
account of the grain, meal, etc., which he used in feediing
them, fed them what he felt was a good ration, and in two
weeks’ time those hens, which before had been laying scarcely
an egg a day, were turning out a dozen eggs a day, and at the
price his father allowed him for them at the store he could
see better than a hundred per cent profit in those dozen eggs
a day.

AE P OUI RY, RIAN,

Mr. Dunlap’s plant, as it exists to-day, is an expansion
from that small begininng. It is not a large plant, two and
one-half acres of sandy land shaped like a capital L. On
what might be called the base or foot of the L are the dwelling
house and stable, a small lawn and garden, and the laying
houses. 'On the shait or stem ofthe L are eight chicken
houses, each 8 x 12 feet, situated one ahead of the other until
the whole shaft is filled. I visited the plant in November,
1902, and again in August, 1911, and found that the plant had
not grown in the meantime. There are two reasons for this:
1. The difficulty in getting more land; for, strange to say, in
the country it is often impossible to induce the owner of a

6

piece of land to sell. 2. The fact that the plant as it exists
now is about all Mr. Dunlap can handle in the limited time
at his command.

The poultry houses are good, substantial buildings, but not
costly or elaborate. ‘The eight chicken houses are each 8 x 12
feet, eight feet high in front and five feet at the back, with a
lean-to shed roof. , They are built of hemlock boards, covered
with roofing fabric or half-inch hemlock sheathing; the roofs
are shingled. All these houses have board floors, eighteen
inches from the ground, and the chicks run under these houses
in the summer.

There are five laying houses on the plant, three 30x 12,
one 60x 12, and one 44x14. These houses are divided into
pens ten feet wide, and in the winter accommodate about 500
head of laying stock. Two of these laying houses are two-
story affairs, the upper stories being utilized for setting hens
in spring. The houses have cement floors. They are not
model houses in any way, but just plain, serviceable houses
such as have grown out of the builder’s needs.

Ee AN LING SPOCK

Mr. Dunlap aims to winter five hundred head of laying
stock—four hundred pullets and one hundred year-old hens.
These are kept in flocks of twenty-five each. The majority
of the birds are Rhode Island Reds, although there are a few
White Leghorns. There are also crosses of the two breeds.

METHOD: OF HEE DING.

Mr. Dunlap has developed a method of feeding, highly
original and exceedingly effective. Where one wants a large
egg output and is willing to put in a little extra time for the
sake of getting it, no better method could be adopted. It is
an economical method in all but time, the feed-bills being
only about two-thirds what they would be under a different
SV Svem

Mr. Dunlap sticks to the wet mash. Every morning in
the year his hens are fed a warm mash, mixed up the night
before and so compounded that when fed it is moist and
crumbly, but not sloppy. In the chapter on. “The Laying
Stock” I say that one of the fundamental things in feeding
hens is to give them variety. Mr. Dunlap believes in this.
He has four combinations, which he feeds on consecutive
days, and which | will describe, designating each day by the
leading ingredient in the combination.

7

Boiled Potato Day.—Boiled potatoes, one peck; gluten,
four quarts. The potatoes.are boiled the night before; the
gluten is added after the potatoes are boiled; the mass 1s
allowed to stand on the stove over night.

In the morning add two quarts bran, two quarts “prov-
ender’ .(crackedscorm and oats); three pints of beef scrap or
animal meal.

Steamed Clover Day.— Take a peck of second-crop clover
hay, chopped fine, pour on boiling water and let it stand in a
covered kettle over night. In the morning add bran, prov-
ender and beef scraps as on “Boiled Potato Day.”

Waste Bread Day.—Mr. Dunlap buys waste bread by the
barrel, having it shipped up from Boston. ‘This is soaked
over night in boiling water, and in the morning bran, prov-
ender and beef scraps are added as before.

Oats and Gluten Day.—Soak eight quarts of oats in boiling
water; pour off some of the water and add two quarts gluten;
mix them well together and let stand in covered kettle over
“night. In the morning add the same combination as on other
days.

Salt is added to all these combinations in limited amount,
except when waste: bread-is ded.) “his-.contains a, small
amount of salt which was put in before it was baked.

In giving the formulas I have been careful about prepara-
tion rather than to give the exact amount to feed to a given
number of hens. The reader will have to learn how much his
hens need by experience; they will need more on some days
than on others. Feed all the mash they will eat up clean in
from fifteen to twenty minutes. Never leave any uneaten
mash in the dishes to sour.

In the moulting season Mr. Dunlap frequently adds a
quart of linseed meal to the combination, to promote the
growth of feathers.

Besides the morning mash Mr. Dunlap keeps a hopper of
dry feed in each pen all the time, so that the biddies can help
themselves. The combination is as follows: Two quarts
alfalfa; two quarts bran; two quarts “‘provender” (cracked
corn and oats) ; one quart chopped clover ; one quart middlings ;
one and one-half quarts beef scraps or boiled beef and bone;
a little salt; a little charcoal.

If the hens are laying heavily and growing light, add two
quarts corn meal to the dry feed.

8

The greater part of the day Mr. Dunlap is employed at his
store, which is about a hundred yards from his place, so that it
is necessary for him to economize in time in every way. Asa
matter of fact he does not have more than two hours a day
on the average to devote to his fowls; if he gets more he has
to take it out of the night. There are certain seasons of the
year when he has to work by lantern light long after everyone
else in the little village has gone to sleep. He has an hour at
noon in which to eat his dinner, feed and water the hens,
collect the eggs and do any little chore about the houses that
must be done. In this noon hour Mr. Dunlap gives his hens
their grain for the day. He selects the grain that he thinks
will balance the ration fed in the morning and throws down
enough to keep the hens scratching in the deep litter a good
part of the afternoon... Boiled’, Potato Day- hesiceds oats:
wheat, cracked corn or barley, sometimes separately, some-
times in combination. Steamed Clover Day he feeds cracked.
corn; Waste Bread Day, wheat; Oats and Gluten Day, barley
or buckwheat. .

Every fall Mr. Dunlap swaps one hundred bushels of hen
manure for one hundred bushels of turnips, and this gives
him his yearly supply of green food without any money cost.
These turnips are cut through the middle, the two halves
thrown on the floor of the pen, where the hens find them and
devour them greedily.

Upon referring to the figures which Mr. Dunlap gives us
ffor 1910 it will be seen that he paid out for feed during the
year $86.45. This is exceedingly small, when you reflect
that he sometimes has five hundred head of laying stock and a
thousand chicks on hand. Mr. Dunlap keeps down his feed
bills in several ways. He buys in ton lots, and gets the dis-
‘count. He mixes up everything himself, and does not pay a
‘poultry sales house to do it for him. He utilizes waste mate-
‘rial as far as possible and turns his Yankee shrewdness in
‘trade to good account. ‘Thus his green feed does not cost
him a penny: the clover hay he cuts himself; the boiled pota-
toes are small unmarketable potatoes which can be bought
for a few cents a bushel. In other words, he makes every-
thing tell.

REARING “THE. CHICKS:

Limitations of space forbid me to enter into detail about
this part of Mr. Dunlap’s work. Like everything he does, his

9

method of rearing the chicks is original and instructive. He
hatches under hens and broods in brooders. In my mention
of his laying stock I said that he aimed to winter five hundred
head—four hundred pullets and one hundred yearling hens.
The eggs for hatching come from the year-old hens—Mr.
Dunlap believes that one gets stronger chicks in this way.
Pullets are employed for sitters. “The meanest part of my
work,” says Mr. Dunlap, “is taking the chicks away from the
mothers. I feel ashamed to look a hen in the face.’ He
believes that it does a hen good to hatch a brood of chicks;
she will lay all the better for the rest and change. Two
brooders are installed in each of the eight small houses I have
described, and each brooder is filled with chicks. “I aim to
put fifty in a batch,” says Mr. Dunlap, “but often I am obliged
to put in from sixty to eighty.” ‘The chicks are fed on chick
feed at first, but after a few weeks are fed much the same as
the hens. The yards where they are confined are as bare of
grass as a bald-headed man’s pate is of hair. Mr. Dunlap is
obliged to cut grass and throw it into the yards for green
teed:

“Are you ever troubled with white diarrhoea?”

“Sometimes—I don’t know any poultryman that isn't.”

“What do you do for it?”

“T use ammoniated citrate of iron, which I buy at the drug
store. I put a quarter of a teaspoonful in a quart of water—
enough to turn the water quite red—and let them take their
own medicine. I keep this up a week or ten days, making the
solution weaker as the chicks get over their trouble.”

MARKETING THE PRODUCT.

On account of his location, so remote from a big city, Mr.
Dunlap is at a great disadvantage in marketing his product.
He ships to Boston, selling to commission merchants there.
He ships in 49-dozen egg cases and ships every day. The
stage takes the case from his store to North Boscowan, and
the express takesit there. It costs him ZO cents a case to get
the eggs to Boston, and there is the commission to be de-
ducted besides. Mr. Dunlap does not get fancy prices for
his eggs. Fifty cents in winter is the top price, and they go
as low as eighteen cents in the spring. “If I were near a good
market,” he says, “I could make at least one-third more every
wear than Edo.’

Besides his remoteness from market Mr. Dunlap has to

10

contend with the rigorous winters of Central New Hampshire.
“I have seen the houses so covered with snow that I could
barely discern their outlines. In one big storm all | could
see was the roofs. It took me from 7 o'clock in the morning
until 1 o'clock in the afternoon to shovel paths and get the
hens fed. ‘Confound the poultry business! it’s too strenuous
for me,’ I thought. But that day I took ten dollars and
seventy-five cents’ worth of eggs out of the houses, and the
feed cost just an even two dollars. ;

“When I was here before, in 1902, you sold your fowls
alive. Do you do so now?”

“No; I have a better way. I pay a man eight cents a head
to come to the house and get the fowls, take them home, kill
and dress them, ship them to Boston and sell them to com-
mission merchants there: All I have to-do is to furnish the
fowls and take the check.”

“You think it better to kill and dress than to ship alive?”

“T do. There is quite a shrinkage in weight on live fowls.
Then the commission men will write you that they found one
or two dead in each crate. It’s a lie; but you can’t prove it.
I get five cents a pound more on an average on each fowl, and
the express rate is less. The gain is about twenty-five cents a

bitds

93

$1,188.05 PROFIT IN 1910.

Mr. Dunlap very kindly drew up for me a balance sheet
of his business for 1910. lhe figures are so inspirme, and
instructive that I reproduce them here:

Poultry in account with

BEL: Dunlap.

Debtor.
Jane Si io. 570? birds ominamds@) 75 caeetenc nae eee $ 427.50
Oct. 14 Lorcash: paid’ for breeding:stockrn...e-0-. 23.00
Dec: Sl ~ To,cash paid foriecd ior year.... 44. .0.0% 867.45
SiS t725

Creditor.
Deexs li By.625; binds. on handa(@_ 7561.5. + eee $ 468.75
Dec: $i “By 63,020 eges laideduring sean: ae eee 1,621.91
Dec. sl) = By poultry. sold durine spear.) Se ee 415.34
2,906.00)

Profit forey ear? 005.0 eesccls «fe ole eS $1,188.05

{Le SOWA Cag Bet ings ol waynes ear ag aL PR oa age ee $22
PGS tC; ICA PURE CES evkGc cose ied Sectae sats oe $3.2
No account is made for fowls consumed on the home table.

He BAGANGH Srni TOR. THE -YRARS.

Mr. Dunlap began his experiment with hens in 1886, and
began in avery small way. It took him six or eight years to
get his plant to its present size, and he has not attempted to
increase it. But each year he makes it pay a little more. He
took up poultry keeping as a means of getting something
ahead. And in this he has been eminently successful. The
profits for the twenty-five years have been $13,400.41. In other
words, he is $13,400.41 better off than he would have been if
hevhad not made the “experiment Outiof the. profits oi ;his
flock he has bought his land, erected his poultry buildings,
built a fine house and stable, installed a water system, bought
a horse, wagon, sleigh and harness, made necessary repairs;
and should have a surplus of $7,255.41 wisely invested, as no
doubt he has. Besides the financial returns poultry keeping
has given him a new interest in life, has made him many
pleasant acquaintances and friends, and has given him quite
a renown. It certainly “has ‘paid.

MRK A KICEARDSON, A. SHO CULTER IN HAVER
Pee MASS. ATID, BY SUO0931- IN 1910
FROM HIS HENS.

I could go on and cite instance after instance where men
are making good money on the side with their hens, but I
have not space to do so. Nor is it necessary. ‘Two or three
examples are as good as a thousand. Mr. Dunlap is an illus-
tration of what a man way back in the country can do. I am
now going to show the possibilities of a city lot.

Mr. R. A. Richardson is a shoe cutter in Haverhill, Mass.,
a city of about forty thousand inhabitants, situated on the
banks of the rolling Merrimac. He has been interested in
poultry for many years and when he was younger bred show
specimens. ;

Twelve years ago Mr. Richardson began to think seriously
about the future. He was married and had a little family, and
had nothing to support them but his earnings at the shoe
bench. Shoe manufacturing is a peculiar business. ‘I'wice a
year the shops shut down for several weeks, or run with a
reduced force, and although a shoe cutter makes good wages

iz
when he works, there is much lost time. Suppose sickness
should come, or accident, what would happen? What would
become of him and his family when he was too old to work?
for in shoe factories young men are given the preference. Mr.
Richardson saw but one chance for himself, and that was to
take up a side line. But what should it be? He had no cap-
ital and no credit; literally, not a dollar in the world.

His thoughts turned to the poultry business, with which
he had some acquaintance. He could start in that with very
little capital. Mr. Richardson had visited the shows and he
knew that many people were interested in fancy poultry. He
had read of the prices paid for exhibition stock. He reasoned
out that for him there was a better field in utility than in
exhibition stock; for ten persons are interested in utility stock
to one who is interested in show specimens.

Mr. Richardson started out with the ambition to produce
the greatest strain of layers in the world, and settled upon the
White Wyandotte as the bird best adapted to his purpose.
The White Wyandotte lays a brown egg, and a brown egg is
called for in the Boston market. The White Wyandotte has
a large breast development, which makes it an ideal bird for a
broiler. It is larger than. the Leghorn and makes better
poultry. It seemed to combine all the good qualities more
than any other breed.

Mr. Richardson reasoned out that the only way to get
great layers was to breed from great layers, and he installed
trap nests and kept the record of every hen. This he could
not possibly have done without the assistance of his wife.
“She is as interested in the business as I am,” said Mr. Rich-
ardson to the writer. While he stood at the bench day after
day cutting out soles and uppers, his wife was busy with the
birds, and every time a hen laid an egg she was given credit
for it in a book. As a result of this careful, conscientious
work carried on for twelve consecutive years Mr. Richardson
has developed a strain of phenomenal layers.

When his strain was sufficiently established to justify it,
Mr. Richardson began to advertise in the poultry papers. He
now has calls for stock from all over the United States and
Canada, and from across the water. He does not get the
prices fanciers get for their birds, but still receives a satis-
factory remuneration. The highest price he ever received
was $45 for a cockerel and hen; but $25 for a cockerel and $10
to $15 for a pullet are not uncommon figures. Of course he

13

has many birds that he sells for much less. From the sale
of breeding stock and eggs for hatching combined with market
eggs and fowls sold for eating, Mr. Richardson cleaned up
$1,009.31 in 1910, and kept his job as a shoe cutter besides!

Mr. Richardson has an acre of land on Linwood street in
Haverhill, about a mile and a half from the center of the city.
_ The ground is high, and the view from the plant is delightful.
The buildings are not imposing. There is a long laying house
60x12 feet, divided into six pens, with dirt floors. This
house is cheaply constructed and is covered with a red roofing
paper. He has a chicken’ house 25x8, ‘divided into three
pens, and a brooder house 6x6. “Put your money in stock
rather than in buildings,” is Mr. Richardson’s advice, and he
practices what he preaches. “Start with the best stock you
canmeoet hold-“of. Pay .$25.‘ior a> singles bird, “ii. necessary.
Don’t hesitate a minute, if it is worth it. The more money
you pay for stock, other things being equal, the more money
your stock will earn for you.”

Mr. Richardson's poultry business is growing so fast that
he is seriously contemplating giving up his job in the shoe
shop and devoting all his time to it. He is negotiating for
two acres of land which joins his, and if he gets it will greatly
enlarge his plant. He now carries from 150 to 175 breeding
birds through the winter and raises about 300 chicks.

Twelve years ago Mr. Richardson did not have a cent.
He now owns a house and lot, has a good equipment and has
money in the bank—all the result of side-line poultry keeping.
And he is a comparatively young man yet!

CHAPTER 11.

Making a Start.

The great advantage of side-line poultry keeping is that a
man can make a start and get his experience while working
at his regular busihess. I hope the reader of this book will
dismiss from his mind at once any thought that poultry keep-
ing is a get-rich-quick scheme. It is not. ‘There is good
money in the business, as I have shown and shall show, but
not every one can get hold of it. Doubtless the proportion of
failures is as great in the poultry business as in any other.
Riding through the country one sees plant after plant aban-
doned and falling into decay. One is continually meeting the
man who was once enthusiastic over poultry keeping, but is
now disillusioned and tells you sadly, “There’s nothing in it.”
And when a man buys a poultry farm his neighbors shake
their heads and prophesy failure.

EXPERIENCE NECESSARY.

The causes of failure in the poultry business are doubtless
as numerous as in any other, but the cause that is the most
prolific is inexperience. ‘There are three things that every
man seems to think he can do: preach the Gospel,: edit a
newspaper, and runa poultry plant. But he finds if he tackles
any one of these jobs that he is up against a bigger proposition
than he realized.

Some time ago I received a letter from a woman whose
husband had made some money in the drug business and now
wanted to get away from it into the freer life of the farm.
There was a poultry plant near where they lived that was for
sale, the owner haying made a failure of it, and the woman
wrote me to know what chance her husband would have for
success if he sold his store and bought the plant, knowing
nothing of the business. I wrote back that he would have just
exactly the same chance that a man would have who knew
nothing of the drug business and who should buy out her hus-
band’s store. Set it down as the basic principle in all your
calculations, that the poultry business requires just as careful

1S)

an apprenticeship as any other, and that the man who is to
succeed must know it root and branch.

BEGIN SMALL AND GROW.

Fortunately a man can serve his apprenticeship to the
poultry business while he is earning his bread and butter at
something else, and this to me is one of its chief charms. In
what other business in the world can a man begin so small
and invest so little money at the start? If a man has an old
dry goods box at his command, a sitting hen and a clutch of
eggs, he can set his feet in a path that may lead on to fortune.

Says “Commercial Poultry”: “It is a matter of history
that nearly every one of the large poultry plants in the United
States that has proved successful has been built up from a
‘small foundation. It is also a matter of history that there are
a number of large plants that have proved unsuccessful and
unprofitable simply because the owner undertook to accom-
plish something without fitting himself for the task. Those
who have succeeded have been content to start in a small way
and expand as their knowledge of the business and their
abiulty to handle it warranted the expansion.

“Take; for. instance, the plant of U. R. Fishel at Hope,
Ind., White Leghorn Poultry Farm at-Waterville, N. Y., H. J.
Blanchard at Groton, N. Y., Henry Van Dreser at Cobleskill,
N. Y., and many other of the largest and most profitable plants
in the country—each of them had a small beginning and
simply grew into the mammoth institutions that they are
to-day. |

“U. R. Fishel started with a few hens in a back yard a
dozen years ago. ‘To-day he has 120 acres devoted to poultry
and does an annual business very close to the $20,000 mark.
The White Leghorn Poultry Farm at Waterville, N. Y., is the
outgrowth of a score of hens kept in a house less than eight
feet square the first winter. To-day the farm consists of
about 160 acres—with a recent addition—with a score or more
of large houses, the largest being 500 feet long. Although ten
thousand S$. C. White Leghorns are raised annually upon this
farm, the demand for stock and eggs nearly always exceeds
the supply. H. J. Blanchard of Groton, N. Y., has become
wealthy from his chicken business, although he has a farm of
but twenty acres. Henry Van Dreser started in a small way
and to-day has one of the largest commercial and fancy poultry
plants in the East.”

16 -

“The same is true of almost every large poultry plant in
the country. There are’ a few,:to be sure; that have been
started On an extensive scale by men of wealth, but if they
have proved successful it is because experienced poultrymen
have been employed to manage them.”

THEIRS) CLEP.

Suppose a man has no practical knowledge of the poultry
business, but has become interested in it from reading about
it in the papers and talking with friends, how would I advise
him to proceed? It would depend something upon the season
of the year. Suppose it to be fall. I would advise him to send
away toa breeder of established reputation for a breeding pen
of the variety he has selected. A breeding pen consists of a
male and four females, and may generally be purchased for
from $15 to $25. The breeding pen may consist of four pul-
lets and a cock, but I think it better to reverse the arrange-
ment and purchase four hens and a cockerel. Pullets are all
right to breed from, provided they are mature; but these are
the kind the breeder does not care to sell. On the other hand,
he is always ready to dispose of his mature birds. From such
a pen as this a man should get from 150 to 200 chicks in the
spring, and have a good number of choice pullets and cockerels
in the ‘fall. :

Four hens will not be enough to keep a vigorous cockerel
at work, and so I would advise the beginner to pick up eight
mature, well-grown pullets around home. These may be put
in‘the pen with the rest. But before this is done, they should
be well dusted with some good insect powder, for farmers’
hens are proverbially lousy and if not “doctored” will infect
the rest:

These eight pullets of nondescript variety will do for sitters
and mothers in the spring. The four hens should give you at
least 60 eggs apiece during the hatching season, and if the
eggs are reasonably fertile you should get from 150 to 200
chicks. From these you should get a good number of pullets
in the fall.

The advantage of starting with a breeding pen is that one
will be likely to have eggs on hand whenever they are wanted,
and there are no delays, no eggs chilled or broken in transit.
The male with which you started should be kept the second
year and mated with pullets of his own get.

Starting in the spring one would naturally begin with eggs.

Ie

You will need at least 100 to give you anything of a start, and
these will cost you $10. Beware of cheap eggs and cheap
stock. You will never be satisfied until you get good standard
bred fowls, and these cannot be produced or sold for the price
you pay for dunghills. It has been my experience that the
birds I paid the most for at the start were the greatest money-
makers in the end.

MEE PONI_Y -PEOROUGHBRE Ds:

It seems almost unnecessary at this stage of the world’s
history to advise the prospective poultryman to keep only
thoroughbreds, and yet one still meets the man who insists
that crosses or mongrels lay as well and pay better than they.
Let us examine this proposition a moment. If mongrels and
crosses lay as well and pay better than thoroughbreds, why is
it that the great commercial plants throughout the land have
discarded them in favor of standard-bred fowls? Why is it
that the great egg records, as shown by the trap nest, uni-
formly come from thoroughbreds and not from mongrels or
crosses? It costs no more to raise a thoroughbred than a
dunghill, no more to feed it after it is raised. A flock of birds
of one variety looks better than a flock made up of everything
under the sun, and will do better. Different breeds require
different treatment, and where they are all mixed up in one
flock conditions cannot help being unfavorable to some. Eggs
coming from one breed are more uniform, and when the birds
are sent to market they bring two or three cents more a pound
than a mixed lot. Where a man keeps only pure-bred fowls
of some popular strain he can, even without advertising, sell
a good many sittings of eggs to his neighbors in the spring
and dispose of his surplus cockerels to them in the fall. Time
and time again have | had visitors come to my place, who had
no intention of purchasing when they came, who became so
fascinated at what they saw of my beautiful White Wyan-
dottes that they placed a good order with me before they
went away.

BREED SEA SPAY.

One of the difficulties of the beginner is to determine what
variety to keep. The latest edition of the Standard of Per-
fection recognizes seventy-five or more varieties of the do-
mestic fowl, not including Bantams, which are miniature or
dwarf specimens of the various breeds. Should a man in this

18

undecided state of mind visit a great show in which are
exhibited the best specimens of all the leading varieties—the
aristocrats of Poultrydom—his confusion becomes worse con-
founded; and should he run across champions of several of
the leading breeds and let them talk to him for half an hour
each, his mind will be in such a whirl that it is impossible for
him to make a decision. It is to‘help. clear-up the whole
matter that this section is written.

The money-making varieties may be counted up on the
fingers of both hands. I do not mean by this that men do not
make money on other varieties, for they do; but there are six
or eight varieties which pay well in the hands of almost any-
one. Ifa man is to become a fancier or a specialist it may be
wise for him to go afield and take an entirely different breed;
but 1f a man 1s after a safe, conservative proposition he would
better stick to the varieties I am about to mention.

1. The Leghorns. Brown and White. The Leghorns have
been denominated “egg machines,’ and they well deserve the
appellation. They are prolific producers of white eggs; mature
early, are active, hardy and do not eat so much as the larger
breeds. Non sitters. In some markets white eggs are demand-
ed by the best trade, and command a premium.

2. Rhode Island Reds. A valuable addition to the Amer-
ican class. Hardy, good layers of brown eggs, a rich yellow
carcass, good table bird. Mature early.

3. The Wyandottes.. White, Columbian and Buff. Per-
haps the most popular breed in the country to-day. Prolific
layers of brown eggs; yellow skin and legs. A prime table
fowl. A favorite on broiler plants. “No matter when you kill
them, you’ve always got something.”

4. Plymouth Rocks. Barred and White. A close second
to the Wyandottes in the race for popularity. A fancier’s
and a farmer’s bird. The Barred Rock is known as the busi-
ness hen. Hardy, large sized, prolific layers of brown eggs;
killed and dressed they make splendid poultry.

5. Black Minorcas. A handsome showy bird of the Med-

iterranean class. In size nearly equal to the Plymouth Rock.
Heavy layers of large white eggs. Fair poultry.

6. Black Langshans. A noble bird of the Asiatic class.
Large size, the cock weighing 10 pounds. Excellent table

at)

fowl, the meat having a delicious flavor, and the bones being
small. Lay a beautiful brown egg.

7. The Orpingtons. Buff, Black and White. Large, stately
birds; larger even than the Plymouth Rocks. Rightly handled
they make excellent layers. Good table fowls. They would
seem to have a great future.

EXHIBITION POU TRY.

Men who engage in poultry keeping as a side line are ina
peculiarly favorable situation to take up the breeding of exhi-
bition birds. As a general thing they have more money to
spare for foundation stock and poultry appliances than the
man who attempts to run a poultry farm. Then with their
time and mind largely occupied with other things they turn to
poultry keeping as a recreation, and do not become weary of
the infinite details that make drudgery of the practical poultry-
man’s day. Consequently they give their stock better care.
There are many who, if they realized the money there is in
breeding exhibition birds, would make an attempt to get some
of it. There are rich men who are willing to pay almost fabu-
lous sums for birds that can win the blue ribbon at one of the
large shows. And the market for such fowls is not confined to
the limits of the United States, but is as wide as the world.
George H. Northup of Raceville, N. Y., recently sold to Henry -
Schultz von Schultzenstein of Berlin, Prussia, two rose comb
Black Minorca cocks for $500 and $1000 each respectively. The
19 birds which he sold to this gentleman brought him in $3400.
Mr. Northup gets $25 a sitting for eggs from his best pens.
William Barry Owen of Vineyard Haven, Mass., has in his
circular a list of 30 fowls, the value of which is $10,000. The
leader of the list is a Black Orpington cock which won first
New York, first Boston, 1906, first world’s trophy, Crystal
Palace, London, 1905, and is valued at $750.

The record, however, was reached in March, 1908, when
Madame Helena Paderewski of Morges, Switzerland, wife of
the world-famous pianist, paid to Ernest Kellerstrass of Kan-
sas City, Missouri, $7500 for five crystal strain White Orping-
tons, the highest price ever paid for standard-bred birds since
the world began. Mr. Kellerstrass refused $2500 for one hen,
“Peggy,” as it was named after his little girl, and, being a rich
man, he did not need the money.

. These of course are top-notch prices, and are paid only for

20

world-beaters, but $100 for a single bird and $10 a sitting for
eggs are everyday occurrences. Even at one of the smaller
shows a winner in one of the popular classes will bring from
$25 to $50. The beauty of this branch of the business is that
it does not require a large amount of land nor a large outlay
for buildings, and a man who has skill in mating may grow a
blue-ribbon winner in his back yard.

Ws PLO Sie LEM,

There are, as everybody knows, two systems of keeping
fowls—the intensive and the extensive. ‘The intensive makes
the individual the unit and seeks to secure the largest profit
possible from each hen; the extensive makes the flock the unit
and seeks to secure the profit from the aggregate of fowls
rather than from the individual. The Philo System is the in-
tensive system carried to a point that many would consider
extreme. Six females and one male constitute a unit or flock.
These little flocks are kept in houses which Mr. Philo describes
in his book, each flock having a house of its own. There are
two styles of these houses or coops, the standard and the
economy. ‘The standard coop is six feet long by three feet
wide, and four feet high to the eaves. Above the eaves there
is what Mr. Philo calls a “gable’—a double-pitched roof, one
side of which can be raised at will. This “gable” makes the
extreme height of the house five feet. The standard coop has
two stories—the roosts, nest boxes, feeding troughs, etc.,
being in the upper story. The “economy” coop is six feet
long, three feet wide and two feet high. It has an adjustable
cover that can be raised or lowered at will, and fastened at an
angle that will keep the rain or snow from entering the coop.
It also has a shding muslin frame which can be moved to the

right or left, so that the fowls may be cared for without daily
adjusting the roof in hot weather.

After the fowls are installed in these coops they are not
supposed to go outside. In the narrow limits at their com-
mand they live and move and have their being. And singu-
larly enough, they do well. They seem happy and contented
and often respond with a large egg yield. Advocates of the
system say that hens get their exercise by scratching, not by
roaming, and that a hen can get just as much exercise in a
six by three coop as in a ten-acre lot.

Advantages.— What are the advantages of the system?
Why are so many enthusiastic over it? Why has Mr. Philo’s

rz

little book sold, over a quarter of a million copies? The
answer is very simple: The Philo system has made poultry
keeping possible to thousands who otherwise could not engage
in it.

There are thousands living in cities who would lke to keep
hens, but who have hitherto been debarred of the privilege
because they had no suitable place. But with the Philo sys-
tem anyone who has a back yard and a few feet of space may
keep a little flock and supply themselves with fresh eggs, if
nothimne: more. It costs. little towmake-a start. Where. one
does his own work an “economy” coop may be knocked to-
gether in an evening at a cost of two dollars for materials,
and the hens may be as low-priced as one wishes. If one gets
tired of the venture the hens may be sold or killed and the
coop split up into firewood. In this case one has had a new
and pleasant experience at little cost.

Disadvantages.—And now what are the disadvantages of
the system, the arguments against it? It requires a vast
amount of work on the part of the poultry keeper, work that
might be productive of far larger results. The time required
to care for six hens and a cock under the Philo system would
be as much as would be required to care for fiftv hens in a
larger house. And this work has to be done in the open air.
It is delightful on a pleasant summer morning to go around
among the little coops and look after their occupants; but in
winter, when the mercury is at zero and a storm of sleet
Ssmites. the face, it is not so fine. And .even’ inthe. summer
the system is not altogether a poem: lice multiply in the little
coops with startling rapidity, and the poultryman has to be
ever on the alert or his birds will be eaten up.

And yet Mr. E. R. Philo has rendered a great service to
the poultry fraternity: he has made it possible for thousands
to engage in poultry keeping who without his book never
would have made a start.

CHAPTER -TIL.

Side Lines That Pay.

While this book is written primarily from the standpoint
of the poultry keeper, yet it is also written with the view of
helping out that large class made up of those who have a little
land who want to add a few hundred dollars a year to their
income. Hens work in well with other things. They do not
take all a man’s time, not even all his spare time, unless he
keeps enough to make a slave of himself.. In fact, it is often
more profitable to combine hens with other things, even when
but a small number are kept, than it is to depend upon the
hens alone. They furnish a valuable fertilizer, which should
be utilized; and this suggests a garden. ‘hey enrich the soil
of the yards where they are confined and keep down the
‘weeds; and this is favorable to the growth of berries and
fruits. ‘They consume by-products that would otherwise be
wasted, and these by-products should be manufactured, if the
feed bill is to be kept down.

PIGEONS.

Where a man is properly located there is no side line that
will give him better returns than pigeon raising. I am aware
that pigeon raising as a business enterprise is looked upon
with suspicion by many,—such extravagant claims have been
made for it by those who have stock to sell. And yet an
acquaintance with the business has convinced me that where
a man is well located with reference to markets, begins on a
small scale and thoroughly masters the subject, gives his
pigeons careful attention, there is no line in which there is
such “easy money’ as squab growing.

To begin with, pigeons are much less care than hens: they
look after themselves. In pigeon raising the most laborious
and unsatisfactory part of the hen business is eliminated: the
incubation and care of the young. ‘There is no incubator to
manage, no “moisture problem” to trouble one, no fussy sit-
ting hen to bother with, no brooder to look after. Pigeons
build their own nests, hatch their own eggs, rear their own
young, and take care of them until they are ready to be sent to

ZS

market or start in to housekeeping for themselves. If meces-
sary, one can leave his pigeons all day, while he attends to
other work, as there are no eggs to gather and the flock may
be automatically fed.

A pair of good-working Homer pigeons will rear from six
to eight broods of young ones in the course of'a year, and I
have known an unusually good pair to rear eleven broods.
Squabs bring from 40 to 60 cents a pair in the Boston markets,
according to the season. It is estimated that it costs 10 cents
a month to feed a pair of Homers, and the old birds feed their

Scene in the Pigeon Yard on a July morning—The Building where
250 pigeons are housed cost but $50. It was
originally a hen house.

own young. Reckoning the price at which squabs may be
sold at the minimum, 40 cents a pair, and the increase eight
pair a year, cost of feeding, $1.20, and we have a net profit of
two dollars from each pair of working Homers. I know a
successful business man who draws $50 a week from his busi-
ness for personal expenses. This man engages in pigeon
raising as a side line. And he-tells me that the money comes
easier from his pigeons than it does from his business.

24

Any house that is adapted to poultry is adapted to pigeons.
It is generally safe to allow five square feet of floor space for
each pair, and not put over 25 pairs together in'a pen. Be-
sides the house space, pigeons need a flying pen, which should
be at least twice as large on the ground as the breeding pen.
The flying pen should be eight or ten feet high, and should be
roofed with poultry wire as well as have poultry wire on the
sides.

The two secrets of successful pigeon raising are perfect
sanitation and complete mating. Pigeons are subject to two

serious diseases—canker and diarrhoea. Canker is a filth dis-
ease, and diarrhoea is caused by improper or unseasonable
diet. If the water for the daily bath is allowed to stand long
enough to become polluted and the pigeons drink it, the germs
ol canker .are introduced, And af care is) not exercised aim
regard to diet, diarrhoea is likely to break out.

Pigeons are generally given their feed in hoppers, and the
standard ration is a mixture of red wheat and cracked corn—
much more corn being fed in winter than in summer. Pigeons
are’ also given: peas, katir corn and pigeon: féed> Grin and
charcoal must be kept before them all the time and also plenty
of oyster shells. Pigeons build their own nests (two boxes
being provided for each pair), but must be furnished with
nesting material—tobacco stems in summer and straw in
winter.

Squabs are generally marketed when four weeks old.
‘Their necks are wrung and they are shipped undressed. ‘They
are handled by commission merchants, who pay from 40 to 70
cents a pair for squabs weighing from 9 to 10 pounds a dozen,
according to the season of the year. Prices are at their lowest
in June and July and at their highest in February and March.

To realize the largest profits one needs a good summer
market close at hand. In many places this market already
exists, and in nearly every place of any size it may be created.
The consumption of squabs is likely to largely increase in the
future, and there does not seem to be any danger that the
business will be overdone.

Pigeon raisers may add considerably to their profits by
selling birds for breeding purposes. Pigeon raising is a new
business in most localities, and its picturesqueness and pos-
sible profitableness make a strong appeal to many. Scores
start in with a few birds in every village every year, only to
abandon the enterprise in a few weeks or months, and these

25

beginners make good customers for stock. In pigeon raising,
as in everything else, it is the man who stays with the business
who succeeds.

DUCKS:

The profitableness of duck culture is not preached so
assiduously as it was a few years ago, but where a man’s place
is adapted to it and where he is well located as regards mar-
kets, he may, as in the case of pigeons, embark in it to advan-
tage. Lucklings are easier to raise than chicks, grow faster,
are unmolested by vermin and are not subject to disease.

They are easily confined—a two-foot wire fence will keep
them enclosed. While a stream or pond is an advantage in
raising ducks, yet some successful duck raisers grow them
without this accessory. They need plenty of water to drink
and to rinse their faces'in, but more than this is not needed.
In the case of ducks, besides the eggs and meat, there is an-

other source of revenue—the feathers:
POULTRY KEEPING AND GENERAL FARMING.

As a matter of fact, three-fourths of the eggs produced in
the United States are produced on farms, where poultry keep-
ing 1s a side line. Hens pay on the farm, there is no doubt of
that, but it is a question whether it would pay a man to com-
bine poultry keeping on a large scale with general farming.
Hens pay on the farm because they are allowed to shift for
themselves and pick up a great part of their own living.
Fifty hens may range at will and not be a nuisance, but five
hundred hens roaming at large would be as destructive as a
IXansas cyclone. If aman keeps five hundred hens he must
house them, yard them, feed them, and devote considerable
time to their care. It is a question whether this time may not
be more profitably spent in regular farm work. Other things
being equal, it does not pay a man to disturb a routine he has
established and which is reasonably profitable to try a new
thing.

MARKET GARDENING.

Where soil and site are favorable poultry keeping works
in well with market gardening, Summer, which is the market
gardener’s busy season, is the time when the poultryman’s
duties are light. The poultryman has at his command a large
amount of stimulating manure, which is just the thing tor

26

early crops. It is surprising, too, what a demand there is for
early vegetables, even in country towns. Marketmen will tell
you that they cannot begin to supply the demand from the
local growers, but have to send away for a great part of their
stuff. If a man has a small greenhouse he can add largely
to his profits, and even with two or three hot beds can force
the season. Asparagus, early peas, string beans, green corn,
cucumbers, radishes, lettuce, beets, etc., are money makers
not to be despised. The beauty of market gardening is that
there is no long wait

aman gets returns from his investment
at once.

STRAW BERRIES.

Probably the ideal combination, where conditions are fa-
vorable, is poultry keeping and strawberry growing. Straw-
berries are the one berry of which people cannot get enough.
It is surprising how many boxes the market will absorb. In
the little town in which I live I have known one dealer to sell
250 boxes a day. In order to grow strawberries to advantage
three things.are needed: rich, moist land, clean culture, plenty
of cheap help in the picking time. By a suitable selection of
varieties the fruiting season may be extended to full four
weeks. For New England the following varieties are recom-
mended: Early—Fairfield, Senator Dunlap, Virginia; mid-
season—sSample, Glen Mary, Abington, Brandywine, Minute-
man, Parson’s Beauty ; late—Stevens’ Late Champion; latest—
Rear Guard.

For growing on light soil, Minuteman and Haverland pol-
lenized with Meade or Senator Dunlap; for medium to heavy
soil, Sample pollenized with either Brandywine, Abington,
Parson’s Beauty or Senator Dunlap; Glen Mary. ‘The latter
variety may be planted alone if desired. Plant new varieties
in a small way, or better still, allow the experiment stations
Lowest them for you.

The grower of strawberries may add considerable to his
income by the sale of plants. There are many in every com-
munity who have their own strawberry bed. ‘They are accus-
tomed to send away for plants, but will buy at home if they
can get what they want. One cannot get as large prices for
plants sold around home as he could if he advertised and got
out a catalogue; but half a cent a plant for the common varie-
ties and a cent a plant for the newer ones will pay a man well.
The question arises in this connection, If I sell plants do I not
create competitors who will cut into my berry business? It

pag

is the experience of strawberry growers that the sale of plants
does not injure the berry trade. New varieties are coming
out all the time. If aman has a reputation for growing good
stuff his customers will stick to him. The way to succeed is
to do things a little better and a little different from the other
fellow, and then let the public know it.

RASPBERRIES, BLACKBERRIES AND CURRANTS.

The grower of strawberries will be likely to add “bush
fruits,” as they are called, to his collection. Raspberries and
blackberries are not so satisfactory to handle as strawberries,
as it is more difficult to keep them under control; but where a
plantation is well established it is profitable. Raspberries
especially pay well, as the demand is good and the price high.
The raspberry grower has a clearer field for his wares than the
strawberry grower, for owing to the soft and fleshy nature of
. the fruit it does not stand shipment well and the demand must
be supplied from near home. Currants also have a limited
sale, and owing to their extraordinary productiveness are
profitable. In raspberries the money making varieties are the
Kansas and Cuthbert; in blackberries, the Snyder; in currants,
Red Cross, Wilder or Cherry.

PEACHES AND: PEUMS.

These do not yield so quick returns as vegetables, berries
and bush fruits; but when the orchard is established, the work
is less and the profits large. The poultryman who plants
peaches and plums in his garden has the great advantage of
using his land for a double purpose. Peaches are profitable
in the peach belt, but when one gets out of the region where
they grow naturally, it does not pay to bother with them.
Plums are hardier and are adapted to a wider range of terri-
tory. |

Any land that will grow good corn will grow peaches and
plums. Some set the trees in holes dug for the purpose,
but I get better results by plowing the land and growing the
trees the first year or two among hoed crops. In buying trees
get them as near home as possible. ‘They will be more likely
to live, as they can be set immediately upon being dug up, and
the price is less. One should not pay over 10 or 15 cents for
trees suitable to set out.

This book is written for the latitude of southeastern New
England, and all varieties mentioned in this chapter are the
ones adapted for money-making here. Other parts of the

28

country will perhaps require a different selection. I would
advise the reader to write to the pomologist of his State
experiment station for a list of trees and fruits best adapted
to his locality. For my section the best varieties are as fol-
lows: Peaches—Greensboro, Waddell, Carman, Champion
(delicious late peach), Elberta, Crosby (the best yellow peach
known); plums—Red June, Abundance, Satsuma (superb for
canning).

BROODER BROKE, CHICKS:

There is a fine field in every community for one or two
young men or women to make good money hatching out
chicks for their neighbors. ‘They should be equipped so that
they can supply eggs from their own flocks from two or three
standard varieties, and also be ready to hatch eggs that may
be furnished them. ‘The price of day-old chicks is about 15
cents for the standard varieties, and at this price there is good
money in it.

The fireless brooder is the greatest discovery in the poultry
world in the last five years. The fireless brooder makes. it
possible to raise chicks without danger or expense. A man
running fireless brooders can go to bed at night with the com-
forting assurance that his chicken house will not be likely to
burn down before morning. ‘The cost of these brooders is so
slight that they can be burned up at the end of the season and
new ones installed the following year.

The great objection to the fireless brooder is that for two
or three days one has to practically live with the. chicks.
After the chicks become “brooder broke” it is no more trouble
to run a fireless brooder than one of the combustible kind.
Now | am coming round to the point of this article: It would
be a great advance and a great advantage to buyer and seller
alike if chicks could be sold “brooder broke” rather than right
out of the incubator. It would be a great advantage to the
purchaser because it would materially reduce his labors, and
it would be of great advantage to the seller because it would
almost double his profits. Many a man who pays 15 cents
apiece for day-old chicks would pay 25 cents each for chicks
that had been brooder broke. And where a young man or
woman is making a business of getting out chicks, they might
as well put in a little more time and take the added profit.

CHAPTER IV.

Houses and Yards.

One of the greatest problems that confronts the poultry-
man is the location and construction of his plant. It is here
that more men meet their Waterloo than anywhere else. I
have visited many of the leading breeders of the East, and
before coming away have asked this question: “If you were
starting anew would you build and locate your houses just as
they are now?” And in nearly every case, I think, the answer
has been, “No.” ‘The man has gone on and suggested modi-
fications and improvements that I could see would be of great
advantage.

It is my purpose in this chapter to describe two poultry
houses—one for layers and one for young stock—such as I
have demonstrated in my own experience to be practical and
economical. Indeed, I do not see how either of them can be
improved. If a man will think out his plant in advance and
determine where he will build if his business grows, and then
begin with one laying house and two of the smaller houses,
he will make no mistake, but will be in a position to advance
irom: year totyear.

VAY UINGUIOUSE.

There seems to be a tendency on the part of poultrymen
to-day to larger flocks. There was a time not so long ago
when it was believed that twelve or fifteen birds were all that
should be kept together where the maximum egg product
was desired. It has been found, however, that fowls may be
kept together in any number up to fifty with good results,
provided they are given ample room and their quarters are
kept clean and sanitary. It would seem to be good judgment,
therefore, to build a house sufficiently large to accommodate
50 laying hens, and to make this number the unit in one’s
calculations. Fifty hens in one flock may be cared for as
easily as 15. They require but one feed hopper, one drinking
dish, one box with grit and oyster shells, one dust bath, and
may all be fed their grain ration at the same time. A 50-hen
house, therefore, is our first consideration.

30

The house shown in the picture is 24 feet long and 12
feet deep, 7 feet high in front and 4% feet high in the rear.
The foundation is of concrete, made by mixing two. parts sand
and three parts good bank gravel with one part Portland
cement. This wall rests on a footing of rocks, filling a trench
three feet deep. In excavating for a trench always be sure to
go below the frost line, so that the water that seeps into it in
the winter may soak into the ground. The house has a dirt
floor.

In the construction of the frame 2x 4 joists are used. The
sills are 4x4, but no other heavy timber is employed. The
uprights are placed three feet apart, and the roof timbers 30
inches. The frame is covered with pine or hemlock boards,
and there is a dirt floor.

The roof is double pitch, with one side much longer than
the other. The rafters in the short pitch are 3 feet long and
those in the long pitch 10 feet. The distance from the floor
to the highest point of the roof is a little over 8 feet.

The house faces south, as all poultry houses should. ‘There
are in front two windows of glass, each light 9x12. These
windows are made in one piece and are what is known in the
Fast as “storm windows.” ‘They are screwed to the frames
and are not intended to be removed. ‘There is also one of
these glass windows in the east end. This gives a splendid
distribution of light, and the house has sunshine all the day
long. The windows are set 20 inches from the floor. Besides
the glass windows there are two windows for the admission
of fresh air, each 4 feet long by 3 feet high. These windows
are covered on the outside with poultry wire, and on the
inside there are frames made of 3-inch stuff and covered with
10-ounce duck. These frames are so arranged that they may
be swung up and fastened to the roof during the day and
closed and buttoned at night, or in stormy weather. As a
matter of fact, for eight months in the year the frames are
fastened to the roof and are not let down at all. The reader
will perceive that I believe in plenty of fresh air for hens.

The arrangement of the interior is very simple. There is
a roost platform 16 feet long and 3% feet wide on the back
side. This platform is 21% feet from the floor, and the perches
are eight inches above it. The platform is boarded in at the
west end, and if one desires he can arrange a curtain to drop
down in front of the birds when they have gone to roost at
night.

3]

Laying

house on author

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Size 12 x 24

Will accommodate

50 hens

Cost of house,

$

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32

Running along the west end of the house is a platform 18
inches high and 24 inches wide. ‘This platform is for the
nests. Formerly I placed the nests under the roost platform,

as is commonly the case, but this required so much stooping

and pulling out of nests to gather the eggs that I decided
to introduce a nest platform, and find it a great convenience.
The nests are ‘up off the floor, out of the way, and are easily
accessible to both the laying hen and the owner.

The only other furniture in the house is two shelves six
inches from the floor, one for the grit and shell box and the
other for the feed hopper. Jt will be seen that every inch of
floor space is available for scratching and exercise.

The sides and ends of the house are covered with Neponset
roofing, painted soon after being put on, and the roof is
shingled. A saving in cost might be effected by covering the
roof with Neponset, painting it, and then in a few years after,
when the Neponset begins to wear through, putting on
shingles. I have tried many things, but I have never found
anything so good as shingles for a roof. Next to shingles I
put Paroid, which is easy to apply and will last for vears.

The cost of this house, exclusive of labor, is about $60.
Tt will cost more in localities where lumber is high.

HOUSE. FOR - YOUNG STOCK

Besides houses for his laying hens, every poultryman needs

a number of houses for his young stock. As a general thing

these houses are quite cheaply constructed. and I have known
a breeder to rear prize winners in old piano boxes. But
where a man is not too greatly cramped for means, it will pay
him to put up good, substantial buildings for his young stock.
They will last longer and be more satisfactory. There is a
time in the fall when every breeder is crowded for room, and
these houses which I am about to describe will come in handy
for supplementary quarters.

The houses for young stack are each 12 feet long by 8
feet wide, 714 feet in front by 5 feet in the rear. The sills,
plates, rafters, studs and floor timbers are all of 2x4 stuff, and
I put in enough to make a stiff frame.

The floor is double, and is made of boards. The roof is
single slope or shed roof, as it is called.

The foundation for the house is made of old railroad ties.
Instead of setting the ties in the ground, as is the case with
many poultry houses, the ties are sawed into sections 16 inches
long and laid down upon the grass and the sills laid upon

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them. For a light: house this. answers- all right. It also
makes it convenient when one wishes to move the house from
time to time to get it on new soil.

The house is covered with Neponset put on over sheathing
paper, and the roof 1s covered with Paroid. Both sides and
roof are kept carefully painted to protect the paper.

I ought to have added to my description of the laying
house that I use some kind of lining or sheathing paper under
the Neponset siding. One cannot have a poultry house too
wind proof and free from draughts.

In the house for young stock there is no glass window in
front, but its place is taken by an open window, 4 feet by 4,
divided into two parts by a joist or scantling. ‘This window is
covered with poultry wire and is fitted with a curtain which
is tacked to a frame. ‘The frame is fastened to the upper
joist by three back-flap hinges and the greater part of the
time 1s swung up and hooked to the roof. As the house is
used principally in warm weather, the curtain is kept hooked
up the greater part of the time, and is’only let down and
fastened during a storm.

The frame for the curtain is of three-inch boards, with a
support running down the center. As the house is not in-
tended to be used in the very coldest weather, the covering
for the frame is not of duck, but of cotton cloth.

As the house would be somewhat dark with the curtain
down, if there were no other means of admitting light, I have
inserted a single window in each end. The windows are what
are known as cellar windows and have three lights each, the
squares of glass being 10 by 12 inches; they cost 50 cents
apiece.

The following is an estimate of the materials required:
Hemlock boards, 564 feet ; spruce joists, 2x4, 218 running feet ;
spruce joists, 2x3 (roosts), 24 running feet; matched pine for
doors, 20 feet; finish, 3-inch, 60 feet; finish, 4-inch, 60 feet;
Neponset roofing, 250 feet; sheathing paper, 250 feet; Paroid,
110 feet. ‘’wo small windows for ends, hardware, sheeting,
etc. The cost of this house, where a man does his own work,
is not far from $25.

I make use of these houses from March up to about
Christmas. After the young stock is removed from them in
the fall or early winter, they are thoroughly cleaned and dis-
infected, and the floor is covered with fine gravel or sand.
The house is then allowed to rest until needed for the chicks

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35

in the spring. When taken from the incubator they are put
into these houses, 50 to a house. When the chicks are six or
eight weeks old, the brooder is removed, but the chicks are
allowed to remain. When they are 8 or 10 weeks old, low
perches or roosts are introduced, and the chicks encouraged
to use them. When the cockerels get old enough to begin
to pay attention to the other sex, they are separated from
the pullets and put in houses by themselves.

The pullets are allowed to remain in their houses until
they begin to lay, when they are removed to their permanent
quarters in the laying house. Sometimes, however, when I
am crowded for room, the pullets are allowed to stay longer,
even up to Christmas. But I like to get them into the laying
house as soon as they begin to lay, for any interference with
a laying hen has a tendency to check egg production.

YARDS.

In my opinion too much space is often given to yards, and
valuable land devoted to the purpose which could be better
utilized in growing crops. Unless the yard is large enough
to maintain a stand of grass in spite of the depredations of the
fowls, there is no particular need of going to the expense of
wiring in a large space; for if you have watched hens in con-
finement you have doubtless noticed that they restrict them-
selves to a comparatively small area. They need a place for
dusting, for exercise, for outdoor enjoyment, but it need not
be large.

Shade is a necessity in the yards, and if it is not provided
naturally it must be artificially. Remember that it is in the
hot season of the year that the hens are outdoors, and they
need protection from the fierce heat of the sun.~ An apple
orchard or a grove of standing timber makes an ideal yard.
If there is no shade and trees are to be planted for the pur-
pose, plum and peach should be given the preference, for they
grow faster than the apple and give good results.

Yards should run to the rear of the houses, and not to the
front. Where yards run to the rear each house is directly
accessible, and one does not have to open and shut half a
dozen gates and penetrate a labyrinth of yards to get where
he wants to go. I believe that I was the first writer on poul-
try topics to advocate running the yards to the rear, but now
many are falling into line with me.

Formerly it was the custom to run a bottom board along

36

the ground, from post to post, to nail the wire to, and also to
crown the fence with a top rail; but this practice is no longer
followed. It is made unnecessary by the fact that wire is now
manufactured with horizontal strands running the whole
length, and with meshes smaller at the bottom than at the top.
This wire does not sag or buckle and follows the contour of
the land.

Posts should be planted one rod apart. Aside from the
corner posts, which are subjected to considerable strain, large
posts are not needed. Small, cheap posts, which can easily
be inserted in the ground by means of a bar and sledge, are as
good or better than expensive posts of cedar or chestnut.
Young pines that have died on the stump from too close
crowding, make excellent posts, and may be bought for about
five cents each. Removing the bark and dipping them in hot
creosote up to about six inches above their ground line
greatly increases their durability. It does not pay to spend
much time and money upon the construction of the yards, for
the wire should be removed every few years and the ground
ploughed up and planted to renovate it.

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CHAPTER V.

Incubation and Brooding.

It is still a debatable question whether on a small plant
it pays to install an incubator or not. There is something to
be said on both sides. Where one uses a machine he has
things his own way. He does not have to wait for the incu-
bator to get broody, and need have no fear that it will break
eggs or quit before the chickens are hatched. On the other
hand, not every man can afford to lock up good money in a
machine that is to be used only three months in a year. Then,
too, an incubator is not a toy for a child to play with, but a
machine with delicate adjustments; and for best results one
needs good judgment, experience and to be something of a
mechanic. On a large plant incubators are indispensable,
but on a small plant it is possible to get along without them.
Still, as a man’s business grows he will naturally turn to
artificial incubation and brooding, and in what follows may
find suggestions of great value.

SELECTING AN INCUBATOR.

I receive many letters in the course of a year from persons
who wish to know what is the best make of incubator. In
reply I tell them I do not know, but can tell them the name
of the one I run. I suppose there is no best. There are a
dozen incubators on the market, any one of which will do
good work. “It is the man behind the gun,’ we used to say
during our war with Spain; and it is the man behind the
incubator who is responsible for success or failure. The man
who gets a 90 per cent hatch with one machine could prob-
ably duplicate it with another if he should try.

The best size for a machine is probably somewhere about
200 eggs. A 50 per cent hatch is regarded as a good one for
an incubator. This will give a man 100 chicks at a run. If
he wants fewer he can put in fewer eggs, and if he wants
more he can get another machine. A 200-egg incubator may
be run with 100 eggs, but a 100-egg machine cannot be run
with 200. It takes little more oil, if any, for a 200-egg incu-
bator than for a smaller one, no more time to attend it, and

38

the 200-egg machine is generally more satisfactory. On the
other hand should the hatch go wrong, as will sometimes
happen, 200 eggs are enough to spoil; and for this reason |
do not recommend the purchase of extra large machines.
The 200-egg incubator is the standard.

HOLLOWS INSTRUCTIONS CeOsrin

Accompanying each machine as it comes from the factory
is an illustrated chart showing how to set it up and a book of
directions for operating it. Follow the instructions closely.
It’s a difficult thing to beat a man at his own game, and the
incubator makers have been at it for years. ‘They are more
anxious to have you succeed than you are yourself, for suc-
cess means that you tell your friends about their machine and
so influence future buyers. They ought to know their own
machine. Set the incubator where the temperature is the
most uniform, least subject to variations. A cellar is the best
or the worst place. A cellar that is moderately moist and
contains no artificial heating apparatus is the best place for
an incubator, and a cellar with a heater or furnace about the
worst. After you get the incubator adjusted run it two or
three days before putting in the eggs.

SOME -INCUBATOR CAUTIONS:

You will trim and fill your lamp once a day and turn the
eggs twice; but after doing these things the less you touch
your incubator or go near it the better. There is a weird
fascination about an incubator, and one can hardly leave it
alone. But the less you monkey with it the better. ‘his is
~especially true in hatching time. The thermometer will do
all kinds of stunts, and you will be tempted to keep your hand
on the regulator. But if the incubator has been running well
through the hatch, let it alone. After the eggs are through
hatching it may be well to open the door and quickly remove
the egg trays. This will give you a better chance to see the
chicks and will give them more room.

The thermostat may need slight adjustment several
times during the hatch. ‘The best way to see the thermometer
is to use an egg tester to flash light into the machine. This
should be done every morning and night before you turn the

eas
eggs.

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39

INSURANCE.

Before you start in to run an incubator in your house
secure a written permit from your insurance agent to do so.
There is very little danger of fire from an incubator, and the
company would probably indemnify you even if there were
no such addenda to your policy. But it is better to be safe
than to be sorry. Most companies grant such a permit upon
application, while a few refuse to do so. If you are insured
in a company of the latter kind the only thing to do is to sur-
render your policy and take out another in a more progressive

concern.
TESTING: DEE HGGCS:

“ges should be tested at the end of the seventh and again
at the end of the fourteenth day. In the first test all infertile
eggs should be removed. ‘These may be told by the fact that
they are perfectly clear, while the fertile eggs show a dark
spot from which radiate red, spidery lines. An air cell also
has begun to form. In the second test it will be found that
some of the germs that began to develop have died, and these
eggs should be taken out. A little practice will soon enable
one to distinguish a fertile from an infertile egg, and to tell

whether the egg is incubating satisfactorily or not.

THE MOLSTURE PROBLEM,

Why is it that the best incubator made will seldom hatch
as large a per cent of the eggs as a hen? The common idea
is, lack of moisture. Incubator manufacturers say otherwise.
They say that the air constantly circulating around the eggs
supplies moisture, and that no artificial moisture is necessary.
I said just a moment ago that the reader should follow the
instructions of the manufacturer carefully and not think he
can beat a man at his own game. But in the matter of
moisture I am inclined to make an exception—lI believe there
are times when moisture may be supplied to advantage.

A certain amount of evaporation is necessary from the
egg, whether in an incubator or under a hen, or the air cel
will not form, and the chick will die. But if evaporation is.
too great the chick becomes weak and shrunken and the mem-
brane inside the shell tough and leathery, so that when the
period of incubation is completed the chick cannot extrude
itself. The problem, therefore, is to keep the air cell the right
size. A good way for the beginner is to set some eggs under

40

a hen at the same time he starts his incubator, and whenever
he tests the eggs in the incubator to test those under the hen.
If the air cell in both cases is the same size, the moisture
problem is taking care of itself. But if the air space in the
eggs in the incubator is much larger than the air space in the
eggs under the hen, evaporation is too rapid and should be
checked. Moisture may be supplied by means of water in
shallow pans set under the egg trays, by a wet sponge intro-
duced into the incubator, by shallow boxes filled with wet
sand, or by sprinkling the eggs with water of the temperature
@i-9>) degrees.

VENTILATION.

Closely connected with the subject of moisture is the

subject of ventilation. During the first four days of incuba-—

tion the germ will develop with very little ventilation. After
the fourth day the air, cell begins to form, and then» more
ventilation is necessary ; on the seventh day the germ requires
treatment according to local conditions; in cold weather, more
heat and less ventilation; in warm weather, less heat and
more ventilation. At an altitude of 500 or 1000 feet, more
ventilation; at an altitude of 4000 feet or more, less ventila-
tion. In extremely dry weather or in a high altitude, about
the same quantity of ventilation is required the third week
as during the second. °

REMOVING CHICKS TO THE BROODER.

Chicks may be allowed to remain in the incubator for 24
hours after the last one has come out; they should then be
removed to the brooder. Meanwhile the brooder should have
been got in readiness. If it has been used before it should
be washed out thoroughly with warm water and carbolic acid
soap. ‘The lamp should be cleaned and the burner boiled out.
A new wick should be put in. After the brooder has dried out
carpet the floor with half an inch of sand or soft earth and
then start the lamp. The brooder should be thoroughly
warmed up before the chicks are put in.

The temperature under the hover should be 95 when the
chicks are introduced, and should be kept at 95 the first week.
Then it may be reduced a degree a day until it gets down
to 70. Some men use no thermometer, but can tell whether
the temperature is right by the action of the chicks; if they
bunch together they need more heat; if they spread out and
appear contented the temperature is right.

ee ee a

41

MANAGEMENT AND CARE: OM -BiROODER ‘ChICKS:

Brooder chicks come out from one to three months earlier
than chicks raised in the natural way, and consequently the
mortality among them is likely to be greater. The brooder
itself should be kept clean. Every few days the litter should
be removed and replaced with fresh sand or earth. The
chicks should be given as much liberty as is consistent with
safety. They should be let out of the brooders into the
brooder house. It. will be necessary to make a little fence
of boards around the brooder for the first day or two after
they are let out, and to guide the little things back into their
house when they begin to show signs of being cold. But they
soon learn. And in a short time they may be allowed to go
in and out at their own free will.

It is a good plan to keep the floor of the brooder house
covered with sand or earth, and.to sprinkle it from time to
time. There is such a thing as having the brooder house too
dry. Mother Earth has a natural moisture which must be
reproduced in the brooder house if the chicks are to do their
best. Not over 50 chicks should be put together.

HOW Osi ED:

The chicken business has been relieved of much of its
drudgery by the introduction of the dry feeding method.
The poultryman throws in a few handfuls of chick feed four
or five times a day, and the chicks do the rest. But there is
room for a few suggestions even here. Chicks need vege-
tables to balance the grains of which the chick feed is com-
posed. A blood beet cut in two or a mangel will be eagerly
attacked. ‘The heart of a cabbage is good. Onions chopped
fine are relished. A handful of beef scraps scattered over the
floor once a day will be found and devoured. It is a good
rule never to give little chicks more chick feed or cracked corn
at a time than they will eat up clean.

I find it a good plan after the chicks are three weeks old
to keep before them all the time a mixture made up as follows:
Bran, two parts; ground alfalfa, two parts; bone meal, one
part; a little salt, a little charcoal. This is fed dry, and is in
addition to the chick feed and vegetables. I also ought to
add that I keep clean, cool water before my chicks from the
VieLyStart.

When my chicks are six weeks or two months old then I
let them out into their yards. From now on I use the hopper

42

system of feeding, and keep feed before them all the time.
In one compartment of the hoppér is a dry mash made as
follows: Two parts ground alfalfa, two parts mixed feed, one
part beef scraps, a little salt, a little charcoal. ‘The ingre-
dients are compounded by bulk rather than by weight. In
the other compartment of the hopper I keep cracked corn. In
their yards the chicks find grass, bugs, worms, and later in
the season apples, peaches and plums. As soon as practicable
I separate the sexes, and always aim to keep chicks of the
same size together.

BARTON BROODER SYSTEM,

Where one desires to get out chicks early and in large
numbers, something like a brooder system is necessary.
Brooders such as are sold on the market do not do their best
work with the thermometer at zero; they are intended for a
milder temperature. When used in mid-winter they need to
be kept in a house in which there is a fire. Consequently on
large plants where extra early chickens are wanted, they are
generally raised in large brooder houses in which the pipe
system has been installed. But this is expensive. Not every
man feels capable of running a steam heater. Under the pipe
system the mortality is likely to be large at best, and in case
of an accident a man may see all the chickens he has on hand
perish in a few hours. A system less expensive than the pipe
system and where the unit is the individual brooder would
seem to be what is wanted in the poultry world.

My friend, Mr. O. P. Barton-of Seabrook, N..H., has de-
vised such a system, and when its merits are known it is
likely to supersede all others. A description of this system
will be worth many times the price of this book to anyone
interested in artificial incubation and brooding.

Mr. Barton has lately built a new brooding house in which
his ideas are more fully worked out than in previous ones, and
I feel that I can best explain the system by describing the new
brooder house both outside and inside.

The brooder house shown in the cut is 16x40 feet, and
runs north and south. It has five-foot posts, and the height
from the sill to the apex of the double roof is 10 feet. The
sills are of 4x6 stuff, but all the studding, plates, rafters, etc.,
are 2x4. The floor is of earth. The building is covered on
the roof, sides and ends with a patent roofing.

What impresses one most about the building when he sees

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Exterior Barton Brooding House.—Notice the number of windows.—‘”

There is nothing so good for

chicks as sunshine.”’

44 ih

it for the first time is the number of windows. I don’t know
whether Mr. Barton is a member of the Masonic fraternity or
not, but he certainly believes in ight. “There is nothing so
good for chicks as sunshine,” he says. There are 19 windows
in the house, if | have counted right—four on each side, four
on each side of the roof, two in front, and one in the rear.
The side windows are half windows, each with six panes
10x18; the roof: windows are each four feet ten inches long by
two feet eight inches wide; the front and rear windows are
also of generous size. Z

Opening the door in the south end one steps inside, and
if the season is winter the transformation 1s remarkable, for
we are in a place where sunshine, warmth and life hold car-
nival. Running the whole length of the house is a central
walk or aisle,~a little over five feet wide. At the north end
there is a stove, in which, however, fire is kept only in the
most Arctic weather. On both sides of the aisle there are two
tiers of shelves, which make one think of the bunks in a log-
ging camp, or, better, the exhibition pens at a poultry show.
These shelves are divided into compartments, each containing
53 1-3 square feet. Each compartment is 10 feet long and five
feet four inches wide. Each compartment has a board floor
and is enclosed by a wire frame or fence two feet high, so
arranged that it can be raised or lowered at will. When in
place the fence is secured by wooden buttons.

There are four of these pens or compartments in each
tier, and as there are two tiers on each side, there are 16 pens
in all. As each pen will hold comfortably 50 chicks, the
capacity of the house is therefore 800 chicks. But as it is not
intended to hold the chicks more than six weeks it can be
used two or three times in a season. Mr. Barton estimates
that in a house like this he can brood 2400 chicks from January
to July.

The hovers themselves are of the very simplest construc-
tion. Those in the upper pens are two feet three inches
square, and those in the lower pens two feet six inches. They
are made of narrow matched boards, beaded and mortised
together, and are set on wooden legs—those in the upper pen
five inches high and those in the lower six inches. The cur-
tain is of thin oilcloth. Mr. Barton uses a double curtain, or
rather two curtains, so arranged that the flaps “break joints,”
so as to retain as much warmth as possible under the hover.

Heat comes from a lamp set on a little shelf directly under

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45

the. center of the hover. ‘The shelf is secured by iron straps
running from the shelf to the floor above. The lamp is an
incubator lamp with an “indestructible” glass chimney.

Above the chimney a circular hole is cut in the floor of
the brooding compartment, four and a half inches in diameter,
and this hole comes under the exact center of the hover. This
hole is protected by a tin collar, which projects an inch or
two above and below the floor of the compartment. Above
the tin is a circular chimney or heater made of fine meshed
wire and extending upward to within an inch of the roof of
the hover. Above this a tin plate is tacked to the hover to.
protect the wood from too great heat.

Chicks are taken from the incubator and placed in these
compartments, and in a surprisingly short time they learn
how to adapt themselves to their surroundings. Mr. Barton
uses no thermometer, but turns on more or less heat accord-
ing to the weather. At first it seemed to me a mistake to use
no thermometer, but now I have thought it out I can see why
none is needed. The heat under the hover must vary in
degree according to the distance from the chimney or heater,
being considerably greater near the center than at the edges.
Unlike other hovers that I know anything about, the center
of the hover is the lightest part, and this naturally attracts the
chick as-he seeks shelter. .As he becomes warm. he retires.
further back, and in this way is always able to find a tem-
perature that suits his needs.

It will be seen that this brooder of Mr. Barton’s violates
several principles that have been considered well established.
The fumes of the lamp pass directly up into the hover, but
the chicks seem to suffer no ill effects from them. Indeed a
healthier or happier set of youngsters it would be hard to find.
I know many men who have made a study of artificial incu-
bation, but I never met a man who can get such a growth
on chicks in a given time as Mr. Barton.

The cost of the brooder house and equipment described
here was $150, but it is doubtful if it could be duplicated
under $200. But even-at $200 it is the cheapest and most
practical brooder system that the writer knows anything
about.

lA kCrOUN Gabe LENS,

The sitting hen should have a quiet, sequestered place
where she can spend the time of her confinement, and be

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made as comfortable as possible. The best place is a room
devoted entirely to the purpose. This room should be scru-
pulously clean; the walls should be whitewashed, the cob-
webs swept down, and there should be good ventilation. In
the center of the room there should be a commodious dust
bath, and a dish of water should be always accessible. There
should be a hopper somewhere in the room, one compartment
filled with whole corn and the other with good sharp grit.

Procure .of your grocer as many boxes or crates as you
expect to have sitters, and let these crates or boxes all be
of the same size, if possible. Set them on the floor, close to
the walls of the room, side by side. ‘Take a strip of two-inch
“furring”’ and nail it to the joists back of the boxes at a height
two feet from the floor. ‘Take another strip and run it parallel
with the first, but two feet or so from it, nailing the ends to
the studding or uprights. Brace this second strip of “furring”’
‘in the middle by a strip running to the floor. You now have
a long, narrow frame of wood above your nest boxes. On
this frame tack “shorts” bags or strips of burlap, so that a
roof is formed above the setters, and let the “shorts” bags
hang down until they reach the top of the nest boxes. You
have now covered the boxes with a canopy such as used to be
erected over an old-fashioned bed, and shut up the sitters in
semi-darkness. They are much more contented and sit better
than in the bright sunlight. This frame or canopy may be
continued all around the room, and as many as fifty hens may
be set in a room twelve feet square.

Care of the Sitters——The hens that are intended to be used
for sitters should be taken off the nests at night and conveyed
carefully to the “maternity ward” described in the preceding
paragraph. ‘The best material I have ever found for nests for
sitting hens is tobacco stems; the pungent odor from these
stems is death to lice. The nest box should be filled half full
of tobacco stems and three or four glass eggs placed in the
new-made nest. The sitting hen should be placed in position
and left for the night. If she continues broody and shows a
disposition to stick to her job, the next night it will be safe
to entrust her with real eggs. Give her as many eggs as she
can comfortably cover—from eleven to fifteen, according to
the size of the hen and the nature of the season.

When the preparations have been made in advance for the

48

comfort and convenience of the sitting hen, really there is
very little for the attendant to do. The hens should be exam-
ined from time to time to see that no eggs are broken under
them, and if a hen shows a disposition to stick to her nest
too closely she should be lifted off every day and made to
remain away a short time. Where eggs are’ broken in the
nest, the soiled nest material should be .removed and the
smeared eggs cleansed in tepid water. A few days before
the eges)\are\ due to hatch,, the ‘tobacco, stems: shouldwhe
removed and.a new nest made of soft hay for the little chicks.
The hen should at this time be given a thorough dusting with
insect powder.

Testing the Eggs.—I‘ggs should be tested under a hen as”

well as in an incubator, and the infertiles and eggs with
aborted germs should be removed. The first test should be
made when the hen has set seven days. Procure an egg
tester at a poultry supply store, or make one for yourself, and
examine all the eggs under each hen. ‘The infertile eggs will
be perfectly clear when exposed to the concentrated light,
while the eggs that have begun to hatch will show a dark
spot. The infertile eggs should be removed, and the fertile
ones put back. Now appears the advantage of having a num-
ber of hens sitting at the same time; for if enough infertile
eggs are found to warrant it, one or two of the hens can be
started in again with new eggs, while enough fertile eggs are
placed under the remaining hens to make up the original
number.

The second test should be made a week later and is a
repetition of the first. The germ has grown much larger and
now fills the greater part of the shell; there is an air-space
at the big end. In some eggs the germ has died. These eggs.
can easily be detected and should be removed or they may
explode under the hen.

Care of the Chicks.—The chicks should be allowed to re-
main in the nest about 24 hours after the last one hatches out,
and then chicks and hen should be removed to some other
location. If it is early in the season and the ground is still
damp and cold, I would advise putting them in a little house,
the floor of which has been carpeted with sand, and where
there is every convenience for their care and comfort. If you
have followed instructions and tested out all infertile eggs
and eggs with dead germs, and made up the quota with good,

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49

hatchable eggs, each hen should have from 13 to 15 lively
chicks under her charge. If the hens have been together in
the same room during the incubating period as many as four
hens with their broods may be placed in the same room. If
they become so unladylike as to quarrel, they may be tethered
so that they cannot do each other or themselves any serious
harm. ‘The chicks will run from one hen to another without
discrimination, and it may be necessary to divide the flocks at
night so that each mother may have her share.

In a chicken house large enough to hold four hens and
sixty chicks the chicks may be allowed to remain for several
weeks. In the house they are safe. Rats cannot get them;
cats must leave them alone; the migrating hawk cannot seize
them in his talons. Early hatched chicks may be allowed to
remain in the house for six weeks to advantage, unless the
weather is exceptionally fine.

CHAPTER VI.

The Laying Stock.

When a breeder sends out a consignment of eggs or stock
he must often wish that he could send some of his experience
along at the same time; for unless the customer understands
the elementary principles of poultry keeping he will come to
grief. Breeders often get blamed for what is not their fault.
The number of things a man needs to know is not large; but
he needs to know them so well that it will become second
nature for him to do them.

SELECTING AVE sly AsvaeR Ss,

It is highly important that we put into our laying pens
only birds that will give a good account of themselves in egg
production ; otherwise profits will be cut down to the vanish-
ing point. The first 75 eggs a hen lays in the course of a
year go to pay her feed bill; all she lays above 75 is clear

gain. It will be seen, therefore, how necessary it is that we.

eliminate all weak layers from the flock and retain only the
most prolific. Where there is a hen that does not lay, there
is another hen somewhere scratching her legs off to pay that
hen’s board.

How can we select the good layers and reject the poor
ones? ‘The trap nest is the only infallible way. The trap
nest 1s very valuable, especially for a beginner. After a man
has had more experience he can get along without it. But
for a beginner the trap nest is almost indispensable. I quote
from the letter of a correspondent: “I killed to-day for our
dinner a hen that from the time she laid her first egg in De-
cember, 1909, until now (January 19, 1911), has never laid but
42 eggs. She is a full sister to three others, each of which
went over 200 eggs in their pullet year.”

Early maturity is a valuable indication. The pullet that is
to lay from 150 to 180 eggs a year must have twelve months
in which to do her work; she cannot do it in less. But there
is another reason apart from this. Ovulation, or the produc-
tion of the egg, is the consummation of the sexual function of

ee

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Spl

the female. The more strongly sexed a hen is the more eggs
she will lay; the more poorly sexed the fewer eggs. Early
maturity is a mark of strong sex development and is to be
highly prized in pullets. The evidence a pullet gives by early
maturity is confirmed by the trap nest, which shows that early-
maturing pullets surpass their slower sisters as egg producers.

Appetite and assimilation are also tokens. ‘The laying hen
is the hungry hen. The hen cannot make eggs without feed
any more than the children of Israel could make bricks with-
out straw. The hen that is laying rushes to meet you when
you open the door of the house in the morning, scratches
industriously in the litter all day for food, and goes to roost
late at night. It is the hen with the full crop that lays the

eggs.
THE PHY SIOLOGICALYIEST.

Besides the tests which the eye and ear supplies, there is a
physiological test which is of great value. It is a well-known
fact that in all mammals the pelvic bones soften and spread
apart before the female is delivered of a child. The same

thing is true of birds before the first egg is passed. As the

time for ovulation draws near the pelvic bones begin to soften
and separate, until they are so far apart that two or three
fingers can be laid between them. The pelvic bones are the
bones just below the vent. Pick up a young pullet, clasp
your left hand around the legs, and hold her under your left
arm with her head pointing to the rear. Place your right
hand just below the vent, and you will feel two small pro-
tuberances close together; these are the pelvic bones. Now
select an older pullet and treat her in the same way. You will
notice that the bones have begun to spread apart. If the
pullet is laying or nearly ready to lay, you can put two, and
sometimes three, fingers between the bones.

FEEDING FOR EGGS.

“What do you feed?” This is a question that is asked by
visitors to a poultry plant more than any other. The novice
seems to think that there is some magic formula, some secret
combination, which, if he can master, will solve all difficulties
and make hens lay in season and out of season. This is a
mistake. There are half a hundred methods of feeding, each
one of which will produce good results. The hen is not a
machine; she is a living thing, and she has a power of adapta-
tion and assimilation which no machine can have.

OL

Many years’ experience has convinced me that there are
two fundamental principles underlying this whole matter of
feeding, and these principles are so simple that a child can
master them: 1. The hen needs plenty. 2. The hen needs
variety. With these two principles held clearly in mind the
poultryman need never go astray.

1. The hen needs plenty. There was a tendency a few
years back to underfeed. It was believed that if a hen was
given all she could eat she would take on fat and become use-
less for egg production. This belief has been exploded. It
is the fat hen that lays eggs. ‘Time after time have I killed a
hen that was so fat that she bagged down behind only to find
that she was full of eggs and was one of my best layers.

The fact is, in poultry keeping we are getting too far away
from Nature. It is a fact that has been remarked by scien-
tific men that the young of mammals and birds are always
produced in the season when the food supply is most abun-
dant. A bird needs to be well provided with fat in order to
meet the strain of incubation and the confinement of rearing
her young. If we employed our hens to hatch and rear our
chicks we would not have to worry about getting them too
fat, for the surplus fat would be burned up in the way Nature
intended.

2. The hen needs variety. In the community where I live
hens are kept in the good old-fashioned way. ‘They are
allowed to run at large and forage for themselves, and are fed
with corn when they come up nights. When the season is
mild they often range the fields clear up to Christmas. I have
known a snowstorm, which kept the hens in the house, to cut
down egg production to the vanishing point, although the nens
were laying heavily before. At the same time when in the
house they were given all the corn they would eat. What
was the cause of the falling off in egg production? Lack of
variety in their bill of fare. In the fields the hens found
insects which had been killed by the frost, grass that was still
green and tender, and many other appetizing morsels; but in
the house all these were suddenly taken away. As a conse-
quence, the hens shut down in egg production because they
had not the materials out of which to construct their eggs.

My method of feeding is simplicity itself. I use the dry
feed method, never mixing up a wet mash. In each pen there
is a feed hopper, divided into two compartments. In one com-
partment I keep mixed feed or bran, and in the other beef

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scraps or fish scraps, replenishing the supply whenever it
becomes exhausted. Sometimes, when I think of it, I stir
a tablespoonful of salt into eight quarts of mixed feed or bran
before I put it into the hopper.

‘here are three kinds of grain which I use—oats, wheat

and cracked corn—varying the proportions according to the

season.

In the summer I feed oats in the morning, wheat at noon,
and cracked corn and oats at night. I feed a quart of oats
or cracked corn to every fifteen hens, or a pint of wheat to
the same number.

In the winter I feed corn and oats in the morning, wheat
at noon, and corn and oats or corn at night. The colder the
weather the more corn I feed. In the winter the grain is
thrown into a deep litter and the hens made to scratch for it,
but in summer it is given them in their yards and all they
have to do is to pick it up.

I also feed a variety of green food, as I shall explain later.

This is my method of feeding, but there are a score of ways
as good as mine. Perhaps the most popular formula is that
of the Maine Experimental Station:

Wheat bran, two parts;

Corn meal, one part;

Middlings, one part; .

Gluten meal, one part;

Linseed meal, one part;

Beef scrap, one part.

Clover leaves or heads to give bulk.

The ingredients are compounded by weight and are thor-
oughly mixed together. The mash is kept before the hens all
the time and they are allowed to help themselves. Whole
corn, wheat and oats are fed in connection with the mash.

Another formula that I have used and found very satis-
lactony is this:
Mixed feed, two parts ;
Ground alfalfa, two parts ;
Corn meal, one part ;
Gluten, one part;
Beef scraps, one part;
Salt, charcoal.
Compound by bulk, and not by weight.

Oyster shells should be kept before the hens all the time,

‘

S4

and their drinking dishes should never be allowed to remain.
long empty.

COMPLETE FEED FORMULAS.

The International Glue Company of Boston sends out a
very valuable leaflet to its customers, containing formulas for
all seasons and conditions. ‘The formulas are intended to
promote the use of fish scrap, which is manufactured by the
Company, but beef scrap can be substituted where fish scrap
cannot be obtained, with equally good results.

BEE D POR LAYING PULLETS:

DRY MASH—First month in house—
Bran, 300 pounds.
Corn meal, 100 pounds.
Middlings, 100 pounds.
Fish scrap, 100 pounds.
Second month in house—
Bran, 200 pounds.
Corn meal, 100 pounds.
Middlings, 100 pounds.
Gluten meal, 100 pounds.
Red Star scrap, 100 pounds.
Third month, same as second, with 50 pounds linseed meal.
Fourth month, same as second.
Fifth and following months, same as third month.
One feed each day whole or cracked corn.
One feed each day, equal parts wheat and oats.

FREED FOR OLD HENS AND COCKERELS KEPT AS
BREEDERS.

DRY MASH—Until beginning of breeding season—
Bran, 400 pounds.
Corn meal, 50 pounds.
Middlings, 50 pounds.
Red Star fish scrap, 100 pounds.
During breeding season same as pullets in third month.
Dry grain same as for pullets.

FEED FOR CHICKENS.

SCRATCHING MIXTURE—Chick feed—
Cracked wheat, 150 pounds.
Pinhead oats, 100 pounds.

DS

Fine screened cracked corn, 150 pounds.
Fine cracked peas, 30 pounds.

Broken rice, 20 pounds.

Chick grit, 50 pounds.

Fine charcoal, 20 pounds.

MASH— |

Wheat bran, 40 pounds.

Corn meal, 35 pounds.

Linseed meal, 5 pounds.

Red Star scrap (fine), 20 pounds.
Alfalfa meal, 5 pounds.

he mash is scalded and then dry rolled oats are mixed
with it in proportion of two parts rolled oats to six parts mix-
ture.

From about the third week on a dry mash is used which
has at the beginning the following composition and is modi-
fied to suit the need of the growing stock:

Wheat bran, 20 pounds.

Corn meal, 30 pounds.
Linseed meal, 5 pounds.
Daisy flour, 10 pounds.

Red Star fish scrap, 10 pounds.

GREEN FEED.

Green feed af some kind is necessary if the hens are to
keep in good health and do their best in egg production. In
order for the food to be digested the gastric and pancreatic
juices must circulate freely, and where the food is concen-
trated these juices cannot penetrate easily. Consequently,
digestion is not so thorough. Green feed lightens up the
mass, and also supplies a mild vegetable acid that acts as a
tonic to the system.

After the feed has passed through the crop and gizzard it
enters the intestines, and it is passed along by peristaltic action
until it is either absorbed or eliminated. It is evident that the
intestines can do their work more easily if they have to deal
with a soft, moist, porous mass than they can if they have to
push along dry, hard, concentrated fecal matter. Thus the:
health of the fowl demands that the ration shall be bulky
rather than otherwise, and that green feed shall form a con-
siderable part of it.

Where hens have a free grass range they will secure their
own supply of green feed during the summer months; but

56

where they are confined in their pens or shut up to yards
denuded of all vegetation, they must be supplied by their
owner.

Second-growth clover is an ideal green feed, if it can be
produced at a moderate price. It need not be cut up, but
may be fed on the stalk, say a bushel a day to every 25 hens;
and the stalks may be allowed to remain for litter.

Cabbages are excellent, and so are mangels. Mangels
may be grown with little labor, and a small plot of land will
produce a generous supply, as they grow to immense size.

Onions are good in limited amounts, but fed too freely
they flavor the eggs. Cabbages and mangels may be fed
whole, but onions should be chopped.

Boughs from pine trees, nailed to the studding of the
house, will furnish the hens with green feed and exercise.
They will eat the needles greedily, and the pine needles seem
to have a medicinal effect upon the fowls.

SPROUTED OATS— FEED TEN ‘CENIS A BUSHEL

Some years ago there appeared in the poultry papers an
advertisement that attracted wide attention. It was headed
“Feed Ten Cents a Bushel.” -Those who answered the ad-
vettisement ‘received a circular which described’ a :book” in
which the formula for this feed could be found. ‘The price
of the book, I am told, ranged from one to five dollars.
Those who sent the money received the magic formula, and
learned that the wonderful feed was—sprouted oats. ‘There
was a feeling at first on the part of the purchaser that he had
been “stung,” that he had paid an exorbitant sum for infor-
mation of doubtful worth, but as time went on, as he gave
the formula a trial, he found that his money had been well
invested, that in sprouted oats he had a feed of great value,
that five dollars was a small sum to pay for what he had
received in return.

I wonder if the fellow who first ran across the idea of
sprouted oats knew what he had found, and I wonder if one
in a hundred who feed sprouted oats knows wherein the
great benefit lies. Where oats or barley germinate out of the
ground, they produce a chemical substance called diastase,
which has the power to convert starch into dextrin, maltose
and dextrose. Diastase in digestion has a power similar to
saliva. That this substance when consumed by hens or cock-
erels has the further power to augment fertility in the egg

ay

there cannot be the least doubt, ‘This’ 1s where the great
value of sprouted oats resides: eggs will be far more fertile
when they are fed. Feed when the sprouts are an inch long,
to secure the best results, and not wait until they are longer.

The process of sprouting oats is thus described by Mr. L.
E. Keyser in the Petaluma Weekly Poultry Journal :

“Take a quantity of clipped or whole oats and soak them
in water for 24 hours. Then pour off the water and place the
oats in a shallow box which has holes in the bottom to let
the water drain off. Night and morning water the cats, using
a sprinkling pot and warm water. Spread the oats out in the
box to the thickness of about two inches. This-may be done
as soon as the oats are placed in the box, or they may be leit
in a pile until they begin to sprout; but continue to water
them night and morning. In ten days or two weeks, depend-
ing on the temperature of the room where they are kept, they

ail sbesteady to leed. co) 8 To feed, cut into blocks
eight to ten inches square. By this process one bushel of
oats will make about four bushels of feed. . . . With oats
at the present price . + - - this feed costs 15 cents a
bushel.”

Barley is recommended by another writer in the same
paper, Mr. N. 5. Trowbridge, as a substitute for oats. Barley
possesses nearly the same constituents as oats, but as it
germinates more quickly is more desirable for use in winter.
The method of preparation is the same. The oats or barley
should be germinated in a moderately warm room, preferably
aecelvati:

EXERCISE.

Laying hens cannot keep in good health and produce the
maximum number of eggs without a reasonable amount of
fresh air and exercise. They do not need to be kept on the
jump from morning until night—a poultry house 1s not a
camp for consumptives—but a certain modicum of fresh air
and exercise they must have if they are to do their best work
in egg production.

Exercise breaks down the old tissues, which must be
replaced with new ones. It is on the new wood that the tree
bears its fruit, and it is with the new tissues that the egg-
making organs are stimulated. Where the old tissues are not
broken down with sufficient rapidity, the fowl takes on fat,
becomes lazy, and comparatively few eggs are produced.

58

No matter what system of feeding is adopted, the hens
should be made to work and work hard for a part of their
ration. ‘To this end the grains that are fed should always
be scattered in a deep litter, and the hens compelled to dig
them out.

While hens are at work in the house the windows should
be opened, and closed when they are through. On every
pleasant day in winter, when the snow is not too deep, they
should be let out in their yards for a little while. A few
minutes’ exercise with the snow shovel will furnish the biddies
with a patch of bare ground which they will greatly appre-
ciate.

CARE Ol ChE HOUSE:

The poultry house should be kept clean and supplied with
everything needed for the health and comfort of the fowls.
When I speak of keeping a house clean, I speak relatively. I
do not expect it to be kept as immaculate as a lady’s parlor,
but to be kept clean enough so that the health of the fowls
will not suffer. The droppings should be removed at least
once a week or sprinkled over with land plaster or sifted coal
ashes, and the roosts and side supports should be kerosened
once a month in winter and once a week in summer. It is a
good plan to sweep the walls and ceiling and whitewash twice
a year. During the winter the floor should be covered with
litter, which should be renewed frequently. In each = pen
there should’ be a dust box kept well filled with sifted coal
ashes, so that the hens can take a bath whenever they wish to.

“For killing lice upon the walls and roofs of the henhouse
there is nothing better than cresol soap, made as follows:
Shave one 10-cent cake of laundry soap into a pint of soft
water; heat or allow to stand until a soap paste is formed.
Stir in one pound commercial cresol and heat or allow to
stand until the paste is dissolved. Stir in one gallon of
kerosene.

“Cresol is a coal-tar product and may be obtained from the
druggists at about 30 cents per pound. Care should be taken
not to get any upon the hands or face, as it will cause intense
smarting. For use as a lice paint, apply undiluted. When
used as a disinfectant through the spraying machine for
killing mites, it may be diluted with fifty parts of water,
which will make a milky colored liquid.”

ao

she)

CEADING RID, OF LICE.

ice are easily raised, but are nota very profitable crop.
The best way is not to allow them to get a start. Where
the fowls are in good health and have access to a dust bath
and the house is kept reasonably clean, there ought to be no
trouble in holding them in check. The male is the worst
offender. He seems to have a constitutional aversion to a
bath, and if left alone will soon be swarming with lice him-
self and distribute them among the rest of the flock. The
poultryman not uncommonly finds that the term “breeding
male” has a double significance. The only sure way to keep
lice off your fowls is to dust them with a good lice killer
once in a while.

There are many brands of lice powder on the market, but
the poultryman can make as good a one as he can buy. Bul-
letin 179 of the Maine Experiment Station gives the formula
- for a lice powder that cannot be beaten:

“Take 3 parts of gasoline and 1 part of crude carbolic acid,
90-95 per cent strength, or, if the 90-95 per cent strength crude
carbolic acid cannot be obtained, take 3 parts of gasoline and
1 part of cresol. Mix these together and add gradually, with
stirring, enough plaster of paris to take up all the moisture.
As a general rule it will take about 4 parts of plaster of paris
to 1 quart of the liquid. The exact amount, however, must
be determined by the condition of the powder in each case.
The liquid and dry plaster should be thoroughly mixed and
stirred so that the liquid will be uniformly distributed through
the mass of plaster. When enough plaster has been added,
the resulting mixture should be a dry, pinkish-brown powder
having a fairly strong carbolic odor and a rather less pro-
nounced gasoline odor.

“Do not use more plaster in mixing than is necessary to
blot up the liquid. The powder is to be worked into the
feathers of the birds affected with vermin. The bulk of the
application should be in the fluff around the vent, and on
the ventral side of the body, and in the fluff under the wings.
Its efficiency, which is greater than ,that of any other lice
powder known to the writers, can be very easily demonstrated
by anyone to his own satisfaction. Take a bird that is covered
with lice and apply the powder in the manner just described.
After the lapse of about a minute, shake the bird, loosening
its feathers with the fingers at the same time, over a clean
piece of paper. Dead and dying lice will drop on the paper

60

in great numbers. Any one who will try this experiment will
have no further doubt of the wonderful efficiency and value
of this powder.

“For a spray or paint to be applied to roosting boards,
nest boxes or walls and floor of the hen houses, the following
preparation is used: 3 parts of kerosene and 1 part crude
carbolic acid, 90-95 per cent strength. This is stirred up
when used and may be applied with any of the hand-spray
pumps or with a brush.

“Tf 90-95 per cent crude carbolic acid can not be obtained,
cresol may be substituted for it in this paint.”

SICK NESSeING LE hEOCK

Where the laying stock possess constitutional vigor and
are kept under sanitary conditions, the amount of sickness
will be small. It is a question whether it pays to doctor sick
hens or not. Certainly it does not where the treatment must
be individual and extended over a long period. But in the case
of simple ailments, or accidents, it probably does pay, espe-
cially where it can be arranged so that the hens will take
their own medicine. In case of sickness it is a good plan to
at once remove the afflicted ones to an airy and sunny pen and
keep them there until they are cured. Nature is working on
the side of health, and hens often get well without their
owner's assistance. Still, there are a few common diseases
that I find it pays to treat.

Colds, Catarrh, Bronchitis——vThese are the most common
afflictions that beset our fowls; they seem to run one into
another if left alone. Colds often make their appearance in
the fall when the laying stock are taken from the range and
transferred to their winter quarters. Sudden changes of tem-
perature affect fowls just as they do human beings. A small
crack or opening above the heads of the hens on the roost,
which creates a draft, is the cause of many colds. Colds are
characterized by sneezing, bubbles in the eyes, and by the
sealing up of the nostrils, so that the bird is obliged to breathe
through the mouth. There are various simple remedies for
colds which are very good. Chopped onions seem to act as a
gentle stimulant and often restore the birds to health. A few
drops of creolin in a gallon of drinking water is recommended,
although the birds do not like the taste and will drink only
when driven to it by extreme thirst. A pinch or two of —
permanganate of potash in a gallon of drinking water is

61

excellent. Permanganate of potash may be purchased at any
drug store and seems to be the base of the so-called “roup
remedies.” A few drops of spirits of camphor or of aconite
in the same amount of water will frequently abort a cold. For
cleaning the nostrils dip a feather in kerosene and touch each
nostril with the tip.

Roup is thought by many to be the result of a neglected
cold; by others to be a bacterial disease. Roup is one of the
greatest scourges of the poultry yard. The disease is char-
acterized by a peculiarly loathsome smell, which haunts the
memory of anyone who ever breathed it, but which makes
identification easy. Roup is highly contagious, and the sick
hens should be segregated at once. Put the worst cases out
of their misery, burn or bury their bodies, give the house a
thorough cleaning out, spray with some good disinfectant, and
put roup medicine into the drinking water.

Scaly legs is sufficiently defined by its name. it 71s ‘con-
tagious, spreading from fowl to fowl, but its progress is slow.
A good treatment is to spray the legs with kerosene, repeating
the treatment once a week as long as necessary. The scales

in time will drop off. Keep the roosts well sprayed with kero-

sene at the same time.

Crop-bound is the choking of the passage from the crop
into the gizzard, generally by hay or grass which the hen has
swallowed. The obstruction must be removed and the pas-
sage opened in some way. Begin by giving the fowl a dessert-
spoonful of olive oil, and after she has swallowed it try knead-
ing the crop.

Sometimes by holding the hen head downwards and gently
kneading the crop the contents may be dislodged. If this
treatment fails a slight surgical operation is necessary. With
an assistant to hold the bird, make an incision an inch long
in the upper part of the crop, cutting through the outer and
the inner skin. Then with a wooden skewer remove the
offending mess, making sure by running in your finger that
the passage into the gizzard is no longer obstructed. Sew up
the inner skin, using silk thread and making each stitch com-
plete by itself. Then sew up the outer skin in the same way.
Put the bird by herself, and after 24 hours feed lightly on a
warm mash until the wound heals and the bird is cured.

Liver Trouble.—In the spring the poultryman is quite
likely to lose a number of choice birds from liver trouble. The

62

comb is the barometer of the bird’s condition. When in per-
fect health the comb is bright red, as in the case of heavily
laying females pale but not purple. A purple comb is the
signal that the liver is out of order. A teaspoonful of olive
oil administered as a laxative is good. But the best treatment
is to at once make a change in the bill of fare, feeding less
corn and giving more green stuff.

Although I have not spoken very enthusiastically about
doctoring sick fowls, yet I believe that every poultryman
should have in his library a book on poultry diseases. The
study of this book will enable him to recognize the beginnings
of disease sooner than he would otherwise, and to take pre-
cautionary measures, for in the poultry house it 1s emphat-
ically true that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
eure.

BROODY ERENS:

Where a large egg output is desired, the key to the situa-
tion is found in the treatment of broody hens. Broodiness is
nature’s signal that the vital forces have been drawn upon in
egg production and that the hen needs rest. When I find a
broody hen on the nest at night, I remove her to the breaking-
up pen, carefully noting down in a memorandum slip the day
of the month and the hen’s pen and number. The breaking-
up pen differs from the other pens only in one particular—the
nest boxes have been removed. In this pen the broodies have
their headquarters until the fever abates. They are fed lightly
—not more than one-fourth the usual amount—and are given
access to a grass range. Most people are in too great a hurry
to break up sitting hens. Do not bother them, but let them
take their own time. In a week or ten days they will be
cured.

CHAPTER VII.

The Selling End.

The great problem which confronts the farmer in these
days is how to get his share of the consumer’s dollar. The
farmer can raise any amount of truck. There are books and
reports that will tell him how to increase the product of
dairy, farm and field. But when it comes to disposing of the
product it is different. There are no books and reports that
will help him here. The problem is one he must work out
for himself. All concede that too large a proportion of the
farmer’s profits goes to the middleman.

The loss to farmers the country through is simply stu-
~pendous. The farmers of this country in 1910 received $8,000,-
000,000 for their products, while the consumers the same year
paid between $13,000,000,000 and $14,000,000,000 for the same
commodities. In other words, the farmer gets only 60 cents
of the consumer’s dollar. It is not the high cost of living
but the high cost of selling that troubles the farmer.

CUT OUT THE MIDDLEMEN.

The poultryman is in the same boat with his brother
farmers: too great a proportion of his profits goes to the
middlemen. Back from the cities the poultryman sells to the
collector, the collector to the commission merchant, the com-
mission merchant to the wholesaler, the wholesaler to the
retailer, and the retailer to the consumer. Here are five profits
to be made. If the farmer could only cut out these middle-
men and deal directly with the consumer, he would be in-
finitely better oft.

THE ‘SIDE-LINE POULTRYMAN.

It is here that the side-line poultryman has his great ad-
vantage—he deals directly with the consumer. It costs him
no more for feed than it does his brother back on the hills a
hundred miles from market, and he gets at least one-third
more for his. prodtuct. -1t is for this: reason that I so stren-
uously advocate poultry keeping as a side line. The poultry
papers are full of descriptions of big farms; the ideal to be

64

aimed at is a farm devoted entirely to poultry keeping. It is
a mistake. The fellow who is the best off is the fellow who
has a city lot with a chance for: poultry in the back yard or
a little place just outside the city within the five-cent electric
car fare zone, and who puts in his spare time with his fowls.
He does not have enough to do on his place to feel burdened,
and he can add two or three hundred dollars each year to his
income with but little effort. The hens will pay the rent or
pay for the place if he wants to buy.. He can take his eggs
and fowls to market when he goes to work, and not unlikely
sell to his shopmates or his employers for a good sum.

BULEDING UPA PRIVATE RADE) I Ne N@YOrRE SEE
EGGS.

Perhaps I can do no better than to give you a chapter out
of my own experience. For several years I lived in a small
country village within an hour’s drive of a Massachusetts
city of 40,000 inhabitants. ‘The only outlet for my eggs was
the city grocer who sent a team once a week to take orders
and deliver goods. I had to take just what he would give me.
While he was a square man, he was not in business for his
health, and made a good profit off the eggs I sold him. It
was necessary for me to go to the city once a week on business,
and so I decided to take some eggs along. I well remember
the morning I started out. It was a beautiful summer day,
and I took along with me 20 dozen large brown eggs in a
new covered basket, thinking that I would have no difficulty
in disposing of them. The first place where I called was a
drug store on the corner which made a specialty of summer
drinks and used a large number of eggs every week. I was
told here that they were supplied regularly with all the eggs
they needed and could not use mine. I thanked them, bade
them a pleasant “good morning,” and started out again. At
the next drug store they looked at my eggs, but told me they
were well supplied that morning, and then asked me if I meant
to call every week. I told them I did. I sat down before the
soda fountain, ordered a milk-shake and chatted pleasantly
with the proprietor while I imbibed the refreshing drink. In
the course of the forenoon I visited a number of drug stores
and restaurants, but could not find a customer. But in each
case I kept smiling and perfectly polite and told them I would
call again. I finally succeeded in disposing of my eggs to a
grocer for about what I would have got for them at the door.

65

But I was not discouraged; I was learning; I knew it would
take time to make an impression. Rome was not built ina day.

The next week, the same day of the week, I went to the
city again, and had practically the.same experience. I did
not sell an egg for more than the market price. The third
week, the same day, I sold a few dozen to a druggist. By this
time the druggists and restaurant keepers were coming to
know me, and to find out that they could depend upon my
coming to the city every week with a supply of eggs. The
fourth week I sold out. After that I had no trouble. I began
to take on private customers from among those who happened
to be in the drug stores when I delivered my eggs, or among
those who patronized the soda fountains and found that when
the clerk broke an egg with my stamp on it there was no chick
inside. In two months I had all the customers [ could supply,
who were willing to pay me the highest market price for my
eggs, which averaged about 10 cents a dozen more than the
grocer would pay at the door.

I attribute my success in picking up customers in a city
where I was practically unknown to four things: 1. I hada
good article. ‘The eggs were fresh and clean and the man who
bought a trial dozen to-day would want more the next time
I saw him. 2. My wares were presented in an attractive way.

. They were always carried in a clean covered basket and
looked good when I showed them. 3. I kept smiling and
pleasant whether a man bought of me or not. I was not
easily; rebuited.. 4.,Resularity, in delivery. I went- every
week, the same day. The druggists and others soon found
they could depend on me, and I built up a gilt-edge trade
that stood by me and advertised me to other customers.

SELLING THE FOWLS.

The poultryman has fowls to sell as well as eggs, and if he
sells them right he will add materially to his profits. Perhaps
I can do no better than to go and tell how I prepared and sold
my fowls when I was selling eggs. I did not hunt up private
customers. ‘This can be done, but it takes time, and time is
money. So I deliberately decided to sacrifice one profit and
sell to the retail meat dealer, dressing the birds myself. I
chose for my objective dealers that had a good class of trade
and who would appreciate a gilt-edge article.

Once a week I would go through my pens at night and pick
the fowls that I thought ought to be sent to market, using

Pus Oe

‘the methods of selection described in Chapter VI. These
fowls were shut up in a crate and not fed through the day,
but were given all the water they would drink. At night I
gave them a ration of cornmeal and clear sand, mixed up with
skim milk or hot water, and allowed them to eat all they
would of the mixture. The next morning when I was ready
to kill them, their crops were empty, but their intestines were
full, and they had not shrunk in weight as is the case with
fowls that are shipped to a commission merchant in the city.
The Massachusetts law requires fowls to be sold undrawn,
with heads on, and by the method of feeding which I have
described the shrinkage in weight is reduced to a minimum.

The method of killing was as follows: The fowl was sus-
pended by its legs by a double cord attached to the floor tim-
bers overhead, and looped at the lower end, at a height which
brought the head of the fowl a little below the waist line of
the operator. The back of the head was then grasped in the
left hand, and held so that it lay in the palm of the left hand,
at a convenient height for making the incision. With a
double-edged pointed knife, made for the purpose, I made a
deep cut about at the point where the head and neck join,
cutting across and cutting clear down to the bone. ‘Then
as I withdrew the knife I turned the sharp point up and
against the roof of the mouth and thrust it into the brain,
turning it half around. ‘This is supposed to paralyze the brain
and render the bird unconscious. Where the cut across the
throat is made aright, a spurt of dark blood follows the with-
drawal of the knife and for about ‘a minute the bird bleeds
profusely. Then she gathers up her strength for one final
convulsive struggle, which, however, is soon over. ‘The
struggle seems to unlock or unfix the feathers, and plucking
is now comparatively easy. In 15 minutes at the longest the
bird ought to be divested of all her feathers.

I would say in passing that in plucking broilers or squabs
you are less likely to tear the skin if you sit down and hold
the bird in your lap. An old burlap bag will protect the
clothes while you are at work upon the birds.

After the bird is denuded of its feathers it should be placed
in a tub of cold water and allowed to remain there until the
animal heat is withdrawn from the body. ‘Then the lower
joint of each wing should be locked across the upper, a noose
should be placed around the legs and the carcass hung in a
cool place to drip.

67

I found it advisable to take the fowls to market on the
afternoon of the day they were killed, and tried to make them
look as attractive as possible. A piece of clean brown paper
was spread upon the bottom of a new market basket and the
fowls laid upon that. When the basket was full a clean towel
was used to cover the carcasses, so that no dust could get at
them. My aim was to make the birds look as attractive and
appetizing as possible.

HOWE TOC A HOW Li:

Where fowls are sold in the local market or shipped to a
commission merchant (unless sold alive), they should always
be dry picked, but where sold to private customers time will
be saved by scalding before plucking. There is a right and
a wrong way to do this. Jn the water in which the fowls are
to be scalded put a piece of rosin about as big as an English
walnut. The rosin toughens the outer skin and keeps it from
breaking or’ peeling. The water should be just below the
boiling point. Take the head of the fowl in the left hand and
the legs in the right and dip the carcass in the water, back
downward, withdrawing it immediately; then dip it in again,
breast downward, and take it out as soon as you can. Now
take the carcass and roll a burlap bag around it, letting it
remain a few minutes; then unroll the burlap and begin to
pick. After the feathers are removed put in cold water and
proceed as described in the preceding section.

FINDING A WIDER MARKET.

What about the man’ who has no market at his door or
whose local market is exceedingly limited? In this case he
must go abroad for an outlet for his products. He must make
up his mind at the outset that he will have to sacrifice some of
the profits, but this need not discourage him, for, as we have
seen in the case of Mr. Dunlap, it is possible to do business
at long range and still have a balance on the right side of the
ledger.

It is always easier to do business by personal interview
than by correspondence, and so I would advise the man who
is looking for a city market to devote a few days to looking
up customers. It is not always the big city that is the best
objective, for the big city draws supplies from a vast territory.
For instance, Boston gets eggs from northern New England,
-from Cape Cod, from the Maritime Provinces and from the
West. New York draws her supplies from hundreds of miles

68

around. Sometimes a small city situated between two big
cities will pay more for eggs and poultry products than either
metropolis; for the small city draws from a narrower terri-
tory and her supplies are liable to be diverted to the great
cities on either side.

Druggists are good customers for fancy eggs and will often
sign a yearly contract. The soda fountain trade grows in
magnitude each year, and egg drinks are increasingly popular.
There are grocery stores catering to a high class of trade
which are always anxious to make connections with a poul-
tryman who can be depended on to ship them eggs every
week in the year. Clubs, hotels and high-grade restaurants
should be approached. There are men in cities who have
a private egg route, and these men are on the lookout for
producers who can supply them with a first-class article.
Perhaps an arrangement can be made with the janitor of a
church to handle your eggs as a side line to his regular work.
These men have a large acquaintance with families and often
would be glad to add to their income by handling your eggs
on commission.

In visiting a city to solicit custom, time your trip so that
you will approach the prospective customer at a season when
the demand is brisk and the supply limited. The proffer of
a case of strictly fresh eggs a week the year around is a much
more attractive proposition to a city grocer in November than
it is in March; and many a man will sign a contract then that
will obligate him to take eggs in summer who would not
sign it at any other time.

THE COMMISSION MERCHANT.

The commission merchant fills a place in our modern com-
mercial life. It is his business to stand between producer and
consumer and find a market for the one and a supply of com-
modities for the other. I[ do not advise shipping to a commis-
sion merchant except as a last resort (for you sacrifice too
many profits), but all of us find it necessary to fall back on
him at times.

The same advice I gave about finding city customers
apples to commission merchants. Spend a day or two in the’
city once in a while in getting acquainted. Look them up at
the bank where they do business. After you begin to ship go
to see the merchants once in a while, to let them know you
are on the earth. Use them well and you will find that they
will use you well in return.

69

a

The commission merchant will send you from time to time
a bulletin describing the condition of the city markets. He
will also send you every now and then a postal card with
prices marked on it. Ship your goods when he tells you and
ship them in the way he tells you. Pack them in an attractive
manner. ‘The commission merchant is anxious to get in touch
with the men who have the goods and know how to deliver
them, and if you stick to him and use him well you will find
that he will do you favors in return, such as notifying you
when you can sell to the best advantage and when to with-
hold shipments from the market.

THE JEWISH TPAD ES.

The Jewish element in our population yearly increases
in numbers and importance. New York is the largest Jewish
city in the world, and Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chi-
cago, St. Louis, Denver, San Francisco and other great cities
have important Jewish colonies. The Jews are good livers
and are among the poultryman’s best customers. ‘Their reli-
gion forbids them the use of lard, and in their cooking the fat
of chickens takes its place. The Jews buy only live fowls, as
a fowl is not ceremonially clean unless killed by a rabbi. The
Jewish ecclesiastical year has numerous festivals, and at these
festivals an immense amount of poultry is eaten. Ship about
a week beforehand for the best prices. The Jewish eccle- .
siastical year is lunar and not solar like our own; that iss time
is reckoned by the moon and not by the sun. Accordingly,
the annual feasts do not always fall on the same date. The
World Almanac, which may be ordered through any news-
dealer and retails for 25 cents, will give you the arrangement
for each current year, and should be in the hands of every
shipper.

TWO BY-PRODUCTS.

There are two by-products which are usually wasted, but
which if saved and sold would add something to the poultry-
man’s income. The first of these is the feathers. There are
men who will buy feathers, if you only know where to find
them. Sometimes they advertise in poultry papers; some
times you have to hunt them up. Pure white hen’s feathers
are worth about 20 cents a pound; pure white duck feathers,
AQ cents; geese feathers range much higher. Colored feathers
from the wings and tails are in demand by milliners and bring

good prices.

70

The other by-product is the manure, of which a large
amount is made in the course of the year., I have known a
poultryman to take the manure out and dump it in piles on
the ground to go to waste. If you do not need it on your
own land you can easily find a customer. Poultry manure
reasonably free from dirt and sprinkled lightly with land
plaster to retain the ammonia is worth at least a dollar a
barrel.

WAYSIDE ADV ER TIS ENG:

Often men range the world over for what they could find
at home. No doubt people pass our place every day who
want to buy what we have to sell, but we miss their trade
because they do not know that we have what they want.
There are great possibilities in wayside advertising. On my
way to the city I pass a place that always attracts my atten-
tion; a very pretty little house with perhaps an acre of land
attached. It is a good sized city lot, nothing more. It is
owned and occupied, I understood, by a widow with three
children. What interests me is the system with which this
acre farm is managed. Every square foot is utilized, and

every, ‘sqtlate foot 1s made to-pay. The; owner has had say

number of neat signs painted, and whenever I go by one of
these is out, calling attention to something she has to sell.
“Eggs for Hatching” greets my eyes in the spring. Later
comes “Strawberries,” then “Raspberries” or “Flowers.” And
in the fall there is a board with the legend “Honey for Sale.’
I understand that this woman makes fabulous profits out of
her acre farm. Customers call at the door and pay big prices
for all she has to sell. Her.success suggests the possibilities
of wayside advertising. Every reader of this book who lives
on the main road and has anything to sell should have a num-
ber of neat signs painted with the name of some commodity
on each, to post by the wayside to be read by passers by. The
best market in the world is often at our very doors. I know
a man who lives in a country town who had potatoes to sell.
He had a sign printed, “Potatoes for Sale,’ and stuck up
where everybody who drove by could see. As a consequence,
he sold all he had for one dollar a bushel, the same price his
neighbors received for theirs in the city, six miles away. If
a hundred people pass your door every twenty-four hours, the
chances are that some of them will be interested in what you
have to sell.

~~ ws ee

ae

CHAPTER VIII.

Laying Down Eggs.

There is no article in daily use that I know anything about
the price of which varies with such astronomical regularity
as does that of eggs. Their movement up and down is as
periodic as the rise and fall of the tides or the oscillations of
the pendulum. Generally the period of lowest prices begins
in March and continues well into May. This is the natural
breeding season of fowls, and eggs are produced in greatest
abundance. By the first of June eggs begin to take an upward
turn, and advance slowly until September. In September
many of the older fowls begin to moult, and cease production
altogether. From this point the rise is rapid, reaching the
maximum at Thanksgiving, then the price drops a little, but
soon recovers itself and continues high until well into January,
when it begins to break, dropping rapidly in February and
March as the spring flood of eggs comes into the market.
This is the general trend of things year after year, but is sub-
ject to slight annual variations, for some seasons are more
favorable to egg production than others; and in any year a
sudden warm or cold wave may cause a break or rise in prices.

Now it follows from what has been said that it would be
of great advantage to producer and consumer alike if some
simple, practical methods of preserving eggs were generally
known and adopted. It would be of great advantage to the
producer because it would serve as a balance weight and
prevent eggs from dropping so low that it is unprofitable to
produce them. Statistics show that the average hen does not
produce over 120 eggs a year, and nearly half of these are laid
in March, April and May. If the owner of the hen could
obtain, say, a cent apiece more for these eggs it would mean
a great addition to his annual profits.

If every poultry keeper in the United States would lay
down his family supply of eggs for the year in March it would
take at least 250,000,000 dozens of eggs out of the market
at a time when eggs are lowest, and the price of eggs would
never drop below 25 cents a dozen. For by April millions of

fe.

dozens more are required for incubation, and this absorbs the
surplus to a considerable extent. —

And it would be a great advantage to the consumer if he
or she would lay down the year’s supply in the spring. There
is no article of diet more nutritious and healthful than eggs.
They are in themselves a perfect focd, and are easily prepared.
In England eggs appear on the breakfast table of the better
classes every day in the year, and it would be better for ihe
people of this country if they ate more eggs and less meat.
And yet at certain seasons of the year the price of fresh eggs
1s practically prohibitive. Who can afford to have fresh eggs
for breakfast when they are 45 or 50 cents a dozen? Only
the wealthiest and most extravagant. How much it would
mean to the health and economics of every family if they knew
how to lay down the family supply of eggs in the spring, when
eggs are at their best and lowest in price!

COLDr STORAGE,

Cold storage is the process of preserving eggs, meats, fruits,
etc., by keeping them in a temperature so low that decay is
impossible. Decay is produced by bacteria, microscopic vege-
table organisms, which multiply with marvelous rapidity, or
by stimulation of the germ of life already within the egg.
Chemical changes follow, and the result is fermentation and
decomposition. Like all living things, these bacteria require
warmth for development. When the temperature is kept near
the freezing point their rdvagesare held in check, and ‘the
substance to be preserved does not change in composition.

Storage plants are now erected in all our larger cities and
are under government supervision. In the largest of them
United States inspectors are constantly on duty to see -that
they are maintained under sanitary conditions. ‘The articles
to be refrigerated are stored in large chambers or compart-
ments, where the temperature is reduced by the constant
circulation of ammonia through pipes or by means of ice.

Thousands of cases of eggs (each case containing 30
dozens) are placed in these storage plants every season, to be
liberated as they are needed. These eggs are largely Western
eggs, few Eastern eggs being available for the purpose, and
come from farms and ranches. ‘They are bought when eggs
are lowest and average two weeks old when put in storage.
The egg chamber is supposed to be kept at a temperature of

55
32 degrees, cold enough to freeze cracked eggs, but not cold

2

a

enough to freeze whole ones. They are taken out in prac-
tically the same condition they are put in. Indeed, eggs have
been kept in cold storage for three years and when taken out
could not be distinguished from eggs that had been there only
a short time. Before being placed on the market each egg is
“candled,” or exposed to the rays of an electric light, which
reveals its. conditfon. It the egg is clear it is passed; it
cloudy, it is thrown out and sold to morocco dressers to be
used in tanning their leather. Cracked eggs are placed in a
class by themselves and sold to bakers.

Cold storage plants might be used by poultrymen who live
in the neighborhood of cities to store their surplus product.
The price charged for storage is low. At the large plant at
which I obtained material for this chapter the rate of storage
is only 10 cents a case a month. As each case contains. 30
dozens, it would cost only two cents a dozen to hold eggs S1X
months, when they could be sold at a large increase. Storage
eggs generally sell for about two-thirds the price of the fresh
article. But these eggs, as I have said, will average two weeks
old when put into storage, and many of them are very inferior
specimens. There is no reason why selected eggs from the
farm, laid down when perfectly fresh, should not sell at retail
around the price of new-laid eggs, for they equal new-laid eggs
in many particulars. I was surprised in going through a large
local plant to learn that poultrymen did not avail themselves
of the opportunity that lay at their very doors. If it pays the
cold storage men to buy eggs in the West, with the inevitable
breakage in transportation, carry them six months and then
sell them for two-thirds the price of fresh eggs, it would cer-
tainly pay the poultryman to put his own eggs in storage; for
there would be no breakage, no express, no shrinkage in
“candling,” and the eggs would be sure to be fresh when laid
down, and not two weeks or more old.

Where there is no cold storage plants at hand the poultry-
man can construct one at a moderate cost. In this case he
would cool his plant not with chemicals, but with ice. A
small building may be constructed for the purpose, or a room
can sometimes be fitted up in the shed or stable.

LIME AND SALT SOLUTION.

Decay being caused by bacteria or germs, it follows that if
these-can be combatted or excluded decay will be arrested.
This may be done in five ways: 1. By keeping the eggs at

74

such a temperature that the germs remain dormant, or cold
storage. 2. By immersing the eggs in a solution which will
cover the shell and prevent the entrance of air, the great germ
carrier. 3. By coating the shell with some substance that
will make it impervious. 4. By destroying the germs by
means of the X ray. 5. By a combination of one or more of
these processes.

In the past many have attempted to preserve eggs by
packing them in salt, wood ashes, plaster, or even in oats; and
when the period was short have met with comparatively good
success. Experiments, however, have shown that these sub-
stances are not to be depended on when it is desirable to keep
eggs in good condition for some months, and more effectual
preservatives must be discovered.

Probably where eggs are to be laid down for family use
one of the best methods is to use the lime and salt solution.
It is inexpensive, easily prepared, and will surely do the work.
F.ggs laid down by this method are liable to have a slightly
limy taste, which interferes with their being placed on the
market. But for home use they are excellent. |

The formula appears in several forms, but the best is the
one which follows, which, so far as I know, has never before
been made public:

Mix three pounds of quick lime in three gallons of water
that has been boiled and cooled. Slake the lime in part of the
water before adding all. Stir well; then add one-half pound
of common salt. After stirring a few times let stand for
several hours to settle. Separate the clear liquid for use, and
in this dissolve one-fourth ounce of boracic acid.

Less lime will suffice, if of good grade, but the formula
calls for enough to insure a saturated solution. Solutions
containing more salt sometimes serve well, but with an excess
of salt the egg yolk is often found thickened. Saturated solu-
tions of lime alone have been used successfully.

Eggs are kept immersed in this liquid, which should cover
them continuously to the depth of two inches or more.
Glazed earthenware, glass, or clean wooden receptacles, are
used, and should be stored in a cool place, as on a cellar floor,
until the eggs are wanted. Eggs just taken from the liquid
should not be subjected to a sudden rise in temperature.

Vhe amount of solution made by this formula will be found
sufficient to preserve 12 dozens of eggs; if more eggs are to
be preserved the proportions should be increased.

16)

For successful preservation by any method eggs must be
absolutely fresh with clean and perfect shells.

Note.—In any of the solutions given in this book allow one
quart of the solution to each dozen eggs. ‘The reader can thus
determine at once what quantity to prepare.

WATER GLASS.

As we have seen, decay originates from one of two sources:
1. The stimulation of the germ of life within the egg. 2. she
introduction of bacteria from without. Either of these sources
will produce chemical changes that will destroy the freshness
of the egg. Exposing the egg for a few days to a high tem-
perature will start incubation if the germ of life is present;
and exposing the egg to the outside air for a longer period will
cause decay by the introduction of germs from without, even
if there is no germ of life within.

Cold storage is the perfect method of preservation, for the
low temperature stops the development of germs both within
and without. ‘As in the world without us all vegetable growth
is checked by the cold of winter, so artificial cold checks the
growth of bacteria, which are minute vegetable organisms, and
decay is prevented. But, as we have seen, cold storage is not
practicable in all cases, and so other methods must be substi-
tuted.

Following out the principle we have discovered—that all
decay comes from the stimulation of the germ within the egg
or the introduction of germs from without—we can easily see
that if we can keep the egg from the air, the great carrier of
germs, and also keep it at a low temperature, we shall greatly
retard if not altogether prevent those chemical changes that
we call decomposition.

In the section before this I have given the formula for a
salt and lime solution that has proved very effective. In this
section I shall outline a method that is rapidly advancing in
favor and is probably destined in time to supersede the others.
I refer to the use of sodium silicate, or water glass, as it is
commonly called. Water glass is cleanly, convenient and
sure: and where it can be obtained at a reasonable price should
be given the preference.

Where it Can Be Obtained.—The merits of water glass as
an egg preservative are becoming known and there are many
inquiries for it at the local druggist’s. But the price charged
is often prohibitive. I have known a woman to pay 30 cents

76

a pint for the article. One gallon of water glass in the 10
per cent solution (one part water glass‘to nine parts water)
will preserve 40 dozen eggs; and at 30 cents a pint it would
cost six cents a dozen to lay down eggs—a price that is alto-
gether excessive. Unless it can be procured at a much less
cost than this its use is out of the question.

Where water glass is bought in gallon lots (and no one
should buy less than this) it can be obtained of wholesale
druggists for 50 cents a gallon. The Eastern Drug Company,
8-20 Fulton street, Boston, Mass., quotes me the following
prices: In gallon lots, 50 cents a gallon, with 20 cents extra
for can, which is returnable. In five-gallon lots, 35 cents a
gallon, and 75 cents for can; can returnable. In barrels of
600 pounds, 1% cents a pound, or 16% cents a gallon. John
Shaw & Co., 40 India Wharf, Boston, manufacturing chemists,
put up water glass in gallon cans, especially for egg preserva-
tion, for 50 cents a gallon; no charge for can. I have no doubt
that in every large city water glass may be procured of whole-
sale druggists at a reasonable figure.

The best way to buy the article to advantage would be for
a little group of neighbors to club together and purchase five
gallons at a time, or even a barrel. In dividing it, remember
that it is sold by weight rather than by measure—l1 pounds
constituting a gallon.

How to Use It.—The formula most generally used calls for
a ten per cent solution—that is, one part water glass to nine
parts water. In order to secure a perfect fusion the water
should be at the boiling point when added to the water
glass, and the solution should be stirred for several minutes
with a stick. Meanwhile the eggs should be got in readiness.
For containers use clean wooden barrels, or firkins, stone
crocks, galvanized iron tubs, or in fact, almost any receptacle
that is convenient. Put in the eggs, and after it becomes
cold pour on the solution. ‘The eggs should be well covered
with the liquid, and the container should be set away in a
cool, dark place—the cellar, if possible.

While a ten per cent solution is generally recommended,
yet is is probable that a much weaker solution will answer
every purpose. Experiments conducted at the Rhode Island
station showed that a five per cent solution—one part water
glass to 19 parts water—will keep eggs perfectly. Owing to
evaporation the solution is continually growing stronger, and
its preservative qualities enhanced.

a

nL

TE.

Chemical changes will take place in the solution after a
little period. It will begin to coagulate and whiten, until
after a while it resembles whitewash in appearance. Then a
jelly-like precipitate will form, and the eggs near the top will
become coated. The reader need not be alarmed at these
chemical changes, for they do not interfere with the pre-
servative qualities of the solution. The weaker the solution
the less pronounced the chemical changes, and the smaller
the amount of precipitate. A ten per cent solution will keep
eggs perfectly, and is to be recommended for the beginner.
After a few experiments he acquires confidence, and will not
hesitate to use a weaker solution. -The writer uses a 6%
per cent solution—one part water glass and 14 parts water.

When to Lay Down Eggs.—Where one keeps his own
hens and can obtain a supply of eggs at any time, the writer
would recommend that eggs be laid down in March. The
spring weather always stimulates egg production, and so
many eggs are put on the market, the price often drops to a
point where it actually does not pay the cost of producing
them. The more eggs taken out of the market at this time
ot tyearstlier less! likely to beta slump.in prices. “Whereis
necessary to purchase eggs to lay down they may be bought
at any time in March, April and May, the months of low
prices.

How to Tell Fresh Eggs.—Eggs should be perfectly fresh
when put into solution, and it is not always easy to get fresh
eggs where one has to go into the market and buy. The
solution itself affords a good test of the freshness of the egg
that is put into it. If the egg sinks to the bottom it is fresh
and will keep well, but if it floats it is stale. The higher
it floats in the water the longer it has been laid. The reason
for this is that the air cell in the egg has a tendency to
increase in size, owing to evaporation through the pores of
the shell; and the older the egg the larger the air cell and the
higher it floats.

e

Marketing Preserved Eggs.—Where eggs are laid down
to be sold again much greater care must be exercised than
where they are laid down for family use. In the first place,
the number of eggs is far larger, and in case of a loss it will
be more severe than where only the family supply is involved.
And in the second place, the eggs must have a fresh, bright
appearance. Where eggs are to be eaten at home the ap-

78

pearance of the shells is of minor importance so long as the
eggs are fresh, but where they are to be put on the market
one cannot’ be too particular.

Make the solution as I have described: one part water
glass and 10 to 15 parts pure water. Lay down your eggs
every day, and as soon as they are put in the tub cover them
with the solution. A tub will hold from 40 to 50 dozen eggs,
according to its size and according to the size of the eggs;
and I have found the tub numbered “‘two” most suitable for
my purpose.

Do not put into the tub as many eggs as it will hold, but
fill it so that the eggs can be covered to the depth of two or
three inches with the solution. There will be some evapora-
tion during the summer months, and if the eggs are too near
the surface some of them will be left high and dry before the
summer ends, and you will have rotten eggs for your paitis
when you come to sell them.

Each tub should have marked on it with chalk the date on
which the eggs were laid down. Thus, eggs laid down in
March should have “March” chalked on the tub, and those
laid down in April should be distinguished in a similar way.
In selling the eggs you will want to begin with the oldest
and put them on the market first.

The board that covers the tub should be lifted from time
to time, and the eggs inspected to see that everything is all
right. In case of doubt it is well to take out a few eggs from
the suspected tub and break them. But if the eggs were
fresh when laid down and the solution is of the right con-
sistency, there is really very little danger.

In laying down eggs for market be sure to select those
with the whitest shells. The water glass seems to enter into
chemical combination with brown-shelled eggs, turning them
a pinkish hue. But it has no appreciable effect upon light-
shelled eggs. Indeed, it is practically impossible to tell those
which have been in the solution from those which have not,
when they are ready for market. °

When the time comes to sell the eggs you will begin with
those that were laid down first. As I have explained, the
water glass will probably have coagulated, and the eggs will
be covered with a jelly-like precipitate. Remove as much
of this as possible when you take out the eggs, splashing
each egg around in the water. Put the eggs in a tub’ similar
to the one they were taken from. After the tub is filled pour

79

on soit, cold water and let stand 24 hours. Then take the
eggs out of this and put in a basket, washing each egg before
it is taken out and rubbing off all traces of the water glass
with the fingers. After the eggs are dry they should be gone
over again. ‘They will have a rough appearance, and look as
if they had been in an old flour barrel, or been sprinkled with
chalk. <A brisk rubbing with a woolen cloth or old towel will
greatly improve their appearance, and make white-shelled
eggs look as good as new. If you care to go to the trouble,
a final touch with a cloth wet in strong vinegar, and then
wrung nearly dry, will make them look very nice. Water
glass is an alkali and is neutralized by the acid in the vinegar.

And now about marketing these eggs. They are not
strictly fresh eggs, and must not be sold as such; and, on the
other hand, they are much better than the average cold-
storage eggs. A good way to sell them is to show them to
your customers, tell them they are laid down by a special
process, and that you will sell them for five cents a dozen
less than strictly fresh eggs, guaranteeing to replace every
one that is not satisfactory with a fresh egg. You will have
no trouble in disposing of your stock for double what you
could have got for them in the spring.

CHAPTER IX.

Becoming a Fancier.

It will doubtless be a surprise to many who read this
chapter’ to learn “that tor the*averace; poultryman theresis
more money in utility than in fancy fowls. A little reflection
will show why this is so. The fancy business requires the
personal touch. A man who is keeping fowls for meat and
eggs can delegate much of the work to others, and can in-
crease his plant indefinitely. But the fancier must know his
birds as individuals, or else employ a high-priced superin-
tendent who does. He must know how to mate and handle
for best results, and even then not one bird in ten will be
likely to be a prize winner. He must pay out more: for
foundation stock, and if he wishes to introduce new blood
must often spend hundreds of dollars for what he wants. He
must take his birds to the shows, and the car fare, express
charges, entry fees, loss of his own time, etc., will make a
- big hole in his profits. Then he must advertise, and adver-
tise generously, and advertising runs away with a lot of
money. So it will be seen that the breeder of fine birds must
get good prices for what he has to sell if his books are to
show a balance on the right side.

TELE AEP PEAT OE EE Aen Ye

Still there are many to whom fancy poultry keeping makes
a strong appeal. The Creator of the universe has implanted
in man a love for the beautiful, and there are few objects in
nature more beautiful than a fine specimen of one of ‘the
standard varieties at its best. ‘There is an-excitement in the
attempt to produce a bird that will score high in the 90's,
like the excitement of the chase. In the show room there is
a battle royal that appeals to a man’s fighting blood. The
breeder is matched against other breeders of his favorite
variety, and victory over them is sweet. The silver cup and
the blue ribbon that he takes home to show his friends have
a value that money cannot represent. But there is good.
money, too, in fancy poultry. Ifa man can produce a speci-
men of any one of the popular varieties that will win the

81 :

blue at one of the big shows, he can name his own price.
Five hundred, one thousand and even fifteen hundred dollars
have been paid for a winning male. Then it does not take
much land or many buildings for a man to carry on quite a
business in fancy poultry, and world-beaters may be raised
ina back yard. All these things conspire to recruit the ranks
of the fanciers with a stream of new men who are after fame
and fortune in the poultry business.

BECOMING A FANCIER—THE START.

Unless a man buys. his birds and shows as his own what
other men have produced, the one who aspires to be a fancier
must make up his mind to a long, slow, up-hill climb. But at
the summit of the hill there waves a blue banner with the
word “First” upon it in golden letters, and there approaches
to meet him one of Uncle Sam’s servants in the grey uniform
of a letter carriér with a big bundle of letters, each containing
a check for sittings of eggs and shipments of birds.

The first thing a man should do who aspires to be a
fancier is to purchase a copy of the American Standard of
Perfection, and the second thing is to decide upon the variety
he will keep. The Standard of Perfection is the official pub-
lication of the American Poultry Association, and contains a
complete description of all recognized varieties of fowls. It
supplies the breeder with the ideal that he is to try to make
real in his yards. As a man turns over the pages of the
Standard and sees the beautiful birds pictured there, he is
quite apt to become. bewildered and to wonder how he can
ever make a choice. But here is where the fancier has an
advantage: the field is much wider for him than for the man
who keeps utility fowls. In the utility field there are not
more than six or eight varieties that are money makers, while
in the realm of showdom a man can make money on any one
of half.a hundred kinds. If a man breeds good birds and
advertises them faithfully, he can find customers no matter
what variety he selects. Then in a non-popular variety there
is not so much competition in the show room, and a blue
ribbon comes one’s way much sooner than is the case where
competition is fierce. Still I would advise a man to select a
variety that is reasonably popular, or he will be disappointed
in sales. If he is shrewd or lucky enough to hit upon a breed
that is about to have a boom and gets into it before the
crowd, his fortune is.made. Let me illustrate. The Light

82

Brahmas are grand birds—there is something majestic and
stately about them. They are handsome. They have many
friends. Still, I would not advise a man to go into Light
Brahmas. They have had their day. But the Columbian
Wyandotte, which is a new variety, with Light Brahma
markings but Wyandotte size and shape, would seem des-
tined to have a great run; for they appeal to those who
admire the Light Brahma markings and to those who ad-
mire the many good qualities of the Wyandottes. If I were
starting out I should not hesitate to try them.

AER, BOUN DATION SPOCK

Perhaps as good a way as any to get a start is to purchase
a pen of birds of the variety one has decided upon of some
reputable breeder in the fall. Ask him to mate them up for
you for the best results. You can generally buy old birds
for considerably less than you can young ones, and where
you are not after eggs for market but for incubation, old
birds are as good or better than young ones. You will devote
the winter to getting acquainted with your birds. (I assume
that you have kept fowls before and understand their care
and management. If you do not, it will hardly pay you to
start out with high priced specimens at first.) In the spring
you will get out all the chicks you can take care of, and in the
fall should have several pens of likely pullets. Mate your
cock bird with the best of these, and send off to the man of
whom you bought your foundation stock for more males.

SHOW YOUR BIRDS:

One who aspires to become a full-fledged fancier must
show his birds. There is nothing that will help out sales
like a good show record. There is no place in- which a man
can learn so much in a short time as in the show room. It is
a liberal education to see the judges work; and the score
card that one finds attached to his coop is of inestimable
value: it reveals to a breeder as by a flash of light where his
birds are strong and where they need to be built up.

PREPARING BIRDS FOR SHOW.

The Standard of Perfection should have a chapter on the
preparation of birds for the show room: it would be worth
the price of the book to a beginner. I do not claim to be an
expert, but perhaps I can give a few hints that may be of
assistance.

83

After the owner selects the birds that seem to him the
best, he should examine them carefully to see that there are
no disqualifications—nothing that will throw the bird out of
the competition. The bird should be healthy, vigorous, free
from vermin, and as near the standard weight as possible.
Of course the prospective exhibitor has handled his birds
more or less and treated them so well that they are reasonably
free from shyness. There is nothing that looks worse than
to see a bird in the exhibition coop dashing its head against
the slats in its vain efforts to escape, or crouching in the
corner as if half frightened to death. White birds should be
washed, and I am inclined to think that a good washing will
not harm birds of other colors. The process is very simple.
Three tubs half full of water should be set side by side, of a
temperature of about 95 degrees. The birds should be stood
in tub number one and well soaped with Ivory or some good
white soap, taking care to rub the soap the way the web of
the feathers runs. After the bird has been well soaped, re-
move it to tub number two, and rinse the lather out on, ae
plumage. The bird should then be removed to the third tub
and given a final rinse. If the bird is a white one, a little
bluing should be added to the last water. Take the bird
from the water and stand it on a table or box, and wipe it as
dry as possible with towels. If you have a furnace in your
house, and your wife will let you do so, place the sawhorse
over the register and let the bird stand on the round of the
sawhorse for a little while. He will be so tamed by this time
that he will not try to get away. If you have no convenient
register, place the bird in a large slatted box, well littered
with straw, and let him remain in the box in a warm room
until thoroughly dry. Before shipping the bird to the show
feed him well, give him a little whiskey and water or a one-
grain quinine pill, and rub his comb and wattles with a piece
of flannel which has been saturated with alcohol. Dig out
the dirt from under the scales on the legs with a toothpick,
and rub the legs briskly with a piece of chamois skin.

ADVERTISING: ”.

For everything a man has to sell there is another man
somewhere who stands ready to buy, and there is a man
somewhere waiting to buy stock and eggs of you. How may
you find him? TI can tell you in one word—Advertise.

I used to think that something could be done through the

84

local paper to sell stock and eggs, but an experiment has
rather shaken my confidence. ‘The fact is, not one reader in
a hundred of the local paper is willing to pay a living price
for stock and eggs—he doesn’t know their worth. If you can
afford to sell eggs for hatching for from 50 cents to a dollar
a sitting, and cockerels for one or two dollars each, you can
sell some by advertising in the local press; but if you want
a living price you must look elsewhere. ‘The poultry press is
the place for a poultryman to advertise. Time and time again
have I had men come to me to borrow a poultry paper to find
out where they could get stock or eggs of a certain variety.

Fortunately there are a number of grand poultry papers
in this country and Canada, and any one who has anything to
sell can easily find a good medium. How shall a man decide
what papers to advertise in? ‘There are two rules: 1. Ad-
vertise in papers that carry the most advertising. 2. Adver-
tise in papers that themselves advertise.

Advertise in papers that carry the most advertising! “But
is not my little ad. in danger of being lost in the mass?” you
ask. Not at all. The paper that carries the most advertising
does so because it is the best medium. Men advertise in it
because they have found it pays. Somebody is going to see
and read your advertisement, and send to you for birds.

Advertise in papers that themselves advertise! Why?
Because those papers have for their readers those who answer
advertisements. The reader with the mail-order habit is the
one you want to go after.

“How large an appropriation shall I set aside for adver-
tising?” For a beginner, a good rule is one dollar a year
for each bird in your breeding pens. If you have 50 birds
your appropriation should be $50. For $50 worth of adver-
tising you ought to be able to sell $400 worth of eggs and
stock.

As you increase your breeding stock you can decrease
the amount you allow for each bird, for a large advertisement
pulls proportionately better than a small one.

Some papers have what is called a flat rate—so much an
inch, whether for one insertion or twelve. Others have a
sliding scale—the rate being less proportionately for a year
than for three or six months. Where you advertise with a
paper that has a sliding scale you can arrange so as to use the
greater part of the space from October to May, and cut down
in the summer months.

85

Poultry papers generally offer special inducements to
beginners and small breeders by running short, classified ads.
at a low rate. ‘These are called “Breeders’ Cards,” and I
know of no way in which a man can make his advertising
appropriation go so far as by patronizing this department of
the paper.

Writing a good advertisement is quite a trick, but like all
great things it is simple. The best advertisement tells a story
and gives a reason. It is not funny, it is not verbose, itis
not sensational, it is not extravagant. It is a plain, striking
statement of facts. Write out your story, then strike out
every unnecessary clause and word, and let the printer display
it to suit his taste. Study the advertisements of successful
men in other lines, especially in the magazines, and you will
learn much from them. .

Besides your advertisement in the paper you will need
a neat and attractive circular. The circular will describe
your stock more fully than the advertisement. The circular
will save you a vast amount of letter writing, for it will
answer nine-tenths of the questions asked by prospective
customers.

Attend to your correspondence promptly, if possible
answering a letter the very day it is received. ‘The man who
writes you may have written some other fellow at the same
time, and if you want his trade you must be prompt.

Enclose a circular in each letter, but do not rely upon
the circular to make a sale. Write a few cordial, friendly
words, even if every question the man asks is answered in
your circular. Personality is the greatest power in the world,
and you can put a good deal of personality in a short letter.

SHIPPING EGGS AND STOCK.

Eggs for hatching are generally shipped in a basket or box
made for the purpose. In cold weather they should be .
moved only in the middle of the day, and great care should
be exercised to prevent freezing.

Where eggs are shipped by the hundred, perhaps as good
_a way as any is to pack each separate egg in excelsior. ‘Take
a small piece of excelsior from the roll and pull the fibres
apart, then with your thumb or with a round stick like the
end of a broom handle, make an indentation in the mass.
Put the egg in the hole and close in the excelsior about im
The egg is now in a ball or nest, protected on every side by

86

its resilient carrier. If carefully done the ball may be dropped
upon the floor and the egg inside will not break. ‘These balls
may be packed in a box like oranges, and will go safely any
distance.

In shipping stock, provide light and strong shipping coops.
If the bird is to go any distance, a loaf of stale bread soaked
in water and placed in the box will be meat and drink for
him on his way. Write the party to whom you ship the
bird when you send him, enclosing express receipt.

COMPLAINTS.

Every shipper of eggs and stock is bound to receive more
or less complaints. Accidents will happen, and there are
customers hard to please. Sometimes you run across a dis-
honest customer who wants to get more than his money’s
worth and who sends in a complaint that the eggs were
_ broken when they reached him or failed to hatch. You can
generally tell from the tone of a letter whether the writer is
sincere or not, for an honest letter has an honest ring.

When a complaint comes in that is unreasonable, it should
be, met courteously and kindly, but firmly. The customer
should be shown, if possible, the untenability of his position.
When a complaint that is reasonable comes in an attempt
should be made for a satisfactory adjustment. It is the prac-
tice among poultrymen, I believe, to duplicate the order at
half price where less than seven out of the thirteen eggs
hatch. Where a customer is dissatisfied with the bird sent,
he should be allowed to send him back, paying the express,
and his money should be returned to him. While a poultry-
man needs to make sales he needs to make friends even more,
and a good way to secure them is to treat every man accord-
ing to the teachings of the Golden Rule.

CHAPTER X.

The Trap Nest.

The trap nest is a box or compartment with a spring door
which automatically closes and locks behind the hen as she
enters to lay her egg and keeps her imprisoned until released
by an attendant. The great advantage of the trap nest 1s
identification. It enables the poultryman to pick out the hen
that lays the egg. By attaching a leg band to her ankle with a
number thereon and keeping record, the poultryman can
easily determine the number of eggs a hen lays in a given
period.

Ten years ago, when the trap nest was a new thing, it was
confidently predicted that it would revolutionize the poultry
industry. It seemed self-evident that all one had to do in
order to secure a strain of phenomenal layers was to breed
from the birds giving the largest egg output. But experience
has demonstrated that there is a flaw in this theory some-
where. It does not work. At the Maine Experiment Station,
where the trap nest was used faithfully for several years, it
was found that there was actually a decrease in egg produc-
tion, that the phenomenal layers did not reproduce them-
selves.

There are reasons for this anti-climax, if we can only dis-
cover them. It is impossible in any given case to determine
how much the egg output is influenced by heredity and how
much by environment. Take a Light Brahma and keep her
under favorable conditions, well housed and well nourished,
and she will surpass in egg production a Leghorn that is
compelled to dig her living out of the manure pile and left to
roost on the branches of an apple tree. The phenomenal
layer may exhaust her vitality in excessive egg production so
that she is unable to transmit the faculty to her offspring.

The great practical argument against the trap nest is that
it takes so much time—time that would better be devoted
to caring for the comfort and convenience of the fowls. In
order to properly operate trap nests it is necessary to visit
the house five times a day; and to remove a hen from the
nest and credit her with the egg laid on a sheet of paper takes

88

at least one minute. Where 500 fowls are kept there will be
times when the operator will be kept busy six hours a day ©
looking after the nests. The poultry business is sufficiently
laborious and confining in itself without taking on this extra
burden.

From what has been said it might be inferred that the
writer iS opposed to the trap nest. Not at all. What the
writer is opposed to is the extravagant claims that have been
made by advocates of the trap nest and especially by those
who have plans to sell. The trap nést has its uses. The
great value of the trap nest, in my judgment, is not that it
enables us to breed from the heaviest layers, but that it pre-
vents us from breeding from the poorest ones. In the same
flock there will be birds that will lay two dozen eggs a year
and other birds that will lay two hundred. We want to cull
out these weak layers, and the trap nest will help us do it.
Then the trap nest may have a great value in pedigree breed-
ing, where a fancier wants to be sure that he breeds from a
special fowl.

MAINE EXPERIMENT NEST.

The Maine Experiment Station, which has given to the
poultry world so many good things, has the plan of a trap
‘nest which is simple, practical and easily constructed. “The
‘nest 1s a box-like structure, without front end or cover, 28
inches long, 13 inches wide, and 16 inches deep, inside meas-
ure. A division board with circular opening 71% inches in
diameter, is placed across the box 12 inches from the rear end
and 15 inches from the front end. Instead of having the
partition between the two parts of the nest made with a
‘circular hole, it is possible to have simply a straight board
‘partition extending up 6 inches from the bottom, as shown
in Figure 1. The rear section is the nest proper.

“The front portion of the nest has no fixed bottom. In-
stead there is a movable bottom or treadle which is hinged
at the back end (Figure 1). To this treadle is hinged the
door of the nest. The treadle is made of %4-inch pine stuff,
with 1%-inch hardwood cleats at each end (Figures 2 and 3)
to hold the screws which fasten the hinges. It is 12 inches
wide and 12% inches long. Across its upper face, just be-
hind the hinges holding the door, is nailed a pine strip 4
inches wide, beveled on both sides, as shown in Figures 2
and 3. The’ door of the: nest is not made’ solid) ‘butis an

89

open frame (Figures 1 and 3), to the inner side of which is
fastened (with staples) a rectangular piece of -in. mesh gal-
vanized screening (dimensions 8 by 9 inches). The sides of
the door are strips of 34-inch beech stuff 12 inches long and
114 inches wide, halved at the ends to join the top and bottom
of the door. The top of the door is a strip of hard wood 13
inches long and 1% inches wide, halved in 234 inches from

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Fig, 1. Trap Nest closed, View from above.

each end. The projecting ends of this top strip serve as
stops for the door when it closes (Figure 1). The bottom of
the door is a hardwood strip 10% inches by 4 inches. The
side strips are fitted into the ends of this bottom strip in such
a way as to project slightly (about 1/32 inch) above the front
surface of this strip, for a reason which will be apparent.

“When the nest is open the door extends horizontally in
front as shown in Figure 2. In this position the side strips

90

of the door rest on a strip of beech 1% inches wide, beveled
on the inner corner, which extends across the front of the
nest.) (his beech. strip is nailed) to; thes, top sem asboard 4
inches wide, which forms the front of the nest box proper.
To the bottom of this is nailed a strip 2 inches wide, into
which are set two 4-inch spikes from which the heads have
been cut (compare Figure 2). The treadle rests on these
spikes when the nest is closed. The hinges used in fastening
the treadle and door are narrow 3-inch galvanized butts with
brass pins, made to work very easily. It is necessary to
have hinges which will not rust.

“The manner in which the nest operates will be clear
from an examination of Figures 2 and 3, which show a sample
nest with one side removed to show the inside. A hen about

Se
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Fig. 2. Trap Nest open. One side removed to show method of operation.

to lay steps upon the door, and walks in towards the dark
back of the nest. When she passes the point where the door
is hinged to the treadle, her weight on the treadle causes it
to drop. This at the same time pulls the door up behind her,
as shown in Figure 3. It is then impossible for the hen to
get out of the nest till the attendant lifts the door and treadle
and: resets it) It will be seén, that the nest) is extremely
simple. It has no locks or triggers to get out of order. Yet
by proper balancing of door and treadle it can be so deli-
cately adjusted that a weight of less than half a pound on the
treadle will spring the trap. All bearing surfaces are made
of beech, because of the well known property of this wood to
take on a highly polished surface with wear. The nests in
use at the Maine Station have the doors of hardwood, in order

91

to give greater durability. Where trap nests are constantly
in use, flimsy construction is not economical in the long run.
For temporary use the nest door could be constructed of soft
wood.

“The trap nests are not made with covers, because they
are used in tiers and slide in and out like drawers. They can
be carried away for cleaning when necessary. Four nests in
a pen accommodate 20 hens, by the attendant going through
the pens once an hour, or a little oftener, during that part of ©
the day when the hens are busiest. Earlier and later in the
day his visits are not so frequent. Thé hens must all have
leg bands in order to identify them; a number of different

Sewn Nee SSS

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Fig. 3. Trap Nest closed. One side removed to show method of operation.

kinds are on the market. The double box with the nest in
the rear is necessary. When a hen has laid an egg and de-
sires to leave the nest, she steps out into the front space and
remains there until she is released. With one section only
she would be likely to crush her egg by stepping upon it, and
thus learn the pernicious habit of egg eating.

“To remove a hen the nest is pulled part way out, and, as
it has no cover, she is readily caught; the number on her leg
band is noted and the proper entry made on the record sheet.
After having been taken off a few times the hens do not
object to being handled; most of them remaining quiet, ap-
parently expecting to be picked up.”

IN CONCLUSION.

Capitalize your mistakes.
Don’t slip twice on the same banana peel.

92

Don’t trust anything to a hen’s judgment, for she hasn't any.
She is sure to do the thing you don’t want her to do. ‘The only
safe way is to have your fowls where they are completely under
your control.

Read widely, but check and correct what you read by expe-
rience and experiment.

The best breed is the one you like best.

Cleanliness is next to egginess.

Keep the hens at work, and the chances of their contracting
bad habits will be reduced to a minimum.

A good breeding cockerel should be of good size, with well
developed comb and wattles, a bright eye, and with a bright and
fearless mien. In other words, he should show his masculinity
in every act and look.

Separate the sexes as soon as the cockerels begin to crow.

The time to doctor a sick hen is before she is sick.

Give value received the first time, or you may never have a
second time.

Fowls should never be roughly handled, violently chased or
badly frightened. Best results can only be obtained when the
birds feel at ease and free from the attacks of enemies of all kinds.
The keeper, whose fowls fly at his approach, is not a success.

Satan finds some mischief still for idle hens to do.

In caring for the youngsters, a little neglect may mean a big
loss. Better do it right or not at all.

Remember that the early hatched chicks need an unusual
amount of care in order to fully protect them from the cold of
early spring.

Have the best stock obtainable, and never start with any other
kind. Better get good birds and fewer of them. You can’t
breed anything but disappointment from poor stock. As in
everything else, the best is the cheapest.

Distrust the doctrinaire who says that chicks do not need
much heat. They come from a warm place and need considerable
warmth until well feathered out. If they have warmth they will
grow; if not, they will become stunted and die like flies at the
approach of frost.

The whole tendency today on the part of those who have the
poultry business most at heart is towards simplification of
methods. The old farmer who feeds nothing but corn and not
much of that, letting his hens shift for themselves on the range,
may not be the highest type of a poultryman, but he makes

J3

poultry keeping pay. He doesn’t get many eggs, but what he gets
are all profit.

While there are an indefinite number of things a man might
do in the poultry business, vet the things that are absolutely neces-
sary are after all very few. ‘To keep one’s hens clean, to keep
them comfortable, to give them plenty to eat—this is about all
there is to it. Perhaps the greatest gain a man ever makes 1s
when he resolves that he will no longer doctor sick hens—unless
the sickness is very simple. While he may lose a few more hens
in the course of a year than he otherwise would, yet the saving
in time, the removal of the strain upon his patience and sympathy,
the higher average of health on the part of the hens that remain,
more than offset the loss. It was never intended that the poultry-
man should add a drug store to his outfit.

When a man sells eggs he sells futures, and when a man buys
eges he buys possibilities. If a buyer gets a good hatch he gets
more than his money’s worth, and if the hatch is poor he has no
cause for complaint. If only two or three chicks come out, one
of these may be a blue-ribbon bird that will be worth ten times
what he paid for the eggs, at the start. |

A small flock of layers is better than a big flock of loafers.

If you are a novice and have never exhibited, enter a few
birds at the fall fairs. You wil! learn faster in this way than in
any other. You can apply your newly acquired knowledge a little
later to good advantage, and stand a better chance to win when
the winter shows open.

The man who orders early gets the choicest of the early stock.
Better buy before the breeders’ birds have all been picked over.

Whatever else you economize in, do not economize in feed.
Feed as if you were a millionaire. Feed as if grain didn’t cost
anything. It is possible to get an old hen too fat, but a chick on
a free range—never.

Patience and gentleness are two great assets on a poultry plant.
It don’t pay to get mad with hens.

Not Likely to be Overdone. Is there any danger that the
poultry business will be overdone? This is a question that must
suggest itself to every thoughtful mind. Enormous as the con-
sumption of eggs and poultry is, may it not be matched and
passed by production, so that those who venture into the business
will meet with loss? The possibility of this cannot be denied.
With our modern methods of artificial incubation, by which
chicks may be produced at any season of the year and in countless

94

numbers, with so many constantly preaching the profits of poultry
keeping, there is a real danger that the business may be overdone.
There is a limit to everything finite. But on the other hand there
are reassuring considerations. ‘This is a big country, and it is
growing bigger, all the time. There are 2,000,000 more people
in the United States today than there were a year ago, and there
will be 2,000,000 more next year than there are now. And all
these have to be fed. Game is becoming scarcer each year.
Meats are constantly advancing in price. People are being driven
into increased consumption of eggs and poultry. When eggs fall
in price in the spring their sale enormously increases. ‘This shows
that the American people could consume many more eggs than
they do now if they thought they could afford them. It is proba-
ble that with the advance in scientific methods of production and
storage, the price of eggs throughout the year will become more
uniform—not soar so high in the fall nor drop so low in the
spring. And with an equalization in price, eggs will be used even
more than they are now.

Easy to Get Out of. The poultry business has one feature
which I have never heard mentioned but which is worthy of con-
sideration; it is easy to get out of. When a man engages in a
new enterprise he naturally hopes and expects to succeed, but all
the while the grim alternative of failure must lurk in the back-
ground of his consciousness. It is said that a good general before
going into battle always determines what he will do in the event
of defeat. There are some kinds of business so personal in their
nature, so complicated, that a man can get out of them only with
considerable loss. But the poultry business is different. Sup-
pose a man has been engaged in the production of eggs and poultry
for market, and wishes to close out. All he has to do is to ship
his fowls to a commission merchant in the city, and in a day or
two there will come back a check. Suppose a man has been en-
gaged in the production of birds for exhibition purposes. An
advertisement in a poultry paper will find him a customer who
will take his flock off his hands. There is a good demand for
farms, and they are steadily advancing in price. Should a man
discover that he is unfitted for the poultry business or grow tired
of it, he can get out of it with as little loss as any business I know
anything about.

ERRATA.

On page 7. the last word in first line of seventh paragraph
should be “Proportions” instead of preparation.

On page 8, the figures in third line in third paragraph should
read “$867.45” instead of $86.45.

On page 9, the figures in sixth line under head, “Marketing the
Product,” should read 80” cents instead of 20 cents.

NOY g 4971

American
Poultry Advocate

SIA S, ar

ad|6
CLARENCE C. DEPUY, Editor and Publisher

Issued Monthly. 44 to 116 pages.

50,000 Copies Per Month.

Subscription price, 50 cents per year.

It is devoted to the interests of both fanciers and practical poultrymen, It is
authoritative and helpful in all branches of poultry work, from hatching and
rearing of chicks, to the maturing of fowls for showroom and market. It is
the second oldest poultry publication in the United States and stands second to
none in its value to poultry raisers. It is helpful to the beginner as well as to
the expert. The newest and best in poultry literature is found between its
covers each month.

The editorial staff is composed of some of the most able writers on poultry
topics—men of experience.

From an advertising point of view it is in a class by itself. The increased
advertising patronage we receive yearly from old advertisers, as well as the
large amount of new business, is convincing proof that the ADVOCATE 1s
‘the paper that pulls.’’ Advertising rates on application.

American Poultry Advocate,

907 South Salina Street, Syracuse, N. 1@

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