TREATISE

ON

CARE AND DISEASES

OF

POULTRY

(Extracts from The Modern Veterinary Practitioner)

By W. H. HAYES, V. S.
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

ENG © ‘
> oS

oo.

DR. W. H. HAYES, V. S.

TREATISE

ON

CARE AND DISEASES

OF

POULTRY

Be de veo

SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

Copyright 1913
By Dr. W. H. Hayes, V. 8.

©lA3846414

Poultry Domestic Fowls

We here now submit some of our practical experience, of
which the results have been remuneratory, or of supply-
ing a profitable recompense. An individual who possesses
a reasonable allowance of ambition, even though your cap-
ital perhaps is limited, yet by and through energetically
devoting similar attention to this branch of industry,
within three years of time you can be on Easy Street, and
within ten yours you should have accomplished a suffi-
ciency to support you comfortably for the remainder of this
life: and to leave a sufficient amount for your heirs to liti-
gate over.

Breeding.

The same rules on producing thoroughbreds, which has
been thoroughly explained in my previous instructions on
this subject, refer to those.

How to produce a distinct breed of Buffs: Cross with
full blood Brahma hens and the Brown Leghorn cockerel.
If you desire to change the shade or color with any of the
various breeds: If you wish light, select those of the light-
est for breeding purposes. To change to darker colors,
reverse the conditions. In two years’ time you will be sur-
prised at the accomplishments. We sometimes meet with
conditions where the hens have become so fat and oily that
the shells are insufficient; with those, reduce the cereal
supplies and increase the shell food. Be careful not to
over do this plan, or the eggs will not hatch, unless you
crack the shell slightly on the twentieth day of its having
been nested for hatching purposes. Sometimes accidents
occur and we find broken eggs in the nest. In some cases
the odor is something fierce (perhaps will cause you to say
that a sick hen laid those eggs). Carefully remove all
parts, wash the other eggs in a weak solution of salty
warm water and return them. If the nest has become so
filthy that it is real strong, remove it also. Prepare a

5

warm, new nest; place one or two other eggs in the new
nest; permit the hen the work of fixing the nest. While
she is doing this business be careful to retain a warmth of
about one hundred and five degrees, Fahrenheit, or a few
degrees above that of the human body; now remove the
fresh eggs and place the others in the nest as soon as
convenient... In these modern times we resort to various
modes for the hatching purposes. Not wishing to change
the subject too abruptly—but will you permit me? I refer
you to the act of the Apostles, Acts Five, one to twelve,
inclusive; but the conditions of which we shall now men-
tion are quite different. At Dumont, Iowa, I have a bro-
ther-in-law,,the Squire, a Mr. Melvin S. Needham, who in
the month of June, 1872, made an outing trip from Dumont
to Storm Lake, Iowa. While the party were in camp on the
bank at Storm Lake, some of the boys found a wild goose
on duty on a nest of eggs. She, the goose, had too much
wing for the other fellow, but the magistrate appropriated
the eggs and kindly and carefully placed them in his
bosom, as the party were ready to break camp and start
for home, the Squire hoping and praying that the eggs
and himself would keep warm until they reached home.
His petition was granted; but before they reached their
destination most of the Bi-pennate were hatched and were
ready for the boys to divvy rations with them; since that
time the Squire has shed most of his hair and some of us
expect to see a crop of feathers replace it; but up to the
present writing only a few pin feathers are discernable
about the shoulder blades. A part of this is parable, but
the hatching statement is an honest truth. With eggs
which are hatchable and subjected to a temperature of
from about one hundred and four to one hundred and
seven, Fahrenheit, whether in the original way of nature
or by artificial means. I shall call your attention to the
various leading methods of artificial hatching; the various
plans are well worthy of thought and the means are reli-
able and profitable. It is advisable to start the first year
on a small scale, then as you become more familiar with
the business increase as your desire prompts you; by
adopting this method you will be certain to succeed.

For the general purpose in our experience, the Black
Minorca rooster and the Black Spanish hen produce a

(

gratifying inducement. To be successful in this business,
cleanly surroundings, dry air, a good roof with proper
ventilation, and a reasonable amount of windows, on the
sunny side of the building, will amazingly augment the
profits; also these hygienic methods aid in maintaining
healthful conditions. If this plan of procedure is method-
ically adhered to by, and through this means, if we were
to locate two men of about equal intelligence, ambition
and tact, the one on a ten-acre chicken ranch, the otheyx
on a hundred and sixty-acre farm, allow the poultry man
about one-third the amount of capital of that which will
be needful or requisite for the farmer, at the expiration of
ten years investigate the financial results, including the
bank accounts, also the worthless and worn out machinery
on the farm, for which a junk Sheeny, perhaps partly out
of sympathy, would be willing to haul it away, that by so
doing it would perhaps be a means of prevention of acci-
dents to the stock or to the children, the farmer’s wife, the
farmer or his friends, bargain, ‘Yes, Ih gipp you gash
dirdy-vife zendz, gash fun to vole peexness, dos been
blendy, voss say, duh.” “Well, Jacob, 1 suppose that we
had best call it a bargain; of course, that outfit cost me
well onto two thousand dollars, but wife has been insist-
ing that we, in some way, have it gotten out of the way as
several of our animals have already been injured on some
of those rusty irons, and had it not been that we were
so fortunate as to have in the house a bottle of the Dr.
Hayes Anti Ferri Virus Liniment, Iam confident that mat-
ters would have become more serious. Say, Jake, come
in and take dinner with us; the boys and I will help you
to finish loading this afternoon; glad you came along.”
How different we find conditions with the poultry family
and their ranch—no worn out machinery. The birds
should all be sold before they arrive at the conditions of
senile decay; birds which are plump and fat are always in
good demand at a fair price. If you follow my plan you
can fatten the birds surprisingly soon, keep the floor well
swept, darken the apartment, or shade them so that they
have barely a sufficient allowance of light to partly guess
their way about; with poultry, as well as with all the do-
mestic animals, by pursuing this plan or method we can
save about one-half of the expense in preparing them for

tl

market, or for slaughter. This plan once tried will never
be denied.

It is now no experiment on my part, as I have tested its
efficiency. If you will test this method, you will know
what to say for it, also with the hairy domestic ainmals.
If, in fly time, we derive benefits in various ways, the ven-
tilator should be in the cone or highest part of the roof.
The fowl guano should be swept and shoveled out on an
outside floor; a good cheap plan to roof it over, and pro-
tect it from the sun, dew and rain. When thinly spread
over the field the next year and succeeding seasons, you
will derive gratifying and profitable benefits in the extra
yield of crops; after having spread the guano, it is advisa-

THE GOLDEN POLAND CHINAS

ble to harrow that part of the field as soon as convenient.
If the surface is considerably packed or crushed over, a
good plan is to run a cultivator over it, then harrow.

The question is sometime asked, “How many hens
should be allowed for each rooster?” While an approxi-
mate answer, or to some extent, at least, a hypothesis re-
ply can be given: with game cocks, about twenty, while
with the large weighty birds, from ten to twelve would be
advisable. Comparison: a customer once asked me how
long a cow’s tail should be. My answer: “About long
enough to reach from where it is attached to the body to
within a few inches of her heels.”

8

Hatching or Incubation.

Anthropology, the science of man, need have no boundry
lines. An Irishman was standing on the pavement in
front of a hardware store interviewing a stack of nicely
finished incubators. He said to one of the clerks: ‘‘Frind,
plase till me phat are these quare looking things fir?”
“Yes,” the clerk replied, ‘‘those are incubators.” Patsy
said, “Yes, I suppose so, but can yes bate anything wid
them?” Clerk: “Why, my dear sir, those are one of the
best inventions of the last several decades as you can see
here. We can place several hundred eggs in those apart-
ments. We then secure our warmth through those
vacuums, so you will understand one of those fixtures is
capable of doing the services of which would require quite
a flock of hens, and the hens can be on other duties of
which the incubator would be a failure.”

Average incubative period:

WNC? ce ates oe 5 Maas ste oe Senge 21 days
CROCS EC tceg 2 Sizes es ibs Ao ae “Saath ods
WUCK Se cee! iG Mae se ees ees, DOs es
USUIKEY Sivas ASO So ate Sree ok one ee yao,
Guinea. TOWISi< 2). 2 ae Zi tee
IPC a Sa tS iat) 5 ay eo ee ee ZT
OSUELG I ea Ben x os regs ori Min erates Aye

Regarding the plan for the poultry rooms, you should
know how you want those. If you can have an earth floor
most of it should be covered with chaff or straw, or screen-
ings, to be replaced with fresh, clean material as condi-
tions require. We have obtained best results by placing
boards on the smooth earth; we mix sand, gravel, ashes,
lime and shells in one place where the sun will have a
chance to shine through the large windows, which should
be on the south and south-east of their house.

For ventilation and sky-light, a cheap and convenient
method, which also prevents an unreasonable amount of
draft: Prepare the desired number of windows to be
placed on the roof, near the cone; we make a frame, fit it
snugly in the roof, prepare it so that the window will fit
in snugly; attach hinges on the upper part, now fasten
a ring, staple, or hook on the under side. Attach a small

9

rope or cord to this; by this means you secure a control
of ventilation; also if they are placed on the south half
of the roof, this plan will admit of more sunlight, and when
raised, if only a few inches, this plan will admit the es-
cape of foul gases, gas being lighter than air, it will escape
quickly.

Dry, warm apartments, well ventilated, with a good
supply of windows, a dry comfortable floor with no draft
under it will be a means of prevention of diseases, a saving
on feed; also the birds will thrive much better, and the
hens will very soon well repay you for your duties well
done. But never permit of a low direct draft to punish
your birds. With this kind of a structure, if the walls
are what they should be, the hens, if properly supplied
with fresh water and the proper kind of feed, will lay about
as well during winter as in summer months. We do know
that fresh ranch eggs never fail to be in good demand at
a nice price here on the Pacific. During Fall and Winter
months we depend largely on storage of Eastern eggs,
which have been shipped here; they retail here at thirty-
five cents per dozen, and we consider that if one-third of
them are usable we think we have struck it lucky. During
our recent holidays, I purchased a supply in the hope that
they would aid us in faring sumptuously, but, alas, I
started to go through the kitchen at about the noon hour
and one of our helpers had accidently dropped a pan on
the hot stove; in this pan my boss said that “these were
only six or seven Eastern eggs.” I found the kitchen
deserted, the doors and windows opened wide; but friends,
permit me to remark, please be generous on expanding
your imagination. Words fail me to explain on paper
the fierceness of that odor. The fumes were something
surprising, a sufficiency for at least fifty persons, but I had
it all to myself. One of our party hallooed from an adjoin-
ing room: “Doctor, isn’t thar sothin’ ye can pout on the
sthove that will make it smil bether?” “Yes, Bridget, you
get some limburger cheese.” “Och, ye git out, ye mane
devil.” “Never mind, Bridget, there is a man here that’s
gone.” Later in the day I returned home. My friends
asked me what I thought about it. I answered: “If those
Hastern hens were not sick, they expected to be soon.”

While the poultry industry, at first thought, perhaps,

10

would have the semblance of a minute feathery endeavor;
yet the fact remains just about the same, that with a small
capital, in this industry, any man, woman or child, who is
physically able, and possessed with a reasonable amount of
intelligence, industry and economy of which it has been
said (it is the road to wealth), in this industry. A person
can consistently make the start with five dollars, and by at-
tending strictly to business, in the space of three years one
would be favorably surprised at the thousands of birds and
the daily cash income, of which it is possible for one to
have at their command.

The first consideration in reason and propriety should
be to prepare suitable apartments for their comfort and
healthfulness. This method will not only be pleasant to
your thoughts, but will result advantageously at headquar-
ters. We believe that we have quite well covered the
thought for the minimum.

The universal law of cause and effect will be applicable
at this juncture:

Hatching and raising with a man-made mother.
This accomplishment or attainment, of obtaining profit-
able results, with a reasonable allowance of intelligence
and some experimental practice we can accomplish profit-
able results. Stay by it, you will win, proceed with a de-
termination of (know no defeat), there is always room at
the top for this class of individuals.

I deem it to be advisable, if you are not a practical
chicken man, to start in on a small way. Select pure
bloods, even though some breeds are quite expensive; but
bear in mind that very soon you will own high price birds
and they are almost invariably in good demand, at a nice
price. Place yourself on record as being the owner of as
good birds as the other fellow owns. If we start right,
the mistakes will be of rare occurrence, and the results ma-
terially more meritorious, costs less for feed for good stock
than it does to care for scrubs and the dunghills. Also,
you will feel less like sneaking out of sight when friends
call to view your outfit. The best quality of individuals
are almost invariably interested in good blood, regardless
of where it is. Establish the reputation of owning as good
as the best, and then if you are favorably constructed with
character your amiable ambition will aid your efforts; it

lel

is profitable to endeavor to obtain this accomplishment.
Reputation is that element of which the people think we
are, while character can be seen only by omnipotence.
The Honorable Professor Keen of Philadelphia, Penn-
sylvania, U.S. A., writes: “My first experiment in hatch-
ing by artificial means was with eccalobeon, about four
feet long, two feet high and two feet deep, two feet square,
placed near to one end; the drawers encompasssd with
a sheet of water three inches, connecting with a large bed,

WHITE DORKINGS

two feet square each way, through which an iron stove
pipe passed to heat the water. In the top drawer are
two openings, one front and one back, with valves, con-
nected by a small iron shaft; in the front valve there is
inserted a glass tube with a bulb at each end, nearly filled
with mercury, so regulated that when to warm or cool,
the mercury will expand or contract, throwing the weight
from one end of the valve to the other, opening or closing
the valve, as required. This self-regulator of the heat in

12

the drawers removes the necssity of so close attention to
the heat.

“T hatched eggs that had been partly under the hen and
produced the chickens from the first warming of the eggs,
up to the eighteenth day. Then the tin case sprang a leak
and all the water ran out, but I had sufficient evidence that
the eggs would have hatched, had the case been made of
copper, perfectly tight. I then had recourse to bricks
piled around the stove in place of the water. I found the
heated air would pass around the stove as well as the
water and kept up a uniform heat, that would have hatched
eggs equally well but attended with more personal care,
which led me to experiment with the accumulations in the
horse barn as a means of generating heat, which has re-
sulted in perfect success in producing fine healthy chickens
in twenty-one days from the commencement of their
heating. This mode will be useful to the farmers, as
they have the material at hand and the only cost attend-
ing it would be a little labor to accomplish the hatching
of eggs to any desired extent. This mamel (to use the
Egyptian name) I will now give a minute’s description that
every farmer may build one for himself and be able to
perfect the hatching of eggs and rearing of chickens with-
out the aid of a hen. It is a building thirteen feet by six-
teen, with a tight-grooved partition dividing it into two
apartments, the front one seven feet, the other nine feet;
in this partition are two openings to receive the front
ends of the ovens. These ovens are six and a half feet
long, two feet, two inches wide, nineteen inches high on
one end, and eighteen on the other, in the clear back end
closed and made entirely inch boards; lined with two solid,
water-tight with shutters in two equal parts, hung to the
bottom and in the middle with hinges, and buttons to
close the front end; in the upper part of the shutter there
are two sliding valves, each four inches by six, to give
air and regulate the heat, the outside of the ovens and
the partitions should be well coated over with pitch. To
exclude moisture and prevent the wood from decay, the
ovens should be placed eighteen inches above the ground,
supported with posts at the back end and four feet apart,
with an open board partition, the boards running up and
down ten inches apart, to divide the manure between the

13

ovens and yet not entirely separate, so, that in renewing
the manure of one oven the other may not be chilled.
There should be a window in the back to give air and
receive the manure through. The manure should be such
as is made in well littered horse stables, and use straw and
manure mixed and well watered, while being thrown in a
pile where it is to remain twenty-four hours to soak and
permit the redundant water to pass off. It should be placed
loosely around the ovens, which will not require renewing
for two weeks, then only renew half the length of the
oven at a time, judging from the heat when more of it is
to be renewed, which will be required about every week.
Tan will make a better bed under the oven than manure,
the heat will last longer. The egg box, four feet long, two
feet wide, three inches deep, lined with braize, ten inches
of one end covered with wire to keep the chickens that
are just hatched; the other part of the box should have a
light frame with twine passed between the eggs and at-
tached to the frame to turn all the eggs at one time. The
egg box turns on a center to reverse the ends in the oven;
the carriage is made in two parts, the lower part has sash
pullies let into it to roll on the rails, the upper part is
connected with the lower, with four small bars of iron
about eighteen inches long with holes for a wooden screw
in each end, the screws put into the top and bottom
when they lie together (which moves like a parallel ruler)
and confined to different heights by a hook about ten
inches long, fast to the upper part and hooking into staples
driven into a piece of wood running along and fastened
to the lower part. This arrangement is to sustain the egg
box at different heights, to suit the required degree of heat,
which I have found to be as near as it can be kept to one
hundred and four degrees, from the first to the last stage
of successful hatching. My feed room can be made per-
fectly dark through one of the doors in a hole one and
one-fourth inches in diameter, over which is a piece of
cloth tacked (an inch hole in it) that will exclude all the
light except what passes through it, where can be seen
the first progress of the chickens and in four days, if there
is no appearance of a chicken, boil it for the young brood.
“Next in order is the rearing of the chickens without
the aid of a mother. In the basement of the first named

14

building on a level with the top of the eccalobeon is a
platform four feet by seven, with a slide to open in fine
weather into a small yard; also one to open into a box with
wire front (over the eccalobeon) which is moderately
heated from a small stove; in this box is an artificial
mother, made of rabbit skins (I have one also made ot
the skins of fowls), hung about two inches from the bot-
tom, where the chicks are first placed. In three or four
days they are let into an adjoining apartment, where there
is a Skeep skin mother; over this is another with one end
raised higher than the other for chickens further advanced
to run under, with a small yard attached. In the glass
building is a platform sixteen feet by four, about four feet
above the ground floor for chickens still further advanced
with a yard to it; they are next shut out from this apart-
ment and run with the full grown fowls. All of these
apartments will accommodate about five hundred chickens
of the different ages.

“This mode of hatching and rearing them is attended
with less than half the loss that usually takes place, when
hatched and reared by the hen.

“With regard to the feed for the first two or three meals,
I give grated stale wheat bread, laid on a sandal floor, next
I give bread, boiled in milk, and while hot, mix coarse
ground Indian meal with it, make it nearly dry. For the
older fowls I give wheat screenings and whole corn, with
once a week boiled meat. It will here be seen that I have
made the management of eggs as plain and simple as Capt.
Cook did, when ‘he stook one on its point.’

“Yours most respectfully,
“JOSEPH 8S. KEEN.”

I have given you the Professor’s delineation verbatim.
With many of our ranchers and farmers, especially in the
rural districts, the plan is certainly meritorious; you read-
ily discover that with almost a costless fixture you can so
arrange as to have young birds hatched every day in the
month, if you so desire. In Northwest Washington, also in
many other localities of which the author could mention,
cedar shakes and all of the other wood part of a good-size
building could be prepared from one tree, so that the small
bill for hardware and a smali amount of labor would cover

15

the expense for an all money-making enterprise. With
this kind of a building it will last to be as old as a man.

Also I possess some old copies of the London Times, in
which since 1857 I have been materially interested with its
description of the Bromely boys.

They started their poultry industry on a limited capital,
now they are worth thousands of pounds. The last winter I
was down in Iowa we had a very deep fall of snow, which

WHITE COCHINS

drifted and banked in the regulation way in those windy
prairie States. A friend and myself started to go out in
another part of the city; we saw a boy of about ten years
who was very busy working in a fifteen foot snow bank
and was using a stove shovel and his hand sled. My friend
asked him how he expected to remove so large a bank of
snow. “By keeping at it, sir.’”’ Let us endeavor to profit by
his plan. If we do this, victory will be ours; we will be

16

sure winners. The Bromely has since been renamed, now
know nas the London Home for Poultry and Pigs. Those
began in their industry with less than ten pounds. In 1913
they are wealthy men.

I shall now refer to the description of which the London
Times published in July 1889: “We recently called at the
Bromely home; we were awe-stricken and astounded,
amazed at the marvel accomplishments. dries ylOn, ap=
probation, approval, appropriate. Hight hundred cockerels
and hens enjoy the comforts of a model prison without the
disadvantage of compulsory silence or solitary confine-
ment. Their cells are light, airy and comfortable, their
dietry liberal and varied, the temperature of the abode is
regulated on approved scientific principles, and the gentle-
men who have made the character and temperament of
fowls their especial study, look after their comfort and
minister to their wants. The House: The section of the
house now in active work consists of an airy, glass covered
house, three hundred feet long, twelve by three feet and
these pens are sub-divided again into roosting and laying
compartments and glass covered runs, where exercise may
be taken in wet weather. The general effect of this home,
which will be multiplied by six in a few months, is very
striking. Its central floor is of red tiling, with shafts to
admit cold air in summer and hot in winter. A regular
register of temperature being kept at each side of this and
running along the pens are symmetrical little beds of mus-
tard and cresses for the young chickens, whose compart-
ments are on a second tier and at short intervals a vine
plant of choice quality, springs gracefully up to eventually
join tendrils with its opposite neighbor in the glass roof
above. The covered mess box looking like seats where-
upon the rare plumage and vast proportion of the birds
may be critically viewed. Also certain nests for egg laying
are so arranged that the most sensitive hens may pass to
and from them without any annoyance.

“The nests are wooden bowls piled with clean hay and
plentifully sprinkled with fine sand. In order that the
poultry may be kept warm on cold nights, the roosting
perches are composed of hot water pipes, a circumstance
which is said to induce the constant laying of eggs. The
perfect ventilation and scrupulous cleanliness of the home

17

are very marked and the happy, well-fed look of the fowls
and the way in which their necessary wants are fore-
stalled, combined with the exact similarity of their several
cells, gives the model prison simplicity, strength and force
as the visitor progresses down the long house.

How and What They Are Fed.

“The principle on which these fortunate creatures are
fed is to have certain essential dishes prepared and given
them every day, while other viands are varied through the
week; thus an animal food is necessary.

“Contracts have been entered into for horses, upon the
veterinary surgeon of the company giving his certificate
that the horse submitted to him is fit for consumption.
The contract price of two pounds is paid and the animal
boiled down, the carcass is then finely minced and a por-
tion given each day to the fowls. Pigs are also to be
kept in order that nothing may be wasted, the liquor in
which the horse has been will be given to the porkers
as soup and the dietary will then run somewhat after
this fashion: Cabbage, green food, and horse flesh twice
every day; Sunday, cross-grained barley; Monday, Indian
corn; Tuesday, oats; Wednesday, boiled potatoes; Thurs-
day, boiled rice; Friday mangel wurzel; Saturday, mixed
grain; add to this a handful of grit, sand is sprinkled in
the food to promote digestion; then sulphate of iron is
put into the drinking water, and charcoal twice a week;
and it will be seen that our high estimate of the com-
forts enjoyed by those cockerels and hens are not over-
charged. The floor of each inner pen is covered with
sifted soil some inches deep, while the outer one has a
plentiful supply of stable manure, each material being
carefully turned with the spade twice a week.

Fattening Hens.

“One of the proprietors called my attention to the
fattening devise. At the end of the long living room is
the fattening department, a dark chamber with small
boxes three feet long, in which fowls are to be placed and
fed, at each side of this is a hatching chamber, similarly
fitted up, where many hens are always sitting. Beyond
this again is the yard, which is rapidly converted to the

18

use of the company. When the entire place is in working
order, artificial hatching rooms, with concrete floors,
movable glazed sides and slate or felted roof, will be seen
in active operation. The interior of these rooms will be
fitted with movable shelves, divided into compartments
by galvanized iron, each compartment having a frame
work of what is called artificial mother. A section ot
soft and fleecy carriage rug pendant from a strip of wood
and giving warmth and shelter to the fledlings nuiakes the
mother, many specimens of which are now to be seen about
the home. The chickens are placed in these compartments
from their birth until they are a week or ten days old,
when they are moved to the rearing home. As soon as
the head is covered with feathers they are pronounced
hardy and fit for the ordinary vicissitudes of adult fowl
life.

“The Company periodically issue pamphlets on their
best known methods for the management of this industry
and any new discoveries which are worth the mention-
ing, they gladly make it public at the earliest practical
opportunity.

“In one of their recent periodicals they say the func-
tions of a hen towards her chickens consists in forming
a covering to prevent the natural heat of their unfledged
bodies from cooling; also in breaking into small pieces the
food that is too large for them, and lastly to protect them
from danger. Now, by artificial means they not only do
this but they perform the duties a great deal better and
with less casualties to the chickens.”

By permission I quote from Dr. Navin. He says:
“Most writers on poultry do not believe in hatching or
rearing, yet they might as well doubt growing tropical
fruits and plants in England. Chickens do neither re-
quire artificial heat nor that of their mother; all that is
necessary until full fledged is to provide them with suita-
ble covering for their bodies to preserve their natural
heat, the same as with infants during cold weather.
However, their homes must be warmed the same as for
full-grown poultry and then a good ventilation, without a
draft, a dry floor, sunlight, and a small run and artificial
mothers to sleep under. The run house consists of sunk
passages lined with brick walls and with a concrete fioor,

19

heated with hot water pipes and roofed with felt. This
house has a glass covered run, the concrete floor of which
is covered with gritty dust. The advantages of the entire
system of breeding adopted for the Bromley House are
officially summarized thus: Slow feeding allows weak
fowls to get sufficient food, which they cannot when a
great number are feeding together. The food can be sup-

PLYMOUTH ROCKS

plied in the required quantity and quality to each rood
or class, as it must be evident that breeding and laying
stock requires a different diet from chickens and poultry
intended for the market, each cockerel having only a cer-
tain number of hens allotted to him, they are served
better.

“In this means of collecting and profitably using ‘he
poultry manure, the constant renewal of the ground will

20

prevent its getting tainted with the fowl’s droppings. The
temperature is kept equal and cold and dampness pre-
vented, preventing disease from exposure, cold, wet, and
contagion; economy in food, as poultry will eat much less
when warmly housed and deprived of running about; keep-
ing breeds and sexes separate, enabling precise statistics
as’ to the comparative productiveness of the various
-breeds and also in ascertaining what hens have ceased to
lay; the early detention of hens wanting to set; obiaining
a larger number of eggs and in a season when most searce.
A genial temperature will induce hens to set, notwith-
standing cold weather. This system, however, like all
new systems, must be extended gradually, as old birds
which have been accustomed to roaming about wili fret
and lose appearance the first few months; but the young
that are fed and reared on this system will thrive better
and at much less expense for food than under the pres-
ent mode. Another remarkable thing about this curious
and interesting establishment, is the perfect reciprocity it
is intended to maintain between the animal and the vege-
table kingdoms. The land on which the six long licuses
will be open and in active operation in a few months, will
supply the green feed for the poultry, besides sending a
large surplus to covert garden markets.

“The manure from the poultry will go to enrich the
grounds, the hides, bones and hoofs of the boiled horse,
which has been used to feed the pigs and chickers, is to
sell for the two pounds which its carcass cost, while the
twenty-two yards belonging to the six houses wil! hcid
from thirty thousand to forty thousand head of poultry.
Each yard will have two divisions, one of which will be
devoted to young chickens and other to the young cock-
erels; though from the very spirited mien we saw im-
provised by two young Brahma Busters, who were in the
same pen, it seems probable that the latter class may give
vent to occasional bursts of pugnacity. In the center of
each yard is also a tank for ducks.

“Some idea of the scale upon which it is expected to
carry on the operations of the company will be gathered
from the fact that four thousand eggs will shortly be in
process of incubation at one time. From the present
stock of eight hundred cockerels and hens the average

21

weight of cockerels and chickens, after they have been
fattened, is put at six pounds, and though the present
selling price is to be five shillings each it is sanguinely
hoped, that by the rapid multiplication of the home and
the consequent increase in numbers of the fowls bred,
they will shortly be sold by the pound like butchers’ meat
and at a rate not higher than four pence per pound.

“That the Bromley will enjoy exceptional facilities for
producing poultry and that their efforts must in’ “Lime
affect prices, seems obvious. A large proportion of their
breeds are fancy ones where the chickens of these prom-
ise fair development or unusual beauty; they will be kept
for poultry breeders and will readily command from five
to twenty guineas (twenty-five to one hundred dollars)
each. The commonplace offsprings of the same parents
will be fattened and killed, so the race will be purified and
improved year by year.

“While the value of chickens of the same breed liberally
varies from one dollar and twenty-five cents to many
guineas of twenty-one shillings each. In a few months
from the present time when a floating stock of one hun-
dred thousand salable chickens are constantly on hand,
and when the six large houses and twenty-two yards are in
full working order, we shall be able to pronounce more
decidedly upon the practical bearings of the scheme.
Meanwhile it is impossible to avoid admiring the organiza-
tion of the home now open, as it is to withhold sympathy
from a project which, in these days of high prices and
scarcity, aims of placing within the reach of the very poor
man an article of food, at present to be seen only on the
table of the well-to-do.”

The above, although by far the largest, is but one of
the establishments of that kind that have been success-
fully operated in Europe, and although several attempts
at the system have failed, for want of experience and cau-
tion, in this country it is more favorable to the enterprise
than any other country on earth.

The author feels confident that not many years hence,
this system of hatching and raising poultry will be ex-
tensively practiced in this country.

pep

=a

Chicken Feed.

To me it appears reasonable that the Bromley syndicate
have sounded the key-note in an intelligent, practical
method, while perhaps not all of us can be persuaded
or convinced of the necessity of following in detail the
verbatim plans and principles, of which they have pursued.
If you have, you are entitled to registry as a thorough-
bred, for they have been winners from the start to the
present day, but each of us who are possessed with a
reasonable allowance of nosology are in great luck. I
claim this prerogative, barring the fact that my home has
been on the Pacific Coast since 91. In America, South,
North, and the British possessions, the Indian corn,
broom corn, also sorghum seed, usually constitute their
food. We will find it to be more profitable, to some extent
at least. to follow the Bromley plan on feeding birds.
We have obtained the best results by using cracked, rolled
or soaked cereals of whichever kind. The vegetable feed
should be hashed, cooked, or steamed; the leaves of the
sunflower and seeds are also feed for chickens. The
quantity which can be raised on a small piece of rich soil
is something surprising, if the caps are reasonably well
dried and ricked up in a cool, well ventilated apartment;
rick with stem down. The lower tiers shovld hs laid on
narrow strips, permitting the air current to pass between
the floor and tiers. The floor should be one or two feet up
from the ground, permitting a free draft. We can feed
with those seeds almost every day through the year. If
you try this plan you will then know what to say to your
friends regarding results. For those which you desire
to fatten quick, try alternately cracked corn, cracked
wheat or buckwheat. They will plump out more rapidly
if you cook or soak all the feed and confine them in a well
ventilated, darkened room. Supply fresh, clean water
every day. By devoting this attention, within three weeks’
space, they will be in good fix for the market. Cracked
rye or barley makes a very good substantial substitute, also
add a small allowance of ground pepper to the feed. If
the digestion becomes inactive add some ground shells or
sand to be mixed with the wet warm feed. Do not permit
them to roam about if you wish to expedite matters; also
supply them cooked fresh meat or fish three or four meals

23

SVINHVUd MUVa

Sey 1 Her”

= SS

a week; add some ground pepper, horseradish or mustard,
the green leaves will be alright. Two or three meals a
week of cooked carrots or potatoes will be of benefit. In
the absence of those, some of the other vegetables would
chink in for a substitute. Mustard tops or horseradish
leaves, if thrown in the enclosure will be of vital benefit.
Under any circumstances also be sure that they are sup-
plied with fresh water every day.

Poultry should never be fed with anything of a saline
or salty nature. I have been called to examine poultry
where we have known them to be in a pitiable condition.
They are carnivora as well as scavengers. I now have a
call in mind of where one of my customers had dumped out
a barrel of spoiled corned beef (chickens crave meat to
eat). They made a raid on the decomposed beef, which
had been thoroughly salted. After several scores of them
had died my friend ’phoned me to call as soon as possible.
I made a night trip to the ranch and when he informed
me of the loss, we concluded to await for daylight. In the
morning I dissected several of the dead birds and we
killed a few which were partly alive. In each bird I found
evidence of chloride of sodium; the farmer was certain
that I was mistaken. He is a powerful, muscular, brawny
tiller of the soil; but I nerved up and meekly said to him,
“Possibly one of us is mistaken,” and at once hurried away
from him, and as I was rushing around the corner of the
hog house stumbled over this mound of strong beef. I in-
stantly realized the sensation that harmony would soon
reign on that ranch. About this time his good wife ap-
peared on the scene with alligator tears on her cheeks as
she said she feared that they would lose all of their poultry
and that she had been so in hopes of saving enough of
them to buy some things for the children. I informed her
that if they would bury or burn that mould of salty beef
and do the same with scores of decomposing fowls that the
surroundings would be of greater value for domestic pur-
poses; also to prepare a slumgullion of flaxseed, one gal-
lon; red peppers, half pound; water, six gallons; hog’s
lard, two pounds; air-slacked lime, two pounds; fine,
gritty sand, two pounds, simmer to a jell, stir until have
accomplished a sameness; when cold allow all that they
desire to eat. We accomplished a cure. We had another

25

similar experience with turkeys, geese and ducks, from
feasting on spoiled salty salmon, recommended the same
treatment, obtained good results.

Almost any of the fowl family will eat enough salt to
kill if they can have some meat or fish along with it.

Cholera.

Treatment for poultry: Proportions: Five pounds
corn starch, two pounds corn meal, half pound black pep-
per (ground), water, two gallons; cook and stir to same-
ness; when cool give all a sufficiency. Be sure to begin
early treatment; insist on cleanly surroundings. If di-
gestion is seriously impaired, feed on flaxseed jell and
black pepper (ground) and thoroughly mixed. This is
best to warm it to about blood heat; for young birds pre-
pare corn starch and pepsin and you will soon adjust con-
ditions.

Dysentery in Young Birds.

Prepare an infusion of any of the berry bushes or leaves
or roots of oak bark; in the absence of these roast some
wheat flour in the stove oven, mix one tablespoonful of
ground black pepper to a pint of brown flour, mix while
yet warm. Allow about half rations, repeat every three
hours. If the lower back feathers become filthy clip them
with scissors and apply oil or grease about those parts;
this means will prevent angry, irritating difficulties.
Those which are critically ill should be separated from
the other birds and confined in a darkened room for a few
days. If some of them die, bury them or burn them at
the first opportunity. Also scatter some lime or copperas
or sulphur. Scatter sawdust or dry sand over the floor;
also be sure that they get the benefit of pure air in dry
apartments.

For young chickens, their feed, care and management,
with some people, both ladies and gentlemen, I prefer
giving this advice at long range or over the telephone. I
had some recent experiences along these lines at long
range, in safety. After the feminine and I had enjoyed
a heart-to-heart conversation, and she, the feminine,
asked me if I thought that she was getting a dad-gasted
sight more goosier yearly, I kindly answered in the nega-
tive, but made use of some of the words which we fail to

26

find in the code of ethics. I most emphatically asked of
her to not stand quite so close to the ’phone, as it appeared
to me that her breakfast had consisted of brimstone cuss-
words, limburger cheese and onions, and that the com-
bination produced a hardship on the then existing condi-
tions.

Pepsin.

As the pharmaceutical preparations of pepsin cost away
up in “Z,’’ we can prepare a home accomplishment which
will fill the bill to perfection, and we shall have a costless
preparation which will equal the druggist’s best and in
many cases, excel.

Prepare by securing the first stomach of acalf. A calf is
best, but that of any ruminant will do very well, a pig next;
clean and wash the specimen thoroughly, then stew for
the space of thirty minutes; when cool enough for ma-
nipulation, peel the inner lining, wash thoroughly in a
weak solution of alum and saleratus water, squeeze as dry
as possible, then pass the fleece several times through a
clothes wringer, dry thoroughly and grind or pulverize to
a fine powder, place in a bottle and cork tightly and you
have a reliable promoter for digestion, also a safe astring-
ent. A very small allowance will do the business. Next
best is Ligni carbo, wood charcoal in powder. These are
home remedies. You will appreciate their value if you
have occasion to test their merits, with cases of indiges-
tion, constipation or dysentery. With those suffering
from constipation mix with flaxseed jell; for those affected
with dysentery, mix the powder with roasted wheat flour;
for the constipated bird encourage exercise; for those
suffering with dysentery confine them in a darkened room
with quiet surroundings, a dry, warm floor, good top ven-
tilation. Be sure that there is no side or end draft venti-
lation, and you should have all reasons to be hopeful for
favorable results; it usually comes that way. Then af-
ter convalescence feed with flaxseed jell and powdered
charcoal, the odor will possess less strength, the room be
more hygienic, the people and the chickens more healthful
and happy; also sprinkle a disinfectant about the premises
and the air will soon become more wholesome and yourself
pleased. With new chicks you will profit by supplying
them with new milk for the space of two or three days,

27

YE COCHINS

PARTRIDC

then mix corn starch and powdered charcoal with the
feed for a few days, give them a full start, and very soon
you will realize that you have made another good record.
Also mince mustard, horseradish, turnip, cabbage, beet,
beggas or pepper grass tops will cause you to smile or grin,
after you have realized the benefits which you, with so
little effort, have been the means of profitable results;
others have accomplished thousands in this industry.
there is now an opportunity for you. Do not quibble ata
small beginning, but remember that industry, economy
and perseverance are winners; a man can build a mam-
moth wall, but a mole can undermine it; reverse the con-
ditions, never give up in an intelligent method, know nw
defeat, and within the space of a few years vou will be
recognized as an individual of merit. Keep your business
confined under your jacket, do a heap of listening, allow
the other fellow to blow the bazoo gales, but you get the
coin. If you know enough to get it, you will know what to
do with it, and tell your enemies and your friends if you
have any. Don’t forget the Irishman said, “Everybody
will have their enemies, but it’s a mighty mane individua\
who has no frends,” “Patsy, you’re right,” siz I, “Patsy.”

By permission, permit me to quote from the worthy Dr.
J. N. Navin. The feeding of fowls seems so familiar to
everybody that any instructions on the subjects are, by
many persons, considered superfluous. If anyone tells a
farmer’s wife that she needs instructions in the art of
feeding chickens, she feels humiliated or even offended.
Chickens, after being hatched, should never be disturbed
for twenty-four hours after leaving the shell. They should
then be taken, one by one, and their little bills dipped in
fresh warm milk, until seen to swallow, which they will
soon do. Each chick, as soon as observed to drink, should
be placed onto a platform with raised edges, on which
hard boiled eggs chopped fine and mixed with very fine
pepper and shanish brown, equal parts, and thoroughly
mixed with the eggs, about the size of a moderate pinch
of snuff to four eggs. After the third day, equal quantity
of eggs and stale bread, finely grated, may be dispensed
with. This is more especially for valuable fowls. The
hardier breeds will thrive and do well on grated bread and
a little pepper; each must have a little milk or water once

29

or twice per day, placed within reach, supplied in shallow
saucers or tin plates. After they are a week old, grated
bread and Indian meal mixed and dampened with water
and mixed with a little fine sand will do sufficient. After
the second week crushed Indian corn will do for all hardy
breeds; after the third week they may be let out in a lot
to scratch and catch flies. The tender larger breeds need
a week longer attention than the hardier kinds.

Young chickens should be kept separate from the grown
fowls until they are able to escape from vicious hens and
roosters that are inclined to peck at them. Great losses
have been sustained by vicious hens striking chickens on
the head.

Breeds and Varieties.

Breeds of poultry are grand families, which have ex-
isted as such from the time of their creation. They are
divisions of the galinacious order of birds formed by na-
ture or art. A variety is the result of a cross, producing
birds which, under favorable circumstances, continue to
produce progeny of their own kind indefinitely, but if
such favorable circumstances are disregarded they soon
lose their distinguishing characteristics and their original
mixture becomes quite manifest. The case is different
with a true breed; however illy treated it is the same
fowl in all essential particulars though stunted and de-
graded ever so much, the blood is still the same.

These ideas have an important bearing, many new
breeds, so-called, are constantly being pressed forward for
public favor and because the specimens offered are fine
birds and many have splendid qualities, farmers are in-
duced to buy them and when they find it is too late they
have no breed at all. All they have is a stock of fowls,
different crosses of several breeds, quite likely inferior to
those they had banished, to give room for their supposed
new breeds. The genuine breeds extant in our country
are not very numerous and are sufficiently marked to be
easily distinguished from each other, but it is by no means
so easy to distinguish a cross from the genuine breed. The
variety has an established history for us to go to, but the
cross has none.

“Breeding to a feather,” is a phrase much used by poul-
try fanciers; fowls that breed to a feather are such as

30

present the same color or colors in their plumage without
any variation; we have several of those families.

The Exerement of Poultry.

When the people comprehend the value of this material,
if we protect it from the storms and sunshine, as has been
previously advised, you will realize the fact that it excels
the imported guano or seabird excrement, which is expen-
sive and so largely used as fertilizer throughout the civi-
lized parts of our globe. To increase the quantity, add
about equal quantities of charcoal and ashes and about
five parts of finely pulverized earth, then add about one-
eighth the quantity of air-slacked lime to the quantity of
guano, mix as best you can, spread thinly over the fields
or lot; you will know what you think of results.

Capons, Female or Male.

The operation of caponizing fowls, consists of a safe,
easy profitable operation. It consists in removing the
main organs of reproduction. My method: Confine the
birds in a darkened room for about the space of twenty-
four hours (but, Friend, perhaps you had best operate on
a few dead birds, that you may familiarize your intellect
with the conditions) first carefully dissect some dead birds.
By this means you will discover the fact that possibly you
might post yourself on an extension of noseology. Of
course in some things you know it all, but for this opera-
tion you will perhaps find yourself destitute. On the
second day, prepare strips of soft cloth or some soft rope,
hang your victim up by the feet. I prefer a dark room,
with a supply of artificial light; the birds will be less
excitable. In my experience regarding age, two to three
months is the best time for various reasons. If some of
them show up in good shape you can detect it: at that-age
and perhaps would prefer eranting an extension on their
commission. Improve your flock in all reasonable
method; it is profitable to do so. By performing this act
your birds will mature earlier and the flesh will excel that
of the non-caponized birds; also they will fatten in less
time. Their weight will please you. For those which you
desire to market earlier we can perform the operations
earlier in dry pleasant weather. Prepare a quantity of hot

dl

water, to sterilize the knife, the needle and the silk.
Secure the right leg forward and the left backward
reasonably well, make the incision in the left side; make
ample room to pass the finger; you will find three layers;
sever the spermadic muscle remove the generative organ.
Insert the needful amount of stitches, tie a surgeon’s knot
on each stitch. Repeat this act on each separate bird.
Continue the confinement for three days, feed with flaxseed
jell and soaked wheat or cracked corn and some sand. Do
not permit pole roosts in the room during this period.

How to prepare and use a cheap, odorless, reliable
parasite exterminator:

Two pounds Quassia Chips.

Two ounches C. P. Ferri Sulphas.

Three gallons water.

Steep or boil down to two gallons; strain.

Spray or sprinkle in and about the affected
places; also can be applied on the Poultry.

The retail price of this treatise is one dollar ($1.00).
In case of any agent selling for more or less, you will
kindly notify the author and receive reward. We do not
utilize a large part of our space, explaining how valuable
the other part is, without the usual verbose descriptions.
Our object is to establish the fact of giving the customer
just the desired idea in a plain, straightforward, matter-
of-fact way, easily and quickly comprehended.

DR. W. H. HAYES

3633 Fremont Avenue
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON

Lady or Gentleman Agents Wanted

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