The chick book, from the breeding pen through the shell to maturity; contains the experience of the world's leading poultrymen ..

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Cornell University

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A SUGGESTION OF PLEASURE AND PROFIT

THE
CHICK BOOK

FROM THE BREEDING PEN THROUGH THE
SHELL TO MATURITY

Contains the Experience of the World’s Leading Poultry-
men and All the Latest and Most Trustworthy
Information About Hatching, Rearing, Fat-
tening. and Marketing Chickens with

Special Articles on the Shipping of
Newly Hatched Chicks

PRICE, FirTyY CENTS

PUBLISHED JOINTLY BY
Reliable Poultry Journal Publishing Company, Quincy, Illinois
= AND
American Poultry Publishing Company, Buffalo, New York

Copyright 1910, by Reliable Poultry Journal Publishing Company, Quincy, Illinois.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Frontispiece - - - 3 : .

Introduction - - - = = = 5
CHAPTER I

Breeding - - a 3 = f 7
CHAPTER II

Incubation - - - : - - 16
CHAPTER III

Brooding - - - - - - "96

CHAPTER IV

Care and Food - - - : Z - 42
CHAPTER V

Summer and Winter Care - - - - 63
CHAPTER VI

Marketing - - - - - - 7

ca

Introductory

—\ HE poultryman’s
i profit depends in a
great measure upon his
succes sin rearing the chicks.
Success is attained only by
intelligent use of correct
methods. If the incuba-
tion, growth and develop-
ment of the chick are not
attended by such condi-
tions as produce and main-
tain the good health neces-
sary for building a vigorous
body and strong constitu-
tion, the grown bird does
not have the power to pro-
duce, or earn, more than a
nominal profit for its owner,
however well it.is housed
and cared for. Nor does
the negative effect stop at
the profit of the first year;
the progeny of such birds
is not only weak and unremunerative, but if raised under
like conditions will be less valuable than the parents and
such rapid deterioration will render the flock absolutely un-
profitable in two generations. On the other hand, chicks
well hatched, from good eggs, if given intelligent care and
surrounded with the essentials required for proper growth
and robust development, will mature into fowls which are
capable of returning to their owner the last cent in payment
for the food and accommodations provided. Such methods
increase the productive efficiency of succeeding generations
and the road to a competence is auspiciously opened.

If the chicks in hand are to be marketed as squab
broilers, broilers or roasters, the problem of improving them
for stock purposes is eliminated; but the necessity for pain-
staking effort is not lessened, if indeed it is not increased.

The chick} destined for the market must make « very
rapid growth; not so much of bone and muscle, as of flesh
and fat, and to do this in the least time assures the greatest
profit. Conditions, too, at the time when such chicks must
be grown to command the top price must be largely artificial.
Natural conditions must be approximated as closely as may
be, or the young birds cannot stand the heavy feeding neces-
sary to produce the results that count. To one whose heart
is in the work, it is as interesting as it is important and offers
opportunity for the full exercise of both his mental and phy-
sical faculties. ,

That a large per cent of all strong chicks hatched can
be raised to the age for marketing, or to maturity, is not
disputed. The present-day appliances greatly facilitate the
work, and prepared foods, selling at reasonable prices, sim-
plify the problems of feeding. ‘Establishments properly
equipped and handled are raising chicks in numbers that
were scarcely dreamed of two decades ago, and by placing
them on the market in good condition at a time when the
majority of producers have nothing to offer, they obtain ex-
treme prices. Later in the season when the market is filled
with chickens from farmers and less energetic and less
up-to-date poultrymen, the large raisers, with their better

«

equipment. and thorough knowledge of the business, are able
to place their goods on sale in more attractive condition and
at a lower cost of production than their competitors, secur-
ing a better price and larger profit.

This is not intended to indicate that large plants are
the only ones ,that can and do accomplish satisfactory re-
sults. Small plants are doing good and remunerative work
on.a smaller scale; some are growing chicks for market, and
others for stock purposes; some are doing the work by
artificial methods, while not a few hold to the motherly hen
of thirteen eggs capacity.

After giving due credit to the appliances and improved
foods, for the part they play in producing good chickens,
the major share is left to be distributed between hard, con-
scientious work and well grounded knowledge of the busi-
ness. Of all these factors knowledge is the greatest and the
one most difficult to secure. When it is found it commands
its own price.

How Knowledge is Obtained

There are two ways of acquiring this knowledge: By
years of costly experience and by careful study of the best
poultry literature, supplemented and verified by practical
experience. The former, although good, and enduring as
the hills, places a man_too near the far end of life’s journey
when it graduates him and burns up money which ought to
be saved and invested in the business. The latter is the
shorter road and enables one, by taking advantage of the
experience of others and avoiding their mistakes, to cut
cross lots to success with money in his pocket.

The printed wisdom of poultry culture is as far ahead
of that of ten years’ ago as can be imagined. In gathering
the material for this book the same sources of information
have been drawn upon that furnished the matter for the
other popular books published by this company; that is, the
poultrymen and women who have made a substantial suc-
cess in the business and who are specially fitted to write upon

.the subjects assigned them.

Such information, though difficult and expensive to ob-
tain, is valuable almost beyond estimating. It consists not
in dry rules and dogmatically expressed theories, but in the
live experience of men in the field, with the whys and where-
fores for every step and dependable guidance at every turn.
It is information that can be trusted to the letter. By fol-
lowing it the mistakes of the novice can be avoided and the
methods of the more experienced may be improved.

This is not a one-man book, but a broad-gauge one,
holding out to the reader several courses which have proved
successful so that he may choose from them whatever seems
best adapted to his requirements.

Condition of the Breeding Stock

Securing good condition in breeding birds is not diffi-
cult. Any poultryman worthy the name selects each sea-
son birds having the development and style that denote
vigor and constitution while selecting the shape required for
the variety at hand. It is a fact that birds of standard size
and shape are not produced year after year by any but
healthy, vigorous stock. Constitutional vigor is the source
of strong procreative power and is built up only by careful
breeding for a term of years.

With this characteristic well established, it remains
only to maintain good health and normal condition of flesh
to produce eggs that will bring forth chicks that live, thrive
and make a profit. In this connection it is safe to remember
that appearance, although a good indicator of health, is not
infallible, for a bird may seem to be in the best of condition,
when it is unable to produce a fertile egg. Supply the food
and conditions required and trust to nothing less, whatever
the appearances, to bring about the desired results.

Every effort should be made to conserve the energy and
maintain the strength during the winter, when conditions
are largely artificial. This does not mean that all profit
from the birds in a practical way must be lost or that hens
may not lay well during the winter and produce fertile eggs
in the spring. The best rule to follow is this: Provide as
nearly as possible the exercise, fresh air and foods that the
hen would get if allowed her freedom on’a grass range in
summer. .

We cannot lay down a rule for feeding. What will pro-
duce good results in one yard will not always do so in an-
other, because of different conditions. Sufficient informa-
tion upon the feeding values of all commercial foods and
their effects upon birds under various conditions is available,
so that a little experience and intelligent observation will
enable any one to compound the ration best adapted to the
needs of his flock. .

Incubating the Eggs ,

That the up-to-date hatchers can be depended upon to
do their full share toward making the poultryman independ-
ent requires no argument. Good eggs and proper handling
by the operator will assure good hatches of vigorous chicks.
An understanding of the machine and how to control it, with
some knowledge of how to treat eggs during the period of
incubation and of the essentials of correct environment,
constitutes the wisdom required for successful hatching.

We find incubators operating in dark cellars, where
there is no light except that of burning kerosene; where good
air enters by chance and not from intention, and the atmos-
phere is damp and laden with germs of decay and disease.
Again we find them located in rooms above ground, in houses
built for the purpose, in dwellings and in rooms partitioned
off in the barn, poultry house and shed where the air, though
dry, is seldom renewed and light from the sun is rigidly
excluded that a more even temperature may be maintained.

A strong man could not stay in one of these places an
hour and the flame that heats the incubator frequently has
difficulty in collecting enough oxygen for perfect combustion.
To expect to develop so delicate an organism as an embryo
chick under such conditions, is nothing less than folly; yet
some people attempt it and, failing, denounce the machine
and artificial incubation. How to provide the proper en-
vironment and successfully operate the machines is plainly
told in succeeding pages.

Brooding the Chicks

There are good brooders and brooding systems, and good
foods ready to feed. These ready made factors in success
are easily obtained, but for their efficiency they depend upon
the discriminating mind of one skilled in the work. In no
other branch of the business is the effect of level thinking and

CHICK BOOK

well directed effort more noticeable. Five minutes in a
brooding house will frequently enable the intelligent observer
to estimate correctly the ability of the man in charge; for
the appearance of the chicks is the best possible evidence and
no flock of chicks is healthy and vigorous that does not look so.

It is of primary importance that every aid to good health
be supplied, for enfeebled constitutions are as frequently
caused by bad housing, brooding and care as by improper
feeding. Cleanliness, good ventilation and exercise exert
more influence than the novice is prone to believe. As the
blacksmith’s arm grows strong by constant use, the physical
structure of the chicks grows strong and is kept in trim by
running about and scratching in clean quarters, where fresh
air supplies the material for myriads of life-giving blood cor-
puscles and the digestive organs are made capable of con-
verting to the body’s use all the nutriment the food contains.

Hatching and Raising With Hens

The usefulness of the broody hen is by no means a
thing of the past. The breeder with a sitting of eggs
from a favorite hen to be hatched and the chicks reared
by themselves, the owner of the farm yard flock and the
village poultryman with a dozen hens find biddy up-to-date
and sufficient for their needs.

So much latter-day intelligence has been applied to
chicken culture that sometimes it becomes too great a bur-
den and the hen is divested alike of her natural responsi-
bilities and of her opportunities. Our fore fathers allowed
the old hen to have pretty much her own way and she, tak-
ing advantage of the good things that nature provides, not

alone hatched and raised the chicks at less cost, but presented

better chicks. Nature’s ways are more resultful than the
made-to-order methods sometimes recommended. The hen
that is allowed to run with her chicks in the daytime, search-

-ing for the nutritious worm and balancing the supplied ration

by the food selected from field and swamp, will raise a brood
that is a credit to the breeder and that will stand him in good
stead the following winter. The successful raisers approxi-
mate these conditions as closely as the circumstances permit.

Maturing the Flock

A chick well started is-half raised; but it must be wel
cared for, or it will not win in the show room, or command
a premium in the market. Good care does not mean that
manner of feeding and housing which pampers the birds,
but the care that supplies them with plenty of good food
and an environment conducive to their physical welfare.
The plan of colonizing the youngsters in roomy, open front
roosting coops, works wonders toward the production of
sturdy stock and hopper feeding not alone reduces the labor
involved, but in many cases seems to hasten growth faster
than the time honored system of three meals‘a day.

The Value of Common Sense

This is an age of practical things in poultry culture and
the application of common sense to all its problems is fast
clearing it of much of the theory which has been “thrust
upon” it. It is the person who goes at the woyk with sleeves
rolled up whose success can be counted in big round dollars
and whose advice is worth all it costs to every earnest worker.

The experience of such men, and women, too,

is gi
in detail in this book. ome

CHAPTER I
CONSTITUTIONAL VIGOR |

WEAK FOWLS SHOULD NOT BE USED FOR BREEDING PURPOSES—BREEDING FOR HEALTH AND
VIGOR—SELECTION OF BREEDING STOCK—PRACTICAL NOTES ON THE CORNELL BULLETIN

P. T. WOODS, M. D.

ONSTITUTIONAL Vigor—Active
strength in the make-up of, and in all
parts of the body.

Vitality—The power to live.

We build today, not for ourselves
alone, but for future generations. Con-
sciously or unconsciously this must be
so whether we wish it or not. It is
the Law that may not be broken and
is as old as Time. Reader, are you
building well and wisely, or are you
building carelessly in your poultry
work? Through the breeding stock
we build either for strength or weak-
ness in the progeny, and in their
chicks for generations. Why not strive for Health and
Strength?

In building up a strain of fowls there is something even
more important than breeding for Standard points, for prolific
egg production, for meat, and that something is breeding for
health and constitutional vigor. How many poultrymen do
this? Comparatively few; they are successful men, in the
business on a large scale most of them, who have learned by
experience that it pays to breed for vigor and vitality.

The natural method of breeding is “the survival of the
fittest.’ In wild life only those possessed of an abundance of
vigor and vitality, and the ability to fight their way, live to
successfully reproduce their kind. The male must win his
mates through physical prowess and usually keeps them only
so long as he is able to whip all other aspirants for favor.
His sturdy mate or mates must possess sufficient constitu-
tional vigor to win through the breeding and laying season,
to hatch, brood, and care for the young, until they are able
to shift for themselves. The female must produce eggs
which will contain all the elements needed to develop, nourish
and perfect the embryo chick and insure the possession of
vitality, the power to live.

We need to take some of this “‘back to Nature” doctrine
into the poultry yard, and to begin now to breed for constitu-
tional vigor, not alone in this season’s chicks, but season
after season for all future generations of chicks. Inherited
faults or weaknesses are often faithfully transmitted to the
offspring for several generations with the tendency to increase
the fault rather than to lessen it. Start with a foundation
of health and build on it making still better health, vigor
and vitality, and more of it. Every breeder knows that
inside values count in breeding. If it isn’t in the blood it
cannot be depended upon to come out in the chick. Strong
blood lines are the fancier’s foundation in breeding exhibi-
tion quality Standard-bred stock. In mating two birds
one } and the other $ pure blood of the line he is almost sure
of what results will be in the progeny—as sure as we
can be of anything in this world where nothing is absolutely
certain but “death and taxes.”

Breed for Inside Values

He knows the inside values and he uses that knowledge
in, breeding. Why not apply the same knowledge to breed-
ing for health? It‘can be done! Breed only birds rich in
strong blood lines of robust health and constitutional vigor.
Select every specimen intended for the breeding pen, first for
health, vigor and vitality and then for desired qualifications
in other desired points. Choose only the best to breed from
and so mate them that similar physical defects will not be
found in both males and females. The defects are pretty
certain to be there for we are too many generations removed
from natural living to hope to find complete physical per-
fection. Try to offset defects in one parent by breeding to
it a specimen that is strong where the other shows weakness.

When the choice is made and the fowls well mated, then
house, manage and feed them sensibly with a view to have
and hold the maximum constitutional vigor. When in doubt
study the fowl; often its natural instinct, given it for self-
preservation, will be a better guide to follow than some ‘‘ex-

pert’s” wonderfully devised ‘‘system”’ or theoretical method.

Elaborate houses, elaborate rations and “scientific” sys-
tems are often a delusion and a snare for the unwary. The
needs of the fowls are of the simplest; comfortable shelter
to use when needed, a fair variety of wholesome food, (min-
eral, animal, and vegetable) pure water to drink and an
abundance of pure, open-air to breathe at all times. The
more simple and less costly the buildings the better.

It is not sufficient to exercise this care with the breeding
stock alone. The care and management of the eggs between
laying and hatching, during the hatch, and of the chicks to
maturity or breeding age is of equal importance. It is upon
the common sense application of these truths that the success
of poultry culture in the future depends. We should begin
now, before it is too late, to work for improvement in con-
stitutional vigor, for health and vitality in the flocks, not
only for our own benefit but for the good of the future of
the great poultry industry.

Year after year we have heard complaints of lowered
vitality in flocks, of greater difficulty in obtaining a good
percentage of fertile eggs, of poor hatches, and of chicks that,
though a fair percentage hatched, did not thrive. Isn’t it
fair to asume that this diminished vitality (the power to
live and reproduce) is due in part, if not wholly to impaired
constitutional vigor, to breeding, housing, hatching, rearing
and feeding without due regard to reproducing inside values
in health, vigor and vitality?

The Cornell Bulletin

The recent bulletin of the New York State College of
Agriculture, Cornell University, by Prof. James E. Rice and
C. A. Rogers on the “‘Importance of Constitutional Vigor in
the Breeding of Poultry’ has attracted wide spread atten-
tion and it should be read by all who are interested in the
future of poultry keeping for profit or pleasure.

8 CHICK BOOK

The statements made in this bulletin are sensible and
conservative but leave one with a desire for more data and
more complete information. It states that: ‘We must
breed for constitutional vigor’ because ‘“‘the most important

problem before poultrymen is to maintain and increase the —

constitutional vigor of the flock. This is because we are
asking more of the modern hen in proportion to her live
weight than we are expecting of any other class of domestic
animals.” ,

“A good hen is expected to lay in a year about five
times her weight in eggs. This means a reproductive process
on an average, at least every third day during the year, or
perhaps, in rare instances, every other day.”

We quote from Prof. Rice’s Cornell bulletin the follow-
ing contributory causes to loss of physical vigor, which th
bulletin cites, with some personal comment: ‘

“(1) Increased productiveness. Modern poultry hus-
bandry makes larger and larger demands on the strength of the
fowl. The wild jungle fowl, from which our domestic fowls
have come, is reported to lay less than one dozen eggs a
year. The modern fowl, under good care, is expected to
lay 125 to 150 or more eggs per year, and at the same time
to produce, eggs that will yield chickens having as strong
vitality as the parent. It must be evident that with any in-
crease in the average production. of a fowl there must be a
proportionate increase in the physical strength of the fowl
to enable her to thrive under the larger consumption of food
and heavier production of eggs.”

It may be (undoubtedly is) true that in some cases
prolific laying is a cause or a contributory cause of the loss
of constitutional vigor, but we are inclined to believe that
in many cases the danger from this source is overestimated.
We know of a good many poultry farms that have been in
successful operation for a dozen or fifteen years, where the
habit has been to breed from vigorous, well-matured pullets,
that were prolific egg producers, and were out of heavy
laying stock. On these same plants they continue to get,
year after year, strong, vigorous chicks that live and thrive.
There are other matters to be taken into consideration besides
the mere fact of heavy egg production.

Ojoprury fram Late selectiun— Strong

for

‘quently resorted

Reproduced from Cornell Reading Course Bulletin No. 45. Pullets in
group A averaged in weight over 4 pound more than those in group B,
All were hatched at the same time, in the same machine, leg-banded, and
brooded, fed and allowed to run together on free range during the sum-
mer. Observe the differences in type of body, size of comb, ete.

Where fully-developed, well-grown healthy vigorous
ypullets are used, there is little danger of lessening vitality
-during the first season. These same birds, if carried over to

ibe used as yearlings or two-year-olds—that is, a second or

‘third breeding season—might, and probably would, show.

considerable loss of bodily vigor. Heavy layers are prone
to develop during the latter part of their first year of laying,
some weakness or degeneration of the egg laying organs.

When this occurs, the bird ceases to be of value as a breeder
and is useful only as an egg-laying machine until she reaches
the end of her scope. For this reason extreme care should
be exercised in the selection of yearlings and two-year-old
hens for breeding purposes.

(2) In-and-in-breeding without

; regard to: vigor.
This practice is fre-

to in order to em-
phasize and de-
velop high pro-
duction, or exhi-
bition or ot her
qualities. Close
breeding can be
followed with
success only when
the first consider-
ation is given to
mating strong in- . ,
dividuals. Too ‘ - :
many times the Reproduced from Cornell Reading Course
breeder has not Bulletin No. 45. Showing contrast in constitu-
had the courage to tional vigor in Barred Plymouth Rock cockerels.

‘ Strong specimen at left, weak at right.
sacrifice a week
individual because of its other desirable qualities.”

There can be no doubt that in-and-in breeding, even
when great care is taken to select sound, vigorous specimens,
is always a menace to constitutional vigor.

Breeding from Pullets

““(3) The use of pullets instead of hens for breeding.
By breeding from pullets the breeder is undertaking to repro-
duce from fowls that have not yet reached maturity, and
that, presumably because of their well-known qualities of

‘heavy fall and winter laying, may have lowered their vitality

before the breeding season. It appears reasonable, therefore,
that the conjinued breeding, generation after generation,
from pullets instead of hens, may have a tendency to shorten
the normal length of life of the race of fowls, and, at the
same time, to lower its native vigor, while the breeding from
mature fowls, two or more years of age and still vigorous,
should tend toward longevity and a consequent increase in
vitality.”

We cannot wholly agree with the statements made in
the paragraph quoted above. Pullets are generally spoken
of as such until they have completed their first year of laying,
and in most varieties early hatched pullets are ready. and
safe to breed from in March and April at which time they
should be from eleven to twelve months old. It is never
safe to breed from undeveloped, immature pullets, but fully-
developed, well-maturéd specimens, well established in lay-
ing, make excellent breeders if carefully selected for health
and vigor.

The practical profit-value age of the fowl is compara-
tively short, most practical plants preferring pullets and
yearlings, with only a very limited number of two-year-olds,
the object being to get the greatest possible production dur-
ing the first two seasons of laying, and dispose of the bird
as market poultry before the muscles are sufficiently aged
and hardened to injure the sale of the fowl as prime market
poultry. The length of life of a fowl is not of the same im-
portance as with other farm animals. Under favorable con-
ditions fowls may live until from nine to twelve years old,
but they are seldom profitable after the third laying season.

“(4) Heavy feeding to induce large egg yield during
fall and winter, the unnatural season for egg production.
The trouble here arises from the attempt to do, at the same
time, two things which are more or less antagonistic; namely,
to force a fowl to her highest digestive power by feeding her
rich, appetizing foods to increase production when prices are
high, and to expect her to produce eggs for hatching that
are normal in their supply of nourishment and fully imbued
with that mysterious something called life. Under normal
conditions in nature a fowl is allowed to devote the larger
part of the year to storing up energy in order to reproduce
in the normal’ manner. A fowl to be used for breeding
should be selected far in advance of the breeding - season,

BREEDING 9

fed and housed with special regard to the laying of alarge
number of hatchable eggs during the natural mating seas-
on, instead of being forced to heavy production for com-
mercial purposes during fall and winter.”

Heavy feeding and underfeeding are both sources of
impaired physical vigor. Where they are dry fed and given
an. opportunity to exercise there is little danger of overfeed-

: ing pullets. For
several seasons we
have been inter-
ested in the work
of successive flocks
of pullets housed
in open-air houses
and fed liberally
by the dry meth-
od, food always
before them. Five
generations of
| pullets have yield-.

ed a plentiful sup-

ply of fall, winter

and spring eggs,

showing inthe
spring exceptionally good fertility and good hatches of
chicks that live and thrive. We have failed to note in these
birds any lessening of constitutional vigor.

Male birds were not introduced into the above mentioned
tlocks until two weeks before eggs were wanted for hatching
and this we think is an important factor in securing vigorous
chicks. There is no need of worrying the pullets with the
attentions of an active and masterful “lord of the harem”
until his services are needed.

Reproduced from Cornell Reading Course Bul-

letin No. 45. Showing contrast in constitu-
tional vigor in White Plymouth Rock cockerels.
Strong specimen at left, weak at right.

Fresh Air an Important Asset

The bulletin fails to cite one of the chief factors contribu-
tory to loss of physical vigor, that of housing birds in poorly
ventilated quarters. Fresh air is one of the most important
assets which we have for building up and maintaining bodily
vigor. To get best results the birds should be housed in
open-air buildings.

“(5) Congestion and crowding of the breeding stock
by keeping large numbers on limited areas. Without doubt,
this is one of the most serious causes of loss of vitality.
The modern system of handling fowls in large numbers must
be on extensive farms rather than on congested plants.

The land thus occupied should be used for growing fruit, grain ©

and grass crops, its use by the hens being only incidental.
This’avoids soil contamination and gives the. fowls the natural
free-range conditions necessary; that is; opportunity and in-
centive to forage. In any event, rigid grading as to size
and vigor should be practiced in order to avoid the unequal
contest between the physically. unlike.”

' Paragraph numbered ‘5’ is one that should be care-
fully considered by every poultryman. It does not mean
that intensive poultry farming cannot be'successfully con-
ducted, but it does mean that such methods are always
practiced at a risk of loss of vigor and ‘vitality. Poultry
keepers who find it necessary to have large flocks on limited

aréas should pay particular attention to Keeping the soil.” d
purified, by frequent cultivation and the potltry quarters ~
disinfected ‘regularly. They should introduce new blood...

frequently and ‘obtain supplies of farm-grown young stock,
often. Intensive .poultry’farming calls for strict attention,
tassglecting breeding stock for health and vigor. Be ten o.
“-"6(6) "Lack of exercise for the breeding stock. This is
a necessary consequence of congestion, and a common ac-
companiment of over-feeding. Too much to eat and too
little to do appears to be one of the most potent sources of
difficulty in securing fertile eggs with strong hatching power,
capable of producing vigorous chickens. The dangers of
over-feeding may-be greatly reduced and health promoted
by furnishing for the Teseding flocks a deep litter of straw
or other scratching material, by feeding all whole grain in

’ tation.

‘rations under free-range conditions.

the litter and by providing a large range to encourage exer-
cise in the fresh air the year round.

“(7) Carelessness in methods of keeping eggs for
hatching. It is apparent, from experiments made at Cornell
that the fertility and hatching power of eggs can be impaired,
or entirely lost,’ by wrong methods of holding eggs for in-
cubation, Presumably, loss of vitality in the egg may affect
a chicken through life. Ordinarily, eggs held for incubation
should be turned each day, kept in a cool place, 45 to 55
degrees, and should not be incubated when over one, or, at
most, two weeks old.” ak

Carelessness in keeping and handling hatching eggs is,
we believe, one of the most common and dangerous contribu-
tory causes of loss of physical vigor. Probably more chicks
are found dead in the shell or die soon after hatching every
year from this cause than from any other. It has always
been a mystery to us how anyone could expect to get a good
hatch from eggs which had been. kept in a warm room for
two or three weeks, or which had been exposed to frequent
extreme change of temperature.

We do not believe in turning eggs every day. It is a
good deal better to let them alone. Gather the eggs fre-
quently, place them in a clean receptacle, cover to prevent
evaporation of contents through drafts of air, and keep
them in a cool room where the temperature dogs not go below
40 or above 60 degrees F. Whenever possible, they should
be used for incubation before they are a week old. Incuba-
tion of a fertile egg begins before the egg is laid. Exposure
of the egg to a temperature of 70 to 80 degrees, results in
quickening. Prolonged exposure to above 80 degrees or
frequent warming or cooling while keeping for hatching may
kill the germ and will surely result in loss of vitality.

(8) Improper systems of incubation. Apparently,
faulty incubation is accountable for much of the loss of vi-
tality in chicks. This may apply to both the natural and
the artificial systems, although more_frequently the latter is
at fault. This is because so many things that will injure
the chicks may happen with good machines in the hands of
poor operators, with poor machines and good operators, or
with poor machines and poor operators. Since so many of
these combinations of unfavorable conditions exist, it ap-
pears that much injury to the health of the flocks may result.
It should be said, in justice to the most modern systems of
artificial incubation, that good incubators in the hands of
good operators have caused no apparent loss of vitality even

when artificial incubation has’ been practiced continuously
for many years.

_ Reproduced from Cornell Reading Course Bulletin No. 45. Four
chickens of the same. variety, age and method of rearing. Two in center

yof group show faulty development and lack of constitutional vigor The

difference in size and strength apparently due to inherited weakness.

: “(9).. Brooding and rearing chickens under crowded
conditions ‘with a general violation of the principles of sani-
However important it may be that mature fowls be
kept in healthful environment, it is equally important that
the chickens be, raised naturally and rapidly on the best
2 U : Too rapid forcing on
rich, easily assimilated food with lack of exercise, results in
leg weakness and faulty digestion. Feeding too large a pro-
portion of coarse feed with much: fibre, making it slow of
assimilation, results in stunted growth and the trouble
known as ‘long wings.’ ”’

J

- profit they will give.

10 CHICK BOOK 2

(10) Failure to select breeding stock of recognized
superior physical vigor. The most vigorous breeding stock
is necessary if we are to maintain or increase the physical
vigor of our fowls. This selection is possible if the breeder
has a clear understanding of the physical differences between
the constitutionally strong and the constitutionally weak
fowls. Such differences exist and can be quickly recognized
by any one who will take the trouble to study the various
types of fowls.”

Conclusions

“From the experiments we must conclude that there is
a relation between the physical characters of fowls and their
constitutional vigor, which will enable a careful observer to
select the weak from the strong, and also that these qualities
are transmissible from parent to offspring; we may also as-

sume that, other conditions being equal, weak parents are
more likely to produce infertile or less hatchable eggs, which
will give weaker chickens, than are strong parents.

‘Should we not, in view of these facts, practice a system
of rigid selection of the weak from the strong during all
stages of the life of the flock, and from the strong select only
a few of the strongest for breeding in order that we may
keep only the most vigorous fowls, with the object of secur-
ing larger production with less mortality and greater net
profit, and at the same time of insuring stronger stock each
succeeding generation? ;

“If we are to succeed permanently we must so hatch,
rear, feed, house and breed our poultry that they will keep.
in perfect health. Good health in the fowls is the founda-
tion of successful poultry husbandry.”

SELECTION OF BREEDERS AND LAYERS

ELEMENTARY RULES OF HYGIENE MUST BE STRICTLY OBSERVED—STUNTED CHICKENS;SHOULD
NEVER BE KEPT FOR LAYING OR BREEDING PURPOSES—CULL THE CHICKENS THREE TIMES—
WEAKLINGS ARE ALWAYS UNPROFITABLE—LATE CHICKS NOT FIRST CLASS LAYERS

VICTOR FORTIER
(Poultry Division of the Experimental Farm, Ottawa, Can.)

nourishment must be given from the start and until

the chickens are full grown. It is necessary to observe
strictly the elementary rules of hygiene at all times and
everywhere. Should these fundamental principles be dis-
regarded, growth is considerably arrested and a noticeable
proportion of the chickens remain stunted. These should
never be kept either for laying or breeding purposes. No
one can ever expect to get profitable returns from such fowls,
no matter how good the breed he has on hand.

Chickens intended to be kept for laying or breeding pur-
poses should be carefully selected quite young, the first selec-
tion’ being made to the best advantage when they are about
eight weeks old. Those which have been kept back by ail-
ments, such as white diarrhcea (chalky diarrhea), bilious
diarrhoea, leg weakness, or through any other causes, should
then be separated from the more robust ones and placed in
a separate pen, where they
can be fed and prepared for
the market as soon as possible.

The selected: chickens on
reaching the age of four
months should be re-selected
and the weaklings removed.
A third.and final selection
should be made in the fall
of the year, just prior to
placing the fowls in their
respective winter quarters.
There should be no reluct-
ance on the part of the owner
to sacrifice all the weaker birds
and use them for table pur-
poses, because such birds will
always eat more than the

T ORDER to insure the rapid growth of chickens, proper

Weaklings are Unprofitable
Careful experiments have
most positively demonstrated
the fact that weaklings of the
same brood, of the same strain
and of the same age do not
lay as many eggs the first
year, or, in fact, during the following years as
which have rapidly and healthily developed.
Unfortunately it has been too often the practice to pay

those

little attention to the wise selection of birds which are in-
tended for egg laying. The farmer and amateur poultry
raiser are often heard complaining of the unproductive birds.
in their possession, and they are unable to account for this.
lack of production, but we are quite convinced it is due to.
the fact that a proper and timely selection of chickens has.
been neglected.

Our remarks regarding weaklings, puny looking and ab-.
normally developed birds, although hatched in good season,
also apply to other birds that have hatched too late, after-
the 15th of June or at the beginning of July. The latter are-
scarcely worth more as egg producers than the former; in
both cases the egg production will be very scant.

In support of this theory, let us take, for example, two-
broods of Barred Plymouth Rocks, all of the same strain, of
which a certain number were hatched about the 5th of May
and the remaining portion about the 15th of June, or say six

SOME SATISFACTORY BROOD COOPS.

These eoops are in use on a Canadian poultry farm. Th
question and are rat proof at night. ¥ e owner says he finds they have solved the cat

weeks later, and let us winter them in poultry houses identi-.
cally the same, giving them the same kind of food. The-
first lot’ will invariably commence to lay during the months.

BREEDING 11

of November or December, the latter will continue to develop
and probably take on flesh, but will not commence to lay
before February or March and will give from 40 to 60 eggs
less than the first ones, though they may continue to lay a
little longer in summer.
Undesirable as Layers

We give here the result of some interesting experiments:

One group of twenty-two Barred Plymouth Rock pul-
lets, which were hatched in May and wintered in a cold cotton-
front poultry house, each laid an average of 684 eggs. A
like number of White Wyandottes which hatched during the
same month and wintered under like conditions each laid
an average of 764 eggs.

In another case, six pullets, three Barred Plymouth
Rocks and three White Wyandottes, all hatched in May,

fed in the very same manner as in the first case, but placed
in a warm hen house, (both kinds had been slow in growth
and had reached their full development during October,
November and December) had a record of an average of only
154 eggs for each bird. Six other pullets of the same stock
similarly treated and fed as the former but which had hatched
about the end of June, laid an average of 23 eggs only.

As a result of these experiments and the conclusions ar-
rived at, we with certainty say to all who are interested in
poultry keeping, that if they rid their yards of all unhealthy
puny-looking and abnormally developed birds which threaten
the ruin of poultry raisers, the success in this branch of agri-
culture would be enhanced in a few years by one hundred per
cent in the production of eggs, while the table would like-
wise be furnished with a fowl of far superior quality.

LINE BREEDING

A VETERAN POULTRYMAN TELLS HIS FELLOW BREEDERS HOW TO PRODUCE THOUSANDS
OF CHICKS AND THREE STRAINS OF BLOOD FROM A SINGLE PAIR—THESE BIRDS WILL
IMPROVE IN SHAPE AND COLOR WHILE RETAINING THE VIGOR OF THE ORIGINAL PAIR

I. K. FELCH

govern it are strictly followed. The trouble is that

we all grow careless and a little carelessness often
destroys all our previous work and throws the whole scheme
or plan out of order.

Intense in-breeding often results in a sterile flock. The
secret of success, if secret it be, is to breed so as to preserve
the line within our own strain and yet have each mating—
each pair—show a difference in blood. For instance, we all
know that the chickens of any j
pair of birds inherit half the
blood of each parent. If two
of these chicks are mated the
proportion of the blood of the
sire and dam remains the.
same, but if the pullets of the
second generation are mated
to the old cock of the first
generation, there is a material
change in the third generation
as these birds have three-
fourths of the blood: of the
cock and only one-fourth of
the blood of the dam. In
the accompanying chart,
which I originated a num-
ber of years ago, the female
line is indicated by the dotted
lines and the male line by the
solid lines.

You will note that 1, the
female, and 2, the male, mated
together produce group 3
and that pullets from group
3 mated to 2, which repre-
sents the male of the first gen-
eration—produce group 5, or
the third generation, to which
we have just referred. Now = -
if a cockerel from group 3 is
mated to hen 1 we shall get
group 4, having three-fourths
of the blood of the original
hen and only one-fourth of the original male.

i Pe: breeding is very simple when the rules that

FEMALE

original pair.

“.
.
me

FELCH’S BREEDING CHART

Showing how thousands of chickens and three strains of blood
can be produced from a single pair, in the vigor, size and color of the

We are now in position to mate again, using birds from
group 4 and 5 and the result is that in group 7 we have a
flock identically the same in blood as group 3, though they
did not come directly from the same birds, 1 and 2.

By mating birds from 6 and 8 we obtain group 11, hav-
ing the same proportion of blood as group 3, unless we wish
to admit that these matings have exhausted the blood of
the original pair that founded the strain.

Arithmetic teaches us that the percentage of blood in
groups 3, 7 and 11 is the same,
though to a casual observer
the chart would seem to lie, as
10 and 12 and 4 and 5 appar-
ently are not alike, though
they are actually, because
members from groups 10 and
12 mated will produce birds
that have half of the blood
of the original pair.

It is an old English rule
that when we reach birds
with seven-eighths of the
blood of a given pair of an-
cestors we have exhausted
the eighth of foreign blood
that was used to invigorate
the strain. Under that rule 6
and 8 become practically 1 and
2, because breeding birds from
these two groups will produce
group 11, which has the same
blood proportion as groups 3
and 7. But while the birds
in 9 and 13 have recovered
the eighth blood lost in 10
and 12, because their dams
come from their own strain,
yet, had 9 and 13 been
16 _ mated, their progeny would

have been the same in blood
as groups 3, 7,11 and16. In
15 and 17 we have a little bet-
ter than half of the blood of the
male and the female strains we are endeavoring to establish.

12 CHICK BOOK

Let us suppose the following case: A breeder may have
followed the chart to the end and have fine birds. Thinking
that he has five groups he ‘sells all his old stock and mates
14 and 18 and 15 and 17. In reality the chickens he gets
are all half-breeds like 3, 7, 11 and 16. Every one of them
would be exactly of the same blood as group 3, and he would
mate these last pullets to his male in group 18 and the cock-
erels to the hens in group 14.

It is intensely interesting for those who like to experi-
ment to study this chart. By careful line breeding a
breeder is in a position to produce at any time birds having
half the blood of his original flock and he is safer to breed his
own birds than to go out of his flock to get a hen to intro-
duce to his own strain. It is more safe to breed a thousand
chickens from a single pair than to keep crossing strange
hens into one’s flock. With the occasional crosses like 5
and 8 and 4 and 6 we regain any seeming loss. Had not
these two crosses been made the chart would have seemed
to have verged into half-breeds in time. But these two
crosses more firmly establish the two strains.

Condensed Description of Chart

Remember ‘in studying the chart that the solid lines
show the male birds and the dotted lines the female. Each
circle represents the progeny.

Female No. 1 mated to male No. 2 will produce group
No. 3, which is half the blood of the sire, and half that of the
dam. Females from group No. 3 mated back to their own
sire, No. 2, produce No. 5, which is three-fourths the blood
of the sire.

Select a cockerel from group No. 5 and a pullet from
group No. 4, or vice versa, which will produce group No. 7,
which is mathematically half the blood of each of the original
pair, Nos. 1 and 2. This is the second step toward produc-
ing a new strain.

Females from No. 5 mated back to the original male,
No. 2, produce group 8, that are seven-eighths the blood of
No. 2. A cockerel from No. 4, mated back to the original
dam, No. 1, produces group No. 6, which is seven-eighths

fe.)

the blood of the original dam and only one-eighth the blood
of the original sire, giving us a flock of birds that have prac-
tically the same blood as the original dam, because the blood
of the original sire is almost eliminated. :

Select a male from No. 8 and females from No. 6, and
for a third time produce chicks (in group No. 11) that are
half the blood of the original pair. This is the third step
and the ninth mating in the breeding of a new strain. In
all this, the line of sires has not been broken, for every one
has come from a group in which the preponderance of blood
was that of the original sire. Nos. 2, 8 and 13 are virtually
the blood of No. 2; in effect they are the same, for the blood
of No. 1 is exhausted. A point is now reached where we can
establish a male line whose blood is virtually that of the
original dam. If now a male is selected from No. 6 and
mated with a female from No. 4, group No. 9 will be pro-
duced, which is 13-16ths the blood of the oirginal dam
(No. 1) and 3-16ths the blood of the original sire (No. 2).

Select a‘male from No. 9, and a female of the new strain
(No. 11), and produce group No. 14, which has 21-32ds of
the blood of the original dam, thus preserving her strain of
blood. '

A male from No. 13 which is 13-16ths the blood of the
original sire (No. 2) mated to females from No. 10, which
are 5-16ths the blood of the original sire (No. 2) gives group
No. 17, which is 9-16ths the blood of said sire and virtually
is a group of the middle line or new strain, for we no longer
call these birds half-bloods of Nos. 1 and 2.

In No. 16 we have the new strain and in No. 18 the strain
of our original sire, No. 2. We have three distinct strains,
Nos. 14, 16 and 18, and with systematic care we can go on
breeding for all time to come.

I call this ‘Arithmetic in Poultry Culture.” It is pretty
hard to get along without arithmetic in any calling and in
this case it lends absorbing interest to our breeding.

I am pleased to present my original breeding chart to
your readers. The edition I had printed is exhausted and
I do not intend to print another. I bequeath it to you.

_
rare

Zz

a

=

=

=

m

aa

4

i

S

i“
7)
<= <= <= <p TINCT

oi

MARK THE CHICKS FOR IDENTIFICATION
_. rhe above diagram shows method of marking chicks so that sixteen
different flocks, ages, or families may be identified by absence of punch
marks as in No. 1, and by punch marks as shown Nos. 2 to sixteen. A

good chick-size poultry punch may be had at a small expense.

Newly

hatched chicks should always be punch-marked and a record kept of the

date on which they were hatched, later the marks. can b

e supplemented

by leg banding, making it possible to positively identify many ages, flocks

or families. g ¢
a record of your chicks this season.

hicks should be punch-marked soon after hatching. Keep

THE IMPORTANCE OF STRONG-GERMED EGGS

WEAK GERMS ARE THE RESULT OF A LACK OF VITALITY IN THE BREEDING STOCK,
IN THE EGGS OR IN THE INCUBATION—HEALTHY, VIGOROUS BREEDING STOCK FOR
GENERATIONS IS NECESSARY TO PRODUCE STRONG-GERMED EGGS FOR HATCHING—
HOW TO CHOOSE BREEDERS—FIVE ESSENTIALS IN MAINTAINING HEALTH AND VIGOR

P. T. WOODS, M. D

VERY year at hatching time we hear the same com-
EK plaints—the same old story. The eggs either run
too low in fertility or they do not hatch well, or
perhaps they show fair fertility—hatch reasonably well, but
the chicks do not make a good live of it. We are asked why
is there so large a percentage of infertile eggs? Why is it
that more of the fertile eggs do not hatch? Why do fully
formed chicks die in the shell? Why do so many chicks die
between the third and the tenth days after hatching and so
many others when three or more weeks old? Reasons and
explanations without number have been given—some reasons
that are not reasonable and explanations which do not ex-
plain. Yet the real answer is comparatively simple—the
breeding stock, the germs in the eggs, the newly-hatched
chicks—one, any, or all, are lacking in vitality.
Vitality, the dictionary tells us,

condition or stamina; such can not be expected to transmit.
vitality when their own vital force is only a little more than
equal to their own immediate needs. The majority of eggs
from such stock are sure to be lacking in vitality or ‘weak-.
germed.” Begin now and keep at it year after year, to cull
out all specimens that are not in the pink of condition.
Refuse to breed from any bird that has ever had serious illness
no matter if it is otherwise a “good specimen” and appears
to have been ‘‘cured.’’ There is no known way, with a living
dumb animal, to tell just how complete the cure may be
and it is the wisest course to take no chances where health
and vitality in breeding stock are concerned. Breed only
from the best specimens of physical excellence as well as you
can judge it, select your breeders for health, vigor, strong
perfect shape, perfect condition and freedom from deformities.

is “vital force,” “animation,” ‘the
principle of life,” ‘the quality or
state of being vital,” andto be vital,
in brief, means “‘to be capable of liv-
ing.” In the egg we have a store-
house of wonderful energy in the form
of potential vital force, the existing
possibility and power to create with-
in itself a fully endowed living chick,
provided the conditions are reason-
ably favorable and the stock back of
that egg possessed a sufficient amount
of vitality to pass on to the embryo an
abundance of vital force or power to
live and thrive.

We must begin somewhere, and-for
poultrymen the only possible and logi-
cal way to make a beginning is to start
with the breeding stock. Every breed-
er knows that it takes several gener-
ations to fix feather, shape, type or
other desired points, andjthat it takes
several generations of careful breeding
to get rid of certain undesirable - qual-
ities or faults when breeding to stan-
dard. But many breeders forget or
fail to apply the same line of reason-
ing when seeking to fix vitality, if they
do seek it at all, in their flock. Vitality
or vital force must, like all other desirable qualities, be bred
for and fixed by gentrations of careful breeding, and at the
same time lack of vitality must be bred out. It takes time
and requires attention, as does everything else that is worth
having. On the farm range, where natural conditions alone
prevail, where the chicks are all hen hatched, where the
stock ranges throughout the year and where only the fittest
survive to breed in the normal breeding season, and where
also the cock that rules the barnyard has the most progeny,
perhaps the rule is proved also by the exceptions. In the
average breeding yard or run, however, the rule applies with
greatest force. Here we find many breeding birds lacking i in

and

*

A P. T. WOODS OPEN-FRONT BREEDING HOUSE SLIGHTLY MODIFIED

ae po is fully described and plans are published in our book entitled ‘‘Poultry Houses
ixtures

Do this every season and you will have a good start on the
right road toward increased vitality but it is not the whole
secret, only the beginning.

Given healthy vigorous stock to start with you have
only begun to fight. You must keep them sound, healthy
and vigorous by good common-sense care and management.
They must be at all times, in so far as may be possible, cap--
able of transmitting to their progeny through the eggs a.
sufficient supply of satalty “the principle of life,’ to render-
them “capable of living.’ This is not half so difficult a
matter as some pseudo-scientists of the poultry world try to-
make us believe. It is the natural tendency of all young:

14 CHICK BOOK

animals, when reasonably well born, to live, it is part and
parcel of that same ‘vitality.’ Healthy breeding stock,
when given a reasonable chance, are prone to remain healthy.
In maintaining. health and. vigor there.are only five. real
essentials and these are: 1—Comfortable housing and yard-
ing without crowding; 2—An abundance of fresh air to
‘breathe both day and night; 3—Plenty of wholesome food
in variety; 4—Ample exercise in the open air and sunshine,
and 5—Pure water to drink. Supplying these essentials is
what we mean by giving breeding stock ‘“‘a reasonable chance”’
to remain healthy.
Selecting the Breeding Stock
For the beginner’s sake let’s go into details a bit assum-
ing that we intend to breed only from vigorous stock that
we know has never been seriously sick. First make sure that
the birds which we intend to use for breeders are all well
matured specimens and if possible that they are neither ex-
ceptionally early or rather late matured birds. Too early
maturity is just about as bad as very late maturity if the
birds are intended for breeders and a medium average time
in' reaching adult size and plumage gives the best breeder.
Have the specimens of both sexes large, well formed, alert
: and active. The
bird should carry
its body with an
alert, active air, the
eye should be bright
and the pupil neith-
er too large nor too
small in a medium
light. Beware of a
bird with a dull eye

pupil or one that
changes almost con-
stantly in size with-
out any apparent
change in the light
to which it is ex-
posed. The eye is a
good index to con-
dition and health if
you will take the
trouble to study it.
Insist on having
clear, bright, clean,

AURORA LEGHORN FARM’S DRY-FEED
HOPPER

Made from a Kirkman’s borax soap box. The .
dotted lines show the original box Laas Cap- normal appearing
acity, twenty-five to thirty quarts. The open- eyes when selecting
ing is four inches deep and four inches wide and , .

we Deve pound inate, i Feet of gts or no breeding birds. The
waste of the feed. The hopper is hung up so

that the bottom is six inches from the deer comb, and face
—R. P. Ellis. should be a good,

clean, bright, heal-
thy red and free from abnormal lumps and bunches. Don’t
use a bird for breeding that has a pale or dark face and comb.
If the face or comb of the bird turns either pale or dark when
the bird is excited or has been exercising freely better discard
that bird for a more, promising specimen. Try the tempera-
ture of the bird’s legs with your hand, they should be cool.
If the legs seem quite hot to the touch, place the bird in some
quiet pen for observation. It is out of condition and prob-
ably unfit to breed from. Observe the plumage, it should be
clean and bring in appearance and fairly ‘close’ for the
variety. Loose, mussed appearing plumage indicates that
the bird is out of condition. See that the body is well formed
and free from deformities. Do not breed birds with crooked
backs or breasts.
Give the male bird ample time and attention for rem-
ember that so far as the progeny are concerned he is ‘‘half
your flock.” Try him for a day or two with a few hens and

or with an irregular:

see if he serves them properly and completely. He should
be attentive without being too rough and clumsy. Watch
him closely for a few days and if he does not seem all right
try another male. After he has been with the hens a week
or ten days try a few eggs in the incubator or under a hen
and test them out in five days'to see how they run for fer-
tility. If one male will not give you fertile eggs in sufficient
numbers, try another or try the same male with other hens
if he is a particularly promising bird. If you have an ex-
ceptionally fine male do not let him wear himself out for
want of good care. Sometimes a particularly fine cock will
almost starve himself while seeking to be agreeable and at-
tentive to his mates. If you find this to be the case take
the male apart from the flock frequently and feed some
delicacies like fresh meat scraps, fresh green stuff and some
mixed grain. Keep his toe nails blunt on sides and points
and blunt the spurs—a little care will prevent torn backs in
the females and save the loss of some valuable breeding birds.
Don’t breed 2 male that is under one year old or over four
years old.

In selecting the hens be sure that they are in the habit of
laying normal eggs in size, shape and contents. Trap-nest
them if necessary to make sure of this detail. It is import-
ant for you cannot get normal, healthy chicks out of abnormal
eggs. Some hens are liable to show a considerable per-
centage of infertility in their eggs, the trap-nest will show
you which ones are off in this respect if you mark and test
the eggs. Sometimes. mating with another male will correct
this fault if the hen is a good vigorous specimen. Watch
the droppings of your breeding stock of both sexes. The
droppings should not be either too soft or too hard, but
should be well formed and normal in color. Avoid birds
that commonly void green droppings. A bird that habitu-
ally voids deep blue green droppings is on the way down
and out.

Importance of Fresh Air

In order to keep fowls healthy and vigorous, full of
vitality, and that means the power to produce strong-germed
eggs, they must have an abundance of pure, fresh air to
breathe both day and night. In former articles on fresh-air
housing we have explained how this may be accomplished.
Do not forget that your birds need to breathe fresh air
twenty-four hours each day in order to do their best and
this fresh air must be supplied in such a way that you avoid
drafts about the sleeping birds when they are upon the
roosts at night. . This matter of fresh air is one of vital im-
portance. This rule applies the year round, in winter and
in summer. ‘ ;

Exercise in the open air and sunshine whenever weather
permits is essential to health and the production of strong
germed eggs, eggs that contain potential vitality,—the power
to live when properly quickened. We let our breeding stock,
housed in fresh-air buildings, run out of doors at will in all
sorts of weather, summer and winter. They are used to it
and do not expose themselves unduly in stormy weather.
They can always get in out of the storm if they wish, for the
door to the run is never closed. Fowls that are not accus-
tomed to this treatment should be given an outdoor run on
fair days but should not be allowed out in severe winds, now
or rain storms in winter. Where the birds are confined,
keep plenty of clean, bright straw litter on the floors of their
open sheds or pens for them to work in on stormy days but
do not shut out the fresh air for fear of a little rain or snow.
Better remove the litter material when wet or damp and re-
place with dry straw. You cannot have health and vigor
without some exercise but do not make them work for all
the food they get. The food in the litter should be merely
an incentive to exercise, not for the purpose of compelling it.

BREEDING 15

Feeding the Breeding Birds

There are almost as many good methods of feeding
breeding stock as there are men who make poultry keeping a
business. The most important thing about feeding, in spite
of what the chemists and “scientific feeding experts” tell us,
is to supply a variety of wholesome food; i. e., some grains
or grain mixtures, green food and vegetables, the fresher the
better, and some good pure meat food. In addition to these,
grit, oyster shell, charcoal and pure water should be supplied.

Of grains, corn, wheat, oats and barley are the staples,
and we consider them all essentials. Personally we prefer to
feed only dry grain mixtures of whole and cracked grains
chiefly because it is more ‘convenient for us to do so and the
results are entirely satisfactory. We buy or make up a
scratching grain mixture and feed it from a hopper. One
of the best mixtures we have used is a combination of two-
thirds cracked yellow corn (clean and free from mould or
must) and one-third either hard red or amber wheat for
winter feeding. In summer the corn is reduced to about
forty or fifty per cent and the wheat increased. When good
heavy clipped white oats can be had cheap enough they are
often substituted for wheat and sometimes barley and oats
are used. The parts are by measure, not weight. Scratch
grain mixtures used when they can be had cheaply and con-
veniently are usually about the following composition:
Whole corn, 20 tbs; cracked corn (yellow), 40 tbs; wheat,
‘20 Ibs; oats and barley (one or both mixed) 12 tbs; kaffir
corn, 5 tbs; sunflower seed, 3 tbs. This hard, dry grain is
kept always on hand in the food hopper where the birds can
eat it at will. In bad weather a little is sometimes scattered
in the litter to encourage the birds that scratch. In another
hopper or compartment there is always a good supply of
pure, sweet, wholesome beef scrap. Grit, shell and charcoal
they always have before them and plenty of water.

Green food and vegetables are supplied daily if possible,
in a wire pocket tacked on the side of the pen. Give as much
as experience teaches that the birds will clean up in one day.
We use whatever is available, refuse cabbage, cut green rye,
‘clover, split turnips and beets, apple and potato parings,
etc. Table scraps fed at noon help out the ration of small
flocks.

For those who like a moist mash the following ration is
a good one: Equal parts by measure of wheat bran, wheat

middlings, corn meal, yellow gluten meal and ground oats:

or oat feed with ten per cent cut clover (scalded and salted
first) and six per cent beef scrap (scalded). Mix all ground
grain stuff dry, then add to water containing scalded clover
and'scrap and mix into crumbly mash. Feed all the birds
will clean up in twenty minutes at noon or an hour before
roosting time as convenient five days a week. Give some

hard whole grain to finish off on.if mash is fed at night. For
morning feeding give a handful of scratch grain per bird in
litter. Night feed of hard grain should be given in trough
or feed box where the birds can quickly get all that they
want. On days when no mash is fed give cut green bone at
noon, all that the flock will clean up quickly in about fifteen
minutes. Cooked or fine cut raw vegetables may be used in
the mash, or feed vegetable and green food as advised in
dry ration.

We make no claims that these rations are better than a
thousand or more others that are in general use today. They
have given us good results and we have had good fertility
and good vitality. The other essentials, not forgetting to
breed only from healthy, vigorous stock, are all quite as im-
portant as the method of feeding. You cannot get good
results and half starve your birds at the same time. The
most important part of feeding fowls is to supply plenty of
wholesome food and a sufficient variety to keep the appe-
tite from failing.

Pure water for drinking purposes we named as the fifth
essential in maintaining health and vigor. Too many other-
wise careful poultrymen neglect this important item of
poultry necessities. The fowl’s body and her eggs are made
up very largely of water, approximately 75 per cent, and we
cannot be too careful to see that the supply is pure. Let the
drinking water be fresh and clean and from a source that you
would not hesitate to drink from yourself. Foul drinking
water will cause disease; and barnyard seepage, sewage,
sink-drain waste and the wash of hog pens, poultry yards
and other filth will contaminate and produce foul water,
rendering it a dangerous and virulent poison. Get clean
pure water for your birds and keep it clean if you want to
keep them healthy and have them yield you the maximum
number of good strong-germed eggs for hatching. There is
only one safe substitute for water for stock birds and that is
new, clean, recently fallen snow and only in the open country,
remote from railroads, trolley lines and well travelled high-
ways. Town and city lot fanciers cannot safely use snow as
a substitute for drinking water for their flocks.

If the reader. will study and apply the information given
in this article he can secure a good percentage of fertility ©
from his flock and count on good strong germed eggs for
hatching, but if his birds are even in a small degree lacking
in vitality it may take three or more seasons of careful work
to get the best results. It will often take three to five gene-
rations of careful breeding to repair faults and deficient
vitality induced by one season of carelessness. It is always
easier to make a mistake than to remedy the results of an
error. The only real and sure way to prevent trouble is to
avoid it.

; ; A FINE BROOD
’ Rare Oriental Bantam Chicks bred from birds recently brought from Nagasaki, Japan. These little oriental game Bantams are
quail and not unlike wild game in their habits.
her nest under a cedar tree.—F. L. Sewell.

as plump as

These particular chicks were hatched under perfectly natural conditions by the mother bird stealing

CHAPTER II
INCUBATION AND INCUBATORS

NATURAL. AND ARTIFICIAL HATCHING DISCUSSED—HOW TO SET A HEN—HOW

TO USE AN

INCUBATOR—EGGS FOR HATCHING AND THEIR PROPER CARE

P. T. WOODS, M. D.

T IS conceded to day that the incubator
is a necessary part of the equipment of
all up-to-date poultry plants. They are
ready to set at any season, take care of a
liberal quota of eggs and, when properly
handled, are reliable hatchers. In Feb-
ruary and March when broody hens are
scarce, the incubator must be relied
upon to produce chicks in sufficient num-
bers to economize on the labor of rearing
them.

It may seem trite to the experienced
poultryman to be told how to set a hen
but, judging from our correspondence,
there are still a number who want to be

told the best way. One of the first things to learn is the
wisdom of the old saying, “Don’t count your chickens before
they are hatched.” This applies to both natural and artificial
hatching. One hundred per cent hatches are exceptions, not
the rule. A veteran poultry keeper in Lynn, Massachusetts,
once told the writer that he had set many hundreds of hens
and had kept a record year after year. He found that with-
out the record he always remembered the hatches that gave
him fifteen chicks from fifteen eggs, but failed to recall the
many times that hens hatched half or less than half of the
eggs given tothem. He told us that his records showed that
six or eight chicks from thirteen eggs could be considered
good average hatching; this with eggs under hens and good
healthy vigorous breeding stock producing the eggs for hatch-
ing.

How To Set a Hen

In choosing a broody hen select one with a quiet dispo-
sition that clings closely to the nest. Nervous, flighty birds
that sit standing are not only a nuisance but they often break
or spoil the eggs and lose the entire clutch. Let the broody
hen occupy the nest of her own selection for two or three
days, until you are satisfied that she is fixed in her determina-
tion to sit.

It is always well to set two, four or more hens at one
time. Make the hatching boxes to accommodate two to four
hens. A very satisfactory nest box is shown in the accom-
panying illustration. Such nests can be readily made from
waste lumber or packing boxes. When made in units of two
nests, of about the same dimensions, they are convenient to
handle and can be arranged in tiers along the walls of the
rooms or building used for sitters. Inside measurements of
each nest should be 12 inches wide, 14 inches deep and 14
inches high. The front is boarded up 4 inches from the bot-
tom to keep in nesting material. Wooden locks like the one
marked “‘L”’ in the illustration are used to hold the slatted
front locked in position.

We prefer the nests filled in the bottom with a little
moist loam or an inverted sod. Pack the earth into the
corners of the nest and dish out the center a little to make
the.nest a shallow concave, but do not dish out too much as
the eggs are liable to roll to the center and be broken by the

- nest.

hen. The concave of a nest should be just sufficient to keep
the eggs from rolling out from under the hen. On the moist.
earth scatter a little tobacco dust or some tobacco stems,
then add a thin layer of soft hay or cut straw. Soft “cow”
hay or oat straw makes the best and most lasting nests.
Put in a few china nest eggs to try out the hen. Go over her
thoroughly dusting with Persian insect powder (pyrethrum)
working the powder well into the feathers, being particular
to give the rump, wings and head a liberal dusting.

Place the hen on her new nest at night, allow her to re-
main undisturbed until just before dark the next day, then

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indi-
cates detail of wooden latches which are used on
top of box to hold slatted front in position. It
is shown on end of box for convenience only.

Double nest box for sitting hens. ‘LL’

take her off for food and water and give her an opportunity
to go back to the nest of her own accord. Repeat this the
next day and until she shows a disposition to stick. Then
give her the eggs allowing no more than she can cover com-
fortably. The usual number of eggs toaclutch are eleven,
thirteen and fifteen according to the size of the hen and the
season of the year. A good mother will usually be ready for
the eggs the first or second night after being placed on the
Always set the hens in pairs, two, four, six, or more
at one time and at the end of seven days test out the infertile
eggs. If the fertility should run low, leaving only a few eggs
under each hen, divide the fertile eggs into clutches of eleven
or thirteen eggs each under one hen and re-set the others.
When a hen is set with two or more others, coming off at the
same time, the broods can be doubled up and the odd hens
re-set; it will not hurt them to spend six or seven weeks) ine
cubating.

Choosing an Incubator

In choosing an incubator be sure to get a machine of suf-
ficient capacity to meet your requirements. It is much bet-
ter to be obliged to set 50 eggs in a 100 egg machine than to:
have 100 eggs you want to hatch and only a 50-egg machine
to put them in.

In deciding what incubator to. buy, try to get the fair
and unbiased opinion of a man who is a successful incubator
operator; find out what kind.of machines other successful
breeders use and learn the results obtained by them; study
carefully the testimonials of people who have successfully
used the machine. If you do this, and are guided by your
own best judgment you cannot go wrong.

. INCUBATION 17

When you receive your incubator study carefully the
printed instructions which come with it. Before you start
the machine, be sure that you have mastered the instructions
and that you know thoroughly what the manufacturer. con-
siders best as to method of running and location of machine.

The most important things to consider in selecting the
location for machine are freedom from excessive vibration,
air free from coal gas or decaying vegetable matter and a
solid, level floor on which to set the machine. It is very
important that’ the body of the incubator be level, other-
wise the egg chamber will not heat evenly.

After studying your instructions carefully and setting
the machine in a well ventilated place, but not in a draft,
run it empty for a few days until you become thoroughly
familiar with every detail, and have the regulating device
properly adjusted so as to maintain an even temperature of
1024 to 103 degrees in the egg chamber.

After you understand the operation of the machine and
can maintain the desired temperature in the empty incubator,
the eggs may be put in.

Eggs for Hatching and Their Care

The eggs for hatching in an incubator should be just as
carefully selected as those for hatching under a hen. They
should be from healthy, vigorous breeding stock, of medium
size for the variety of fowl producing them, and should be
fresh, the fresher the better and should not have been kept
for a longer period than two weeks. While saving eggs keep
them in a temperature of from 40 to 60 degrees.

Do not attempt to double up the capacity of the machine
by placing eggs on top of a full tray; use only as many as
will go in easily. Having the machine running smoothly at
the temperature recommended in the manufacturer’s direc-
tions, place the eggs in it and leave them alone for several
hours to warm up, being careful that the temperature does
not run above 103 degrees. Follow closely the instructions of
the incubator manufacturer as to ventilation, running the
lamp with a moderately high flame at the start, and gradu-
ally reducing it until, at hatching time you are running the
minimum height flame necessary.

Beginning on the second day the eggs should be turned
twice daily; these turnings should be as nearly twelve hours

apart as possible. The most approved way of turning eggs
is to remove them from the center of the tray to the ends
and, with the flat of the hand, roll the balance inward toward
the center of the tray. At the morning turning, the position
,of trays should be changed from side to side, and at the night
turning, from end to end, so evening up any inequalities of
temperature and giving all the eggs an even chance of hatch-
ing well.

Except in extremely warm weather, airing or cooling of
the eggs is unnecessary. In very hot weather, when the
temperature of the incubator room runs high, the eggs may
be cooled from five to fifteen minutes once each day, but we
believe it would be better to turn them three times a day in
hot weather and give only such cooling and airing as they
get while being turned. If the temperature of the egg
chamber runs above 104 degrees at any time, it is sometimes
well to cool the eggs from five to fifteen minutes. Under
ordinary conditions, the eggs are aired and cooled sufficiently
to give best results while they are being turned.

Eggs should be tested twice during the hatch, the first
test being made on from the 6th to the 10th day, the second
on the 14th or 18th day. At the first test remove from the
trays all infertile eggs and dead germs. Mark those which
are doubtful and let them remain in the machine until the
second test; if they do not develop before that time they
should be removed as well as all other dead germs.

Stop turning the eggs as soon as the chicks begin to
break the shells, push the tray back as far as it will go, or if
there are two trays, push one back and draw the other forward
leaving a space for the chicks to fall into the nursery below.

Close the machine and let it alone until the hatch is
over. If it has been regulating properly it is perfectly safe
to leave it and it will do no harm if the temperature runs to
105 degrees when the chicks are hatching, but it should not
go higher.

When all the chitks have hatched, the ventilators should
be thrown wide open, egg trays and shells removed from the
machine and the door left open a little about the width of a
common match. Allow the chicks to remain in the machine
from 24 to 36 hours after hatching, then remove to the
brooder which should be running properly before they are
placed in it.

THE ENVIRONMENT FOR INCUBATORS

FRESH AIR AND SUNLIGHT ARE AS ESSENTIAL FOR THE PRO-
CESSES OF INCUBATION AS THE CORRECT DEGREE OF HEAT

H. A. NOURSE

Te is no question but we have good incubators—

machines that will do their part if the operator will .

provide proper environment, give them necessary
care and furnish good eggs. The fact that any hatch at all
is secured where the operators are careless of everything
but the machine itself, is a telling recommendation of the
present day hatchers.

Aside from the proper control of heat in the machine,
nothing is of greater importance than a favorable condition
of the surrounding air. Oxygen is a necessary factor in
success and must be provided. To shut an incubator in a
small, dark room where to confine the heat every door and
window is shut tightly, or to place it in a dark, musty cellar,
where but little fresh air enters from autumn to spring, is
to deprive yourself of its benefits.

Sunlight is one of the best air purifiers and germ de-
stroyers, but should not be allowed to shine through the
glass doors of the machine. For this reason few cellars are

fit for incubator rooms; yet, when one has ventilation suffi-
cient to keep the air pure at all times and windows above
ground through which the sunlight may shine, it is the very
best location for a machine, because the temperature will be
less variable than in a room or building that is wholly above
ground. In the absence of these conditions an ordinary
room in a dwelling, without heat, will be found best adapted
to the requirements of those who do not need or cannot
afford a building especially for this purpose. :

Ventilation may be secured and controlled by dropping
the windows at the top and raising them at the bottom, pre-
venting a draft. in severe or rough weather by inserting
cloth-covered frames in the open spaces. By having these
frames in two or three sizes and one or more windows the
situation may be thoroughly mastered.

It is a fact that small buildings designed for the pur-
pose do not, as a rule, provide the favorable conditions de-
scribed, therefore are not very satisfactory. Of those above

.

18

Two Incubator Houses in Use on an English Poultry Farm

CHICK BOOK :

ground few are well enough built to protect the machines in
severe weather without closing every source of fresh air,.
in which case that confined in the building, usually of small
contents, is soon impoverished by the lamps, which abstract,
the oxygen, leaving unhealthy gases in its place. Houses
partly or wholly below ground to the eaves almost invari-
ably lack sufficient ventilation, because it is more difficult
to introduce fresh air. The best room of this kind is one
having a building above to temper the heat in summer and
the cold in winter; walls extending five feet below the ground,
and two feet above; one-fifth of this exposed area of walls
being of glass. Good ventilation necessitates a constant
changing of the air by bringing in fresh air from without
the building and removing the air which has become laden
with impurities. To accomplish this, fresh air must be in-
troduced near the ceiling of the room, preferably through a
cloth diaphram, and the foul air drawn out from near the
floor by means of tubes extending from within one foot
thereof, up through the highest point in the roof of the
building. In this manner the room may be freed from all
gases without the aid of direct drafts and the chicks will
be strong and healthy, if other conditions are favorable.

ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION

A CANADIAN GOVERNMENT EXPERT GIVES PRACTICAL POINTS ON THE.USE OF ‘INCUBATORS AND
SELECTION OF EGGS FOR HATCHING—RULES FOR RUNNING A MACHINE—ADVANTAGES OF INCUBATORS

VICTOR FORTIER

is apt to be sadly disappointed if he starts out with

the notion that he is going to have one of those ninety-

eight per cent hatches that the catalogues of some manu-
facturers tell about.

Eggs for incubation f

always be carefully selected. The 4,

fresher they are the better as the Se

| ere spring is the time the beginner with the incubator

should phuuies oresd See aoe

classes can be hatched at the same time; that is, the Rocks,
Wyandottes and R. I. Reds may be put into the same
incubator at the same time, but they should not be mixed
with the Asiatics and Mediterraneans. It takes twenty-one
days to hatch all hen eggs, but if the eggs from Leghorns

.
hatch will be greater and the chicks '
will be stronger. The little germ :
or seed of life gradually grows weak- '
er and weaker and at last has not '
the strength to develop into a fine
healthy chick and may die in the
shell if the egg is kept too long. It \
is better not to have them older than
ten days or two weeks.

Eggs with imperfect shells
should be rejected, also those with
rough or chalky shells, with ‘thin
spots, or that are badly formed.
These rarely hatch to advantage
and should be used in the kitchen.

The eggs should come from
vigorous, healthy and _ well-fed
stock. Much depends on the feed-
ing of the breeders, especially of the

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male bird. They should have plenty
of vegetables and green food as well
as animal food and those grains that
contain the bone and muscle form-.
ing elements.

The eggs should be of medium
size, neither too large nor too small.
The small eggs generally denote in-
feriority and are either pullet eggs
or eggs from fat hens or eggs that
are laid by hens exhausted from having laid a long time.

The eggs should be of one breed or class. The American

frost-proof.

TRENGH POR WALLS

GROUND PLAN OF TOLMAN INCUBATOR CELLAR

The walls of the cellar are 8 feet 6 inches high, which affords plenty of ai
Bone of eonae wnaids oe 22x30 iets ij Sect (lick, abithe eo 1s
with a solid or what the masons call a ‘‘wet wall’’ extending down 3 feet from top; which makes it
) A feet from floor up the wall is left open and by so doing a great Deel more TaoiseaRe i:
gained by taking it into the cellar from the the banks through the walls.
trench under the walls, 3 feet wide and 1 foot deep, filled with small stones.

i The dimen-
The walls at bottom are 3 feet thick, at the top 18 intchos thick.

The cellar is drained by a

are placed in the same machine as the Brahmas or Rocks,
the Leghorns will hatch a few hours earlier than the others,

to the great detriment of the other chicks. The temperature
of*the machine at the time of hatching is very difficult to
regulate, and this is due to the amount of heat generated by
the chicks at that critical moment. The rise of temperature
may not injure the chicks that.are already hatched, but may
greatly injure the heavier breeds which have not as yet
broken the shell. :
The eggs should be clean. Dirt or grease on an egg
‘prevents the free circulation of air and may be the cause of
death by suffocation of the delicate life germ or embryo in
the egg.

Running the Machines

There are no infallible rules for the running of an in-
cubator. The amount of moisture and ventilation required,
the manner of turning the eggs and cooling, and the many
details of the operation cannot be indicated in a definite and
decisive manner for every machine, and are subject to varia-
tion according to the make, the system of the machine, and
the external conditions under which we are working.

I give here only a few very general rules to be observed.
The manufacturer sends with the machines the necessary
instructions. Different machines differ in important essen-
tials, but the breeder will have to discover by practical ex-
perience many details of the operation which the manu-
facturer cannot supply and which differ according to the
outward circumstances and the individual conditions in
which one may be placed.

The temperature is a matter of utmost importance, as
it forms the essence itself of incubation. As the embryo or
life germ is brought to actual life through the agency of heat,
it will be seen readily how very important it is that the tem-
perature should receive our most careful attention. I think
the temperature should be kept as near as possible at 103
degrees Fahrenheit. One should be careful about the ther-
mometer being correct before placing the eggs in the machine.
It occasionally happens that there is some little defect and
considerable trouble is caused.

The embryo chicks generate animal heat as soon as they
commence to make growth and the volume of heat increases

" gressing.

INCUBATION 19

steadily toward the latter part of the hatch. This is the
reason why it is usually necessary to re-adjust the regulator
during the last week or ten days of the hatch.

The amateur breeder who is using an incubator for the
first time will naturally be tempted to look too often into the
interior of the machine in order to see how things are pro-
It is very imprudent to open the door of the in-
cubator often. Keep the door closed as much as possible
and you will find it to your great advantage. This applies
specially to the time of actual hatching. If your neighbor
or friend wishes to see how things work tell him to come
round some other time when there are no eggs in the machine,
and then examine it as much as he may desire. Offer to
give him all the verbal explanation he may wish, but do not
risk losing a hatch to oblige him by actually showing him
the interior arrangement while eggs are being hatched.

Generally it is best not to open the egg chamber after
the chicks begin to break the shell until the hatch is quite
finished. A chick that is not strong enough to make its way
out of the shell is generally not worth helping, while frequent
opening of the doors may result in the complete loss of a
valuable hatch of eggs.

There may be times when it is absolutely necessary to
open the machine, even while the chicks are hatching. A
chick may have hatched but may be caught in an unnatural
position by the empty shells, ‘or partly smothered by these
shells, but if it is necessary that the incubator should be
opened, special attention should be given that no drafts or
currents of cold or foul air enter the machine from the out-
side and the door should be kept open just long enough to

' perform the necessary operation.

If the eggs are fresh laid and of strong vitality, and the
incubator properly attended to, the chicks should begin to
break the shells on the twentieth day and the hatch should
be completed the twenty-first day. es

Chicks that hatch out too early or too late and specially
the latter, are always weak and should they happen to sur-
vive the first stage of life, they seldom develop properly and
very rarely grow into fine or normally developed birds.

VIEW OF TOLMAN FRESH-AIR INCUBATOR CELLAR
There are four ventilating shafts, which can be seen in the photograph, extending to within afoot of the cellar floor.

square, and are always open.

The radiator shown in ground plan, (see page 18) is to remove the impure air from the center.
from this radiator to each corner of the cellar, about 4 inches under the floor, carrying the impure air directly out of the building.

These are 12 inches
Seven-inch tiling is run
The two large win-

dows in the south side and the transom windows over the door allow plenty of fresh air to enter.

VENTILATION AND MOISTURE IN INCUBATORS

THE GREATEST PROBLEM IN SUCCESSFUL ARTIFICIAL INCUBATION IS IN VENTILATION AND

MOISTURE—THE EGG CONTAINS A PROPER PROPORTION OF ELEMENTS TO BUILD

UP THE

EMBRYONIC STRUCTURE—DEATH OF THE EMBRYO FOLLOWS ABUSE OF NATURE’S LAWS
H. E. MOSS

day is the diversity of treatment to which eggs are
required to be subjected under the instructions of
the makers of the various machines now on the market and
their ability to furnish pages of testimonials in support of
their claims of the merits of their particular machine. There

QO": of the anomalies in the incubator business of to-

can be but one correct process or method of incubation, and:

that is nature’s method. If we would duplicate nature we
must conform to her method. I have be-
fore me thirty catalogues from as many
different incubator manufacturers. I have

. been examining these books and compar-
ing the claims and theories of the different
makers so far as they pertain to the essen-
tial requirements of a successful hatcher.
There is but one point upon which they
all agree, and that is the proper incubat-
ing temperature. The ease with which
this fact can be determined accounts for
this, but there are other conditions besides
temperature upon which successful hatch-
ing depends, and in these they not only
advance contrary theories, but inysome
instances proclaim them as t self-evident :
truths. Turning and cooling the eggs are
provided for in various ways, some even
going so far as to furnish a cooling schedule
for each day of the hatch, each one differ-
‘ing from the other. It is not with this
question, however, that I propose to deal
at this time, but the one embraced in
ventilation and moisture.

We are told very emphatically by
some that at the end of a certain day the
egg must show an air space to correspond
with a given diagram, and at the end of
certain other days it must show certain
other fixed lines of air space, and that if
the eggs are placed in warm water on a
certain day and they float with an exposed
surface equal to a silver quarter in size,
the evaporation is right. Now this may
all be approximately correct and agree
with normal conditions, but they go
further and say that if they are found de-
ficient the ventilation must be increased
and if excessive it must be diminished and
moisture introduced.

This sounds very plausible to the un-
thinking or those who jump at conclusions.
That all eggs lose a certain amount of
moisture during incubation is very appar-
ent, but the question is how do they lose
it? From the rules they lay down for the purpose of increas-
ing or diminishing the air space, we must assume their hypo-
thesis to be that there is a certain amount of water created
in the egg that does not belong there and that.the Creator
made the incubating body a party to the reproductive pro-
cess, and did not create a perfect egg in a perfect condition

to reproduce the species without the intervention of this
outside agency to rearrange, as it were, its contents.

The absurdity of such a hypothesis is apparent.

Can we imagine for one moment that in His infinite
wisdom He would establish any incomplete- or imperfect
thing, or law, as must be inferred in this case, whereby
some species are taught to deposit their eggs in suitable
locations and never see them afterward, and that such eggs

should not contain the proper proportions
of all the elements necessary to build up
the embryonic structure? No, we cannot
conceive of any such condition. We must
assume that whatever is placed within the
egg is necessary to the perfect develop-
ment of its germ, and that if we wish to
incubate it successfully we must not rob
it of any one element or any part of one,
and that if we do it suffers in consequence
and in proportion to the degree of abuse
‘ to which we subject it.

It has taken a number of years for
incubator makers and operators to correct
their ventilation. Carbon dioxide has
been a bugbear. They find they need no
longer fear this. They now unintention-
ally cease robbing the egg of its moisture
and realize the fact that under the new
conditions the hatches approxirnate nat-
ural methods. The moisture pan is now
a back number. The only benefit it ever
worked was to partially equalize the
aqueous tension between the inner and
outer air, a condition which need not exist
in a modern incubator. A current of cold
air drawn in through the ventilating flues
increases its capacity for moisture in pro-
portion to the increase in its temperature.
Its relative humidity being lower than the
outer air, it gathers moisture from the
eggs in sufficient quantity to restore the
equilibrium. The allantois is robbed of
its fluid and the membrane becomes dry,
destroying its function as a respiratory
organ, and death of the embryo follows.
The greatest mortality from this cause
occurs during the third week.

The ventilating flues and forced drafts -
with which many machines of to-day are
equipped are wrong in principle, although
it is possible to operate fairly well with
.them, provided the apertures are reduced
to the minimum and employed solely for
the purpose of muintaining the air pure

in the egg chamber. Natural variations in the atmospheric
humidity exert no influence, provided the aqueous tension
is held the same within the egg chamber as without, and
this is attainable in very few machines.

From the hour the egg reaches the incubating tempera-
ture there is a condition present within it which I have

INCUBATION

never seen noticed or described by any investigator. It is
what might be termed a partial vacuum, a tension, or a ten-
dency to shrinkage or contraction, which would naturally
cause the absorption of oxygen to be more rapid than if
it were compelled to depend upon diffusion only. This ten-
sion is more apparent on about the fourteenth day than at
any other period. It seems to be rythmic or intermittent
and is suggestive of the process of breathing as we perform
it, except that its operation is so slight as to be impercep-
tible except under certain conditions.

Every atom of water contained in the egg is intended to
pass through the circulation of the embryo in combination
with the other elements, and is absolutely essential to the

perfecting of the structure, and after having been so util-

ized it is, as with any other elements that have been chem-
ically transformed and served their purpose, thrown off
as waste matter in the form of gases or urates. A weak
germ, and by that I mean one that has not had a strong
vitality, or life principle or impulse, implanted in it by the
parent, or that has been reduced to this state by abuse, is
retarded in its development. The impulse has either been
checked or was weak to begin with. The normal diminution
of the contents is checked or cease entirely. The operator
is told that he is using too much moisture and not ventilat-
ing enough, so out come the water pans and open go the
slides, and at the same time an examination of all the eggs
would perhaps show many at the normal stage. A strong
current of air is now driven through the machine under the
delusion that all that is necessary to make these weak germs
hatch is by some means to extract the surplus moisture
they seem to contain and increase the air space, and I have
no doubt but some would be tempted to draw it out with a
hypodermic syringe if it were contained in a pocket in the

21

egg and they were not convinced by actual experience that
a rupture of the membranes would be fatal.

I would suggest to any who have doubts on this ques-
tion to select a tray or a machine full of eggs showing small
air spaces, say about the tenth to the fourteenth day, place
them in a machine by themselves, take out all the water
pans, open wide all ventilators, force all the air you can
through the machine, and if you wish drive a warm blast
through it by a fan motor, and see how many of them will
come to exclusion. You can evaporate them fast enough
and the faster, the quicker and surer the death.

There are some things about incubation we can never
know. The life principle or impulse is beyond the grasp of
finite minds. Starting with germs that in every living thing
are identical in structure and appearance, and developing
them from one plane, to another until they reach the limit
to which their impulse carries them, they become men, birds
or fish, and thus perpetuate their species, the fittest always
surviving. We mortals may speculate and theorize upon it,
but we cannot fathom it.

Our hypothesis is that the Creator placed in the normal
* egg just what is needed there—no more, no less—and that
if we can duplicate natural conditions we can successfully
incubate them artificially, presuming that the parent bird
in the incubating process contributes nothing but heat. If
we can do this, and at the same time furnish oxygen suf-
ficent to sustain the process we will succeed, but it must be
just enough—no more, no less. The right amount to gauge
the machines for, varies with the outer temperature, the
stage of hatch and the machine used, as all vary in their
power to induce currents—some are forced, others are natural.
All these points must be taken into consideration.

THE NATURAL METHOD IS SATISFACTORY

HOW AN EXPERT HATCHED AND REARED WINNERS FOR THE LARGEST SHOWS—
MAKING THE NESTS—SETTING THE HENS—COOPINC AND FEEDING THE CHICKS

M. S. GARDNER

chickens in incubators, and raise them in brooders,

Ss MANY writers of late have told us how to hatch
that little remains to be said upon that subject.

Very

little has been written, however, in regard to the other and
older method of letting the hen rear her own brood. While
I use incubators for hatching my earlier chickens, I still
hatch the greater part of the May and June chicks under
First, because I believe it gives

hens, and for two reasons:

the hen a rest from laying that is, beneficial to her, and
second, because I find that chickens hatched and reared by
hens prove better foragers and grow faster for.me than those
grown in brooders. :

To raise chickens with hens successfully, several things
are absolutely necessary. First, strongly fertilized eggs
from perfectly healthy and vigorous breeding stock. Second,
quiet, medium sized hens, and properly constructed nests.

Thitd, a man to care for the hens who will
exercise eternal vigilance, and who can

control his'temper under most trying cir-
cumstances. Doubtless every man who.
raises chickens has a way of his own. I
do not claim that my way is the only one,
or even that it is the best, but simply this,
that I have been raising thoroughbred
chickens for more than twenty-five years,
and with success, by the method I shall
describe. During the season of 1902 I
raised more than five hundred chickens
under hens. Although May and June
were the wettest months ever known in
this state, my loss from all causes did not
exceed five per cent of the chickens

A LARGE FAMILY

Cochin Bantam hens are considered the best of mothers and one hen can take care of two
The setting of three or more hens at one time and doubl-
ing up the chicks is a very economic and labor-saving practice.—A. O. SCHILLING. j

families, if she is allowed to do so.

*

hatched.

Setting the Hens

As March is a cold month in northern

“22

New York, we do not attempt to set any hens until April.
When the weather moderates so that we feel sure the eggs
will not chill, we prepare to set our first hens. Several
pens are reserved for our sitters, from four to ten hens be-
ing placed in each pen, depending upon the size of pen and
also upon how much room we can spare for this purpose.
The nests are made on the floor of straw or swale hay which
is held in place by two by fours placed upon the floor or else
by narrow strips of board nailed to the floor and not more
than four inches high. It is desirable that the hens be able to
walk onto the nests, and not be compelled or allowed to fly
into them. Sometimes if crowded for room these nests are
not more than three feet apart. We usually set several hens
at one time. When we have the required number of broody
hens we take them carefully from their nests after dark at
night and place them in their new quarters, having previously
prepared the nests in the manner I have described. In each
of these nests we have placed one or two glass eggs or possi-
bly cheap hens’ eggs. By the side of each nest is a potato
crate or a frame covered with wire: netting. Each hen is
carefully set on the glass eggs and a potato crate placed over
her. A hen that has been broody for several days and is of
the proper disposition to make a good mother will at once
settle down upon her new nest and go to sleep. Occasionally
one will resent such treatment and proceed to kick up a
rumpus. Such hens should be removed at once, as they
disturb the quieter ones and seldom prove successful mothers.
I do not find more than one in ten that will refuse to sit in
a nest of this kind. The first day we keep the room dark-
ened and do not let the hens come off to eat. The morning
of the second day the crates are removed and sufficient light
let in to enable the hens to see the corn, grit and water that
have been previously placed there. A large dust box is also
provided for them. Sometimes two hens will fight when
first let off the nests, if taken from different pens in the
breeding houses, but this seldom proves a serious affair, as
they are usually too hungry to waste any time in this manner.
After eating and drinking four out of every five will go back
to the nest in which we placed them. Some few will ex-
change nests, but it is very seldom-a hen refuses to go back
to one of the nests. As all of the eggs are in plain view from
all parts of the pen, two hens seldom try to occupy the same
nest.

CHICK BOOK

In making the nests we use great care in preparing the
bottoms so that the eggs will not come in contact with the
floor. We also make them rather flat and large enough in
diameter so that the eggs can roll from under the hens’
feet as they step into the nests. My reason for making the
nests upon the floor is this: Under natural conditions all
fowls no doubt built upon the ground, as partridges do.
When a hen can walk onto her nest she does it very care-
fully and seldom breaks an egg. If compelled to fly or jump *
up she usually succeeds in falling into the nest and breaking
one or more eggs.. Another advantage in placing the nest
upon the floor is that the eggs do not dry out as badly as
when placed farther from the ground.

The Eggs Require Attention

Now to return to the sitting hens. We have them fed
and watered and back on their nests. If one fails to go
back the room is darkened, the hen is carefully caught and
placed upon her nest, and the potato crate dropped over her.
If at this time all remain quiet the eggs for hatching are
brought and placed under them. From ten to fifteen are
given to a hen, the number depending upon the weather
and the size of the hen. In very early spring not more than
ten eggs are placed under each hen, as the outer ones may
become chilled or at least get cold if more are used, then
as the hen rolls them over the chilled eggs are pushed further
under her and others are rolled to the outside to be spoiled
during the next cold night. I am satisfied that many poor
hatches in early spring are due‘to the fact that too many
eggs are placed under the hens.

We now have our hens properly started on their three
weeks’ task and have only to watch them carefully and see
that they have fresh water every day, with an abundant
supply of grit and corn. A lousy hen never should be set.
We keep a good supply of fine dry dirt for dust bath before
our fowls at all times, so we have no trouble with lice. By
the second day we usually remove the potato crates from
over the hens and thereafter they are at liberty to come off
to eat or roll in the dust bath as often as they desire. Every
day when they are off each nest is inspected and if any eggs
are broken the others are carefully washed, but we seldom
have any trouble of this kind. I have no use for a ten pound
hen as a sitter or anywhere else. For hatching purposes I

prefer one weighing not more than

six or seven pounds. Where it is
possible to do so we set all the hens
in one penat the same time. Where
some are put in later they usually dis-
turb those that have been sitting,
then when the first chicks begin to
hatch it makes those set later discon-
tented. If the weather is very hot and
dry and the eggs are drying down too
much, we sprinkle the nests with warm
water once or twice during the last two
weeks.

When the chicks begin to hatch
we disturb the hens as little as pos-
sible. Sometimes if they are very
quiet I run my hand very carefully
under them and remove all the
empty shells so they will not slip over
the unhatched eggs and smother the
chickens.

Cooping and Feeding

CHICKEN COOPS UNDER APPLE TREES

The young birds soon learned to fly up into the lower branches where they were allowed to

roost until winter, on the plant of Mr. M. S. Gardner.

Nearly all our chicken coops are dry
goods boxes covered with tar paper, to
keep the rain out. These are boarded up

INCUBATION . 23

tight about half way across the front, and slatted the rest of
the distance, so the chickens can run out and in, but the hen
cannot. Into these coops the hens and chickens are removed
when the chickens are about twenty-four hours old, a little
bran, chaff or dry sand having previously been sprinkled
upon the floor. Not more than a dozen chickens are given
to one hen and we often give them only seven or eight
chicks each. The coops are scattered out through the corn-
fields and in other protected places so that each breed has a
fresh run and plenty of grass. When the chicks are placed
in the coops they are fed dry oatmeal and hard boiled egg
chopped up very fine. They are also given some fine grit
and a cup of water, which is refilled as often as necessary
and not allowed to sit in the sun where it will become warm.
The second day tliey are fed on cooked food. Three parts
cornmeal and one part “red dog” flour or wheat middlings
are mixed with skim milk and a sufficient amount of baking

soda to make it light. It is then baked until well done.
This is softened with milk or water and fed five times a day
for the first ten days. At the end of ten days if the weather
is suitable the hen is let out of her coop and allowed to go
where she pleases. After this they are fed but three times
per day. At six weeks or before we begin to feed cracked
corn and wheat. Occasionally a hen fails to return to her
coop the first night and we must find her and drive her in,
but usually they come back without trouble.

As each brood of chickens is placed in the coops they
are punch marked and examined for head lice. If any are
found their heads are greased with pure lard, which. usually
answers the purpose and a second application is seldom nec-
essary. Each night every coop is shut up to keep out the
rats and skunks which abound in northern New York. For
this purpose a frame covered with a fine wire screen is used.
This admits plenty of fresh air, which is absolutely essential
to growing chickens.

HOW TO SET A HEN

THE HATCH DEPENDS GREATLY ON THE MANNER IN WHICH THE HEN IS SET—IMITATE
THE CONDITIONS THAT EXIST WHEN A HEN STEALS HER NEST—HOW TO BUILD NESTS—
NEST MATERIAL—CARE OF SITTING HENS—CARE OF THE EGGS DURING INCUBATION

J. W. PARKS

thought, seems more simple and less necessary to write

about than the above. The majority of readers will
say at once, ‘I know how, where and when to set a hen. I
learned that back on the farm.’ If you really do, well and
good. The object of this article is to help the ones who do
not know, and, judging from my observations among my
neighbors, I am led to believe that it is in this matter that a
great many fail.

There is nothing that pleases a breeder better than to
receive a good report from eggs he has sold. Itisa splendid
advertisement for some customer to hatch thirteen or four-
teen chicks from fifteen eggs, as he will tell his friends and
neighbors and they will send orders. On the other hand,
let him have a poor hatch and he is not slow in advertising
it among his friends and, perhaps, he kills quite a bit of
trade that would otherwise have come to the breeder. Prob-
ably the poor result was entirely the fault of the customer,
who did not know how to properly care for the eggs. We
have established a new rule, which we believe will be profit-
‘able. It is to send instructions to each customer how to

I DOUBT if I could have selected a subject that, at first

A NEST OF HER OWN SELECTION

“COUNTING HER CHICKS”

cate for the hen and eggs to get best results. Seedmen send
their instructions with their seeds. Why should not we also?

There is little doubt that a large percentage of persons
who buy eggs are as little versed in setting a hen as I was
in growing asparagus. I sent to a Philadelphia seed’ house
for one hundred roots three years ago. They came and I
planted them as I thought they should be planted, had the
ground worked well and took great pride in them, planning
to have all the asparagus that we could use and some to sell.
I cared for that bed and manured it for two years and did

‘not get a good mess, then I wrote to the seed house: for a

leaflet on growing asparagus and learned that instead of
planting the roots deep enough to have them just covered
with dirt, they should have been set five to seven inches
below the surface of the ground.

Locating the Sitters

Let us get back to our subject. In the first place, to
get good results. one must, of course, have fresh eggs from
strong, vigorous, healthy stock. If you decide to send to a
distant breeder for eggs, you will have to send the price of
the eggs, or, at least-a deposit on them, and have him book
your order and ship when you send him word to do so. As
soon as you notice that your hen or hens are becoming broody,

24

drop a card to the breeder and have him ship the eggs in a
day or two, or let you know when he can ship them.

You have noticed, no doubt, that usually a hen who
steals her nest hunts up a quiet, dark, moist place, where
no other hens can bother her. This is the first step you
must take—to hunt up a nice, cool, moist place, where you
can set the hens and they will be undisturbed. If you are
bothered with rats, see that the nests are placed where the
rats cannot disturb the eggs, as nothing will discourage a
hen like rats. I have heard’ that rats sometimes steal all
the eggs from under sitting hens.

If you have no place that will compare with under the
barn, for instance, where the. hen likely would go, you must
do the next best thing and make a suitable place.

I hatched some seven hundred chicks last year with
hens and had quite a number of hens bring out every egg,
and I will tell you exactly how I had my hatching pen fixed.
We took one of the open front scratching shed houses that
was empty and made a platform two feet wide to run the
whole length of each section. This platform was about
fifteen inches from the floor and was placed against
the back of the coop, being separated into fifteen
inch spaces with temporary partitions fifteen
inches square. A five-inch strip was then nailed
along the front of these partitions to hold them in
place and to keep in the nest material. A
couple of boards are then nailed on the top to
form a sort of roof or top to the nests.

The partitions are a little shorter in front

than at the back, so that these
boards slant, which prevents the
hens getting on top and _ sitting
there. The top does not go back
against the wall, as we prefer to
leave an inch or so space for venti-
lation. A board the full length of
the nests and about seven inches |
wide is then fastened to the front
top board by old pieces of leather,
which serve as hinges. This board
can be laid back on top when we
wish the hens to be at liberty. This
door will be found necessary if a great
many hens are to be set in the same build-
ing. In our case, a number of hens are taken
from other coops, and, being in a strange place,
do not sit quietly at first. If there was no door,
they would be liable to jump off the nests when you
enter the room. The nests being constructed, the
next step is to select the material to use in them.
Our hatching house has a double board floor, is
off the ground about a foot and the front is prac-
tically open, therefore, there is very little moisture.
To imitate the conditions of the pice that the hen
in her free state on the farm would choose we must
supply moisture in some way. A sod the size of the
bottom of the nest is cut two or three inches thick and
placed in each nest with the grass side down. If the weather
is very warm this sod is shoroaghly wet, then straw is placed
on top of it and the nest shaped, ‘being careful not to have
the nests so deep that the hen has to step down into it nor
so shallow that the eggs will roll out. "We aim to make it
just deep enough to hold the eggs together. In the center
there should be about an inch of straw on top of the sod.
After the straw is placed in the nest a couple of handfuls of
chaff is scattered over it to make it more compact and solid—
then the nest is ready.

If the hen is broody and you have to wait for the eggs
give her a thorough dustirig with a good commercial lice

CHICK BOOK

powder and put her on the nest, using a couple of china eggs.
Move them just after dark, then they will have the whole
night in which to become accustomed to their nests. They
generally are all right by morning, but should have the door
shut down on them.

The next morning take a peep at them, but go gently
into the pen, as they are very easily frightened at this time
and may change their minds about hatching in a second.
Slip in quietly and see if they have all settled down, or if
they are standing up. Sometimes you will find one that is
determined to get out. In that case you would better sel-
ect another hen. We will suppose that you found your
hens willing to sit and that the eggs have arrived. The
first care you owe them is to unpack them carefully and
stand them in ‘a cool, dark place for about twenty-four
hours to allow the small fibres that hold the germ in
place to return to their normal position after being jarred
for a day or more on the road. After the eggs have stood
twenty-four hours the hen should be taken off the nest and
given a good feed of corn with grit and fresh water, and a
place must be provided in which she can dust her-
self. The dusting box should be in the hatching
coop. Then she should be placed back on the
nest and the eggs slipped under her.

Do not bother her then for two days. After
that open the door and if she does not wish to
get off take her off and shut the door so that

she must remain off the nest for fifteen

minutes. The length of time that she is
allowed to remain off the nest de-
pends of course on the weather. In
the warm summer days she can be
off an hour and do no harm.

Keep the Eggs Clean

} hens you will be safe to take with
you a little warm water, for invar-
iably you will find that some hen
has broken an egg or two or soiled
her nest. You will have to remove
the nest material and wash the eggs

that are soiled. To neglect in, this mat-
ter may be traced many a poor hatch.
No matter how faithful « sitter a hen is if the
eggs are smeared she cannot hatch them. It is
with the germ in’the egg as it is with you in your
living room. If someone were to cork up all fhe
holes in the room so no air could get in you would
gradually grow weaker as the oxygen in the air be-
comes exhausted. The pores in the egg shell are
for the purpose of supplying oxygen to help develop the
little chick and when these pores are closed the develop-
ment of course stops.

After the nests are all cleaned and the hens have been
off long enough to have a little exercise and enough to eat,
open the door and let them go back. We always set a num-
ber of hens at the same time and let them off together. We
believe it does not matter which nest they go on.

They are taken off the nest every day ‘until it is time
to hatch. On the tenth day they are given a good dusting
with lice powder and again on the nineteenth day. The
lice must be kept down if the hen is to have a good hatch,
for a hen cannot attend to her work if she is bothered with

°

slice.

During extremely dry weather, such as we had in our
part of the country last year, water should be slopped around
on the floor under the nests every other day, after the hens
have returned to their nests.

If you have set a number of:

INCUBATION 25

Number of Eggs to Set

A common fault is to try to have the hen cover too
many eggs. We have always advocated thirteen eggs and
when we set choice eggs we always use that many. Almost
any ordinary sized hen can cover fifteen eggs, but if the same
hen is given only thirteen eggs I believe she will bring the
chicks out closer together and the chicks will be stronger.
A good deal depends on the weather. The colder the weather
the fewer eggs a hen can cover successfully..

In case the eggs you have ordered arrive before the hen
or hens are ready keep the eggs in a cool place and turn
them half over every other day. If you do not keep them
over ten days and the eggs were fresh when they were shipped
you can still expect a good hatch. If you follow the above
directions and do not get a fair hatch you are not to blame
and should take the matter up with the one from whom you
bought the eggs. We expect to set one hundred hens dur-
ing the spring in this style of nest and feed and care for them
in the manner described above. This is the strongest en-
dorsement we can give our plan.

(Notz:—A number of our readers may disagree with
Mr. Parks that it is a wise plan to permit the sitting hens to
return to any nest they choose. Quite a few breeders believe
that a hen may be broody and yet not be in such condition
that her body will give the requisite amount of heat to the
eggs to produce a successful hatch. If such were the case
with several hens in the same room, might they not ruin a
number of sittings of eggs?)—Ep.

ry

CRITICISM OF MR. PARKS’ METHODS

NOWING that the method of setting a broody hen
K employed by many experienced poultry men is at
variance with that described by Mr. Parks in the
previous article we asked our readers to write us explaining
their objection to his plan. The following by Mr. L. E. Smith,
one of our Ohio patrons, will be read with interest:

“For the past three seasons I have followed Mr. Parks’
plan with one exception. Instead of using one long board
to shut the hens in on the nést I closed each one separately.
This is done for the reason that you may have one or two
vacant nests and some hens are very particular about always
going on the same nest. If another hen happens to get her

COOP FOR BROODY HENS

nest and there is a vacant one beside it she is liable to go
on this one, even though there are no eggs in it. This is

not liable to happen if you have the same number of nests
open that you have sitting hens. The nests all look alike
to them. After the first or second time you take them off
to feed and water you will never have any trouble.

“I always use nest material as described by Mr. Parks
and in this way have had the best results. I have watched
the hens time and again to see if they went back on the nests
from which they came, but never yet have seen all of them
do so.

This is the way I hatch all my prize winning Partridge
Wyandottes and I should be pleased if my customers also
followed this plan. I find that the hens not only stay in
the best of health, but that it is easier to keep them free from
lice. We always test the eggs the 7th and 14th days and
give the hens about ten eggs each, as that is about the average
of fertility. I never set over thirteen eggs as I have learned
by experience that more than that number is the cause of
the hens breaking the eggs. In the long run one is not
ahead, for a broken egg is liable to spoil the whole hatch.
After the fourth or fifth day I always leave the nests open
so that the hens can come and go at will, as I have found
that they know more about when to get off the nest than I
do. Give them fresh water every morning:and mix their
grain in the straw, also give them a dust bath and they will
do the rest. ‘

By following the above plan I am able almost to count
the chicks by the 14th day and that is saying a good deal.

HOW TO “BREAK UP’? A BROODY HEN

EGINNING now one is often exasperated by having a
hen become broody and persist in obeying her moth-
erly instinct when she could render much more valu-

able assistance by laying. I have a method which has been
most successful. I make a coop like the one shown in the
accompanying illustration that has a slat front. The hen
is placed in the coop and then the coop is pushed up close
to the wall of the hen house. (See illustration). The slat
front being turned away from the yard the broody hen can-
not see the rest of the birds but can easily hear them. She
will immediately become worried and try to get out and join
them, so in two or three days at the most she has forgotten
that she ever wanted to become a mother. If the hen is
well fed and provided with fresh water, the worrying will
not hurt her at all.

CHAPTER III
REARING CHICKS NATURALLY AND ARTIFICIALLY

THE DIFFICULTIES AND HOW TO AVOID THEM—CONDITIONS THAT AFFECT THE HEALTH
AND GROWTH OF YOUNG STOCK—HATCHING AND BROODING—FEEDING CHICKS WITH
HENS AND IN BROODERS—SOFT FOOD BEST TO PRODUCE EARLY MATURITY

H. E. MOSS

N WHAT other business is there such a
multitude of ‘‘Don’ts as are associated
with the poultry business? To attempt
to enumerate them would be an endless
task. What is often called “horse sense,’’
or good judgment, or brains, must de-
termine between the right and the wrong;
but many occasions will arise where ex-
perience is necessary upon which to base
judgment and where the experience of
others can be had and applied. It is
equivalent to so much time and money
saved, for without it we must test the
question ourselves and if found to be a
failure it is just so much paid for experi-
ence or paid up capital. We shall, therefore endeavor to be
as clear and explicit as possible, assuming that the large
majority who will avail themselves of this advice are ama-
teurs or beginners who are willing to profit by the experience
of otheré, and to whom success or failure means much. We
shall avoid the don’ts and write from the positive, not the
negative viewpoint.

The rearing of domestic poultry should show a profit
and will do so in proportion to the intelligence with which
it is conducted precisely as in any other business; but where
the highest order of talent is employed, the profits on the
capital invested will far exceed those in any other legiti-
mate business.

Start With the Chick

We will start with the chick as it emerges from the shell.
If the eggs begin to pip in the evening they should all be
excluded by the next morning. In cool weather compel the
hen to keep her nest for twenty-four hours longer; this will
permit the chicks to sleep and gain strength, which they
will do very rapidly, as the absorption of the yolk now
begins and the new functions are fully established. Then
remove her with the brood to the coop, but before doing so,
dust her thoroughly with a good insect powder and apply
a little grease or oil on top of the chicks’ heads and under the
wings. This will prevent much future trouble in fighting
lice. This should be repeated once a week until they are
past danger and can dust themselves in soft moist earth as
their instinct teaches them.

Have Your Coops Ready

In severe cold weather they should be placed under shel-
ter, but where they get as much direct sunshine as possible.
An open shed facing south or east is preferable where the
chicks can have a dry run when a late snow covers the
ground. A gravel or sand floor is very desirable, and if
dry, will befound very satisfactory. Your coop will require
no bottom, but can be shifted its width every day, thereby
insuring a clean floor. Otherwise 4 wooden floor is indis-
pensable and should be covered with chaff, fine litter, ashes
or any suitable material and renewed frequently. :

Food and Warmth

Food and warmth are now the two factors upon which
success depends. The latter need: not be considered here,
as the hen is to brood them, and she will take care of them;
but in cold weather we render it more comfortable for them
by placing the coop in a sheltered location, at the same
time allowing the chicks liberty to run in the- sunshine dur-
ing the middle of the day. Should the snow be deep, clear
a place for them. They thrive better, grow faster and make

’ stronger, hardier fowls than the later hatches that have the

extreme heat of summer to contend with before they are
half grown. A long protracted hot spell checks their growth
in a very marked degree. Cold does less harm than heat,
provided they can run under the hen and get warm whenever
they are so inclined, and if the hen or the warmth is always
to be found when they want it, there is little danger of
them becoming chilled. The best results will usually be
had where.the hen is kept in her coop until the chicks are
weaned, thereby compelling her to hover the chicks when
ever they demand it and avoiding the enforced excessive
exercise she would often subject them to, tiring them out
and making them leg weary. Scatter a shovel of sand in
front of the coop, which will serve as their first grit. Have
a feeding board or trough ready; also drinking fountain,
which wash out daily and keep filled with pure water. After
your chicks have been out of the shell thirty-six hours, give
them a feed of stale bread crumbs soaked in milk and
squeezed almost dry. They will eat sparingly at first, as
they should. They have been nourished by the yolk which
was taken into the abdominal cavity just before hatching
and they would not suffer from the lack of food for three
days. The bread and milk does not overtax the delicate
digestive organs, which as yet have been unemployed, and
it cleanses the crop, gizzard, and intestinal tract and pre-
pares them for their functions. Feed every two hours for
the first three days, but only what they will eat up clean
each time. Little and often is the rule for little chicks up
to ten days old, then the capacity of the crop increases and
the intervals can be lengthened.

Foods To Be Avoided

We have seen so much of the hard boiled egg nonsense
and the fatality from it that it is surprising that any one
should recommend it. Others will advise corn meal, johnny
cake, meat stew, hash—anything. Now, it would be just
as consistent to feed these things to a new born babe as to
achick. It has been done and no doubt some survived, but
only because green food happened to be accessible, and the
chick after eating the poison, found: the antidote. A dog
can eat Rough on Rats and then drink a pan of milk and
suffer no injury, but that does‘ not justify me in advising it
as a steady diet for dogs. Those who prefer the dry grain
ration should after the third day use pinhead oat meal and
a little millet seed until they can eat cracked wheat, finely
chopped corn, and hulled oats, which latter should constitute

BROODING 27

the main food for a growing chick. Add to this a little millet
or chopped sunflower seed with a little (very little) cut green
bone or lean meat daily after they are ten days old, the
amount depending on the season and the number of insects
and worms obtainable on range. Green food or bulky vege-
table food should be fed daily and as regularly as a horse or
cow is fed hay. It is just as essential and serves the same
purpose in the digestive process in one case as in the other.
Accustom them to eat whole wheat, buckwheat and cracked
corn as soon as possible. is

A Preference for Soft Food

Our preference and that of many others, especially
where the chicks are raised for market, is soft food, for two
reasons: First, because we can combine all the necessary
elements and secure the proper ration of food constituents
at each feeding. They cannot select certain seeds or parti-
cles which they prefer and waste the remainder, as they will
in dry feed. They usually hunt out all the millet seed first,
as this is ‘candy’ to the little chicks and a luxury even to
old hens. Bury a handful under a haystack and they will
leave no straw unturned until they find it. No matter how
accurately we figure out our dry feed ration, we can’t force
them to eat: the less palatable after they have filled up on
“eandy” and our calculations are knocked out. Second, be-
cause a soft, properly compounded food needs no accessories
except green food, which is imperative in either case, and it
saves much energy which would

crops if permitted and where dry food is given, especially
rolled oats, the swelling takes place in the crop faster than
the food is passed into the gizzard and often proves fatal.
An excess of bran is also dangerous. A little is necessary
in some cases and desirable in others, as the husk or shell
acts as a stimulant to intestinal action, but an excess causes,
irritation and bowel trouble.

Artificial Brooding

The above is comparatively an easy matter to follow,
for when natural brooding is employed more than half of
our anxiety is removed, and when the business is to be con-
ducted on a small scale this method will answer, but where
large numbers are to be hatched and grown, any but the
artificial system would be entirely too laborious and out of
the question. The above being fully understood, the only
change to be considered is artificial brooding. i

Unless we can furnish a uniform and constant supply of
heat of the right temperature trouble begins, and once be-
gun there seems to be no end. Get this one fact clearly in
your mind, that warmth.is more essential than food in hand-
ling an incubator brood. They will manage to live on almost
any kind of food even if they do not grow and thrive, but
variable heat in the brooder is fatal. The chemical and nutri-
tive changes that food must undergo in the digestive process
can only be carried on at a high temperature. This is the
vital temperature; below it the process ceases. This at once

be expened by the chicks in
grinding it. Bear in mind, we
are raising these chicks for profit
and not as pets. We must,
therefore, force them to the limit
of their ability to eat, digest,
assimilate and grow. Quick ma-
turity is what we desire. In
order to achieve this we must
meet all the demands made by
the growing powers for material
to grow on. You can’t deceive
nature. Ifit calls for nitrogen,
carbon will not answer; if it calls
for water, nitrogen will not serve,
and any ration that is not bal-
_anced as it should be feeds one
side and starves the other. If any’
system of feeding could be de-
vised whereby we could mature a
chick in four weeks, we should all
quickly adopt it, and if we were
raising chicks exclusively for
market we should not depart
from it. Again, a ration may be

balanced and its ration of pro-
tein (albuminoids) to carbohy-
drates, free fat, and mineral salts
properly determined and yet fail,
as it surely will if the protein is
derived exclusively from vegetable or

F. L. Sewell.

grain sources.

The experiment stations have lately proved this fact,

which some of us discovered long ago by costly
experience, at that time our only teacher. A ration
bearing precisely the same nutritive ratio but with a
certain percentage of animal protein will be highly suc-
cessful, but if lacking it they famish and die from starva-
tion in the midst of apparent plenty. A chick properly fed
will be very eager for the next feed. When they are not
there is danger ahead. Never feed all they will eat up by
lingering over the feed]trough. They will overload their

. *

PROFITABLE PETS

. °The above thrifty flock of: Barred Plymouth Rock chicks tells plainer than words where the boys helps
to profit the farm. On this farm the brooders were placed in the orchard where the chicks were sheltered
from the sun and stormy weather besides being protected to an extent from hawks and other enemies.—

checks nutrition. Doctors describe health as the perfect
harmony ‘of nutritious changes, or physiological ease. If
the temperature of the body falls below the vital point,
nutrition is disturbed and disease follows. If the chick is
chilled before the yolk is fully absorbed, nothing will save it.
The nutritive process has been checked. What food is taken
afterward passes wholly or partly undigested and death soon
follows. Fatal as cold is when prolonged to discomfort, it
is necessary after the chick has learned where to run to
hover and get warm, to allow them a little exercise in an
outside run in- moderately cold weather when they can take

‘

28 CHICK BOOK

in the sunshine. If left to their choice, they will seek the
warmth before they become chilled to the danger point,
provided they know where to find it. Here is where the
artificial brooder is better than many old hens, that often
keep going, no matter how cold it is, while the chicks cry
and beg for the warmth that is denied them. Their plain-
tive peep is sure sign of discomfort, and whenever it is heard
it is high time they were looked after. Where chicks are
to be raised by the thousands for market, artificial incubat-
ing and brooding must be adopted, as it would require too
much help at too great an outlay to make it profitable with
hens under the natural method. Three sitting hens would
cause me more trouble and annoyance than gne incubator,
and with their broods would require as much attention as a
brooder house holding several thousand. °
‘ The Brooder House

The brooder house must be warm and dry. There are
many good plans published. One that will be found very
satisfactory is sixteen feet wide, four feet high in front, and
six in the rear with the hip of the roof plumb with the face
of the hover so as to allow head room in the passage. Divide
your space into three feet at the rear for a walk; two feet for
width of hover and eleven feet for pen. This building can
be extended any length desired. Don’t attempt to heat the
hovers with lamps in any latitude north of Birmingham, Ala.,
or you will fail. You might be able to get the temperature
under the hover high enough, but the pens would be chilly
and there is where they must spend the greater part of the
day if they are to thrive. Use a water jacket stove and
double loop of inch and a half pipe in the hover and a single
loop under the windows, of which there should be one in each
pen, raised twelve inches from the floor. Make the pens
four feet wide, this with eleven feet in length outside the
hover is sufficient to start one hundred chicks in, but they
must be thinned out as they grow older. A movable’ lid
over the pipes is all the hover consists of. They will be con-
tented and scratch and exercise all day long and run under
the pipes when they wish extra warmth. No curtains are
required when the building is heated as we describe. They
are undesirable at best. When the hover is curtained off
it often is allowed to become filthy, and im-
pure air and ammonia fumes are held there
for the chicks to breathe. If the hover regis-
ters too high a temperature and the pens too
low, lift or lap the covers so the heat from the
pipes can rise more readily.

Crowding works much mischief. Out-
door and indoor brooders heated by lamps
are frequently rated at too high a capacity.
If one-half the chicks were assigned to them
there would be less loss and better
chicks. The action of the chicks
is a perfect indication of their
feelings. Whenever they stand
around humped up and chirping,
they are in danger and are losing
ground instead of
gaining. In ordi-
nary winter weath-
er they should be
given access to the
outside runs for a
few hours when the
sun is bright. They
are better for it and
will run in and get

EARLY
Children always enjoy feeding and caring for fowls and never tire of watching the little chicks

and on many poultry farms the children learn val
warm when they being given charge over a small flock.

feel inclined.

COMPANIONS

uable lessons in industry and responsibility through

The hen and chicks above are from a stock of Oriental Banta: b ‘h 1
officer in the U. S. Army from Nagasaki, Japan.—F, L. Sewell. See rete Seer Ware

Keep your supply of coarse sand and fine grit and clean
drinking water constantly before them. After they are ten
days old they are quite hardy and practically safe; and if
properly fed and of breeds suitable for broilers they can be
made to weigh one pound in forty days, one and a half

pounds in fifty-five days and roasters five pounds each at
four months. When reared with small yards for exercising
they move about much less than when on free range, and
while they have syfficient exercise to maintain good health,
they have not sufficient to waste energy or flesh or toughen
their muscles. They gain in weight more rapidly and make
heavier, plumper broilers in a given time.

Feeding Brooder Chicks

I use three distinct mixtures of food between hatching
and marketing time. The first ten days I take special care
of their digestive organs and prepare them for the active
work demanded from the eleventh day until two weeks before
marketing. I feed a narrow ration, the basis being oats in
some form. I then hasten the finishing with the best pos-
sible material, adding more corn, and aim to add flesh faster
than frame or feathers and to distribute what fat is deposit-
ed in globules throughout the meat, making it tender and
juicy instead of accumulating layers of internal fat or patches
under the skin, all of which is wasted and lost in cooking
and serving the fowl. A properly fattened fowl should not
show any visible fat when dressed, but not one in a thousand
poultry raisers knows how to put meat on a growing chick,
and the only way they can turn out what might pass for a
plump broiler or roaster is to work on such breeds as develop
the quickest and then cover them with as much fat as pos-
sible in addition to the meat. This is all wrong. Soft,
tender, juicy meat and a round, plump breast are what is
wanted and the fatty delusion must stand aside. No one
grain has so great a tendency to deposit internal fat as corn,
and this is the very last source we should go to for flesh
forming food. I believe that in the near future our best

markets will demand machine crammed or crate fattened
poultry.

They have for many years demanded crammed
ducklings. The only reason they have not
been known by this name is because no ma-
chine is necessary to cram a duckling—he will
stuff himself if given the food.

The rations fed for any specific purpose
may vary greatly as to material, and in differ-
ent localities will naturally be compounded of
the most available material if suitable, but for
a growing chick they should always consist of
oats (minus the hulls) in some form as the

: base, and this forms one-half the
ration. Other grains can be
varied, whether cracked or ground
but five per cent of the bulk must
consist of meat or ground bone in
some form after they are ten days
old as well as an
abundant daily sup-
ply of succulent
green food or steam-
ed clover. If you
omit the meat or
green food trouble
begins and shows in
weak legs, naked
bodies, stunted and
uneven growth and
blue, skinny car-
casses when dressed.

BROODING--NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL

THE BROOD HEN AND HER FLOCK—BROOD COOPS AND RUNS—BROODERS,

AND CHICK SHELTERS—CARE AND

MANAGEMENT

OF BROODER CHICKS

P. T. WOODS, M.D.

. i ne: essentials for successful brooding by the natural
method are comparatively few:

A reasonably quiet, motherly hen to brood the
chicks. :

Any box, barrel or coop sufficiently rooniy to comfort-
ably confine the mother hen, and made water-tight as to
roof, will serve for a brood coop.

A chick shelter of slats or wire netting, provided with
a light weight tent fly or a wooden roof to provide shade
and to keep out the wet. We prefer the tent fly as it admits
more light.

Given these, a fair sized range, and a variety of whole-
some food, and rearing a flock of sturdy, healthy chicks is a
simple matter.

The Brood Hen and Her Flock *

When the little chicks hatch on the 21st day, if two or
more hens are coming off at one time, the hen which has
proved the most tractable while sitting, the one that shows
the most good hen-sense should be chosen as the mother,
and she may be given as many chicks as she can cover com-
fortably. The
number allotted to
one hen will vary
according to the
season of the year,
but almost any
fair-sized hen will
be able to care for
from fifteen to
thirty chicks with
ease, and in sum-

Fig. 1--A practical brood coop for a mother hen
with chicks. Illustration shows the coop closed. mer weather we

have seen one hen
with a flock’of fifty and all doing well. Small flocks
are preferable, however, aseach chick has a better chance.
There is safety in small flocks.

Not every hen that brings off a good hatch will prove a
good mother. Some of them show a disposition to kill the
chicks almost as soon as they are hatched, and must be care-
fully watched so. that the chicks can be taken away before
they are injured. Others are clumsy. and awkward and
trample the chicks. Where there is any opportunity for
choice in the matter, give the brood to the quiet, motherly
hen.

As soon as the little chicks begin to dry after hatching,
place the hen, selected for a mother, in « box containing a
clean bed of dry straw. Put the chicks under her and darken
the box by covering it with a piece of coarse burlap. Do not
cover it too closely; remember that they require an abund-
ance of pure air. If the hen was well dusted with pure
fresh ground Persian insect powder (pyrethrum) two or three
days before hatching time there will be no need to worry
about lice.

This plan of moving hen and chicks to new quarters
rather than letting them remain in the hatching nest is not
absolutely necessary, but frequently saves losses from chicks
being crushed or trampled in a crowded nest. The hens
which are not to be allowed to raise chicks can safely be
depended upon to take care of any eggs which were late in
hatching.

Feed and
water the hen
when you move
her. All that
her brood re-
quires, for the
first twenty-four
hours after
hatching, is rest
and quiet, and
one 2—Practical brood coop with board door this is best se-

en forming an extension of the floor. - Illustration cured in dark-
cl early shows construction.
ened quarters.

Brood Coops and Runs

While almost any box or barrel coop can be made to

serve as a home for the new brood, the “A’? coop shown in

the illustrations herewith is one of the best and has the ad-
vantage of being convenient, comfortable, inexpensive and
easily portable.

Such coops and shelters can be easily and cheaply built
from packing cases or waste lumber of any sort. Matched
stock is preferred, but common boards with the cracks bat-
tened willanswer equally well. The dimensions may vary
according to the lumber available. A comfortable size is 24
ft. from floor to peak, with a base or floor 24 by 3 ft. or 23
ft. square, according to sizes of available material. The
slatted “A” shaped chick shelter may be made of common
lath nailed.to 1 inch square framing material. Make these
the same width as the brood coop, to fit under the “hood”
and have it the full length of the laths.

The simple construction of the “A” coop is clearly shown
in the accompanying illustrations. Roof, back and slatted
front are made in one piece, the boards being held together
by cleats. The floor is made separate and to the front is ©
hinged the board or door used to close in the front. This
board door when closed, is held in place with a wooden
button. See Fig. 1, showing the brood coop closed. The
hood in front is made simply of two boards, as shown, and
provides additional protection for the front of the coop from
rain and also serves to engage and hold in place the slatted
chick shelter. Fig. 2 shows the brood coop with’ board door
open. Fig. 3
shows the roof
raised leaving
the floor free for
cleaning. In
Fig. 4 the slatted
chick shelter is
shown in posi-
tion ready for
use.

Fig. 5 shows
brood coop with
lath chick shel-
ter engaged and
with tent fly
in position.-
The tent fly is
made of heavy

Fig. 3—Practical brood coop with roof raised for
cleaning.

30

unbleached muslin or light weight duck.
proofed by giving it a coat of linseed oil. The tent fly is
an essential and a great convenience. It affords protection
for the flock in wet stormy weather and provides shade when
the sun is hot.

Keep the coops clean, move them frequently to fresh
ground or else spade up the earth beneath the lath shelter
and rake in wheat or oats. The grain when sprouted will
form tid-bits for the mother hen and her brood.

It may be water-

CHICK BOOK

rule, require more attention than those in heated ones, and
a few hours neglect may mean wholesale losses 1n climates
where sudden weather changes are common. In mild weath-
er in the late spring and in early summer, we have often used
the fireless plan of brooding with success, but in cold weather
or early in the spring when weather.and temperature changes
are sudden and severe, we prefer the heated brooder. Of
these there are several satisfactory types. ;

For large plants where chicks must be handled in con-
siderable numbers the open-hover,
coal-heated hot-water pipe system

of brooding is preferable to all others
and is the most economical and sat-

isfactory. Where only a few hund-

Fig. 4—Slatted chick shelter in use with the practical brood coop.

Keep the brood hen confined to the coop and chick
shelter and let the chicks run. For the first few days, feed
the chicks inside the shelter, afterward feed them outside
out of reach of the mother hen, thus saving the more expen-
sive chick food for the brood. Keep an abundant supply of!
wheat, corn, charcoal, grit, granulated bone, and pure, fresh,
drinking water where the hen can have free access to them.
Rations for the chicks same as for brooder flocks.

‘i Choice of a Brooder

Notwithstanding the statement often made, that brood-
ers have not reached the same perfection that is found in in-
cubators, the facts are quite the opposite; there are plenty
of good, practical brooders and artificial brooding has been
successfully practiced for many centuries. Fireless brooders
made of mud or adobe were used by the Egyptians, to rear
broods from their great district incubatories or hatching
ovens, and that these were in successful use many years B. C.,
we learn from the books of some of the earliest writers on
agricultural pursuits.

While lampless and fireless brooders have come more
into the “lime light’? during the past few years, they were
successfully used on New England farms many years ago.
We recall that in 1885 there were, in the vicinity of East Fox-
boro, Mass., and also in Essex County, Mass., and in the
vicinity of Andover, N. H., (all
of which sections we visited), a

reds of chicks are to be grown
each season, we prefer the lamp-
heated individual brooder of three
apartment pattern, one that sup-
plies hot air heat, furnace system of.
ventilation, directly beneath the
hover. Such a brooder provides a
choice of three temperatures, the
warmest beneath the hover. The chicks are given the op-
portunity to select the temperature which best suits their
needs and can always) warm up quickly when under the
hover.

Care of Brooder Chicks

Newly hatched chicks need rest and warmth for the
first twenty-four to thirty-six hours after hatching. They
need time to rest from the work of pipping the shell and
finishing exclusion. They also need time to continue diges-
tion of egg yolk remnant which is taken into their bodies
just prior to hatching. They need no other food during this
time.

The brooder should be ready, thoroughly warmed up
and running in good order. Litter the floor of the hover
chamber with cut clover in which is sprinkled a little chick
size grit or sharp sand. In one corner of the hover chamber
place a small galvanized iron fountain containing pure fresh
water. In two or more corners of the brooder, on the litter,
place a little pile of commercial chick food and one of mixed
meals and beef scrap; (beef scrap must be pure and sweet,
poor scrap will cause diarrhoeal troubles).

In cold weather the temperature under hovers should be
from 95 to 100 degrees and in warm weather from 90 to 95
degrees temperature taken with hover empty. When the

number of poultry keepers who
were then raising chickens in
common boxes provided with
hovers made with strips of wool-
en blanket and in two cases
sheep skins (with the curl clip-
ped from the wool) were used’ to
keep the chicks warm. No arti-
ficial heat was supplied. It
was considered more satisfactory
to raise the chicks in this way
than to let them run with the
hens, although all were hen hatched. On other farms we
visited, we found the farmer’s wife raising a brood in a
soap box, one end covered in with a strip of blanket. At
night additional heat was supplied by a jug of hot water
wrapped in flannel.

Although such methods have long been successful, suc-
cess depends in a large measure upon care and vigilance on
the part of the attendant. Chicks in fireless brooders, as a

.,, rig. 5—Tent fly used to protect flock from storms and provide shade.
‘“‘A” shaped lathed or slatted chick shelter is one of the most satisfactory methods of

tection from hot sun and storms.
weight duck, and can be waterproof if desired.

The use of a tent fly on an
providing pro-
muslin or hght

The tent fly may be made of heavy unbleached
chicks are put inside, which should be in the afternoon when
they are ready for their first meal, the temperature may run
up several degrees according to the number of chicks inside
the hover. With a properly constructed brooder, this need
occasion no alarm as with a circular hover, chicks have an
opportunity to get away from the heat on all sides if it is
warmer than they find comfortable. Surplus heat is neces-
sary so that they can warm up quickly even if there are only

ae

BROODING

one or two chicks under hover.

After the chicks are started in brooder, maintain a
hover temperature that will keep chicks comfortable. Be
guided more by the comfort of the chicks than by the tem-
perature indicated by the thermometer. As long as the
chicks seem active and happy you can be certain that they
are plenty warm enough. At night maintain sufficient heat
under the hover so that chicks will be found ranged around
‘the outer edge with their heads peeping out from beneath
the table of felt. If the chicks huddle, or crowd and keep
in out of sight, the brooder is not warm enough. At night
‘there should always be a sufficient surplus of heat to allow
for sudden weather changes. With ample space outside the
hover freely accessible, there is no danger of overheating.
In cold weather we have frequently run the temperature as
high as 110 and found this necessary to drive the chicks out
from under the hover.

’ As the chicks increase in size, the heat may be lessened
gradually until by the time they are well feathered out they
are getting along without any artificial heat whatever.

In the matter of temperature broods will vary, some
requiring more heat than others. In March, 1908, we had
a brood, in an outdoor brooder, that required nd lamp heat
whatever after the first week although they started with a
hover temperature of 110 degrees. Place the comfort of the
chicks above everything else in the matter of temperature
and you cannot go far wrong:

For the first two or three days, the chicks should be
‘confined to the hover chamber, then they should be given
an opportunity to use the cooler exercising apartment of the
brooder. Let them out for a little while each time and drive
them back again before they have an opportunity to become
‘chilled. Handled in this manner they will quickly learn the
way in and out and may soon be trusted to take care of
themselves when in neéd of hovering. }

Do not let them huddle in sunny places or anywhere
‘in the corners of the brooder or run. If they show any
‘disposition to crowd or huddle drive them under the hover
to warm up.

After they are a week or ten days old they should be
provided with an outdoor run, preferably on grass land, but,
if too early in the season for this let them run on bare ground
which has been cleared of snow. A good chick shelter is a
‘desirable addition to the brooder equipment. :

31

Rations for Small Chicks

In addition to commercial chick food we like to feed a
dry mash as supplementary food. A very satisfactory one
can be made by mixing equal parts, by measure, of best
wheat bran, corn meal, leaves sifted from cut clover, and
fancy wheat middlings. To each ten pounds of this mixture,
add one-half pound fine ground best quality beef scrap. Be
sure that scrap is pure and sweet. Cheap or poor scrap is
dangerous to feed and may cause losses. If you cannot be
sure of the quality of the scrap, omit it from the ration and
feed instead, two or three times a week, a little fresh beef
scraped from sweet, clean shin or chuck.

Keep « supply of grit, fine granulated raw bone (kiln
dried), granulated charcoal and fresh water where the clicks
can always have access to them. Keep dry mash always
before them. In addition, feed chick food in litter of cut
clover, feeding enough so that they will always be able to’
find a little by scratching for it.

For the first three weeks, in addition to the chick food
and dry mash, give supplementary feedings of boiled cracked
rice and wheat. These should be thoroughly cooked until
soft, and almost dry, and should be lightly seasoned with
salt. Allow the cooked food to cool before feeding and
sprinkle with a little fine ground raw bone. Also give chunks
of raw potato for the little birds to pick at and furnish green
food like grass, grain sprouts, cut cabbage, etc., giving them
a daily supply, all they will clean up readily from the time
they are a few days old until they are grown.

Plenty of green food is necessary and heavy grain feed-
ing cannot be successfully conducted without it. Unless
chicks have free range on a grass run, an abundance of fresh,
succulent green food must be supplied. ;

We like to keep food before young chicks all the time.
After they are three weeks old, they may be given the same
rations used for laying fowls.

Keep the brooders and brood coops in clean and sani-
tary condition. Renew the litter material frequently.
Either move the coops to new ground often or keep the
ground sweet by frequent stirring or occasional planting of
wheat or oats.

Chicks can be successfully grown in limited quarters,
but under such conditions require more care. For best re-
sults in growing birds for laying or breeding stock, liberal
range on grass land should be provided.

. A promising brood of White Wyandotte Chicks. Not many brooding

hens are so plucky as to tackle a full grown rat.

—F. L. Sewell.

Occasionally this occurs.

ECONOMICAL BROODING OF CHICKS

AN EFFICIENT BROODING SYSTEM IS NECESSARY TO SUCCESS, AND MOST POULTRYMEN
FEEL THE NEED OF FINDING A CHEAP AS WELL AS EFFICIENT MEANS OF MOTHERING
THE CHICKS—THE PLAN ADOPTED BY THE AURORA SYSTEM OF BRANCH FARMS—
UTILIZES THE LAYING HOUSES FOR BROODING PURPOSES DURING THE PROPER SEASON

R. P. ELLIS

DO NOT know of a phase of poultry keeping that re-

quires more thought than the proper selection of ‘brood-

ing equipment for young chicks. Of course if one is
so situated that he occupies a permanent place, has had
ample experience and is financially “easy,” it is a simple
‘matter to install an expensive “long’’ brooder house with
pipe facilities, and so on. But the man who has arrived at
this stage of his chicken raising, does not need very much
advice, and is likely to accept less.

Every now and then
someone complains that lL.

green food., Another of its drawbacks is that the house
with all its equipment can rarely be used for anything else
besides brooding and is idle most of the year.

-It was not until a large incubator company’s adaptable
hover was put upon the market that I found what seemed
to me the solution of many problems in brooding. A few
outdoor brooders are all right, but when it comes to attend-
ing to forty or fifty oil lamps and broods of chicks all in the
open, one longs for something more labor saving and com-
fort giving.

On page 67 appears

oe {
13° 10

the poultry press is 8 = an illustration of our
“run for the beginners.” \ fs zy fourteen foot square lay-
There is a lot of truth in Ny ing house, with wire-
that statement; but one . NI. HOVER 4 ; screen doors covered
might as well find fault < with upper and lower
because schools are run ¢ sets of muslin frames.
for the uneducated. HOVER t This has a floor space of
They are the ones who fy / BS atl 196 square feet. The
need the help; and, what / 2k house is four and one-
is more to the point, ig | half feet high (inside
they are the ones who [ke—————-s-3" ne t 3-6 3 s'-|3* measurement). It is the
are most likely to profit x ‘ ; lowest house I know of,
by it. Of course, in all 2 Hover © i . and hence the air space
this is wrapped up the ” 3 4 is reduced to the mini-
question, ““Who are the | “¢ ‘9. mum. This house we
beginners, and when HOVER 4 "t equip with six adapt-
does one cease to be a / *o able hovers, three on a
beginner?” For myself, PASSAGE - side with a three to
I can say that I am still t =r three and one-half foot
very much in the begin- , | center aisle. (See dia-~
ner’s class, and when the \ as gram presented here-
time comes that I cease S| oe < with).
to be alive to new pos- a Each of the hovers
sibilities, then I shall HOVER | $ is surrounded by a mus-
know it is my cue to 4 ~ lin frame, which we
side-step into the leisure ; Varo make ourselves. The
class of the retired. kal ra aS 4 i» frame is made of one by

With us—my ~ eas two inch furring strips
branch associates and ae me,

myself—it is always a
matter of saving expense.
We are running poultry
farms to make money,
and weare always keen-
ly alive to the possibilities of saving money or time. The
trouble with most brooding systems—in my opinion—is that
they cost too much. When brooding equipment runs from
forty cents to a dollar a chick it is getting too expensive for
us. And since necessity is the mother of invention, the need
of finding a cheap yet efficient means of mothering the
thousands of chicks we are to raise this year, has become a
matter of many dollars to us.

Heretofore, for the beginner, I have advocated the use
of outdoor colony brooders, since they were easy to install,
could be moved about and set on new soil frequently, etc.
One of the greatest drawbacks to permanent ‘ong’ brood-
ing houses is the difficulty of keeping the runs clean and in

FIG. 1-—-FLOOR PLAN OF ELLIS TYPE OF COMBINATION LAYING
AND BROODING HOUSE

Diagram shows atrangement of adaptable hovers in one of the ordinary laying
houses in use on Aurora Leghorn Farm. The placing of these hovers in the house
makes it serve two purposes, viz., as a brooding house during a part of the year and
as a laying house during the balance, so that the house is never idle.

and ordinary unbleach-
ed muslin is tacked on.
The sides of the frame
stand 18 inches high
and as it rests on the
floor it covers a floor
space of 3 feet by 3 feet. The top of the frame is hinged so
as to lift up and allow access to the hover. There is a door
on one side of the frame to allow the chicks to enter and
leave the hover. Over this opening hangs a curtain of felt
—to conserve the heat.

Necessarily each hover is separated by a wire partition
from the center aisle and from neighboring hovers. One
inch mesh wire is used for this. A three foot high wire
does for this purpose between hovers, though a four foot
high wire is used to screen off the center aisle.

On the opposite page we show the house used for the
hovers. These have to be set on a platform, running the
length. of the house, high enough to allow the lamps to rest

BROODING

Fig. II—Ellis combination house in process of erection. The foundation.

in the center aisle on the

33

Rear and two sides up.

same house. This solves the

_,Fig. I1II—Shows floor in position.

floor. We show here some
cuts illustrating how this
movable house is put to-
gether.

I am presenting also
herewith a diagram illus-
trating the yarding plan. A
study of this will show that
each chick has from 8 to 10
square feet of yarding room
outside the house, depend-
ing upon the number of
chicks placed under one
hover. I would advise that
no more than fifty chicks be
placed under any hover.

The same kind of wire is used to enclose the yards.
Three feet is high enough for the partitions, whereas four
feet is better for the outside fences. The work of removal
will be facilitated if all wires are tacked on pointed stakes
which can be pulled up when no longer needed and the wire
rolled up.

After the Hovers are Removed

When the chicks no longer need artificial heat, the
hovers and the platforms they rest on are removed. By
this time all cockerels are removed, leaving from 125 to 150
pullets in the house. When these get of the colony house

Fig. 1V—Shows the house réady for the roof, window and door.

great question of how to pro-
vide fresh ground. each year
for the young stock. Most
chicken plants increase, and
each year a new house or
two can be built and used
that season for the brooding
house. After two or three
years it would be possible
to return to the original
house, since the grown fowls
are confined all winter and
the soil could be plowed up
and a crop of oats or other
quick sprouting grain started
to sweeten the earth.

The advantages of this plan appeal to me. There is
economy in the outlay for equipment—hovers cost half the
price of brooders. There is durability—since these hovers
are practically indestructible, being made of metal exclusive-
ly. I find my outdoor brooders a considerable item of ex-
pense each year for repairs, painting, glass, etc. Then there
is the labor-saving feature—300 chicks under one roof. The
comfort of the plan will be apparent to anyone who has
‘attended to outdoor brooders and filled lamps in a driving
storm. Last and most important of all, the chicks have
about twice the floor space they would have in an outdoor
brooder, and when the weather is.bad they can be confined

size, all wire to the house
partitions are o . while they
removed and eer could scarcely
half of the pul- ee aes be closed in a
lets are taken YARD: 2) YARD 4 3x6 brooder if
to a new laying three or more
house (built for aoa Se oaleete, He ech weeks old.
them) or else % 5 3 > The cost of
put around in Bore x 14te L [ B Ly | Bote x 1ate wiring is not
cheap colony 2 more than the
coops. In this YARD 2 (ib q_| YARD 5 cost of the out-
way your - door covered
brooding house : i ob Lo run which is
is used straight _ Lt By z necessary with
seg ie aha tee Bicadae = a outdoor
year. e hov- rooder.

ers can be in- ee YARD) 6 While each
stalled in any one has inter-
laying house of ' esting ways
our type on the L, of getting

plant. They do
not have to be
put back each
year into the

FIG, V—THE ELLIS COMBINATION HOUSE EQUIPPED WITH HOVERS AND CHICK RUNWAYS

Diagram showing the arrangement and size of the yards enclosed by temporary wire fences surrounding the
laying house while it is being used as a brooding house by having adaptable hovers temporarily installed.

results all must
use those best
suited to his
own plant.

BROODING, COOPING AND FEEDING CHICKS

A WRITER WHO IS REGARDED AS AUTHORITY DISCUSSES BROODERS AND BROODING,
FOODS AND FEEDING, AND DESCRIBES THE PROPER CARE FOR CHICKS OF DIFFERENT AGES

A. F. HUNTER

ATCHING the chicks is but half the battle, if, indeed,
H it is half the battle, as many a poultryman who
has rejoiced in good hatches by either hens or in-
cubator has afterwards learned to his sorrow. With in-
cubator chicks raised in brooders elbow room seems to be
a most important factor, and want of elbow room is one
cause of great mortality in brooder chicks. It is quite nat-
ural to suppose that a brooder which is three feet square
(giving nine square feet of floor space), is abundant room
for seventy-five or one hundred chicks, and, indeed, it is for
chicks as they come out of the incubator, and if we do not
want our chicks to grow it is all right to crowd into a brood-
er twice as many as should be init. A point that we should
keep in mind, however, is that these chicks will be fully
twice as large at three weeks old and probably four times
as large at five weeks old, or by the time. we move them
from the brooder, and that factor we should have in mind
in gauging the capacity of a brooder. I have come to believe
that for good results fifty chickens are as many as should be
put in any brooder; that to increase the number beyond
that point is to induce crowding, which kills some and stunts
others, and is extremely unfortunate if quick and profitable
growth is our aim. If, as not infrequently happens, we find
we have one hundred and fifty chickens in the incubator
when we only expected about one hundred, and have but
two brooders heated up to receive them, no harm will result
‘in putting seventy-five chicks in each of the two brooders
for a couple of days, but another brooder must be made
ready at once and the one hundred and fifty chicks put into
the three, which gives reasonably abundant room for all of
them and they have a good chance to grow.

We raise chickens on our farm for two purposes, first
for market, second for breeding stock. The chickens for
market are hatched usually from about Christmas time to
the middle of March. Those intended for breeding stock
are hatched from about the middle of March to the middle

of May. To have chickens out by Christmas time we have
an incubator started early in December, and at that time
it is our custom to start one incubator a week, or, possibly,
four incubators in three weeks, gradually increasing to two
incubators a week through January and February, and so
on. For these winter chicks we have a brooder house 130
feet long by ten feet wide, partitioned into sixteen pens
eight feet by ten feet, each pen having a door and window
in front which faces the south. This brooder-house is
double walled, with a four-inch air space between the inner
and outer walls (it would be better still if the wall and roof
spaces were packed with straw or swale hay), and the only
artificial heat used in this house is in the brooders them-
selves, excepting that in some severely cold weather we put
a small oil stove in each pen to take the chill out of the
air, in order that the chicks may be out in the pen. We
use brooders which are three feet square, heated by an oil
lamp with a one and one-half inch wick, the air which passes
into the brooder being heated by passing over a sheet iron
ceiling to the lamp chamber, and by this method of applying
the heat indirectly a slight current of warmed fresh air is
passing into the brooder all the time. Herein, we think,
is one of the great faults with many brooders, as, for example
the hot-water pipe brooders in use in many brooder houses.
Those hot-water pipes simply heat the air already within
the hovers, which air is practically confined to the hovers
by the felt curtain in front, which is supposed to enclose the
warmth within the hovers. It does that’ very well, but it
likewise encloses the air, which the chicks have to breathe
over and over again, and in that defect I think we find a
clue to not a little of the mortality and consequent shrink-
ing of profits on brooder house chicks. A current of warmed
fresh air supplied to the hovers would overcome this serious
difficulty, and would, in my judgment, materially reduce

the mortality of brooder chicks.
The brooders are set in the ground to a depth of six or
seven inches, which serves a twofold

PART OF A LONG BROODER HOUSE

The Foreground Shows Brooders Out of Doors, Each Brooder Enclosed in a Pen 20 Feet Square,
Made of 1&-inch Netting.

purpose. The lamp chamber is en-
closed so as to cut off currents of air,
and the chicks run out and in upon a
level. For our winter chickens the
brooders are set in the middle of the
pens in the brooder houses, or, say,
about four feet back from the window,
and two pieces of board are fitted into
slots at each front corner, extending to
the side of the pen, so that the chicks
are kept in that warm, sunny half of
the pen until they are a week to ten
days old. The first day after being re-
moved from the incubator they are
usually kept confined to the brooder,
the food being put on small platters
placed in the corners of the brooders
for them. After they are old enough
to be let out they are fed and watered
outside, just in front of the brooders.
These winter chickens will need the
warmth of the brooders until they are
seven or eight weeks old, but the

BROODING 35

temperature of the hover is gradually reduced from 95 de-
grees at the beginning to 90 or thereabouts at the end of
the second week, then to 85, then 80, then 75, and the last
week or so that the chicks occupy the
brooder the flame of the lamp is kept
as low as it can be run, to give just
the least amount of ‘warmth, 65 to 70
degrees being sufficient.

The chickens that we raise for
breeding stock are brooded out of doors
(it being our custom to begin setting
brooders out about April Ist, the
brooders being set in the ground, just
as formerly inside the brooder house,
but as we have much rainy weather
in April and May, we have “shelter
boards” to serve as protection from
the rain, set a little way in front of
the brooders, and under which the
chicks can take refuge from storms.
The chicks put out of doors are kept
within the brooder for about one day,
then a little pen a yard square made
of three pieces of board three feet long
set up to the front of the brooder gives
them a snug little enclosure for the
few days of babyhood. Next we make
a pen about twenty feet square of one-
inch mesh wire netting tied to tempor-
ary stakes, and the chicks have the range
of this:‘pen until they are big enough to be weaned from the
brooder, which, in May and June, is at about six weeks
old. .Then they are moved back to a grassy ridge bordering
the pasture on one side and mowing field on the other.
There they are colonized in ‘“A’’ coops (as we call them)
for five or six weeks, when it is time to separate the pullets
from the cockerels, and put the pullets out in the grass
fields, in roosting coops, in families of about twenty-five
each, colonized about fifty yards apart. The cockerels in-
tended to be raised for breeding are confined in pens about
50x100 feet, while the cockerels intended for market are
taken back to the pens in the brooder house, which have
small yards 10x20 outside, and there they are fed and grown
for market.

The coops for these chickens play a not unimportant
part in chicken raising, and a brief description of them may
be interesting. The ‘“‘A’’ coops are three feet six inches by
two feet three inches on the ground and two feet high at
the apex of the roof. They are built throughout of half-inch
tongued and grooved pine and well painted. The frontis
all slats, as shown in the illustration, with a slatted gate
sliding in grooves to close the front. We originally built
“A” coops to slope down to the ground, but found it an im-
provement to have a square base four inches high, with the
corners turned to an angle, to prevent the chicks from
crowding back under the eaves and smothering one or two
at a time. We find it a most decided advantage to have
these well built coops always at hand, and as we have coops
now in use which were built ten years ago, and are as good
to-day as when made, the economy of well made coops will
be apparent. When we say. that the tongues and grooves of
the roof pieces are painted before they are put together, the
reader will realize that they are thoroughly well built.

The roosting coop, which is chiefly intended for raising
the pullets in, is six feet long, three feet wide, two feet high
at back and three feet high in front. The roof, ends and
back side are all of half-inch tongued and grooved pine, the
front being laths, set a lath width apart, except that a strip
of board is nailed to each corner for stiffening. Two roosts

a

stiffen it.
five to thirty chickens until they are nearly grown; in fact,
we sometimes have pullets to begin to lay before they are

A coop like this will comfortably house twenty-

BROODERS AS USED OUT OF DOORS
The One in Foreground has a Very Small Pen for Baby Chicks

brought in from these roosting coops. It is quite light and
can be easily moved on a wheelbarrow, or moved its length
and width to fresh ground, or it can be tipped up and drop-
pings removed, and it is a perfect summer shelter. If they
are to be used in the spring or fall, when the nights are
cold, an improvement would be to make a front or half-inch
boards, hinged at the top edge, so it could swing outward
and upward and rest upon folding legs hingéd at the bottom
corners, which would become a roof to shelter the birds
from rains. One disadvantage of this light coop is, that it
may be easily tipped over by a high wind, especially when
the chickens are-all out of it, as during the day. To prevent
it from so tipping over, a flat stone should be placed on each
front corner of the roof.

The gate space in front of the coop gives access to the
whole inside when the pullets are to be removed. The gate
is made of laths nailed to two strips one inch square, the
left hand ends of which are long enough to slip in behind
the lath front, the right hand side being secured by one or
two buttons. If one prefers, these gates can be hinged at
one side or the other and secured by a hook or a button, but
of two by three scantling, slightly rounded at top, run the
whole length and are a foot apart, being securely nailed to
a frame of furring (one by three stuff) nine inches from the
ground. To this frame we nail the ends, back side and
front corner boards and then fit in at the top a frame of
inch-square stuff-to nail the roof boards to and we have
found it a convenience to have them wholly detachable,
and so make them.

Shelter from rain and sun is of quite as much help as a
good coop to sleep in. By experimenting in different ways
we learn that it would pay as well to have ‘‘shelter boards”
always ready, just as are the coops; hence we make them of
the half-inch, tongued and grooved pine, taking five strips
three feet long by six inches wide for each shelter board.
These strips are securely nailed_to pieces of inch-square
spruce at top and bottom, and then the weather side is well
painted. We make a light frame of the inch square spruce

. Strips and laths to fit up to the “A” coops when we want

36

to put the shelter close to the coop, using one of the 2}x3-
foot shelter boards, as shown in the illustrations. As the
chicks get a little older we move the frame out a little, set
athwart the front of coop, and put two shelter boards over
it side by side, setting it so that it furnishes shade if the sun
is shining, or protects from a driving rain, of course adapt-
ing it to the direction of the wind.

' When we move the pullets out into-the field and into the
roosting cgops we set upon stakes and a strip of furring, a
, Shelving’ roof seven and a half feet long by three feet wide,
‘slighty sloping to the south about eighteen inches high in
front and a foot high at the back.’ By these devices we more
‘than double the available shelter from rain and sun and cor-

reSpondingly increase’ the comfort. of the’ growing chicks.:

' Obviously, ‘if they have.to be crowded into their narrow
‘sleeping quarters on'.a long rdiny day or ‘fo get away from
thé hot sum,,they are not making}good growth, and by so
“simple an expedient as we have here,outlined we more than
_ double the: protection and:by so’ much promote their com-
t fort, :

w
1

tat
ie

: 4 pice oh ae nage tS
; <5 Foods. ahd Feeding

“ “| “AS we stated at the beginning of this article, we raise
two kinds’ of chicks, chickens for market and chickens for

breeding stock.” The food for the first month or six weeks.

is practically the same for:
each class, but at the end
of six weeks we begin to
feed the market chicks a
richer and more fattening
food, they of course being
kept separate from the
chicks intended for breed-
ing stock.

Feed often and feed
but a little at a time is the
tule for young chicks. We
feed five times a day until
they are about six weeks
old. It is important that
no food be left standing
for the chicks to trample
dirt into or to get sour in
the sun; if they have not
eaten it all in twefity min-
utes to half. an hour, remove it. Nothing causes more
bowel looseness and dysentary than sour food. Our
chief foods for the first six weeks are coarsest oat-
meal, slightly moistened with sweet milk if we have
it; if not, with water, and waste bread ground to
rather coarse crumbs in a bone mill. This also is moist-
ened with sweet milk or water,—slightly moistened so
that it is still crumbly and not “‘pasty.”” The oatmeal
is just such as is cooked for a breakfast dish on our table;
in other words, it is oat meats ground very coarse. This we
buy of wholesale grocers, by the barrel, at a cost of about
two cents a pound. The waste bread is the broken pieces,
part-loaves, rolls, corn cakes, etc., from hotels and restau-
rants and costs about a cent and a half a pound. This
bread we buy by the hundred weight and spread on the barn
loft to dry; when thoroughly dry it is ground into coarse
crumbs in a bone mill. The first food early in the morning
is the bread crumbs, slightly moistened with sweet milk or
water; the second, about nine o’clock in the morning, is
oatmeal, slightly moistened a little before noon, bread
crumbs again, about half past two oatmeal again and about
5 o’clock a little cracked wheat or finely cracked corn. Twice
a week a little lean meat is boiled, chopped fine and mixed
with one of the bread or oatmeal feeds, or the infertile eggs

Brood coop with runwa:

CHICK BOOK

(clear eggs) from the incubators are boiled hard, chopped
fine, shells and all, and mixed with the bread crumbs or
oatmeal. ; .

It is very important that the chicks have grit to grind
their food, and as baby chicks are hardly to be trusted to
supply themselves with good grit, we sprinkle a pinch of
fine grit (or coarse sand) upon the small tin plates once a
day just before feeding, or, if preferred, it can be mixed
into the food: Grit in the gizzard to grind the food is a
most important factor in preventing indigestion and loose-
ness of the bowels.

Green food is another important aid to good health. If
the chicks are cooped upon fresh grass the problem is easily
solved, because they will help themselves. Obviously, the
January, February and March hatched chicks cannot have
access to fresh grass, neither can the larger chickens shut up
to be fatted for market, hence a supply of green food must
be provided. Cabbages, onions, lettuce and onion tops all
make a good green food supply, and the same can be said
of weeds from the garden, which are easily obtained. It
is a comparatively easy matter to supply the green food if
one has the will.

We are well aware that many readers cannot get waste
bread from hotels and restaurants, and to such we recommend
the making of “johnny cake” of mixed meals, baked very
thoroughly, and we will
give also the rule for ‘“Ex-
celsior Meal bread” as rec-
ommended by Mr. I. K.
Felch. ‘Grind into a fine
meal in the following pro-
portions: Twenty pounds
corn, fifteen pounds oats,
ten pounds barley, ten
pounds wheat bran. Make
the cakes by taking one
quart sour milk (or butter-
milk), adding a little salt
and molasses, one quart of
water in which a large
heaping teaspoonful of sal-
eratus has been dissolved.
Then thicken all to a lit-
tle stiffer batter than your
wife makes for corn cakes.
Bake in shallow pens until thoroughly cooked. We believe
a well appointed kitchen and brick oven pays, for in the
baking of this food enough for a week can be cooked at
a time.” It is very certain that a cooked food of this kind
is a decided help to good growth in chicks, and as we on
our farm want a good growth, we study to promote it by
feeding a good food.

Not a few farmers and poultrymen think that oatmeal
as a food for chicks is a luxury. Wright’s ‘Practical Poul-
try Keeper’ says: ‘‘With regard to feeding, if the question
be asked what is the best food for chickens, irrespective of
price, the answer must decidedly be, ‘oatmeal.’ After the
first meal of bread crumbs and egg no food is equal to it,
if coarsely ground, and only moistened so much as to remain
crumbly. The price of oatmeal is, however, so high as to
‘forbid its use in general except for valuable birds; but we
should still advise it for the first week in order to lay a good
foundation.”

We are obliged to differ from Mr. Wright as to oatmeal
being an expensive food for chicks. It may look expensive
to pay $4 a barrel (two cents a pound) for oatmeal for chick-
en food; but it goes so far we have found it a decidedly
economical food. We use perhaps fifty dollars’ worth of oat-

y for hen and chicks.

meal a year and it makes about one-fifth of our chicks’ food’ ' ' ’

BROODING 37

ration for the first three months of their life. Considered
simply as a food ration it is economical, but when we con-
sider that itis a good foundation for the future usefulness of
the bird, and: that a good foundation for chicks means eggs
in the basket next fall and winter—then we realize that
oatmeal is a cheap food in the best sense of the term.

By the time the
chicks are six to
eight weeks old the
principal dangers of
chickenhood are past
and the two. dif-
ferent methods of
‘feeding are inaugur-
ated. The chickens
intended to be raised for breeding stock are put out in the
fields, where they have a grass run and a free range. The
chickens intended for market are kept confined in the
brooder house pens and yards and fed a slightly different
grade of food. The principal difference is in increasing the
amount of cracked corn and corn meal of the market chicks
and cutting off the oatmeal, of course the green food being
plentifully supplied and grit being constantly accessible.
The chicks in the field intended for laying and breeding
stock must have a liberal supply of nourishing, strengthen-
ing food, which will build up a strong, healthy and vigorous
body, with stores of strength to lean upon when maturity
shall come. The breakfast is bread crumbs, continued
usually until the chicks are about ten ©.
weeks old, when they are graduated into
a morning mash of cooked vegetables
(which makes about one-third of the
whole) and mixed meals, being equal
parts by weight of corn meal, ground oats,
fancy middlings and bran (or shorts); this
is salted about as it would be if it were
food for the table. The vegetables are
potatoes, beets, turnips, carrots, onions
—anything in the vegetable line, thor-
oughly cooked and mashed fine, the
mixed meals being stirred in until it is stiff as a strong arm
can make it. The breakfast in the morning is this mash;
in the middle of the forenoon a light feed of coarse oatmeal,
moistened; just after dinner a light feed of cracked wheat
and about five o’clock whole wheat or cracked corn, one, one
day the other the next. About twice a week we have fresh
meat (butcher’s trimmings), which are boiled and then
chopped fine. This we mix with the oatmeal (about half
and half) for the second feeding. We have also a bone cutter
and: twice a week the chicks have a good time wrestling and
trampling over each other in their eagerness to get the fresh
cut bone. Cut bone, if perfectly fresh and sweet, is one of
the best animal food supplies that we have, but, if this is
not available, meat meal or beef scraps should be mixed
into the morning mash, about one-quarter ounce. per bird
per day, for young birds, increasing to about one-half ounce
per day as they approach maturity.

We vary the food ration continually within the range
here described. For instance, one day the food will be mash,
bread crumbs, cracked wheat and cracked corn; next day,
mash, oatmeal and chopped meat, cracked corn, and whole
wheat; the next day bread crumbs, cut bone, oatmeal, cracked
corn and soon. The intention is to feed only what the chicks
will eat up clean and quickly; but we break the rule so far

As a Shelter from Sun.

A Shed Roof Shelter

as the ldst feed is concerned and the boy goes around a
second time twenty or thirty minutes after feeding, and if
the food is all eaten up clean three or four handfuls more are
put down so that all shall have a chance to “fill up” for the
night. If a handful is left uneaten it quickly disappears in
the morning, and as it is always dry grain it does not sour
and there is no danger from leaving it out.

We have said nothing about fresh water because it goes
without saying that fresh, clean water must always be ac-
cessible to the chickens. We water them three times a day,
morning, noon and late afternoon; some times going around
between while if it is hot weather and the chickens are
likely to drink a good deal. The water dishes are care-
fully rinsed once a day and water which is fresh and cool
is always accessible to them. Grit to grind the food is an-
other necessity, a pan of which is placed near each food
trough out in the field, or a small box of it in each pen in
the brooder house. We have personally noted that chickens
when let out of the coops in the morning would go to the
grit dish for two or three bits of grit before going to join
their mates at the food trough.

Thus far we have been writing about chicks raised for
breeding stock. When the market chicks are six to eight
weeks old we cut off the oatmeal (or ground oats) from the
food ration, double the quantity of corn meal and cracked
corn, feeding also on wheat or barley, feeding them occa-
sionally, say once a week, a feed of whole oats for a change.
The corn meal and meat meal are gradually increased and a
; "week to ten days before the chickens
are to be marketed a very little gluten
meal is added to the ration and the
meat meal practically doubled in quan-
tity until we are feeding a full ounce
per bird per day. With this decidedly
fattening ration the birds should go to
market in first-class condition and bring
top prices for market chicks.

The chicks intended for breeding
stock have free range and can roam over
the fields at will in search of insects
worms, etc., the exercise of ranging promoting growth and
good health. We study to promote the comfort and well
being of the chicks, believing that it pays to do so. The
coops are kept scrupulously clean by being moved to fresh
ground every other day, and every reasonable pains is taken
to insure steady, continuous growth. -It is the full egg bas-
ket in November, December and January, when eggs bring
top prices and pay the creamy profits, that is being planned
for and worked for in this good care and good feeding, and
we have abundantly proved on our farm that this good care
and good feeding pay
richly. We cannot
get a valuable
thing for nothing;
the good things in
this world come by
working for them,
and the good profits
that are to be gained
in poultry raising have got to be worked for. With us the
problem is early hatched pullets kept growing so that they
shall come to laying maturity in October, and then kept lay-
ing. Our pullets are kept growing, and after they reach
laying maturity are kept laying, by good care and good food.

As a Shelter from Rain.

REARING CHICKS IN BROODERS

AN ORIGINAL DESIGN FOR AN EASILY CONSTRUCTED, PORTABLE COL-
ONY HOUSE—CARE OF BROODER CHICKS—THE QUESTION OF FEED

E. W. McBRIDE

WENTY-FOUR hours after hatching the chicks are
removed to the warm brooder. Not more than
fifty chicks are placed in each and one brooder is

placed in each colony house. The next thing is to instruct
them in the ways of their new home. The little motherless
chick must be taught everything, but it soon learns. Teach
them first of all how to seek the warmth of the “‘hover.’’
Watch carefully to see they do not remain outside huddling
up against the exterior of the cloth instead of nestling
snugly inside. For the first few days they must have con-
stant attention. Show them where to find the water, and
dip their bills into it so that they may know how to use it
when found.

Some kind of litter such as clover leaves or chopped
straw should be placed on the floor of the brooder as soon
as the chicks are put into it, and in this chick feed and small
grit should be scattered, so that they may learn early to
scratch. At the end

grain, such as wheat screenings, cracked corn and Kaffir corn.
The manner of mixing the soft feed is important. Take
two parts of corn meal and one of middlings and mix these
together dry, thoroughly. Then pour boiling water on the
mixture (the water must be boiling) and stir vigorously into
a crummy state. This food is partly cooked, and is very
wholesome and relished by the chicks.

The brooder should be kept closed at night for about a
week or ten days until the chicks understand how to go in
and out, and the lamp should be kept.going for about four
weeks, although it is needed only at night when the day is
warm and the brooder is not used. After the chicks have
gone, say, two weeks, without any artificial heat the brooder
is taken out and used over again for younger chicks, and
is replaced by a ‘‘cold”’ brooder, that is, a brooder without
the “hover” or lamp, and having simply the inside dia-
phragm. This is used until they are large enough to roost.

Then the cold

of a week they can
be given a mash
made of two parts
corn meal and one
part middlings.
They can be al-,
lowed out of the
brooder after two
days to run about
the colony house,
but particular care
should be taken to
teach them how to

brooder is removed,
and roosts are
placed in the colony
houses. The cock-
erels are finally re-
moved to the fat-
tening pen, and the
pullets allowed to
run loose until ready
for laying.

The colony
houses shown in
the illustration

go back by the
passageway leading
up from the ground.
Do not lift the stupid ones off the floor of the colony
house, even though this may be an easier method, but make
them go back the right way, so that they may know how to
return to the brooder when they want the heat.

As soon as they have learned these lessons they may
be allowed outside in the yard. This enclosure need not be
more than 10 feet square, with l-inch mesh wire netting a
foot high. After they are ten days or two weeks old this
pen may be removed and the chicks allowed to run at will,
but for a few days they should be watched to see that they
return properly to the brooder. :

They should be taught a call the first day. An imita-
tion of a hen’s cluck is a good call for this purpose. As they
grow older change this to tapping on the feed bucket, as
this sound they can hear and distinguish a good distance
away. ‘
When they are about three weeks old give them larger

A PORTABLE COLONY HOUSE

which accompanies
this article possess
some novel feat-
ures. They are 6 feet square at the base, and 7 feet high.
The bottom is a soft pine board 1 by 12 inches. The corners
are fastened with a piece set in so that they can not possibly
pull apart. The framing of the upper part and doorways is
made of Oregon pine, stripped and fenced to } inch thick
and 2}inches wide. All the joints are cleat nailed, thus
preventing the wind from racking the frames in any way. The
tent has « back entrance door and one chick door at the front
left hand corner, as well as one front window opening which
is provided with a duck canvas curtain, but in which glass.
can be set in cold weather if necessary. The four sides are
of 12 inch Army duck canvas. Thorough ventilation is
secured by 6 by 8 inch openings in the front and back, with
roll-up canvas curtains adjustable at any point. These
houses are serviceable, well ventilated, and portable; they
are moreover built so that they can be taken apart and laid
aside in the winter when not in use.

NO ARTIFICIAL HEAT

ABOUT FIVE HUNDRED CHICKS RAISED EACH SEASON WITH PRACTICALLY
NO ARTIFICIAL HEAT AND COMPARATIVELY NO LOSS--IT SOUNDS EASY—
BUSY FARMER’S WIVES WOULD DO WELL TO GIVE THIS METHOD A TRIAL

MRS. L. L. WHITE

old saying, ‘‘All roads lead to Rome’”’ by the different

methods given for feeding, either young or old fowls.
Having been repeatedly asked for my way of feeding little
chicks, shall begin at the very machine and tell how I handle
the little tots to get them up out of the way so quickly.

About the time I think they will put in their appear-
ance, I place my big ‘‘goods’”’ boxes in sheltered, sunny spots,
just where I intend to leave them as long as needed. Hay
loft trash is scattered on the floor and little wire runs (made
by using twenty feet of twenty-four inch wide, one inch
mesh wire netting, tacked to old broom handles at each end)
are placed in front of the boxes. One end of the broom is
sharpened to a point so that it can be pushed or driven into
the ground about six inches. The wire is stretched in a semi-
circle from each side of the front of the boxes. Drive three
or four stout sticks at different parts of the circle to hold
the wire curved so that the wind will not move it. Then
the future home of the chicks is ready and the only thing
to do is to scatter food and place the water fountains.

While the chicks are small these water fountains are
made from old baking powder cans with little holes punched
in the top edge
about one-half
inch deep, then
the can is filled
with water, in-
verted in a saucer,
or can top, quite
a bit larger than
the water can, and
these do very well
indeed.

I raise five or
six hundred chicks
each season in two hatches. I used to raise splendid
droves of Mammoth Bronze Turkeys, but the dogs put
me out of the business. I keep all my hatch in one of
the incubators, putting in all the first hatched ones,
as I exchange eggs for chicks from one machine to an-
other. When ready to take the little fluff balls out of the
machine I have my little heatless brooders that hold
fifty chicks until a month old all bedded and ready; then
open the machine, grab right and left all that are thoroughly
dried and fluffed and drop into the brooder. I close the
incubator again quickly-and rush upstairs. My machines
are all set in the cellar, which while not particularly damp
yet contains sufficient moisture so that I never need water
in any shape inside of the machines. _

For best results never put the later hatched chicks in a
brooder with a lot of first ones, for they will not stand much
show, the first ones being so much lustier. However, the
later ones grow up to be just as strong if given a chance by
themselves, so put them all in one brooder together. These
heatless brooders are boxes 12x20 feet, filled half full of fine
blue grass hay. From two to four days I keep them in
these boxes, merely covering the boxes at night with a woolen
blanket turned back at each corner so as to give them air.
For forty-eight hours they really need nothing but sleep.
When from forty-eight to ninety-six hours old I take the

T IS really amusing to note how aptly illustrated is the

*

brooders out, place them in the back part of the large boxes,
scatter a little fine grit around in the run, also a little com-
mon, bulk, rolled oats and crushed wheat, which I make
myself by grinding through an old coffee mill. Then I fill
the fountains and turn the ‘tigers’ loose. Veritable little
tigers they are, so hungry and thirsty and how they “hip-
pity skip’ all around their enclosures! These larger boxes
have holes in the sides for fresh air and if the weather is
extra cold I put a three gallon jug filled with hot water in
the center of the big box just before I retire.

Cull at Eight Weeks

For the first three days, of course, they need watching
to see that they learn to run back in the brooders when cold
or sleepy. After that until eight weeks old they use the
goods boxes and heatless brooders. At that age they are
ready to be culled and you can sell for broilers all faulty-
looking ones. :

For feed the first three or four days they get what I
first named, then I add fine granulated bone and meat scraps
and I stop grinding the wheat. The rolled oats are almost
“cut out.’’ I lose almost none, except by accident or a too
hungry cat. The chicks get no corn until they are at least
six weeks old, then
I keep chops, bran,
bone and meat
scraps, all mixed,
in hoppers where
they can get at it
allthe time. There
is no danger of
overfeeding young
growing stock if
they have the range of a good sized yard. Of course they
fly out of the little enclosures within about three weeks’
time, so then I prop up two or three places so they may run
under instead of climbing over.

In a week’s time my little ones are really up and out of
my way and cause me very little trouble. I aim to have
all my chicks hatched by the 20th of April and the birds
mature so that they begin to lay before winter sets in.

12 INCHES

CLOSED

. A COLD BROODER

N THE plant of King Brothers in a Wisconsin city,

we found this cold brooder being used for the chicks.

The upper floor of the 30x80 foot house is used

for a brooding house, being heated with hot water, while

_the chicks are kept in cold hovers, which are boxes twenty

inches square and twelve inches high (see illustration).
The upper half of this box is arranged like a cover so that
it can be opened wide and on each side of the cover is bored
three one-half inch holes for ventilation. There is a frame
that sets on cleats to which flannel is tacked so that it sags
low enough to come in contact with the backs of the chicks.
The room has windows reaching to the floor on the east and
south sides so that the chicks get plenty of sunshine. Each
little chick pen is 4x16 and the floor is first covered with
glass sand and then with ground clover.

SUCCESSFUL CHICK RAISING

RAISING POULTRY HAS PROVED A PROFITABLE BUSINESS—GIVES DRY FEED
—PREFERS INCUBATORS FOR HATCHING—A PRACTICAL POULTRY HOUSE

MRS. EDITH M. HANDY

HAVE kept hens more or less for a number of years,
I but did not make a regular business of it until about

five years ago, when I decided to try poultry raising
for profit. Being undecided which was the best breed to
raise for market fowl, eggs and exhibition purposes, I tried
several, but before long decided that the White Wyandotte
was the variety for me.

I have found that dry feed gives better results and is
much less work than when one feeds mashes. Keep a dry
mash before them all the time and throw dry mixed grain
in the litter in the house at night. In summer feed plenty
of green food when they cannot run at large- and in the
winter give them mangles and cabbages, also turnips, beets
and potatoes.

The droppings boards are cleaned every morning and
sprayed once a week with liquid lice killer. This course has
relieved me of any trouble from lice and mites.

Prefers Incubators

I tried hens for hatching chickens when I started in
business, but had such poor luck that I bought an incubator
as an experiment. Having never run one before I was a
little doubtful of the outcome, but soon decided that I had
no use for sitting hens. Artificial incubation suited me
much better. 3

All the chicks are raised in outdoor brooders and they

are allowed out on the ground as early as possible. The
chicks are usually kept in the incubators. for forty-eight
hours after they are hatched and then are removed to the
brooders, as I have found that chicks are much stronger and
better after this rest in the incubator.

The little chicks are fed dry feed from the first with
green food, charcoal and plenty of water. I have had good
luck(?) with chickens and I am making a success of the
poultry business and would advise any woman who likes
poultry to try raising it for profit. It pays to be honest in
this business, as in any other, and it is not difficult to satisfy
all reasonable customers if you practice the golden rule.

Our Poultry House

The accompanying drawings show our poultry house.
It has given us very good satisfaction. You will note that
we have one glass covered window and one that is muslin
covered in each pen. All the fixtures are removable in order
that the house may be thoroughly cleaned. Have found
the hall way in the rear of the house a great convenience.
You will note also by reference to the drawing of the interior
that the nests are under the droppings board and that the
eggs can be removed from the hall way and that the mash
can be placed in the trough in the hall without entering the
pens to disturb the birds.

EAA

"%
= dant =

ae ae oe

3 OL Mate FOR et
PERSPECTIVE.

Mrs. Edith M. Handy’s Poultry House.

OK?
KX)
RAN

S/F TLL ANS
INTERIOR,

R—Roosts, D B—Droppings Board. N—Nest
P—Platform in front of nests, D—Hinged door
opening into walk through which eggs can be
removed from the nests. T—Feed Trough lo-
cated in the walk, S—Spindles through which
the hens feed.

t - - -32'-65 —- — — —— ——_
‘a T 7 v T ¥ T T T T v T
WALK 3' WIDE
— a ] “ at eee T Tt -
R | R : R i R aa
R | R | R | R |
E oB | 0B DB DB mn
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PENN
Bx 12
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GROUND PLAN,

Ground Floor Plan of Mrs. Edith M, Handy’s Poultry House.

HOW TO RAISE BROODER CHICKS SUCCESSFULLY

PARENT STOCK OF FIRST IMPORTANCE—SINGLE BROODERS
PREFERRED TO PIPE SYSTEM—WHAT AND HOW TO FEED

EDGAR BRIGGS

NE of the first things to be considered in raising brood-
er chicks successfully is the parent stock, which must
be in perfect health, properly fed and given abund-

ant exercise to insure fertile eggs and strong chicks. A
first-class incubator must be selected, one that will hatch
from 75 to 90 per cent of fertile eggs, and when you get such
hatches you will get strong chicks that will live if properly
cared for. The next thing to be selected is a brooder, and
this is equally if not more important than the incubator.
You must get a brooder that imitates a hen as closely as
possible; one that will let in any amount of fresh air; one
that has a round cylinder with no corners for chicks to
crowd in, and one easily heated with a lamp that will not
blow out nor smoke. I prefer the single brooders to the
pipe system. In winter heat your house to 60 and 70
degrees and keep your brooders 90 degrees at thestart, gradu-
ally lowering the temperature after twelve days. Do not
let the chicks get chilled at any time nor allow them to
crowd, for if you do bowel trouble will be the result, which
will take off a large per cent in a short time. Too much
heat will weaken them and cause many to die, so you must
‘be very careful, especially at night, about obtaining the
right temperature, as it often grows very cool the latter part
of the night, so a little extra flame should be left on in cool
nights.

I use runs five feet wide, ten feet long inside of house,

and outside runs fifty feet long well shaded in summer.

The next and most important of all is food. I wish to

say, right here that overfeeding for the first four weeks of a
chick’s life has put more people out of the business than all
other things combined. You can hardly feed too little. We
feed four times a day for the first five weeks. The first
three weeks we use principally dry food and make them

We feed
At ten and
two o’clock we feed millet seed, pinhead oatmeal and cracked

scratch for every meal but that given at night.
prepared dry chick food morning and night.

wheat.
three inches deep, and throw all their food in this.

We keep them well bedded with cut clover two or
They

also eat much of the clover. We feed very sparingly at
first. Keep them hungry at all times. Much depends on
keeping them at work; it assists in keeping them in good
health. We keep grit and charcoal before them all the time,
and fresh water is always before them. Care must be
taken to keep their drinking dishes free from slime; they, |
should be washed daily. Clean your brooder every other
day if you bed with cut hay, and every day if you use sand
or bran.

After three weeks,your chicks will begin to tire of this’
feed, then we give two meals a day of soft food composed
of one part stale bread soaked in water, or better, milk, one
part bran, one part hominy meal, ten per cent finely ground
meat. The same mash with ten per cent good beef scraps
is a grand growing food and much more easily prepared, but
more expensive. We continue feeding chick feed once.a
day for two weeks longer, giving mash morning and night,
using cracked corn and wheat once a day. If running for
broilers make your mash one-half cornmeal. We run but
fifty to sixty chicks in one lot, as this is enough for any
single brooder if you want them to live.

After they are old enough to leave the brooder and you
cannot give free range make yards twenty feet wide by one
hundred feet long and put sixty to seventy-five in a flock on
grass yards with plenty of shade, dividing the pullets from
the cockerels. Keep them free from lice and you will have
birds of fine quality for breeders.

BROOD HOUSE ON THE R. I. RED PLANT OF D. W. RICH

Note the three inside brood coops in which hens are confined, each caring’'for her share of 50
chicks. Note also the heavy curtain which can be pulled down in case of storms.

CHAPTER IV ‘
THE FEEDING AND CARE OF YOUNG CHICKS

PRACTICAL, SUGGESTIONS FOR ALL WHO RAISE CHICKS EITHER BY NATURAL OR
ARTIFICIAL METHODS—DRY FEED BEST BECAUSE MOST ECONOMICAL AND LABOR-SAV-
ING—SOME HELPFUL POINTERS ON CHICK GROWING FROM SHELL TO WEANING TIME

P. T. WOODS, M. D.

OT all poultrymen agree on the best
methods of feeding and caring for young
chicks, but it is a subject that interests
all growers of poultry. While, in this
article, we practically confine ourselves
to one method of feeding, it is only fair
to state that there are many plans of
chick feeding that prove successful and
give entirely satisfactory results. It
would be unwise, however, to incorpor-
ate too many methods in a brief article
intended more especially for beginners,
for fear of confusing the reader and
rendering him unable to decide which
course is the wisést for him to follow.

Undoubtedly the dry method of feeding, or feeding
chicks on a dry grain mixture of chick food, is the easiest,
safest and also most economical method of feeding small
chicks for the beginner with poultry. Feeding mashes or
moist dough to either young or old stock always has an
element of danger, the liability of throwing the digestive
organs out of condition and so ruining the chances of the
flock. Skillful feeders meet with remarkable success when
feeding either raw or cooked moist mashes and so-called
johnnycake, but the wisest course for the beginner will be
to confine himself strictly to the dry method, using a care-
fully prepared chick food made from sound, sweet grains.

The farm wife, whose rugged little broods are usually hatched

out under hens in the spring of the year when the grass is

green and all things favorable for chick growing, often is suc-
cessful in growing her brood on corn meal dough with an
occasional feeding of bread crumbs and curds, but where
this method has been attempted by others, who either do
not or are unable to give the chicks the same tender care
and motherly attention, the results are far from satisfactory.

Vitality Must Be Inherited

Chick rearing under what may be termed normal and
natural conditions should be a comparatively easy matter,
though oftentimes even the most careful managers meet un-
expected reverses and serious losses. A fact often lost sight
of is that everything does not depend upon the food and
care. It is a matter of great importance that the chick
should be well born, should be normally hatched from an
egg that is out of healthy, sound, vigorous breeding stock
capable of imparting an ample supply of vitality to their
progeny. Vitality in the chick, meaning that it possesses
vital force, the power which renders it capable of living, is
the very foundation of our chick growing. To get this
vitality we must begin with the breeding stock and even
generations back, breeding each year from only the best,
healthy, hardy and most: vigorous specimens that we can
obtain. This sturdy, healthy breeding stock must be kept
healthy by good care and management. The vitality which
they impart to the eggs must be preserved by careful treat-
ment of the eggs while saving them for incubating purposes.
It is a matter of importance that the eggs should be handled
as little as possible while saving them for hatching. The

* fine the hen and let the chicks run.

daily turning of eggs so frequently recommended by some
authorities on artificial incubation is in our opinion a serious
error. The less handling the eggs receive, the better. While
being saved for hatching, the eggs must not be exposed for
too long a time to a warm temperature of to a very cold
one. The safest temperature for keeping eggs is a fairly
uniform one between 40° and 60° F. Prolonged exposure
of the eggs to a temperature above 70° or 80°, or frequent
warming and cooling of the eggs, is almost certain to impair
the vitality of the germ so that when such eggs are hatched
the chicks are weaklings.

Another matter of great importance in preserving the
vitality handed down by healthy breeding stock is that the
eggs shall be properly incubated. Where eggs are incubated
under hens there is little or no danger from this source.
Where the eggs are incubated in machines there is danger
from the use of poorly constructed incubators, from too great.
variations in temperature during hatching, from overheating
the eggs or too long exposure to high temperatures above 104°,
from prolonged and frequent cooling, and sometimes chilling.
All of these things impair the vital force-of the little chick
and render it less capable of living.

The normal chick, when properly hatched from eggs.
that are out of sound, healthy, vigorous breeding stock,
comes into the world with a strong, rugged constitution and
the maximum vitality. It’s natural tendency.is to live and
thrive, and such chicks if given a reasonably fair chance will
live and thrive. Where losses do occur they are usually
directly the result of careless brooding or of indigestion from
indifferent feeding.

Management of Hen-Hatched Chicks

When the little brood hatched under a hen is from 36
to 48 hours old, having had ample time to dry off and to get
digestion of the yolk remnant (which they have brought into
the world with them) fairly started they are ready to go to
their brooding quarters for their first food. The brooding
quarters may be a box or barrel with a slatted front, made
comfortable by littering with chaff, cut clover or similar
material. In cold weather it should not be too large because
of the difficulty of keeping the mother hen warm and com-
fortable. You do not want to oblige her to waste too much
of her own heat on keeping herself warm in a large cold box.:
She needs all the heat she can spare for the comfort of her
brood. An ordinary flour barrel, well littered and covered
with canvass or some waterproof material to keep out the
rain, makes an admirable home for the new brood, or packing
boxes that are about 2 or 2} feet cube prove a very satis-
factory home.

For the first two or three days the little brood should be
kept confined quite close to the mother hen. After this con-
Keep pure, fresh water
in a clean drinking fountain close to the slatted front of the
coop so that the hen can readily reach it. Keep a dish of
cracked corn and wheat also within reach of the mother hen.
Feed the little chicks a more expensive ration just out of
reach of the hen mother so that the little birds will have it
always before them, but the mother hen cannot reach it to

CARE AND FOOD 43

scratch it about and waste it. Where chick food costs
$2.50 per hundred pounds and over, it is much wiser to
pursue this course and let the mother hen live. on less ex-
pensive food. Keep the little chicks supplied with chick
food, chick-size grit, granulated bone, charcoal, and pure,
wholesome beef scrap always before them in a wooden or gal-
vanized iron feed box or hopper. Protect this food from the
weather by a single board roof or shelter sufficiently large to
cover it and raised about one foot off the ground. We much
prefer keeping food before the chicks all the time but same
must be protected and kept dry, as otherwise in -wet, stormy
weather it will become sour or moldy and unfit to eat.

Some poultrymen use lemon, orange and cracker boxes
for brood coops for confining the mother hen. These make
much smaller quarters than we have recommended in a. pre-
ceding paragraph, but proved very satisfactory, especially
when used under shelter. Where an orange or lemon box
is used one front is slatted perpendicularly with the slats
just far enough for the hen to get her head out, and for the
chicks to freely run in and out. The rear portion of the box
retains the thin horizontal boarding with the exception of
about one inch from the floor, which space is left open. The
top of the box is slatted so that the hen can get her head up
through to stretch herself. In such boxes the hen mothers
scratch and cluck vigorously, and by their activity keep the
litter and dirt moving from front to back and out of the
opening in the rear, so that these brood boxes may really be
termed self-cleaning.

With two mother hens confined thus close together it
is necessary to keep the broods separate for several days
until they become accustomed to their respective mothers,
and it is advisable to have the chicks in both broods all the
same color, otherwise some of the little fellows may be in-
jured by getting into the compartment with the wrong mother
hen. There is a great difference in hen mothers in this re-
gard, some of them being always willing to add a new chick
to the flock, while others are intolerant of strangers and seem
bound to kill them if they can possibly do so.

The chicks are kept in these brooding quarters until they
are ready to be weaned. Where convenient to do so, the
hen is given a little run with the chicks once a day, but
frequently hens which are so kept in confinement for five
weeks or longer, often begin to lay in the brooding boxes, so
that they apparently experience no discomfort from this
close confinement while mothering a brood. After the first
week or ten days the chicks will begin to eat a considerable
proportion of fine cracked corn and wheat, which maybe
gradually substituted for the more expensive chick food.
Always give them if possible a grass run, and where this can-
not be had, feed cut clover or fresh green stuff daily. If cut
clover is used it may be fed either dry or barely moist after
scalding.

Brooder Chicks

In artificial brooding the chief requisites are to keep
the chicks comfortably, warm, provide them with an abund-
ance of pure, fresh air and give them an opportunity to
exercise in quarters that are not too cramped or crowded.
Not more than fifty chicks should be placed in one flock in
any brooder. This we consider the maximum limit of safety.
Care must be taken to keep the chicks warm and comfortable
at all times. The operator should be guided more by the
apparent comfort of his chicks than by the temperature as
indicated by the thermometer. Run the brooder not by
the thermometer but by the chicks. Keep them warm,
happy and contented at all times, and see that they are al-
ways supplied with an abundance of pure, fresh air to breathe.
Sun and air the brooders daily. Teach the chicks to use the
space underneath the hover for the purpose of keeping warm,

+

and train them so that they will know the way in and out
of the machine. Do not give up your efforts in this direc-
tion until you.are sure that the chicks have learned what is
required of them in taking care of themselves in the brooder.

Their first food should preferably be given by placing
little piles of chick food and beef scrap where they can have
free access to them. Afterwards keep the food before them
all the time in a food box or hopper. Dry grain chick food,
peef scrap, charcoal granulated bone, grit and pure water are
necessary at all times. Give them chaff or cut clover to scratch
in. As the chicks grow older gradually accustom them to
a larger range or run, and have same on grass land if possible.
At the end of the first week or ten days begin substituting
fine, sifted cracked corn or corn grits and small kernels of
hard, sound wheat for a portion of the dry grain chick food.
Gradually increase the quantity of this grain and reduce
the amount of chick food fed. If the beef scrap which you

obtain is coarse, sift out the finer particles and feed these
at first and feed the coarser particles of the scrap after the
chicks have become large enough to eat them readily.

A Feeding Coop for Chicks

A Home-Made Chick Food

A number of years ago when commercial chick food was
not as easily obtainable as it is now, we began the dry method
of feeding small chicks. By good luck we were able to buy
at a small cost of a junk dealera second-hand, large-sized
coffee mill such as are used in grocery stores. This mill we
fitted up in our barn so that the balance wheel was at con-
venient height for running the mill. From the spout or out-
let of the mill we ran at a sharp angle a long piece of wire
mosquito netting bent into broad, shallow trough shape and
tacked on a wooden frame. At the bottom of this screen
we placed an ordinary wooden bushel box, and beneath the
screen put an old piece of sail cloth. By adjusting the mill
we were able to crush grain to a size acceptable by newly
hatched chicks. The hopper not being large enough to suit
our convenience, we built a box-like arrangement above
the hopper and fitted into same a box-like addition that
would hold about half a bushel of grain. Into this we fed
a mixture of one-half (by measure) whole corn; one-fourth
whole wheat; one-eighth hulled oats; one-eighth barley with
the hulls on. These whole grains were. thoroughly mixed
togéther before feeding into the hopper. By the exercise of
a little muscle or ‘‘elbow grease’ we were able to get a very
acceptable chick food by grinding this grain mixture. The
meal sifted through the mosquito netting.screen into the
sailcloth and all the coarser particles of the cracked grain
ran down the screen into the bushel’ box at the bottom.
The flour or meal was used in soft mashes fed to the breeding

44 CHICK BOOK

and layng stock, as at that time we were feeding mashes
several days a week.

The first season we used this home-made chick food our
little flock did so well that soon some of our neighbors began
making inquiries as to the cause, with the result that there-
after we were not obliged to do our own grinding. For the
privilege of using our mill to grind their own chick food, the
neighbors ground oursforus. Perhaps some of our readers

who find it difficult to obtain good, clean, bright and new,

commercial chick food, will find our old-time home-made
substitute a valuable one for feeding their little flocks.

Other Chick Foods

As a rule the beginner will find that it pays best to buy
a good commercial chick food rather than to attempt to
manufacture his own. Generally, manufacturers who pro-
duce chick food in large quantities are able to buy a much
better grade of grain, and by means of perfected milling ap-
paratus are able to turn out a cleaner and much more whole-
some article than that which is prepared on the home plant.

A first class chick food should be free from all mustiness
or stale odors. It should be clean and entirely free from
dust. It should present a clean, bright, wholesome appear-
ance, and on holding a sample to the nose you should not be
able to detect any musty or moldy odor.
commercial chick food that we have seen contain altogether
too much millet. An excess of millet is undesirable and is

BROODER AND WHITE PLYMOUTH ROCK CHICKS ON THE FARM OF U. R. FISHEL

On the farm where this view was taken thousands of White Plymouth Rock chicks are hatched
i They are reared in brooding houses with adapt-
able hovers afterward being removed to out-of-door brooders similar to this one later going into
the fields where they occupy colony coops until they are finally moved to winter quarters.—F. L.

in incubators from early in January until June.

Sewell.

liable to cause digestive disturbance in the little chicks. In
post mortem examinations of hundreds of little chicks fed
on dry grain chick food, those that died of indigestion almost
invariably showed considerable quantities of undigested
millet seed in their little crops and gizzards.

An excellent chick food can be made from the following
formula: Sifted corn grits or fine cracked corn with the
meal and coarser particles sifted out (use only the best, hard,
yellow corn), 50 tbs.; cracked or steel cut amber or red
wheat (the best, hard, sound grain obtainable), 30 tbs.;
cracked barley with hulls sifted out, 10 tbs.; steel cut oats or
C grade oat meal, 8 tbs.; golden millet, 1 tb.; granulated raw
bone, 1 tb.

Supplementary Foods and Green Food

In addition to the dry grain food and beef scrap kept
always before the chicks, they require some supplementary
food for variety and to keep their digestive organs in good
working order. Where a liberal grass range can be obtained
the supply of vegetable food is close at hand prepared by
nature, and it is not necessary to give anything in the vege-
table line in addition to the fresh green grass easily obtain-
able by the chicks. Where chicks are confined we advise
beginning on the second day to feed raw potatoes or raw
beets cut in large pieces for the chicks to pick at, Give only

Many samples of.

a little at first until they become accustomed to this raw
vegetable food, then in a few days give them all that they
will clean up daily. Raw vegetable food or green stuff of
some sort is absolutely necessary to properly balance the
supply of dry grain and beef scrap, which is kept always
before the little chicks.

In addition to the green stuff or vegetables it is well to
supply some supplementary food to stimulate the appetite
and prevent the chicks from getting off their feed. For such
purpose there is nothing better than thoroughly cooked
wheat or cracked rice. Cracked rice of good quality can
usually be had cheaply. Wheat used for this purpose should
be sound, clean, and of the best quality obtainable. The
grain should be boiled thoroughly, first seasoning the water
lightly with salt. Boil until the grains are very soft and
almost all of the water has been evaporated. Do not stir
any more than is absolutely necessary while cooking, as it
is desired to have the grains remain as nearly whole as pos-
sible. This cooked food should be allowed to thoroughly
cool before feeding. When ready to feed remove the amount
you intend to give the flock and sprinkle over it a little raw
bone meal. Give as much of this food as the chicks will
clean up in from fifteen to twenty minutes. Feed on clean
boards and spread out sufficiently to give all chicks free ac-
cess to it without the necessity of tramping all over the food.
Feed this supplementary food two or three times a week.

From the time the chicks are a few days old until they
are three weeks old, as a supplement-
ary ration it will often be beneficial to
feed thoroughly hard boiled infertile
eggs that have been tested out from
the incubator. These may be given
two or three times a week, gradually
reducing the frequency of feeding as
the chicks become older. We simply
cut the hard boiled egg in halves and
let the little chicks have it to pick
at shell and all, or the egg may be
crushed and fed on the feed-board if
desired. For chicks three or four days
old one egg to each twenty-five chicks
is sufficient. After that give them at
one feed what they will clean up eagerly
in from fifteen to twenty minutes.

Do not forget that it is necessary to keep pure, fresh
water before the chicks all the time, and keep the drinking
vessels clean. Filthy drinking water will quickly get the
little birds out of condition.

Give your flock plenty of wholesome food. You cannot

‘grow them successfully on a starvation diet, and there is

practically no danger when feeding dry food of overfeeding
healthy, vigorous growing chicks. Be sure to supplement
their dry grain with variety food of some sort, as advised

above, to stimulate their appetites and keep them in good
condition.

Weaning the Chicks

Begin early to wean the chicks from chick food, usually
not later than the 10th day or the end of the second week.
With chicks that are fed on prepared chick food begin to
give a little sifted fine cracked corn or corn grits, and a little
small hard red wheat, to take the place of a portion of the
chick food. Gradually increase the proportions of cracked
corn and wheat and decrease the quantity of chick food as
the little birds become accustomed to the new ration until
you are feeding them almost exclusively on cracked corn,
whole wheat, beef scrap and the usual allowance of vegetable
food or green stuff, with an occasional feeding of cooked
grain or rice. Feed the cooked food less often as the chicks

CARE AND FOOD

grow older until you feed it only about once a week.
' The simple methods herein outlined can be depended

45

-upon to give satisfactory results, provided the chicks are
given reasonably good care and are kept comfortably warm.

ROSE COMB WHITE LEGHORNS

Part fof a flock of Rose Comb White Leghorn Chicks.
appear at three to four months as in the above picture.
trade for choice broilers.—F. L. Srweu.

‘

Early April hatched Leghorn chicks will be nearly , c F
Many White Leghorn farms supply ten to twelve weeks old chicks to the highest priced

rown by July and August and

FEEDING YOUNG CHICKS

IT IS MANAGEMENT FROM FIRST TO LAST THAT COUNTS MORE THAN THE PARTICULAR FEED USED

H. J. BLANCHARD

UCCESSFUL feeding of young chicks is not the intricate
S problem some poultry writers would have us believe.
It is wonderful only in its simplicity. Almost any
sweet, clean, dry feed given them very sparingly, five or six
times daily for the first ten days and then four times until
the chicks are six or eight weeks old, is all they require in
the way of food. Clean water and sharp grit should be be-
fore them from the first, but not very cold water for the first
two weeks. We feed nothing the first two days, then give
water and a little sharp grit and a very little dry bread
crumbs or any good wholesome food.

Last season we raised some broods of our best chicks.

on dry ground grains—dry mash—from the first, and they
are still eating it. After they were about eight weeks old
_we began feeding them wheat and cracked corn once a day
in connection with the dry mash.
We fed this dry mash in open troughs, but now that
‘these chicks are well-grown this dry mash is put in self-feed-
ing hoppers so arranged that they can be closed at will.
We believe it is best to close the hoppers at night and
in the morning feed a light ration of whole mixed grains

Then water the birds and
feed mangel wurzels cut in halves and placed on the floor.

scattered in litter on the floor.

About noon another light ration of whole mixed grains is
scattered in the litter and the dry mash hoppers thrown
open, from which they eat at will until night.

With our houses well ventilated day and night and
therefore dry, our birds are healthy, active and vigorous.
In connection with our well known straw loft system of ven-
tilation, we now use muslin covered frames that are the
same size as the sliding windows, one or two to each room
according to its size. At night these muslin covered frames
are drawn over the openings in place of the glass windows
which slide back out of the way, and on mild nights a crack
is left in the openings also. In the morning the muslin
frames are pushed back and the glass windows drawn over
the openings to let in the light and sunshine, and unless
very cold the windows are left open more or less, according
to the weather.

After all, it is management from first to last that counts
more than what particular feed we use,

CARE AND FEEDING OF CHICKS

PRACTICAL ADVICE ON CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG CHICKENS IN MAY, JUNE AND JULY—
HATCHING AND REARING WITH HENS—FOOD AND FEEDING—BROOD COOPS. RUNS AND SHELTERS—
IMPORTANCE OF SHADE IN HOT WEATHER—GREEN FOOD— PREVENTING LOSSES FROM CATS, ETC.

P. T. WOODS, M. D.

late in May chicks may be hatched as late as July first

with the chances good for successful rearing. It is a
good plan to stop hatching for the summer within a month
or six weeks after apple blossom time as chicks brought out
in extreme hot weather are always difficult to rear. Chick-
ens that do not get u fair start before the advent of the
blackberry season are seldom worth having. Hatching may
be safely begun again after the close of dog days. Some
poultrymen are successful in hatching the year ’round, but
unless there is a cool, shady orchard available for use during
the hot season it is wiser not to try to hatch summer chicks.

T CLIMATES where the apple trees do not bloom until

Nest Boxes and Sitting Hens

Broody hens are generally plentiful in May and it is a
good time to make use of them. Breeding birds which you
intend to hold over another season will go through the sum-
mer in better shape if permitted to hatch and rear a brood.
Although the care of sitting hens is a very simple matter,
some poultrymen appear to have difficulty in getting good
results. On page 16 appears a description of nest boxes
and how to set a hen.

Keep sitting hens confined on the nest and allow off for
food, water and exercise at a regular hour once each day.
Let off two, four or six at one time and watch them to pre-
vent fights and to see that they return to the proper nests.
Provide a box of moist sandy loam for a dust bath, plenty of
pure fresh water and a supply of whole and cracked corn,
grit and shell where hens can have access to it when off the
nest. Chicks will be due in twenty-one days after eggs are
set and on eighteenth day the hen should have another dust-
ing with insect powder to insure freedom from lice. Let the
hen alone at hatching time. If infertile eggs and dead germs
have been’removed the chicks will have room enough in the
nest. Those who use incubators for hatching will
find less labor in handling a large number of eggs than where
“natural methods” are employed, but they should always be
sure to learn and follow the manufacturer’s directions sup-
plied with the machines. There is ample time for two good

incubator hatches before hot weather and at this season the
eggs generally hatch well.

Brooding Coops and Brooding Hens

Any good sized packing box can be converted into a sat-
isfactory brood coop and a fair sized wooden cracker box
makes a good brood box when provided with a slat front.
Fig. 1 (on this page) is diagram showing front view of

fee 0 ee ee NO ere eh ZA
| ° BB
fl hy
we Se ee I FE eS
Q

Fig. 1—Diagram view of front of Brood-coop with
front of brood box shown agi he floor inside. Brood
coop is 8ft. x 3ft., 2ft:6in. high in front and 22 in.
high in rear. It is shed roofed. Brood-box has slat
front as shown and is 18in. wide by 18 in. high by 22
in. deep. Center slat is removable to admit hen. ‘“BB”
is Brood-box.

an excellent brood coop containing a brood box. The hen
mother is confined {in “brood box” and chicks have the run
of the’coop.

' Fig. 2 (on this page) shows side section view of
brood coop and box with front of coop used as an awning.
“A” is lower half of hinged front of coop and is made of wire
netting (fine mesh) stretched on a light wooden frame. “AA”
is upper half of hinged front and is made of muslin stretched

on wooden frame. This front is hooked or

hinged to board at top of brood coop and
can be lowered at night to close brood coop,
confine chicks and keep out marauding ver-
min. If muslin is also protected by wire
screen it gives a rat-proof coop. “8” is stake

or support used to hold up hinged front.
“BB” is brood box in which hen mother is
confined.

Usual dimensions of brood coop are 3ft.
wide by 3 ft. deep by 2 ft. 6 in. high in
front and 22 in. high inrear. Makeit with
tight board floor and a tight shed roof. Brood
box used in coop may be made 18 inches
wide by 18 in. high by 22 in. deep and

ge 2—Side View Diagram Plan of Brood-Coop and Brood Box.
article.
on wooden frame.
covered with muslin on wooden frame. ‘'S
when same is used as shelter or awning. ‘‘BB’”’ Brood Box.

1 Dimensions given in
“A” Lower half of hinged front to brood-coop, it is made of fine mesh wite netting
“AA” Upper half of hinged front; it is made of fine mesh wire netting

”’ stake or support used to hold up hinged front

should have a slattedfront. One slat should
be removable and slats should be about
three inches apart, just enough to confine
the hen and give the chicks free passage in
and out.

CARE AND FOOD 47

Locate these brood coops on grass land or in the orchard.
Keep the hens confined and let the chicks have the run of
the coop for the first week, then begin to give them an out-
door run, gradually increasing the range as they become
used to it. They can have free range by the time they are
two weeks old. If wire enclosed runs are used to protect
chicks from cats change coops to new ground frequently or
keep earth well scraped and spaded.

Brooders of the outdoor pattern with chick shelters at-
tached make ideal homes for flocks of twenty-five to fifty in-
cubator chicks particularly where space is limited and where
there is danger from cats or other four-footed pests.

Care of Newly Hatched Chicks

Newly hatched chicks need rest and warmth for the first
thirty-six hours after hatching. They need time to begin
digestion of the egg yolk remnant which was taken into the
body just prior to hatching and they do not need other food.
Clean out the egg shells and dead eggs and then let the little
fellows alone, taking care that they do not fall out of the
nest; a strip of burlap will keep them in.

When thirty-six hours old they are ready for their first
food which for hen hatched chicks should be given in the
brood coop. Litter the brood box well with hay or straw,
mow chaff or cut clover and place it in the brood coop. Keep
the hen confined and supply just outside of the slatted front
a little heap of commercial chick food and a box containing
ground grain mixture made as follows: Equal parts by
measure best wheat bran, corn meal, leaves sifted from cut
clover and fancy wheat middlings; to each ten pounds of this
ground grain mixture add one-half pound of best fine-ground
beef scrap. Be sure that beef scrap is pure and sweet. Cheap
or poor beef scrap is dangerous and may cause losses. If
not sure of the scrap omit it and feed instead, two or three
times a week, a little fresh beef scraped from sweet, clean
shin or chuck. Supply sand or other grit, granulated bone,
charcoal and pure fresh water just outside of brood box
where hen and chicks can have free access to them.

After the third day keep a supply of chick food just out
ofjreach of the hen mother and supply her with cracked corn
and a little wheat. There is no need to feed the hen on the
more expensive chick food. The dry mash should be kept
where they can have access to it at all hours of the day, but
the chick food may be given in regular feedings four times
daily if desired. A supply of pure fresh water in a clean
galvanized iron drinking fountain is of the greatest import-
ance. Begin by the close of the third week to substitute
cracked corn and small wheat for a part of the chick food.
The close confinement in brood box will not hurt the hen

How canvas and awning cloth combined with ‘‘A’’ coops will supply
shade and shelter.

mother and often she will begin to lay within two weeks after
she is put out with her brood. She will usually wean her
brood by the time they are five to seven weeks old. If the

\
Outdoor Brooder with Chick shelter attached in use on lawn at Dr.
Woods’ Home. t

nights are cold they may be allowed to use the brood box for
a bed room until they are well feathered, it saves them from
dangers of chilling at this time. When they are well feath-
ered remove the brood box and let them occupy the brood
coop until ready to roost. Clean the coops and boxes often
and renew the litter. In warm weather sand will serve for
bedding material. Dust hen and chicks with Persian insect
powder when flock is ten days old.

Brooder Chicks

Brooder chicks require a little more care at first than
flocks with hens but after they learn to care for themselves
they thrive as well or better than “natural’’ broods and be-
come wonderfully independent little fellows well able to look
out for themselves if given a fair chance. We like individual
out-door brooders with chick shelters attached and on a
grass lot they are easy to care for. Flocks of from twenty-
five to fifty chicks vield best results; it is never wise to put
more than fifty chicks in any brooder.

The brooder should be warmed to 90 degrees under the
hover and waiting for the chicks, having been run long
enough to get warmed throughout and regulating properly.
Litter the floor well with cut clover and a little chick size
grit or clean sand. Place a little pile of dry mash and com-
mercial chick food side by side in the litter in hover apart-
ment and provide a galvanized iron fountain containing pure
fresh water. Place chicks in brooder when twenty-four to
thirty-six hours old in time to have their first meal before
dark in the afternoon.

Keep the hover space always warm enough to have the
chicks comfortable at all times. Always be guided more
by the comfort of the chicks than by the temperature as
indicated by the thermometer. Remember that brooder
chicks only know what you teach them and exercise a little
patience in teaching these motherless little fellows how to
use the hover to warm up, and how to find food and water.
Keep them confined to hover apartment for first two days,
then teach them to go back and forth to exercise room. By
the time they are a week old get them outside brooder for
an outdoor run and get them gradually accustomed to more
run until they have freedom of chick shelter and know
enough to go back and forth. Don’t let them huddle in
sunny places or anywhere in corners of brooder or run, drive
them under the hover to warm up. Clean brooder frequently
and change run to fresh, clean ground often. Remove hover

48 CHICK BOOK

often to sun and air brooding apartment. Dry mash used
for brooder chicks should be same as recommended for hen
chicks and may be kept before them all the time. After
second week the heat of brooder can usually be gradually
reduced. Read and follow manufacturers’ directions. Ac-
cording to season chicks can generally be weaned when six
to eight weeks old but if weather is cold it is best to supply
heat, at night until they are well feathered.

: Feeding Growing Chicks

Chicks three weeks old, whether brooded by hen or
artificially, will take about the same ration. It is well to
keep before them all the time a dry mash like that advised
under heading ‘‘Care of Newly Hatched Chicks’ and they
may have this mash until full grown.

For first three weeks supplement their chick food ration
with feedings of boiled cracked rice or wheat. This should
be thoroughly cooked until soft:and almost dry and shéuld
be lightly seasoned with salt while cooking. They should
also have raw potato cut in chunks for them to pick at.
Fresh green food, cut cabbage, grass, clover, grain sprouts,
etc., should be supplied freely every day after the first few
days until they are grown. Plenty of green food is neces-
sary and heavy grain feeding cannot be safely conducted
without it. Unless chicks have run where they can get
plenty of grass, green food must be supplied regularly.

Keep the dry mash, grit, granulated raw bone (dry),
granulated charcoal and pure water always before them, in
covered food troughs or hoppers. Supply the food and
water in a shady place. Change water often in hot weather.
When chicks are three weeks old begin to replace a part of
the chick food with cracked corn and small wheat. Increase
the amount of grain so fed until by the time they are two
months old the chick food has been discontinued. At this
age they should be fed three times daily until maturity and
allowed liberal range. They can have the same ration as the
laying hens from now on and an excellent dry mash for chicks
eight weeks old and older may be made as follows:

Coarse wheat bran_------ 22000000 200 pounds

Fancy wheat middlings. ...100 pounds

Best dry cut clover__-_-........... 200 pounds
Yellow gluten feed___-_--__..... 100 pounds
Yellow corn meal. -_-- 20.2020... eee 100 pounds
Linseed meal (old process)__.- 2.000.020. 50 pounds
Best fine-ground beef scrap____............... 100 pounds

Directions:
and thoroughly mix with scoop shovel.
bins and feed in food hopper
to growing stock or laying

Dump all of above on clean board floor
Keep in sacks or

ing corn or other grain gives grateful shelter in hot,
sunny weather. Canvas and board shelters should be
supplied when stock cannot have shelter or bushes, shrub-
bery, trees or growing grain. An orchard makes an ideal
summer run for growing chicks.

Canvas or awning cloth tents or shelters stretched over
common slatted “A” coops afford excellent shelter in ex-
posed locations and can be easily arranged (illustration page
47). Even weeds may be made to serve for shelter from
the hot sun. Whatever you do don’t fail to provide shade
of some sort.

When the chicks begin to show a disposition to go to
roost at night provide open-front roosting coops made from
packing boxes, piano boxes or supply the portable coops
which may be obtained of any poultry supply depot. Don’t
be afraid that roosting young will cause crooked breasts.
Crooked breast bones are the result of faulty nutrition and
insufficient mineral food and not of early roosting. Supply
plenty of green food and an abundance of dry granulated
raw bone, (oyster shells also after the first month) and you
need not fear crooked breasts. Proper food, green food and
plenty of mineral food in shape of bone and shell will also.
prevent leg weakness.

Hawks, Neighbors’ Cats and Other Vermin

Hawks and crows often make life a burden to the
poultryman in chick time where the growing chicks range.
It is a good plan to erect poles about the chicken range and
run wire or strong twine zig-zag from these, high enough to
allow head room. From these lines suspend at frequent.
intervals strips of white and colored cloth, bright bits of tin
and pieces of bright glass. This is the most effective crow
and hawk scare we know of and it is well worth the expense
and labor. Crows often become so bold that no other
scare-crow will keep them from stealing young chicks. If
bits of bright tin and glass are so hung that they will strike
and jingle in the breeze the “‘scare’’ will be still more effective.

Hawks generally come at a regular hour every day and
may be watched for or followed to their nests and killed
with their broods. They can also be trapped by setting
steel traps on tops of high poles on which they alight. Crows.
are so uncertain and crafty that they will often steal chicks
before your eyes and get away.

Chicken-stealing cats (the neighbors’ pets) are often a
prolific source of trouble. If warning the neighbor does not
keep the cat at home, keeping the cat away from your chicks,
you are justified in shooting or killing that cat in any way
youcan. In congested settl-
ed districts shooting is dan-

hens. Fig. 3, (on next page)
shows a simple and conven-
ient covered food trough for
feeding dry mash or other
food to growing chicks. Di-
mensions may be made to
suit available lumber.
Trough proper should be
made by nailing together a
3 in. and 4 in. strip.

Importance of Shade

While sunshine in
wholesome quantities is good
for chickens of all ages some
provision must be made to
supply shade in hot weather
to prevent losses from sun-
stroke. Berry bushes sup-
ply admirable shade. Grow-

Flock of ten weeks old White Wyandottes feeding in front of packing
box colony house,

gerous and forbidden by or-
dinances and your angry
neighbor may cause you
trouble by complaint that
the shooting breaks town law
on account of the nearness.
to buildings, so don’t be in
a hurry to usea gun. There
is an easier and more quiet.
way.

A good strong box-trap,
big enough to catch a big cat,
baited with a bag of catnip
tied to the spindle, if set in
the chicken yard, will soon
catch the chicken thief. The
trap should have a “V”
shaped opening in one side
large enough to let the cat
put its head out and this

CARE AND FOOD 49

should be covered with a stout slide.
When you catch the thief raise the
slide and as soon as head pops out
push slide down and hold it fast, a sharp
blow with an axe or hardwood billy will
quietly put an end to the thief and
he can be planted to enrich the grape
vine while you are sure that no more
chicks go that way. We knew one
cat to take forty chicks in one day,
then the box trap was used and the
losses ceased.

Where there is plenty of yard
room combination fencing will protect
against cats and also give the chicks
a good run. Use one roll of one-inch
mesh chick wire 18 inches high to‘stake out a circular
corral or enclosure for chicks. Outside this fence stake
up with thin plastering lath a flimsy fence of one roll
of two-inch mesh wire netting two to three feet outside
of low netting. Stake loosely by weaving lath in net-
ting and driving into earth on alternate sides of wire.
Use enough lath to hold fence erect but not to make it stiff.
This gives a wire fence too high to jump and with no posts
that can be climbed, for the lath is too flimsy and will bend
when cat tries it. Fence is moved when necessary. We

_ have used this successfully but some cats will dig under and
must be trapped.

Rats cause losses and will frequently kill and hide a
large number of chicks in a single night. Make the coops
rat proof. Raise coops and boxes often and kill any rats
found underneath. A good rat dog is a great help. Traps
are seldom effective and poison is not safe in chicken time.

Lice and mites are best fought by free use of a good
insect powder. Dust hen and chicks whenever lice are
found. Keep the coops clean. If mites get into woodwork
use a strong creolin solution to wash the woodwork and get
it well into cracks. Kerosene may be applied to coops and
boxes to kill mites but if used the coops must be well sunned
and dried before the chicks are again allowed to use them.

\
A

Diarrhoea and the Remedy

Pure food, plenty of green food, pure water in clean
vessels, cleanliness and clean runs with comfortable quarters
are with fresh air and sunshine the best disease preventives
for young chicks. With common sense management if you

Fig. 3—Covered food trough for young chicks

provide the foregoing you need not

fear disease. In hot weather diar-

rhoea may put in an appearance, but

by prompt measures it may be quickly

checked. Usually sour food, sour
— runs or filthy drinking water or indi-
gestion from careless feeding is the
starting point of the trouble. Re-
move the cause or avoid it by good
management and the trouble will no
longer worry you. Plenty of charcoal
is one of the best preventives.

Hot days and cold nights may
start up diarrhoea when all ordinary
precautions seem to have been taken.

Look around for the cause and re-
move it if you can find it. Get the flock on to fresh,
clean ground. Scald the drinking fountains. Be sure
that the drinking water is fresh and pure. If in doubt
look up the source. It won’t do to give drinking. water
fouled with the wash of a barn yard or chicken runs.
Don’t allow the stock to drink from filthy surface puddles.
Be sure that they have shady shelters in which to get away
from the glare of the hot summer sun.

If charcoal and the addition of middlings to mash food
won’t stop the diarrhoea, try five drops of creolin in a pint
of drinking water. If that fails withhold all food. Inspect
the beef scrap used. It may be the cause of the trouble.
Boil a little white flour for four or five hours. Use this to
thicken some scalded milk until same is thickness of thin
cream. Give this to chicks to drink and allow no other food
for twenty-four hours. Return to regular ration gradually
and do not feed beef scrap for one week. Flour thickened
milk should be lightly seasoned with salt, nutmeg and ginger.
Should trouble persist after trying home remedy call in an
experienced poultryman to help locate the trouble and ad-
vise you.

Sore eyes and slight colds may be prevented by housing
stock in fresh-air quarters and keeping coops clean and free
from dust. The use of air-slaked lime on floors of coops is
dangerous and should not be practiced; it is liable to cause
catarrhal troubles through the inhalation of the irritating dust.

Vaseline rubbed into cleft in roof of mouth and under
lids of eyes will stop catarrbal colds if taken in time. The
cause must be sought, found and removed. Overcrowding
in close coops is a common cause of trouble.

CARE OF YOUNG POULTRY

ONE SHOULD NEITHER OVERFEED NOR STARVE GROWING CHICKS—
CORN IS GOOD FOOD IF PROPERLY FED—ONLY ONE GENERAL RULE

MRS. B. F. HISLOP

N CARING for young growing chicks, many persons over-
feed, giving them,an unbalanced ration, while others
actually starve the growing birds. If the chicks are

permitted free range on the farm, one need not go to the ex-
pense or bother of supplying them with all the extras, such
as meat meal, vegetables, etc., as the city or town breeder
must do. The farmer’s wife only needs to see that the
growing birds have good water, grit and shelter, though they
should be fed three times a day while young with some good
chick food mash mixed with sweet milk, which with the in-
sects they pick up supply meat enough for them.

One can easily mix suitable chick feed at home, if he
wishes, using equal or nearly equal parts of corn meal and
middlings, with a small per cent of bran. Mix this with
sweet milk, or even with sour milk if it is not too stale, though

e

we prefer sweet milk. This food will furnish the chicks with
all the elements needed for their growth. As they grow
older, of course, they should be supplied with some coarser
grain. There has been so much said, condemning corn as
a chick food, that we have been almost afraid to feed it, but
every farmer’s wife (they are the ones who supply the
chicken meat) knows that corn is all right and that it is the
grain that puts the meat on the chickens. Of course no one
would expect to feed corn exclusively, but it is our opinion
that more chicks have died on account of the lack of corn
than from too much of it where it was fed to them in right
proportions.
Vary the Food

There is no one food that is so good that it can be fed

exclusively. Growing chicks permitted to range with the

50 CHICK BOOK

mother hen can do well with the food that would not be
adapted to the needs of the brooder chick. Remember in
the latter case the breeder must assume the care usually
given by the hen. We have reared brooder chicks success-
fully, but for the past two years have rather fallen back on
biddy.

After the Fourth of July all our chicks are fed but twice
a day, night and morning, because as the weather is warm
they do not require food so often. Brooder chicks require

\

food four or five times a day when small, a little at a time,
and some dry food should be thrown in the scratching litter
to keep them busy. The chick that is out with its mother
gets enough exercise running after her. ;

In the case of young or old stock one must use his good
judgment as there is no cut and dried rule for raising birds,
because they have different environment. There is one
general rule that everyone should follow and that is to keep
the birds free from lice. If you do not, they cannot thrive.

MORE ABOUT THE FEEDING PROBLEM

SUCCESSFUL HOPPER RATION HALF A CENTURY OLD—SOME CRITICISMS ANSWERED—OPINIONS
BASED ON NEARLY THIRTY YEARS OF OBSERVATION, INVESTIGATION AND EXPERIMENTS IN
THE FIELD OF POULTRY WORK—MUCH ABUSED CORN THE LEADING STAPLE GRAIN FOOD

AND ONE THAT POULTRYMEN

COULD LEAST

AFFORD TO DO WITHOUT IN THE RATION

P. T. WOODS, M. D.

have written many articles concerning the feeding

of poultry, giving the result of our observation of
the experience of others as well as our own practical experi-
ments along this line. In a recent issue of a poultry journal
we find an article on ‘The Feeding Problem” by Mr. Alvin
L. Dudley of South Lincoln, Mass. Apparently Mr. Dudley
has been reading one of our numerous articles on poultry
feeding, we haven’t the slightest idea which one; and he finds
our suggestions ‘‘so singular’ and ‘“‘out of the ordinary” that
he feels compelled to discuss the matter at length. We are
glad to find that he has discovered u difference of opinion
existing between us, particularly as it has resulted in inspir-
ing his excellent and interesting article. His chief objection
to recommendations made by us appears to be that he does
not believe that a hopper-fed ration consisting largely of

| ae time to time during the past twenty years we

Diagram & View For
FEED HOPPER

en
Back 3 0
eas
=

Ls
FRONT BOARD
‘nn Sonos

corn, either cracked or whole, is either safe or satisfactory in
feeding fowls of the American and Asiatic varieties. Well,
that is an honest difference of opinion at most. It isn’t
serious and if he will view a larger and broader field of poultry
work throughout the country we feel sure that he will find
that Indian corn (maize) is a good, safe, honest food, the
first and foremost staple poultry food, and the grain that
poultrymen all over this broad land could least afford to do
without.

He says in part that: ‘Throughout the section wherein
the writer lives and among the poultry keepers of his ac-
quaintance, a diet of two-thirds corn and one-third wheat or
oats fed ad libitum from a hopper has not given satisfactory
results.” We cannot agree with him here either for we find
corn freely and heavily fed both by hopper and in litter on
a great number of successful practical poultry plants in
eastern Massachusetts. These plants
carry American and Asiatic breeds
almost exclusively. Of all varieties the
Barred Plymouth Rock is the most
susceptible to laying on internal fat or
fat about the viscera. In many cases
they will not stand more than one
season of heavy feeding or forcing on
any ration. Notwithstanding this, many
Barred Rocks, and grade flocks of the
variety, are to be found that are doing
good work on a heavy corn ration, box
or hopper fed.

Further, if Mr. Dudley is correct
in his statement that poultrymen of
his acquaintance in his section have
not found this hopper-fed diet satis-
factory, we do not see how it is that
he finds our recommendation of this
ration ‘‘so ‘singular’ and “out of the
ordinary.”’ The two statements con-
flict. If the ration as recommended
is “out of the ordinary,” then cer-
tainly he and his friends, being un-
familiar with it, can scarcely have
tested the ration.

Mr. Dudley also says: ‘Another
thing the Doctor seems to consider that
wheat and oats each fills a similar place

=S

—,

in the ration and if one is left out and

Aa
yl

12%
END view

MR.

ALVIN L. DUDLEY’S, FOOD

HOOPER

the other substituted the average
results would be the same. Now,
we haven’t found it so, and don’t

CARE AND FOOD 51

believe that many poultry keepers have. Further
than that we don’t believe corn, wheat and beef scraps,
or corn, oats and beef scraps form a properly balanced
and satisfactory entire ration for laying, breeding stock
(green stuff in addition being included, of course).
We have found that we obtained a much more satisfactory
egg yield and better general conditions on a much wider
ration, including among the grains barley, buckwheat, kaffir
corn and sunflower seed, in varying quantities according to
season and price, in addition to the corn, wheat and oats diet
mentioned by the Doctor.”

We are inclined to believe and also regret that Mr.
Dudley has not read our writings on feeding poultry with
much care. In the first place, we have repeatedly stated
that there are many satisfactory rations for feeding poultry,
almost as many as there are poultry feeders. So far as we
know there is no one best ration. The corn, wheat and oats
mixture recommended by us in several articles, and from
time to time for a number of years in answers to corres-
pondents, was not original with us and is a ration that has
been used by practical poultry keepers in New England for
more than half a century with entirely

analyses of foodstuffs or with scientifically balanced rations.
The more he dallies with so-called scientifically balanced
foods the more liable he is to go astray. The many analyses
made by the United States government have shown that
various samples of the same kind of grain vary considerably
in their chemical make-up, in all probability dependent upon
the character of the soil in which the grain was grown, the
season and the climate. With the fact known that there is
such a wide variation in the chemical composition of grains,
we can only base our estimates upon the average chemical
content as estimated from the many analyses made. One
of the leading writers on poultry topics told us some time
ago that he wished he had left out of one of his books the
chapter on analyses of food stuffs and science in poultry feed-
ing, particularly that part pertaining to so-called scientifi-
cally balanced rations. He did not believe that it had done
any good to publish it and did believe that the element of
mystery connected with the “‘scientific balance’ had tempted
many would-be scientific feeders into deep water where, fail-
ing to realize that they were beyond their depth, they made
a decided failure of their poultry feeding experiments. No

satisfactory results so far as the pro-
duction of market poultry and eggs is
concerned. It has stood the test of
time, and practical men would not
continue to use it if it did not give
good results. Being old in use and in
publicity, it surely is neither ‘‘so sin-
gular” or “out of the ordinary.”

To the best of our knowledge and
belief we have never recommended this
two and three-grain mixture to the
exclusion of all other grains, with the
possible exception of some answer to
a correspondent where it was advised
as a change or substitute ration where
elaborate mixtures had caused trouble.
In almost every instance we believe we
have stated that we recommend for
variety, adding to the ration from time
to time, such other grains and seeds
as may be available at a fair and
economical price, including among these
barley, buckwheat, kaffir corn and
sunflower seed, which are mentioned
by Mr. Dudley.

is good practice.

Corn, Wheat and Oats the Leading Staple Feeding Grains

In considering feeding problems and writing on the sub-
ject of poultry feeding we must take a broader view of the
subject than that which applies only to one small section of
this vast country. Our readers are located all over the world,
and even in our‘own great United States the conditions vary
widely in different parts of the country. With the excep-
tion of some of the northern-most sections, corn is the most
generally used and the most easily obtainable grain at a fair
price. Wheat and oats are also generally available. Other
grains and seeds are some times difficult to obtain at a price
which will permit using them for poultry food. We think
all authorities on the subject of feeding poultry will agree
that corn, wheat and oats are, as we have frequently stated,
the three leading staple grains for poultry feeding.

We do not know what our critic found in any writing of
ours to lead him to believe that we consider that wheat and
oats take practically the same place in the fowl’s diet. We
are quite familiar with the chemical composition of the several
feeding grains, but do not believe that it is necessary for the
poultry keeper to concern himself to any extent with chemical

Growing crops _in small poultry yards to provide shade and green food, and to purify the soil
Note the luxuriant growth of corn shown in the above illustration,

truer words were ever spoken that the old familiar quota-
of?

‘tion, “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing;”’ also ‘Fools

rush in where angels fear to tread.”’ It is a good deal better
for the average poultry keeper to leave “scientific” poultry
keeping and the “scientific balance” of rations entirely in
the hands of the capable investigators in our government
experiment stations, and to give themselves no further con-
cern in the “science” of poultry keeping than to supply
their fowls with good, sound, wholesome grain in variety; a
liberal supply of succulent green food and vegetable matter;
good, pure beef scrap and the usual supply of pure water,
chracoal, grit and shell. With regard to wheat and oats,
both of these grains contain very nearly the same percentage
of protein or nitrogenous matter, so far as these elements
are concerned undoubtedly they may be satisfactorily substit-
uted for one another, but oats contain considerably less non-
nitrogenous matter and much more fibre than wheat, while
the fat content of oats is more than double that of wheat.
So far as practical feeding and my recommendations for the
substitution of these grains one for the other are concerned,
I did not advise using them interchangeably on account of
their chemical characteristics. They were recommended to
be fed interchangeably or together for the sake of varying

52 , CHICK BOOK

the monotony of a heavy corn ration and to give a wider
range of food material.

We do not know whether or not Mr. Dudley has made
any extensive investigations throughout the poultry keeping
section of New England, but it is apparent from his state-
ment that he has not visited many of the plants supplying
the larger portion of the best table poultry and best table
eggs to Boston, Providence and New York markets. These
practical plants feed corn, cracked corn, oats and beef scraps
very heavily, and feed a comparatively small amount of
wheat, chiefly on account of the high price of good, sound
feeding wheat. Some of the plants we have visited feed
wheat screenings heavily when they can be obtained at a
sufficiently low price, but in the main throughout New Eng-
land (and this is true of the larger part of the United States
also), yellow corn has been and still is the leading staple
grain for feeding layers and market poultry. If we were
obliged to confine ourselves to one grain we would take good,
sound yellow corn. Fortunately this state of things has
never been forced upon us.

The conditions of the grain market in New England vary
greatly in different towns, even at a short distance removed
from one another. Early in the summer season of. 1908 it
was almost impossible for us to buy of grain dealers in our
nearest large towns corn and oats that were fit to feed, while
the price for a few weeks was so high as to be almost pro-
hibitive. With corn, wheat and oats at practically the same
price per hundred pounds, and the corn and oats of inferior
quality, wheat of course was the cheapest grain to buy. At
the same time in a town 50 miles removed from us the con-
ditions were very different; poultry keepers in that section
were buying oats of exceptionally fine quality at a reason-
able price, and plenty of good corn was to be had at 25 cents
less per hundred pounds than we were asked to pay for a
very inferior article. These conditions in greater or less
degree exist all over our country, and every poultry feeder
must be governed by the local conditions.

The Much Discussed Ration

The criticised ration under discussion is in all probability

our repeated recommendation of a main or staple ration made

“up for hopper feeding practically as follows: Winter feed-
ing—two-thirds corn or a mixture of cracked corn and whole

corn, with one-third éither wheat or oats, or a mixture of

wheat and oats. Summer feeding—two-thirds wheat or

oats, or a mixture of wheat and oats, and one-third corn.

Either amber or hard red wheat recommended, and for oats

the best heavy clipped white oats running 38 to 40 Ibs per

bushel. Corn preferred, sound hard yellow grain, or mixed

yellow and white. White may be substituted for yellow in

sections where yellow corn is not available. These mixtures

are hopper-fed in addition to either free range on grass land

or a liberal allowance of green and vegetable food. Beef

scraps, charcoal, oyster shell and a good grade of grit con-

taining an abundance of lime and silica to be kept before the
birds all the time. Pure water to be supplied constantly.

Occasional variation of this ration with feedings of buck-

wheat in fall and winter, and from one to three per cent sun-

flower seed during fall molting season, also kaffir corn and

barley when available at a sufficiently low price at any season,

Great care must always be taken in purchasing oats not

to obtaina light-weight oat that is practically all hulland waste,
or oats that have been spoiled in curing or otherwise dam-
aged. We have frequently found poultry keepers trying to
feed their birds on light-weight or an inferior black damaged
oat, at the same time expressing the opinion that oats were
not good food and that their fowls did not take kindly to
them. The purchase of such poor grain is only money
thrown away. Again, we have found musty corn, and corn

green with mold, in use, and the poultryman condemning
corn rather than his own judgment in purchasing an inferior
article simply because it was obtainable at a low price.

Our critic referred to above finds that where oats, wheat
and corn are used together that his birds “hoe out” the
greater part of the corn and oats from the hopper in order
to get at the wheat. It is not probable that this condition
prevails at all seasons of the year. We have met a number
of poultrymen and poultrywomen who claim that their fowls
are given certain peculiarities in regard to diet, and it is
evident from the evidence submitted that they pamper their
fowls and encourage these notions by their feeding methods.
One woman told us that her fowls would never eat oats or
barley, could not be induced to. Another that she could
not make her hens eat wheat; a poultryman that his fowls
would not eat raw potatoes or parings of same, as we said
ours did. We had occasion to purchase fowls from these
flocks and after they had been in our yards for a few days
we did not notice that they exhibited any peculiarities so
far as food preferences were concerned. They ate the same
food given the other members of the flock and seemed glad
to get it. Frequently when fowls have not had a certain
kind of grain or other food for a long time they will be a
little shy of it for the first few feedings. This is particularly
true of grains having’a coarse fibrous hull like oats, barley
and buckwheat.

Experiment Stations Found Corn Good

From time to time our experiment stations have at-
tempted to demonstrate the difference in feeding value be-
tween corn and wheat, and a dozen or more years ago many
poultry writers were exceedingly active in condemning corn.
This prejudice against corn has not entirely died out, and
not long ago one of our leading poultry journals made the
statement:

“What au blessing it would be if the price of corn would
remain so high fora term of years that poultry feeders could
not reach an ear of it during that time! The fowls would
be able in three years to build up some bone and muscle
and thus increase their ability to produce eggs. The con-
stant feeding of corn is doing a great injury to the fowls of
the United States.” ;

With all deference to the writer of the above, that state-
ment is a manifest absurdity and we believe born of ignor-
ance of practical poultry feeding. Several investigators at
experiment stations in poultry feeding experiments to deter-
mine the relative feeding value of wheat and corn, were
much surprised to find, when their annual summary was
made, that the heavily corn-fed hens laid not only a greater
number of eggs than those fed heavily on wheat, but that
the eggs were larger and heavier and the fowls were in much
better condition at the end of the test. This experiment
has been repeated many times, but the experiment was not
needed to prove to practical men that corn, meaning good,
sound, hard yellow Indian corn, is a particularly valuable
feeding grain for fowls. As we stated earlier in this article,
the best eggs and poultry in our eastern markets are corn
fed. The faney South Shore chickens which bring upwards
from 40 cents per pound in Boston market during the months
of June and July are raised on an almost exclusive diet of
cracked yellow corn, beef scrap and green food.

During the last two seasons one grower tried to get
away from feeding corn because of the increasing price and
the difficulty then experienced of obtaining good yellow
corn, and in comment on the product of this plant a promi-
nent marketman said to us, “ ’s chickens are not
nearly as good as they were when he raised them on corn
and beef scrap, and this season he can’t touch the top price.
His stuff isn’t up to it.”

CARE AND FOOD 53

So far as practical results go, leading producers of market
eggs and table poultry have demonstrated that a large
percentage of corn in the diet of the fowls is necessary and

desirable in producing a healthy, plump, meaty bird and.

good, large, heavy, yellow-yolked eggs. The heavily wheat-

fed egg is usually pale and not pleasant to look at when
served for table use. Heavily wheat-fed fowls become hard
meated and get out of condition easily and quickly. You
can feed wheat too freely and so make your fowls sick. There
is less danger in corn, but it must be well supplemented with
green or vegetable food.

It would not be fair to say, however, that the experi-
ments conducted thus far by experiment stations are con-
clusive in demonstrating the superiority of either corn or
wheat rations, but they have proved that rations containing
a high percentage of corn are more generally satisfactory to
date than those containing a high percentage of wheat.

The points in favor of a heavy corn diet are: A greater
number of eggs, a lower food cost per egg, better and heavier
eggs, fowls in better condition and of higher average weight
at the close of the season, and an earlier and better molt for

heavily corn-fed fowls than those receiving a high percentage
of wheat.

It is a well-known fact with practical poultry feeders
that you can “‘stall” fowls, that is, get them off their feed or
suffering from indigestion more quickly by heavy wheat
feeding than you can by heavy feeding of corn. It is only
during the season of extremely hot weather, particularly
when fowls are confined in runs where there is very little
shade, that the birds suffer any apparent injury from heavy
corn feeding, and at such times they will usually do better
with a heavy feeding of oats than a heavy feeding of wheat,
in spite of the fact that oats contain more than twice as
much fat as wheat and practically the same percentage of
fat as field corn, the difference in the heating character of
field corn and oats lying apparently in the lower percentage
of contained carbohydrates of the latter grain.

In Canada, in England and in Europe oats are fed
heavily, particularly in the ground form, for the purpose of
fattening fowls for market, the oat-fed product possessing
the light-colored or so-called ‘‘white fat”’ preferred by English
and foreign markets, instead of the yellow corn-fed fat so
popular in most_of our own American markets.

FEEDING CHICKENS BALANCED RATIONS

FROM HATCHING TIME TO MATURITY—SUITABLE FOODS AND QUANTITIES FOR THE
DIFFERENT PERIODS OF GROWTH—FEEDING THE NEWLY HATCHED CHICK—BAL-
ANCING THE RATIONS—RATION FOR GROWTHY YOUNGSTERS—FORCING LATE
HATCHED CHICKS FOR SHOW—ANALYSIS OF FOOD IN COMMON USE BY POULTRYMEN

\ ROBERT H. ESSEX

HICKENS need a far narrower ration than do ma-
C tured fowls—a ration containing considerable ani-
mal food, and this is one of the points I wish to im-
press upon readers. Experience has caused me to realize
its importance. In the early days of Buff Plymouth Rocks,
their combs were toa large, and knowing that meat, even in
small quantities, tended to increase the size of the combs,
I avoided its use as much as possible. By this course the
size of the combs was governed to a certain extent, but what
a difference was visible in the growth of the young birds
which were supplied with animal food and those which were
deprived of it. We.all like to experiment, and it took me
a few years to find out that not only do chicks need animal
food, but they need it in liberal quantities. It has long
been demonstrated that some meat is necessary, but in the
case of young chicks it is not generally fed in sufficient
quantities.

Feeding the Newly Hatched Chicks

Study nature. Wild birds in feeding their young have
preferences, even in the selection of vegetable foods.. Some
prefer weed seeds, others the young buds of trees; many are
partial to fruit and other vegetables, but a very large ma-
jority gather in the flies, bugs, beetles and worms that ven-
ture within their range, and upon these
the young warblers thrive, grow fat and
feathers, and are in a very short time
in show condition. Have you ever noticed
the quills on the nestlings? How fast
they grow. Seldom do we see a chick
feather so fast. The food that produces
feather rapidly is the best food for chick-
ens, and they should be well supplied
with it, at least until they are through their
first molt. Such food will be chiefly animal

food and will compose a very narrow ration. Homemade drinking fountain for little chicks

*

It is well known that the yolk of the egg is absorbed
by the chick before and after hatching. That is nature’s
food and must be good. Is it a wide or narrow ration? It
is extremely narrow. One part protein to three parts fat is
considered very narrow, but this first food of a chicken is
even more so. It is composed of one part protein to about
two parts fat (15.7:33.3), and please remember it is about
one-half water—one-half water. Milk is another natural
food for the young, and just as good for chickens as for
babes. How is it proportioned—3.3 protein to 4 fat. Add
the starchy contents, and approximately it reaches the pro-
portion of 1:2. Quite narrow, is it not? Yet the young live
and thrive upon it.

Nature teaches us, therefore, that the food of young
chickens should contain about one part protein to two parts
carbohydrates and fat. This is from two to three parts
narrower than is generally advocated, but it has given bet-
ter results than any other I have tried and my experiments
have been not a few. Then, too, as we have shown nature
upholds it.

Do not feed hard boiled eggs in large quantities. Such
food may be balanced correctly, but it is indigestible for
the very young chicks, and remember that of all foods only
the portion digested provides nutriment. If you must feed
it, let it be well broken. Let the par-
ticles be thoroughly separated by the use
of stale bread crumbs, then nearly the
whole of it will be digested. It is far
better, however, to use uncooked eggs.
Mix them with bread crumbs, shorts,
cornmeal or all of these, so that the food
shall not be sticky or pasty. Use some
bran if you choose, but not too much,
and if you are tempted to add a little
clear sand, don’t be timid about it. The
shorts or middlings may be found too

54 ,

sticky; bread crumbs are best for the purpose and if you
have only a few chicks it will be well to separate the yolk
from the white of egg, using only the former and so avoid
mixing too much at a time. This refers, of course, to the
first week. After that the chicks will take care of it all.
Steel cut or granulated oats make a good food for the second
week, also millet seed.

As the chicks become older—say from two weeks of
age, beef scraps, dried blood, animal meal or fine ground
green bone may be used with benefit. These foods contain
in large proportion the protein we want, and their use en-
ables the feeder to make a ration suitable for chicks. Care
must be taken that too much of this is not fed at first. Some
of these foods are too strong for young chicks, and I use
them at this age only when I can’t get fresh meat—liver,
etc., etc.

Without the aid of beef scraps or one of the other ani-
mal foods mentioned the eastern duck growers would never
have been able to place ducklings upon the market in such
desirable condition as they do. Their growth would not be
so fast, their flesh would be less tender and the ducklings less
plump. This means that demand would decrease and prices
would be lower. Just so with young chickens. If intended

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A Closed Roosting Coop for Cold Weather.

for market as broilers they must have animal food to hasten
growth and keep them in health. The forcing to which
they are subject would run them off their legs in a short
time if their food consisted exclusively of grain either whole
or ground. A most desirable feature of these animal foods
is that their protein contents produce flesh without an ex-
cess of fat. The breeder of exhibition stock will appreciate
the importance of this fact, especially if the cockerels which
he has been forcing for early fall shows give signs of leg
weakness. The food they have been getting has produced
too much fat and not enough muscle and flesh. A change
of food—the addition of animal protein to the ration—goes
to the root of the trouble and in a short time the birds are
again ‘‘on their feet.”

Animal protein works wonders with fowls, and while it
is so plentiful in green bone, dried blood, animal meal and
beef scrap, etc., and considering that these foods are so
easily obtainable, no breeder of fowls can afford to be with-
out a suppy. In animal meal and beef scraps there is
nearly as much protein as there are carbohydrates and fat.
In green bone there is about half as much, and in dried
blood there is little else than protein.

How chickens delight in a little crisp lettuce, grass or
clover. Provide it if possible; otherwise cook some carrots,
cabbage, turnips, beets or mangles for them, or let them
pick away at the raw roots, or a few raw potatoes. Clover
is now sold in such convenient forms (both cut and ground)
that no breeder should be without it if he has any difficulty
in providing green food. Lettuce and clover contain a large
proportion of protein.

CHICK BOOK

Let your chicks have enough food, but do not stuff
them. Little chicks will begin to ery for you when they dis-
cover that you are their attendant, and if you are at all soft
hearted it will be hard to refuse the continued stuffing they
cry for. Feed little and often. Chicks are never so happy
as when scratching in shallow litter for little crumbs or seeds.
Will they do this if overfed? No. Limit the food and keep
them singing, but let them have enough to repay them for
their work.

Some breeders keep one variety of food continually be-
fore their chicks and a number of them are successful poul-
try raisers. This seems contradictory following immedi-
ately after the suggestion to feed little and often, but it is
not so strange as it appears at first glance. If one kind of
food is kept continually before them, the chicks partake of
it only occasionally as they need it. If they have, been fed
on the plan first suggested—little and often, it is likely
they will gorge themselves when first allowed access to
large quantities of food, but if they have been used to it,
they simply nibble and run, and although their crops are
never empty, neither are they overloaded. If such a method
be adopted the food to be kept before them must always be
of the same variety. Cracked corn is generally used. A
change from corn to wheat would be an inducement to over-
feed. It would tempt their appetites and induce them to
overload their crops. We do not advocate this method of
feeding, but if it is adopted, as it sometimes is for a time-
saver, the other food supply should be made up largely of
protein. , :

Balancing the Rations for Chicks

The reader has now been duly impressed with the value
of protein and its use in the ration, and we will give an
example of balancing the ration so that anybody with any
foods will know how to go about it.

Following along the lines of our argument the ration
shall possess about one part protein to two parts carbohy-
drates and fat, and is intended for newly hatched chicks.

Our first chick food is egg, both white and yolk well
beaten. In this the proportion of protein and carbohy-
drates is about equal.

This we mix with bread so as to render it comparatively
dry. We will assume that we have a flock of chicks that
require about a pound of dry matter each meal. Dry mat-
ter is the total bulk of food less water or moisture. In one
pound of eggs, that is the edible portion, there is twenty-
seven per cent of dry matter that is made up of thirteen
per cent protein and twelve per cent fat, in addition to ash,
etc. In a pound of bread crumbs we find eighty-eight per
cent of dry matter made up of eleven per cent protein,
seventy-five per cent fat, etc. If we add the total amount
of protein and fat contained in the eggs and bread, we find
we have twenty-four parts protein and eighty-seven parts
fat; that is, about three and a half times as much fat as
protein, the actual figures being 3:6. The nutritive ratio
of this mixture would be 1:3.6. To make the ration nar-
rower we might reduce the bread crumbs to three-quarters
of a pound, but that would make the mixture too “pasty.”
We will therefore leave it as before and instead of securing
the narrower ration by that means we feed in addition a
little meat. Take beef scraps for instance. These on an
average contain about ninety-three per cent dry matter, of
which forty-five per cent is protein and forty-seven per cent
is carbohydrates. The protein and carbohydrates being
about equal it will need only a little beef scraps to bring
the nutritive ratio down to 1:2, the ration we have sug-
gested before as being a desirable one for chicks.

We do not advise the use of beef scraps at this early age,
but having the analysis before us, we used it as an example.

CARE AND FOOD 55

Fresh meat will analyze much the same, so far as protein
contents are concerned, and should be used in preference.
If a little more bread is necessary to mix with the egg, it
may be used.

After the chickens are one or two weeks old the egg
food will become scarcer or perhaps too expensive and it
becomes necessary to have a substitute. We wish to make
the change of food without making too great a change in
the ratio. In looking around for a suitable food we think
of cracked wheat. One pound of cracked wheat contains
about eighty-nine per cent dry matter, of which .075 is pro-
tein and .700 carbohydrates. Once more we take beef scraps
to be fed in conjunction with it. We have given the amount
of protein and carbohydrates in beef scraps. Now add the
total to that contained in wheat and we have .525 protein
and 1.170 carbohydrates and fats. Dividing the latter by
the former gives us a ration of 1:2.2.

Finely cracked corn may be substituted for the wheat.
In which case the following result would be attained:

Dry Matter Protein Carbohydrates
One pound corn..-.............- 89 062 -752
One pound beef scraps--.... .93 45 AT
: .512 1.222
Nutritive ratio.-- 1:2.4,

By the time the chickens have been fed this way for
another week we reduce the proportion of beef scraps to
one-half, which, in connection with cracked wheat, gives us
a nutritive ratio of 1:3.2. This is a very satisfactory ration
until the chickens are three weeks old.

As far back as we can remember we have known eggs
and bread crumbs to be a first food for cage birds and for
chicks, and now having examined the composition of these
articles of food, what does it prove? Simply that the “old
woman’s nonsense” of eggs and bread crumbs is scientific-
ally and naturally correct and that, knowingly or unknow-
ingly, our grandmothers have been following nature’s way
as closely as possible.

If it is not desirable to go to the trouble of figuring out
a ration, the easier way is to choose from the list such a
variety of foods as will give a’ration near enough for general
purposes. It should be remembered that the larger the pro-
portion of carbohydrates and fat, the wider the ration. If
you wish to make the ration narrower take a food that pos-
sesses little carbohydrates and fat; bran, for instance, is
one of the best of foods, but too bulky and indigestible for
use except with a more concentrated food.

In this connection we must warn the reader to use very
little, if any, cottonseed meal. We have before informed
readers that it is very indigestible. Linseed meal is more
easily digested, but it, too, should be used sparingly. —

Remember to give the chickens all the green food they
need. There is nothing better for them than clover, lettuce
or cabbage.

From the age of three weeks or a month to the age of
two months, nearly any grain may be fed that is suitable in
size; that is, anything except whole corn. I generally feed
hulled oats, finely cracked corn, millet and wheat, the greater
the variety the better. If the fowls are on a good sized
range they will provide themselves with nearly enough animal
food. At this period the basis of the ration is wheat. I
feed as much wheat as all the other grains combined.

Ration for Growthy Youngsters
Early hatched birds cause little worry, little trouble,
and it is-a pleasure to see them grow.
An extensive run where shade is available is desirable.
A grass run, an alfalfa patch, a clover or cornfield are alike
ideal poultry runs and provide an abundance of insects that
coax the rangy youngsters to exercise while furnishing them

e

with a substitute for meat. Chickens from two to five
months old gain size and health under such conditions. If
they are on a farm where range is unlimited they need only
a little additional food morning and evening, the variety
depending upon what the fields afford. Where the range is
less extensive it provides fewer insects and little or no grain.

We will assume that green food is plentiful.

Of what then shall the ration consist? Such foods as
promote the formation of muscle and bone,—that means
size; flesh and fat—that means vigor.

What shall the foundation of the ration be now?

Oats.

“But oats are so seldom fed,” you say, ‘particularly in
sections where corn is plentifully grown.”

Where oats have been tried they are seldom discarded.
They are the best grain I know to put size on a fowl, and
they have formed the foundation of my ration for growing
stock for many years, and my strain is noted for its size.

To form feathers which are continually being renewed
in fowls of this age we require more animal matter than can
be secured on the range. It is better to give more rather
than less at such a stage and a ration of about one part pro-
tein to four parts carbohydrates is none too narrow. It may

Ea
E4
b

An Open Roosting Coop for Warm Weather.

be composed of the following each day: One feed of oats,
one feed of wheat and one of meat or cut bone and corn.
For the purpose of forming the ration we will take one
pound of each with exception of meat and corn, of which we
give half pound each. More or less than these quantities
may be used, depending upon the number of fowls to be fed,
but the proportion will be the same.

Upon examination of the list of foods given herewith
we find that in a pound of oats there is .092 protein and .532
carbohydrates and fat; in a pound of wheat .075 and .700 re-
spectively; in a half pound of corn .035 and .392, and in a
half pound of beef scraps .225 and .235 respectively. To
illustrate, we will add these quantities:

Protein Carbohydrates
and Fats
One pound oats-_ .092 .532
One pound wheat_ .075 -700
One-half pound corn_--........ - .035 .392
One-half pound beef scraps-.-................ 225 235
427 1.859

Upon dividing the carbohydrates and fat by the protein
we find the proportion of these important constituents to be
one part protein to 4.35 parts carbohydrates and fat. This
is a little wider than we intended, but it is near enough for
all practical purposes, even if we did not consider the green
food and insects secured in the run during the day. The
addition of these will bring the ration down to the desired
point.

The foods composing the ration will be changed fre-
quently with the exception of the oats. We will use oats

56 CHICK BOOK

every day. Sometimes we may substitute buckwheat for
wheat or corn, at other times barley, etc., etc. Occasionally
we fed a mash in which we use considerable bran. This
will assist in keeping the daily ration narrow even though
we may feel it wise to give a feed of peas or barley or an
extra supply or corn (these grains containing large propor-
tions of carbohydrates and fat).

With the example and analysis of foods here given there
will be no difficulty forming a ration from such foods as are
plentiful. Prices vary, as we have said, and the variation
should be accepted as a hint to change the food. The fowls
will not object.

During the month immediately preceding a show the
birds may be fed as suggested for late hatched chickens,
but unless they are under weight there will be no necessity
for feeding them after the usual evening meal, which is
given before sundown.

Forcing Late Hatched Chicks for Show ¢
Both the fancier and the breeder of poultry for market
are well on the way to successful feeding when they have

realized that different foods produce different conditions and.

have decided to select such foods as will aid them in secur-
ing the condition desired. It is clear that a change of food
is necessary when the chick merges from its babyhood, takes
on a new suit of feathers and becomes a full-fledged young-
ster. Every poultryman we believe sees the necessity for a
change of food at that period, but the majority are governed
simply by the knowledge that the chicken is then equipped
with better means of digestion and can do with less costly
and more bulky food. True it is that in most cases the
breeder desires rapid growth and generally provides, or at
least intends to provide, that which will induce it. Is it not
in addition necessary to consider what requirement the fowl
is intended to fulfill? Take the exhibitor, for instance. His
fowls are destined for the show room, yet this does not mean
that they shall all be fed alike or in equal quantities. Some
must be prepared for the early fall and winter shows; others
for the later winter shows. If the exhibitor is blessed with
incubators to hatch early chicks, brooders to accommodate
them, and experience that enables him to carry them health-
ily through the early spring when conditions are unnatural,
then indeed he will feed his fall exhibits as he will his later
show birds, because there is little or no necessity for forcing
them; but if his chicks are late hatched, he must adopt heroic
measures to “bring them along’ if he would gain a place
among the successful exhibitors. These late hatched, forced
youngsters seldom attain the size of those which are fed for
growth and vigor and allowed to develop size before putting
on the gloss and finish for the show room.

What method of feeding is practiced to hurry these
young candidates along?

A ration composed of animal matter supplemented by
fat forming foods; and during the closing stage the addition
of foods known to contain considerable oil. The first is in-
tended to hasten maturity; the second to put on weight, and
the third to put on the finishing touches—the gloss to the
feathers. Bulky vegetable food is added to keep the diges-
tive organs in good working order, and frequently condi-
ments are given to coax the fowl to eat more and more of
the concentrated food. Frequent change of food is neces-
sary so that the fowl shall not go “off its feed.” Few foods
are too expensive to be procured at this season, for winning
in the fall means sales for the winter shows.

In the days when the writer was exhibiting—where the
winters stole well into the spring and the big fall show
seemed to advance to meet the summer—the principal event
being held in August—many were the rations tried, and
.feeding sometimes extended well into the evening hours.
~“Little and often’’ was found to be a good motto, and only

°

at the last meal (about 9 p. m.) were the fowls coaxéd to eat
more than they wanted, then they got the tempting tit-bits
which had been saved for the last moment—scraps of meat
green cut bone, bits of bread, oatmeal porridge (well sugared),
cooked rice, cooked potatoes—fed by lamplight.

Result: Winners at the fall shows; delicate birds
later on.

These fowls were not allowed extensive range. They-
were confined in yards about eight by fifty feet, in flocks of
eight .or ten. Their roosting pens were kept scrupulously
clean; wooden floors well sprinkled with sand every week,
and droppings raked every day. They were confined to
the house during inclement weather.

Tame? Sure! A little training in good sized coops
built upon the walls above the roosts—handling every day—
induced a confidence in their attendants that made all the
difference during show week.

The daily food during these forcing days consisted of
mash early in the morning (a small amount), wheat, oats or
barley or buckwheat in litter at about ten a. m. and two
p. m. and corn at six p.m. . Sunflower seeds were frequently
given in place of the barley, wheat or oats, and during the
two weeks preceding the show, hemp seed was provided, or
linseed meal mixed with the mash. Cabbage was hung in
the pens continually; grit of course always before them—
sometimes put in their mash; and they had all the milk they
could drink.

We are enabled to present analyses of foods that have
been made by experiment stations throughout the country.
First it must be understood that analyses differ slightly be-
cause the foods analyzed differ in composition. It would be
extremely difficult to procure two samples of wheat that
contain exactly equal proportions of protein, carbohydrates
and fat; similarly with regard to other vegetable formation.
This applies also to animal matter. The quantities given
therefore are usually average quantities, yet are sufficiently
exact for practical purposes.

Proportion of Protein and Carbohydrates and Fat in Foods
Used by Poultrymen

Digestible Matter in One Pound.
a ge hierar are ge lary es a LQ, 2
e digestibility is estimated |Zm2s| -3 Sea bt poe
from that of other similar feed- BA ial 2 o Sey $ a3
ing stuffs). a S.8 fs Ses a Ba
a a
ae GRAINS eae | eos)
ea ‘ 075) } (700) | .775 |(1:9.3
Corn 912 .070 784 854 eve
Oats. -890 .092 -532 .624 | 1:5.8
Barley 891 -087 962 79 1:8,0
Buckwheat. ---......-.eeeccecceccecceeeceeeee 874 | (.078) | (.548) {678} (1:7.0)
Rye. 884 | (.064) | (.703) | (.767) |(1:11.0)
Peas. .856 -188 535 -723 | 1:2.8
Sorghum Seed 873 | (.054) | (.668) | (.722) |(1:13.3)
BRANS, MIDDLIN
Bree El ae ieee a 10 454 574 | 1:3.8
ran (rye i 115 488 6 24.
Middlings (wheat).......... .879 ore rt (693) iru
Middlings (buckwheat). 868 | (.237) | (505) | (.742) |(1:2.1
hors (wheat | ovakcscenauecenures aunts 892 iz? 586 708 | 1:4.8
Corn Meal .850 .055 711 766 | 1:12.9
Corn and Cob Meal... 849 .044 665 -709 | 1:15.1
Barley Meal .881 074 668 -762 | 1:9.3
Pea Meal .095 .168 531 -699 | 1:3.2
Linseed Meal .899 .289 449 -738 | 1:1.6
Cotton Seed Meal 918 372 437 809 | 1:1.2
ae MANU Sh CIURED FEEDS vad
en Fee 19 633 827 | 1:3.3
moe Meal 323 725 | 1.048 | 1:2.2
ominy, Chop........... aes ‘ (071) | (795) | (866) |(1:11.2)
Brewers’ Grains ated H .168 ATL 639 | 1:2.8
Brewers’ Grains (wet)... .243 | 043 | 1128 | 1171 | 1:3:0
Malt Sprouts 898 186 403 589 | 1:2.2
_ +eUERY VEGETABLE FooDs Bik ie
(0) : { .157 -166 | 1:17.4
Carrots. -114 | (.009) | (.089) | (.098) | 1:9.9
Beets (Sugar) 135 .016 .109 125 | 1:6.8
Mangel- urzels .091 O11 054 065 | 1:4.9
Rutabagas. *114 -010 -085 095 o| 1:8.5
Red Clover ‘380 | co2m) | C13) | C88 [dEE
. A 5 18 25.
Alfalfa 916 104 ‘BO Cp eeu
Butteraine sana 082 028 051
' ‘ : 050 | . :
Milk...... 197 | ‘031 | ‘137 | “fog Lida
Skim Milk .095 .035 .057 092 | 1:16
Whey 070 | .008 | .059 | ‘067 | 1:7/4

ADVOCATES HOPPER FEEDING

RECOMMENDS FEEDING YOUNG,

OLD AND LAYING STOCK BY MEANS OF

HOPPER, AS HE BELIEVES IT TO BE THE CHEAPEST, CLEANEST, EASIEST
AND BEST WAY TO FEED POULTRY—DIRECTIONS FOR BUILDING HOPPER

CHARLES WALKER

F I were to enumerate the many advantages of feeding
with hoppers it would take more time and space than

I intend this article to occupy. Having read so much
about hopper feeding, I came to the conclusion that I should
try it for myself and I may say, right now, that I have
changed into a hopper feeding advocate.

The first thing to do is to get a good hopper,
which is not so easy a thing as some would have
you believe. I saw some hoppers that they use in
the east and read about others, but I could not find
any that just met my-requirements. I wanted a
hopper that you could leave inside or out of doors
if one wanted to do so, therefore, I made one
which, to my notion, just about filled the bill.
It is rain, dirt and waste proof.

In using hoppers you save time in feeding.
All you have to do is to fill up your hopper once a b=

week or so, according to the size of the flock which ae

is feeding from one hopper. It is a money saver
because there is no possible chance for the grain
to be wasted, nor can the chickens walk and jump
around on.the food as they now do when the grain
or mash is fed on the ground or in troughs. This
is quite an item as most poultrymen buy their grain and
grain costs money.

A hopper is always clean and on the job and you can
sleep longer in the morning and feel assured that your chick-
ens are having their food. They do not have to wait for
you to feed them as in the old way. You keep water before
them constantly and they drink only what they need. Why
should we not keep food before them all the time? It seems
to me that with hopper feeding the chicks do not eat so
much as in the old way, because now every kernel of grain
is used (eaten) and there is no waste.

How to Make a Hopper

To make the hopper take three boards eight or nine
inches wide and thirty inches long, one-half inch thick, and
two boards ten inches long, same width as the thirty inch
boards, and one inch thick, as these two must stand the
most strain. Saw to a point on one end to make the roof

FEED HOPPER READY FOR USE .

fit. To support the floor of hopper take two strips, same
width, about 1 by 1 by 8 and nail one inch from the straight
end of the boards which you have cut to a point. Take one
of the large boards and nail it on the strips you nailed to
the end boards. You now have the floor of the hopper, also

roof ends.

: ———— em
To FILL LIFT ROOF WHICH IS DETACHABLE

View 1—The hopper as it appears when completed and filled with grain or

any other food waich is to be fed dry.

Take the two remaining thirty inch boards and nail
together, forming a half square, which is your roof. Now
take four strips two inches wide and thirty inches long and
nail two to the top just under ‘the roof and two even with
the floor of the hopper. This will keep the grain from falling
out and also gives something to which to fasten the up and
down strips, through which the chickens stick their heads to
eat. You can nail strips as close or as far apart as you wish.
J nail mine three-fourths of an inch apart, which seems about
the right size for small chicks, and one and one-fourth inches
for older stock. Your hopper is about ready except the in-
side boards or self-feeder. By studying view No. 2 you can
nail in two boards on a slant so they will reach to about three-
fourths of an inch from the floor of the hopper and be about
one-fourth inch apart at bottom, and your hopper is com-
plete. Use only hardwood lumber if obtainable, as it is less
liable to warp. By using a coat of paint the hopper will

last for years.

: HH The hopper will be so that the
chickens can eat from either side if
built according to directions and it

will feed your flock until it is empty.

You have no waste, no worry, no ex-
penditure of time and the food is dry
and clean all the time. This hopper
may be left outside or anywhere you
care to put it. “I believe that the
sooner you begin to use a hopper the
: better it will be for you and that you
will never regret making the change.

It goes without saying that you want

St

> gt
SIDE VIEW

END VIEW

View 2—The end view shows the feeding boards as they are in the hopper.

the feeding boards are put in place.

i the best, cheapest, cleanest and easi-
est way to feed. My advice to all is:
Use hoppers in feeding your young,
old and laying stock.

Side view before

58 CHICK BOOK

FORMULAS FOR DRY MASHES

We give below some of the best grain mixtures or dry
mashes which have been used and found satisfactory by
men of experience. These are to be fed in hoppers and the
fowls should also be given grain thrown in the litter to be
scratched for so as to induce exercise.

Dr. Woods’ Mash for Leghorns

20 ibs.
10 ibs.
10 ibs.
10 tbs.
20 ibs.

5 ibs.
10 Ibs.

wheat bran

wheat middlings

corn meal ;

gluten feed

best cut clover

old process linseed meal
good beef scrap.

The A. F. Hunter Dry Mash for Rocks and Wyandottes

200 ibs.
100 tbs.
100 ibs.
100 ibs.
100 tbs.

wheat bran
corn meal
wheat middlings
beef scrap
gluten meal.

Halbach Mash for White Rocks

50% corn meal
20% bran

20% middlings
10% beef scrap.

FRONT SIDE SECTION VIEW

Diagram of Mr, H. Heidenhain’s food hopper made from five gallon oil can.

Another Mash for American Varieties

15 tbs.
20 Ibs.
20 Ibs.
10 Ibs.
20 Ibs.

5 Ibs.

corn meal

wheat bran

wheat middlings

good beef scrap

best cut clover or alfalfa meal
oil meal.

Dr. Woods Dry Mash for Chicks

Equal parts by measure of

Wheat bran

Corn meal

Leaves sifted from cut clover

Fancy wheat middlings.

To this mixture, one-half pound fine ground best quality
beef scrap. Be sure the scrap is pure and sweet. Cheap,
poor scrap is dangerous and will cause bowel trouble. If

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not sure it is fresh, omit it and feed two or three times a
week, a little fresh beef scraped from bone. Keep the mash
in front of them at all times and feed chick feed in litter.
Also keep charcoal, grit and fresh water before them.
Dry Mash for Chicks Eight Weeks Old
200 ibs. coarse wheat bran
100 tbs. fancy wheat middlings
200 tbs. best dry cut clover
100 ibs. yellow gluten feed
100 Ibs. yellow corn meal
50 tbs. linseed meal (old process)
100 ibs. best fine-ground beef scrap.
Dump all of above on clean board floor and thoroughly
mix with scoop shovel. Keep in sacks or bins and feed in
food hopper to growing stock or laying hens.

CORNELL FEEDING RATIONS AS GIVEN
BY PROF. RICE

Grain Mixture for Laying Hens and Growing Pullets
100 tbs. oats
200 ibs. corn
200 tbs. wheat.

Fattening Mash
30 tbs. beef scrap
100 tbs. corn meal
100 ibs. oatmeal
100 tbs. ground buckwheat.

Dry Mash Mixture for Laying Hens and Growing Pullets
25 tbs.

125 ibs.

150 ibs.

150 ibs.

75 Ibs.

oil meal

beef scrap
wheat middlings
corn meal

bran.

Grain Mixture: for Chicks
100 tbs. oatmeal
200 ibs. cracked corn (fine)
300 tbs. cracked wheat.

Dry Mash Mixture for Chicks
100 tbs. wheat middlings ,
100 tbs. corn meal
100 tbs. beef scrap
200 ibs. bran.

Prof. Rice claims that oyster shell is very essential for
laying hens.

A PLAIN BALANCED FOOD

MANY POULTRY KEEPERS, VETERANS AS WELL AS NOVICES,
WILL BE PLEASED TO READ “UNCLE IKE'S” PLAIN DIRECTIONS
FOR PREPARING AND FEEDING BALANCED POULTRY RATION

I. K. FELCH

LL statistics relating to grain are based on one hun-
dred pounds, the per cent of ash, protein, carbo-
hydrates and fat being computed on the one hun-

dred pounds of grain.

Many hundreds of people who keep fowls do not under-
stand what this means. What they want first to know is
the proper kind of food to give the best result in egg pro-
duction. A generous egg production is a sure sign that the
fowls are in a most favorable and healthy condition. A
balanced ration is one that contains one and one-half to
two per cent of ash, which is the bone forming agent, twenty-
one per cent protein, which is the muscle growing and egg
producing agent, sixty per cent of carbohydrates and twenty
per cent of fat, these last two being the material on which

CARE AND FOOD 59

the fowl lives while she produces the eggs, and the waste
material.

We cannot manage to obtain this combination in grains
alone, but have to feed meat and vegetable matter in con-
junction with the grain to balance our ration.

How to do this with corn, wheat, oats and barley, with
beef scrap, potatoes, cabbage and mangle wurzel beets, is
what nine-tenths of those who are getting a living from hens
care to know. Let me tell you in a nutshell how to do it.

A Morning Mash

Take twenty pounds of corn, twenty pounds of wheat
bran, twenty pounds first-class oats and ten pounds of bar-
ley and have it ground into a fine meal. To this add twenty
pounds of best ground beef scrap or dried blood. Mix the
whole well and use it for the morning mash. Pour scalding
water on it at night and keep it covered until morning. If
it is then wet and soggy add wheat bran until it is a warm
crumbly mash. Give to the birds what they will eat up
clean. Its warming influence will send the females to the

nest and nine-tenths of the eggs will be secured before noon.

Hang cabbages and mangle wurzel beets up in the coops
to provide the vegetable substance for the fowls and to give
them something to work on during the day.

It is an excellent thing to throw a handful of millet seed
into the scratching material in their open sheds to keep
them busy until nearly 4 o’clock, then open your dry-mash
feed boxes which should be filled with a mixture of cracked
corn, oats and barley and let them fill their crops for the
night. Keep before them all the time charcoal, grit and
seashells so they may help themselves as they please.

In the absence of cabbage and beets in the winter time,
give steamed alfalfa or clover meal; in the summer when the
birds have the run of the fields they get all the vegetable
matter they need and if there are not too many of them to
the acre they get a large share of the necessary animal food,
in the shape of worms and insects, and you can, therefore,
feed less of the ground scraps.

Give the birds plenty of fresh air, free from direct drafts,
and success will reward your labor and care.

THE REARING OF CHICKS IS CONSIDERED

BY PROF. BROWN IN THIS ARTICLE, GIVING AN ENGLISHMAN’S IMPRESSIONS OF AMERICAN AND
CANADIAN POULTRY PLANTS AND POULTRY METHODS—PLANS OF BROODING, WITH SUGGESTIONS

EDWARD BROWN, F. L. S.

HON. SECRETARY OF THE NATIONAL POULTRY ORGANIZATION SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN
AND IRELAND, LECTURER ON AVICULTURE AT UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, READING, ENGLAND

[NOTE:—Proj. Brown visited the United States and Canada for the purpose of inspecting well known poultry plants

and investigating American and Canadian poultry methods,

In this article, written exclusively for the Reliable Poultry

Journal, he tells of what he saw and learned and makes comparison with English or European methods employed in the
successful production of poultry and eggs along practical lines.—Edittor.]

the same all the world over, and if we were content
with that system, which probably would be the
case if it were capable of meeting modern requirements, very
little would need to be said. We could permit the hens to
exercise their functions of hatching and rearing just as they
thought fit, and would not need to take either the trouble
or care involved when we introduce artificial methods. The
fact is we cannot improve upon Nature, but unfortunately
natural methods do not meet modern conditions.
It is an arguable point whether we are altogether wise
in making demands upon poultry which it was not intended
they should meet, but there

TT" method of rearing chickens by natural means is

in America than is the case in older countries. The’ spirit
of Americans to which I have already referred is to try new
methods, but even in the States I found that the old ways
were still followed, and in the lower part of Rhode Island it
was a revelation after all that had been said with regard to
American poultry-keeping to find the farmers of that section
depending almost entirely upon hens for hatching and rearing.
So far as I could learn there are very few incubators or brood-
ers employed there, and I think that they are scarcely needed.
The race of fowls which they keep, the Rhode Island Red, is
an excellent sitter and mother. Hatching is merely to secure
perpetuation of the race of egg layers, and there is no need

to bring out the chickens

is the fact. So far as this
aspect of the question is
concerned I saw nothing in
America which was at all
new nor did I expect to
see anything. Perhaps
there were slight differences
to be found here and there
in the arrangements for
rearing the chickens in the
shape of coops and in the
systems of feeding, but
generally speaking ‘there
was nothing that we have
not also followed in Europe,
and tried with equal success.

It was pretty evident,
however, that taking the
country ‘as a whole, prob-
ably the natural meth-
ods are less employed

BROODER AT READING COLLEGE FARM, ENGLAND

very early. Hence the
fowls kept serve all require-
ments, and when that is so
there is no reason why the
owners should alter their
methods. Of course this
system has its limitations.
I am inclined to think,
and there was plenty of
proof in America to justify
me in the belief, that the
experience which we have
had is also duplicated on
your side, namely, that
increased fecundity of hens
tends to the reduction of
the maternal instinct. I
was told that Rhode Island
Reds do not average more.
than 100 eggs per annum.
Probably it would be found

60 CHICK BOOK

that if the breeders of the Little Compton district by
trap nesting or any other method increased the prolificacy
of their hens by fifty per cent, they would be compelled to
adopt artificial methods of hatching and rearing. So long
as they do not interfere with things as they are they will
probably have no need to purchase incubators and_brooders.

Natural Methods Not Sufficient

So much can be admitted, but we have now to face the
question whether the system which is so successful in Rhode
Island would meet the requirements for the supply of eggs
and chickens. J venture to say that it would be an utter
failure if we had to depend upon it entirely, in fact modern
development in poultry keeping would have been impossible
had we been restricted to natural methods. In the first place
we should have been compelled to maintain breeds of fowls
which would be unsuitable under many circumstances, and
could not attempt to meet the requirements of the market
at several seasons of the year. Whether we like it or not,
here is the fact that artificial systems have come to stay, and
our object is not to go back to the natural methods, but to
make the artificial as perfect as possible, even thought supple-
mentary to the other.

When incubators were first introduced into Britain there
was a very common saying, namely, “Yes, you can hatch
artificially, but can you rear?” and it is an undoubted fact
that the artificial rearing of both chickens and ducklings was
where the whole thing broke down in the early days. My
own experience was that of many others. We might hatch
a batch of chickens, but the number reared would be com-
paratively small. At one time it seemed as if this could not
be overcome, and it took many years before it was accomp-
lished.

The first brooder I worked was known as the old Ches-
hire, and that is now thirty years ago. I give here.an illus-
tration of it. It consisted of a low box sloping from front
to back, about 3 ft. long and 21 in, wide. In this was in-
serted a tank 1 in, in thickness, in which was placed, 9 in.
from each side—the tank being 18 in. wide—a strip of tin
the full length with perforations at each end to allow a
proper circulation of water. At the back the tank was
dropped to 3 in. in thickness, and in this a tunnel was made

—

SSP

ARING § MOTHER

FRENCH FOSTER MOTHER AND PARK

A—Park for chickens. B—Tap for emptying cistern. C—Tap for

supplying water. D—Curtain to mother. F—Air hole.

with two chimneys, 12 and 24 in, from the end. The tank
itself was built into a cover of woodwork, and embedded with
non-conducting material to conserve the heat. To prevent
the backs of the chickens going against the metal a wooden
frame was made to slide under, on which was tacked strong
canvas to which were stitched pieces of flannel cut to repre-
sent the feathers of a hen. The heat was obtained from a
benzoline Jamp which had a tube about 20 in. long, and this
was inserted in the tunnel referred to above.

Such an appliance was only suitable for use under cover,
and the trouble involved in preventing the lamp being blown
out, in avoiding smoking, was very great indeed. Still it
was a beginning, and in the first season when I used it I
reared something like 90 per cent of chickens in it, but then
I should hardly like to say how much trouble was involved.
To the majority of poultry-keepers it was useless, as the
labor was excessive for the results obtained.

After that abrooder was introduced in France which
consisted of a large tank of water placed in a wooden box,

CHESHIRE FOSTER MOTHER

and the birds nestled in the compartment below. This was
certainly better, but this again was only suitable for use
under cover, and on a limited scale. The heat was main-
tained by drawing off a portion of the cooled water and re-
placing it by hot water afterwards. That was very interest-
ing to those who only wanted to rear a few chickens, but
useless for larger operations.

The next step was when what is called the ‘“‘Westmeria”’
brooder was introduced. This consisted of what was prac-
tically a small house with wheels at one end and handles at
the other. It was well built, had a sleeping compartment
heated by a hurricane lamp, and a covered run, and it is not
too much to say that the introduction of this machine solved
the problem. The heat could be well maintained, and in
spite of the fact that there was a certain amount of danger
from fumes in the sleeping compartment, yet this was small
when care was taken, and as it could be used in the open
we then saw the possibilities of greater developments.

From this last described type there have evolved most
of the different forms of brooders now in use of English make,
notably the ‘““Hearson’”’ and others, which, whilst they may
be an improvement in details are practically upon the same
lines as the original ‘‘Westmeria.”’ Until the American ma-
chine became known to us we had practically nothing new
after the introduction of the ‘‘Hearson,” but the “Cyphers”
Style A brooders at once opened the way to a further develop-
ment. Not that I think they were any better or in some
cases as good as some of our English brooders, so far as the
sleeping compartment was concerned, but there was a great
advantage in the provision of a scratching section.

My object is not, however, to give a history of this ques-
tion, but to indicate briefly the steps of evolution. It must
be remembered that success in rearing at once placed artifi-
cial hatching upon a different plane. Until brooders could
be made practical the demand for incubators was necessarily
small. The moment the former proved a success, then the
other followed as a matter of course. A further point is
that the bringing of these appliances to a measure of per-
fection led to a demand in America for bigger things, and
one of the points which I looked forward to with great in-
terest was the opportunity of inspecting some of the plants
upon which continuous brooders are in operation.

Individual Brooders a Success

Both in America and England individual brooders have
proved a great success, but this was not accomplished with-
out overcoming many difficulties. Below I say something
as to comparisons between the two systems, but it must be
realized that at any rate in Europe we had to face a very

CARE AND FOOD 61

serious condition of things ere even individual brooders at-
tained their present satisfactory condition. It was all right
as long as only two or three were used, but the moment we
came to handle the operations upon a large scale the whole
aspect of affairs was altered.

I have practiced artificial rearing for more than thirty
years, but until eight years ago upon a comparatively small
scale. In the year 1898, when the College Poultry Farm
was established at Theale, we commenced handling the work

‘upon a larger basis, building a brooder house which, whilst
very much smaller than those now employed, especially in
America, was an advance on anything, that had been done
before. For the first three years the result was very unsatis-
factory. We hatched a large number of chickens artificially,
but the number which died was great indeed; in fact one
year the loss during the first three weeks after hatehing
amounted to no less than 45 per cent.

At first it was assumed that this was due to neglect of
even ordinary precautions, but after careful watching it was
seen that such was not the case, and we could only come to
the conclusion that the fault was in the system and not in
its application. Foods of all kinds were tried, again without
any improvement. On making inquiries elsewhere we found
that our experience was by no means the worst, in fact in
some cases the loss amounted

birds do not make as much flesh as we require. I have given
this short account because during my visit to America I
found that it was supported by experience there.

The spirit which is manifested in America has led to
the handling of artificial rearing on bigger lines. From
time to time we have seen records of huge plants, some of
which appeared perfect on paper, and if fowls were as amen-
able to control as minerals there ought to be no doubt as
to their success. It was with a strong desire to see these
personally that I visited America. It should be remem-
bered ‘that, as already seen, our system has been almost
entirely in the use of individual brooders. The method of
raising chickens by means of pipes, known as continuous
brooders, is practically unknown on this side the Atlantic.
Ideally such a system has many attractions, but what is the
fact? We often find that theory and practice do not work
together.

Under these circumstances one of the first points of
interest was finding that some of the largest breeders have
changed their opinion entirely with regard to continuous
brooders. Amongst these Mr. Arthur Brown of Lakewood,
New Jersey, is an example, but he is by no means isolated.
Such opinion, however, was not that of all. On the Iona
plant owned by Mr. L. H. Hallock, the continuous brooder

system is fully adopted, but

to something like 75 per cent.
So disastrous were these re-
sults that I was fast coming
to the conclusion, in which
others shared, that the ar-
tificial rearing of chickens on
a large scale was a failure.
Finally, however, as the
result of very exhaustive
observations and careful in-
quiry it was felt that the
weakness of the whole sys-
tem was not in the brood-
ers themselves, but that the
chickens raised by this
method were too weak to
withstand the changes of
temperature which mark our
English climate, and that

his system is upon different
lines from any I met with,
in that by means of what is
called the Davies & Rock
system heated air, which
can be controlled as to
quantity is passed into the
brooding chambers, and so
far as it was possible to judge
without actually operating
such a system has distinct
advantages over radiation by
means of hot water or hot
air pipes.

Mr. Hallock claims that
the system referred to has
worked perfectly in his hands,
and that there is a much
greater amount of elasticity

this difficulty could only be
overcome by compelling the
birds to take more exer-
cise and thus strengthen the organs and muscles of
the body. The only way in which exercise could be
secured was by compelling them to work for their food.
which is the natural method.

Dry Feeding of Chicks Solved Problem

The chickens, it may be explained, generally appeared
perfectly healthy until they were about ten days to a fort-
night old, when bowel troubles supervened and they died
very rapidly. In order to test the matter we absolutely
abandoned the old system of feeding and went in for the dry
feeding system, that is the use of the smaller grains, scat-
tering these amongst the litter and making the birds from
the very start work for their food. The result was start-
ling; it solved the problem. During the first year in which
we adopted this plan we lost only 5 per cent, which result
has been abundantly supported by the experience of others,
so much so that the dry feeding system has led to an enor-
mous growth of artificial rearing in this country, and prac-
tically there is now no limit to its possibilities. It may be
explained, however, that we find it necessary at the end of
a month to give a proportion of moist food, otherwise the

¥

A Shelter That Can be Opened or Closed, as the Weather Requires

than under the older methods.
If this system fulfills all that
is claimed for it, it may bring
back the continuous brooder system into favor. I gathered,
however, that at the present time it is regarded as by no
means satisfactory, in fact in some cases the pipe system
has been. given up entirely and individual brooders substi-
tuted, but in- others the pipes have been removed to the
back of the house so as to maintain a fairly equable tempera-
ture, and thus avoid throwing undue strain upon the indivi-
dual brooders.

There can be no question that in theory the pipe system
is very attractive, because it is supposed that the labor of
attention is greatly simplified, and that instead of having a
large number of separate lamps to fill and trim all that is
requisite is the firing and regulation of one boiler. In prac-
tice, however, this is not so easy as might have been antici-
pated, and for that reason I think we on this side have been
justified in regarding such a system with a considerable
amount of suspicion. It must be remembered that the
amount of heat required by birds when they are five to six
weeks old is-very much less than during, say, the first week,
and the pipe system does not appear to allow for changes
to that extent. On some of the plants I visited the pipes
have been abandoned, and individual brooders are entirely

62 CHICK BOOK

used, because by so doing each brooder can be modified in
accordance with the age and requirements of the chickens
therein. I am inclined to think that in the future, unless
the Davies & Rock system proves as flexible as is suggested,
the tendency towards individual brooders will be largely
increased, in spite of the greater amount of attention required.

I was very glad indeed to see on some of the plants that
attention is paid to the importance of fresh soil, ard in
several cases double yards are used. The latter appear to
me to be almost essential. We must remember that it is
not only requisite to get rid of the manurial influence, but
also to restore to the land elements which are lost by the
keeping of birds thereon, and which can only be accomp-
lished by cultivation.

A FEEDING PEN FOR CHICKS
By the use of such a pen mature fowls or large chickens are pre~
vented from eating special chick food. The slats are sufficiently far
apart so that the young chicks can pass in and out of the pen.

Portable Houses With Individual Brooders

Some years ago I came across a portable poultry house
in France which was very suggestive indeed. This con-
sisted of an ordinary house upon wheels with a brooder
fitting inside. That brooder could be removed when it was
no longer required. This was an advance upon an older
‘system where to one side of a fixed house was fitted a brooder,
so that the birds could either sleep in the brooder or in the
house, they having to pass through the house to reach the
brooder. That system has been modified in accordance with
our requirements, and it was therefore interesting to see at
several of the plants visited—notably at Cornell, Elma,
Storrs, the Tillinghast Farm, and amongst the South Shore
roaster men—that this system is growing in favor. It is
not at all necessary that I sould go into details, because they
have received attention from breeders through your pages
or those of other papers.

One of the most interesting of these houses was the de-
sign of Professor Jas. E. Rice, of Cornell. Fixed at one end
was a reservoir for gasoline, with a connecting pipe down
to a burner in the brooder within the house, and it was
claimed that the reservoir only needed refilling once in three
weeks, and that it could be left a week without attention.
I should have been glad to have seen it in operation, for that
was practically the only new thing which I came across in
this direction.

The great advantage of these portable houses with
brooders is that the birds can be scattered over the land,
thus securing absolutely fresh ground, and, moreover, the
position can be changed in accordance with the season of
the year. In my judgment the future of artificial rearing
will be more and more in that direction. Moreover, there

is something to be said for the idea that chickens thrive
better if they are not removed from their first house, and
under these circumstances it is only necessary to take out
the brooder after they have grown beyond the first stage.
Of course in some cases portable or colony houses are pro-
vided so that the chickens when taken from the brooder
houses can be scattered more widely over the land.

In conclusion a few suggestions may be of service.
There is no doubt in my judgment that large houses on big
plants are more convenient for the first few weeks of growth,
but on smaller establishments where the houses can be
moved about I think it would be more profitable if smaller
houses were employéd. In either case it is important that
the birds shall be got out of these cramped conditions as
speedily as possible so as to give them plenty of room to
grow. For that reason the colony house system for growing
chickens is very valuable.

I believe that it is important for chickens at different
stages of development to have as much fresh air as possible,
and I am glad to say that in the many houses I visited there
appeared to be much more attention paid to this point than
in the incubator cellars. Perhaps this is more due to chance
than design, for the houses above ground lend themselves
to ventilation to a greater extent than those underground.
The weakness of the system, however, was in many cases a
want of shade. I should have thought that in America,
with its hot spring and summer, shade would have received
much more attention than is the case. I was interested to
note that on the Elma plant some thousands of fruit trees
have been planted, but being small they were not of much
service at the time of my visit.

We should never forget that heated ground checks
growth, and if such ground receives the direct rays of the
sun it is heated, and both day and night the birds are under
conditions unfavorable to development. They require moist
conditions for growth, and I venture to submit that in many
cases better results would be achieved, both as to size and
quality of flesh, if greater attention were given in this direc-
tion. -

DRINKING FOUNTAIN

DRINKING FOUNTAIN FOR CHICKS

WARREN W. WOLFGANG

I TAIE a Mason fruit jar and punch a one and one-half
inch hole in the jar top, then I solder a notched tin
ring two inches wide to the top of the jar. The notched
side of the ring is then soldered to a five-inch tin pie pan.
The illustration makes the pan look too large; there should
not be much room allowed. The jar can be filled with water
and the lid screwed on and when the pan is set on the floor
or ground it makes a very acceptable drinking fountain.

CHAPTER V
JUNE HATCHED CHICKS

MR. SEWELL RECALLS PROMINENT WINNERS THAT WERE HATCHED IN JUNE—TO PRODUCE
THEM ONE MUST STUDY NATURE’S WHIMS AND PREPARE ALIKE FOR RAIN AND SHINE

F. L, SEWELL

E BELIEVE chicks come into
the world with the best con-
ditions for rapid growth at
the time of fruit blossoming.
That is about the middle of
May in this latitude—but in

seasons as backward as some are, June

is not a bad month in which to start.

Rearers of pheasants look to this
month as their best season for hatch-
ing—when the season is well settled
and rains are not too frequent. The
haying season is the time when the
quail hatches her first broods. The
June hatched Mediterraneans, Games,
Hamburgs and some others will require no special urging to
bring them into fine form and feather for the early winter
shows. Our ambitious fanciers who are not content with
any but the very large breeds, weighing eight to twelve
pounds, must remember that they are handling races develop-
ed through artful selection and most advantageous environ-
ment.

The fancier who sets out to win in the present day com-
petition at our best shows and reaps the high prices that are
paid for the prize-takers will keep in mind that every day
must bring gain in growth to his June chicks; he will see
that they have everything that adds to their comfort and
are well protected from all that retards their growth or
‘spoils their general condition and plumage.

No doubt at the winter show you have stood admiring
‘some splendid specimen in the American classes or even of
the grand Asiatics and a proud owner assured you that the
bird was ‘only a baby—a June hatched chick,” and you
wondered how he produced such freshness of feather—such
perfection of bloom; and a question brought the reply, ‘““Why
he has not had time to lose it—he just seemed to grow every
day from the time he was hatched until now.” Therein
lies success—not an hour’s neglect when natural, healthful
development could lag. Many of the finest show birds we
have seen at the great eastern shows of New York and Bos-
ton we have known to be June hatched. It is an old saying
among the fanciers that pullets appear at their finest just

‘the few weeks prior to laying their first egg, and if the show

birds can just reach maturity on show week they will ap-
pear in the pink of condition—with vigor at its height and
the plumage at its finest.

We mentioned the settled condition of June weather as
being favorable; however, a protracted dry season may be
far from beneficial, when a liberal supply of green and insect
food cannot be obtained. No birds can grow well without
them. Between a season of continued droughts and exces-
sive rains we would choose a season where the birds had
proper protection—dry coops and covered runs attached for
wet days. Between showers the birds will find abundance
of green food, insects and worms, while in the season of
drought they are apt to lack for both these. It is always
a safe provision to have a patch of young clover or some
good crop for green food. We know of nothing better than
a small field of white clover that can be watered and kept

green (a part to be cut for winter use) for thé birds to for-
age over. During continued dry weather when the surface
of the soil seems to present no insects or worms a strip can
be occasionally plowed up, giving a fair supply of worms

and bugs. A pile of small chips and partially decayed leaves

will afford excellent scratching, especially if partially in the
shade. Insects are constantly gathering in such a place.

The perfectly clean swept poultry yard may look to some
eyes most tidy, but to the chicks that hanker for a hunting
ground where they may stir up bugs or worms such a place
without its rubbish pile is a mockery to their nature. A
few wagonloads of old rotten wood and leaves from the
forest present a constant picnic to the chicks in summer.
Place the pile partly in the shade. The frequent visits to
it by the chicks will prove their appreciation of it.

The exercise taken in scratching for the insects will in-
duce thrift and add to the strength of the birds. Have you
not frequently received among your purchases, birds seem-
ingly lacking in all thrifty habits actually spoiled in their
bringing up? Some breeds, notably those nearest the orig-
inal type of the wild Bankiva fowl, hunt ail day, turning
over the leaves as they search about, while others seem to
care for nothing beyond the dooryard and the granary. This
disposition and habit can be largely due to the methods em-
ployed in feeding while the chicks-are growing up. A cer-
tain amount of range, encouraging the chicks to hunt and
scratch for at least a part of their food, will add value to
the birds in healthy and thrifty foraging habits. These last
remarks apply especially to chicks leaving the brooder or
hen in a dry season when the natural food may be scarce
and the temptation strongest to depend entirely upon the
feed bucket.

We learned through sad experience not to allow chicks
to nestle or roost upon the bare ground. There’ should
always be a board platform raised a few inches above the
earth, keeping the birds dry under foot at all seasons.

We note that small, movable coops for weaned chicks
are rapidly growing popular, a number of very practical
patterns now being made to take down and ship in a small
space. We know that the value of these movable coops can
hardly be estimated. With such well planned and conven-
ient coops the chicks can be constantly on clean, fresh
ground and with the movable covered runs attached the
long rainy days are not nearly as much to be dreaded by
those ambitious to see their birds growing every day. Much
of the failure to succeed with young turkeys and pheasants
during the last two seasons is due to the lack of this kind
of protection. The fine young chicks can be weathered
through many a wet week to our entire satisfaction and the
coops made to pay their way many times over in the saving
they will be to young stock, among which we look for our
next winter’s prize winners. ;

With vigorous parent stock we always expect to pro-
duce rapid growing chicks, and with constant attention to
securing for them the best foods and giving them protection
from vermin and ill weather we look for many of the most
perfectly conditioned show birds to come out of these June
hatched broods.

MID-SUMMER AND FALL WORK

CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF YOUNG AND OLD STOCK, IN AUGUST, SEPTEMBER
AND OCTOBER—PREPARATION OF WINTER QUARTERS—THE MOST UP-TO-DATE
AND EFFECTIVE METHOD OF FUMIGATING THE POULTRY HOUSES IN SUMMER

P. T. WOODS, M. D.

IDSUMMER with its extreme hot weather is often

M a trying time for both young and old stock. It is

of the utmost importance at this time to keep the

house open and cool, all quarters and yards clean, and to

supply an abundance of shade and shelter from sudden
showers.

_Overcrowding must be avoided, as crowding and filth
in poorly ventilated coops or houses is always dangerous and
almost certain to result in heavy losses. Diarrhoea is one
of the most common hot weather troubles in poultry of all
ages. When it first makes its appearance, charcoal freely
fed may check or control the disorder. The diarrhoea may
be due to food or drinking water being foul with droppings
or other filth; to feeding impure, musty and mouldy food;
‘to overheating; to feeding in dusty, musty or mouldy litter;
to unclean quarters and dampness;.to overfeeding on meat
food or feeding spoiled meat; to eating poisonous substances
or to indigestion from any cause.

The first thing to do when diarrhoea makes it appear-
ance is to find the cause and remove it. Drinking from filthy
pools in unclean runs after a sudden shower, or drinking
barn-yard seepage is a common. cause of diarrhoea (‘‘bowel
trouble’) in hot weather. If after removing the cause, char-
coal fails to remedy the trouble try the following treatment:

For Young Chicks

Withhold all food for twenty-four to forty-eight hours
and give only scalded sweet milk thickened to the consistency

of cream with well-boiled bread flour. This is to be lightly
seasoned with salt, ginger and nutmeg. Let them have all
they will drink. Return to the regular ration gradually,
making sure that the food given is pure and sweet. Provide
if possible, a good, clean, bright, grass run.
For Adult Stock
When diarrhoea makes its appearance in adult birds in
warm weather remove the sick birds at once to hospital
quarters. If any of them are passing a blue-grass-green dis-
charge they should be given at once a one to three drop
dose of creolin in a tablespoonful of water. Clean up and
disinfect all droppings. Add five drops of creolin to each
pint of drinking water allowed the sick birds. If the diar-
rhoea persists, and becomes greenish-yellow, yellowish or
blood-streaked, obtain from the nearest homeopathic phy-
sician or pharmacy some trituration tablets of mercury
bichlorid 1-1000 of a grain drug strength each (3x). In
severe cases one of these tablets may be given to the sick
bird morning and night. For flock treatment dissolve
twelve of these tablets in a pint of drinking water and allow
the sick birds no other drink. For the first few days while
under treatment, feed only easily digested soft food. Fresh,
bright, succulent green food should be fed freely. White of
eggs may be given in severe cases, but meat should not be
fed to fowls having diarrhoea.
Work With Adult Stock
If you have not already done so, it is time now to care-
fully cull your adult breeding stock. Females, which you
intend to keep over another winter

A desirable type of portable, apex, colony house, for growing chicks.
admirably suited for moving about orchards.

It has a board floor and is

should be given open-air quarters
with a good sized, well shaded,
green grassrange. Do not allow any
male birds to run with them. They
need a rest. Choose only the best
year-old, and in some cases two-
year-old, stock that is in good
order—sound, healthy and vigorous.
Male birds which you intend to
keep over, you should give small
colony coops and runs on grass land.
Do not hold over any males unless
you are sure that you wish to
breed them another season. All
adult stock Which is culled out and
which you do notintend to keep
should be sold according to quality
either as breeding stock or as
market poultry, making sure to
dispose of them before the birds
begin to moult. Be sure the adult
birds in summer quarters are not
too heavily fed.

A light diet of the best heavy
white oats, whole or cracked corn
and wheat with a very little beef
scrap and an abundance of green
food usually makes the best ration.
Pure clean water in a clean foun-

SUMMER AND WINTER CARE 65

tain (earthen ware or galvanized iron) should be supplied
in a cool, shady place. Renew the water as often as con-
venient, daily, if the weather is very hot. Be sure that
the poultry house is wide open, and keep the drop-boards
clean. Filthy accumulations of droppings in hot weather
are liable to cause trouble. There is less danger from
this source if the birds have free range.

sand. All old litter should be removed and burned.

All nest boxes should be cleaned, and all old nesting
material removed and burned. If the house has a wooden
or cement floor it should be first scraped and swept,!then
sprinkled thoroughly with strong creolin disinfectant solu-
tion, mentioned above; scraped again and then white-washed.
All dust and cobwebs ought to be swept out of the house be-

Care of the Growing Stock

Growing stock intended for
breeders should have ample, well
shaded, green grass range. An
orchard makes an ideal summer run.

Care should be taken not to
allow too many birds to run in one
flock. They should be housed in
small, open-air, colony coops, and
must not be allowed to crowd at
night. When it is possible to“do so,
separate the cockerels from the pul-
lets and give them different runs.
Usually twenty-five young birds is
a sufficient number to feed in one
flock, and often twelve or fifteen
will do better than twenty-five. It
is not necessary to yard in each
colony house.

The colony houses should be
located at convenient distances
apart. When the young birds are
first placed in them, they should
be confined to the house by means
of portable fencing, for a few days.
Five or six days yarding in this man-
ner will be sufficient to get them
wonted to the new quarters. The
yards may then be taken away and
the young birds allowed free range.

If proper care is taken at first to accustom the birds to
their new home the different flocks will give very little trouble
by mixing up at night. It is always well to make the rounds
of the chicken coops at night and make sure that none of the
houses is crowded. Coops with board floors and no roosts
in a dry location usually give the best results, if the fronts
are not open at the floor level.

An apex house, such as is shown in the accompanying
illustration, ‘makes an admirable home for growing chicks.
Where entirely open-front, colony houses ure used, it is well
to provide roosts in the rear part of the buildings. The same
care should be taken to supply young birds with pure food,
water, grit, shell, charcoal and green bone as is taken with
adult stock.

e

Care of the Poultry Houses and Fixtures

It is time now to clean up and disinfect and store away
the sitters’ nests, brood-coops, brooders and chick shelters
used for the earlier flocks. Do it now! 4

Do not put them away dirty. Brooders should be clean-
ed with a strong solution of creolin, napcreol, carbonol, or
sulphonaphthol. Use one gill of the disinfectant fluid mixed
with one gallon soft water. After cleaning the brooder,
brood box or coop, spray the interior with the disinfectant
‘solution. Nest boxes or brood coops may be white-washed
and then placed in the sun to dry. Store them where they
will be convenient to get at when you want them next spring.

There is no time like the present for thoroughly renovat-
ing and disinfecting the breeding and laying quarters. If
your houses have earth floors,.six to ten inches of the top
earth should be removed and replaced with clean gravel or

*

Apex colony house of fresh-air type as designed and used by Mr. J. H. Curtiss, Assinippi Mass.
It has a*board floor but no roosts and makes an excellent home for either young or old stock.

fore cleansing the floor. Clean the windows, too, while you
are about it. Bear in mind that this is the annual house-
cleaning. Take the nest boxes, food hoppers, or other fur-
nishings out and give them a good coat of whitewash. The
interior of the buildings may be whitewashed with the aid
of ‘an automatic spray pump, if so desired, and the house
then fumigated while the whitewash is still wet. (See
“Method of Fumigating.’’ described on page 72.)

If the yards are small and bare, scrape them and remove
the top crust to the manure pile or garden. Then spade
them up or plow and stir the soil until it<is well aired and
pulverized. Oats or turnips make a good crop to sow in the
poultry yard at this time and the fowls may be allowed to
eat the shoots and young plants after they are a couple of
inches high. Large runs should be plowed, well harrowed
and sowed to some quick-growing crop or should be kept
well stirred until late in August or the middle of September,
and then sown with rye or wheat for winter growing; well
sodded grass runs take care of themselves if they have suffi-
cient slope to drain properly or if the soil is sufficiently
porous.

September and October Work

Young pullets intended for winter layers should be given,
so far as possible, free use of a large grass range through the
month of September, and should be fed liberally.

They may be fed on the-same ration as that used for
laying stock. They should remain in the colony house until
the latter part of September, unless the nights are very cold.
Usually by October 1st they should occupy their permanent
winter quarters in the laying and breeding house. Where

66

open front quarters are used-for housing breeders and layers,
care must be taken to see that young pullets, when placed in
them, use the roosts at night. If they are allowed to sleep
on the floor they are very liable to contract catarrhal colds.

Young stock are much more susceptible to colds than
adult birds. The adult fowls should go into winter quarters
at about the same time, usually housing them by the middle
of September or by the first of October. Open-air, open-
front quarters are best. Do not put too many birds in a
flock, try to avoid crowding on the roosts at night, and do
not allow young and old birds to sleep on the floor at this
time.

Bear in mind that where a large flock is taken froma
small colony house and placed in good sized laying house you
are subjecting the birds to a very considerable change.

WOODS’ OPEN-AIR ROUTE. HOUSE, EXPERIMENTAL BUILDING ON DWINELL

ARM, TOPSFIELD,

Illustration shows east side and south front.
heavy snow storm. It will
roof, and that is beginning to melt away in front of the windows.
house appear in our book ‘Poultry Houses & Fixtures’’,

MASS.

Where they have been packed snugly and tightly in a small
colony coop, they are often given roomy, airy quarters in
the winter house, and colds result from the change. At
other times they are packed too thickly into the laying house,
through lack of sufficient housing capacity and are too tightly
closed in, and colds result.

Try to lead up to fall and winter housing gradually by
preventing crowding in colony coops through August and
September, and then placing the birds in flocks of comfort-
able size in well aired or open-front permanent quarters.
See that they have an abundance of pure, fresh air to breathe
at night and that they are not exposed to drafts about the
roosts. Remember that fresh open air, supplied in a com-
mon sense manner, is certain to give entirely satisfactory
results. Sleeping in the trees exposed to the heavy rains or
roosting in drafty buildings with leaky roofs is not sane or

This photograph was taken immediately after a
be_be noted that very little snow remained on the south slope of the
Plans and description of this

CHICK BOOK

sensible fresh-air poultry keeping, and is certain to produce
disastrous results.

Both young and old stock ought to have the regular
laying ration at least a month before housing. The early
pullets should be laying by October 1st, and should be kept
laying all winter. It is a common and satisfactory practice
to mate up the breeding pens at the time when the birds are
housed in winter quarters.

Treatment of Fall Colds

Catarrhal colds in the fall or winter will not cause any
trouble if handled in a common sense manner. For best re-
sults the birds ought to be housed in open-air quarters.
When the colds first make their appearance as first indicated
by sneezing, running of a thin mucus from the nostrils,

-.. bubbles in the corners of the eyes,
the following treatment will often
prove all that is necessary.

Drop twenty drops of spirits of
capmhor on a tablespoonful of sugar

and dissolve the whole in a quart of
drinking water, allowing the birds
no other drink. When the birds go
on the roost at night, rub a little
vaseline into the eyes, nostrils, and
press some in the cleft in the roof of
the mouth. Often one treatment is
all that is necessary. The vaseline
treatment may be repeated as often
as it is required. Should the colds
persist, the following is a very satis-
factory remedy:

Formula

Tincture of aconite, 10 drops;
tincture of spongia, 10 drops; tinc-
ture of bryonia, 10 drops; alcohol
sufficient to make one fluid ounce.

Mix and shake thoroughly.

Use a teaspoonful of this liquid
in every quart of drinking water
and allow the birds no other drink.
Use also vaseline in the nostrils,
eyes and cleft in the roof of the
mouth.

Where the colds make themselves manifest by watery

eyes and swelling or closing of one or both eyes, the follow-

ing treatment will prove very effective. Obtain from your

druggist a fresh 5 per cent solution of protargol and a small
glass ‘‘eye-dropper.’”” Cleanse the eyes carefully with a
little lukewarm water and carefully drop a few drops of 5
per cent protargol into the affected eye, taking care not to
touch the eye with the glass. Treatment should be given
morning and night.

In the drinking water use ten drops of tincture of pul-
satilla in each quart of water. Allow the birds no other
drink. In simple cases, simply bathing the eyes once or
twice daily and cleansing the mouth and eyes at the same
time with 5 per cent solution of boric acid in water will prove
effective.

PROFITABLE LATE HATCHES

ADVANTAGES OF LATE OVER EARLY HATCHES—OLD HENS AS BREED-
ERS—SHOULD CAPONIZE THE SURPLUS COCKERELS—HIGH PRICES
PAID FOR FEATHERS TO BE USED FOR THE DECORATION OF “MY LADY”

S. T. CAMPBELL

ID-SUMMER of the season of 1906 found the writer
M without a sufficient number of chicks, the early
hatches not having been as successful as in previous
years. We determined to try to obtain more chicks, late
as it was, so we started our incubators and placed choice
‘eggs under a few faithful hens, during July, August and Sep-
tember. The eggs proved to be more fertile than in the
earlier part of the season and the chlcks hatched were vigor-
ous. This crop of youngsters was kept apart from the
earlier ones and with the abundance of insects at this season,
together with seeds and grains from the harvest field, these
young chicks grew like weeds. At the age of three months
the males and females were separated. Those not showing
promise of maturing into good specimens quickly were sold
on the market, though many of the cockerels were capon-
ized. With good feed through the early winter, the pullets
were brought into laying condition in January and by the
middle of February ninety per cent were shelling out the
eggs.

The following June these birds began to moult and this
early moulting makes these late-hatched chicks profitable.
By the last of August most of them were through moulting
having put on their new dress without materially decreasing
the egg production as they continued to lay while moulting.
With their new plumage they were in readiness for the fall
fairs and early shows. It is a well-known fact that there
are but few fowls in good feather for the fairs.

These late-

General view of a row of open-front, fresh-air houses Twentieth Cen-
tury Fresh-Air Poultry Plant, Joseph Tolman, Proprietor.

hatched birds resembled cockerels and pullets, though they
were over twelve months old.

The following season this lot of fowls, then coming into
the second adult year, again moulted in mid-summer and
were again in readiness for exhibition. I have continued
this process of hatching and maturing my stock with success
never attained with the early hatches.

Breeding From Old Hens

Let me say a few words about breeding from old hens
This season I had a few choice hens that, were five and six
years old. In my opinion, they had outlived their usefulness
and were placed on the pension roll, being cared for for the
good they had done earlier in life. Desiring to make a test,
I mated four hens, five and six years old, with a cockerel.
They proved the wisdom of this venture by furnishing an

*

average of 34 eggs each per week or an egg every other day.
Eighty-five per cent of the eggs were fertile and every fertile
egg produced a strong, vigorous chick. These hens had

AURORA LEGHORN FARM FRESH-AIR HOUSE

Mr, R.P. Ellis, proprietor, states that he has never failed to geta
forty per cent winter egg yield from the birds kept in these 14 x 14 lay-

ing and breeding houses. Note that the house is raised from ‘the ereund,
Mr. Ellis thinks this is a decided advantage.

been tested for egg production in their pullet year and ag
hens had won many prizes in the show room. This proved
conclusively to me that it is well to hold on to the tested
hens and breed from them until they are at least six years
old, in fact an extra good hen should not be disposed of,
regardless of age.

Caponize the Cockerels

It is surprising that more breeders do not caponize fits
extra cockerels. There are so many advantages to be gained
by adopting this method to make surplus males profitable
that breeders generally should investigate the matter thor-
oughly. Capons are profitable. They can be made to

- weigh a third more than cockerels and they bring three and

four times the price of the ordinary male bird for table use.
Furthermore, there have never been capons enough to supply
the demand.
A Profitable By-Product

One of the by-products of poultry that is receiving but
a limited amount of attention is feathers. Few people
realize that feathers when properly cured are a source of
considerable profit. They bring as much as a dollar and a
quarter a pound. The tail feathers of a male bird will fre-
quently sell for $1.50. These feathers are used by milliners
in decorating hats and by manufacturers of feather boas for
ladies; as much as twenty cents an ounce has been paid for
choice feathers. Right here is where the Minorca fowl
scores one hundred, for where in all poultrydom can be
found plumage so attractive? The beautiful green sheen
on the black feather requires no coloring to produce the
desired result. Many times the feathers will bring double
the price obtained for the fowl in the ordinary way. When
the plumage is properly cured and sold to the proper parties,
the meat of the bird furnishes a small part of the revenue
from a flock of fowls.

HINTS FOR NOVEMBER

TIMELY REMINDERS OF THINGS THAT SHOULD BE DONE DURING THIS COLD MONTH

M. S. GARDNER

F YOUR young birds are still roosting out in small coops,
it is high time to move them to more comfortable
quarters in the winter houses. Prompt attention to

this important work may save you the loss of some valuable
birds by roup or colds before the month is over.

Do not let young stock sit on the ground these cold
nights. It hinders growth and endangers the health of the
flock.

If your poultry house has windows on two sides, this is
the month to board up those on the north side. Do it today.

It is a good plan to separate the younger and smaller
chicks from the main flock, if you have not already done
so and coop them where they can have better care and feed.
They will never develop properly where older birds are con-
tinually driving them away from the feed dish.

Look over your flock of old birds. Perhaps you will
find a few hens that continued to lay after the others were

there is a good supply of grit and shell forming material
accessible at all times.

As the cold weather has now shut off the supply of bugs
and other forms of available animal food, fowls require more
meat meal or beef scrap. Failure to provide it means slow
moulting hens and few winter eggs.

Did you remember to lay by a good supply of dry loam
or other dusting material for winter? Given a large dust
box filled with dry loam hens will look after the lice problem
in a satisfactory manner.

Do not teach your young birds to roost on the sharp
edge of a narrow board unless you want crooked breast
bones. It does not make so much difference with Leghorns
and other small varieties, but Plymouth Rocks and birds
of the other large breeds should have roosts-three or four
inches wide to sit on when the breast bones are tender and
easily injured.

When moving the young stock

Colony houses scattered through an orchard make desirable quarters for growing chicks,

moulting. These hens are now in full moult and nearly
naked. They should be separated from the earlier moult-
ing ones and given especial care for the next six weeks.

Do not make the mistake of shutting all the windows
and doors in your poultry houses these nights simply because
there may possibly be a frost. If there are cracks or loose
boards on the north side, or east, or west end, nail on the
boards and cover the cracks with building paper, but leave
the windows on the south side open. You will be surprised
at the amount of cold a hen can stand and be happy if she
does not have to sit in a draft. A tightly closed poultry
house is an unsanitary poultry house.

If you intend to exhibit those fine cockerels and pullets
in December or January, they should be put in clean pens
now and the pullets separated from the males and old hens.
Never allow a prospective exhibition bird to become dirty
or soiled in plumage or legs. You cannot wash a dirty bird
so he will look as well as one that has always been kept clean.

Do not forget to provide nests for the early hatched
pullets. If they are compelled to lay on the floor or roosts
they may form the habit of eating eggs, and the habit once
formed may keep you busy all winter. “An ounce of pre-
vention is worth a pound of cure.”” Both the early moult-
ing hens and the early pullets will be laying soon. See that

into winter quarters, do not let forty
or fifty pile up in one corner on the
floor the first night. Nothing is more
productive of colds and distemper.
Teach them to fly onto the roost as soon
as possible. There is less danger of
crowding and consequent sickness
when this rule is strictly enforced.

There is little or no danger of get-
ting growing chicks too fat, so the
youngsters should be fed all they will
eat as this season of the year. A
ration composed largely of corn can
safely be fed to the half grown or not
fully developed chicks at this season.

When the November storms com-
pel us to house our flocks more closely,
we are usually tempted to put, more
birds into a given space than our best judgment tells us is
advisable and safe. Do not yield to the temptation. Bet-
ter send some of the poorer specimens to the butcher than
to crowd the really. valuable ones. Have all the birds in
each pen as nearly of one size and age as possible. They
not only look better in this way, but results are better.
Pullets should never be wintered in the pen with old hens.
Either the hens will get too fat or the pullets will be underfed.

Did you raise some cabbage of mangle-wurzels for winter
feeding? If not, alfalfa cut very green and cured nicely, or
second crop red clover, will answer the purpose very well.
Perhaps you can buy it of some farmer. If not, clover meal
sold by all poultry supply houses can be purchased at reason-
able prices.

If you have painted the roosts every week during the
summer with kerosene or some liquid lice killer, you probably
have not been troubled with mites. If they have gained a
foothold and you are having trouble to rid your house of
them, try white wash. It can be applied either with a brush
or compressed air sprayer. [Fill all the cracks and crevices
full and you will kill everyone the whitewash touches.

Perhaps you have not noticed whether there are mites
in the houses or not. Look at the ends of the perches and
in the cracks in the wello ar nlatfaren. Te at.

SUMMER AND WINTER CARE

mites the boards will be covered with white specks and every
crack will be full of the mites. These are white when first
hatched but after filling themselves with blood from the hens
they are red. The flock of hens sitting each night on a mite
infested roost seldom lays enough eggs to pay the feed bill.

This is a good month in which to plan for next season’s
business. One of the first things to do is to learn to be
systematic. Have a certain time to feed and water. Feed
at the same hours every day. It makes little difference
whether you feed mash at eight o’clock in the morning, noon
or four o’clock in the afternoon, only feed it at the same
hour every day. The fowls soon learn when to expect it.
Do not feed mash one day in the morning and the next day

69

in the afternoon. A change of this kind from one style of
feed to another often causes trouble and interferes with the

egg yield.

Many men who give their cows and horses the best of
care let the hens roost on the fence and dig their rations out.
of the straw stack or manure pile, or perhaps grudgingly
throw them a few oats oncea day. This class of men always
say, “hens don’t pay.” Give the hens a chance. Put
them on equal footing, as to care and housing, with your
cows and other stock and the chances are they will pay you
a larger percentage of profit than any other live-stock on
the farm.

YARDS CONTAINING SMALL CHICKS AT FISHELTON

Note the grass runways and ample shade.

Chicks never do well where vegetation does not thrive.

Rich soil is as good for chicks as for vegetation.

CARE OF VALUABLE CHICKS IN BAD WEATHER

HOW CHICKS ARE MANAGED AND FED ON THE 120-ACRE POULTRY FARM
OF U. R. FISHEL—SOME INTERESTING VIEWS OF THE OUTDOOR BROOD-
ERS BY MR. SEWELLA—SIMPLE METHOD OF HERDING THE CHICKS

G. M. CURTIS

ARLY in June, Mr. Sewell, artist, made a trip to the
iy Bluegrass section of Kentucky to investigate the
method of raising turkeys for market and report
same in these pages. Enroute home, about June 12th, he
stopped at Fishelton, in Indiana, the home of Mr. U. R.
Fishel, originator and extensive breeder of the ‘‘Best In the
World” strain of, White Plymouth Rocks. While there Mr.
Sewell made several photographs of growing chicks and had
intended ‘to pre-

Rock chicks taken by him at Mr. Fishel’s home and had’
started to amplify his notes. The photographs as deco-
rated by Mr. Sewell are presented herewith.

On finding that Mr. Sewell’s notes were incomplete, we
wrote Mr. Fishel and asked him to supply us, in writing,
substantially the same data and ideas he had given Mr.
Sewell verbally. Mr. Fishel promptly complied and the
following paragraphs are from his letter: ;

Care of Chicks at

pare an article en- a Fishelton
titled “Protective SSS TB “No doubt a
Development of recetaceracenatetets i large percent of

Valuable White
Plymouth Rock
Chicks in a Rainy
Season,” but @&
sudden illness pre-

>

the chicks hatched
each spring are
lost during stormy
weather, therefore
our method of car-
ing for chicks in
bad weather will

vented him from SKS x en
completing the OOOO
article. He had

mounted and dec-
orated the photo-
graphs of White

|
} :
/
yl

Folding device used by Mr. Fishel in herding small chicks.

,

a perhaps interest
and prove of bene-
fit to your read-
ers. That was Mr.

70 CHICK BOOK

Sewell’s idea in taking
the pictures at Fishel-
ton and in jotting down
notes during our pleas-
ant interview.

“With us the chicks
are taken from the
brooder house when
they attain the age of
from three to five weeks;
they arethen placed in
outdoor brooders. These
brooders, twenty one in
number, are located in
a yard fourteen rods
long by seven rods
wide. This yard or tract
of land is enclosed by
a 64 foot wire fence. porta

“For the bottom of the ibition purposes.
fence we use one-inch
wire netting, eighteen inches high. Above this we use five
feet of two-inch wire mesh, thus giving us a fence through
which small chicks cannot pass—that is, chicks three to
five weeks old and older.

“The yard is well shaded during the warm weather of
May and June. But little shade is needed during March and
April as sunshine then is what the chicks need more than
shade. Our main chick yard as here described is divided up
into twenty-one small yards, the division fences being made
of one-inch mesh two feet high. Each one of these twenty-
one yards contains a Standard Outdoor Brooder. In each
case the brooder is placed in one corner of the yard as shown
in the photographs taken by Mr. Sewell.

“The idea of placing the brooder in one corner of the
yard is so that by use of a little folding device that we have,
the attendant can set this device in front of the brooder, ex-
tending over to the fence and then when caring for the chicks
he can drive the entire brood belonging to that brooder in
behind the brooder. The chicks will go between the brooder
and the fence, also in front of the brooder next to the fence,
and then the folding device is drawn up to the other side of
the brooder, thus holding the chicks immediately in front
of the brooder where they can be readily driven into it. By
this means one man, when he sees a storm approaching, can
easily get into the brooders one thousand to two thousand
chicks without harming any of them. We know, because we
often have done it. (See illustration).

“The folding device above mentioned is made of one

bare ground, in close confinement.

GRASS RANGE AND SHADE AT FISHELTON
It was such scenes as these that caught the eye of Mr. Sewell and sug-

gested to him the idea of reproducing them in these pages.
method of raising chicks with the effort to raise healthy, vigorous stock on
Constitutional vigor is of utmost im-
ortance in the successful rearing of poultry, both for market and for ex-

inch square light -lum-
ber, making three
frames each thirty in-
ches long by two feet.
wide and covered with
one-inch wire netting.
The frames are attached
together with heavy
leather straps, which
make it possible to fold
the frames closely to-
gether. We find that
this simple little device
saves lots of work and
it has been the means
of saving many a val-
uable chick for us when
our helpers have had to
work quickly on ac-
count of a heavy storm
coming up suddenly.
Often we have been compelled to put up our chicks, that is,
drive them into the brooders, as many as twelve times in
a single day.

” After awhile, as they grow older, the chicks learn to go
into the brooders without being driven. As soon as they do
this they are taken from the brooders and placed in small
colony coops, located in an acre lot that adjoins the brooder
lot. Mr. Sewell took a picture of two of these colony coops.
They are well ventilated and the chicks are protected from
night prowlers. Our chicks are permitted to remain in these
coops until they are moved out on the farm range. On the
farm range we keep them in large colony houses, many of
which are made of piano boxes. We sometimes keep them
in these well ventilated piano boxes, equipped with roosts,
until they are selected, sold and shipped to all parts of the
world. In this way all Fishelton White Rocks are farm
reared, so to speak. From the age of three weeks up until
the time they are sold our chicks have free range. They
practically live out of doors. This means health, steady
growth and constitutional vigor. :

Feeding the Chicks

“After the chicks are placed in the small colony houses
we begin hopper feeding, using a three-apartment hopper.
In one apartment is a mixture of grit and oyster shell, in a
second apartment is a mixed ration consisting of wheat bran,
eight parts, charcoal, one part, meat meal, one part. In
the third apartment is a mixed dry grain food of wheat, oats,
corn, sorghum seed, sunflower seed, etc.

Compare this

SUMMER AND WINTER CARE 71

“Besides the hopper in each house we have located in
various places on the farm large hoppers containing three
apartments, one apartment filled with dry mash, another
with the bran mixture and the third with the grain mixture
above given. I find that these field hoppers are often visited
by the chicks and more feed is eaten from them than from
the house hoppers. The chicks seem to think that they are
stealing this food, therefore they eat more of it.

‘‘As the chicks increase in size, the feed is changed to
whole wheat, corn and oats, these grains being soaked in
warm ‘water before feeding during the fall months.

“By the above simple methods we have no trouble in
growing large-boned, strong, vigorous fowls—in fact, I
claim that no variety possesses stronger vitality than Fishel-
ton White Plymouth Rocks. My customers can testify as
to this.

Keeping Things Clean
“All our brooders, colony coops and colony houses are

cleaned every day, without exception. I attach great im-
portance to clean sleeping quarters for healthy chicks and to
plenty of fresh air, but without drafts. Our chicks are regu-
larly supplied with pure, fresh water. As the result of these
methods our death loss is small indeed.

“We do not separate the sexes at all, so far as growing
stock is concerned. When birds have unlimited free range
it is not necessary to separate the sexes.

“The first of each month, beginning November Ist, our
entire flock of from six to twelve thousand birds (depending

on how many we have brought in from neighboring farms)
is carefully gone over, and all birds not coming along well
as to weight, vigor, etc., are culled out and sent to market.
Only healthy, strong birds are retained in the flocks.

A weakly or a sick bird is a costly piece of property.
We want nothing to do with them.”

POULTRY PESTS

SIMPLE METHODS OF RIDDING FOWLS OF THE COMMON AND MOST
ANNOYING INSECTS—HOW TO FUMIGATE THE POULTRY HOUSE

P. T. WOODS, M. D.

Lice and Mites

N THE early spring is a good time to begin to fight lice
I ‘and mites. A little thorough work at this season of
the year will save a great deal of labor and many losses
later. Lice and mites breed rapidly in the spring and make
their appearance in great numbers long before the advent of
warm, settled weather. :

All kinds of poultry and birds have lice and are apt to
be troubled with mites. Don’t imagine for one moment
that they are confined to fowls (hens and chickens) alone.
Pigeons, ducks, geese, turkeys, pea fowl and guineas as well
as all wild and domesticated birds have lice and mites.
Prof. Theobald has named as affecting common fowl alone
some seventeen varieties of mites, ten kinds of lice, three
sorts of fleas, two parasitic flies and two dangerous preda-
tory bugs. That makes a formidable and rapacious army
of pests too dangerous to life and health of our flocks to be
carelessly ignored.

Don’t say ‘‘my fowls are not lousy.” We don’t believe
it. We have never seen a fowl that was entirely free from
insect pests, unless it had been very recently and thoroughy
treated to get rid of them. Get busy and look for them.
Examine all cracks and crevices about the poultry house,
joints and rests of roosts, droppings-boards and nests for
mites. Look over the fowls carefully, opening the feathers
up down to the skin. There are some four varieties of body
lice that may be found anywhere on the fowl running about
on the skin; two kinds are common to the rump and wings
and may be found on the skin or hiding in the soft feathers,
lying low to escape notice; two more frequent the head and
neck; these are a lazy sort and will be found feeding close
to the feather barbs or lying close to feathers near the skin;
two more make their home on the primary and secondary
feathers; these are long, narrow gray fellows and not easily
discovered except on spreading the wings and looking closely
at the under sides of the feathers near the shafts; they are
usually quiet but can move lively enough when they wish to.
All of these are dangerous to the life and health of chickens
and injurious to fowls.

Some people claim that “‘a reasonable amount of lice
don’t harm a fowl and that they help clean up the dead skin

*

and feathers.’”’ That may be true to a very limited extent,
that is, a few lice may be present all the time on adult fowls

without any injury being apparent. The lice are biting ani-

mals and are not equipped with sucking apparatus like the

lice of humans. They feed on the scales of the skin and on

the feathers, eating away the soft parts, and such fluids of
the body as they may obtain they get through scratches or
abrasions of the skin or feathers. They have sharp claws
and cause intense irritation of the skin, by scratching and
crawling, when present in large numbers. They make the
feathers ragged and frayed by eating and chewing parts of
them. They act as carriers of disease germs and the seed
of intestinal parasites. You cannot hope to have healthy
fowls or chicks if you permit them to remain lousy.

Some mites, notably the common red mite, are poultry
bed-bugs. They can live a long time in cracks of woodwork
and they prey on the fowls at night or when they are on the
nests. They suck the blood of the fowls and have been
known to kill sitting hens or to drive them from their nests.
They cause sickness, debility and may carry disease germs.
Other mites cause skin diseases, still others cause disease of
the respiratory organs, and one of the most common sorts,
next to the red mite, is a scab mite that causes “scaly leg;’”’
another scab mite plays havoe with the plumage and is known
as the depluming mite. It does not pay to raise and feed a
big crop of lice and mites; it eats up your poultry profits.
Comparative freedom from the pests may be had by the ex-
ercise of a little care and preventive treatment.

Some fowls harbor more of these unfriendly insect guests
than others. Usually it is either an ill or lazy bird that is the
most lousy member of the flock. Failure to use the dust
bath freely is one of the most common causes in such cases
and the fact that idle, sick or debilitated fowls are commonly
very lousy leads to exaggerated statements of the ill effects
of vermin. Then too, just as some fowls are more suscep-
tible to certain diseases so some are more prone to be affected
with insect pests. Lice breed on the fowl. Scab mites,
tissue mites, air sac mites and their kind breed in or on the
fowl. Red mites and other blood-sucking bugs breed in the
cracks of the woodwork, in old straw and in dust and filth
in dark corners. ; 7

72 CHICK BOOK

To Get Rid of Lice

Pure, fresh-ground, Persian insect (flowers) powder,
also known as Pyrethrum or unadulterated Dalmation pow-
der, is the very best dusting powder to use in getting rid of
all body and feather lice. It must be pure and fresh. If
old and adulterated with flour, dust, etc., it is practically
valueless. It ought to be made from the imported, partially-
opened flower heads and some reputable importing druggists
make a business of grinding it fresh in quantity. It costs
from 25 to 35 cents a pound in from five to twenty-five pound
lots and is well worth the price. This powder should be
applied at night when the birds are quiet. It should be dust-
ed and well worked into the feathers, down to the skin, in
every part all over the bird. Begin at the tail and work all
over the bird up to the last feather on the head and the last
bit of down on the toes. Treat each fowl thoroughly and
place it gently back on the roost so that most of the powder
will be well retained in the feathers. One application prop-
erly made in the early spring will insure freedom from lice
for many weeks. Often you will not need to treat them
again for three months. Make a thorough job of it; it does
not pay to slight the work. Don’t be afraid to use plenty
of the powder. Hold the fowl over a clean, paper-lined box
while dusting to prevent waste of powder. Any that falls
in the box may be used over again. Other insect powders
cost less and may be used in the same manner, most of them
are quite effective but they usually have to be used much
oftener. Sitting hens should always be well dusted when
set and again a day or two before the chicks hatch. Always
have a dust bath for your fowls in a bright, sunny corner.

Nearly all liquid lice killers are more or less effective
when applied to roosts and drop boards but they do not get
rid of all the lice as the fumes do not penetrate to all parts
of the plumage in sufficient strength to dislodge the lice.
When they are depended upon and insect powder is not dusted
into the plumage there are always enough lice left to work
serious trouble. The best use for liquid lice killers is to get
rid of mites, fleas and parasitic flies. For this purpose they
are necessary and very effective. We have tried a consider-
able number of these liquid lice killers and have found all of
them quite effective.

To get rid of red mites and other poultry bed bugs use
kerosene or a good liquid lice killer freely about the roosts
and dropboards about once a month or as often as you find
any signs of mites. -Use the liquid in the morning so that
the roosts will be dry by roosting time. If you allow fowls
to roost on perches wet with kerosene or other insecticide
it may blister the soft parts or cause sore feet.

Funigating

In old poultry houses where the wood is loaded with
mites even out under the shingles, you will have to fumigate
and then whitewash with a spray pump. Before fumigating
get all live stock out of the house and shut it out. Provide
material to stop up all openings where fumes can escape.
Use sulphur candles or formaldehyde candles for fumigating
and use enough to take care of all the space in the building.
Always use a few more than the directions call for. Burn
the candles in an old tin placed on a pan or wet ashes and so
located that it cannot set fire to the building. After candles
are well started burning, lock up the building for from twelve
to twenty-four hours and keep all persons or fowls out of it.
After that period let the building be thrown wide open for

at least twelve hours to air out before it is used for fowls.

One large size “Lister’s” formaldehyde fumigating candle
will serve for a poultry house 10 by 16 ft. and average six
ft. stud. For the same size building burn not less than three
pounds of sulphur and have the air of building moist. To
moisten the air of the house and to render the sulphur fumi-
gation more effective spray the whole interior of the building
with a solution of chloride of lime. To make this solution,
dissolve five ounces of chloride of lime in one gallon of water.
Use in a spray pump, throwing a coarse spray.

Scab Mites and Scaly Legs

Scab or itch mites are common enemies but are easily
gotten rid of with a little care. For those that attack the
head and body, causing loss of feathers and accumulation of
unsightly scales, use sulphur ointment well rubbed in. If
a large area is affected do not cover too great an area of skin
at one application. Divide up the territory and give several
treatments a day apart. For scaly leg try ‘“‘Hebra’s itch
ointment” recommended by Dr. Russman of Kentucky.
Any druggist can prepare it for you. The formula is:

Precipitated Calcium carbonate, 10 parts.

Sublimed: Sulphur, 15 parts.

Oil of Cade, 15 parts.

Soft Soap, 30 parts.

Lard, 30 parts.

Thoroughly mix.

Sig.— .

Label ‘‘Scaly Leg Ointment.”

Directions: Apply freely once a day or every other day
for three or four applications. Rub well into the affected
parts. After fourth application wash legs with warm water
and soap. If any scales remain the ointment may be applied
once or twice more to remove them.

To Get Rid of Fleas

Poultry fleas breed all the year around. Frequent use
of whitewash, kerosene oil and liquid lice killers is an effective
means of getting rid of them. Fumigation with sulphur is
often a very satisfactory method of ridding a house of these
pests. Persian insect powder will keep the nests free from
them and will not injure or taint the eggs. When fleas are
plenty the dark, sandy corners of houses and runs will be
found to be loaded with flea maggots (larvae) and have their
cocoons (pupae). Wetting down with thick, fresh white-
wash or mixing plenty of fine powdered air slaked lime with
the dirt is an effective means of destroying these pests. Sun-
shine in large quantities is also helpful. If let alone these
flea maggots soon pass through the pupal stage and becomes
full-fledged active little blood-sucking demons that are
dangerous to the health and life of poultry of all ages. Poul-
try fleas are common in most climates in warm weather.
We have seen some otherwise well kept poultry plants that
were fairly alive with the little pests.

Where fleas abound ‘“wood-wool,’’ “‘excelsior’ or shav-
ings make better material for nests than hay or straw. For
some reason this sort of nesting material seems objection-
able to fleas and they usually keep away from it. Sawdust,
soaked with a saturate solution of napthalene in kerosene,
placed in the bottom of nests underneath other nesting
material is a simple method of keeping nests free from
vermin. Only a small quantity should be used, as it is

liable to “taste” the eggs unless well covered with nesting
material.

hee

THE DAY-OLD CHICK BUSINESS

ITS DEVELOPMENT—HOW TO SHIP CHICKS SUCCESSFULLY HUNDREDS OF MILES—MUCH
DEPENDS ON VITALITY OF CHICKS WHICH IN TURN DEPENDS ON VIGOROUS BREEDING
STOCK AND PROPER INCUBATION—STYLE OF BOX PREFERRED—CAUSES OF LOSSES EN
ROUTE—NATURE PROVIDES THE NECESSARY HEAT AND FOOD—LESSONS. LEARNED
FROM SHIPPING DAY-OLD CHICKS—WILL INCREASE GREATLY BUT WILL NOT REVOLU-
TIONIZE THE POULTRY BUSINESS AT ALL—BIG SALE STILL FOR EGGS FOR HATCHING

F,. W. BRIGGS

HILE the development of the
day-old chick business in
this country has been very
rapid during the past few
years, there are still many
people who are unfamiliar

with the methods used and who are not
very clear in their minds as to what is
meant by the term or what purpose
the business serves. Perhaps I can say
something of interest and value from
our experience.

The term ‘‘day-old chick business”’
is applied to the business of shipping
newly hatched chicks direct from the
incubator to parties at more or less remote distances. This
trade was carried on successfully in England, I believe,
for some years before it was attempted here. I do not know
whether the idea originated in England or not, but I am
certain it has remained for poultrymen in this country to
develop it and extend it to wider fields, meaning by this to
enlarge the radius to which it is known chicks can be shipped
successfully. Experiments in long distance shipments and
in the time chicks may be on the road have, of necessity,

been limited in England owing to the natural geographical .

limits and it has been only during the past two or three years
that knowledge of what can be done in this line has been
acquired by the efforts of poultrymen in this country.

The layman or novice in the chicken business, is usually
much surprised to learn that chicks can be handled com-
mercially at all. That chicks may be shipped hundreds of
miles, in fact many hundreds of miles, without artificial heat
or food seems hardly credible to him and he is disinclined to
believe it. As a matter of fact we have done many things
successfully that we ourselves could not believe possible
and our experiments have taught us many things that have
been of benefit to us in other phases of the poultry business.

While the day-old chick business is in many ways simple
to handle, and especially so when a thorough knowledge of
incubating is possessed, still there are some “‘tricks’”’ about
the business and better results are usually obtained by buy-
ing of parties trained by study and experience to conduct it.

I will not enlarge on the importance of proper incuba-
tion in producing chicks that are endowed with good vitality
to endure the hardships of travel and to live well, as the
subject of incubating has been discussed very thor-
oughly in this book, and incubating with shipment in
view is not different from what it should be in any other
case. It will be realized, however, that successful shipments
depend in a large measure on the care with which this work
has been done, as regards proper temperature, ventilation,
moisture, etc., and, back of this, on the care that has been
exercised in selecting only good, healthy, vigorous birds for
the breeding pens. Success with chicks cannot be obtained
without attention to these things whether the chicks are to

. from 98 degrees to 103 degrees.

be shipped or not, but success in shipping stands in especially
close relation to these matters. :

Given chicks that have been incubated properly, care
must be taken to select those for shipment that have hatched
among the earliest, that are thoroughly dried off and that
seem strong and firm on their feet. The ones that do the
best are those that are crowding close to the glass of the in-
cubators, seeming full of an ambition to be up and doing
and to take part in the world of activity. One can almost
select the vigorous chicks by the sense of touch alone, by its
struggles in one’s hand and by its size, a good healthy chick
being a plump handful.

Before attempting to remove the chicks from the incu-
bator, especially in cold weather, it is imperative to have
the shipping packages ready to receive them so they may
be exposed to the chill of the air as little as possible. It
must be kept in mind that they are to be removed from a
draft-free compartment in which the temperature is running
To expose them for any
length of time to a temperature 40 or 50 degrees lower than
that, is to invite failure and so-called hard luck.

Boxes Used for Shipping Chicks

There are many forms of packages used for shipping
chicks from the common shoe box, lined with flannel, with
holes punched in it to admit air, such as is used by the
farmer in transferring a few chicks from a neighbor’s to his
own place, to the modern chick box made of heavy corru-
gated pasteboard, divided into compartments holding 25
chicks each. The package that has been in the most com-
mon use, however, for the past few years is a small wooden
box about eleven inches wide by 15 inches long and 5 inches
deep, holding 50 chicks. This box is sometimes covered en-
tirely with burlap which permits ventilation, and a small
one inch square piece of wood is nailed across the top to
prevent other packages being placed on top of it, thus
shutting off the supply of air. Or the box is sometimes
covered half with a wooden cover and half with burlap. On
our plant I have used this form of package almost exclu-
sively up to the present season, but, while we have had good,
perhaps unusual success in this part of the business, I have
not been entirely satisfied with this package and have
adopted a new one for use this coming season, which I am
confident will be much better.

Last season we shipped over 17,000 chicks to all parts
of the country east of the Mississippi River, and one ship-
ment at least beyond, and I do not think we lost over 175
chicks from faults of packing, or about one per cent. I feel
satisfied, however, that there is no occasion for any loss at
all, except from accident or extraordinary carelessness. I
think our new package (described later) will cut down the
mortality very materially.

The faults with the wooden box with burlap covering
seem to be that the burlap will occasionally get torn, leaving
an opening at some point and letting in more than the usual

74

amount of light, toward which all the chicks crowd, causing
them to trample and cripple each other. This has been the
cause of the greatest loss with us. The packages having all
the burlap covering are much to be preferred to those having
the half wooden and half burlap covering as in the latter
package all the chicks crowd into the part with the burlap
cover and cause congestion in that part. It seems to me
that it is important to have conditions in all parts of the
package uniform. The wooden box with all burlap covering
fulfills all the requirements in this regard and would be a
very acceptable package were it not for the liability of the
burlap getting torn or displaced.

Many times we have had losses through the curiosity
and sympathy of the public and express agents. A box of
live baby chicks, with their plaintive chirruping, seems to
be a matter of special interest to the curious public and
often the most curious cannot refrain from lifting an edge
of the burlap to get a look at the little fellows. Once dis-
turbed the burlap rarely goes back to its original position,
leaving an opening, which, though slight, is a source of danger,
as it admits a shaft of direct light causing the crowding
mentioned above.

Another cause of occasional loss to us is that express
agents in handling the shipments will allow their sympathies
to get the better of them. While we attempt to regulate
all shipments so they will arrive at a convenient time for
delivery to the consignee, some-
times connections are not made
as we plan, and occasionally the
consignee fails to do his part,
and the chicks are obliged to re-
main in the express office for a
day or so.

One case I have in mind was
a shipment to a neighboring state
which arrived at its destination
on a Friday. The agent there
immediately sent postal notice
to the owner that the chicks
had arrived, but either the pos-
tal was not delivered or the con-
signee did not respond as quickly
as he should. In any case the
chicks had to remain in the express
office for some two or three days, over Sunday I think.
The continual peeping of the chicks appealed to the agent’s
tender heart and it seemed to him no more than common
humanity to remove the chicks from their comfortable box
to the floor of the big drafty room and feed them. While
his intentions were no doubt of the best, his judgment was
in error and the result was a very heavy loss among the
chicks almost immediately.

Probably the feed was not what it should have been for
a first feed, but the main thing to keep in mind is that the
chicks should not be removed from the warm box except to
be placed in a good warm brooder, or under a hen, where
they have access to the heat so essential to their welfare.
Those who are acquainted with fireless brooders or who
have it in mind that the chicks have been shipped in boxes
unsupplied with heat may consider this inconsistent teach-
ing, but such is not the case, as heat is supplied in the ship-
ping boxes, as in fireless brooders, by the bodies of the
chicks themselves. They are so crowded in the small quar-
ters as to keep the heat as high as 95 degrees, which is the
ordinary brooder heat.

Here lies the secret of chick shipping: Packing them
so closely and confining them to such a limited amount of
air that the proper temperature is maintained by the heat
thrown off from the bodies. It seems hardly possible that

THE SEFTON LIVE CHICK BOX
This cut illustrates the style of box recommended by
F. W. Briggs for shipping day-old chicks.

CHICK BOOK

a thermometer will register 95 degrees in a box packed for
shipment, but repeated experiments have proven this to be
true and heat supplied in this way has the advantage of being
constant and regular.

The matter of ventilation in the boxes must be carefully
considered, but I think there is more danger of having too
much than too little. The lung capacity of a day-old chick
is, of course, small and it requires only a very small hole to
furnish sufficient oxygen for 25 or 50 of them. If too much
ventilation is supplied it will only reduce the temperature
in the box and do injury to the chicks. It is necessary and
in fact better to furnish only enough ventilation to keep the
air from becoming vitiated.

As in the case of air so also with light; the amount
should be limited. The darker the chick apartment is kept,
the quieter will the chicks be and the less will be the likeli-
hood of injury from jostling and trampling. A hole in the
box large enough to admit the proper amount of air is quite
sufficient for admitting light.

A Good Shipping Box

The package we have now adopted in view of past ex-
periences is shown in the accompanying illustration and con-
sists of a light but substantial box made of heavy corrugated
card-board and is much like the boxes in which ladies get
their suits or coats from dry goods stores in size and shape,
except that it is much more
substantial. It is reinforced with
wire at the corners. Being lighter
than the old wooden boxes, it
will save express charges, and it
is fully as secure. These boxes
are made in 25, 50 and 100 chick
sizes, the two larger sizes being
divided into compartments hold-
ing 25 chicks each. This seems
to be about the best number of
chicks to place in one compart-
ment as when 50 or 100 chicks are
shipped in one compartment,
whenever crowding occurs as in
cases mentioned above, serious
results are sure to follow for
those unfortunate chicks that get.
trampled. Holes are made in the sides of the boxes for
furnishing sufficient air to each compartment, varying in size
and number according to the outside temperature and the
locality into which the chicks are to be shipped. Careful
judgment has to be exercised in this regard.

The floor of the box is fitted with some material on
which the chicks can get secure foot-hold to prevent them
slipping around and this is covered with a half inch or so of
cut clover, providing a comfortable, warm litter for them
to lie in. The cover of the box is fitted down closely and the
package securely tied up as in no case should it be opened.
and the chicks exposed until they reach their destination.

Chicks Need No Feed at First

Many people seem to feel that it is cruelty to animals
to start chicks off on a long journey with no feed and to pro-
vide no arrangements for their being fed en route. The
development of the day-old chick business has been instruc-
tive to poultrymen as it has shown them the wisdom of with-
holding feed from chicks quite a time after incubation. Re-
ports I have received from chicks sent out seem to show me
forcibly that the lack of food, for three or four days, is of
benefit rather than of injury to the chicks, as lots that have
been shipped long distances have almost invariably done well.
The mortality for the first ten days appears to be less than

4

MARKETING 75

in many lots that are shipped shorter distances or in those
lots that we have retained and fed immediately after in-
cubation.

It is common knowledge that the chick when hatched
has absorbed the yolk of the egg, or, in other words, it has
enough food inside of it to keep a man alive. To immediately
begin to overload the chick’s digestive apparatus with other
food would appear to be folly and cause enough for many
of the ailments to which chicks seem to be prone. It is my
idea that a great many of the troubles they have are directly
or indirectly due to indigestion. I do not pretend to look
at the matter from a scientific standpoint and know that
many chicks die from other causes, but a little care and
patience in not overloading the chick with food during the
first few days of its life will help materiallly to give it strength
to overcome other troubles. None of us would think of
feeding new born babies as we have been feeding our chicks;
colic and death would immediately ensue.

It has been said a chick will live a week without food
and I have reason to believe that this is so. Last season we
had the pleasure of shipping 50 chicks to Laramie, Wyoming,
a distance of 2,600. miles, requiring 5 days and 5 nights, dur-
ing which time the chicks had nothing at all to eat or drink.
Of this lot 46 arrived in excellent condition, four being killed
evidently by crowding, the fifty being in one compart-
ment. Except for the loss of some thorough errors in feed-
ing on the part of the purchaser (which were later overcome)
the lot did well. This goes to show that the withholding of
food for a few days is at least no injury to the chicks; it is
the safest course not to hasten the first feed too much.

Do Not Crowd Baby Chicks

Another lesson learned from the handling of this busi-
ness is the desirability of keeping the broods of young chicks
limited in number as the crowding of chicks towards the
heat in a brooder is similar to the crowding to the light in
the shipping box and the results are the same, viz., many

chicks that die from trampling and suffocation. While we
do not know it to be so, we imagine that the development
of the fireless brooder came from observations in the hand-
ling of the day-old chick business.

The hesitation that many people have in ordering day-
old chicks from fear of loss of the chicks, either en route or
afterwards from chilling received on their journey, is entirely
unwarranted. We have letter after letter in our files telling
the satisfaction that customers in all parts of the country
have had with chicks we have shipped them and we presume
other breeders have many similar letters. There is no reason
why day-old chicks shipped properly may not be transported
many hundreds of miles and do as well as chicks raised on
the home place. The business has been developed to a
point where most breeders, like ourselves, give evidence of
their faith in their ability to deliver good livable chicks by
guaranteeing safe delivery of the chicks to the customer.
Of course the breeders’ responsibility ceases on the delivery
of the chicks as poor success with chicks often arises from
improper feeding, irregular handling of the brooder, unsani-
tary surroundings, etc., over which they can have no control.

The baby: chick business has come to stay and will con-
tinue to grow tremendously, and central hatching plants.
with mammouth incubators will undoubtedly spring up in
great numbers; at the same time I do not believe it is going
to revolutionize the poultry business entirely. Eggs for
hatching will still be bought, as there is much fascination
and interest in watching the processes of incubation. Large
plants especially will buy eggs, as they can of course do so
cheaper than they can buy chicks, for the producer -of day-
old chicks must of course allow a certain amount for con-
tingent expenses, such as poor hatches, poor deliveries, etc.,
and this has to be figured in the cost of the chicks.

Day-old chicks are of particular interest to small poultry
keepers, who do not keep enough poultry to warrant an
incubator equipment; to those who hatch with hens but
cannot find enough broody hens to hatch as many as they
want when they want them; to those who have been dis-
appointed in results and want chicks in a hurry; and they
are of interest to plants of all sizes that do not have sufficient
equipment to hatch as many chicks as they require. I do
not believe that the business will interfere with the hatching
egg trade as much as many people seem to fear, but I think,
on the contrary, that the increase in the egg business as well
as in the chick business, will be tremendous during the next
few years.

SHIPPING DAY OLD CHICKS

THE PURCHASE OF DAY-OLD CHICKS AS A MEANS OF STARTING AND RENEWING
STOCK GROWING IN POPULARITY—A SUITABLE CRATE FOR SHIPPING DESCRIBED

RUDOLPH P. ELLIS

business is confronted by seven, well-defined prob-
lems, if not more, the successful solution of which
is imperative. A failure anywhere along the line means
disaster to the whole undertaking. These seven problems
or duties that engage the poultryman’s attention may be
briefly outlined as follows:
1—The securing (by purchase of raising) and the care,
especially over the winter season, of the female breeders.
2—The selection, raising and care of the male breeders,
which must be kept separated from the females and also pre-
vented from fighting among themselves—not always an easy
matter.
3—The correct conditions and mating so as to secure
fertile and strong-germed eggs, and the care in gathering
and keeping same until set.
4—Incubation—artificial or natural. '
5—Brooding and maturing the chicks.

A NYONE who contemplates starting in the poultry

6—Handling the layers—housing, feed and care.
7—Marketing the eggs at a high price—not wholesaling.

Solution of First Four Problems

I have presented these tasks in the order in which the
would be poultryman has to face them. And right here I
believe is the great difficulty; the novice is forced to under-
take the very hardest parts of the business first. The first
four enumerated above may be classed as the breeding end
of the business, and they have always seemed to me the
most difficult.

Few care to go to the expense (the many cannot) of pur-
chasing a trap-nested, pedigreed hen with a record of 160
to 200 eggs per year, as such a. hen is worth between five
dollars and twenty dollars. The labor alone of trapping her
for a whole year is no small part of the money value.

Similarly, pedigreeing your males on the performance of
their dams and sire’s dams involves great labor—and all this

36 CHICK BOOK

takes time; and surely, to the poultryman, time means
money.

If, therefore, any method can be devised whereby the
beginner, or the man who wishes to work poultry as a side-
line, can be saved the great labor incident to trap-nesting,
breeding, incubating and all the other preliminary steps
necessary to get bred-to-lay chicks in large numbers for com-
mercial egg-forming, it would certainly seem to fill owe of
the greatest needs among the great class of people who wish
to take up the commercial end of poultry.

So many have been thinking along these lines that within
the last few years the day-old chick industry has grown
amazingly. The purchase of day-old chicks as a means of
starting and renewing stock is gaining in popularity so rapidly
that it seems impossible to fill the demand for them. *

It is no idle boast to say that this means of securing a
number of thoroughbred chicks all of the same age is so
vastly superior to all the worry, expense and labor of main-
taining a breeding establishment of one’s own, that it is
certain to be the method of the future.

Breeders are fast being
called upon to sell actual chicks
rather than possibilities in the
form of eggs. Purchasers get
something definite and the us-
ual disappointments and com-
plaints, incident to the selling
of eggs for hatching, are no
more. It must be remembered
that a chick will travel, just
after bieng hatched, from sixty
to seventy-two hours without
food or water, and stand the
journey many times better
than an egg.

Some years back we began

trap-nesting to ascertain the
heavy egg-layers. The labor
attached to this was so great
that it seemed a pity to have
done so much work merely to
secure the few hundred chicks
we could accommodate our-
selves. So we purchased four
large 390-egg incubators and began advertising our bred-to
-lay Leghorn chicks at twelve cents each. The demand be-
came so great that this year we shall hatch between eigh-
teen and twenty thousand chicks.

The chicks are shipped in boxes 14by 24 inches, outside
measurement, and five inches high, divided into two com-
partments, each compartment holding twenty-five chicks.
The top is covered with burlap and the floor of the box with
bran or saw-dust.

The express companies take the chicks at the regular ex-
press rates, and we guarantee safe arrival, replacing all dead
or injured ones free of charge. “We usually ship an extra
one or two in each box so as to assure the full number arriving
safely.

The chicks need no care en route other than protection
from the weather. When they arrive they should be given
a drink and placed in a brooder previously warmed to ninety-
five degrees. They should then be fed on bread crumbs and
hard-cooked eggs (boiled twenty minutes) chopped fine, and
some grit should be supplied. Thereafter their treatment

is made of $ inch pine.

shipment o!
used, except at the ends.

Aurora Leghorn Farm’s Box for shipping Day-old Chicks.
It is returnable by the Express Company for 15ce.
A four compartment, non-returnable box is sometimes made for a long that commercial poultry farm-

a large number of chicks. paeae: si ‘ =
The bottom of the box is covered with bran ing is not receiving its just
or sawdust and burlap is securely tacked over the top.

should correspond with the usual way of. rearing brooder
chickens.

When once this method has been tried we believe no one
will care to go back to the uncertain way of purchasing eggs
for hatching. By the purchase of chicks no risk is run, no
expense for incubators is incurred, no trying experience at
hatching is necessary. A great part of the work is done for
you and any conscientious person blessed with common
sense and reasonable judgment can mature between seventy-
five and ninety per cent of the chicks bought. The chicks
do not suffer any loss of vitality in shipment, and as good
a percentage of them can be raised as if they were hatched
on. the place.

When the great probability of the beginner not running
the incubator just right is taken into consideration and his
chances of producing chicks not strong in vitality is con-
sidered, it is fair to state that he runs far better chances of
success in the purchase of day-old chicks from a nearby
breeder of experience, than he would by any other method
of starting his plant.

Let the breeder really
breed and produce live chicks—
not possibilities of chicks. I
believe that the day is not far
distant when the sale of eggs
for hatching will be in a large
measure superceded by the
purchase of live chicks. The
up-to-date breeder must ad-
just himself to this change if
he is to maintain his position
in the poultry world.

Two facts are evident:
First, that there is too much
wasted energy in commercial
poultry farming. Too many
men are so situated that they
cannot handle all its seven
branches to the best advan-
tage, economically. Second,

SIN.

This box

In these boxes § inch board is

compensation when the pro-
ducts are wholesaled to com-
mission dealers. Only a private trade in a city of some
size, will give the maximum return. Our branch-farm sys-
tem is netting over $2.50 per hen to the branches.

The chief merit in the system, however, is that there
is less labor and expense per layer, enabling more hens to
be kept for the time and money expended. An additional
merit is that many a man can undertake the lessened labor
of a branch farm as a side line, who would meet with but
poor success if he attempted all the arduous and confining
duties of an independent plant. All his chicks can be of
one age, lessening his brooding season to six weeks instead
of running through three or four months.

We believe that along some such lines the commercial
egg farming of the future must seek its maximum returns.

The present system supports too many middle-men, places
the eggs in the hands of customers in the city when stale,
and makes but a small return to the producer. ‘A dollar
a hen” is not sufficient return on the labor and investment
necessary to run an egg farm.

1. Bleeding. 2.

Preparing for the stick. 3. Completion of the stick, 4. The first handful of feathers.

3S ~

5. Plucking the fluff.

6. Almost ready for the pinners.

KILLING AND DRESSING POULTRY

DRY PICKING AND HOW IT IS DONE—COMMENTS ON SCALDING AS

A METHOD

OF DRESSING—THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WELL DRESSED AND POORLY DRESSED

POULTRY MAKES A WIDE DIFFERENCE IN

PRICES—CARE MEANS MORE PROFIT

P. T. WOODS, M. D.

ILLIONS of dollars worth of poultry intended for
market is wasted every year through carelessness,
mismanagement or ignorance of proper methods of

preparation, handling and shipping. In an effort to stop
this great waste, the United States Department of Agricul-
ture has put a corps of experienced workers, investigators
and lecturers in the field to determine the best methods of
preparing poultry for market, killing, dressing and shipment
ofsame. Dr. E. M. Pennington, one of these experts, recent-
ly, before the Missouri Carlot Shippers Association in con-
vention at St.-Louis, Missouri, said im part as follows:
“Three great food staples, poultry, eggs and butter, are
represented here today, and I think it may honestly be said

that a determination on the part of producer, packer, car-’

riers, warehousemen, commission men and retailers to work
for better poultry in the market, would soon mean a revolu-
tion in the quality from the viewpoint of birds bred to be
good, and dressed to keep good until they are eaten.

“That better poultry may reach the consumer, that the
millions upon millions of dollars wasted each year may be
saved, the Department of Agriculture has been studying the
dressing and handling of poultry in relation to keeping
quality. Whether this quality will keep for a short or long
period, whether the bird shall go to the consumer in fine,
sweet flavor, or flat and tasteless, or with an unpleasant
flavor, is frequently demonstrable before it is killed, since
food in the crop means food in the intestines, and such a
condition lowers the keeping quality.

“Again, the killer makes a miscut, all the blood does not
escape, and the chicken leaves the packing huose so un-
attractive in its appearance that it is rated 2c a pound lower
than its well-bled fellow. The haul is harder on the bird
incompletely bled than on that which is well bled, and so is
every step of its journey to the consumer, especially if that
journey includes the halt in cold storage. This is one of the
reasons that the same carlot, after its storage period, varies
so widely in individuals, especially if bad bleeding is not
closely graded out when packing first quality stuff. The
killer who gets just the same price for a bird badly bled as
for one in perfect condition, and who is paid by the piece,

»

does not take the time to set the knife properly, and some-
times it goes back beyond the skull, when there comes a great
bruised looking ring, caused by the blood settling in the
loose tissues just below the head; or he holds the bird’s neck
between his thumb and finger while he sticks to bleed, and
the mark of the pressure, even though it is of such short
duration, shows when the bird begins to age. Or, worse
than all, to save time ‘he tries to bleed and brain with one
cut and generally succeeds in missing the large vessels in
the neck altogether.

“The keeping time for a badly bled fowl, even under
good conditions, is much shorter than where the tissue has
been well drained. F

“Torn skins or rubbed skins are another inducement to
prompt decay, especially when they are dragged about over
a dirty surface, as when bench roughed or laid on racks, in-
stead of being hung to cool, or piled high on grading tables,
or packed in unlined barrels or boxes. The unbroken dry
skin of a chicken is a great protection against decay. When
it is wet, or broken, the flesh underneath is at the mercy of
the environment. The muscle just under the skin of a well
bled, sound skinned bird contains very, very few bacteria,
and the deep muscle practically none. But the rubbed
skinned bird has generally a good starter less than 24 hours
after killing and a fair crop after the first haul, and an over-:
whelming number by the time it gets to the retailer. So
numerous are these tiny things that they have made marked
differences in the chemical composition of the flesh before
any odor is noticed. But the flesh does not stand up; it is
not a clean, bright color, and the sweet, fresh flavor is gone.
Then, if we put that chicken into cold storage, it goes down
rapidly. We cannot keep a frozen bird from marked deter-
ioration if it goes into the freezer in anything but the pink
of condition. Compare the late storage bird after three
months in the warehouse with the one that went in promptly
and see for yourselves the loss in appearance. And the loss.
in flavor is just as pronounced. After six or nine months
the differences are still wider. So it is going to pay you to
get rid of these rubbed skins, and if rubs are bad, you can
see how much worse tears are—even little ones.

‘78

Don’t Scald-Pick Poultry

“While we are discussing effect of sound skins on keep-
ing, let us look, for just a moment, at the results of scalding.
‘This is so wide-spread a custom and so insistently demanded
by certain localities, and is so bad for the bird, that it deserves
special discussion. We all know how hard scalded poultry
is on chilled rooms, how soon it becomes slippery when ice
‘packed, and how it does not store so well as dry picked. We
find but few practical, progressive men, who really advocate
scalded stock. This is a case where the public must be
educated to take dry picked stock. You can help educate
by pushing dry picked birds, little by little, into the scalded
markets. It is greatly to be regretted that scalded chickens
are so widely used, not only because they spoil more quickly
and are harder to handle, but because they do not store in
a frozen condition as well as dry picked. A dry picked
chicken, well dressed and chilled and promptly stored, is a
pretty sure thing when frozen. For three months its flavor
cannot be distinguished from the fresh, and at the end of
six months the difference is a negligible quantity. Nine
months show a lessening in flavor, the flesh beginning to
shred a little and it is a wise thing to get that chicken sold
and eaten, for every week that it is carried increases the differ-
ence between it and the fresh specimen. But we never feel
sure of a scalded
‘chicken in storage.
It may keep in
good condition for
nine months, and
it may not keep
three months,
even when care-
fully prepared for
storage.

Chilling is Im-
portant

“If one con-
tinues the history
of the handling of
poultry in a chro-
nological sequence,
the next subject
will be chilling.
Like the subject of scalding, it ought to receive more atten-
tion than can be given here. Of all the individual factors

for good keeping of poultry, none is so important as the’

prompt and complete removal of the animal heat. If arti-
ficial refrigeration cannot be obtained; if there is no possible
way to chill the fowls in cold, dry air; if one must resort to
water and ice, there are undoubtedly modifications which
‘can be made in the process which will tend to lessen the
evils which always follow it. The skin and flesh soak up
water, aS you can readily determine for yourselves if you
* will weigh them before and after their bath.

“For good keeping quality, let us keep the chickens dry,
and help the safeguards that nature has provided rather than
hinder them. The soaking of the chicken skin in water is
some like ‘the scalded skin, except that the latter is more
destructive to the skin structure. One has only to glance
at the great difference in the appearance of the skin of a
dry picked and scalded bird to realize that some radical
change has occured to it. It is a commercial necessity that
we shall dress our poultry in such wise that it will keep to
the very best advantage, and that the inherent qualities of
‘the bird as an article of food shall be enhanced, not lessened.
Because a farmer raises a fine chicken, it by no means follows
that it is still a fine chicken when it reaches the consumer’s
‘table. It may be so lowered in grade by poor dressing that

PRIME MARKET POULTRY DRY PICKED

CHICK BOOK

a much inferior chicken, well dressed, is better eating.”

From the above it will be seen that the government
favors the well bred, well fed market chicken and considers
dry picked poultry preferable to scalded. While for im-
mediate home consumption, when the birds are light scalded
to remove the feathers and shortly after make their appear-
ance on the home table, there may not be the same objection
to seald picking as there is in birds intended for shipment
to market, we must say that our own preference is for the
dry picked bird, properly chilled after dressing and kept on
ice for a day or so before cooking. In the latter case the
bird is more tender than if cooked soon after killing and is
usually better flavored and better eating.

Dry Picking Easily Learned

Some people complain that it is too much trouble to dry
pick poultry for home use and that it is difficult to learn to
properly dry pick fowls for market. Such complaints are not
borne out in practical experience. We have found that the
average person will learn to dry pick poultry rapidly and
easily after a very few trials; that, when one has once learned
to dry pick he considers it much easier and quicker than
scald picking.

The dry picked carcass presents a much more attractive
appearance, stands shipment better, makes a better appear-
ance in the mar-
ket and actually
eats better than
scalded poultry
that has gone over
the same route to
market.

Dry picking
may be quickly
and easily learned
if one will begin
with adult fowls
that are in full
plumage. As the
picker acquires
skill, he will be
able to pick the
more soft meated
broilers and roast-
ers without tearing the tender skin. Personally, we prefer
the New Jersey method of dry picking, several stages of
which are shown in the accompanying illustrations.

The only trick in dressing poultry by this method is in
learning the stick. If the stick is properly made, the feathers
will come out very easily. Picking should always be done
in light, well aired, comfortable quarters that can be kept
warm in winter and comfortably cool in summer. The picker
should be provided with a long burlap apron and a killing
knife having a keen edge to the point and not too sharply
pointed. The large blade of the average four bladed pocket
knife is about right for adult fowls, while the smaller blades
are a bettter size for young chickens. For ducks a medium
blade shoemaker’s knife is best. Such a knife is shaped like
the pointed paring knife common to most kitchens, and
should be of sufficiently good steel to be capable of carrying
and holding an edge. The picker will soon learn to make a
choice of knives to suit the size of the birds that are to be
dressed.

Bleeding and rough picking is done by the picker in a
standing position, the bird being suspended by a loop of cord
passed about the legs and hung from'a nail driven into the
side of the killing room at convenient height to permit the
picker grasping the wings and neck of the bird with the left
hand, the forearm from wrist to elbow being held in a nearly

MARKETING 79

horizontal position. Hanging the bird against the wall is
preferable to having it suspended in the center of the room
as it cannot flutter out of reach in case it slips from the hand.
Provide a barrel for blood and waste feathers and an-
other barrel for feathers which are to be saved. These
should be placed convenient to the hands of the picker.

Making the Stick

With the fowl hanging in the position named in the fore-
going paragraph, slip the thumb and first two fingers of the
left hand down the bird’s neck until they reach the angle of
the jaw, forcing the mouth wide open and slightly stretching
the neck. Insert the knife blade with the dull side toward
the roof of the mouth. Rotate the knife quickly, first on one
side and then on the other and with a slicing upward and
downward motion sever the large blood vessels on either
side of the neck cutting toward the bone close to skull.

As soon as the bird is bleeding freely, point the tip of
the knife blade on a line with the angle of the jaw and the
eye so that it is directed against the base of the skull ‘near
where it joins the spinal column and press the knife point
sharply into the brain, giving a quick quarter or half turn to
the blade after you feel it enter.

If the stick is properly made, a convulsive shudder will
pass through the bird and the wings will be drawn stiffly
back. Thislasts but a moment. While it lasts, and before
any fluttering commences, seize the wings firmly in the left
hand holding the neck firmly with the little finger or the

SECTION NO. 1

Make four sections as shown above numbered one

last two fingers of the same hand. So hold the wings that
primary and secondary feathers will be partly spread. Grasp
these firmly with the extended, partly open fingers of the
right hand and remove with a quick downward motion away
from the fowl’s body. If the stick-has been well made, they
will come away quickly and easily.

Next remove the stiff feathers from the tail, then quickly
remove feathers from the more tender portions of the breast
and body, pulling in the direction of least resistance, taking
no more feathers in the hand at a time than can be removed
readily and being careful not to bunch feathers from different
portions in one hand. The method of removing the body
feathers varies with different pickers. The main thing is to
get them off of the more tender parts first, leaving the thighs
until last. As a rule, the wings should be cleaned up as soon
as the breast, back and abdomen have been bared. Even a
novice should be able to get the feathers quickly off an adult
fowl so that it will be almost clean. before the muscular
twitching ceases.

After the carcass has been rough picked, go carefully
over it and remove all pin feathers and down. Long hairs
may be removed by singeing in the flame of an alcohol lamp
or in the flame of burning alcohol poured into a small tin
dish. The alcohol flame does not smoke the carcass and
leaves it clean. Such singeing should be very quickly done
to avoid heating or charring the skin.

In killing, do not bruise the body and do not break the
skull by striking with a club. Where poultry is to be shipped
ome distance to the market, or where it is liable to be stored,

*

it keeps in much better condition if the skin is not broken
and if bones are not crushed. All blood should be removed
from the mouth and washed from the head and face.

The dressed carcass must be thoroughly chilled before
packing for shipment. If it is not practicable to do this in
a chilling room or if such is not available, the birds may be
cooled in an ice water bath. If packed for shipment before
the carcass is thoroughly chilled, putrefaction takes place
rapidly and the poultry, when removed from the box, has a
disgusting appearance and is unfit to eat.

In markets which ‘
cater to high class Beer Tent
trade, dry picked poul-
try brings better prices
than the scald picked
product. The large
eastern markets pay a
premium for well
dressed, dry picked poul-
try and in some of them
scald picked poultry

Make three sections numbered two

goes begging at low
prices. The same is true of some markets on the Pacific
coast. A very large percentage, however, of the markets in

the United States, in inland cities especially, handle scalded
poultry exclusively and in most of them it is difficult to find
attractive looking table poultry.

It is to be hoped that dry picking will become more
general and that all of our markets will show a decided pre-
ference for products of superior quality.

DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING B. & S.
SHIPPING COOPS

HROUGH the courtesy of Mr. F. 8. Snyder, of the
firm of Batchelder & Snyder Co., wholesale meat
dealers, we are permitted to reproduce their plans

and instructions for building a simple and inexpensive mar-
ket poultry shipping coop.

Material Required

19 laths, each cut into four pieces of one foot in length.
75 one-foot pieces are required. 9 strips cut from 7-8 inch
stock, each strip 4 feet long and 1} inches wide. 6 strips
from {-inch stock cut 2 feet 4 inches long. Six-penny slim
nails for the } inch stocks; three penny nails for the laths.
3 pieces of tin or galvanized iron or common strap iron, each
6 inches long and 4 to ? inches in width. To prevent split-
ting soak the laths and strips over night. Weight of coop
when finished about 42 pounds.

Two of the sections one and the sliding bar form the top

“Make four sections, numbered 1, as follows: Take
two of the four-foot strips and nail them together, nailing
on them twelve of the one-foot strips of lath. The end laths
are to be from 3 to 34 inches from the ends, as shown in the

80 CHICK BOOK

illustration, and a space of 43 inches is to be left in the
centre of the section. Nail on the two laths to fix this space,
then divide the remaining space between the end laths and
the centre laths equally and nail on the strips.

“Next make three sections, numbered 2, using for this
purpose two of the strips measuring 2 feet 4 inches in length,
nailing on a one-foot strip at each end, another one-foot
strip in the centre, and then three more laths dividing the
remaining space on each side of this centre strip, utilizing
for each of the sections numbered 2, nine of the one-foot
strips. When this is done you will have the coop ready to
nail together except covering the bottom. Please observe
that in nailing the finished sections to each other all laths
are to be inside the coop when finished. Observe the illus-
trations of the completed coops.

“To assemble the coop, stand one of the sections, numb-
ered 2, on end and balance on top of it one of the sections
numbered 1, so that the end of section 2 will appear between
and divide the space in centre of section 1. Next nail one
of the sections 2 to the end of the under side of this section
1, which has already nailed in its centre the first section 1
which you have handled. In nailing on the sections 1 to
the ends of section 2 be sure that the lath strips are turned
toward the inside of the coop. These sections 2 constitute
the centre and the two ends. Now turn this over and nail
on to the exposed ends of the three sections 2, one of the
remaining sections 1. This will complete the two sides, the
two ends, and the centre of the coop. Next, nail on the two
remaining sections 1, which will make the top of the coop
except for the centre sliding bar. Now take the three straps

7

TOP VIEW

Coop standing on end

of tin or galvanized iron and fit them over the four-foot
sliding bar which is to form the door for the coop. The
centre iron strap may be added or not, at the pleasure of the
builder; this is not shown in the illustration, but we would
advise that centre strap be attached so that in case chickens
are confined in one end of double coop the bar can be slid
out half way without risk of their getting out while the other
end is being filled. If desired, a single screw, bolt, or pin
can be inserted through one of the straps and the bar beneath
it so that it cannot possibly slide. If very small broilers
(1 tb. or less) are to be shipped the spaces between laths
should not exceed 14 inches.
“Nothing remains now to be done save to cover the
bottom with half-inch boards. This may be boarded over
either crosswise or lengthwise, according as the stock you
have on hand may be cut to advantage. If boarded length-
wise it would be desirable to put a cleat over both ends and
in the centre: after the bottom is nailed on. If boarded
crosswise cleats would be unnecessary, although it would
protect the bottom if four-foot strips of lath or of }-inch
stock were nailed over the bottom and at the outer edges.
“The-total cost of material used would be from 25c to
50c a coop, according to the quality of the stock and the

section of the country where it is procured. The weight of
the coop shown in the illustration is 42 ibs.

“In shipping poultry to us be sure that your name and
shipping address only appear on each coop. Notify us also
of the number and kind of birds you ship to us, and your
post-office address.”

CORNER VIEW

Coop standing on end

ee “Asiatics_..

Money-Making Poultry
Information |

special plant--

Reliable’ S Pojittey Litiiry

‘contains valuable: ideas for you. “You are in ashiger of.
losing money if you. do’ “not know how the. business: of -
the most successful. poultrymen is.conducted, how the ©

fowls are’ selected and fed to: produce: ‘an extra supply’.

of eggs during the winter, how their: houses and ‘appli-

_ ances should be built, how the. chickens, ducks, geese

ad” turkeys are reared on ,a_ “money-making plant of.

a Pe similar ‘size to your own. All: ‘this. ‘valuable: informa- ° ~ !

“a tion, and more, is contained in the, sixteen. iptmteice
i; books. of RELIABLE’S POULTRY LIBRARY, » :

Artificial Incubating and. Broodin;

-. The Bantam Fowl
The. Chick Book:
4 Ducks | and Geese.......-.-..
B88. and Egg Farms:
es. ‘Record. and. ‘Account Boo
Leghorns... Daas cea
The Orpingtons.. 2
‘The Plymouth Rocks All Va
_. Poultry Houses and Fixtures.
.#» Reliable Poultry Remedies...
Rhode Island. Reds.......:.......
~~ Successful ‘Poultry’ Keeping. ;
_ Turkeys—Their Cart and Managem it.