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^9 1936
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COMMON SENSE

IN

THE POULTRY YARD.

A STORY OF FAILURES AND SUCCESSES.

INCLUDING A FULL ACCOUNT OF

1000 HENS AND WHAT THEY DID.

WITH A COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF

The Houses, Coops, Fences, Runs, Methods of Feeding,

Breeding, Marketing, etc., etc. And Many New

Wrinkles and Economical Dodges,

BY

J. P. HAIG.

WITH N^^MEROTJS ILLUSTRATIONS.

I^EW YORK:
THE INDUSTRIi^L PUBLICATION COMPANY.

1900.

Entered According: to Act of Congress, in the Year 1888,

BY JOHN PHIN,

In the OflQce of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D 0.

CONTENTS,

Publisher's Introduction, .. = ---.v

Preface, ix

How it Came About, -------- n

Old Experiences and New Plans, ----- 27

Trj'ing to Improve the Old Stock, ------ 33

Facts and Fancies, - - - - --- .. 4.7

Workini? Out a System - 53

House Buildinf?, - ^ ----- . 59

Broods Increase and Troubles Begin, - - - - 73

Preparing for a Start, ------- 84

An Episode, ---------89

Yards and Fences, ------- 94

Breeding Pens, - 103

Making a Start, ..---. - - 107

Under Way at Last--- More Help Needed, ~ - - -, - 116

Feeding, .-,.-. 121

Fall Broods, - , . 139

Our First Winter, -.----- 144

Nests and Nest Eggs, - - = - - - - 151

Marketing, ...... ^ - - - 156

Vermin, - - .. _ . _ . - . 155

Enemies, . . _ . . - - - - lesj

Earlj' Chickens and High-Pricea Eggs, - - - - 175

Ketrospective— Profit and Loss, - - ^ - - - 182

Conclusion, - . . - - _ - - 188

FREF A^CE.

Tkifling as chickens and eggs may, at first sight, appear, it is, never-
tlieless, a fact, that the output from the poultry of the United States exceeds
in value that of all the silver mines therein. Therefore, whatever will add
even a trifling percentage to the profit derived from our poultry must be,
not only of individual, but of national importance, and it is by the hope that
he might accomplisli something in this direction, that the author was in-
duced to prepare the present work.

I have put the subject in ttie form of a story, in the hope that some who
would be repelled by a mere treatise may find the work sufiiciently interest-
ing to read it through. But although the principles and methods are
strung on a slender thread of fiction, they are none the less true. Every
house described, every device herein detailed, every method practiced, has
been successfully used as related, so that the reader need not hesitate to
put up coops and use them after tliese patterns. I have given the best
practical results of years of experience, and not the mere imaginings of a
theorist or a novelist.

In some of the chapters, notably that on feeding, I have been obliged to
abandon the story form, and to give my results in a general form, otherwise,
this chapter would have expanded into a book. And in other chapters, for
the purpose of giving the practical information more thoroughly, I have
frequently anticipated the course of events as they actually occurred.

I firmly believe tliiit the methods herein detailed are the very best for
all those who do not aspire to the refinements of the business— incuba-
tors, etc. While these are no doubt valuable aids to the extensive and experi-
enced poulterer, I am afraid they are not the thing for the ordinary chicken
raiser. I must confess that I have never owned an incubator, but I have
entrusted eggs to men who claim to be professionals in their use, and I
have not been so encouraged as to be induced to try it again, unless some
new and more powerful inducements are offered. I have always been able
to command enougli brooding hens to meet my wants, and my success with
them has been far greater than anything that has come under my observa-
tion from the incubator. But of course this is only my own experience, and
under different circumstances that experience might have been very differ-
ent; so that I hold that in tliis matter each man must decide for himself.

In the earnest hope that my readers will derive as much pleasure and
profit from their poultry as I have done, I place this little book in their
hands.

J. P. HAIG.

Femiebield, May l8t, 1885.

<i4054.

PUBLISHER'S INTRODUCTION.

It is an old saying, and one very generally accepted, " figures can-
not lie." If by this is meant that two added to two nlways make
four, it cannot be denied. But, two and two do not always make
^our. Sometimes they make twenty-two, sometimes they make
z, and sometimes they make o, so we see that it is not the figures
alone, but their position as well, that governs the general result.
When Captain Bobadil proposed to exterminate an opposing army
by killing them off at the rate of ten every half hour; twenty an
hour — ten hours a day, two hundred men — a hundred days, twenty
thousand men — the figures did not lie though the Captain did.
The growth of numbers under the potent spells of the arithmetician
is something marvellous. No matter how small the i)rofit, if the
number of articles on which that profit accrues is only great enough,
a fortune of any desired amount may be achieved. No better illus-
tration of this occurs than that of book publishing. If the ordinary
profit on a book is 25 cents, we have only to sell ten times the
number at a profit of 5 cents, to obtain twice the income; and
as low i)nces bring increased sales, here is a road to fortune.
And so strongly did this idea take possession of one publisher in
this country, that he attempted to sell books at a profit of only i
cent a[)iece, in the hope that by selling millions, the aggregate
profits would be larger than by the usual plan. Unfortunately for
his scheme, a profit of one cent is not difficult to wii)e out. It
does not take many si)oiled copies; not many minutes wasted by
clerks; not very much postage, to throw the balance the other way.
At any rate the man who tried it soon found himself a bank-
rupt.

Perhaps in no case is the power of multiplication and the

VI PUBLISHER S INTEODUCTION.

consequent certainty of a fortune more strongly presented than in
the poultry business. In the first i)lace tlie number of chickens
which can be raised from one healthy hen in a few years is some-
thing astounding. Let us begin with one healthy young hen; let
us suppose that slie and her female i)rogeny will live for seven
years, (which is greatly within bounds) and rear two broods of
I13 each, every season. Let us also suppose that half her chickens
are cockerels, almost all of which will be killed, except those re-
quired for breeding, and therefore let us make no account of them.
Then it will be found that

At the end of the first year we have the original hen

and 13 chickens, making _ _ _ - . 14

At the end of the second year we have - - 196

'• " third " " - - - 2,744

" " fourth " " - . 38,416

fifth " " _ - . 537.824

sixth " " - - 7.529^536

" " seventh " " _ _ . 105,413,504

Here then is a chance for a fortune. Let us emigrate to some
western prairie, where we can find unoccupied land which we can
use for a few years — ^just as do the great cattle robbers — we beg their
pardon, we mean Cattle Kings — and let us take with us a single
hen. At the end of seven years we will be the happy possessors of
one hundred and five millions of chickens, which at the very low
price of ten cents each, would make us worth over ten millions of
dollars. At the end of that time, therefore, we can sell out, come
east and enjoy ourselves.

Of course, in such an extravagant statement as this, the fallacy
becomes too obvious to allow of its deceiving any one, although
in this, as in other cases, the figures do not lie. But, when men
come to talk of thousands the impossibilities seem to disappear and
it does not seem that propositions which are backed by such clear
calculations, and are sustained by apparendy well known facts, can
be anything but feasible. Thus, some man reports that, from his
flock of thirty hens he has made an annual profit of thirty dollars, and

publisher's introduction. th

the question at once arises : Why cannot $3,000 be made from
3,000 hens? In the first [)1ace, it is rare to find in such calculations
that anything is set down for labor, tlie care of thirty fowls being re-
garded as mere pastime and occupying, we will say, only three-quar-
ters of an hour per day. But, let suppose that our flocks increase
to 600 birds — a com[)aratively small number. We now find that
instead of three-quarters of an hour per day we have to give
fifteen hours per day — a demand ui)on time and strength which
would soon break down any ordinary man.

Somebody, claiming to have 3,000 fowls, tells us that we ought
never to let a day pass without examining personally each bird, so as
to see if it is in health, and he further declares that only in this way
can we be sure of success. Let us see. Suppose it takes just half a
minute to examine a fowl carefully; then, to examine 3,000 fowls
will take just 1,500 minutes, or 25 hours, which is a little more time
than we have ever been able to put into a day's work. The fact
is, that very few people have any idea of what a thousand is, and
none have any idea of what a million is. One man wrote a book
of recipes, etc., and has advertised it as "A Million of Facts for the
People." His book consists of about 1,000 pages; there are 53
lines to the page, and about 10 words to a line, or 530,000 words
in the book, so that if his claim be well founded, every word must
embody the statement of at least two facts! ! It is needless to say
that the claim has no foundation in flict.

The same unsound calculations which seem to infest poultry
keeping are found to affect almost every other business, and suc-
cess is only to be attained in any undertaking, by intelligence
industry, economy and perserverance. As soon as we get beyond
a very narrow limit, the influence of personal 7vork becomes a
trifling element, and we have to de[)end upon the help of human
beings (]uite as much as uj^on the good qualities of our fowls.
And every one knows how uncertain and unreliable most human
help is.

We do not make these statements for the purpose of deterring
any one from entering ui)on the raising of jjoultry on a large scale,
provided they bring to the undertaking the requisite amount of

Vm PUBLISHER S INTRODUCTION.

experience, skill and capital. But, without these, failure is almost
certain, and we should be sorry to aid in distributing a work which
would lead enthusiastic but inexperienced persons to lose what little
capital they may liave. As for the keeping of poultry on a small
scale, that is alwaws to be commended. Poultry are the scaven-
gers and save-alls of the nation. The aggregate savings of the
little flocks often to a hundred fowls that are scattered throughout
tlie country amounts to a greater sum than the value of the cattle
and horses put together, and to more than the output of our much
lauded silk industry, with all its huge mills, imposing Avarehouses,
and aristocratic mill owners. And yet, Avith all this, six hundred
and sixteen thousand dozen eggs passed through the Custom
House in New Yodv during the months of October and November
of last year — showing ])lainly that the market for eggs is far from
being glutted. Poultry when kept in small numbers on any place
can, in general find a considerable share of their food in scraps
that would otherwise go to waste, and in insects, seeds, etc. 'J1iey
are therefore alwa3's jirofitable, and as })leasant as they are profitable.
It is only when this and similar rural pursuits are taken up as a
business that any danger of failure exists, and in such cases failure
generally arises from the flict that those who embark in the under-
taking make the great mistake of supposing that because they have
a love for birds therefore they must have the ability to care for
them.

COMMON SENSE

m THE POULTRY YARD,

^om it Came QVbout.

r has been said that every man thinks himself competent
to edit a newspaper. With much more trutli miglit it be
said that every man tliinks hmiself competent to invest
money to advantage. And it is liardly necessary to say that in
both cases a large proportion of the men who think thus are mis-
taken. Thousands of men have found, by sad experience, that one
of the most difficult thmgs to do is to invest money to advantage
and yet securely. I never su[)posed that I was specially gifted in
this way, but having occasion to invest the savings of many years —
a small sum after all, by the way — I supposed that as good a plan as
any would be to follow in the footsteps of those who might be re-
garded as experts at the business. I do not now speak of specula-
tion or investment in enterprises which ])romise large results, with,
of course, a corresponding risk, but of those investments which are
supposed to be permanent and secure, and upon which a m;iii
may rely for a certain income for himself, or for his family if he
should be taken away.

Tlie prosperity of the country was at high tide at the time of
which I write. Every species of investment promised security and
a liberal income, and the values of real estate were constantly in-
creasing. Nor did this increase seem to be a speculative one.
The people were growing richer, and could afford to pay more for

12 COMMON SENSE

home accommodation ; the number of those who wanted dwellings
seemed to be constantly increasing, and consequently there seemed
to be absohitely no reason why prices should ever fall. Not only
were private individuals lending liberally on bond and mortgage se-
cured by real estate, but those professional experts who are retained
by vast monied cor[)orations — insurance companies, savings banks
and the like — were investing the capital of their principals in these
securities. City property always commanded liberal loans, and farms
in good condition were considered very desirable security. And on
what is known as suburban real estate loans to a large proportion
of their value could be obtained. When, therefore, my friend
Brown api)lied to me for a loan on his new house and grounds, I
had no hesitation in entertaining his proposal. He had paid
$1,500 for eleven acres of land, and had spent $8,000 more in
building a substantial and comfortable house upon it, and in im-
proving the grounds. When, therefore, he applied to me for a loan of
$3,500, 1 regarded it as a very fortunate occurrence for me, and after
the necessary formalities and searches had been made, I gave him
my check, took the bond and mortgage, and had the latter recorded.
Brown was a Scotchman of more tlian usual intelligence and
energy; he was in a good business, and as his family was growing
up he decided to own a place in the country. He had bought a
somewhat Avild piece of land near a large country town, but his
taste, knowledge and skill had transformed it into a marvel of
])eauty, and a source of many comforts. It was situated on a hill-
side, commanding an extensive and beautiful view, and on the
northern boundary the land rose in a rather steep and rocky slope,
the face of which was covered with ferns, while along the top was
a strip of evergreens which afforded a perfect shelter from the
northern l)lasts. This rocky and ferny shelter had struck Brown's
eye from the first, and decided him in choosing, or perhaps I should
rather say in making, a name for his ])lace. He called it Fernie-
hield, which he told me signified in Scotch /^;7{y shelter, and well
did it describe the locality. The name always seemed to me quite
a poetical one as well as an uncommon one, and many a pleasant
hour did I spend there enjoying the romantic walks and splendid

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 1$

views, but, above all, the intellectual converse of my friend Brown,
who was not only a highly educated man, but a man of great
natural ability.

For a time all went well. Business Avas good, the interest was
paid promptly, and Brown even thought of reducing the mortgage.
But, alas, for human hopes and plans. One of those commercial
cyclones which seem periodically to shake the very foundations of
society, overtook us; business became as dull as before it had been
prosperous, and Brown Avith the rest found his income reduced
beyond anything which he had deemed i)Ossible. Economy was
tried on every point, and his family aided him in every way to cut
down expenses and 'make both ends meet, but without success.
There is a pomt beyond which economy cannot be carried, if we
would continue business at all, and Brown's business expenses were
actually greater than his income. As a necessary consequence he
defaulted on his interest, and matters daily grew worse. He then
tried to sell, bit found it impossible to get even the amount of the
mortgage, for leal estate had probably suffered a greater reduction
than any other species of property. The speculation in real estate
had run high ; the opinion had been universal that real estate pos-
sessed a solid and almost unchangeable value; that if it went down
a little now and then, owing to local causes, it would soon rise
again, and that at any rate it could never go very mucli below the
prices at which it was held. When, therefore, those who had held
these opinions saw it go down, down, and never rise; saw it go
far below what they had always regarded as the lowest possible
limit, they became panic stricken, and would no more have bought
real estate as an investment than they would have bought Keely
motor stock. And as for selling suburban residences, that was out
of the questioji. All who could afford to buy and to live in such
l)laces were supplied, and many who had made such imestments
were forced to give them up, since their diminished incomes no
longer enabled them to sup|)ort the expenses that were absolutely
necessary. The market was easily glutted, antl buyers with cash
were able to obtain the most beautiful and comfortable homes
almost at their own prices.

14

COMMON SENSE

Things looked discouraging indeed, and for two long years
Brown struggled on,hoj3ing against hope and looking for a change.
But the change did not come; or at least it came so slowly that
the " hope deferred made the heart sick." Meantime the interest
accumulated, and the want of it cramped me, for my regular income
was also diminislied. I had no thought of foreclosing, and yet it
would never do to let the matter run on until tlie property would
be lost to us boLli. I did not hint this to Brown, but lie saw it as
clearly as I did, and at last a[)proached me on the subject. The
result of our conversation was that we both resolved to make a de-
termined effort to sell it, even if it brouglit no more than the amount
of the mortgage and interest. But after six months hard effort we
found that we could not get a buyer even at this low price.
Thorouglily discouraged. Brown suggested that I take the place
myself. He had an offer from a western firm to take the manage-
ment of a department of their business at a salary which, even if
moderate, would at least enable him to live, and he suggested very
sensibly that to close out by resorting to law would only involve
expense without any real benefit. He had an opportunity to
close out his business in the city for a sum which would enable him
to get setded comfortably in his new home, and he had decided to
take this course provided he could arrange with me.

To fight against the inevitable is folly. Even if I had refused to
accept his offer, and had held on to my mortgage and foreclosed it
by legal measures, I would have gained nothing but a loss, as the
Irishman said. It seemed hard to take property that had cost over
$10,000 in exchange for a mortgage of little over one-third that
amount, but both Brown and myself saw that it was not our doing
so much as it was in obedience to the "inexorable logic of events."
So far as I was concerned, all I wanted was the amount I had put
into the investment. Brown had taken chances; I had taken
none If the i)roperty had increased in value to double its cost
Brown only would have been the gainer, and so as I had no share
In the possible profits it was only just that I should have no part
or lot in the losses.

And so, in order to avoid all litigation and expense, Brown made

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 1 5

out to me a deed of the property, and agreed to give me possess'on
as soon as the necessary arrangements could be made. I must
confess that I felt no pleasure in my new pro})erty. Although it
Avas certain that I would gain by it in a few years, yet when I saw
the deep sorrow which settled over the family when tliey found
themselves obliged to give up their beautiful home, any satisfaction
which I might otherwise have felt Avas destroyed. In order to
relieve Mrs. Brown's mind as far as I could, and infuse a hope
which might console even if upheld by a very slender prop, I
agreed to restore the place to them at any time within three years
on payment of the original mortgage and interest to the date of my
taking possession, the rent after that time being considered a full
offset for the interest.

It is unnecessary to enter into further details of the change. I
have given these facts in order to explain why it was that 1 came
to select such an expensive place for a poultry experiment. I did
not select it ; it selected me, and though now, after some y^ars,
neither Brown nor myself have much cause to regret the change,
yet at the time it was a pretty severe trial. As I have already told
my readers, Brown was a man of great ability, and in his new posi-
tion he rapidly made himself invaluable to his employers. Rival
firms were not slow to see that the great success of the new^ man-
agement was due entirely to Brown, and so persistent were their
efforts to secure his sernces that the firm he was with admitted
him to a partnership, and he is now a very wealthy man. He occa-
sionally visits us and enjoys his old home. The best of feeling
exists between us, as may be readily supposed, and although he
was well able to buy back the place before the limit of time had
exj)ired, he did not consider it wise to do so. He could not return
to it and live in it without making an altogether disproi)ortionate
sacrifice; to rent it would be to allow it go to the dogs, and as for
selling it, that was yet out of the question. There is therefore no
danger that my possession will ever be disturbed.

There were quite a number of useful animals and articles on the
place which were now of no use to the original owner. In ordei
to get at a valuation of these we made out ?. complete inventory,

l6 COMMON SENSE

and employed an experienced auctioneer's clerk who affixed to
each article the price which he thought it would bring at auction.
The aggregate sum was beyond that which I cared to invest, and I
suggested that the goods had better be actually sold at auction.
Mrs. Brown strenuously objected to this, however, and with her
woman's sense suggested that if we would dispose at private sale
of some of the articles that I did not want, and deduct from the
valuation of the remainder the expense of selling, the amount might
probably come within my limit. Taking off auctioneer's fees,
advertising, time, etc., reduced the latter sum very materially, and
I bought the goods at their reduced estimate. Amongst the new
acquisitions were a fine old mare (Madge she was called), an excel-
lent cow — almost pure Jersey, though not registered — a covered
buggy, spring wagon, dirt cart, harness, and the usual supply of
agricultural tools. There were also over fifty hens and some
pigeons, but the latter Avere not inventoried. At one time Brown
had some very fine poultry, but during his troubles the flock ran
down until now there wai nothing but some fifty or sixty old hens
of a rather mixed breed, and a solitary cock. At this tune, how-
ever, I did not care much about the kind of poultry, and although
I was familiar with the different breeds and knew a good bird
when I saw it, yet I had no intention of doing more than merely
securing eggs enough for family use.

All this occurred in early spring, and, of course, it was necessary
that I should take possession as soon as ]:)Ossible, so that the ground
might be put in order for spring crops. But meanwhile it was
found advisable for Brown to visit his new home, not only to make
arrangements for moving and establishing himself there, but also to
consult personally with his employers. All this was going to take
time, so I suggested that they give us possession at once and re-
main as our guests until they found it convenient to move. Under
other circumstances this would have been anything but an agree-
able arrangement, but under the present conditions it was thought
best to do so. So Mrs. Brown commenced packing and soon
cleared rooms enough to give us an opportunity to move in. We
accordmgly gave up our house in the village — a tenant having

IN THE POULTRY YARD. I 7

been already found — and moved all our goods and chattels on to
the place. Some were stored in tlie barn, others were put to im-
mediate use, and others were stored in vacant rooms. I was
enabled to aid my friends materially in packing up; the work on
tlie place went on smoothly, and ere long it was time for the
Browns to depart for their distant home. Mr. Brown had returned
and finished packing. Most of his goods had been sent to the
railroad de[)Ot and others stowed away in the barn until it suited
his convenience to send for them. At last the day arrired when
I was to drive them over to the depot, and that day I shall never
forget. As may readily be imagined the children had become
deeply attached to every animal and almost to every plant on the
place. The horse, the cow, even the chickens, were all old friends,
and the parting was i)ainful to the last degree. But it ended at
last, and we left Ferniebield in anything but a joyous mood. A
short drive brought us to the neighboring station; the train rolled
out of the dei)Ot and I returned to my new home — sad, it is true,
but with a very different feeling from that which I had hitherto
entertained. I now felt that I was absolute master and owner of
the place. So long as the original owner remained I could not get
rid of a feehng that I was subordinate to him. But now I was not
only sole possessor but sole occu[)ier, and after unharnessing the
mare and tying her in her stall, I walked over the grounds and ex-
amined them as I had never done before.

The weather had become settled and warm, and the plants were
developing with sjjring-title vigor and rapidity. The garden, which
had been the pride of Mrs. Brown's heart, was as yet almost un-
touched by spade or hoe, for the pressure of other things had pre-
vented attention to aught except the useful. A few early vegetables
iiad been planted, but that was all ; but the oio plants were spring-
ing uj) everywhere, as if looking for their lost mistress, and wonder-
ing where was the careful and tender hand that had always hitherto
guided their wayward growth. It was late in the season to begin
gardening; the buds on the vines had swollen, but the rampant
growth of the i)revious year still hung untouched upon the trellises.
Other plants showed the same neglected condition, and I turned

1 8 COMMON SENSE

away with satklened steps and went towards tlie animals. The
l)igeoiis and hens had been the special [)ets of my little friend,
Nettie, the fourteen year old daughter of Mr. Brown, and she
had fed and petted them that morning amongst the very last
things she did. They now looked upon me with a curious eye,
as if to say "What are you doing here?" The horse and cow
seemed to miss their former owners less, though I fancy that
Madge has not yet quite forgotten her old friends, and still looks
about and wonders when they will return

Returning to the house, I sat down under the veranda to think
over the situation, for, I confess, I did not feel altogether satisfied,
and sometimes I doubted the wisdom of my accepting Brown's
ofifer. Still, if the worst came to the worst, I could sell it yet for
whatever it would bring, and then 1 would be better off than if I
had forced a sale by law and diverted a large portion of the pro-
ceeds into the pockets of lawyers and sheriffs.

After making a very close calculation, and as accurate an esti-
mate as my knowledge of the facts in the case would permit, I
came to the conclusion that our expenses in our new home would
be from six to eight hundred dollars per year more than they had
usually been. In makmg this estimate I charged taxes, insurance
and interest as rent; repairs I did not include, for I fully believed
that the steady rise in the value of property would more than
offset this item.

Our increased expenses were due to the fact that we would have
to keep a man, a horse and a cow, and that the house being much
larger than was really necessary for our family, would also entail
extra exj^ense in the v/ay of fuel, help, etc. The place, too, would
require to be kept up, so as to present at least a decent ai)pearance,
or it would soon become less valuable.

It is true that for all th's we had our returns in the shape of
increased advantages and pleasures, but this did not lessen the
amount that had to be ])aid for them. I had fully allowed for the
saving that might be effected by having a full sup[)ly of such arti-
cles as esjG^s, milk, butter and vegetables, and had even estimated
certain receij^ts from orchard and garden as possible income; but^

IN THE POULTRY YARD, I9

after all, I had found that our expenses would be greatly increased,
and how were we to meet them without interfering with other obli-
gations that were imperative? This was the question that i)re-
sented itself to my mind in such a clear and definite shape.

Two ways i)resented themselves : Either I must find some extra
business which would yield the required amount, or the place itself
must be made to yield enough to pay the deficit. i

The first plan was out of the question. I had already withdrawn 1
as much as i)0ssible from active business, and I had no idea of
again saddling myself with its cares and anxieties. And to accept
a subordinate position would now be exceedingly distasteful to me.
If I engaged in any pursuit to make this money the business must
be very congenial, and it must leave me entirely independent,
otherwise it would be wiser to sell the jjlace at a sacrifice and live
more cheaply.

It seemed, therefore, that there was no alternative but to make
the place produce the required extra amount. Let me therefore
describe it in detail.

The house was, as I have said, larger than was necessary for a
small family in moderate circumstances. It contained twelve
rooms, was heated throughout with hot air, had water-tanks, bath
room, water-closets, etc., etc. In short, it was as comi)lete in its
appointments as most city houses. It is with the grounds, how-
ever, the productive part, that we have chiefly to do, and therefore
I shall say no more about the house itself.

The land lay along a road which led from a large and thriving
village into the country. The village almost aspired to be a city,
and would have been one long ago if the good sense of the ma-
jority of the inhabitants had not restrained the ambitious vanity of
a few. The road ran almost straight until it reached the foot of a
somewhat ])recipitous hill, when it turned shar|)ly to the west and
went round the foot of the mountain. My land was Ijounded by
this road on the west and by the mountain on the north. The
"mountain," as it was generally called, was a steej) and barren hill
about 200 feet high, reckoning from the plain at its base. Just
above the base there was a rocky cliff, and above that the line of

20 COMMON SENSE

evergreens to wliich I liave alluded as giving the place a portion of
its name. My line ran along the top ot the cliff, but did not
include much of the evergreens. The mountain itself seemed to
belong to nobody. It was almost barren ; cattle would find no
pasture on it, and sheep could not be kept in that region on ac-
count of the village curs, which were constantly prowling about,
and would soon have destroyed any sheep that might have been
kept. It had been sold for taxes several times, but no bidder had
ever taken possession and kept it. My line ran along this cliff for
a few hundred feet, and then turned straight down the hillside.
When half way between the cliff" and the plain the line turned to
the east, and ran in this direction for some distance, after which it
descended to the line of the next property, and then ran in a wavy
westerly direction till it met the road already mentioned. If tlie
reader will follow this descrii)tion, marking the outhne on paper
with a pencil, he will see that the property had almost the form of
a boot, with the toe lying towards the morning sun. And, indeed,
so strong was the resemblance to a boot, as seen on some plans
and surveys that had been made, that it had actually been called
"The Boot" before Brown bought it and gave it a more poetical
name.

Such being the general "lay of the land," an account of its vary-
ing character will now be more easily understood. I say varying,
for even on this small plot of ground varieties of heavy and light
soil were found, as well as black vegetable mould. Under the
cliffs the ground was mostly covered with rocky debris, which was
entirely barren and irreclaimable. In spots the broken rocks were
Covered with sandy loam which had gradually washed out of the
very thin soil above. On these spots, however, nothing grew,
because they dried so very quickly, except where they were kept
moist by perennial springs, several of which trickled down the cliff,
their course being marked by the exuberant growth of ferns which
sprang out of the rocks, growing in little i)ockets filled with rich
black mould. A few yards from the base of the cliff the soil
became richer and deeper, though still very stoney, and the further
down, the better the land became. On this ground was formed the

IN THE POULTRY YARD, 21

vegetable garden. By great labor and much care the rocks had
been removed, and even the small stones picked out to a great
extent. A [)lentiful supply of good stable manure had been added,
and a very rich and fertile soil was the result.

Between the vegetable garden and the house was a strip of grass
land, used generally for laundry purposes, the back of the house
facing this way. At the front of the house was the carriage drive,
which was carried round a large oval grass plot, at one time laid
out as a croquet ground. Beyond the drive was the lawn proper,
and along the edge of this were numerous flower beds, while beyond
that stretched an unbroken field of green grass with a few orna-
mental trees scattered here and there. The house was distant
about one hundred feet from the road, the approach being under
two rows of soft maple trees, whicli now gave promise of soon
forming a dense leafy arch overhead.

The lawn was bounded on the south and west by an irregular
row of evergreens, which gave an air of seclusion to the grounds,
tlie land south of the evergreens being either used as a pasture
field or cultivated, as circumstances might direct. This was the
lowest part of the grounds and the richest.

Returning to the eastern boundary : x^\t the point where the
line, descending from the hill, turned towards the east, were i)laced
the barns and stables, and between these and the lawn was the
orchard. The toe of the boot formed a nice little paddock of
about three acres, ivhich had always been used as pasture for the
horse, cow, calf, etc.

A little above the barns, and within a few yards of the eastern
boundary, there gushed from the hillside a S[)aikling si)ring of as
pure water as I ever beheld. The water from this spring formed a
good sized stream, and flowed straight down through the giounds,
passing directly into the land of our neighbor on the south. It
furnished all the water necessaiy for cattle, and various other
])urposes — washing, sprinkling, etc., and was never-failing. By
means of a hydraulic ram a supply was forced to a tank at the top
of the house, so that the supi)ly there was constant and abundant.
For drinking purposes we used the water from a well, which was

22 COMMON SENSE

SO deep and clear that ice was a wholly unnecessary luxury, even
for the cure of milk and butter.

As regards the area that was covered by the several divisions
which I have described, it was about as follows: The house,
garden, drive, barns and barnyard covered about two acres; die
lawn about an acre and a half; the orchard about half an acre,
and about two acres were occu[)ied by shrubbery and barren ground.
Hiis left the })addock of three acres and about three acres more ot
good tillable land. The question now was, " What can I do
with it?"

My first thoughts ran to the raising of " truck," as it is called,
nnd I studied several works which professed to give the detailed
ex[)erience of men who had made money ni this business I con-
cluded that I had about three available acres, the rest being
required for the sui)port of the horse, cow, etc. What croj) should
I raise ? My object was not i^^ much to establish a highly i)rofit-
able business as to clear a certaiii ...mount — say $i,ooo per year —
with certainty, and without an immense amount of labor and care.
On readmg the books alluded to, I found that in the hands of
skilful gardeners, in the neighborhood of our large cities, a single
acre was quite sufficient to yield this amount as profit. Neverthe-
less, I doubted my own ability to succeed in such an attempt.
True, I had had some experience in gardening, but not as a busi-
ness, and while I had no doubt about my succeeding in raising fair
crops, yet whether I could do it and make it J>ay was another ques-
tion. The raising of cabbages was carried on quite extensively in
the neighborhood, and at a good profit, as the lanel seemed to suit
them, and. plenty of manure could be had by the car load; carrots,
■celery, cauliflower and on^ or two others generally commanded
good prices, and when not saleable in our market could be sent to
the city, Avhere the demand was always good. Asparagus struck
me most favorably, and I determined to put out at least one acre
of this plant at any rate. I knew by my own experience that
asparagus always commanded a high price, and even if the general
'demand fell off, ^ood bunches would always sell Avell. The city
^ould always take all I could raise, and after the first work of start-

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 23

ing the bed tlie labor required seemed to me to be less tlian that
needed for any otlier crop. Moreover, my thoughts were turned
in this direction because I had always believed that the land south
of the lawn was particularly well adapted to asparagus. There was,
in the vegetable garden, a small aspanigus bed which had always
yielded a fair crop, but nothing extra, and this had given the im-
pression that the jand was not specially adapted to its culture.
But wandering one day about the grounds, during the i)revious
season, I came across an asparagus stalk growing in a corner of
the fence near the boundary line. I was astonished at its size and
vigor. I dare not state the height to which it had attained, for
few of my readers would believe me ; they would certainly think
that I had mistaken some other and unknown i)lant for asparagus.
It brought me in mind of the scriptural description of the mustard
jjlant, for verily I beheld the birds of the air lodging in its branches.
So here I marked off my asparagus bed, and I have never had
occasion to regret the selection.

One of the diftrculties with asparagus, however, is the length of
time which is required to bring a bed into good bearing condition.
It was now too late to establish a bed that season, and as I had to
allow the i)lants at least three years to become established, the
prospect of returns seemed rather distant.

Up to this time I had never thought of poultry, and if any one
had suggested these useful animals to me as a source of income I
would have regarded the proposition with considerable disfavor.
I had great faith in the profits that might be made out of a
small flock of hens, and I had even speculated on the pos-
sibility of keeping i)oultry on a large scale successfully, but in
my i)revious calculations the poultry had been used rather as
mere concentrators than as direct sources of profit. In other
words, by convertnig corn, wheat clover, etc., into poultry and
eggs, I believed that much freight might be saved, the fertility
of the land not only maintained but increased, and thus a
fair ])rofit secured. And I believe all this to-day with even more
steadfastness than I did then. But to make poultry a paying busi-
ness on three or four acres, even with a few extra acres of orchard

24 COMMON SENSE

and shrubbery for tliem to range over, was foreign to the previous
trahi of my thoughts. Of course there was one branch of the
poultry busmess that might be made to i)ay even on a single acre;
I refer to so-called fancy or pure-bred fowls, but this was a branch
of the business for which I felt myself totally unfitted, and for
which, owing to certain previous disagreeable associations, I had a
most intense dislike.

1 In previous years, wherever I had had a home with even a
garden attached, I had always kept a few hens and always with
success, and now as I have already stated, there were in our barn-
yard quite a flock — some fifty or sixty hens — left by Brown. We
had even gone so far as to set a few hens, and already there were
several small broods wandering about the orchard. For experience
had taught me that young fowls whose flesh haci been accumulated
in the open air, with all the freedom of the hillsides, and the health
which plenty of exercise and the ability to select natural food con-
fers, were infinitely to be preferred to the birds usually brought to
market, most of which had been confined in dirty coops for two or
three weeks before being killed. It does not require one to be
much of an epicure or a judge to tell the difference. I had, there-
fore, taken steps to raise enough for our own table at least, and
thus far we had had tolerable success, though not at all what I
ex[)ected, from my previous experience. The young chickens did
not seem very strong, and they certainly were of no particular
breed, for the flock was rather a motley one. With the exception
of a few old white Leghorn hens it would have been difficult to tell
what they were. Amongst the rest, however, was a very pretty
Seabright bantam hen — the especial pet of little Nettie; and here
I cannot forbear to digress a Htde and give the reader her history.
This bird was the last one of a trio that had been given to Nettie
by a friend, and she made me promise that when she got settled in
her new home I would pack u[) " Bright Eyes " and send the bird
to her, either by express or by some one willing to take charge of
her. As Nettie was a favorite of mine, and very fond of me, I was
only too glad to make the promise. The other hen of the trio had,
during the previous season, hatched out seven beautiful little chicks,

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 25

and was rearing them successfully through all the perils of chicken-
hood, when one unfortunate day they strayed off their own grounds
on to those of the neighbor on the south, and. as there was not the
best of feeling between Brown and the other man, the latter set his
dog on them and killed the mother and all her brood. He then
tossed the dead bodies over the fence. It was a brutal action — but
no, I must not say that; it would be a libel on the brute. Brown
might have shot the dog a dozen times, for the animal was fre-
quently on his grounds without permission, but he was too much
of a man to revenge himself on a dumb creature. Moreover, the
dog was a very fine one, and a great flivorite with others besides
the wretched master whose instigations he had obeyed. Nettie
was terribly shocked by the death of her pets, and the remaining
birds became more than ever i)rccious.

One day, not long after this, Brown found the dog on his
grounds. He coaxed it to him and tied it up. He then wrote a
note and sent it to the owner, asking him if he should shoot the
dog, or if he would come and take it away. He did not re[)ly ;
but his wife, a lady who had been very much chagrined at her
husband's churlishness, and who had sent Nettie a beautiful mock-
ing bird with a note of deep regret and apology, came over and
begged to be allowed to take the dog home. To such a woman
few requests can be denied, but my readers will not wonder that
after all this we called our neighbor on the south Nalhil.

The little Seabright rooster met an untimely fate in a different
way. Pugnacious beyond all expression, he would tight anything
that wore feathers, no matter what its size, color or previous condi-
tion. One day, however. Brown bought some live chickens for table
use, and amongst them happened to be a thoroughbred game cock,
a very handsome and poweiful bird. The little Bantam attacked him
as soon as he was set free from his coop. At first the game cock
would hardly notice him, but ihe Bantam ])ersisting in his attacks,
and i)robal)ly hurlmg the other so as to rouse him up, was killed in
less time than it lias taken to lell of it. Brown saw at once that
the conqueror woii'd ' r n \;il ib'(' addition to his yard, and I
sus[)ect that ti.is new aiul tlr '!()u:.;in)red blood did a great deal to

26 COMMON SENSE

produce the fine quality of half a dozen of the hens which I found
on the place, and which were marked exceptions to the rest.

So the little Bantam hen was left alone by herself, and it occurred
to me that 1 would give Nettie a suri)rise. I'he hen was laying,
but of course her eggs were not fecundated. A friend of mine, at
some distance, however, had, as I knew, some very fine Seabrights,
so I drove over to his house, taking the litUe hen with me. I
I explained what I wanted and what I wanted it for, and as a
matter of course I left the hen behind. In a few weeks I received
from my friend ten little eggs, which I set under a quiet old hen,
and in due time had nine of the prettiest, smallest chicks I had
ever seen. Nettie had already written for her hen, but I excused
myself on one ground and another. Now, however, I had no
excuse. The hen herself had been sitting on eggs for ten days, so
I drove over and brought her home, nest and all. The same even-
ing I took away her eggs and gave them to another hen, while I
slipped the nine little chickens under her and left her in darkness.
Next morning she came off the nest, quite proud of her little flock
and taking very kindly to them. I therefore packed her up in a
nice crate, and sent her by express prepaid to her mistress, and
will leave my readers to imagine her astonishment and delight.

But although the litde Bantam rooster had ignobly j)erished in
the struggle for the survival of the fittest, he had evidently left his
imi)ress on the flock. There were several hens of very small size
in the yard, and their plumage showed that they were related to
him. I therefore saw that if the Bantam eggs I had now setting
should hatch, it would never do to keep the cocks except in a cage
or aviary. They did hatch, and I had five pullets and six cock-
erels. Two of the ])ullets I kei)t; the other three I paired with
cockerels, and the little beauties were a source of great delight to
some young people to whom I gave them; the three remaining
cockerels I afterwards exchanged for birds of a less beautiful but
more useful breed.

IN THE POULTRY YARD.

27

QDlb Q?>-pcri dices anb Nero plans.

ROWN had never given any personal attention to his
poultry; the selection of the stock that was to be kept
J was left i)retty much to the sei'vant girl, and she thought
she was doing a wise thing when she killed and cooked the game
cock and allowed one of his sons — a larger and more showy bird —
to take his i)lace. As the mother of this bird was of no paiticular
breed, he, himself, was a mere mongrel, and as he was related, on
the father's side, to all the young pullets of that year, the conse-
quence was that the flock lost stamina; and this, and the fact that
there was only one cock to over fifty hens, explained the small
hatches — many of the eggs proving sterile.

Now, I had resolved that as soon as I got fairly under way I
would make everything on the place profitable in every sense. If
Ave grew vegetables, they must be the best of their kind and pro-
duced at a moderate expense. Carrying this rule into the poultry
yard, I determined to procure a good cock from some neighbor
and })ut him with half a dozen hens, and so raise a new flock of
liens that would be vigorous and prolific. I therefore killed oflf
the rooster and looked about for another, it being my intention to
raise a sufficient number of pullets to entirely replace the old stock,
with, perhaps, the exception of about a dozen hens, which struck
me as being specially fitted for mothers.

I therefore visited vr.y neighbors and examined their flocks, for
the ])urpose of ])ro(:;iripg such a bird but, I must say, with very
])Oor success. The firmers, as a geneial rule, had allowed their
])Oultry to breed after a sort of hap-hazaid method ; the conse-
■cjuence was that their stock, not being very superior in the first
])lace, soon ])ecame worse; and I found that Brown's poultry, run
•down as it was. was better than theirs. Several villagers claimed
to keep pure breeds, but, as a general rule, they were not what I

28 COMMON SENSE

wanted, and in many cases it was easy to see that from In-and-in
breeding tlie strain had lost stamina.

At first I felt a little discou-aged, and thouglit my only course
was to buy a setting of eggs of some vigorous strain of game birds,
anil raise a few roosters in this way. Of all the breeds in use the
games have been bred upon the most correct principles, and, as a
jrule, these principles have been rigorously applied. The result is
that there are hundreds of flocks of game birds throughout the
country that bear the same lelation to the ordinary birds that
thoroughbred racehorses bear to scrubs. The breeders of game
Gocks know that second-class birds are of no use, and conse-
quently those who wish to be successful are compelled to
breed for health, strength, stamina and pluck. And these are the
qualities that tell, whether it be in man, beast or bird. Now, it is
well known that there are certain external signs, such as hardness
and glossiness of feathers, sha;^e, carriage, etc., which enable the
breeeder of game cocks to choose his breeding birds almost with
certainty, while many of the points which the "fancier" estimates
so highly he ignores altogether. I felt, therefore, that here at least
was ground certain and substantial, and I almost came to the con-
clusion to i)rocure such eggs. Another motive in this direction
came from the foct that I knew by experience that of all fowls the
game are the best, both as regards flesh and eggs. A young game
cock cannot be equalled on the table — except, perhaps, by a game
pullet; and the killing of a fine pullet has always appeared to mc
a crime which should be punished without benefit of clergy.

The chief objection to the games is said to be their propensity to
fight. I have had one game cock in a flock, and his descendants
were splendid birds, and as he had nothing to fight with he was
very peaceable. Now, as a single pen of say six hens would fur-
nish all the eggs that I needed for hatching, there would be no
necessity for keei)ing more than one cock, so this objection would
be done away with. I tried to find a good cock that I might use
at once, but without success, so I jirocured some eggs from a noted
breeder and thus hoped to be ready for next year.

Meantime I determined to get a good cock of some other

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 29

breed so as to have eggs for raising chickens at once. Wliat
breed sliould I get ?

It is a curious tact that the books tell us very little about the
breeding, and especially the crossing, of different breeds of poultry.
Even ponderous octavos, which would seem from their bulk to be
exhaustive, do not touch ui)on the subject. I was therefore left to
work it out myself as best I might.

It is a well-established rule in breeding, that the male should
always, if possible, be a thoroughbred. It is true that in fowls it
is sometimes difficult to say what varieties are thoroughbred, and
even the question, " What is a breed ? " has elicited long discus-
sions, as Avitness the nonsense published in the London Field, and
quoted aj^provingly in Tegetmeier's large work. Tliere is little
tloubt but that tlie ditferent l)reeds now in market are thoroughbred
in very different degiees. The game cock is undoubtedly the most
emphatically thoroughbred bird of any that we have, and it will be
difficult to tind a cock of any breed that will so quickly and clearly
im[)ress his own characteristics upon a flock as will a really well-
bred game cock This quality he evidently owes to the fact
that the breed is very old, and for ages it has been re-enforcing
certain qualities to the exclusion of others, imtil now it possesses, to
an extent not exhibited by any other breed, the powxr of i)rojecting
these qualities into its descendants, even though the mother be of
a different stock.

The second rule is, that when two breeds are crossed the hen
ought always to be the largest. As a general rule the small breeds
are the most finely bred, and have the most highly nervous organi-
zation. This holds with all animals, including man. Who would
cross a fine blood mare with a cart horse? Tlie progeny would be
worthless. Or a small, fined)oned Alderney cow with a Durham
hull, 01' even with a sciub? While by reversing the cross and put-
ting a large well-formed mare to a thoroughbred, a most useful
animal would probably be the result, and a fine Alderney bull of a
good milking strain, will probably i)r()duce a calf that will grow into
a first-rate milch cow, even though the mother be a coarsely bred
animal. And yet I have seen men who would not have violated

30

COMMON SENSE

these principles in their liorses and cows, and yet would put a
Brahma, Cochin or Plymoutli Rock cock amongst a flock of half-
blood Leghorns or Ilamburghs.

Previous experience had taught me tlie value of tliese facts and
principles, and I determined to secure a purely-bred cock of either
Hamburgh, Leghorn or Black Spanish, and mate him with six
of my largest and best hens.

If I had been smitten with the " Hen Fever" I would have been
a reader of the poultry journals, and would soon have found out
where my wants could be supplied; but as it was I had to hunt
about for information as to where such a bird could be found.

One day I heard accidentally that there was actually a poultry
farm near a village about seven miles from my place, and that the
owner had several different kinds of pure-bred fowls. With the
usual exaggeration oi ignorance, my informant told me that he had
^// kinds; that he had thousands of chickens of every kind that
could be named, and that he got enormous prices for his eggs and
chickens, with much more to the same purport. I did not have a
great deal of faith in the details of this account, but having nothing
special to do that afternoon, I harnessed up Madge and drove out
that way. It was a road over which I had never travelled before,
but fortunately tliere was litUe opportunity to go astray, and ere
long I found myself near the village and opposite what appeared to
me to be extensive greenhouses. Inquiring of a passer by where
the poultry yards of Mr. Thompson were situated, I was told that
these glass structures formed part of his establishment, and of
course I at once tried to find the owner. I hesitated at first
whether to make my errand known at once or not. I suspected
diat if I told him that I had driven seven miles for the sake of buy-
ing a rooster he would conclude that I wanted the bird pretty
badly, and he would charge accordingly, so I said that I had been
taking a drive, and having heard that he had some fine poultry for
sale I had called to look at it — all of which was stricUy true.

I found that he had some very good poultry on hand, though he
had disposed of most of his stock, having concluded to give his
whole attention to a new breed that had recently been brought

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 3I

out — the Plymouth Rocks. He was quite genial and communica-
tive, and sliowed me freely over liis yards, especially when he
found that I was not a dealer. He also gave me a history of the
place and of his connection with it, a condensation of which will
no doubt interest my readers.

I learned that the place had not be! )nged originally to him, but
that he had merely adai)ted the buildings, etc., erected by a former
owner. This I was glad to hear, as it relieved from the stigma
of ignorance or stu[)idity a man who was evidently intelligent
and well informed in regard to poultry, and the buildings and ar-
rangements were evidently not those which an ex[)erienced poultry
breeder would have adopted. It seems that a i'<i\v years previous
to my visit, the place had belonged to a tailor whose business had
been just sufficient to give him a subsistence. This man was
obliged to take, for a trifling debt, a small tract of rather poor
land, a piece of proi)erty which did not add to his income, but, on
the contrary, tended to make him " land-poor," as the exi)ression
is. But, by one of those strange turns of fortune (which certainl)^
may be called luck) some large manufacturing establishments were
erected near it; they extended until the tailor's property became a
necessity to them, and he was enabled to obtain his own price.
With the several thousand dollars now in his possession, he looked
about for an investment, and as he was disgusted with the tailoring
business, he determmed to go into something else. Like many other
men, during his days of poverty and struggling he had often turned
his eyes toward some of the smaller rural pursuits, and chicken rais-
ing had taken a wonderful hold of his fancy. He already had a few
dozen fowls, from which he derived great comfort and profit, and the
golden promises which the ])ossession of a few tJiousaiid of such
money-producers seemed to lay before him, had often formed the sub-
ject of his day dreams, and had frequentiv consoled luni in days of
dark adversity. No wondei-, then, that when his barren acres liad
been converted into golden nuggets he thought he saw an oppor-
tunity for the realization of all his hopes. Four acres of land on
the outskirts of his village happened to be offered for sale at a
very low figure; he bought them and erected the extensive glass

32 COMMON SENSE

structures wliich had attracted my attention. Unused to building
contracts and undertakings, he made the common mistake of hiy-
iug a foundation larger than he could cover, and by the time his
houses, etc., were finished, his capital was nearly exhausted. But,
he persevered, bought several thousand fowls (three thousand, I
think it was) and obtained his food, etc., for them on credit, in the firm
faith that the eggs would moredian pay for everything. On his little
yard in the village, he had kept twenty or thirty hens in a small in-
closure, but, then they were fed on a great variety of food, much
of it waste from the household, and they were allowed an occa-
sional run througli the entire lot, so that they throve very well.
When the same dense fowl population was transferred to small
coops, with no opportunity for an occasional run over a larger
area, and where they were fed on grain, and nothing but grain,
day after day, they soon ceased to lay eggs; the outgo continued
but the income was cut short.

Moreover, the great extent of glass roofing on such a small place
(for four acres is a very small chicken farm) prevented the utiliza-
tion of much of the ground for culture and plant growth, and
these are always essential. The enterprise was a failure; the feed
bills became due, without any means to pay them, and the sheriff
closed out the entire concern.

The present owner had begun in a different way. Possessed of a
small independent income, but afflicted with an incurable disease, he
had taken up poultry keeping as an amusement, and had devoted
his attention to pure-bred fowls — chiefly the Light Brahma. These
he had so improved and cared for that his birds became noted
amongst his neighbors for their excellence, and he found a ready
market for all the eggs and chickens he could supply. At first his
prices were very low — merely the retail market rates, but having
been induced to send some of his fowls to the county fair, he was
awarded the first prize, and then, orders poured in faster than he
could supply them, and with offers of greatly advanced prices. So
he raised his terms, from fifty cents per setting, to $i.oo, and then
to $1.50, and $2.00, and still he could not meet the demand.
His poultry became a source of income, and when the tailor's

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 33

place was sold he bought it, intending to rebuild the houses and
rearrange the whole affiiir. But when he had obtained possession
he found tliat the buildings had been put up by carpenters who
had followed the designs given in the books, and had not been
guided by a man of extended practical experience in poultry keep-
ing. So he arranged part of them as breeding houses for raising
young chickens, and some of them he rented to a neighbor who
used them as greenhouses. This neighbor had a small peach
orchard of about five acres, adjoining the poultry yard, so he gave
'J'hompson the right to pasture his chickens in this orchard in ex-
change for the privilege of using the greenhouses — a most judicious
arrangement for both.

Thompson's business now became larger than ever. He soon
became known to certain city dealers who had a wide connection,
and they bought from him large numbers at very remunerative
prices, because they knew that they could depend upon every bird
being strictly as it was represented. After a while he added other
varieties to his collection, being always careful to maintain the
strict purity of his stock. At present he had White and Brown
Leghorns, Spangled Hamburghs, Black Spanish, and he had just re-
ceived a new breed which has since become famous — the Plymouth
Rocks. These facts I gathered partly from his own lips and partly
from subsequent information from others, but so well was I im-
pressed with the sensible, and apparently honest character of the
man, that I did not hesitate to explain to him what I wanted and
to ask his advice.

After showing me over his yards and explaining his methods and
describing the characters of the different breeds, he led me to a
small yard where, in a series of separate pens, he had about
twenty of the most beautiful Brown Leghorn cockerels I had ever
seen. These he recommended as the best birds for my purpose.
Mated with good common stock of fair size he guaranteed that
they would produce chickens which would give satisfactory results
both as regarded eggs and flesh. As liis price seemed very
moderate — $2.00 for a cockerel, I paid for one, had it i)ut in a
light crate and took it with me. These crates were quite ingeni-

34

COMMON SENSE

ous, being simply a frame covered with very cheap bagging on
sides and bottom. The toi) was made of slats and after the
l)ird was })Ut in, these were fastened with nails. Thompson kept
these crates on liand ready made, and he told me that they were
so cheap that lie could afford to give one with every bird he sold.

As I drove home that afternoon I could not help thinking a
good deal about what I had seen and heard. I had always been
a reader of the journals devoted to comitry life, and was fully aware
that the attempts to raise poultry on a large scale had been numer-
ous, persistent, and in many cases carried out with great intelli-
gence and enterprise, and with abundant capital. And yet, so far
as I then knew, all these attempts had failed, and I have not
learned to the contrary yet.* And the question then arose and
pressed itself upon my attention : Is failure a necessary' sequel to all
such attempts ? It argued, of course, even to my own mind, that I
had a good deal of self conceit when I decided that success could
be attained; that there was no absolute obstacle in the way, and in
all the plans that had come under my observation I could see that
there were glaring defects that must of necessity cause failure.
Some had failed because their quarters were too cramped. I
called to mind one man — and, strange to say, a medical man at
that — who attempted to keep nearly 300 fowls on a space that
should barely have accommodated fifty. He was thoroughly
" scientific," and fed his fowls on rations whose composition was
determined more by chemistry than by common sense, and he
failed.

Another, a business man in a large city, felt that he nad a call to
raise poultry and eggs, and so he established a poultry yard. But
although (perhaps this word should be because) he purchased
liberally of all kinds of food, and procured fowls that were the very
best that the dealers would recommend he failed, and the reason
was obvious. He knew nothing about poultry, and could not meet
emergencies as they arose, but supposed that a hen was a machine,

* Since the above was written we find in a recently published work — Beale's
"Profitable Poultry Keeping? "—the following statement : "There is little talk
now of establishing poultry farms pure and simple, which never have, and we
do not think ever will, succeed."

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 35

and that all you had to do was to wmd her up three times a day
with a little corn and the eggs would roll into the hopper.

These are not imaginary instances, but actual cases. Of minor
instances the number is innumerable, and I myself have known at
least a dozen people who have been smitten with the hen fever nnd
have sunk money. But all this did not fully convince me that
poultry could not be kept, or that /could not keep it profitably.

I have been told that in the famous "Warwick Woodlands," so
well described by Frank Forrester, there is a poultry farm managed
by a colored man who keeps 3,000 fowls and makes a handsome
profit. There is also the poultiy establishment of Mr. Baker, in
New Jersey, in which eighty thousand dollars have been invested
in houses, incubators, etc., etc. In regard to the financial success
of this enterprise I am not informed. The gigantic establishments
of De Sora, Don San Fuentes, etc., etc., so gra[)hically described
by Burnham, Lewis and others, are mere myths, and have no
existence.

Looking back over an experience of many years I could recall
my first acquaintance witli the poultry yard, where the liens were
always a source of ready money at times when other crops were
not available. And even now I could recall from that long-past
experience facts and methods which seem to be forgotten, and yet
are well worthy of being kept in use. In those days there were no
stolen nests — no lost eggs, and yet our poultry had free range over
many acres — those i)laces from which they were to be excluded
being carefully fenced so as to keep the poultry out. Well do I
remember how we depended, with a trust that I never remember
to have been betrayed, upon the hens returnmg to their own roosts,
at night. Although they numbered some hundreds, and during!
the day spread themselves over a wide expanse, they always re-
turned at eventide. In those days no laying hen ever I^ft her
house in the morning until she had laid her egg It is tlie easiest
thing in the world to tell whether or not a hen is going to lay an
egg during the next twelve hours; and well do I remember out
old hen wife examining each hen, and letting those without eggs
go, while those that were going to lay were kept in. When a small

^6 COMMON SENSE

boy I used often to be pressed into the service of catching the hens
in the hen house during the operation of " trying the liens." And
the hens being always kindly treated and frequently handled were
not difficult to catch.

'I'hen, I remember, how, years ago, when we first went to house-
keei)ing in our own home, we resolved to have fresh eggs for our
table, and not be disgusted with occasional stale eggs, which pre-
vented all further enjoyment of that meal. And so 1 made a small
house that two men could easily carry about, and with i)ort:)ble fenc-
ing, almost the same as that described in this book, I made a small
yard in which I kept half a dozen Light Brahma pullets, that kept
us in eggs nearly the whole year round. And, I had not forgotten
the success with which I raised some of the handsomest birds that
had been seen in that locality— birds, to which people walking
past our city lot, would give no meie i)assing glance, but would
stand still to admire. This was ihe first instance 1 had ever
seen of a movable coop designed to enable us to give the birds
fresh ground whenever we desired to do so, and to raise crops on
the soil which diey had at the same time both enriched and de-
filed.

These things I looked back ui)on with pleasure. Not that
diey had been very profitable — they were on too small a scale for
that — but, because I felt that I was not without a certain fiuiiiliarity
with the subject, and, consequently, I would probably be able to
steer clear of any glaring mistakes at first.

Such thoughts occupied my mind as we jogged along, and I
sujipose Madge often wondered why her old master did not keep a
tighter rein, and watch for her stumbling. It was dark when I got
home, so I put die litde rooster in Madge's stable and left them
for the night.

During my waking hours, poultry occupied my chief attention.
The barren soil along the cliffs; the unoccupied land on the east,
the use of which I could have for the asking; the necessity for
something to profitably occupy my dme and effort, all passed he-
fore me in vivid and earnest thought. I saw die uselessness of this
land for everything else, and its great value for a poultry range,

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 37

and the idea impressed itself upon my mind that, while poultry keep-
ing could not be expected to lead to fortune, it might afford a very
pleasant and very efficient means of adding to a slender income.
But so much had been attempted in tliis direction, and always with
failure, that, after all, I could not help regarding the project with a
good deal 'of doubt. The "hen fever," the "poultry craze," and
the " cliicken mania," Avell-known forms of speculative dementia,
had ruined thousands, and therefore I resolved to bayish it
from my mind. With this I fell asleep, and when I woke the sun
was shining brightly through my bed-room window.

38 COMMON SENSE

Arcing to Jntproue tl)e ODlb Stock.

WAS up betimes next morning, and my first errand was
to the stable, where the new cock had been left. I
found him roosting quietly on the side of Madge's stall,
and as he rose up when I entered, I got a very good view of him.
I could see that he was just what I wanted. Plumj), yet not logy ;
clear eye, and bright comb and watdes ; firni, bright, springy
feathers, that felt wiry, yet not harsh — ^just the opposite to the soft
fluff that hangs round the necks of weakly-bred fowls; bold, erect
carriage, seemingly fearless of anything. He was just the bird I
had been looking for. I knew little about "standard," and cared
less; adjudge" might have cut down his "points," so that he
would not score " 40" out of a possible " 100," but according to
my way of judging he scored over " 90 " at least, and, joking aside,
I beheve he was a good bird, even according to the standard; for,
as I afterwards learned, Thompson's stock was noted amongst the
dealers for careful breeding. From my talk with him the day
before I found that he was a judicious, conscientious breeder, and
that I ran little risk of getting a bird with a bar sinister on his
escutcheon. And this is an important point, for crosses are very
apt to crop out in after breeding, while so various are the different
shades of plumage of dunghill fowls, that amongst even common
birds some are occasionally found that show many of the points
of thoroughbreds. But while these individual birds may show
great excellence, their progeny are sure to be mixed in color, and
with every variety of shape and quality as layers and meat-pro-
ducers.

Some of my friends were a little surprised that I did not select a
larger breed, so that by crossing with some of my large hens I
could get good-sized fowls for the table. But my experience had
been that the size of the cock is not of so much importance. Some

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 39

years ago a friend had a game cock whicli he did not wish to part
with, and yet could not very well keep, so he let me have the bird
for a time. He was a very handsome, vigorous fellow, but small —
less than 5 lbs. I mated him with some hens that were part
Brahma, part Dominique, and looked a good deal like the Plyin-
outli Rocks of to-day. They wei-e fine large hens, and tlie progeny
of these fowls and the game cock were very liandsome and very
large. Most of them had pencilled necks, and looked like what
are sometimes called " Pheasants." Others were of various colors,
but all were well-shaped, vigorous fowls, and the pullets proved to
be good layers. The cockerels were heavy and of delicious flavor.
The finest became the pet of our servant girl, and as she had taken
great care of the poultry I allo\ved her to keep him, although
against my better judgment. At two years old he weighed 12)^
pounds, and was universally admired for his fine looks, but his
])iogeny (although breeding in-and-in was carefully avoided) were
very inferior to the chickens of the previous season when the game
cock was at the head of the yard.

Now, the Brown Leghoin is as nearly a thoroughbred as can be
had, and as this breed is noted for laying qualities I felt certain
that my choice had been a judicious one. But, like many other
men, I had secured the bird without having a place to put it. To
have let him loose amongst the large flock of hens would have
ruined him and done the hens very little good. Where could I put
him ?

In one corner of the barn was a small room which had been used
for a storeroom, but was now empty. It was about 10 feet by 12,
with a good-sized window. So I sent to a saw-mill for a barrel of
sawdust, with which to keep the floor clean, provided troughs for
food and water, nests for the egg layers, and placed a stout pole,
about 3 inches in diameter, across one corner as a perch. With
my present experience I would not have used sawdust, but would
have taken dry sand, which is far better and much cheaper, as it
can be had for the cartage. Dry earth is belter still on brick,
stone or earthern floors, but on wooden floors it is apt to produce
decay, since, no matter how dry it may be when it is put in, the

40 COMMON SENSE

bottom of the bed of earth will become damp, and in time will rot
the floor.

The nest boxes were simply small packing boxes, not less than
12 inches in any dimension. They were prepared by removing all
the top or covers except about 3 inches at one edge; this was
firmly nailed on, and when the box was laid on its side the strip
formed a ledge which kept the straw and eggs from rolling out.
Such nest boxes are cheap, easily moved, easily cleaned, and, when
set with the opening about ten inches from a wall, they afford that
secrecy which hens love so much.

Meanwhile, the hens in the large poultry house had been kept
shut up all morning. I now examined them, selected three that I
thought would mate well with the Brown Leghorn, and placed
tiiem in the room I had fixed up. As there had been no cock in
the large yard for over two weeks I felt pretty sure that any chick-
ens that might be hatched would 1j€ the progeny of the Brown
Leghorn, and I also knew, from former exjierience, that after these
hens had been with the Leghorn for a week the eggs would be
fertile.

The next step was to prepare a proper coop out doors. On the
place was a packing case which had been sent from the city with
an organ. The organ had been sold by Brown just before he
moved away, and was purchased by a party in the village, and as
the case was not needed for such a short journey it was probably
forgotten. At any rate it was mine now, so I removed the bottom
and used the boards to increase the height of the case, and Avith a
little extra lumber I soon had a very comfortable little house, amply
sufficient for seven hens and the rooster. The door was a small
affair, just enough to let a good-sized boy or small man creep in,
but as the eggs were reached from the outside, and as the house
was never cleaned except by moving it, a door was perhaps not a
necessity.

The next thing was the fence. I made several lengths of port-
able lath fence, the same as that hereafter described, and enclosed
a space 32 feet long and 16 feet wide at one end, and 16 feet and
the width of the house at the other. The hens were large, with a

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 4I

good deal of Brahma blood, so that a low fence easily kept them
in ; but the cock would have required a ten-foot fence, and, indeed,
I doubt if even that would have confinetl him against liis will. So
I just sliaved off the feathery ])art from the quills of one wing, and
after that the height of fence necessary to restrain him was limited
by his power of jumping, and which, by the way, was by no means
contemptible.

It did not take long to get the new house in order. Laying
plans and getting material consumed more time than did the actual
work, but on the evening of the second day we had the three hens
first selected, safely in their new quarters. As they had been two
days in company with the cock I was satisfied that the eggs would
soon i)rove fertile, so I selected two more hens and ])laced them in
the storeroom, and next day I added two more, thus making seven
breeding hens in all. On the fifth day I placed the cock in the
out-door COO}) with the three hens first selected, and as soon as the
hens in the storeroom had laid four eggs each, I placed them in
the coop and gathered all the eggs for hatching.

The time which it takes to produce fertile eggs depends, of
course, upon circumstances. If the hens are not laying, and do
not lay for a week after they are with the cock, then every egg will
probably be fertile. But if they are laying, then every egg that is
develojied to a certain extent will be sterile. After the fiAh egg it
is safe to depend upon them. These hens were all laying. This
is an easy matter to determine, and we took care to examine the
liens before selecting them. During the first seven days we got
thirty five eggs from the seven hens, and these we used for cooking.
After that we set the eggs as fast as circumstances would i)ermit.

Subsequent experiments threw this little venture entirely into the
shade, but it may not be out of i)lace at this point to give the
reader the results, and this I am able to do, because I kept this
litde flock and their progeny separate for several seasons, having
regarded it with a good deal of interest, since it might be supposed
to serve as a test of the correctness of my plans and theories.

My object at this time was merely to establish a new flock of
about fifty hens for my own family Hse, and perhaps the sale of a

42 COMMON SENSE

few eggs and chickens every year — the sales being expected to
offset, to a slight extent, the money actually laid out for feed, etc.

As already stated, I had only one rooster — die Brown Leghorn —
and on taking stock 1 found that I had just 57 hens. i\rter select-
ing seven for breeding purposes this left exactly fifty for laying.
Most of my neighbors would have had five or six roosters widi
these hens — a useless expense, as I have found that hens lay quite
as well when alone as when with a rooster.

]]y confining the attention of die rooster to seven hens, the bird
was not exhausted and enfeebled, as he would have been if he had
been put with the whole flock. The eggs were therefore more
likely to be impregnated, and the progeny more certain to be
vigorous. I have found, by experiment, that a single attention
from the cock is just as good as a dozen, and perhaps better, pro-
vided he is in vigorous condition. Weak chickens do not come
from the fact that the hens have not had attention enough, but
from the fact that owing to too many efforts in this direction the
vitality of the cock is lowered. Of course the influence of the
cock disappears after a few days, and must be renewed, but while
it lasts diere is no diminution of its potency.

By selecting choice hens, and breeding only from them, I was
enabled to control the kind of chickens I should have, and by
kee[)ing them in a coop by themselves I lost no time selecting eggs
and trying to find out which hens laid them. It may be possible
for a poultry keei)er with five or. six hens to distinguish the eggs of
each individual bird, but where there are thirty to fifty this becomes
impossible. By keeping the breeding hens by themselves all trouble
in selecting eggs is avoided.

The result of the ex])eriment was all that I could desire. We set
the hens of the main flock as fast as they became broody, and in a
little while we had quite a number of young broods scattered over
the place. Some of the breeding hens wanted to set; w'e gave
them eggs and let them bring out their broods. Meanwhile, four
more hens were selected from the mam flock and shut up with the
rooster in the room first prepared. After two days he was returned
to the out-door flock, which was now reduced to four, and again,

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 43

after two more days, he was replaced in the small room. Two
days after that he and the hens were placed in the out-door coop.

The chickens from this cross showed wonderfid uniformity.
Nearly every one had a pencilled neck, the feathers being reddish
with a black stripe down the centre. The bodies of the birds were
a dark reddish-brown. In sha[)e.they were excellent — legs not too
long and plenty of breast. They matured early, and the pullets
were most prolific layers. A few showed a most decidedly dung-hill
origin, evidently having "cried back" to some long prior ancestor.

Altogether we set 37 hens and raised 271 chickens — an average
of a little over seven to eacli brood. S )me poultry keepers will
probably think this a poor hatch, but tlie reader must remember
that many of the setting hens were small, and not very good
mothers. Of these 157 were cockerels, which we killed, and either
used or sold, and 114 were pullets, of which 90 were considered
good enough to keep. At the close of the season we sold most of
the hens that were in the old house and yard, together with the 24
culls. The price received was quite satisfactory, and in this way
we got rid of all this old stock. In the winter we placed the 90
young pullets in the house, but Avithout any rooster. As they were
late birds they did not begin to lay as early as we would have
liked, but they continued laying all through the summer months,
and, in order to see what the result would be, we selected seven of
the best, mated them with a Brown Leghorn from another yard,
and raised enough chickens to supply us with fifty good pullets.
These pullets were three-quarter Brown Leghorns, and showed their
origin very clearly. They were smaller than their mothers, but
were good layers.

It is astonishing how rapidly a cross can be brought back to any
breed simply by using thoroughbred males. Thus —

The first cross produces half-bloods.

The second gives us three-quarter blood.

The third produces seven-eighth.

The fourth produces fifteen-sixteenths.
■ The fifth brings it to thirty-one-thirty-seconds,
which is so nearly pure bred that (ew people can tell the difference.

44 COMMON SENSE

My experience, is, however, that after tlie first cross the purer
the progeny is tlie worse it is, until we pass tlie fifth, at which point
it again begins to improve quite rapidly.

The cross between Brown Leghorn and ordinary speckled hens
is most excellent in every point except one — the plumage is a little
too dark for a market bird — and as fully half our young stock will
be sold either dressed or to be killed, this is a very imi)ortant mat-
ter. I feel now that it would have been much better to have
selected a White Leghorn cock, but as the question of marketing
did not occur to me at this stage of my experiment, I made the
selecdon I did.

In selecting the hens I had tried to pick out those that had just
commenced laying after having been broody. There were several
of this kind on the ])lace; some we had "broken up," others had
brought out a few chickens, which had been taken away and United
with other broods, and of some the chickens, from weakness of
constitution and want of care during Brown's moving, had entirely
disappeared. I do not regard it as a settled point by any means,
but I am inclined to believe that the eggs laid by a hen just before
she wants to set never produce quite as strong chickens as those
that she lays previously.

I have always jiad a fondness for a lot of chickens uniform in
color, and yet, perhaps, I have been less successful in securing this
than other breeder that I know of. Brown's chickens were of all
sorts, sizes and colors; pure black and pure white; mottled, red, pen-
cilled necks, and so on to the end of the list. It was with great
difficulty that I was able to pick out four or five hens that were
'anyway nearly alike, but I thought that next season, seeing that I
must have a goodly lot of chickens from the same mother as well
as the same father, I would be able to pick out seven pullets for
breeding ; and by getting a new cock from some other yard, so as
to avoid in and-in breeding, I would be able to gradually build up
a flock that would do me credit. And here let me say a word
about breeding too closely. I am perfectly well aware that a new
breed cannot be established without very close in-and-in breeding.
This has been the practice of all the great poultry breeders, and it

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 45

has held equally in other departments — even in insects. In the
" Dictionary of Practical Apiculture " I find the law laid down very
clearly under the word " Breed." The author says :

" In attempting to establish a new breed or to improve an old
one, we must, contrary to the usual opinion, pursue a relentless
system of breeding in-and-in, and it is here that die skill and judg-
ment of the expert breeder will be most fully shown. We have on
the one hand the danger of weakening the constitution of our
stock, and on the other, the danger of producing a lot of mongrels
without any fixed characteristics. The experience of all great
cattle breeders has shown that it is only by in-and-in breeding that
the tendency to "cry back" can be eliminated, and these men have
also shown that when sufficient care is exercised in the selection of
the breeding stock, the danger of weakening the constitution is not
to be feared. In this connection it should be remembered that all
the well-marked native races of bees must have been })ioduced by
a series of in-and-in breedings, combined with a system of natural
selection, which allowed the survival of none but the fittest — all
the weak and non-prolific, and all the poor honey-gatherers being
killed off during severe seasons. It is the same here as with the
great herds of cattle and horses Avhich roam at large in various
countries. The most powerful and active bull or stallion obtains
the leadership of the herd and breeds in-and-in with his own
cousins, sisters, and even daughters, until one of his progeny, more
pow^erful than he, displaces him in turn. But here we have the
weak and feeble calves and foals selected by the forces of nature
with better judgment than ever man exercised, and killed off by the
inclemency of the weather as surely as ever butcher's knife did its
work."

But my object was not to build up a new breed, but merely to
improve an old flock. Therefore I could not afford to make such a
study of my birds as would enable me to work out such matings ;is
would successfully counteract the evils of in-and-in breeding. Bu:
so far as mere uniformity and excellence of the individual birds
were concerned, my success was all that I could wish. By using

46 COMMON SENSE

the purest Brown Leghorn males tliat I could find, I kept gradu-
ally getting nearer and nearer to pure Brown Leghorn hens, with
this disadvantage, that I could not sell their eggs for hatching.
It is true that they were slightly larger, and more hardy, thp.n any
thoroughlored fowls of their kind that I could get, but, on the other
hand, they were not as large as a first cross between Leghorns and
Brahmas, or Leghorns and Plymouth Rocks. After the fifth sea-
son I discarded them entirely, and sold them to a farmer who
wanted Brown Leghorns, but did not care to give the price of
thoroughbreds. How they will turn out in his hands remains to
be seen. T understand that he is taking great pains with them,
having set off four pens which he keeps enluely separate, and uses
cockerels from one, and pullets from another, for breeding, so as to
avoid, as much as possible, all very close breeding, and thus keep
the strain pure and in all its vigor.

For myself, for reasons which I have fully explained, I have
abandoned this cross, as well all crosses from pure bred females.
'I get better results from females of mixed blood, than from those
that are pure, but in all cases the males must be thoroughbred.
The potency of the male in transmitting the qualities of his breed
is in exact proportion to his pedigree; if niated with a hen of
equal potency it is difficult to tell what the result will be; some-
times the hen, and sometimes the cock will govern the character of
the i^rogeny. Use hens of less potency — that is, less purity of
breed ; in other words, use cross bred hens, and the character of
the male will be more fully developed.

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 47

facts anb fanzicQ.

HE balmy days of June were fully upon us, and as I sat
one evening watching the increasing rows of brooding
coops with their tiny population, I could hardly hel[)
dreaming of the future possibilities which they enfolded. I had
already fully discussed in my own mind, the subjects of truck form-
ing, or gardening; of the keeping of cows, and selling milk; of the
raising of small fruits, and of some other branches of country work
which I thought might help me out, but, after the most thorough
and fair consideration that I was able to give them, I was com-
pelled to decide that they would not suit my purpose. At the
sight of so many young broods, I again reverted to poultry-keep-
ing, and could not hel[) running over in my mind the ordinary cal-
culations upon which the profits of this business are based.

The usual calculation is, that a hen can be supported for one
dollar a year, and that, if of a good breed, she will lay twelve
dozen eggs, which sell at various prices from 20 to 60 cents per
dozen. Assuming an average of 35 cents, the twelve dozen would
bring $4.20, leaving a profit of $3.20. The manure, etc., is sup-
posed to offset the labor and interest on house, etc., and as the hen
may, in addition to all this, raise a brood of chickens, it is argued
that the profit ought to be quite equal to the amount named.
Now, it seemed to me that, if this were anywhere near correct,
people would have found it out long ago. Still, it no doubt re-
quues skill, tact and knowledge to produce such a result, and it is
not every one that can command these. But, the jioint which
im[)ressed me most strongly was, that if there was any basis of fact
in these calculations, then 235 hens ought to )'iel(l $750 yearly,
the amount I needed to make ends meet, and as I had already on
the place nearly half as many hens and chickens as was demanded,
the fact stared me in the face, that, with very little more expense
and labor, the experiment might be tried.

48 COMMON SENSE

I doubted the accuracy of both tlie elements of the above calcula-
tion, however. I suspected that no hen, even of the; smaller breeds,
could be supported on one dollar a year, unless under very special
and favorable circumstances, and I also doubted the amount of the
receii)ts. An average of ten dozen eggs from each hen of a large
flock, even with a judicious selection of the birds, and with very ex-
cellent care, would be as much as could be expected. I had myself
realized more than this, but the flock was small and exceptionally
good. Allowances must be made for sudden invasions of disease
and accident, but these I did not greatly fear.

But, even at these reduced estimates, the profit ought to be
considerable, and 250 fowls is not by any means a number be-
yond what can be easily handled. Three, or at most, four houses,
would accommodate them, and the labor would not be more than
could be spared from other things by the hands already on the place.
My first thought was to see what others had accomplished in
this direction, but the records were very meagre, many of the most
important data being omitted. I could find only two books in mar-
ket that professed to describe the best systems and methods of man-
aging large numbers of poultry, one being the " Poultry Breeding
in a Commercial Point of View," by Geyelin, and the otiier,
"An Egg Farm," by Stoddard. Geyelin's system was altogether
too artificial for my purposes, and as report said that it had not
proved a success in the hands of the ori^i^inator, I did not feel very
much encouraged to adopt it. Neither was die system described
by Mr. Stoddard a(lai)ted to my circumstances. The extent of
ground and " plant " necessary to fully carry out his system was
more than I could command. Moreover, I never could quite
make up my mind that the system described in diit book had
been actually carried out in practice. It always seemed to me that
Mr. Stoddard had "evolved it from the dei)dis of his inner conscious-
ness." And, indeed, the chief point upon which the system is
based, viz., the alleged fact that hens will not stray far from their
own homes unless led away, contradicted my own very emphatic
experience, for my fowls have often wandered away to a distance
quite equal to half the breadth of his farm.

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 49

Now, it SO happened my wife liad ke[)t accurate accounts of all
our income and outgo in regard to the hens, and although the con-
ditions were not quite th j same as now, yet they were sufficiently
so to enable me to get at the figures I needed.

I found that in former years it had cost $1.25 per bird for
the year's sustenance. But, in this case, the cost had been diminished
by various little items, such as waste from our own table, etc.
But, as we had previously bought all the food, whereas now we
could easily raise a considerable portion of it, these two differences
might perhaps be allowed to offset each other, and I therefore put
down $1.30 as the cost of keeping one hen -n food for a year.
The receipts from eggs alone ought to be at least ten dozen eggs
at 30 cents per dozen, which would be $3.00, and this would leave
$1.70 for labor, interest on houses, fences, etc., and for profit.

So far the calculation was quite simple, and the data not diffi-
cult to get at, for even if I had had no record it would not have been
difficult to tell what it cost to keep for a week the seven hens and a
rooster which I had now cooped up, and then a very simple sum
in arithmetic would have given me the information I needed.
But when it came to the cost of housing, attendance, range, etc.,
the exact figures were not so easily got at. A dozen or twenty
fowls may be housed by means of makeshifts which may be said to
cost nothing, because even the labor is merely pastime, and the atten-
dance is mere amusement. One thousand fowls cannot be cared
for in any such way, and I had no data, and did not know where
to look for any. Geyelin's work is very explicit on the subject, but
the conditions are very unusual, while Stoddard is singularly deficient
in those statements of time and cost which are so important in a
matter of this kind, and which are so apt to creep into a record of
actual experience.

After nmch thought and figuring, I came to the following con-
clusions:—

1. That if the cost of housing and attendance were left out of
the calculations, I could make a clear i)rofit of $1.70 per hen.

2. That with my present help and facilities, I could take care
of about 2_c;o hens and their young. To do this work there was

50 COMMON SENSE

part of the time of one man and a girl, and so much of ni)^ own time
as was not occupied with die oversiglit of the rest of the place,
and such other calls as are usually made upon a man in a similar
position.

3. My present accommodations would enable me to care for
about 125 fowls.

4. That by hiring a good, steady, elderly woman, who would
give all her time to the fowls, I could easily increase the number
to 1,000 birds. I proposed to oversee and direct, as well as to aid
in actual work; the man would do the heavy work, and the girl could
find time for a little general assistance, and as she was very much
interested in the hens and chickens, she was always very willing to
do so.

These points being reached, several important questions pre-
sented themselves, amongst which were the following: — i. How
many birds can I keep successfully on the land that I have available
for such a purpose ? 2. How much extra house room must I pro-
vide? and, 3, How should I arrange the houses and yards ?

I calculated that the paddock must be reserved for the horse
and cow; one acre was already devoted to asparagus, so that this
left about two acres of arable land, two acres of shrubbery, and
half an acre of orchard, making about four and a half acres, to
which might be added the barnyards for the older fowls in winter,
and the lawn for small chickens in summer. How many chickens
could I keep in this space ?

Upon no subject did I find such great diversity of opinion as
upon the extent of ground that should be given to the flocks — in
other words, in regard to their range. The author of the " Egg
Farm," allows 62^^ acres to 5,000 birds, which is at the rate of
544 square feet to each bird; Wright, the author of " The Prac-
tical Poultry Keeper," in his own yards, allows 44 feet to each
bird, and tells us that they thrive well. He also tells us that he has
known of "fowls" being kept on a space of 12 feet by 3. This
is at the rate of 7,6 square feet for several birds — say 3 to 5 — or
with an allowance of from 12 to 7 square feet for each.

Geyelin in his " Poultry Breeding in a Commercial Point of

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 5 1

View," descriljes his "poultry homes" intended for 6 hens and
I cock, for breeding, or 12 laying hens, as being 21 feet by 3.
Tliis is 66 square feet to 12 hens, or ^^4 square feet to each
bird.

Warren Leland, a very successful poultry keeper, allows four and
a half acres of hind to each thousand birds. 'I'his is at the rate
of 196 square feet to each bird.

The editor of the Massachusetts PlougJiDiaii allows 6 acres of
rocky land to each 1,000 birds. This gives 261 square feet to each
bird.

In former years I had kept twelve birds in good health and un-
usual productiveness in a yard 16 feet long and 8 feet witle which
gave very little over 12 square feet to each bird. It is true that
they were given the liberty of the whole garden occasionally for a
short time^ and this would of course break the. monotony and enable
them to gather insects, etc.

Allowing 100 square feet to each bird, an acre would serve for
435 f^o^^'ls, and this seemed to me to be about the right amount to
secure health and contentment. On this basis, I ought to be able
to keep at least 2,000 fowls on my place — about twice the number
that I at present thought of keeping. So much the better for
the fowls.

As my present accommodations were fitted for at least 125 fowls,
about 8 times the present amount of house-room would be required,
and this was perhaps the most serious question of all, because
it conceined an investment which would prove an almost total
loss if the enterprise should piove a failure. Land could be de-
voted to other purposes, and fowls could always be sold for nearly
what they cost, but chicken houses would be worth just so much
kindling wood, and from even this value must be deducted the cost
of chopping them up. My next step, therefore, in making my cal-
culation was to fix u[)on the arrangement of my yards, ami the
number of birds in each house.

I searched carefully the records of what others had done, chiefly
with a view to finding out how many hens had been successfully kept
in one bouse and yard. I found plenty of descriptions of houses

52 COMMON SENSE

calculated to hold from one hundred to three hundred fowls,
but no account of the success with wliich the birds had been
kept. I was, therefore, compelled to fall back on my own experi-
ence.

Turning back to my earliest memories connected with poultry,
there was presented to me a most distinct mental picture of a
rough poultry house in which over one hundred birds found a
nightly lodging, and in which they laid their eggs. They throve
well; I never remember to have seen disease among them; eggs
were abundant, and the labor of caring for them was not very
great. During the day they wandered over a large area of farm
land, but always returned at night.

Coming down to later years, I had in mind a former poultry
yard of my own. We had a house which accommodated about
fifty hens very nicely, but we raised about two hundred chickens
from which we saved fifty pullets, and for these, quarters had to be
found elsewhere. We put up a cheap house of rough boards, bat-
tened, and kept them in that. They laid well, maintained good
health and proved quite profitable. But the special lesson which this
later ex[)erience taught me was, that, although the two flocks wan-
dered over the entire place (about 2>% acres) and mixed with
each other freely, they always returned to their own houses to roost
and to lay, and no quarrels were ever occasioned by the two differ-
ent sets coming in contact.

I felt sure therefore that I could place as many houses as I chose
on the grounds with sev'enty-five birds to each house, and that so long
as the general range was sufficiently extensive I would find no diffi-
culty. I therefore fixed upon seventy-five hens as the number
which my houses ought to accommodate, and resolved to build
one, intenduig to add house after house, until I had as many fowls
as I wanted.

And thus, after much thought, and no Httle actual work in inves •
tigating the subject, I came to the conclusion that in my peculiar
circumstances, and with my tastes and training, j)Oultry was the
only rural employment that offered a way out of the difficulties
that beset me.

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 53

Working (S>nt a Ssstem.

xWING decided to make tlie attempt to add to my in-
come by the keeping of poultry, I set resolutely at
work to arrange my plans, and work out a thorough
system, so that success might be assured with at least a reasonable
degree of certainty.

It was my purpose to have ultimately in my )'ards 1,000 laying
hens. I concluded to dispense with cocks, as an expensive and
useless addition, so far as these hens were concerned. Of these
1,000 hens, I intended to have, on the first of Januaiy every year,
500 birds of about nine months old, and 500 that were a year
older, the intention being to get rid of the latter during the follow-
ing season, as soon as they ceased to lay. This involved the
necessity of raising 500 choice young pullets every year, and as
niore than half the chickens raised would be cockerels, and one-
third of the remainder might prove culls, it was necessary that I
should raise every year from 1,500 to 2,000 chickens. Allowing
that each breeding hen, during the season in which I wanted to
hatch my chickens, would lay 40 eggs, it would be necessary for
me to have 50 breeding hens. These would have to be kept in
small pens, of say 6 or 7 each, widi a carefully selected cock — re-
quiring about eight breeding pens. Allowing an average of nine
to a brood I found that I should need about 250 sitting hens with
accommodation for them.

As it was now nearly the first of July, it was too late to do
much this season, but after mature deliberation 1 decided to i)ro-
cure during the next three or four months, about 500 young hens and
thus make a fair beginning for the coming year. Next season I
intended to raise my full complement of 500 pullets, so tliat at
the end of a year and a half from this time my system would be in
full operation.

54 COMMON SENSE

The breed that I should adopt occupied my first thoughts, be-
cause on this de[)eiided to some extent the kind of houses, coops
and yartls that I should build.

I had liad personal experience Avith Black Spanish, White and
Brown Leghorn, Dorking, Light Brahma, Dominiques and mon-
grels, or so-called barn-yard fowls, but was not quite sadsfied with
any of tliem. Still it was upon tliese that I determined to place
my cliief reliance because, I would then know what I was about
and all my former experience would be available. My former ex-
perience, however, had not been gained under circumstances which
led to a very close consideration of the best variety for market, and
as my present experiment looked to the market for its success, it
was important that I should keep this feature prominently in view,
and make no mistake. The following points occurred to me as
l)eing essential: — •

1. The hens should be good layers of fair sized eggs. The
color of the eggs I did not care so much about, because I was sit-
uated between two large markets, at one of which white eggs
were all the fashion, while at the other the preference was for dark
eggs. I found that those who preferred dark eggs did so under
the impression that they were richer, while those who chose white
eggs did so because they looked prettier. I also found that deal-
ers would not give any more for one than for the other, though
they would buy more freely of tlie eggs which they preferred.

Now, it was my purpose to secure as many private customers
as possible; these I proposed to furnish with eggs direct from my
yards, thus saving all middlemen's commissions, and sending the
surplus to the general market, only when it became inconveniently
laige. I therefore trusted to the fact that eggs which \ytx& guaranteed
to be not more than one to three days old would command a
ready sale whatever the color.

2. Since a poultry yard of the size of that proposed must de-
pend upon its own resources for raising young fowls, and since
fully half the young birds thus raised would be cockerels, for
which the market would be the only oudet, it was necessary that
whatever breed I adopted should be a good table fowl. That is to

IN THE POULTRY YARD.

55

say, they should mature early, reach a good size, and present a
fine appearance when dressed. Tliis exckided all dark varieties,
such as Black Si)anish, Minorcas, Black Hamburghs, Javas, etc.
These varieties rarely look well when dressed. On the other hand
full grown, and well-conditioned birds of the Light Brahma va-
riety always look well, but the young birds look "leggy" and poor.
The Leghorns look well and mature early, but are too small.
Dominiques mature early and look tolerably well when dressed.
At this time the Plymouth Rocks had not been generally intro-
duced, or I should certainly have used tliem, as I have since done.
In the common 'strains of this breed, the cockerels are generally
light and the hens dark.

And here let me note the absurdity of the fancier's rules, which
demand that for exhibition pur[)oses the cocks and hens ought
always to be as nearly of the same color as [)Ossible. 'lo a sen-
sible poultry man, the fact that the cockerels are always light and
the pullets always dark is one of the greatest advantages and for
these reasons : In the struggle for existence the dark will always
supersede the light. White fowls never have the stamina of the dark
ones, and perhaps it was a knowledge of" this fact which led me to
select the Brown Leghorn in my recent ex[)eriment. Now the
dark hens of the Plymouth Rocks, are to be kept for breeders and
layers and with them strong constitutions are of the utmost impor-
tance esjiecially for winter layers. But, if the cockerels were dark,
it would be a great drawback in marketing those that nuist be
killed, and fortunately the cockerels in common strains are quite
light.

And let me here add in favor of the Plymouth Rocks, that they
reach a good size, and if reared in a good run, have a most ex-
cellent flavor. As layers, the hens do not equal the Leghorns
and Hamburghs m summer, though they are quite the equals of
these famous breeds during wintei-, and as I have had an average of
137 eggs i)er year from a flock of thirty Plymouth Rocks, it is evident
that they are not so very far behind the best.

But, not having the Plymouth Rocks that season, I was forced
to adopt some other breed, and weighing carefully the good and

56 COMMON SENSE

bad qualities of all the breeds with which I was acquainted, I
decided for the present to adopt a cross-bred fowl for laying and
marketing. The cross tliat I now selected was that between a
White Leghorn cock and a Light Brahma hen. I also resolved
to experiment with crosses between White Leghorn and Spangled
Hamburgh cocks, and Light Brahma and Dominique hens. Of
the cross between the Brown Leghorns and good common hens I
already bad a large number.

Having decided what kind to get, the next question was, Where
can I get them ? Five hundred fowls is not a large number for a
poulterer to handle, but is so large that it would be difticult to
secure that number of select breeding birds at moderate figures.
Three methods suggested themselves to me: i. To procure pure
bred birds from reliable dealers and stock my yards at once. 2.
To procure eggs from pure bred fowls and hatch them in an incu-
bator and by the aid of common hens. 3. To buy a sufficient
number of common hens — say four or five hundred — and cross the
best of them with pure bred cockerels, thus gradually raising up a
flock tliat would be especially adapted to my wants.

The first plan was out of the question on account of the ex-
pense. On corresponding with a large number of i)rominent
dealers I found that I could not secure fair birds for less than
$2.50 each. This would make the flock cost $1,250 — a sum greater
than I cared to invest in hens at that stage of the experiment,
though I now look upon a stock which is worth four times that
figure as a really good investment.

To the second plan there were equally strong objections. To
produce 500 pullets would require the incubation of, at least, 2,000
eggs, allowing for cockerels, infertile eggs, loss of chicks, and culls.
Now, dealers in pure bred fowls asked from $1.50 to $7.50 per
setting for eggs ; $3-oo was a usual price, but taking the lowest
figure, $1.50 for 13 eggs, they would have cost $231 for eggs
alone. The incubator and its attendant would have cost a con-
siderable sum, and the only immediate return would have -been
from the sale of young cockerels, which in such numbers would
only have brought the price of dressed poultry. But the most

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 57

serious objection was, tluit at that time, I knew nothing about in-
cubators and tlierefore the risk was too great.

I was therefore compelled to fall back on the third plan which
was to purchase common hens in open market, and build up my
flock by degrees. The great advantage of tiiis i)lan was that the
risk was small, since I could at any time get as much, or more, for
my stock than I ])aid for it, provided it was judiciouly selected in
the first place, and well cared for afterwards. I could, also, secure
a few pens of choice pure bred fowls at no very great expense, and
from these I could raise small flocks which would enable me, not
only to im[)rove my stock of laying hens, but to carry out my ex-
l)eriments of crossing, etc.* I therefore, resolved to buy a suf-
ficient number of fowls in open market, using in their selection all
the skill and knowledge of which I was possessed, and taught by
former experiejice, the great danger of introducing even a single
diseased fowl into a large flock, I determined to subject every lot
to a most rigorous quarantine before giving it the freedom of the
place.

But, in this case, it was necessary to provide accommodations
for the birds before they were bought. It was well enough to buy
one rooster before I had a coop to put him in, but it would not do
to buy 500, or even 100 hens, without first erecting proper houses
and fencing in suitable yards. I esUmated that I would need at
least six large houses and yards for layers, and eight small houses and
pens for common breeders, besides at least three or four pens for
small flocks of such pure breeds as I might wish to keep for the sake
of improving my stock. I intended to begin with White Leghorn
and Light Brahma, and I felt very strongly inclined to give the
Spangled Hamburghs a trial. It also occurred to me that in my
miscellaneous purchases I might find some special strain or variety
that it would pay to preserve. 1 therefore set out to build one

* It is surprisinj? that we do not see more flocks of fowls bred for special cir-
cumstances wlieu we consider tlie ease with which a larire flocl< can l)e raised in
a short time from even a single lien. A flock of 50 to 75 in one season, from a
jfood hen mated with a vi-roroiis bird, would be nothing wonderful and in the
second year such a flock miirht easily be increased to a thousand provided a
sufficient number of common hens were provided to hatch and rear the chicks.

58 COMMON SENSE

house and yard of each of these models and try it fully. I knew
well enough that the first of July was in some respects a bad time to
begin poultry keeping, but I also knew that I had much to learn,
and that it was more easy to experiment during the warm days of
summer and early fall, than during the frosts of winter. Indeed, I
afterwards found that if I bad put off making a beginning until late in
the fall, I would have lost just a year.

Meantime our little broods kei)t coming out and w^ere grad-
ually being dotted all over the grounds. The warm nights and
l)leasant days made it easy to provide shelter for them, and they
were so far apart that, at first, we lost very few chickens by their
straying into other coops than their own. I felt greatly encour-
aged, for things went on swimmingly, but after a time I found that
the business of rearing chickens is not altogether made up of suc-
cesses.

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 59

^om: Bttilbing.

'ORE than a quarter of a century before the time of which
I write, I liad built and used movable chicken houses, and

was greatly prejudiced in their favor. At first, therefore,
I decided to have all my houses movable, so as to avoid any ne-
cessity for cleaning the tioors. If made movable, the giound on
which they stood, might be cleaned by simply plowing it and })lant-
ing crops. But, on working out my plans, I soon found that houses
which would be readily })0rtab1e, would be too small for my i)resent
puri)Ose, and that if made large enough and movable at the same
time, they could not be properly fixed u[) so as to resist the winter's
cold without a great deal of trouble. Morever the glass leanto shed,
upon which I set so much value, would be a very difficult thing to
move without taking it all a[)art.

Of course I might have adopted houses built on a model which
would allow me to take the entire house to pieces, move it to its
new location, and put it together again. This, however, w^ould
take too much time and labor, so I decided to make my large
houses stationary and with sufficient capacity to hold 75 to 100
fowls each. The houses anil glass sheds were to have clay floors,
which I intended to clean frequently, and the yards were to be
moved from front to rear, or from side to side, as might be found
desirable.

For breeding pens I would need a smaller house-^one that would
accommodate comfortably seven fowls — six hens and a cock. For
such a small flock, a laige house, unless artificially warmed, is cold
and cheerless, and to warm a house for seven birds would be a waste
■of fuel and labor. 1 therefore decided to make the breeding houses
small and very waim, but this could l)e done and still have them
easily portable.

In addition to pens for strictly breeding [)urposes, I would need

6p COMMON SENSE

occasionally a small pen for experiments, or to keep a cock by
himself, or to keep two or three hens that I wished to test. The
ordinary breeding houses and yards would, however, answer all
these purposes very well, and I determined not to multiply models
and patterns if I could help it.

My first work, therefore, was to design suitable houses of these
[two kinds, and to construct one of each as a model. If this
model worked well, then more could be made like it, and by mak-
ing only one of each, I left myself an opi)ortunity to introduce any
improvement that experience might suggest. Fortunately, I had
as a study a very excellent model, though one that was rather too
elaborate for the end that I now had in view.

Amongst other buildings erected by the former owner, was a [)oul-
try house of moderate dimensions, and no great cost, but the most
perfect in its design and appointmjnts that 1 have ever seen, and I
have examined some very costly ones. It was intended as a " family "
poultry house, calculated for fifty hens and able to accommodate an
additional one hundred young birds during the fall and winter,
while they were waiting • to be drafied into the fattening coo[)S.
Mr. Brown told me, that it was designed by a friend of his, an
engineer of considerable talent and broad scientific knowledge, and
he placed in my hands the drawings, specifications and descriptions,
so that I might fully understand its construction and the best
method of managing it. It certainly differed radically from all the
poultry houses described in the books (and I have quite a collec-
tion of works on the subject) and as the designer gave his reasons for
everything he did, it was easily seen that in every point it adapted
itself to the nature of the fowls, and to the dictates of true science.
I will, therefore, give a detailed description of it, and to make this
more clear will add an engraving.

Just behind the barn and on the edge of the woodland there
was a very pretty knoll the slope of which was quite stee[), i in 4,
as our engineering friend put it. The slope faced directly south,
and the house was built on the side of this knoll, the enclosure
stretching along the wood. The house itself was 16 feet by 14,
and contained 100 lineal feet of roosting poles which gave an average

IN THE POULTRY YARD.

6i

^m

62 COMMON SENSE

of about 8 indies each, to 150 birds. In the engraving, Fig, i, I
have given a " section " of the house, that is to bay, if the reader
will suppose the house to be sawed across in tlie middle, it would
present the ai)i)earance shown in the cut.

In the figure, the natural slope of tlie ground is indicated by the
heavy dotted line. The back wall and also that on the nortli side
are built of stone, of which there is an abundance on the place.
The back wall was 5 feet high in stone, and the front wall of the
house proper was of matched boards and 9 feet iiigh. The root
also, as well as the south end were of matched boards. Parallel
with the back wall, and 2 ft. 6 in. from it, ran a light partition
extending to the roof, so as to provide an alley way on this side.
In this partition, however, was a long horizontal opening, closed by
several doors or traps, 12 inch wide, and hinged as shown at D.
The object of this was to allow of the inspection of the nests and
the removal of the eggs without the necessity of going into the
house. The nests were on the floor, and consisted of a good
thick bed of tne fine grass used for packing glass-ware. The front
of the nests was a sim[)le board 5 inches high and the nests were
protected from defilement by the slanting board c. The roosts
were rough poles cut to the same length as the width of the
house, and flattened on two sides at each end. They were sup-
ported l)y cleats nailed fast to the waUs, two cleats forming a
wedge-shaped recess in which the i)oles rested firmly and securely.
Nothing annoys fowls more than a rolling perch; a rocking one
they can get along with, as when they roost on the branches of
trees, but to a perch that rolls over they cannot cling with any
confidence. The plan shown in Fig. 2 makes a fastening which
is as firm as the wall itself, and yet all the roosts may be picked
up in a few seconds and laid aside while the floor is cleaned.

The only glass used in constructing this house was the small
window of four lights, shown in the end view, and this could be
covered on wintry nights, so as to prevent the escape of heat
from the building. The greatest mistake in poultry architecture is
the use of too much glass in the houses. We see houses with
glass fronts, glass roofs, glass sides, and windows wherever there is

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 63

a chance to get tliem in. Now, it is quite true that on bright,
suiisiiiny days such houses are very warm; indeed during briglit
sunshine tlie air in sucli a house will often rise to summer tempera-
ture wliile tlie tliermometer outside is nearly down to zero. The
glass acts as a "heat-tni[)"; the sun's rays pass freely through, and
warm up everything on which they fall, but tlie heat from the
interior does not i)ass out through the glass so readily, as its inten-
sity is greatly lowered. The consequence is that more heat passes
in than can pass out, and the whole house be-
comes warmed up. But, as soon as the Sun's
rays are cut off by clouds or night, there is no
more heat [)assing in, while the out-going heat is
as much as ever. 'J'he house then becomes rapidly
cold, and the fowls will be fiost-bitten in such
houses when they would have escaped if kept in an
old lean-to or even in a large cask. Therefore, if
we would keep our fowls warm during cold winter
nights, without too great an expenditure of fuel, we must shun
glass and keep them in houses with thick walls and roof. This
does not seem to be undei stood by the designers of poultry houses,
and even where a glass shed is merely attached to the house pro-
per, they make the opening leading from one to the other so large
that the two might as well be in one.

The designer of the house we are describing knew better. He
made his house com})lete in itself and quite tight. Even the holes
through which the fowls passed from the glass shed to the house
were i)rovided with doors, which could be shut from the outside by
means of a cord. In cold weather, there is no danger of not
enough ventilation. A keyhole, on a cold winter night will admit
air enough to fully supply the wants of three men, and the cracks
in the best made i)Oultry house will always give air enough. As
for the carrying off of foul exhalations from dropi)ings, etc., the
best plan is to neutralize all such by means of i)roj)er absorbents.
Fully imj)resscd with these facts, the designer made his house
close and with walls })repared so as to be the best of non-conduc-
tors. Of course the stone walls always maintained a moderate

64 COMMON SENSE

temperature, and wherever the walls consist d of boards they were
carefully lined witli tar paper. This lining was ai)[)lied by first
nailing to the walls strips an inch thick. The paper was then
tacked to the stri[)s, and thus a dead air-space was enclosed be-
tween the wall and the paper. This, as every one knows, forms
one of the very best of non-conductors, provided the air does not
circulate in this space. To prevent this the strii)s were placed hori-
zontally— not vertically, as is usually done, and thus all up and down
currents were prevented.

But, in order that the full benefit of a glass house might be had
for clear cold days, there was a glass shed, the same length as the
house, but only twelve feet wide, built against the souUi side.
This was constructed in a very simple, but very efficient manner, as
follows: The wall on the east side was stone, about 30 inches
high, and after that of boards. The front was of stone, and the west
side of boards. The rafters were narrow inch boards, tongued as
if for matched stufi", and these were placed just so far apart that
the glass lay snugly between the tongues. The glass was then
puttied in, beginning at the bottom, and allowing each light to
over-lap the one below it. From such a roof snow slides off as
soon as a thaw comes, and it is very cheap. Large ventilators,
which could be opened or closed at pleasure, were placed in the
east and west sides, as outlined in the figure, and in the front wall
(that facing the south) there were openings whereby the fowls
could go out and in, to the large enclosure, or to the 0[)en fields,
when it was so desired. Directly over the front wall of the glass
shed, and running the entire length of the house, was extended a
wire netting which effectually prevented the fowls from getting on to
the roof ami yet was almost invisible, so that it did not detract
from the appearance of the building. The outside of the south
wall of the house proper, (chat which formed the north wall of the
glass leanto) was painted a very dark reddish brown. This en-
abled it to absorb the heat of th.e sun's rays, whenever they fell on
it, and this heat they imparted to the air, so that even on cold days
the air in the shed was quite warm so long as the ventilators were

IN THE POULTRY YARD.

65

kei)t closed. When the ventilators were opened a very strong cur-
rent was established at once.

In such a house, without any further additions, hens would
have done well the whole year round, and with 100 birds on the
roosts we doubt if one of them would ever have been frost-bitten.
Under the glass shed our hens found dryness and warmth on
bright days. A few barrowfulls of dry earth placed in one corner
furnished one of the very best dustbaths — such a one as fowls
do not ordinarily get during winter — and when dry warm days
came, they could go out and .enjoy themselves in the open
air. But the designer was not satisfied \vith this, and therefore he
])rovided means for procuring artificial heat during very cold
weather. In this, as in everything else, lie studied efficiency first,
and economy afterwards, but in all cases the latter received due
attention.

Warmth, during the cold months of fall, winter and early spring,
is well known to be a most important point in the keeping of
])Oultry for eggs, and the one most frequently neglected. Breeds,
food nnd cleanliness im'c all essential, but without warmth they will
be merely wasted. Much can be done by the construction of the
houses in wh ch oar poultry are kept, and if the house be small,
the birds will kee[) each other warm, and little danger need be
feared on the scoie of ventilation dunng the cold seasons of the
year. Much has been written on ventilation, and the general prin-
ciples are perhaps sufficiently i.nderslood by most i)eople, and
yet, but few have any practical idea of the subject. Those who
have not studied it experimentally have no idea of the great dif-
ference which a slight change of temperature makes in the veiuila
ting power of an opening. On warm days, when the temperature
outside is nearly the same as that of the inside, the air has scarcely
any motion out or in, and we might leave small cracks or wide ones
without any danger of "drafts." Under such circumstances, if we
want to change the air in a house rapidly, we nmst open large win-
dows, or even remove the whole side of the house, and so convert
it into a shed.

But, in very cold weather, all this is changed. The inside of

66 COMMON SENSE

the house is then warmer than the outside, from several causes. It
may be that tlie walls and floor are giving off the heat they took
in during warmer weather, or the birds themselves warm up the
air, or heat is derived from some artificial source. In any case
the greater the difference between the outside and inside tempera-
tures, the more rapidly will the cold air try to get in and displace
the warm air. Hence, the closeness with which this house was
built, so that in winter these drafts might be stopped, while in sum-
mer, by opening the window and the large ventilator at the other
end, and removing the straw or leaves from under the roof, a free
current of air would be established.

In addition to the earth-heat derived from tlie bank in which the
house was built, and the warmth of the fowls themselves, the heat
required for cooking was utilized in the following manner: On
the outside and near the front of the house was arranged a 15
gallon boiler or kettle. It was "set" in brick with a large grate
beneath it, and the smoke and hot gases were carried through a
horizontal brick flue which passed across the house along the front
wall and about six inches from it, as seen in tlie engraving. The
chimney was on the opposite side of the house, as shown. The
brick setting of the boiler was enclosed with a small wooden
porch provided with a door, and there were openings from this
porch into the building, so that the heat might be allowed to pass
in when desired. These openings could be tightly closed by shut-
ters when this was thought best. In order to start the draft
through such a long horizontal flue, the bottom of the boiler was
lower than the floor of the house, the whole path from the porch
to the front of the glass house being made lower also. In this
way no difficulty was found in getting the flue to draw, especially
as we always commenced the fire by burning a lot of brush, which
gave a large flame and quickly heated the air all through the flue
and chimney. There was also a flat piece of sheet iron which we
used as a blower. This brought the opening into the fire-i)lace as
low as possible. When the fire was once started the draught was
excellent.

Now, as a horse, cow and several pigs were kept on the place,

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 67

besides the fowls, it was found very advantageous to have a large
kettle for cooking their food. In doing this the flue in the poultry
house was thoroughly heated, and from the large amount of material
it contained, this heat was not all gone until morning. A sheet iron
pi;:e would have cooled in ten minutes; this remained warm for as
many hours, and since the cooking had to be done anywiiy, all the
heat thus saved was so much clear gain. The footl was cooked but
once a day, the fire being started after dark. The animals then
had a warm supper, (exce[)t the chickens, which had whole grain)
and the kettle was again filled and allowed to stand till morning.
Even after a cold winter's night the contents of a well covered 15
gallon kettle will be warm in the morning, and every animal on the
place can have a warm breakfast.

It will be seen that the flue runs close to the front wall, and con-
sequently crosses the path of the chickens when they come in to
roost. Two passages were therefore made through the brick work
and under the flue so that tliey might go out and in at will.

The floor was a solid plate of adobe, constructeil by first s[)rcad-
ing over the ground a thick layer of coarse gravel and broken
stones, and then covering this with moistened clay which had been
well worked. The clay was then beaten solid and forced down
amongst the gravel and its upper surface was smoothed ofi". When
dry it was so firm and hard that a blow from the heel of a coarse
boot made no im^ ression on it. This floor was coveied with dry
earth finely powdered Dry earth at once absorbs the dro[)[)ings of
the fowls, and prevents their becoming a nuisance. Every day or
two the surface is well raked over so as to mix the droppings with
the dry soil, and a thin coating of the same fine earth is scattered
over the surface. Fifteen minutes sufiices for this operation, and
when the accumulated earth and dropi)ings are wanted for any ot
the crops, they can be easily removed and . the whole house
cleaned.

'I'he entrance to the house was by means of a door on the west
side, opening directly out of the alley way that ran along next the
back wall, and just behind the nest boxes. This brought the roof
rather low, perhaps, but we never found it inconvenient, and the

6S COMMON SENSE

lower the roof, the better for the hens in winter. The roosting
place was reached by a passage from tlie alley way, and there was
a small opening (about 2 feet square) through tlie wall, through
which dry eartli could be thrown in, and the soiled earth removed.
This opening was of course i)rovided witli a substantial sluitter.

Tlie shed was entered by a separate door, which served, not
only as an entrance for the attendants, but as a way througli which
clean and soiled earth might be passed.

Such were the construction and appointments of this model
poultry house. I made a careful study of all its features and
workings, and found in it the germ and suggestion of my future
buildings.

My first efforts were directed towards simplifying and cheapen-
ing the structure. 'Hie house could not have been called an ex-
pensive one; indeed, when com[)ared with many that I had seen,
it WHS a chea[) affair, but when multiplied by fifteen (the number
that I expected to build), the cost was too much. And, besides, it
was larger than I needed. 1 ex[)ected to get rid each year of all
my surplus stock before very cold weather set in, so that each
house would have to winter only its complement of 75 hens.
For this puipose 60 feet of perch or roosting poles would be
ample, and this could easily be put into a space 8 X i4 ^^^^ — j^^^^
about half the size of the large house. Moreover I determined to
do away with the })assage at the rear of the nests, and allow the
latter to be entered directly hom the outside. If poultry was to
be made a business, somc;body would be on the ground all the time,
and consequently there need be no fear of sneak thieves.

I therefore designed my houses 8 X 14 feet on the ground, and
quite low — [)artly to save lumber and j)ardy to economize heat.
After making careful working drawings of all the parts, I sent to the
mill and procured the necessary lumber, and my man and myself
went to work. As we were both unskilled, to a certain extent, we
adopted very simple, and what carpenters would probably call, ab-
surd methods. Instead of making a frame, we sunk four posts in
the ground, sawed them off to the right height, connected the

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 69

tops with pieces of scantling and nailed pieces of the same scant-
ling between them at the proper })laces. The rude frame thus con-
structed was covered with cheap matched lumber placed vertically,
and tlie roof was formed of the same material and covered with
tarred paper. ' There was one small window at the end, and the
whole of the interior, except the door to the nests, was lined with
tarred paper : in the same way as the large house, and as the
board cover to the nests fitted snugly to the walls, both along
its edge and ends, the amount of cold that got in by this
way was but small. The roosts and other arrangements were
the same as in the large house. The figure on page 70 will give
a clear idea of the construction of this i)oultry house, which, when
finished, was snug, strong and tight.

The front, which was 8 feet high, was placed facing the south,
and against it was built a shed, but instead of a roof of glass, such
as was used for the large house, I contented myself with two
sashes such as are used for green-houses or hot-beds. The advan-
tage of these was that no ventilators were needed — the sashes
themselves serving for ventilators when the weather was warm. At
the season at which the house was built, there was no need of this
glass covered shed, except for rain, and for that a common board
or brush shelter would have answered quite as well as one
that was glass covered, but I wanted to test the working of a
complete house before I went on to multiply them, and so I
finished the entire structure — glass shed and all. Keei)ing poultry
at certain seasons and under favorable conditions is mere fun.
When the air is balmy and the fields are green, almost any shelter
will answer for even the most tender little chicks, but when the
storms of winter and early spring are upon us, and snow, sleet and
frost cover the earth, then even the old birds find it hard work to
maintain their existence. These difficulties I had fully experienced
in former days, and I knew that while comfortable houses were a
necessity, roomy sheds were no less essential. For this reason I
had put a cheap roof over the manure pile, so that on wet and
stormy days the hens might have a dry, warm place in which to

70

COMMON SENSE

be

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 7 1

roll and scratch ; but aUhougli this miglit serve very well for fifty
hens, it was but a meagre allowance for five huiulred, not to speak
of a thousand, or, as I hoped to have at times, 3,000. I therefore
saw that each yard must have its own slielter and its own sheds.
Tlie glass-covered shed served on very cold days for a dusiing
place, and a sort of warm room, but it was not large eno;iL;h to ac-
commodate 75 fowls. I tlierefore felt that a ])lai'i slied, opeii to
the south, and enclosed on at least the rear and one side, would be
almost a necessity, and so I put up one that was 10 feet long and
8 feet wide. The height at the back was 2 feet and at the front
6 feet. During the summer, when the sun was nearly vertical, this
afforded a nice cool shade at noonday; and in winter, when the
sun was low, even at noontide, his rays lighted up every part and
made it warm and dry. On wet days the hens used these sheds
very freely, and so much comfort did they seem to take in them
that I put up two for every house. These, with the glass shed?
gave nearly four square feet of shelter for every bird, and to this I
attributed a large part of my success.

After the house was finished, the next tiling was to surround it
with a proper fence, stock it with hens, and test its working. This
I did, and I could find no point in which the house itself could be
im[)roved without greatly increasing the cost. Of course I could
not, at this season, test it for cold weather, but I had no misgiving
on that point. I had successfully kept fowls during severe winters
in worse houses than this.

The only point in regard to which I did not fully test it was in
regard to the number it would hold. The market price of hens
was rather higher than I thought they were worth. I therefore
contented myself with thirty birds, which I purchased in the mar-
ket and transferred to this yard. After ten days I gave them their
liberty, and although they roamed all over the place during the
day, and mixed with the old stock freely, yet they always returned
to their own yard at night, and I believe very few of them laid
away. One or two hens stole nests in the shrubbery, and as there
was no rooster amongst them the eggs proved worthless, so that

72 . COMMON SENSE

the hens lost their labor and we lost tlie eggs; but the amount lost
in this way was but small, and became gradually less. I was per-
fectly satisfied with the work thus far, and would have at once
turned my attention to the construction of breeding pens if my
thoughts had not been directed to another branch of the business,
as I will detail in the next chapter.

IN THE POULTRY YARD, 73

Bt0obs Jncrease nnb trouble Begins.

HEN, under ordinniy conditions, a hen steals her nest
and brings out a brood, the owner rarely has much
trouble with the chickens. The mother cares for the
eggs, generally hatches out a goodly proportion — often the entire
lot — leads her young progeny along hedgerows and through cop-
pices, and brings to the barnyard a fine lot of strong, healthy little
birds. And even wdien the farmer's wife sets her dozen hens in
different nooks and corners, and lets them wander at will along the
roadsides and through the orchard, there is rarely any trouble.
The hens easily keep so far apart that there is no danger of their
babies getting "mixed up," consequently there is seldom any dan-
ger of their fighting, or of chickens getting killed by straying to the
wrong coop. At first, therefore, we had no trouble to speak of.
We lost some chickens from different causes, but this always hap-
pens; one got its leg broken by being caught in the cleft of a split
board, and another had a fracture from a small stone which was
loosened by the scratching of a hen and rolled down a bank. In
both cases a good cure was made by sim[)ly wrapi:)ing the broken
limb with a narrow strip of muslin which had been smeared with
very thick j)aste. The paste soon dried, and held the bones firmly
in position until they had united. In both cases the chickens be-
came useful fowls. In another case, however, the little thing wan-
dered off and was not seen until it was loo late. The leg healed
up, but the foot was turned the wrong way, and the poor little
chicken found it difficult to walk, and impossible to scratch. But
some one has said that everything — even evil — has its uses, and as
an instance he names diseases, without which he claims that we
could not have wise and learned i)hysicians ! * So this i)oor little

* To which some irreveront Phillistine has replied by asking, which, in this
case, was tlie good, and which the evil ?

74 COMMON SENSE

lame cliicken had its uses, for it taught us how implicitly the lower
creatures will confide in us if kindly cared for, especially when
tliey are in a measure helpless. This helpless lame one had no fear
of humanity; it would stand quietly and allow us to pick it up,
expecting to be carried where fresh grass might be liad, and as it
fed out of our hands and looked up in our faces it seemed to look
upon us as its natural protectors. Some one has said that to the
dog, man appears as God, and, in truth, it may be so. To this liitle
chicken we no doubt seemed an all-powerful Providence, from
whose hands came food, and who provided shelter and protection.
She grew to be a good-sized hen, and laid almost as well as those
that were perfect in their limbs.

But when our broods multi[)lied, so that lawn as well as barn-
yard was dotted quite closely all over with them, then trouble
began. The chickens would run to the wrong coops and get
quickly pecked to death ; the liens would fight, and in their strug-
gles the chickens would be scattered and sometimes seriously hurt.
Another difificulty arose : Amongst so many coops the hens
seemed to lose the [)ower of finding their own individual dwellings;
two would try to get into one coop, and then fighting and destruc-
tion of the chickens would follow. By the time we had forty coo))s
occui)ied we had our hands full, and more too.

I suppose that if the grounds had been of far greater extent, so
that the coops could have been placed finther apart, this difficulty
would not have arisen. But to avoid it, the space occupied must
have been enormous.

Now, it is well known that one of the great secrets in the rearing
of strong, healthy chickens is the giving of freedom and all that it
implies. Open air, grass to pick, leaves to scratch, dry earth to
dust in, and ant-hills to explore — these are what go to make healthy
chicks and vigorous fowls. But if the mothers fight and kill each
others progeny when this freedom is allowed, what are we going
to do?

The present broods had been hatched in all sorts of contrivances
and make-shifts. Old barrels laid on their sides; boxes with and
without bottoms; old dog houses; a heap of broken straw laid in

IN THE POULTRY YARD.

75

a comer, and half protected by a short board laid slanting against
the wall; an old basket with a piece of sacking partially covering
it; these, and such as these, had been utilized as the occasion
arose. After we had used up such loose odds and ends as came
to hand, I bought a lot of cheap barrels, which had no heads, and
fixed them up as follows : A square hole was cut m the side, as
shown in Figure 4, and the hoops were carefully fastened by means

Fig. 4.

of a few wrought nails, which were neatly clinched, so that they
might hold firmly and yet leave a smooth surface. The barrel was
])laced on the ground open end down, some fine grass or broken
straw placed inside and moistened, and the eggs laid on this. A
sitting hen was then put on the eggs, and the opening covered
with an old sack. The hen would rarely return to this nest for the
first few times, after she had left it for food and water, but by
placing lier back once or twice she soon learned which was her
own nest, and returned to it regularly. The darkness seemed
pleasant to her; the roomy barrel above gave her plenty of air,
and, altogether, these nests were as good as any that we had for
single nests.

7^ COMMON SENSE

After the chickens were hatched we kept many of them in the
old "tent" or triangular coops — a form which is, perhaps, one of
the oldest and one of tlie best where there are not many broods.
It has several advantages; it sheds rain perfectly, keeps the hen
confined and allows the chicks to roam, and when the chicks
return they can get away from the tram[)lingof the hen by retreat-
ing under tlie corners. But it is a mistake to suppose that the
young cliicks of several broods can be placed close together and
allowed to roam about. They will get into the wrong coops, and
then wo betide them unless the hens are very old and motherly.
At any nUe, our time was sadly broken up and our tempers sorely
tried by hens that would not allow strangers in their coops, and
after a few weeks' trial of this system the loss was so great that ne-
cessity compelled the invention of something different and more
systematic.

I saw that a hatching room and brooding house would be a
necessity, and I set out to plan and construct them. By the time
I bad fully realized the necessity for all this, however, and was
prepared to go to work, most of our chicks were so large that they
were past the most dangerous })eriod. The dangers we have de-
tailed are most fatal to chicks about a week old — ^just when they
can run about freely and yet do not know enough to run away
from danger. But as it was my intention to hatch considerable
numbers of chickens in the near futufe, I concluded that I had
better experiment a little and get my system into good working
order, so as to be fully ready when the time of necessity came.

First, then, for hatching. Although it was the poorest time of
the year for bringing out chickens (the end of July), yet I had
several hens wanting to sit, and I thought I could afford to risk a
tew eggs and chickens for the sake of learning by actual experi-
ence.

At first, I thought of building a small house specially for hatch-
ing purposes, but after thinking the matter over I decided to ex-
l)eriment in a room, or rather two rooms, that were in the barn, and
so were ready to my hajid. One of these I had already used as a
temporary pen for a rooster and hens, the other opened into it, but

IN THE POULTRY YARD.

77

had only a clay floor. The latter I decided to use for a hatching
room, while the other was to be used for a feeding room.

Tlie hatching room was 12 feet by 10. This gave 44 feet length of
wall, and as I could have two rows of nests tlirough the middle, I es-
timated that I could have between fifty and sixty hens sitting in it
at one time. Of course, in order to crowd this number into such a
small room, it would be necessary to have nests made on purpose;
old barrels, boxes and baskets would ne\ er answer. The nests
might be made either fixed or movable, and the latter had many ad-
vantages. Fixed nests would soon get infested with vermin, and
could not be cleaned except by clearing out the entire house, and
this might not be always convenient. So I set to work to de-
vise a simple, portable nesting box that would give each hen
her own nest separate from all the others; from which she could
not escape when once she was in; which could be easily cleaned,
and which would give the birds plenty of air. This was how I
did it.

Fig. 5.

I made a box, or rather a crate (for it had no bottom or front),
4 feet long, 14 inches wide nnd 14 inches high. T'ig. 5 shows a
])erspective view of this box with the door partially open, and Fig,
6 gives a section of one of the compartments. The top of tlie
box is entirely covered; tliere is no bottom, so that the nests rest
on the ground; across the front, at the lower edge, is nailed a
strip 4 inches wide, which not only serves to strengthen the whole,
but keeps the eggs and straw from fdling out; along the lower edge

78

COMMON SENSE

of tlie back is nailed a strip 5 inches wide whicn answers the same
purposes as that at the front, and in addition lias the door hinged
to it. The door consists of a single board which is hinged
to the back strip, and when raised up may be hooked to the

\\ A

Fia:. 6.

top. In very warm weather, instead of a hook, we use a loop of
cord, which is so long, tliat, when slij)ped over the peg or nail in
the top, it still allows the top of the door to stand out one or two
inches from the edge of the toj) of the box. This allows plenty
of ventilation, and to prevent the loop from slipping off the peg,
thus allowing the door to fall down, we push a rough wooden
wedge between the door and the top of the box, so as to keep the
cord taut. There are four compartments in each box, each nearly
12 inches. wide, and when such a nesting box is i)laced within two
or three inches of a wall, the hens have ])lenty of air, and 3 et are
securely held as prisoners. Two boys can carry these boxes any-
where, so that they can be easily taken out to be cleaned.

I made seven of these boxes, holding twenty-eight hens. Along
one side of the room I placed three, and along the middle I placed
two rows of two each. The middle rows were placed back to back —
that is, with the open sides facing each other and about five inches
apait. Between them was ])laced a board 8 feet long and 14
inches wide, which com[)letely concealed the birds from each other
and yet left sufficient space for vendlation.

Every evening I looked over the laying nests and other })laces
which the hens were most likely to adopt for nests for sitting, and
marked such hens as were decidedly broody. I had learned by
experience not to trust a hen on her first attempt to sit, for some-

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 79

times they will sit for one or two iiiglits and then abandon the
nest. But a lien tliat has occupied a nest for tliree consecutive
nights has probaljly made u[) lier mind to incubnte, and may be de-
pended ui)on. Such hens I transferred to one of the com[iart-
ments in the hatching room, gave her a >etting of eggs and shut
her in. Over the com[)artment was tacked a card on which was
written the date, when set, tlie kind of eggs, and the date when
due. By pursuing tliis course, I very soon had every compartment
filled with faithful sitteis.

At first, I let all the doors down every morning and waited until
the hens returned. Some of them delayed coming off for some lime,
others came off at once. The same diveisity ai)[)eared amongst them
in their habits of returning. At this time of the year a ^tw minutes
did not. make nuich diffeience to the eggs. AV^ith the thermometer
at 80° even one or two liours did not signify, but during I'ebiuary,
with tlie thermometer down to zeio, it would have been fatal to tlie
unhalched cliicks. It is true that tlie hens woiihl i)robably return
sooner in veiy cold weather, but probabilities would not answer
my pur[)Ose. Could I control this matter completely \yithout too
much labor ? I determined to try. 1 therefore attended to this
part of the work myseU', so that I might learn all about it. The
hens were regularly let off at seven o'clock in the mornmg, and if
any delayed to come off voluntarily they weie lifted off. AH were
driven into the outer room, so that they might {*iit<\ and defecate.
AH who have had anvthing to do wMth sitting hens know what a
horridly offensive smell is emitted by the retained faeces of a sitting
lien Therefore every i)recaution was taken to have this confined
to the outer rooms, the floor of which was well covered w ith dry
sandy earth. A hoe stood conveniently in one corner and at once
enabled me to put an end to any nusiance. The ventilation was of
course ample. Food and water stood in convenient troughs and
dishes, and the hens were never allowed to go outside. In this way
no trouble in catching them was ever experienced. When they had
been out half an hour, they were driven back to the hatching
room, antl allowed to return to their nests. Many of them did
this without guidance or assistance, and this was so much trouble

8o COMMON SENSE

saved. Others tried to get into the wrong nest — one aheady oc-
cupied by another hen; it was easy to notice this, pick up the
wanderer and place her in the first compartment that came to
hand. Others seemed rehictant to go on; these we caught, placed
them in a box and shut them u[).

The success of this system was complete. The time required to
attend to the hens was small; there was no danger of the hens
going wrong when the attendant was absent; no danger of eggs
.getting chilled; no danger of hens remaining too long on the
nest without being fed. It is evident that it made no difference
whether each hen returned to her own compartment or not; so
long as each compartment had a lien, it was all that was wanted.
It is true, that if the hens had had different i)eriods to sit, it would
have m:ide some difference, but I saw that, in that case, I could
readily classify them, say, into one, two and three week liens, and
let each class out by itself. I was, therefore, perfectly satisfied with
my system, and resolved to make preparations for carrying it out on
a larger scale.

But when the chicks were hatched the work was only half
done — i)erhaps not even that. The next thing was the care of the
young chickens. Of course I wanted a system which would work
not only in fine summer weather, but during cold, damp days and
with large numbers of chickens — not less than two hundred and
fifty broods. Long before the chicks were due, therefore, I set to
work to devise a system which would meet my needs, and as usual
I turned to the books to see what others had done. I found
plenty of coops for single hens and their broods ; indeed, the in-
ventive genius of poultry keepers seemed to have expended its
whole energies in this department. The number of such coops that
I found figured was sim[)ly astonishing, but as I had enough of my
own, many of which had never been figured anywhere, I did not
want them. I was surprised, however, to see that while nesting
boxes and other arrangements for hatching chickens in large num-
bers received a great deal of attention, very little information was
given in regard to their after-treatment in large numbers. I almost
came to the conclusion that most of the " practical " men had got

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 8 1

"stuck" at this point, and failed to carry their experiments any
further. But this was just the point that interested me; I could
readily hatch out chickens in any numbers, and, under my own
system, with very little trouble, but when it came to rear them the
problem underwent an entire change. The f;ict thitt I had had a
pretty good trainnig in the difficulties of the case encouraged me
in the belief that I could achieve success. So flir as the broods
now in the hatching room were concerned, 1 did not feel uneasy,
for by the time that they would be off, the older ones now on the
lawn would have wandered oft' to the shrubbery, and I had enough
single coops to take care of twenty-eight broods. It was the next
season to which I looked forward with anxiety.

I saw, after very little consideration, that each brood must be
kei)t .by itself, and that for the first four to six weeks it must be
confined to its own coop. I therefore set to work to devise such a
coop.

The first question that presented itself was in regard to size.
How much room does a hen and say twelve chickens require until
the chickens are, say, six weeks old ?

On this point I could find very little information, and I had
never kept chickens in such a bird cage before. I thought, how-
ever, that a coop 5 feet long, 15 inches wide, and 13 inches deep,
ought to hold them, and I adopted this as the size of my experi-
mental coop. It was evident, however, that by using light lumber,
not more than half an inch thick, five or six of these coops might
be made in one block, and thus nearly half the lumber would be
saved, while the whole coop would still be movable. I therefore
procured a few half-inch boards of cheap stuft', 10 feet long and 6
and 7 inches wide. Two of these boards put together would make
just the right depth — 13 inches.

Having cut the boards in two I made a box, without bottom or
top, 10 feet long, 5 feet wide, 13 inches deep, and divided into six
equal parts by means of divisions running across it. Across one
end, and 12 inches from the edge, was nailed a strip 3 inches wide.
To this was hinged a board 12 inches wide and 10 feet long, so
that 15 inches of the rear ends of all the divisions were tightly

82 COMMON SENSE

covered. The 1 2-inch board could be hfted up so as to expose all
the divisions. The other part of the top of the coop was covered
with wire netting of one-inch mesh. The })art under the board
cover had a bottom or floor of light wood, and the passage between
the net-covered and the board-covered portions could be closed by
a sliding door. For the purpose of feeding, etc., there was also a
hinged door 8 inches wide at the opposite end from the brooding
apartment. By raising this up food could be introduced in saucers
or other vessels.

This simple coop could be easily moved to any part of the
grounds. If emi)ty it was simply i)icked up and carried off. If
there were broods in it they were first driven into that part which
had both top and bottom and closed in by means of the sliding
doors. The entire coop, hens, broods and all, might then be car-
ried to any place. Thus we st t them down on the grass and they
could pick to their heart's content. When they had soiled this
spot we moved them to another, and towards evening we washed
the grass thoroughly with water, for which purpose I had a simi)le
watering cart made. It consisted merely of a barrel mounted on
wheels and furnished with a short piece of hose.

I was surprised at the ease with which we cared for broods and
raised them with the aid of these coops. My man said that it was
as easy to take care of twelve broods in these coops as to care for
one in the ordinary way.

We kept food constantly before them, but varied it at least four
times a day, so that they did not become chsgusted with its con-
stant presence. As they could not get out to pick up worms and
insects, we took good care to see that they had plenty of meat and
cruslied bones. For drink they had chiefly buttermilk. Our cow
was in full flow of milk and we churned twice a week. We also
bought all the buttermilk that one of our neighbors could spare,
and I never saw anything make chickens grow like this feed. In
the morning they had bran mixed to a stiff dough with buttermilk;
at 10 A. M. they had chopped meat — waste scraps from the butcher;
at 2 P.M. they had ordinary "feed," and corn meal made into a
dough with water; at 6 p.m. they had cracked corn. Buttermilk

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 8-^

tliey had before them all the time. I never saw chickens thrive
better than ours did under this treatment.

For feeding I bought a lot of chipped saucers at the crockery
store for a cent apiece. These chipped pieces are unsaleable, and
quantities are thrown away by every large importing house. By
ofiering to take a// they had for a month I got them at a vei\-
cheap rate.

I made but two of these coops before trying them, and by tlie
time I had fairly tested the system the other broods were so far ad-
vanced that they did not need them. I kept them in the common
tent coops and similar contrivances, fed them well, and they throve
apace. My motto was that every chicken I could raise brought
me nearer to the fulfilment of my ambition — the possession of i,ooo
laying hens. The twenty-eight broods averaged nine chickens
each when they were one week old. I divided them into broods
of about fourteen each, and the ease with which this could be done
in my new coops, showed me that the advantages more than bal-
anced the cost.

84 COMMON SENSE

|)reparing for a Start.

^LL this preliminary work liad merely been for the purpose
of educating myself in the best mode of managing and

handling chickens in flocks which might be multiplied to
any extent. I was perfectly satisfied with my house, hatching
nests and brooding coops; it only remained to arrange the ])laces
for the houses, put them u[), procure the hens and go to work.

First of all, then, about the location of the houses. If I had
studied neatness and order, I would probably have i)laced them
in a symmetrical row, so that they might look as if some [person of
" refined taste " had had the ordering of them, and many a scolding
I got from my wife for the hap-hazard way in which I scattered
them over the ground. But to have arranged them in a row
would have rendered im})ossible one of the ma'n objects I wished
to attain, viz., the possession by the fowls of a sense of ownership
of a distinct home. By placing a house in a. corner by itself, put-
ting a fence around it and confining its quota of fowls to this yard
for a few weeks, I felt that I could easily "domicile" each flock
by itself After this, so great was my faith in the desire of the
fowls to keej) to one roosting place, and in their power to find
their way back to it, no matter how far they might stray, that I
had no hesitation in allowing them their freedom over the entire
place. Of course it was necessary to i)revent their tresi)assing on
the property of others, and in order to insure this, I proposed to
fence in those portions of the grounds that were not naturally pro-
tected. Thus, on the north the ground was left o])en, because there
was nothing but barren rocks above me on that side. On the east
there was a piece of woods in which they could do no possible
damage, but rather good by destroying insects. -The owner was
an absentee, and the land lay in commons, so I had no hesitation
about letting the hens go there occasionally, as it was impossible
for them to do any actual damage,

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 85

But on the south side I liad my very agreeable neiglibor, witli
whom Brown liad had so many quarrels. As I have aheady stated,
his land along my line was unimproved woods, left just as it came
from the hand of Mother Nature, and it would have been impos-
sible for the hens to do any harm there. Knowing my man, however,
I erected a fence along the whole of the division line and a little be-
yond, so as to prevent any possibility of the hens "turning the cor-
ner." As I was anxious to have this fence i)erfectly cecure against
even my best fliers, I used wire netting three feet wide, placetl on
a tight fence 2 feet high and surmounted by a single wire raised 10
inches above the wire net. This excluded everything. The little
chickens could not get through the tight fence, and the wire on
toi) very effectually i)revented the hens from flying over. They
always aimed for the top of the wire netting, and striking against the
single wire, which was almost invisible, they fell back into their
own grounds, and arose wiser if not hap[)ier fowls.

On the west there was a i)ublic road, and I have never known
our hens to cross it, especially as our own orchard and garden lay
between their houses and the land on the other side. While the
garden crops were growing, the garden was fenced in with portable
fence, which was removed in the fall, so that the birds might pick
up the waste. In the orchard they were always supposed to do a
great deal more good than harm.

It was very obvious that by giving each bird the range of the
entire [)lace it had a freedom and a chance for exercise which it could
not have in a small yard. A thousand fowls on four acres, each
bird having the entire range of the whole place, are far less
crowded than 250 birds on one acre, and these again are less
crowded than ten birds would be on i-25th of an acre, just as a
man confined to a single house is more of a prisoner than any o"ie
of a million of men confined in a large city, about whose streets
he can wander at his pleasure, his "range" being bounded by
miles. But if this city were divided up into squares — one for each in-
habitant— and every man was confined to his own square, the prison
life thus forced upon the i)eopIe would be unendurable. If my pres-
ent stock of poultry were divided off into small lots, each lot in a pen

86 COMMON SENSE

by itself, I am satisfied that the number of fowls now on my place
would completely destroy all the grass and "vegetables" thereon in a
very short time if they were ke[)t constantly on it. Not "that they
would eat it, or even scratch it up, but they would trample it down,
and their droppings would so defile it as to breed disease and ruin.
But my hens spend three-fourths of their time under the feeding
sheds and in the dust baths, and in bright dry weather tliey impro-
vise dust baths for themselves all along the northern and eastern
line, where the land is light and the aspect sunny. And all along the
line the bushes are so planted, or, when the bushes were there
already, so thinned out as to form little sunny nooks and alcoves, as
it weie, where they are completely sheltered from wind and always
find a dry dusting spot. At first, I found the tendency very strong,
to scratch up the ground and make a great hole just at tne trunk:
of the young trees, thus injuring them very seriously. This I soont
stO[)ped by laying a few good sized flat stones on the ground
around the trees. I also trmimed u[) the evergreens on the'south
and east sides, so that the sun could get under their branches and
dry the ground and the fallen pine needles. This was no doubt a
barbarous proceeding in the eyes of all landscape gardeners, but
the hens enjoyed it.

Tne grass land is heavy, and they go there only to feed on the
grass and insects, but their eagerness for green food led them on to
the grass land so often, that I found it necessary to provide other
food, and to ke;^) it in good condition. This point gave me a
great deal of trouble. The problem was to keej) a plot of green
food of some kind constantly fresh and attractive to from i,ioo to
3,000 fowls — allowing them to " pasture " it at will. After care-
fully studying the different plants with winch I had had experience^
I could think of but two that would answer my puri)ose — Rye and
Clover. Clover was my favorite, but it was difficult to keep a
supply all the time; rye made a good preparation for the land for
clover, and at the same time furnished green food during early
spring, and even during the winter when the weather was open. The
trouble with rye was, however, that it did not seem to stand the
tramping, etc., of the birds. It is true, tliat I could fence them

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 87

out at times and feed them with cabbage, and I did so with good
results. In winter I use clover hay cut very fine in a hay cutter,
steamed and mixed with meal of coin and oats, ground together.
I have been told ihat I cannot grow clover many years, how-
ever; that in time my land will get "clover sick" — whatever that
may mean — and the plants will die off. Perha[)s this is so, but
as I see no signs of such a calamity at present, I shall not
trouble myself. " Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof," and when
my land refuses to grow clover, I will try something else. I am now
experimenting with the Southern Cow Pea and with Prickly Com-
frey, and I think that if necessary I may possibly be able to do with-
out clover, but as yet it is the best plant I have tbund — requires the
least lobor in proportion to the amount of valuable green food ob-
tained.

I therefore set out to provide a plot of very rich green food
for my hens, and I laid off a strip 200 feet long and 75 feet wide
along the edge of t-he paddock, to which I have already alluded.
This I proposed to i)low up in the fall, manure heavily and sow to
winter rye. The following spring it would be toj^dressed and sowed
to clover, so that after the rye was gone, its place would be sup-
plied by another plant. This plot of land I intended to fence in,
and I also intended to run two dividing lines of movable fence
across it, so that I could feed it off in strips of about 48 feet wide.
Thus, after the plants had got a fair start, the fowls would be ad-
mitted to a strip at one end, 48 feet wide. As soon as this strip
showed signs of giving out, the fence would be moved, the hens
excluded from the 48 feet on which they had been feeding, and
another 48 feet would be given them. I chose 48 feet because
this was the length of three fence panels each 16 feet long.

I found that it took three weeks for the hens to clear off such a
])lot, and that by the time the rest of the plot had been gone over,
the grass and clover had become taller than was necessary. We
sometimes had to mow it and give it to the cattle. When-
ever a good rain came shortly after the fowls were shut off a i)lot,
the growth was very ra])id, and we took the hint ; and if a dry

88 COMMON SENSE

time ensued, we sprinkled it heavily with water, which was by no
means a laborious operation.

I now arranged the location of the houses; one was already up,
and I made arrangements for putting up seven more immediately,
so that I might procure my fowls. In arranging the location of
the houses, however, I found that it was difficult to supply them
with water, and experience had taught me that good water is one of
the most important things in the care of all kinds of live stock. The
only water on the place was the well, and the spring from which a
stream flowed directly into " Nabal's" grounds. I worried a good
deal over this, and had almost determined to sink another well and
procure a wind-mill, when, by a singular episode, I was relieved
from all trouble on this score.

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 89

EANWHILE the season was gliding past, and the first
days of August were fully u[)on us. Everything looked
well, the crops were good, the animals in good health,
and we were all enjoying country life, or would have done so, had
it not been that my wife's health failed, and she showed strong
symptoms of a malarial attack. At this I was rather sur[)rised, for
the atmosphere was so clear, the water so pure, and everytliing ap-
parently so conducive to health, that when our family physician
told me that it was a veritable attack of marsh fever, my heart sank
withm me, and I said to myself, " Is it possible that no region is
free from that scourge of our country ? " The hired girl, too, showed
symptoms of an attack ; she was a strong, fresh-looking girl when
she came to us, but she had fallen away wonderfully both in health
and looks, and now showed constant signs of weariness, against
which she bravely fought in vain. My own health continued unaf-
fected, but then I believed myself to be ague-proof.

I was sorely puzzled over this new development. The land all
round us was pure and wholesome, and yet I was convinced thnt
some unseen marsh must be the source of our illness. The Browns
had never been troubled in this way, but then the ])resent season
had been unusually hot and dry, so that ])onds which in other
years had been filled with clear, wholesome water, were now stag-
nant and putrid. But none of these ponds lay near us, and so the
problem remained unsolved.

One day, however, when passing along the lower i)art of my
grounds, I heard some ducks quacking and making that peculiar
noise which ducks do when they stick their bills m mud. Like a
flash it struck me that here was the cause of all our troubles, and
in an instant I \/as on the other side of the f':^nce on an exploring
expedition. I saw enough to con iiice me that there would be no

90 COMMON SENSE

health at Ferniebield until that little marsh of a quarter of an acre
or so had been drained, and I also saw coming towards me with
hurried step the irate proprietor.

" What do you want here ? " he asked in his loudest and most
churlish tones. " Don't you know you are trespassing ? "

" I want to see you," I replied very quietly. " I see that the hot
weather has reduced this ])ond to a marsh, and it has given chiHs
and fever to my wife and servant, and endangers the health of my
children, and I have come to ask you to drain it."

" Get off my premises. I want none of your sneaking here. I
dont propose to drain my ponds for you or any man."

" Pardon me," said I, "I will go if you wish me to do so, but if
I go away under i)resent conditions I may return in a way that
you will not like. If you object to drain the marsh, for it is not a
pond, yourself, will you allow me to do it at my own expense ? "

The answer was too rough and savage to rei)eat, and I left him,
but not until I had used my eyes to good advantage.

Now, the origin of this pond and marsh, as I afterwards learned,
was as follows: The land which was now the source of malaria
had in former years been quite dry, and was underlaid with a deep
bed of clay. But on the grounds of Ferniebield, gushing from the
bosom of the mountain, there was tlie beautiful spring which I hav^
already mentioned, and which yielded as much water as would fill
a two-inch i)ipe. The spring was almost unvarying in its flow.
Wells might go dry and streams shrink, but this little sjjring always
seemed to be full. Not many years back, however, it had flowed
across Ferniebield in a diagonal direction, and the old water-course
was still visible throughout its entire length. But a violent " thun-
der spate" had sent a torrent down the hillside — a flood the like
of which no inhabitant could remember — and this flood had passed
over the spring, and opened for it and for itself a new and wider
channel, through which the waters of the rivulet had ever after
flowed. Formerly they had flowed /^i"/ " Nabal's" ]:)roperty ; now
they flowed directly into it, and he had taken advantage of this
fact and constructed costly ponds and fountains, which were sup-
plied by this new accession to his property. Now, if he had been

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 9I

a wise man, knowing that the spring arose on my land, lie would
have met me more than lialf way, but being a cluirl he was likewise
a fool.

1 had three ])lans 0[)en to me Avhereby tlie nuisance could be
abated, i. I could apply to the Board of Health; they would
very quickly rectify matters if they did their duty. 2, I could
commence a civil suit for damages, and procure an order from the
court to abate the nuisance. 3. I could abate it myself at once by
turning off the water. I chose the latter course, partly because it
was the speediest. A good S[)ade in the hands of a stalwart
man generally goes straight to the point, and knows nothing of
the "law's delays." First of all, however, I consulted a lawyer of
great experience and sound knowledge in regard to my rights in
the case. I was informed that I had a perfect right to restore the
water to its original course, and, moreover, that inasmuch as it arose
wholly on my land, I had a right to do w^hat I chose with it.

I at once employed three good stout laborers, and we went to
work and cleared out the old channel most effectually. It had
been entirely filled in in some places ; these we dug out and re-
opened. Amongst the property which Brown left with me, but
which I did not purchase, merely held awaiting his order, was one
of Gurley's Architectural Levels. This admirable little instrument
enabled me to make sure of my course, and I found that when the
water passed off my land the bed of the stream would be so low
that there would be no possibility of bringing it back to Nabal's
property exce[)t by means of a force pum)). So we worked away,
and in forty-eight hours I had the old channel cleaned out, and the
present one very effectually filled up. As the sparkling stream
■dashed over the pebbles and rushed into its old bed I could not
help thinking of my little friend Nettie and her murdered i)ets. I
knew that thousands of dollars had been spent on the ponds and
fountains of our unneighborly neighbor, and that these were now
all useless. The fountains were now nothing but dead lumps of
iron and dead blocks of stone, and the i)ond, instead of being
'"a thing of beauty," would be a noisome, stagnant pool, sickening
-and disgusting its owner, until in self-defence he would be obliged

^2 COMMON SENSE

to drain it. Truly, Nettie was well avenged, and I did not feel
sorry.

But I knew that for a week or two, things would get worse in-
stead of better, so I sent my wife nnd children off to a disiant rela-
tive, and gave the girl a vacation, telling her to slay awiiy until I
sent for her.

I It was not long before our friend missed the water, and rushed
up to my door in a perfect rage. He wanted to know how I had
dared lo change the natural course of a running stream, and tlueat-
eiied all sorts of vengeance. I quietly ordered Inm off the premises,
telling him that the spring was mine, and I could do with it what
I pleased. He refused to go, telling me that 1 could not put him
off. Of course he meant physically, which was quite true, but
there Avere others on the premises that could. It was to me a
matter of no consequence how long he staid ; he could not undo
what I had done, and I felt satisfied. So I simply shut the door
in his face and walked into the house. I knew that if he did any
damage he could be made to pay for it.

After a few minutes he walked away, and next day I received a
letter from his lawyer, notifying me that if I did not restore the
stream to what he called its proper channel, he was instructed to
begin suit at once. As his adviser had the reputation of being a
very able lawyer and a perfect gentleman, I thought it best to call
on him and explain. He was evidently a little suri)rised when I gave
him the facts in the case, though, with a lawyer's caution and shrewd-
ness, he would not acknowledge th.at his client had made a mistake.
Next day I received another letter, asking me to call if convenient.
I made it. convenient. The lawyer explained to me the great ex-
pense to Avhich his client had gone to fit up his place, the beauty
of which was greatly marred by my action. He stated that his
client had directed him to institute a suit for damages, but wish-ing
to avoid trouble he wanted to know if I would not restore the water
to its former channel, provided guarantees were given that no nuis-
ance should be allowed. I positively refused. I told him that I
wanted the water for my own use, and that I would not trust his
client under any circumstances. In due time I was served with

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 93

the papers in the suit, and also a notice to show cause why I
should not be "enjoined " from diverting the stream, as tliey put
it, but I noticed that the attorney in the case was not tlie one
with whom I had had an interview. He liad evidently advised his
client not to enter the suit. It cost me a small retainer to my
la\v}er, who put in an ap[)earance for me, but the case was aban-
doned and I never heard any more of it.

One most gratifying circumstance through all this fight was the
sympathy and go^>d feeling extended towards me by all the neigh-
bors. These rude dwellers on the hillsides had little sympathy
with any man that " i)ut on airs," and when it went so far as to
make his neighbors sick, they were "down" on him, as they ex-
pressed it. This litUe episode brought me into closer connection
with the i)eoi)le around me than anything else could have done.

'J'he stream now flows througli my neighbor's ponds and foun-
tains, but " Nabal" is not my neighbor. " Nabal " was so deeply
chagrined over his defeat, that he took matters greatly to heart.
He who had lorded it so over all the hillside was now beaten.
But worse than that; securities which he considered as sound
as United States notes went from above par down to the tens.
He sold out, and the loss so curtailed his income that he could
not maintain his country-seat. He disposed of the property
at a great sacrifice, and another now occu[)ies his place. That
other is a " Nabal " only in one particular; he has a most excellent
wife.

When I gave Nettie an account of all this she was greaUy
pleased, although she felt very sorry for " i\bigail."

We divide the water between us ; there is enough for both when
properly managed. And so it came to pass that a never-failing
stream of clear, j^ure water flows ])ast my coops and through my
yards, and this I regard as one of the most important of the many
items which go to form the elements of my success.

94 COMMON SENSE

^arbs anh irences.

K'^Ji*B Y first thought was that fences, except for the breeding
lK^ I pens, would be an unnecessary expense, seeing that the
"^^"1 birds were to be allowed the range of the enUre grounds
during the greater part of the season. I soon found, however,
that I could not dispense with a well-fenced yard around each
house, as it would be necessary at times to confine the birds to
their own domicile for various purposes. The most important of
these was the training of the hens, so that each might know its
own roosting place. I had found, in former years, that when a few
hens and a cock were confined for some weeks in a breeding pen,
and became accustomed to roost in there, it was almost impossible to
change them, except by a repetition of the same process. On one
occasion we had about twenty hens whose roosting place we wished
to chang'\ For several weeks we carried them nightly from the
old to the new house, and at the end of that time fully two-thirds
of them returned to the old place. I then shut them up, day and
night, in their new quarters, for about three weeks, and we had no
more trouble. Now, every season we would have 500 young pul-
lets to accustom to a new roosting place. They would be divided
into lots, each lot would be placed in its own house and yard, and
fed there and compelled to roost there, and I knew that they would
almost all come back after they were given their liberty. In this
way, and this only, could I obtain the benefits of the system which
I had adopted.

But, in addition to this, there were various other occasions on
which a well- fenced yard would be of great advantage. Thus,
every fall the young cockerels would have to be separated and
placed by themselves, and various other necessities would arise.
Movable fencing was therefore a necessity, or at least a great con-
venience.

IN THE POULTRY YARD.

95

The permanent fence round the yard already on the place was
made of what are called " shinglmg latlis," the pickets being 9 feet
long (an 18 foot lath cut in two). These laths are i inch by i^^,
and may be obtained of certain lengths — 12, 14, 16, 18 feet, etc.

Of portable fencing there were various kinds described in the
books, but the choice lay between the simple lath fence I had used
years ago and a fence of wire netting. The great objection to tlie
latter, however, was its cost. It is very neat, almost invisible, and
for small runs answers admirably. But it costs i^o, cents i)er
square foot, which on a running foot 7 feet high, as is necessary for
most of the non-sitters, amounts to 10^ cents per running foot.
The 16-foot panels which I used cost about half that sum |!er foot,
or less than a dollar each, and the labor of i)utting uj) the lath
fence is greatly less than that required for the wire netting. I had
two kinds of lath panels ; one for fences where there were birds only
on one side, and the other for division fences where birds were on
both sides.

The engraving. Fig 7, shows the style and construction of an
ordinary panel. There were three horizontal rails, consisting of
shingle laths, each sixteen feet long. These laths being i X i^^
inches, were })laced with their edge towards the upright plastering
laths. This gave a greater depth of wood for the lath nails to sink
into, and ako greater strenoth against the bending of the fence side-
Avays by wind or the jMessure of birds flying or running against them.
The wind, however, does not seem to take much hold of such a
fence, although they act as valuable shelters. The two lower rails
were connected by a diagonal brace which was firmly nailed to
to each rail at the end. The diagonal was simply an 18 foot
shingling lath, cut to the right length and the proper shape at the
ends.

The end slats were also made of shinglmg lath — a 16 foot lath
cut in two. They were laid flat against the horizontal rails, and
nailed firmly with wrought nails, which were clinched. As the
length of an ordinary lath is 4 feet, and as the ends of the laths lapped
])ast each other on the middle bar only a very little, the fence lacked
only an inch or so of being 8 feet high. The upper laths were

96

COMMON SENSE

A

AAAAAAAAAAAAA

■ ...-......---. ;?

' ■ " ■ - ■ ™ "-"..■-".."«"-■.■ - TTZZ, — ?

, -r - L L I :. -, ;.. - .,. .. ^,

7.— POBTABLB lATH FENCE.

IN THE POULTRY YARD 97

pointed, so as to prevent any bird that might fly on to them from
resting there. None of our birds, however, have ever got over
these fences, as we are in the habit of trimming the quills of the
wings of our Leghorns and Hamburghs.

When my man made the first few panels, he pointed the lowei-
laths also, and placed their tops several inches above the middle
rail. This formed one of the best traps for chickens that I ever
saw. They would jump up, their heads would slip into the wedge-
shaped opening between the laths, and there they would hang by
the neck. I lost several fine hens in this way, until I had the tops
of the lower laths sawed oft square.

At first we had some trouble, owing to the tendency of some of
the lath to split. We soon remedied this difficulty, however, by
wetting the lath. When thoroughly wet they are not easily spht.

'J'he lath were pointed by means of a draw-knife and a carpen-
ter's wooden vise. A small circular saw would no doubt have done
the work better.

After the panels were completed, they were placed against some
straight fence or wall to dry, which they did very rapidly. They
were then painted with crude petroleum, and panels so treated have
been in use five years without showing any sign of deterioration.

Such j)anels are very strong. I have heard complaints of lath
fences being weak and liable to be broken down by the birds, in
which case, of course, mischief would result. In my own yards
no breakage has ever occurred. I have no doubt but that if a cow
or a horse were to attempt to pass this fence they could succeed,
but that any bird short of an ostrich could break it down I do not
believe. I have seen heavy birds — birds weighing twelve pounds —
throw themselves against this fence in their fights without i)ro(hic-
ing any bad effect on it, and even good-sized dogs have rushed
against these fences without injuring them. It will be seen that
the lower rail is about a foot from the bottom, so that the shock
given by dogs and birds comes at the strongest part of the fence,
and the diagonal brace is also a great help against any local blows.
I have therefore come to the conclusion that lath fences that break
down easily must eitlicr be Ixidly constructed or made of very

98 COMMON SENSE

poor materials. A great i)oint is to place the rails flat, so that a
good size nail may be driven wholly into solid wood.

With a supply of panels like this, and a pro[)er number of stakes
or posts, a yard can be put together in a very short time. The
fiist thing, for those who are not used to the work, is to roughly
lay out the yard, marking the corners with small stakes or mark-
ers. If there is to be a gate, the place where it should come ought
to be marked, and the house ought to be in position before the
yard is laid out. • My houses had strong " screw eyes " at the cor-
ners where the fence joined them, and to these the outside picket
of the first panel of fence was tied either with strong cord or with
wire.* The panel was then held in position, and a hole made
with a crowbar just at the place where the post should be set. The
post or stake is then driven into the ground to a depth depending
upon the character of the soil. This work is done by means of a
wooden mallet or maul with a long handle. We made the mallet
ourselves out of a piece of a tree, using an old hoe handle for a
handle, With such a mallet a man or stout boy can drive a stake
3 inches in diameter into the ground so deeply that no common
animal can push it over. I'he untied end of the first panel is then
placed against one side of this post, and the end of another panel
against the other side, nnd both are tied to the stake either with
tarred cord or soft wire. The second panel is then placed so that
it and the first panel form a straight piece of fencing, and the point
where the second post should come is marked with a crowbar or
'■hole oi)ener," as we call it. This hole opener is of peculiar
sha[)e. It consists of a long bar of iron or steel, with a pear-sha[)ed
ball at the lower end, as shown in Figure 8. Such a crowbar,
ifl)omted with tempered steel, can be driven two feet into hard
ground with great rapidity and ease, while a common crowbar would
require hard and protracted labor. The heavy point is first driven
in. and die bar rocked a litde in two or three directions. It is
then raised and again driven into the hole with as much force as
possible, and again rocke.i. This operation is repeated until the

*Tlie wire that comes off baled liay answers very well for this purpose, and
may be had for almost nothing from those that nse this kind of hay.

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 99

hole is deep enoiigli, and it is surprising how rapidly the work can
be done. We always started tlie holes in this way, but in soft
spots it is best to drive the stakes wholly with the mallet.

After a little practice it becomes unnecessary to mark off the
boundaries of the yards. 'Hie e\e becomes a good enough
guide for the direction, and the panels being all i6 feet, tlie
size can be told at a glance.

When there is to be a gate, the gate is treated like a
panel, except that the tie which serves for the gate does not
tie the panel next it. The gates were made just like short
panels, but there was a diagonal brace above as well as be-
low. The gates were quite light, easily lifted and moved,
so that no hinges were used. The tie was made of several
turns of wire, instead of two, as used for the panels, and
one of those three-cent wire hooks and eyes, of good size,
was used for a fastening. This was not as convenient as a
proper hinge, but it anwered every pur])ose for the breeding
pens. The gates for the large stationary yards were, how-
ever, made more substantially. The gate posts were nicely
squared, and the gates had a special picket for leceiving the
hinge. This picket was made of so-called inch boards
(nearly y-Sths thick), 3 inches wide, and carefully selected Fig. 8.
for soundness and strength. Loose butt hinges were used,
and as the post was held upright by the panel on the other side
there was no sagging, and the gate always worked smoothly.

There was another form of panel used for division fences. In
division fences, that is, fences between two yards, it is necessary to
have the lowei- part close, so as to prevent fighting. This was
done by nailing half a lath between every one of the lower row of
laths. These laths did not quite fill u}) the S[)ace, but die oi)enings
were so narrow that 11 " iVjiliting could occur. The half latlis were
firmly nailed to liie lower rail, and a line of selected lath was run
horizontally about 2 inches below the top of the half laths. These
horizontal laths were nailed to the half laths, and also to the others,
with small wrought nails Uiat clinched. These division i)anels

lOO COMMON SENSE

were surprisingly strong. We doubt if any animal, short of a horse
or a cow, could have broken ihem.

The panels were easily and rapidly made by using proi)er facili-
ties. Four posts were sunk in the ground, so as to make the legs
of a sort of bench i6 feet long, 8 feet wide, and the usual height of
a workbench. Along the front a good plank i8 feet long was laid.
It was braced in the middle by nailing it to the edge of another
plank 14 feet long. Of course the latter plank was on the under
side, and, as it presented its ividth against any force tending to
bend the upper plank, the bench was pretty stiff Two pieces of
l)lank, each 8 feet long, were laid across the end posts, so that the
l)ench was a sort of skeleton afifliir closed on three sides, the other
side being 0[)en, and the middle also quite free. Six feet from one
end of the bench two oUier posts of the same height were set, and
across the top was laid a plank 8 feet long. This was intended to
support the panel when it was shoved off the large bench when
nailing on the top row of lath. Having the material all handy and
l)repared, the three rails were laid down, their ends resting on the
end planks of the bench. The two stout end pickets were then
nailed to them, the proper position of the rails being shown by a
rod, i)roperly marked. All the panels were, therefore, precisely the
same. This framework of the panel being now held square, the
diagonal brace was cut to fit accurately, and then firmly nailed in
its i)lace. Then the first lath was nailed on, a thin board, 6 inches
long and i^ inches wide, and having a block nailed to its upper
surface to serve as a handle, being laid between it and the
first i)icket so as to get the space right. The rail into which the
nails were being driven rested on the long plank, and all the laths
were nailed at one ^v(\ before an attempt was made to nail the
other. Then the middle rail was laid on the plank and the other
ends of the lath nailed to it. Then the diagonal brace was laid on
this plank and the lath nailed half way up. The panel was then
turned round, and standing between the top and the middle rail the
upper half of the diagonal was nailed.

Everything was now finished except the nailing of the lath to
the upper half The panel was strong enough to resist much bend-

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 1 01

ing when laid flat and supported in the middle, but to avoid any
bending I had put up the support previously described. The
workman now stood between the top and middle rails with tlie end
of the panel resting on the end plank of the bench. The first top
lath was nailed at both ends and the panel shoved along. As a
matter of fact, however, the plank was 12 inches wide, so that three
lath could be nailed before moving the panel. This process was
carried on until the space between the last picket and the lath be-
came too small to admit the workman, when he stepped out and
nailed the last half dozen lath without difficulty.

I have been astonished to see how quickly an expert workman
can nail up a panel. I had one workman whose labor on the
panels did not exceed i8 cents each, and yet he was earning fair
wages.

It is also surprising to see how rapidly those who are accustomed
to this kind of work can move one of the breeding yards and
houses to another spot. The process is as follows :

Catching the hens : To do this they are all driven into tlie
house, gently but quickly, through the ordinary hole that admits
them. An empty crate is then placed with its open door against
this hole and the hens are easily driven into the crate, which is
closed and allowed to stand where it is until wanted. The wires
or cords fastening the panels to the house on either side are cut.
It does not pay to spend time untying them. A sharp knife for the
cord, or a pair of cutting phers (found in every hardware store) for
the wire does the business instantly. Two men then pick up the
house by the handles and walk off with it to the new location. As
the house has no bottom or floor except the ground, the old nests
and all the dirt are left behind. The house is then properly
located, and to those who have done the job before, that is all the
marking oft' that is needed.

The panels are then all cut loose and laid across two poles, each
about ten feet long and lying on the ground about 34 inches apart.
These poles serve for a hand-barrow, and the panels must be laid
so as to balance. As soon as a load is laid on, two men pick
them up, using the ends of the poles for handles, and carry them

102 COMMON SENSE

to the new place. When there are four men at work, it is better to
place the poles further apait (say 6 feet) and lay on twice the load.
There is then one man to each end of the poles.

The posts or stakes are then drawn out of their holes by means
of a lever and chain. A lever, 12 to 15 feet long, is used, and a
small chain or stout rope fastens it to the post. Of course the lever
Vs horizontal, and is supported at the short end by a block of wood,
•so as to prevent it from sinking into the earth. A lift on the long
end brings the post up so far that it is generally quite loose, and
can be drawn out by hand.

All this is done with a rapidity that would astonish those who
are not accustomed to such work. The process of putting the
fence up again has been already described.

My first undertaking, therefore, was to construct a sufficient
number of fence panels to enclose yards for seven houses for layers,
and ten breeding pens. I saw that this could not be done in time
by working at it " at odd spells," so I hired a carpenter and two
assistants and set them at work on the houses and fences.

IN THE POULTRY YARD. lO

Breebing JJeno.

HAVE already described llic simple pen in which I placed
the Brown Leghorn cock and seven hens. It answered
its purpose admirably, but having but one box of the
kind tliere used, I could not make any more like it. Nor, indeed,
do I think I would have done so, if I had had them, as I felt sure
that I could impiove upon it. Again, therefore, I ransacked
the poultry books, and general works on architecture. I even
found books specially devoted to this branch of building (it
scarcely deserves the name of architecture) and I studied them,
but after all I found nothing that seemed to meet my presents wants
so well as the small movable houses I had used a quarter of centuiy
before. They were made of matched boards, and entirely without
flooring. They were 4 feet 6 inches long by 3 feet 6 inches wide.
The front \vas 5 feet 6 inches and the back 4 feet high. There
was a door 20 inches wide and 4 feet higli at one end, and a small
window consisting of a single pane of glass 8 X 12 at the other.
The latter might be covered during cold nights with a shutter,
whicli was attached just below the window by small hinges, so that
during the day time it could be turned down and at night it could
be turned up, so as to cover the window, when it was held in place
by a small button.

There was a hole in the front, through which the birds entered,
and this hole could be covered by a board placed on the inside and
sliding over the opening.

There were two roosts, made of young trees, each 3 inches in
diameter and 3 feet 6 inches long. They were placed so as to
divide the ground space equally. This gave 84 inches of roost —
sufficient for ten fowls of the largest size. The roosts were mov-
able and when it was deemed desirable to enter the house, they
could be lifted out without trouble. At the same time they were

104 COMMON SENSE

perfectly firm, being held in V-shaped spaces between cleats — the
same as those used in tlie large house.

The nests, or rather nest boxes, were a part of the house. In
the figure is sliown a section of the house, where it will be seen
that the nests form a row along tlie back, being covered with a
slanting board. 'J'he nests are simply a little fine marsh liay laid
on the ground. The hay and eggs are kept in place by a 4 inch
board which runs along the front of the nests. Each nest is a
compartment by itself, divided off from the one on each side of it
by a board which reaches up to the under surface of the slanting
board. Indeed, the latter rests on the tops of tliese division
boards. The nests are accessible from the outside, so that the
poultry keeper need never enter the house. The way to get at
them is to let down the board which runs across the entire back of
the house, and is hinged to tlie stationary board below it. Both
the side door and the door giving admission to the nests are pro-
vided with hasps, so that they may be locked by means of one of
those cheap cast iron padlocks known as "jail locks." Such a
contrivance is proof against sneak thieves. A burglar would break
the whole house up in half a minute, so there is no use in putting
on strong and costly locks.

Along the front is a row of pickets, to prevent the birds from
flying over. The pickets are 16 inches long, being simply laths cut
into three parts.

On each corner there are handles consisting of pieces of boards
shaved into such a shape as to be easily grasped by the hand.
They are firmly secured to the front and back by means of wrought
nails, clinched. Four stout boys have no difficulty in |)icking up
one of these houses and moving it wherever it is wanted. Indeed,
two men can do it.

The inside of the house — sides, ends and roof — are lined with
tarred paper, nailed to cleats one inch thick, which are fastened to
the house as detailed in our description of the large house. This
makes the house very warm, and the matched boards make it per-
fectly rain proof. To protect it from the weather it was coated

IN THE POULTRY YARD.

105

Fig. 9.— HOUSE FOR BREEDING STOCK.

lo6 COMMON SENSE

with crude petroleum laid on like paint. Of all the preservatives
that we have ever tried, this is the cheapest and best.*

Another important point — ventilation — was not forgotten. In
cold winter weatlier, very little ventilation is needed, and I depended
largely upon the cracks round the door and other openings to
supply it. But cracks and openings are bad things, and to have
left a crack at the bottom, and made a hole at the top, would have
passed such a current of cold air over the fowls as might have
produced frozen combs and wattles. To avoid this, three holes— 2
inches in diameter — were made along the front — that is at the
highest part of the house. Under these holes was placed a thin
board shelf, 14 inches wide, and during cold weather the space be-
tween the shelf and the roof is packed with straw. This, of course,
puts a complete stop to all currents, but every chemist knows that
through such porous packmg the foul air will pass off by a process
of "diffusion," and pure air will enter from the outside even
against a considerable current. Moreover, the straw acts like the
"regenerator" in Ericsson's, first caloric engine, and absorbs the
heat from the outgoing air to give it up to the incoming.

I have described the house, as we finally made it. Before com-
mitting myself to a particular pattern I made one myself, and hav-
ing surrounded it with a yard of portable fencing, I put seven hens
and a cock into it and tried it for a couple of weeks. I found a
few points to modify in my first model, but the final outcome was
as I have described and was very satisfactory.

* Crude petroleum may be obtained at a very etieap rate by the barrel, and is
easily applied. If too thick and sticky it may' be thinned with benzine or g:aso-
line. When usins; it, great care must be taken not to allow a light to come
near it, or the whole house would be in a blaze. We painted our houses out-
side and in before we lined them with tarred paper, and one of them got pretty
badly scorched, by a workman, who struck a match near one to light his pipe.
Tt was a windy day and he stuck his head in to get shelter for the match. It was
the only time any one struck a match near these houses, as he got badly
burned," the petroleum having been thinned with gasoline. After a few days
the volatile matter passes off, and the petroleum sinks into the wood, rendering
it hard, durable and very difficult to set on Are, Crude petroleum is death to in-
sects. It will be a long time before houses painted with this material will be
infested with lice.

IN THE POULTRY YARD. IO7

iHakinig a <3tart.

AVING completed my plans for houses, pens and fences,
and made one of each, so as to test its working and
convenience, I set to work to construct a sufficient num-
ber of yards to hold 500 birds, together with those, old and young,
already on the place and coming forward. I intended to send all
the old fowls and culls to market, as soon as it would be advisable
to do so, and after some inquiry and a comparison of old market
reports, I believed that the best time to sell would be the S[iring.
Thus, I found that during the preceding fall what are known as
"fowls" sold for 12^0 cents per lb,, while in the spring they had
brought 20 cents. On a hen 6 lbs. weight, this allowed 45 cents for
her keep during the winter, and as many of the hens, if properly
cared for, would lay during, at least, part of the time, it was evi-
dent that spring was the most judicious time to sell. As I i)ro-
posed to buy about 500 hens, and as I had about 60 on hand and
expected to have 300 or 400 young pullets out of the broods now on
the place, I calculated that I would need, at least, eight houses,
and about ten breeding pens, in addition to those now on hand.
So I made my calculations, ordered the lumber, and kept the car-
penter and his assistant at work.

I was anxious to take advantage of the market at once, and to
procuie my hens before cold weather came, so that I might not
only have them in good health when I got them, but be able to
get them into good condition to withstand the winter. I also
wished to quarantine every lot that I i)urchased in market; that is
to say, I wanted to keej) it by itself for a few days before letting it
run witli the others. While the breeding i)ens were under way,
therefore, I interrupted the work and had a large shed put up. It
was 40 feet long and about 16 feet wide, and was constructed in a
very simple manner. Stout posts were sunk at the four corners,

loS COMMON SENSE

and lighter posts between at distances of 8 feet. The back row
was only 3 feet high, and the front row 8 feet, and rails of scantling
were nailed along the top and also near the bottom at the back and
ends. To this scantling rough boards were nailed vertically, and
narrow strips were tacked over the joints. The roof consisted of
boards 18 feet long, with the joints covered in the same way.
These boards were supported in tlie middle by a suitably arranged
beam, so as to bear the weight of any ordinary snowfall, as I in-
tended to leave this shed up all winter. Eight roosting poles ran
from end to end, being placed as near the back as i)ossible, and all
on the same level, so that there might be no fighting for the highest
place. About half an acre c( grass land was enclosed around it by
means of the movable fence. When a lot of fowls were purchased,
they were first placed in one of the breeding yards, or in two yards
if the number was large. Jf no disease showed itself in a week
they were transferred to the large yard around the shed, and kept
there until the houses were f^pished. If disease had shown itself,
I was prepared to " stamp " it out by well-known methods — the
slaughter of the birds and the disinfection of the house and yards —
but fortunately I had no occasicn to resort to any such measures

I was now ready to go into market and buy my hens. For
several days I visited the dealers' stands without seeing anything
that suited me, but at last perseverance was rewarded, and I found
two crates containing some very nice common hens — compact
bodies, bright eyes, red combs, and with feathers hard and clean.
There were twenty-two birds in one crate and seventeen in the
other, but several of them were cocks. I tried to buy the hens
only, but found that at wholesale prices I had to take the entire
lot or none. I therefore bought them all and sent them to my
yards. They weighed 159 lbs., or a litde over four pounds each.
The cocks (of which there were thirteen) were separated and
placed in a pen by themselves, while the hens of each crate were
kept separate and placed in pens. I tried to sell the cocks by the
crate, but found that the loss was considerable. Birds which cost
me fifteen cents per pound would only bring twelve cents when I
tried to re-sell them. As I did not want this first lot anyway,

IN THE POULTRY YARD.

109

however, I sold them for what they would bring, and let them go.
But even on this basis I found that it paid better to buy the entire
crate than to ask the dealer to let me pick.

Next day I found a crate of beautiful White Leghorns. There
were seven pullets and nine cocks. They brought no more than
the most common stock, and I bouglit them all. The dealer said
that he had no doubt that if he had marked them up, and offered
them as breeding stock, he could have secured a far higher i)rice
for them, but then the expense and trouble of keeping them in the
narrow quarters of a city store would have more than offset the in-
creased price. His rule was, therefore, to sell all such stock at
regular market prices and at the earliest possible moment. I found
out afterwards that they came from a party whose strain of Leg-
horns w^as really good. The birds were very fine, and I concluded
that the cockerels were good enough for my breeding pens. I also
found another crate of large birds of somewhat mixed blood, but
very handsome, and ap[)arently veiy healthy. In this crate, strange
to say, there were no cocks, so that I regarded the purchase as a
very happy one.

On talking with the dealers, I found that the crates were filled
in various ways. Sometimes a fiirmer or country gentleman, wish-
ing to lessen his stock, would fill a crate with fowls and send theni
in. Most generally these lots were the culls of the yard, and pre-
sented a sorry api)earance, but occasionally, where the owner had
fine blood in his stock, the crates were filled with pure bred, hand-
some birds. Crates of the latter kind were rare, but I managed to
secure two such crates of Dominiques, one of Light Brahmas, and
one of Brown Leghorns, besides the crate of 'A'hite Leghorns
already mentioned. Other crates were filled by hucksters, who
bought up fowls from farmers and others, j)ut them together in lots
of fifteen to twenty-five, and ofiered them for sale on the streets.
Buying such crates was a good deal of a lottery ; frequently two or
three very good birds would he found mixed with a lot of the \'eri-
est trash, and sometimes a country henwife would have a lot of
sick chickens, and they would find their way into these lots, the
owner being anxious to sell them and get the money before the birds

no COMMON SENSE

died or wasted away. I generally gave such crates the go-by, but
on one or two occasions I made some fine additions to my yards.

I pursued this course until I liad secured 537 hens and about
300 cocks. TJie birds, as i)urchased, were carefully looked over,
and all that seemed to be in the slightest degree out of health were
placed in quarantine in one of the yards, and kept there until I
was certain that all was right. I was very fortunate, however, and
did not lose a single bird.

The mongrel cocks were placed at once in large coops and liber-
ally fed — soft food forming a large part of their diet. Two weeks
of such treatment made a great improvement in most of them, but
on some of them it had no effect whatever. They were killed,
dressed and sent to market as fast as they could be got ready, and
brought fair prices, but I doubt if the results paid for the time, feed
and labor expended. If I were to stock another yard in the same
way I would send the cocks to market at once and get rid of
them, charging the loss to the cost of the hens.

1 was now ready to take stock. I found that I had 537 hens,
which cost me to date $302.23 for bird?, food, etc. This allowed
for the money received for the cocks sold, but I had on hand a
small quantity of food (perhaps $15 worth) the cost of which is in-
cluded in the $302.23, and which I have not taken into considera-
tion.

The hens were a motley lot. When a number of hens of even
pure-bred fowls of different varieties are mixed together, they are
apt to have a mongrel look, while even a lot of real mongrels, pro-
vided they are all nearly alike in size, shape and color, may present
a very attractive appearance. My first work, therefore, was to sort
them into lots that were tolerably well mated.

Out of all the cocks, I saved only a few White Leghorns, a
Spangled Hamburgh and three Dominiques. I was satisfied that
they were sufficiently pure and good to enable me to experiment
with them. Meanwhile, I obtained from different noted breeders,
one Dark Brahma, one White Leghorn, one Spangled Hamburgh,
and three Light Brahma cocks, and I set aside the ten small coops
to accommodate them, and two Wliite Leghorns, one Spangled

IN THE POULTRY YARD. Ill

Hamburgh and one Brown Leghorn, from my general purchases.
Then, beginning with the Dominiques, I picked out all the best hens
that I could find of this breed, and wlien I got through, I found
that I had three very respectable breeding pens of this variety.
Indeed, I confess, I was somewliat surprised to find them so good,
and as the cocks were all first class, I looked forward to having
come excellent results.

I then took tlie pens containing the Spangled Hamburgh cocks.
I did not find a single hen to match, so I filled each of them up
witli four of the best Dominiques I had left and two very fair
Brail ma pullets. In this case, too, I had no reason to feel dis-
satisfied.

Next came the White Leghorns. There were quite a number
of very excellent Leghorn hens amongst my purchases, so I filled
one coop with the best I had. This was a very handsome pen.
In the other pens I placed Dominiques and Brahma hens. I had
great faith in this cross and resolved to give it a fair trail.

With the Brown Leghorns, I did not have such good luck. I had
no Brown Leghorn hens that could be called pure, and my
Dominiques were now getting down to culls. However, I made up
two of the best pens I couUl, and awaited results.

The ten pens drafted sixty hens from my flock. With those I
had at first and what were left of the 537 hens I bought, I had
just 523 left over. The problem now, was, to dispose of these
birds.

My experience has been that to change the roosting place of a
hen is a difficult matter. A setting hen is a stubborn thing, but she
is gentleness itself, compared with a hen that is determined to
roost where she is not wanted. I have never been able to change
the roosting i)lace of a hen, except by shutting her up in her new
coo[) for two or three weeks, and even this [)lan does not always
work. Of course, when a hen is removed to such a distance that
she loses all knowledge of her locality, she may be made to roost any-
where. 'J'his was the condition in which my hens were at this
time, so that all I liad to do was to sort them into lots of about 75
each, place each lot in its own house and yard, and leave them

112 COMMON SENSE

there for two or three weeks. At the end of that time they were
to have the freedom of the entire place.

For the first lot, tlien, I carefully examined my flock and selected
75 birds, all as nearly alike as possible, and as near like Dominiques
as I could get them. We now tried to transfer them to their own
coop, but in so doing some serious accidents occurred — one fowl
had a leg broken, and another had a wing dislocated before we
had captured a dozen. I acted as looker on, while younger and
more active legs and hands did the work of catching. The young
men that I employed were not rough or thoughtless in regard to
the pain inflicted upon animals, but I could see that to handle
four or five hundred birds, catching them by hand, was a task that
no one could perform without great risk of accident to the fowls.
I therefore ordered the wounded birds, killed and stopped all
further proceedings. The men were set at work on the next
house, while I went to town to procure a good net. In my
younger days I had bad considerable experience catching fish with
a landing net, and I felt that with a good instrument of that kind I
could catch any fowl in my flock, without ruffling a feather or hurt-
ing a limb. So before I went I told the carpenter to get me out a
pole of the lightest but straightest grained pine he could find, 7 feet
long, i^ inches in diameter at the butt and iji inches at the top.
When I returned I brought a bag net, 30 inches in diameter at
the mouth, but very considerably less at the bottom, and 40 inches
deep. I also had a tough, dry hoop pole which was passed
through the upper meshes of the net and then tied firmly to the
pine pole. It was, in fact, a huge landing net with i}( inch
meshes, and I proceeded to try it. Selecting a bird, I walked
gently up to it, and by a sudden movement, I placed the net over it
and had it. If I had used a /mg, the bird would have dodged
under the hoop but as the net seemed to offer no obstruction, the
bird ran right into it, and was caught. It was no trouble at all,
and thereafter I needed no help in catching the fowls. But I
found that after they were caught it took too much time to carry
each bird singly to its new yard. I therefore had a transfer coop

IN THE POULTRY YARD.

113

d

Ob

mad^/. It was simply a light but strong frame work, two feet
high, four feet long and three feet wide.

The bottom was closely slatted, and the sides and top were made
of lath cut in two and nailed on. In the top was a door which
lifted up and through which the fowls were dropped. This door
was close to one side, and when we wished to give the birds their
freedom the coop was placed on its side, the door oj^ened, and
the birds allowed to run out. I could easily put twenty hens
into it, and two men could then carry it to any j^art of the grounds.
I soon filled it, carried it into the new yard, and gave the birds
their liberty without a single accident.

By this time, however, the hens had be-
come pretty wild and somewhat difficult to
approach. I therefore arranged some
portable fence, so as to- make at one corner
of the large yard a small enclosure some-
what of the form shown in Fig. 10.

At the corner, a, the two fences ran
quite dose to each other; at b tlie space
was much wider; at c the outside fence
and the portable fence came together
again, and another length of fence
stretched from c to d, so as to make a
wide throat to the enclosure. It was easy
to drive any particular fowl into d^ and
when once there it could be driven
through <r, where a boy stood with a pole
and kept those that were in from coming

out. If some got in that were not wanted it was no matter, as they
need not be caught. When enough were in it was easy to close the
passage at ^, and by means of the net select the birds that were
wanted. It is possible that other poulterers have better methods
of catching birds tlian this, but I have not seen any. Where there
is but a small number of fowls together it is an easy matter to catch
any one at night on the roost, and I have done this very often.
But where 75 hens are to be selected and caught out of 500, and

Fiff. 10.

114 COMMON SENSE

carried to a new coop, the hand net saves a great deal of trouble
to the owner, and many a twisted leg and wing to the birds.

The first yard made quite a respectable ap})earance after all.
Although I had found it difficult to complete my third breeding
pen of Dominiques, yet when I had got togetlier all the hens that
resembled Dominiques they formed a very handsome flock, their
very numbers seeming to cover and excuse any slight irregularity.

The second yard I filled with birds that were as nearly white as
possible. Amongst them were quite a number of pure Leghorns
and some very light Brahmas. Most of tliem, however, were evi-
dently mere mongrels. After I had sorted out 75 white birds of
pretty good quahty I had nearly 30 white ones left, but many of
them were quite inferior.

Those for the third yard were selected to match, as nearly as
possible, a hen which was in the lot that I found on the place,
and which my little friend Nettie used to call Dame Parten. She
resembled somewhat a Brown Leghorn, and was a most excellent
hen, though rather small. She laid a good-sized egg and i)lenty
of them, and she herself we had placed in a breeding coop with a
Brown Leghorn cock, but we adopted her as a model for yard
No. 3, and we succeeded in getting over 60 hens that nearly re-
sembled her. Rather than break the uniformity of the yard, I let
it go with this number.

It now began to be difficult to find enough birds that would
match in color to fill any one pen, so I adopted a somewhat differ-
ent plan. I now matched them for size and shape.

The hens that were originally on the place were of all shapes,
sizes and colors, but as they knew the old coop, and the old coop
only, as their home, it was not best to try and make a change. I
therefore let them remain as they were, merely adding enough birds
to make up 100 — a number which I considered it possible to ac-
commodate comfortably. The hens that I selected were the best
of odd colors. Some of them were very handsome birds, but the
lack of uniformity told greatly against their appearance.

\\\ making up the other yards I now began with the poorest. I
picked out all the smallest and least promising of the birds that

IN THE POULTRY YARD. II5

were left and put them together. The remainder were then simply
divided amongst the other yards according to size.

Towards the last I found it necessary to use the movable fenc-
ing used for the large yard. I therefore finished all the houses and
l)ut a yard round one of them. All the fowls not already i)rovided
for were transferred to tliis, and then the large yard was disman-
tled, the fence taken down, nests, etc. consigned to the manure
heap, and the fence posts pulled up. With this material at hand
it was easy to enclose the other yards in a few hours, so that the
birds were not kept very long in confined quarters.

The birds seemed to take kindly to their new homes, and as the
entire place was new to them all, at the end of four days I let one
lot out and gave them the fieedom of the place. Every one re-
turned to its own house — perhaps because they could not go any-
where else. Next day I let another lot out. After four da3S I let
two lots out together, and as soon as all the lots had been out I
opened all the gates and gave them all their freedom. When this
had been done and the birds, on a fine day, were scattered over
the place, I was considerably surprised at the small show that they
made. The place looked as if it could hold ten times as many
with great ease. This seems to be always the feeling when a
thousand or less birds are seen together. The flock does not ap-
pear as large as we expected.

Il6 COMMON SENSE

Unhex ttlag at Cast.— illore ^dp IXccbth,

HE enterprise was now fully under way. More than
half the laying stock was on hand ; a goodly number
of young chickens were coming forward for next year, and
I felt that twelve months from the time of which I write I would
have my poultry farm in full working order, and tliat the question
of success or failure would have been decided. Already we began
to get some returns in the shape of eggs, although, of course, the
number was small — about six dozen per day from all our hens.
Still this was quite as much as I expected, for experience has
taught me that hens which have been worried and frightened, and
probably kept on short allowance of food and water while passing
from the hands of the seller to that of the purchaser, cannot be
expected to lay for some time. Hence, I have always found that
for the time being, other things being equal, birds reared on a
place are much more valuable for that place than those that are
purchased. After a time, however, the birds pick up and begin to
lay, and it is just possible that the stoppage caused by moving may
throw the laying period into a later and more profitable season.
This was my case precisely. The hens kept laying more and
more as the season grew later and eggs grew dearer, and this was,
of course, to my advantage.

A great deal of nonsense has been written about egg laying which
it would be well if poultry breeders would get out of their heads.
One of the most erroneous and yet most plausible theories is that
advanced by Geyelin in his book " Poultry Breeding in a Commer-
cial Point of View." He gravely tells us that " it has been ascer-
tained that the ovarium of a fowl is composed of six hundred
ovulas or eggs; therefore, a hen, during the whole of her life, can-
not possibly lay more eggs than six hundred, which, in a natural
course, are distributed over nine years in the following proportion ;

IN THE POULTRY YARD. II7

First year after birth 15 to 20

Second " " loo "120

Third " " 120 "135

Fourth " " 100 "115

Fifth " " 60 " 80

Sixth " " 50 " 60 .

Seventh " " 35 " 40

Eighth " " 15 " 20

Ninth " " I " 10

It follows that it would not be profitable to keep hens after their
fourth year, as their produce would not pay for their keep, except
when they are of a valuable or scarce breed."

This theory is evidently a mere modification of that popularly
held in regard to seeds. Many believe that the huge oak lies
coiled in miniature in the acorn, and that the process of growth is
a mere unfolding. It is needless to say that in the sense here ex-
pressed this is untrue. And so with the ovaries of the hen. Geye-
liii's theory is that even in the little chick the future eggs all exist
in microscopic embryo, and are merely " unfolded" as the months
roll by. No man, having a sound knowledge of physiology, could
hold any such opinion. The same power which originated the
most microscopic of the egg-embryos that we see in the ovaries
of a laying hen, when we kill her and cut her open, exists with all
its potency in every healthy hen, and may go on developing new
eggs ad infinitum^ provided other conditions do not interfere.
These conditions are the exhaustion produced by rapid egg-laying;
the decay of all the powers by age; the accumulation of fat when
the bird is highly fed, and its weakening when food is stinted;
these and similar causes limit the number of eggs produced by
any one hen, and not the foct that her store of embryo eggs is
exhausted. Hence, the number of eggs laid by different hens
varies very much ; some are quickly exhausted by a small num-
ber, others go on laying freely, and it is for the poulterer to
determine what the character of his flock shall be in this re-
spect.

Il8 COMMON SENSE

The liens now in my yards were in pretty fair condition. Some
of tliem were, evidently, quite old and showed no signs of moult-
ing; some of the younger ones were already beginning to moult.
I took care that every morning they all had a liberal feed of rich
soft food, and instead of the number of eggs that were laid decreas-
hig, they actually increased — an unusual thing for this season of the
year. But this involved extra work and care, and I soon saw that
more help was needed to do tlie birds justice.

In restiicting the number of fowls the first year, I was guided, in
a measure, by the amount of help at my disposal. My own.
time I considered equal to half that of one man; the servant girl
rendered us some valuable assistance, and the man gave perhaps
one-third of his time to the poultry. With this amount of labor at
command, it. was difficult to give more than ordinary care to the
number of fowls on hand, together with a few broods, so that I felt
the need of some person wlio would give his whole time to
carrying out the details of the work, while I devoted myself to
superintendence, marketing, etc. Having a stout man to do any
hard work or heavy lifting, it occurred to me that an honest, care-
ful woman w'^ould prove the best assistant, if I could find one willing
to do the work.

I made quite an extended inquiry, and had a great many offers,
but without any favorable results. The objections to those wlio
a[)[)lied were obvious and numerous, and I was about to give up
in disgust the idea of employing a woman, when I received a visit
from the pastor of a German Catholic church, in a neighboring city.
It seems that he had heard of my want, and that amongst his
parishioners was a woman of about forty-five, who had come to
this country a few years ago, from Switzerland, with a husband and
step-daughter. The husband had died and the daughter had got
married, and the poor woman was alone in a strange land. In this
country, those who are wilHng to work need rarely be idle, and
she found enough to do at odd jobs to keep her fully employed, but
she wished to find a home where employment would be perman-
ent. On inquiry, I found that she had been accustomed to work
out of doors, when she was in Europe; she was strong, healthy

IN THE POULTRY YARD. I19

and had been accustomed to tlie care of animals. Her pastor re-
commended her very highly for honesty and steadiness, so I gave
him what we thought would be her expenses in coming to see me,
and arranged a time when she should meet my man with the
spring wagon. She came and after she had seen the coops, houses
and yards, and had her duties fully explained, she thought that
she would like to try the place at any rate. So I engaged her and
set her to work at once, sending my man that afternoon for her
trunk, etc.

Her duties were to be the care of the fowls of which she was to
have entire charge under my directions. Tlie man was to perform
certain definite portions of the work, such as cleaning out the
houses, cracking corn for the young chickens, grinding bones and
oyster shells, carrying lood and water, and similar jobs, and of
course when the coo[)S were to be moved and work of that kind
to be done, she was not expected to do much. But I found that
that she was as strong as an average man, and a great deal more
willing, so that it was impossible to prevent her hel[)ing us with
everything. Her name was Margaret and she proved indeed a
" pearl," and to her faithfulness and intelligence much of the suc-
cess of my experiment was due

As soon as she came she entered earnestly u[)on her duties.
The various yards were kept open or shut, as required, with great
regularity; the breeding coops were visited regularly, the eggs re-
moved and the nests kept in good order, and all the birds, old and
young, were carefully fed. She did not profess to know anything
about the different kinds of food, and had no special notions about
feeding and management. Slie had fed her chickens in the old
country ui)on whatever she could get, and occasionally gave them
a little pepper and old mortar pounded up, but beyond this she
had no nostiums, and was ready to do anything that I told her. 'I'his
made her invaluable, for it left me free to be guided by my own
knowledge, and assured me that my plans and experiments would
not be secretly thwarted by some one that thought she knew better
than I did.

I fully realized that the financial results of my present stock,

I20 COMMON SENSE

would depend, somewhat, on the way they were managed, as re-
gards feeding. I looked upon the birds now in my possession as a
mere means to secure a better flock next year, and therefore I had
no hesitation about getting all I could out of them, and as soon as
I could. After that I proposed to let them go.

If I had known much about their ages and qualities, I would
]:)robably have adopted a different principle in se[)arating them into
lots. I would have put those of the same age and the same time
of moulting together, but as I had no information on this point, I
was obliged to employ an entirely artificial classification. Here-
after, however, it would be easy to have all the hens in each yard
of the same age, and they could be disposed of at once and to-
getner.

In talking with poultry keepers, I find the most diverse opinions
jirevalent in regard to the requisites for securing an abundant sup-
ply of eggs. Many hold that it is entirely in the breed ; others
place more dependence on the kind of food that is given.

I could not change the breed of birds now in my possession,
but I could regulate their feed carefully, and I resolved to pay
great attention to this point. My opinion was then and is now,
that the best breed in the world will not give satisfactory results
without special attention to the feed, but I also believe that a great
deal of good food is wasted on worthless fowls.

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 121

OME writers tell us that the hen is a mere machine for
producing eggs — taking in corn at one end and turning
out eggs at the other. Although this is rather a coarse
view of the subject, there is a good deal of truth in the statement;
and therefore it is very obvious that a hen cannot produce eggs
unless her food is of the right kind, as well as right in quantity.
Now, chemistry enables us to tell exacUy what is wanted to pro-
duce an egg; it is simply the materials of an egg, and by chemistry
we can easily find out what these are. Almost any ordinary food
will keep a cock in good health and condition, but unless we give
our hens the right kind of food, the supply of eggs will grow less.
To produce an egg the hen must take in the material required for an
egg, and unfortunately there is no form pf food which will exactly
represent an egg and no more. Now, whatever is over is waste, and
must be got rid of, and if there is too much of this waste the
system gets clogged up and disease or unfruitfulness is the result.
Thus, if we feed our hens nothing but corn, in a short time they
will become so fat that they become diseased, and egg laying
ceases. But, if for part of the corn we substitute other forms of
food, such as flesh, bones, cotton-seed cake, clover, etc., the num-
ber of eggs produced is greatly increased. All ex})erience confirms
this, and in our experimental coops we have seen it ])roved over
and over again.

What, then, are the materials required to form an egg? In ad-
dition to the carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, which are found in
large proportions in all forms of food, there is needed principally
nitrogen, phosphorus, suli)hur and lime. It is not difficult to
supply plenty of these at a clie.ip rate, and in good form, if we only
know how. Instead of a disserlaiio:^ on chemistry, however, let us
have a talk about eugs, and src what is needed for the different

i2i2 '"' COMMON SENSE •:

parts, these being the sliell, the white and the yolk. The shell of
tlie egg is made up chiefly of carbonate of lime. Our readers will
find a full analysis in any work on organic chemistry, but with this
we need not concern ourselves at present. The practical question
is: Can our fowls get a sufficient supply of this material in their
ordinary food, and if not, where can we find it? It is more than
probable 'that those birds which are not fed by man, obtain in
drinking water a large porportion of the lime used in the formation
of egg shells. Almost all the water of streams, ponds and wells
contains a small })ercentage of lime. And where the number of
eggs is not large, lime in sufficient quantity may also be obtained
frorn ordinary food. But where we want eggs in large numbers, it
will not do to dei)end upon theses sources, and lime must be sup-
plied as a regular article of food. It will not do to give the caus-
tic lime used for whitewashing, however. We have known fowls
to be killed by eating such lime. 'J'he lime must be rendered
"mild" as it is called, by exposure to the air for months or
years. Hence old mortar answers well, and all the better from the
sharj) gravel which it contains. By mortar we do not mean plaster
or '-hard finish," but the iliortar used for building. A pile of
this, if i)laced in one corner of the yard, will be constantly frequented
by the hens.

Another excellent source of lime is found in oyster shells. They
supply not only lime, but a small percentage of i)hosphorus* as
well, and the fowls pick them ui) greedily. They can generally be
had in any quantity for the asking, and are easily reduced to
coarse powder or roughly broken by a hammer or stamper. In
using a hammer, the best Avay is to place a heap of the shells in a
shallow box and hammer them — the hanmier having a long
•handle— or they may be j^ounded with a pestle made like a pavior's
-rammer. This is a very efficient way. Or, if the fowls have access
to a wagon road leading through the grounds, the shells may be
simply laid dovvn thickly all over the road way. The wheels and
"hoofs soon break them up and they make a very good surface to
-the road.

*Tide Watt's i?ic/tou«r</ of Chemistry, article Oysters.

IN THE POULTRY YAKD. 12^

These ate all makeshifts, however. The best way to reduce
shells to powder is to pass them through a mill made for tlie pur-
pose. Such mills are manufactured at Easton, Pa., by Wilson
Bros., for $5.00 each, and will easily grind enough shells in ten min-
utes to sup{)ly twenty hens for a week. A large portion of the
shells is reduced to a very fine powder, and this should be sifted
out and kept by itself. The coarse chips are greedily picked up by
the fowls, while the fine powder may be mixed with their cooked
food in the proportion of a gill of i)owder to a gallon of food.

We have seen writers in the agricultural journals recommend
himl oyster shells for fowls Oyster shells consist almost wholly of
carbonate of lime, and when burned this' is converted into caustic
lime. To give a fowl solid pieces of caustic lime to swallow is not
a very prudent proceeding, to say the least of it.

Another important source of lime is bones. Bones contain both-
lime and phosphorus, and form one of the very best additions to
our poultry food. The directions usually given for using them,
however, are exceedingly wasteful. Most writers direct us to ^i/r/i
them, so that they may be i)ounded easily.* To burn bones diat
are intended for food is a good deal Hke bunding corn and feeding
the ashes. t We i)refer fresh bones, which are fed either cooked or
raw. To cook them we fill a good-sized pot with water, put in the
bones with as much flesh on as possible, and let the whole simmer
gently, just as if making soup. When thoroughly cooked the bones
are taken out, and the " soup" is made into "mush" with Indian
meal. Such mush is very nutritious. The flesh is now cut from

* Since bones are composed chiefly of pliospliate of lime, witli a very little car-
bonate, tliey are not rendered caustic by beino; burned, and consequently tlie
objection which holds in the case of burned oyster sliells does not apply to them.
Tlie process of burning is simply a wasteful one.

t Parched or charred corn is. however, a very difterent matter. One of tlie
best tonics for fowls, especially if they show a slight tendency either to consti-
pation or diarrhoea, is charred corn. We have a larire kettle,'which we bought
for old iron because it was cracked, in which we occasionally parcli corn for our
chickens. The kettle was roughly "set" in brickwork by our man, and the
chimney is simi)ly two lengtlis of old stove pipe, the whole being out of doors.
A wooden cover keeps rain and snow out of the pot. A tire of bnish soon heals
the kettle so that it will char corn. Haifa bushel is then poured in and con-
stantly stirred until it is quite dark- partially burned, in fact. The chickens eat
It greedily, and we feel certain that if does them good. Of course we feed but
small quantities of it. Occasionally, however, we find chickens that will not
touch it. In that case moisten it arid roll it in " feed."

124 COMMON SENSE

the bones, and the latter are passed througli a Wilson mill.
This grinds them up into a coarse powder, whicli may be either fed
directly or mixed with the cooked food. As a general rule, the
quantity of fine powder is not very great, and as the moist bones
are difficult to sift we let the chickens do the sorting. They are
greedy for bones or any animal matter, so we throw the ground
1 bones into shallow boxes or trouglis, and after they have eaten all
tliey can pick up we dump the rest into the kettle of cooked food
and stir the mass thoroughly.

There are several establishments that grind bones and offer the
" bone meal " or "ground bone " for sale. Most of this stuff is in-
tended for manure, and is fit for nothing else. It is made from
bones of all kinds — most of them so putrid that they "smell to
heaven." Such material is, of course, totally unfit for food for ani-
mals. Some manufacturers, however, profess to prepare bone meal
expressly for food for cows and poultry. The bones are fresh, they
are ground at once, and the meal is thoroughly dried, so that any
adhering flesh is prev^ented from putrifying. Some samples that we
tried were quite sweet, and the fowls relished them and throve on
on them. Other specimens seemed to make the birds sick very
quickly, causing diarrhoea, drooping, and general ill health. We
found, however, that a thorough boiling for at least an hour ren-
dered them quite wholesome, probably by destroying the i)utrefying
agents. But in all cases it is best to get sweet fresh bone meal, and
the best test for these qualities is to fill a saucer with the stuff,
moisten it thoroughly, and see if it remains sweet after the lapse of
two or three hours. Fresh meat will hardly putrify, even in a warm
room, during an hour, but if it has been tainted already, and then
dried so that it gives off no smell, and merely appears fresh, this
test will generally bring out its evil qualities. Of course it should
be kept in a moderately warm room; if exposed to a temi)erature
below the freezing point it will not develop its evil features. The
only simple and handy test that we know of is a good nose. A
good nose is a most invaluable ]:»iece of chemical apparatus, and
those who spoil it with snuff, tobacco, etc., do not realize what they
lose.

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 1 25

There is also found in market a very clean, fresh ground bone
which is made from die bones after they have served the bone
boiler, who subjects tliem to boiUng under great pressure, and thus
extracts every particle of fat and soluble matter. Such bones fur-
nish i3hosphate and carbonate of lime, and not much else. Where
ground bone of this kind is used the birds shoukl have a good deal
of flesli during the winter months, when they cannot get insects
and worms.

Passing from the outside towards the centre of the egg we next
come to the white, which is a well-known glairy liquid, consisting
chiefly of what is called by chemists albumen, which is merely the
Latin for whikiiess. To produce the white of one egg per day the
hen must be fed with material which can be converted into that
substance, and this must be furnished in a somewhat concentrated
form. The question then comes up : Where can we find this in
the cheapest and most available form ? On referring to any good
work on organic chemistry we will find that the different grains,
etc., are valuable from this point of view in the following order:*

Decorticated Cotton Cake 41

Linseed Cake 28

Beans 26

Undecorticated Cotton Cake 25

Malt Dust 23

Peas 22

Wheat Bran - . 14

Oats 13

Clover Hay 12

Wheat I r

Barley 11

Indian Corn 10

Brewer's Grains, as ordinarily sold 5

*This table diflfers materially from those gciven in most poultry books, but it
will be found to embody the most recent, and accurate conclusions of science,
and since I followed its indications the results which I have obtained have been
markedly improved.

126 COMMON SENSE

On looking over this table it will be seen that the foods ordin-
arily given to hens are not exactly- those best calculated to produce
eggs. Even wheat, which is usually thought to be one of the very-
best egg-producing foods, is lower in the scale tlian clover, and costs-
much more. The oals named in the table are the heavy English
oats. Whether an average American sample would give as good
results we cannot say. Oats have never been a favorite food with
us, except for very young chickens, though in Great Britain they
are very highly esteemed for this purpose. Cotton cake, when it
can be had, is most excellent, and either cotton or linseed can be
had in most places. In my locality cotton-seedcake is not known
in market, but linseed cake, reduced to meal, is common. Of
course these " cakes," from which the oil has been expressed, are
comparatively poor in heat producing elements, when compared
with corn, wheat, or barley. The true way, of course, is to mix
them, as we shall describe when detailing our practice.

Last of all, we come to the yolk or yelk. 'J'his is a rich, oily
emulsion, containing a liberal supply of phos[)hates. It also con-
tains sulphur in a state in which it is easily set free, as is seen
by the action of eggs on silver.

As is easily seen the egg contains within itself all the materiid
necessary for the building up of a . perfect bird ; bones, flesh,
feathers, claws, and every i)art of the complete animal is found in
an undeveloped condition in the egg.

Such being tlie theoretical requirements, it was evident that if
there was any truth in the principles acce})ted by chemists, I must
provide these materials abundantly, and of course, in the cheapest
manner consistent with the health and vigor, of the fowls.

For the great staple food^-that which to fowls is the staff of
life— the various kinds of grain are ordinarily the most convenient,
and, perhaps, when we take into consideration the peculiar digestive
apparatus of tlie fowl, such forms of food are indispensable.
Amongst the purchased food, therefore, grain of some kind must
always form a large i)art, and I was, unfortunately, so situated that
I could not always take advantage of those opportunities which in
other localities present themselves for getting damaged grain,

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 127

sweepings, etc., at a low rate. What is known as "refuse" grain
or screenings, I found to be the poorest purchase that could be
made. But in some localities, especially near great grain transport-
ing centres, slightly damaged grain can be had at quite a cheap
rate, and, if it lias not lain too long, and is properly cared for when
received, it is quite an economical article. It matters very little
what the kind of grain is; every kind of grain contains enough fat,
heat and force producing elements to keep the fowls in good
health, and the necessary materials for eggs I could readily find in
much cheaper and quite as good a form.

And by grain I mean whole grain — not ground. Meal, flour
and grain that has been reduced almost to a pulp by steeping and
fermentation, will not answer as a steady diet for fowls. 'J'his, I
soon found out for myself, by experience, but others have dis-
covered the same thing long ago. Ask any one who is in the
habit of fattening poultry, and he will tell you that nothing adds
to the weight of fowls like cooked meal, but that if confined to this
diet for more than two or three weeks, the animals begin to lose
flesh as rapidly as they took it on, and finally they fall sick.
When fowls are taken from a wide range and penned up for fatten-
ing, the first effect is to make the birds lose flesh. The cause of
this is evidently the excitement and worry produced by the un-
usual confinement. As soon as this wears off, and the birds be-
come reconciled to the new^ condition of things, they begin to take
on fat rapidly. And here lies one great difference in value, in dif-
ferent individuals and breeds, as regards fattening. Some become
speedily quieted down and quietly take to their food and rest.
They^doze away their time and grow fat. After a while, however,
their digestion becomes impaired. The soft food causes no action
of the gizzard, its secretions fail, and the bird begins to lose flesh.
It should then be killed at once. For ourselves, however, we have
an intense dislike to coop-fattened poultry. No bird that has been
])enned up for weeks and fed on soft food can equal in flavor the
flesh of (one whose juices have been freshened by hillside breezes^ 'rt^-/
and the fresh seeds, grasses and insects of the roadside and copse.

128 COMMON SENSE

And we have never found any difficulty in getting our birds fat
enough for our own taste and that of our friends.

In estimating tlie actual value of different kinds of grain for feed-
ing purposes, we must remember that it is weight only that tells.
One lumdred pounds of one kind of grain may measure greatly
more than one hundred j^ounds of another kind, and yet be greatly
inferior to it in feeding value. Thus, as an egg i)roducer, loo lbs.
of oats would be better than loo lbs. of corn in the proportion of
!3 to ID, but a bushel of corn would be more valuable than a
bushel of oats, because it would weigh nearly twice as much, thus
more than making up for the \^\g^\ peixentage of egg-forming ingre-
dients contained in the oats. Indeed, 1 found that, taken as a
whole, corn was usually the cheapest grain in market, and in buy-
ing, therefore, I confined myself chiefly to corn. I found that when
it was supi)lemented with other matters which were not expensive
it was probably the best. But corn alone did not answer well.
The hens got fat and ceased laying. What I wanted, therefore,
was phosphates and albuminoids; and the best and cheapest source
of these, when they had to be i)urchased, was flesh and bones, and
clover. I therefore made an arrangement with one or two butchers
for a supply of bones and refuse meat, and continued to let the
fowls have some of it for " dessert " at least every other day. The
small bones were simply cleaned of their flesh with a knife, so far
as it could be done without too much trouble, and then chopped
with a cleaver into pieces that would go in the mill. The Wilson
mill ground them rapidly and thoroughly, and when offered to the
fowls it was fun to see them rush for the feast. The meat from the
bones, and also other pieces of waste flesh, were passed through a
chopping mill, which cut them into small pieces, so that a fowl
could not drag off a large lot at once and run all round the coop
chased by its companions — each one trying to steal a piece from
another. This happens only when the pieces are too large to be
immediately swallowed. Nothing of the kind hai)pened with meat
cut by means of our chopper. The fowls swallowed it readily, each
one got its just share, and all were happy.

Perhaps the cheapest form of flesh that I was able to obtain was

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 1 29

young calves. In my district the farmers carried on dairying to a
considerable extent, and as milk was too valuable they did not care
to raise any calves, except promising young heifers. And as it was
a ciiminal oftense to sell very young calves, they were compelled
either to keep them until they were some weeks old or knock them
on the head and bury them in tlie manure heap. When it became
known that I would give from fifty cents to a dollar apiece for
them, at any age, I had as many as I could use, and this at a time
too when they were needed — that is, just as my spring chickens
were coming forward. The bones of these young calves are easily
cut up — indeed, our meat chopper sufficed for much of them — and
an ordinary calf made two very nice desserts for 500 birds.

But in addidon to these articles fowls need green food. My lay-
ing flocks, which were allowed to wander over a large range, did
not suffer for want of this in summer, but during winter I found
it necessary to give them a regular and abundant sup[)ly, and at
first I fixed upon the cabbage as the best vegetable for my purpose.
At first I did not succeed very well in growing cabbage, the land
not being rich enough, and the former owner not having paid suf-
ficient attention to the saving of manure. Mrs. B. was so neat and
orderly that the sight of a lawn coated with manure in the spring
would have thrown her into hysterics, or some other womanly non-
sense, and she would gladly have allowed all the manure to be
given away, merely to get rid of the sight and smell of it. As may
be readily supposed, therefore, the arrangements for saving manure
were none of the best. My views, however, were very different.
Brought up in a country where the motto was " No manure, no
crops," I looked upon the manure pile as one of the most import-
ant things about the })lace, nnd to me a grass field covered with a
rich coating of manure was by no menus an unsightly ol)ject, be-
cause the intellectual beauty of the "eternal fitness of things" was
more agreeal)le than the sight of a plot of ground thinly occupied
with starved i)lants. One of my earliest "jobs," therefore, was to
construct a good manure bed. This I began by staking off a j)iece
of ground thirty feet by forty. The soil from this plot was removed,
so that I had a pit four feet deep along one of the 40 foot sides, and

130 COiMMON SENSE

sloping up to tne surface on tlie opposite side. Along the 30 foot
sides the ground was cut nearly perpendicularly — the angle being
only sufficient to keep tlie banks from caving in. The Avhole bot-
tom was then puddled, and rammed liard and smooth with a ram-
mer. The manure was thrown into this as fast as taken from tlie
stable and cow house, and to it was added all such things as old
nests, leaves, etc., etc.; in sliort, every kind of material tliat is valu-
able in making manure. It was astonishing what a pile we had ac-
cumulated by s[)ring. The pit was not only full, but heaped up
above the general level, and all except a few inches on the top was
thorouglily rotten and fit for the land. It may easily be imagined
that witli so much purchased food of the richest kind coming on
to the place the land was soon fit to grow anything, and after a
year or two my vegetable crops were entirely satisfactory. But for
the first two or three years I was compelled to buy my cabbage.
Now, cabbages in that part brought a very high price though they
could be grown very easily, and even at very moderate figures were
about as good a paying crop as could be found. It was here, as
everywhere else, however — it cost a good deal to sell them. I saw
this point, and thought that perhaps I could make some of my
neighbors see the point too. So I approached one of them, an in-
telligent young farmer and asked him what he would undertake to
let me have 3,000 late cabbages for next season. He at once
named eight cents, which was about the figure t'ley had brought in
the market near us last season, when cabbages were pretty dear.
I at once pointed this out to him, and suggested that as he ran no
risk of losing the sale, and would lose no time in peddling them
out, but would simply have to grow them and allow me to cart
them away he ought to be able to sell them much cheaper. But
he could not see it; cabbages w^ere worth so much in market, had
been sold for that, and he did not see why he should not get the
market price. As for my taking them away, that did not matter
much to him. There would be but a few loads anyway, and his
teams might as well haul cabbages as stand idle. Of course such
a price placed them beyond my reach, and I at once turned my
attention to something else. But as the previous year had been an

IN THE POULTRY YARD. I3I

exceptionally good year for selling cabbages, and the price was very
high, everybody planted a patch this year, and several of my neigh-
bors planted quite extensively. The result was that the market was
overstocked, and I bought my neighbor's cabbages atid had him
deliver them for less than I had offered him in the spring, $35 per
1,000. When he drew the last load and got his i)ay for them, he
remarked that he was done with cabbage growing; would never
grow another one except for his own use. I then asked him what
he would grow me the same quantity for next year, I to take them
away as wanted } He said he would think the matter over and let
me know. In a few days he came to me and offered to grow 3,000
heads for the same price that I had offered him the year before —
$42 per 1,000. I closed with him on the understanding that all
the heads were to be good saleable heads, any poor ones to count
at the rate of two for one. This gave me a head of cabbage for
every bird I raised that year, and I found it none too much. But
this is anticipating.

Meantime I had determined that if I could not grow cabbages
I would grow something else, and I fixed upon clover. Experience
had shown me that this plant formed one of the very best foods for
fowls, and as it could be made to produce a very heavy crop per
acre I believed it to be one of the most profitable. Thirty -five
bushels of corn, which, at 58 lbs. to the bushel, would give 2,000
lbs., may be considered a fair yield for an acre. I have raised four
times this amount of dry clover from an acre, and the percentage
of egg forming elements in the clover is greater than that of those
in the corn.

I therefore resolved to raise clover as an tgg producing food and
as green food. There were some other i)lants that suggested
themselves, but as clover and I were old friends, and as I saw
several vigorous plants growing on the place, I felt sure that I
could grow clover, and I did not care to try any ''' side " ex-
l)eriments at this stage of my venture. I had neither the time, the
money, nor the inclination.

, The reader may, perhaps, have noticed that in speaking of my
manure pile, I said nothing of the hen manure — by far the most

1^2 COMMON SENSE

important article on the plac-^. In order to fully explain my plans
and the reasons for tliis admission it will be necessary to digress a
litde

It is a well known fiict, tliat many of the })arasites and diseases
whicli afflict man and the lower animals, are propagated and dis-
seminated chiefly, if not wholly, through their excrements, and in
many cases the i)arasite adheres to the vegetable which forms the
food of the aninicil, and is swallowed with it. A curious instance
of this is the fluke, which is so fatal to sheep that are fed on marshy
ground. The fluke is a parasite whose history we niay trace from
the time when it makes its home in the snail; the snail crawls out
on the damp grass and is swallowed by the slieep. In the body
of the sheep, the parasite matures, forms its eggs and discharges
them — a single fluke originating as mnny as 40,000 eggs. These
eggs are carried by winds, rains, the hoofs of animals and other
means into ponds, ditches, etc., where each one develops into
a free-swimming embryo, that, after some changes, passes into
the body of a snail, there to pass through further changes, and
again take up its journey through the circuit of its existence.
From this it is obvious that a single "rotten" sheep — tliat is, one
afflicted witli flukes — is callable of infecting an entire field, and of
carrying disease and death into a large flock. The same is ti'ue of
a diseased chicken. In the chicken the "gapes" ai-e known to be
caused by a parasite. The eggs of this ]-)arasite, jiassing through
the cliicken fall on the ground and are picked up by other
chickens when they are taking their food or swallowing gravel.
The same is the case in regard to true chicken cholera. This dis-
ease is caused by minute organisms whicli infect the intestinal
canal of the chicken, and which are voided in millions in the excre-
ments of birds so afflicted. It is easily seen that any other
chickens feeding on such soiled ground, or eating the green plants
grown thereon, will become infected in the sau^e way. And, yet,
one writer actually tells us that chickens should be made to
scratch over their own excrements and pick out the gravel con-
tained therein, so as to save the trouble and expense of providing
fresh gravel ! !

IN THE POULTRY YARD. I33

In all my chicken raising, disease has been my great dread, and
perhaps it has been on account of my dread of it, that I have suc-
ceeded so well in avoidmg it. With me the " ounce of preven-
tion " lias been always greatly preferred to the "pound of cure." I
believe that, for man, it is exceedingly dangerous to eat raw vege-
tables that have been raised on ground manured with night soil, or
sewage, or even the excrements of pigs, and it is my belief that
many obscure cases of disease in our large cities arise in this way.
And if possible, I would never allow any animal to feed directly off
ground that had been manured with the excrements of others of
of its kind.

Especially is this true of chickens. The proper crops to grow
on ground that has been manured with niglit soil or sewage are
the cereals — wheat, barley, oats, rye, etc. Lettuce, cabbage, tur-
nips, etc., should never be grown on such ground.

The reader will now appreciate my reason for keeping all the
chicken manure by itself. To utilize it I determined to grow corn,
while my stable manure I applied to the clover crop. It was evi-
dent that while these minute but destructive parasites might readily
adhere to the moist and succulent clover, or even to the foilage of
corn grown for soiling purposes, they could hardly reach the ker-
nels of the corn. The washing rains of spring, the scorching
suns of summer nnd the drying winds of autumn, would give them
but a slight chance compared to that which they would have on
the moist clover, always moist from its proximity to the ground.

And, here came in one great advantage of the portable fence.
I could })low up a corn patch of any size and allow the chickens
to revel amongst worms and grubs to their heart's content. Then
it could be fenced in, planted to corn and cultivated until the corn
was high enougli to admit broods of small chickens which were
easily colonized in it. As soon as the corn was harvested, the
fence was removed, and the hens allowed to pick up all that was
left and rummage the whole patch for bugs and worms.

There is no manure, that I know of, that will ])roduce a better
crop of corn than will hen manure. We always had plenty of it,
and we tried to put in as nmch corn as possible, for in addition to

134 COMMON SENSE

the grain for our fowls, we had the stalks for the cow, and the cobs
for kuidling — a most useful article in our position, and there is no
better kindling than dry corn cobs.

My experience with the :)rtificial foods, or so-called "egg-foods,"
has been so limited tlint I have little information concerning them
to give the reader. At one time I tried 25 lbs. of an egg food
that is extensively advertised and highly recommended, but the re-
sults did not warrant me in repeating the experiment. It must be
borne in mmd, liowever, tliat it is exceedingly difficult to deter-
mine questions of this kind. The individual characteristics of the
members of any flock may have quite as much to do with egg pro-
duction as has the food given to them, and there are so many other
conditions which it is exceedingly difficult at all times to observe
or to control, that the results must always be somewhat uncertain.
The experiment in my hands was not carried out with that atten-
tion to details that would preclude all error. The way I did it Avas
this: I selected two cooi)S and yards of exactly the same size and
similar location. I then chose fourteen hens as nearly alike in
age, size, breed and general appearance as possible. This flock
was then divided into two lots of seven each, the best hens being
drafted alternately for each coop, just as boys used to be drafted
under their several captains for some contest. The best went into
coop A; second best to coop B; third best to A; fourth best to
B, and so on until all were drafted. These two lots were then fed
and treated in all respects as nearly alike as possible, except that
one lot was fed with egg food, and the other had what was sup-
posed to be an equivalent in wheat bran. The experiment was con-
tinued until 25 lbs., of the food had been used. At first the fowls
that had the egg food produced considerably more eggs than the
others, but after a time they fell behind, and at the end of the ex-
periment the two flocks were very nearly even.

The conclusion that I reached was that " egg-food " consists chiefly
of stimulants, and that the use of these, beyond a very limited extent
at the beginning of the season, is an injury rather than a benefit to
the hens. The high price of most of the "foods" in market
precludes their use ^.s/ood, while for a stimulant we have never

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 135

found aiiytiiiiig l)etter than a little red pepper. Even this, however,
we used sparingly with our laying flock, and still more so with our
breeders ; warmth, both in the way of food and housing, together
with good nourishing food, are the best stimulants, and if the breed
of fowls is right, they will, under such conditions, satisfy any reason-
able person.

The water used on the place w;is of the very best quality — clenr,
cold, spring water, with just enough mineral matter in it to remove
the bad effects of rain or snow. It came, of course, from the
spring which I have already described, and as a general rule the
fowls got nothing but this water to drink, but when confined in
very small cooi)S an(i yards I used the famous Douglas mixture
with great satisfaction. This consists of

Sulphate of hon i lb.

Sulphuric acid 2 oz.

Water 4 gallons.

The sulphate of iron was dissolved in the water, the sulphuric acid
added, and the liquid put up in quart bottles kept tightly corked.*
A teaspoonful of this mixture to a pint of good water seemed to
have a most excellent effect.

I found, however, that by lessening the sulphuric acid to one
ounce, and adding two pounds of soluble phosphate of lime, I got
a mixture that was far superior. The phosphates that I used were
those sold by the Rumford Chemical Works, of Providence, R. I.,
and being intended for consumption by human beings, were no
doubt more expensive than was necessary, I presume, however,
that if a demand should arise for this compound, the firm named
could furnish it at a price which would render its use profitable.

One of our great difliculties in feeding was the distribution of the

* Sulphate of iron, when exposed to the air. isajit to al)Sorb oxvy:<'n and prob-
ably ammonia. The iron, whicli is the really valiiabh^ i)art. then becomes in-
sohible, and is not taken up by the fowls, but'adlieres to the sides of (he vessel.
Hence, the reason for keepinjr it in small i)ackay:es securely corked. Tlu' use
of the sulphuric acid is simply to kee]) the iron in solution.* If the iron rust be
mixed with scalded bran, meal, potatoes, etc., it will be eaten and will do the
birds good. Too much ot it is injurious, but a teaspoonful of red iron rust iu
the food of six large or ten small fowls once or twice a week is very good.

136 COMMON SENSE

food ; some hens would get more tlian their share, others would get
less. I was astonished to see the difference between fowls in this
res[)ect. Take any two dozen fowls, throw down a pint of corn,
and after it has disappeared examine the croi)s of the birds and you
will find that half of it has been picked up by half a dozen fowls —
the remaining half being divided amongst the other eighteen. Still
'worse is this in cases where the birds are called off the perch by
throwing down food. Some wide awake, early risers will get all
they can eat, while others will remain on the perch and get nothing,
or they will come down in such sleepy fashion that breakfast is over
before they are ready.

After a good deal of observation I found that the more widely the
food was scattered the better was the chanc e of eacli individual
bird. I therefore arranged it so that \\ hen grain was fed-it was
sown broadcast over a consi(lcrai)le spac", and when the food was
soft it was [)laced in a great many small dishes or troughs, so that
weak birds were never in danger of being crowded away by the
stronger ones.

It is very evident that if there were no objection to giving every
bird ^// that it would eat, the matter could be arranged very sim-
ply. All that we would have to do would be to keep food con-
stantly accessible to the fowls in well-i)rotected feed boxes and the
work would be done. And this, indeed, is the method adopted by
many. One book on jioultry, now before me, has page after page
devoted to the description of self-acting feeding hoppers, and dozens
of amateurs that we have met have pointed with i)ride to feed boxes
of marvellous ingenuity and utter worthlessness — " made with thei;
own liands," and supposed to be a convincing proof of their titl^
to the honor of being considered skilful poultry keepers. Observ
ant poultrymen have long since found out that hens may be alto-
gether too fat to lay; that they must be kept on such a scale of
diet as will maintain them in constant activity — always ready for
more, like Oliver Twist. In fact, one of the secrets of successful
poultry keeping consists in striking this golden mean between ex-
cessive fatness and starvation. A very excellent system, one which
has been in vogue for many years, though frequently described by

IN THE POULTRY YARD. I37

recent writers, and of.en claimed as original by them, is to mix the
grain with cut straw, leaves, or other light rubbish, and make the
hens "scrntch for their living." It is a most excellent plan, but
requires special arrangements to make it succeed in practice. All
such scratching grounds must be [):'otected fiom rain, snow, etc.,
and must be separate from the dusting b^itlis. My feeding grounds
were simply sheds, cheaply conslrucled of stout poles and thatched
with eveigieen bougiis, obtained in thinning the belt of evergreens
which protected our northein boundar}'. If i)iopfrl\' laid, such a
roof is almost perfectly rain-])roof, and the birds can always find
plenty of room. In summer, therefore, we relied ui)on these feed-
ing places, of which there was one to every 100 hens. In locating
them we chose the most barren and driest places we could find,
made them a good size, and liberally strewed them with chaff, pine
shatters, leaves, etc. The food strewed on these places was gener-
ally cracked corn or whole wheat; anything of a smaller or darker
grain was a[)t to be lost, while whole corn was too easily found,
and at any rate 1 did not feed much whole corn, except on
winter evenings and very cold days.

The feeding sheds were i)laced so as to face south-south-east,
so that they always caught the early morning rays, and by
afternoon they were partly in shade. The early rising hens
always made for these places the very first thing, as ^oon as they
had ti^eir liberty, Init we found that this would not do; these early
riseis would clean the whole food out before the others got a
chance. All the hens, therefore, were kept in their own yards,
until the entire flock had come off the roosts, and to expedite this,
a little grain was scattered on the giound and the birds called to
it. As soon as all were down the gates were opened, and those
that uanted further feed scampered off to the .sheds. They
lay about these sheds and scratched, went to the dust-baths, rum-
maged the leaves tor insects and wandered about freely until evening,
when they were again fed all the grain they wouki eat. This was
our usual sunnner routine, and it was very larely that they did not
return to their proper houses to lay. In addition to the nests in
the houses, we had special boxes scattered over the grounds for

138 COMMON SENSE

their convenience, but we did not get many eggs in them. Ninety
per cent, of the eggs were laid in the houses.

In winter the programme was, of course, considerably varied.
Wlien the snow was deep many of the sheds were inaccessible, but
when the ground was clear they were all frequented during the
day. Instead of sending the hens off hungry to their feeding
grounds, however, I gave them soft feed, well cooked, and consist-
ing of corn mea], bran, ground oats and rye, flesh, bone dust,
finely powdered oyster shells, etc. Of course the proportion of the
latter ingredients Avas small. A little salt, and sometimes a httle
red pepper were also mixed with the food. This was made into a
very stiff paste, being, in fact, worked like baker's dough, and was
then placed in troughs, which were made in very simple fashion

Fig. 11.

by nailing two narrow boards together along the edges, and closing
the ends by means of two square i)ieces, as shown in the engraving.
Fig. II. In order to prevent the birds from getting their feet into
these troughs and defihng the food, I nailed a strip across the top as
shown in the figure. It answered the purpose admirably. All our
birds, without exception, would rush for these troughs, so that even
the slowest feeders got their share. They then went to scratching m
the feeding sheds of their yards, and in tliis way got plenty of exercise.
When the snow was on the ground, and no green food was to be
had, we hung cabbages all around the sheds and let them ])eck
away at them. We also mixed some very finely cut dried clover
with their feed. By passing it through a feed cutter and also
through a mill, we got it down almost to a powder.

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 139

£a[i Brooba.

N many departments of agriculture, it is a good rule to
find out what others are doing, and then do the oppo-
site. If everybody is planting potatoes, then plant no
more than you need for your own use; if nobody is setting out
cabbages, set out all you can. Now the grent bulk of the chicke:is
that are raised in this couiUiy are hatched in JNIay and early
June; too late to bring the highest pric^e for spring chickens, and
yet so early that by next season they will have eaten more than
they are worth.

While sitting in the shade of our ])oich one afternoon, I re-
called an experience which I had had a few years previously.
We, at that time, occupied a beautiful place of about 3^ acres,
and kept a number of hens. Of course we did as others did,
and every spring we rased enough chickens to supply oui- table
during fall and winter, and to finiiish pullets for next year. . One
day, late in September, one of our hens came into the barn yard
leading fifteen beautiful chicks. She had stolen her nest and
hatched this brood, and as she led them up to where we stood
she seemed to say, as plainly as if she had spoken in good English,
"Is not that something to be proud of?" Well,! thought it
was. So I (ad the little flock, give them a nice warm berth in the
stable, and made every provision to bring them U[). Several
friends who called to see us, and who professed to be well -versed
in chicken lore, advised me to kill tliem at once. They never
could amount to anything, they said; the cold weather would
come before they were fledged, they would probably die, and it
they should survive, they would only be scrubs; therefore better kill
them now and be done with it.

KiUing animals in cold blood, merely for the sake of getting
rid of them, is not my forte. I have killed a good many animals

140 COMMON SENSE

in my time, but to deliberately kill a nice little flock of chickens,
and throw them in the manure heap was a kind of killing rather dif-
ferent from anything, I had ever done before. So I let them live;
their food, poor little things, did not amount to much, and for the
present, at least, they seemed supremely happy. They grew
ai)ace; \vhen the cold r/eather came, the mother abandoned them,
but we stretched an old blanket on a frame which supported it
about three inches from the floor, and they crept under this and
ke])t warm. We gave them specially rich food and all the tid-bits
from the table, but the older chickens robbed them, so I made
a coop with a hole through which they could easily pass, while the
older ones could not, and we placed the food under that and
they could eat whenever they wanted to. We lost five by various
accidents, but when I went to the stable on Christmas morning to
give my animals a Christmas greeting and a Christmas breakfast,
there were ten as fine young birds as I ever saw — four cockerels
and six pullets. They throve well in spite of the cold weather,
and in March the pullets began to lay, and kept on laying when
eggs began to grow scarce and other birds ceased. The cockerels
were plump and delicate — far different from the previous spring
birds, which had now become somewhat rank and tough. At this
time common poultry was selling for 20 cents per lb. — 30 per cent,
higher than it had brought in the fall^but for these birds we
could have got more. And so I concluded that the best paying
brood on the place — that which had given least trouble and had
brought most profit — was the brood that came from the stolen nest.

Now, I had noticed that several hens in the different houses
wanted to sit, so I decided to hatch out three or four hundred
young- chickens this fall and see whether or not the operation
would be a profitable one.

1 therefore filled out my former hatching room with hatching
boxes, similiar to those i)reviously described, and gradually filled
them up witli hens. I managed to place in it twelve boxes, hold-
ing forty eight hens. In expectation of the young broods, I had
a lot more of the brooding coops made so that I could care for the
chicks under anv circustances.

IN THE POULTRY YARD. I4I

As I liad taken great pains with my breeding pens, and the
weather had been quite favorable, the hatclies were, what I cnlied,
very good. They averaged nearly ten to each hen, giving me 473
chicks. These I divided amongst thirty seven hens, giving an
average of thirteen chicks to each.

Our system of carir.g fjr the chicks was as follows: The date of
setting and the date when due being clearly marked on a card
tacked to each nest, there was no room for mistakes. When a
hen was due she was not removed from tiie nest for food, but was
allowed to sit until she came off of her own accord. I allow^ed
very little meddling — tiie only thing that was permitted being the
removal of the empty shells. Young chickens need no attention
for twenty-four hours after they leave the shell, and if left forty-
eight hours they will not suffer. This is no doubt a wise [)rovis-
ion of nature, whereby the birds that do not come out as soon as
the others are not left to be chilled. When the hen led the young
brood off, they weve fed with cracked corn,* from which all meal
and dust had been carefully sifted. An hour or so after this they
had all the chopi)ed meat they could eat with plenty of clear
water. At diis time we unforiunatcly had no milk, and could not
get any conveniently. 'I'his v.-as a mistake, as I soon found, and
ever afteiwards I contrived to have plenty of milk on hand when
I expected to hatch out many broods. But on water, corn,
meat and bones they thro.e very well. When set on the grass,
they could pick plenty of green stuff, and by the time the
weather got too cold, they were able to peck at a cabbage with
gootl effect.

A favorite morning food was made byscaldin >; horse feed, allow-
ing it to stand until sUff, and working it into stiff dough with more
dry feed. This they ate greedily, and throve w^ell on it. T found
that by keeping the hens from wandering about and leading the
chickens with them, the latter got along much better. Meat

♦ Most writers advise nofl food for the first meal. I liave foiuid tliat we have
better success wlien we use a hard food. Tlie yonnir cliickens naturally do not
find soft food; they need soniethinir hard and solid to excite the ixizzard to
action, and after that ;;ive them the richest and most nutritious food possible.

142 COMMON SENSE

scraps well chopped up seemed to be quite as good as insects.
We also gave them liberally of fresh ground bones, which we pre-
pared ourselves in one of the Wilson mills. This was before these
manufacturers had brought out their small mill for grinding fresh
bones; but by cooking the bones thoroughly they were easily
scraped clean and ground up, and the soup was mixed scalding
hot with feed into a stiff dough which was fed to old and young.

Before very cold weather came these chickens were well
feathered and quite large. I found occasional customers, at good
prices, for a pair of cockerels for some invalid, and though this
was an uncertain market, yet I was surprised at the number that
I sold in this way. When spring came I went to a noted res-
taurant in a neighboring city and induced the proprietor to put
up a sign :

" Fall Reared Chickens — Tender and Delicious,"

and in a few weeks they were all gone.

I kept the pullets by themselves until the end of February.
With an unusual degree of forgetful n ess, I had neglected to pre-
pare two yards for them in the fall when the ground was soft, so
there was nothing for it but to keep them in a loft during the very
cold months. I had 187 of them, and they were rather a mixed
lot, as I had taken the eggs just as they came from the breeding
pens without much care in selecting them. But early in March
some of them began to lay, and I saw that it was necessary to get
them into regular houses and yards with proper sheds, etc. I
therefore had two more of our regular houses put up. I had
plenty of fence panels, but I could not drive stakes as the frost
was not yet out of the ground. So I tied the panels together, and
put them up zig-zag fashion, like an old Virginia rail fence. I
found that they stood quite firmly, and answe-ed every purpose for
a temporary expedient. I then divided the pullets into two lots,
and put one in each house, and fed for eggs. During the next
month or so they did not do any better than the other hens, if as
well. But after that time they went on increasing, and when eggs

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 143

began to grow scarce, these two pens supplied us with twice as
many as any other pens contain-'ng tlie same number of birds.

I was tlierefore very well satisfied with my experiment, and
every year since that time I have always raised a large number ol
fall chickens. I now keep them in a large house until the price ot
the old fowls goes up. I then sell the latter, and replace them
with the young pullets.

144 COMMON SENSE

ODnr i^irst tD inter.

N northern climates it is tlie wintering of his stock tliat
tests tlie ability of the stock raiser, and decides his
[)rofits, and this whether it be cattle or poultry. A few
dozen hens can easily be kept in a lean-to shed next the cow
stable or barn, and they may be kept warm and well fed and
j)rove a success. Every slied on tlie premises will be frequented
by the birds, which will thus find plenty of shelter and dry spots
without any necessity for the owner putting up sj^ecial buildings,
but, when the number of fowls is large, these resources fail, and
tlie usual results of crowtling and discomfort make their ap-
pearance. I had had a very uni)leasant experience in regard to
this matter at one time, wlien, after raising two or three hundred
chickens, I attempted to winter them, witliout provieling the
necessary shed room. I had, therefore, been careful to attach
large commodious slieds to all my houses, and to make the access
to these sheds so convenient that the fowls would have no snow
and sleet to pass over in order to get to the feeding grounds and
dusting baths beneath them. I also allowed the large temporary
shed to remain, as I knew that it would be a great boon to the
young chickens until they were i)ropeily dis[)osed of.

The nights had now began to get chilly, and frosts had come
with the October days. Our kftest broods were too delicate to
stand the chill autumn night air, though on bright days they en-
joyed basking in the sun. We still kept many of them in the wire-
covered bro<Kling coops, but to the older ones we had given the
liberty of the [)lace. I provided very warm comfortable i)laces for
them to nest at night, although most of these were rather of a
make-shift character. My standard coop for this pur|)ose, how-
ever, one that I could obtain easily in any quantity, consisted simply
of one of the cheap barrels used for packing apples, etc. This was

IN THE POULTRY YARD. I45

laid on its side and steadied with stones or blocks on each side,
and the open end was covered to within four inches of the ground
with a curtain made of the malting that comes round tea-chests.
This matting can be had for almost nothing at the tea stores, and
three thicknesses of it make a screen that is im[)er\ious to wind, rain
and snow. These ban el coops were i)laced in different spots about
the grounds, but always where the shelter was good. On wee and
cold days the little flocks used to stay in them a large part of the time.
Food and water were placed near them, and with the number that
I now had, it was not very difficult to attend to tliem. On briglit
sunny days it was no trouble at all. On rainy days it was rather
an uncomfortable job. I had heavy rubber boots and a rubber
coat, and I i)rovi(led similar garments for Margaret, so that she
could always keep dry, and we managed to get along, but I saw
that if my experiment of fall broods ]:)roved a success, I would have
to erect a cheap board house with green-house sasli in the roof,
and attend to the chickens in that. One writer ridicules the idea
of protection being required for the attendant, but he seems to
forget that human beings are not made of cast iron, and that even
chickens suffer from wet and cold.

The early hatched chickens were now full grown, and the
cockerels gave us unmistakable hints that it was time to separate
them from the pullets. So I had some moie i)orlable fencing
made, enclosed the large shed, and kept them in that. They were
well (ed on rather flittening food, so as to prepare them rapidly for
market, and we got rid of them as soon as possible by methods
which the reader will find detailed in tlie chapter on warketing.
To the pullets we allowed the range of the i)lace, but we found
that although the nights began to grow cold, and even after snow
came, they would persist in roosting in trees and on fences, and it
was almost impossible to get them into the houses. Night after
night we carried them into a house and placed them on the roost,
but next night they would be found in their own place the same as
ever. The worst of it was that they were excellent fliers, so that
non(; of our fences would keep them in.

I got over this difficulty by catching them one by one, shaving

146 COMMON SENSE

off the featliery part from tlie quills of one wing, and placing them
in the old house where there was most room. We had to lock up
the entire flock for ten days, but at the end of that time when we
let them out we had no trouble.

I was anxious to leave the poultry at liberty as long as possible,
so though November brought wet and dreary days and a few
flurries of snow, yet the chickens did very well. Many of them
moulted and consequently stopped laying, but I was surprised at
the number of eggs that we got every day. The number of hens
on the place was a litde less than 600, and of these two-thirds
must have been laying for many days; we got twenty and twenty-
five dozen eggs. At this time it was our practice to shut the hens
in every night, and keep them in until late in the morning. As
soon as they were let out, they had a warm feed of dough made
by scalding a mixture of corn meal and oil-cake, and adding a
litde of the siftings of ground oyster shells, and a litde red pepper.
At noon they had wheat, as much as they could eat. At night a
good feed of whole corn. On fine days they had free access to
the patch of clover and grass, and on wet days they had cab-
bages, as much as they could eat. Twice a week they had all
the meat and ground bones they would eat after their dinner of
wheat.

Under this regimen they throve well, and became very bright
and vigorous. The egg crop increased to thirty dozen per day,
and as eggs were bringing a good price (35 cents per dozen) we
much more dian paid expenses. At this time (Nov. 25th) we had
on the place over 1,200 head; some of them, however, quite
small. The feed cost about $4 per day, besides labor, and the
returns were over $10, so that tlie result was on the whole quite
satisfactory. As we were disposing of our cockerels quite rapidly,
the amount of food required was also lessened.

This experience, however, was somewhat exceptional. Under
ordinary conditions the egg crop would have kept growing less and
less until the revival in February and March', and it was evident
that under the stimulus of more liberal feeding than they had been
previously accustomed to, and also the influence of red pepper and

IN THE POULTRY YARD. I47

bones, their latent powers were being developed. How long they
could stand this, however, was a question.

Real- cold weather did not set in until after tlie middle of De-
cember, and then it was ushered in with a rather heavy fall of snow.
This prevented all access to green stuff growing in the fields, and
confined the hens to their houses and sheds. And here the ghiss
roofs came into phiy with striking effect. While all was cold, wet
and dreary outside, these glass covered sheds were dry and warm. I
We made a stout snow plow% and with Madge's aid we opened up
l)aths all round the place, so that Margaret could reach every
house without any trouble.

As there was but little outside work for the man now, we kept
the boiler going all the time, and we ground u[) bones quite liber-
ally. As the biids were somewliat crowded, we picked out a few
that we thought the poorest, and fattened them up, and got rid of
them. We also got rid of the last of the cockerels, except the
very young ones, and in this way we made more room for the
rest. But in spite of all our efforts and extra feed, the egg crop
diminished; the cold sna[) produced a remarkably sudden and
great change in the birds, and our receipts frequently fell from
thirty to less than ten dozen. But, as the number of eggs i)roduced
grew less, the price increased; forty, fifty and nt last sixty cents was
reached.

Thus far our fowls kept in good health, but then, as we well
knew, the worst was to come. It was the cold of February and
March that -I dreaded worst.

In the large houses the hens kept very comfortable. But in the
breeding pens the birds began to suffer with the cold of January.
The snow left us about the 8th of January, and we had some veryi
fine weather about that time. In a few days, however, it grew
cold again, and was much more severe that it had {i'eviously been.
The birds in the breeding ])ens, having no glass sheds, were com-
pelled to go out in the open air whenever they left their coops,
and the combs and wattles of the hens got frozen, so that laying
entirely ceased. And as I was very anxious to get eggs fiom these
coops, so as to be able to raise some very early puHets, that would

148 COMMON SENSE

lay next winter, I confess I was taken quite aback at this new ob-
stacle. Indeed, so serious was the difficulty, that I almost gave
up all hope of success that season.

It was an awkward predicament to be sure. What could be
done ?

I saw at once that all hope of intelHgent crossing and breeding
from these hens was at an end, so far as early chickens this season
were concerned. I, therefore, decided to rearrange some of my
yards, and make up one almost entirely of laying liens, and in
this I put several of my best cocks. I know that this is not an
advisable system, but I could not very well do otherwise. To
have more than one cock in a coop is very unwise. They prevent
each other from paying attention to the hens and this causes many
of the eggs to prove unfertile. But I couUl not very well help it,
and so I had to arrange as best I could.

The neglect to provide for my breeding stock was my first great
blunder, and the one that did more than anything else to retard
my progress. It was a mere oversight; I knew better, but I did
not realize the necessities of the case.

The laying hens, placed in one of the large houses with glass
shed, etc., soon supplied us with eggs for setting, and as we always
had hens ready to set, we soon had our early broods under way.
Of course they would be a mixed lot, but as tliey were all good,
we had considerable hope of fair results.

So far as our sixty breeding hens were concerned, there was
nothing for it but to give u[) one of the warmest houses to them,
and keep them in that. So I picked out the most convenient
house, distributed the hens amongst the other houses, and tiansferred
all my breeders to their new house. They were left there without any
cock until they began to lay again freely, which was not till late in
February. Meantime I put up small glass covered sheds against
the breeding coops, made everything still more snug and warm,
and, in short, made the small coops as much proof against the
weather as the large ones. I then gradually transferred the hens
back to them, and alchough I did not raise my earliest chickens

IN THE POULTRY YARD. I49

from the eggs of my best hens, yet I was able to get Several very
fine broods in April and May.

It is a well known fact that a hen that gets htr comb or wattles
frozen, will cease to lay until tlie sores are healed. I found that
fowls with rose-combs, as they are called, were much less liable to
freezing than tliose with large single combs, and one of my greatest
objections to the Biown Leghorns, is their enormous combs, which
are not only long, but very thick and fleshy. But I found that a
young bird that had been " dubbed," as the cock-figliteis call it,,
stood the frost much Ijetter than even the rose-comb. After the
first winter, theiefore, I "dubbed" all my fowls — that is to say, I
cut the combs and wattles off with a pair of shears. The i)ain can-
not be very great — not nearly so much as the large sores caused
by being frost-bitten, and the 0})eration is easily and quickly i)er-
formed. A single cut removes the entire comb, and the wound is
then dusted with a i)owder made by roasting one })art of sulphate
of iron, and three parts of alum in an old pot. This mixture is.
then reduced to a fine powder, ami kept in a closely corked bot-
tle. A little is put in a small box, and used as wanted. It is an
old and famous styptic (a medicine for stopping bleeding), and was
in great request amongst the warriors of old, who were often com-
pelled to be their own surgeons. Care must be taken that it does
not get into the eyes of the birds, 'or bad results will follow.

While hens frequently stop laying in very cold weather, it was
long ago proved by Reaumur that mere warmth will not induce a
hen to keei) on laying during winter. In laying, as in all similar
physiological processes, a period of rest is needed, and without this
ordinary breeds of hens cannot lay. Knight proved this law, even
in regard to plants, and showed that if we want to force i)lants
successfully, we must first give them a season of rest, and this may
be done by shading, cold and dryness. I have always thought
that a large part of my success in getting eggs the first winter, was
due to the fact that the hens stopped laying after I got them, and
hence had their needed rest at that time.

That cold alone does not prevent hens from laying was clearly
shown this spring. In February and March the weather was

156 COMMON SENSE

colder and TiVor^ severe than during any other time, yet it was
during this period that we got most eggs horn the hens that were
on the place when I got it.

As the season wore on, tlie eggs to began to increase again, but
the price fell until it scarcely paid for the tear and wear of tlie
hens. The price got as low as 16 cents per dozen, so that it took
25 dozen to pay for feed alone.

I When the first days of April came and the snows of March had
disap])eared, we were all impressed with a feeling of great relief.
The birds could again wander over the entire place, and \\\^ prospect
of green food and plenty of insects was encouraging, even if the
reality had not come. Our losses had been but slight, considering
the motley composition of the flock — all ages, sizes and con-
ditions. We lost twenty-six old birds — a little over four per cent. —
and this, I thought, was not a bad showing. They died with
various sym[)toms — all evidently caused by severe weather. In
the matter of chicken diseases, I do not profess to be an expert.
When one of my birds shows signs of ill-health, we place it in
warm quarters, give it pills made of cayenne pe[)per, butter and
bread, and then feed it on soft food and clean water. If it im-
proves (and they generally do) in three or four days, all right. If
not we chop its head off and bury it where the other chickens can-
not, get at it.

The fiirmers, and especially the "suburban" residents, now began
to buy chickens for laying, and paid good prices for them. They
thought in this way, to save the labor and cost of wintering them,
and perhaps they did. But I had no objection to sell those of my
fowls from which I had taken as much good as I was likely to
get, and so I made up a few crates selected from the different
houses, and in this way I reduced my stock very considerably.
The broods of last spring and summer were now laying, and
the fall broods were coming on quite rapidly, so I thought it as
well to dispose of some of the least valuable of my stock.

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 151

Nests nnb Nest €996.

HE nest of every bird is primarily designed for hatching
and rearing its young. The use to which we put the
laying nests is not one designed by nature. This being
the object, the bird likes seclusion, and always plays at " nest-
hiding "when it can get a chance. No one ever found a stolen
nest exposed to the full glare of observation ; it is into dark corners
and out of the way places that nature leads the bird. And yet I
have seen otherwise intelligent men place the nests of their laying
hens so that they were fully exi)osed to view.

During the height of the laying season the nests in the houses
did not give the birds quite room enough, and I never like to see
two birds on one nest, so I had an extra lot of the hatching boxes
made and placed them in the sheds and against fences, but at
such a distance from the latter that the hens could walk in between
the box and the wall and so reach the nest.

To examine these nests, or to collect eggs, it was not necessary
to go in front of the boxes; all we had to do was to let down the
hinged board and everything was within reach. If, on first open-
ing the door, a hen was seen' on the nest, the door was gently
closed again, and she was left to her own meditations.

In making nests for both the laying and sitting hens, we used a
fine kind of grass or hay that is used for packing glassware, and
can be obtained in moderate quantities from almost any crockery
store. Common straw is too coarse ; if chopped short the cut ends
irritate the hen, and if left long her feet get entangled in it, and the
eggs get broken. Pine shavings make a fair nest, and the turi)en-
tine keej)s away lice. But fine grass, dusted with suli)hur, cannot
be excelled.

The nests of both our laying and sitting hens were made directly
on the ground, or, if on a floor, a sod with the grassy side up was

J 52 COMMON SENSE

placed on the bottom. On this was placed a layer of fine grass,
and the whole well dusted with sulphur. As soon as the chicks
come ofif, the nests should be removed, and either burned or buried
deeply in the manure heap. The sod keeps the eggs damp, but
if on a floor it gets too dry, and after a time the eggs should be
sprayed with water when the hen is ofl". Our spraying apparatus
consisted of a pan of water and a small whisk broom. Some wise-
acre lias asked : " Who sprays the eggs of the wild bird and the
stolen nest? " to which sapient conundrum the answer is obvious.
The hen herself does it. Wild birds rarely make nests until the
grass begins to grow and the morning dews begin to fall. Then
when she leaves her nest it is generally in the early morning, when
nocturnal enemies have retired, and while as yet the animals that
prey during the day have not come forth. She steals along through
the grass, fearful of being observed, picking up stray seeds, worms
and bugs, and when she returns the eggs may not have been
sprayed, but she has been, and that amounts to the same thing.

Concerning nest eggs great differences of opinion exist. We
have heard successful poultry keepers ridicule them most unmerci-
fully, and we have known others of equal experience who believed
them to be of great advantage. Our own view is that hens will not
lay quite as many eggs without nest eggs as with them. It is true,
when the egg is fully formed, the hen must lay it or lose her life.
So that if hens are confined in small pens, and are thus prevented
from laying away, nest eggs would seem to be really of little or no
use. But hens, as is well known, have a strong propensity to lay
in each other's nests, and wherever there is an unoccupied nest with
one or more eggs, theie will the nest egg be laid. Therefore, where
the hens have considerable range it is always well to place nest
eggs in the nests. We have known a hen to lay regularly in a nest
with a nest egg in it, and then to forsake this nest when the nest
egg was removed. But we believe that nest eggs have a further
use. It is well known that in the case of wild birds, egg laying
maybe stimulated to a great extent by the presence of one egg and
the removal of all the others. The high-holder, which usually lays
but four eggs, may be thus stimulated to lay fifteen ; why may not

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 1 53

this principle hold good in the case of the common hen? We be-
lieve that it does, and our rule has been to have plenty of nests,
each provided with a nest egg, and to remove all eggs, as fast as
this can be done without disturbing the hens.

What shall we use for this [)urpose ? Some poultry keepers use
any old or stale eggs that may be on hand — a very filthy and fool-
ish habit, as such eggs when broken defile the nests and tlisgiist the
hens. To disgust such owners by any amount of filth would of course
be imi)ossible. Some English writers recommend a small lump of
chalk, and this is no doubt very good when chalk is easily pro-
cured, but, unfortunately, it was not available in my neighborhood.
At first, therefore, we used the common white glass nest eggs, and
during warm weather there can be no objection to such eggs ex-
ce[)t on the score of cost. Dealers ask from three to six cents for
them, and this is altogether too much to pay for nest eggs, though
perhaps glass ones cannot be sold for less. In cold weather, how-
ever, the hens seem to dislike them. They easily become very
cold, and being comparatively poor conductors of heat they are
very chilly to the touch. Our little German maiden thought,
therefore, that she would get u[) a better nest egg, and so she emp-
tied a few shells of their contents and filled them with dry corn
meal. This would have answered admirably if the rats and mice
had not soon found them out and destroyed them. Perha[)s if she
had used sawdust the rats would have let them alone. But any
kind of powder is bad, although the device was a very ingenious
one. We were therefore driven to adopt another plan. We made
a very small pinhole in one end of an egg, and in the other end we
cut a hole three-eighths of an inch in diameter. The contents were
blown out of the egg through the large hole, and the shell was then
filled with plaster-of-Parrs properly mixed with water. As soon as
the plaster hardened we had a most excellent nest egg at a cost of less
than lialf a cent, for it must be borne in mind that the egg itself
could be used for cooking purposes.

The pkister used for this purpose may be obtained at any i)aint
store. The i)roper way to mix it is as follows: Pour into a bowl
as much water as you think you will need to fill the egg-shells you

154 COMMON SENSE

liav^e prepared, and sliake into it the i)owdered plaster until tlie
whole is like good cream. It should be just thin enough to pour
very easily. Before mixing the plaster, eveiything should be in
readiness, as the mixture sets, or becomes quite stiff in a few minutes,
and consequendy it should be used as soon as mixed. Prepare the
egg-shells by blowing them as we have described, and then paste a
small [)iece of paper over the small hole. This sliould be done long
enough, beforehand, to allow the whole to dry. Place the eggs
in a pan of sawdust, earth, sand or ashes, so that they will staiid
firmly with the large hole up. Then mix the plastei', and with a
funnel, made of tin, or even of card, or stiff })aper, fill all the eggs
as quickly as possible. If the plaster is too thin, it may shrink in
the eggs, and leave a vacancy at the top. Watch for this and
keep filling up.

Afterwards, however, we adopted wooden nest eggs as being
still better. Such nest eggs can be turned out of any soft wood
for a few cents ])er hundred, and when di[)pe(l in whitewash and
dried, they form the best nest eggs to be had. If first soaked in a
strong solution of carbolic acid and then whitewashed and dried,
they will effectually drive away all vermin from the nest.

Wooden nest eggs can be made by any wood turner out of the
cheai)est and lightest wood. Willow, chestnut, i)oplar, etc., are all
good. An expert wood-turner can make three or four a minute,
and any boy can turn up very good ones in the clieaj) little lathes
that come with scroll saws. A few dozen nest eggs would be
a nice Christmas present for any friend that has hens. The
wooden eggs should be dipped in common lime whitewash, and
allowed to dry. As often as they get dirty, souse them in a i)ail of
whitewash, tumble tliem about with a stick and spread them on* the
ground to dry, first laying down some old news[)apers to keep them
clean.

There is a small variety of gourd, the fruit of which is almost
exactly the size and shape of an egg. Such little gourds make
capital nest eggs, and they are now cultivated by some poultry
keepers for that very purpose. They, too, may be cleaned by
whitewash.

IN THE POULTRY YARD. I55

We made it a rule to keep nice clean nest eggs in every nest,
and the wooden eggs had this advantage, that they were so light,
that, even in the dark, they could be readily distinguished from the
real eggs. On one occasion, wlien we were using glass eggs, we
were surprised at the enormous number of eggs reported as being
laid by our half dozen hens — something like two to each hen — and
our hired girl was in ecstasies. She had collected the whole contents
of the nests — nest eggs and all I

156 COMMON SENSE

iJlarketing.

S the mild days of spring ai)proached, eggs began ccme in
quite rapidly — thirty and forty dozen per day — and
it was necessary to find some method of getting rid
of ihem profitably. I tried to sell all I could to private parties,
and the rest I was obliged to get rid of at tlie stores, tliough the
price was at this season very low — even down to 18 cents per
dozen. As I expected next year to have twice the number of
hens in my yard, and to get more than twice the number of eggs,
it was necessary to get up a system of marketing whicli would re-
lieve me somewhat from the danger of glutting the stores, and I
saw that diis could only be done by offering extra inducements in
the way of freshness, neatness and convenience to tiie consumer.

I had always had a great horror of " middlemen " and "job-
bers." As a general rule they are mere parasites on the body
social, standing between the retailer and the producer, and fleecing
both. I concluded, therefore, that I would have nothing to do
with them. I found, however, that the "egg business" Avas in a
most singular state. The retailer paid almost as much for liis eggs
as he got fcr them, and those large establishments (restaurants,
hotels, etc.) offered prices a good deal less than the groceries paid.
At first I was puzzled over this condition of things, but I soon saw
through it. The hotels and restaurants in our large cities never
buy fresh-laid eggs. When I could get forty cents per dozen for
eggs in the groceries, they offered twenty and twenty-five! What
eggs could they buy at that price? Chiefly imported eggs,
brought fi-om Belgium, Denmark and Germany, where money is so
scarce amongst the wretched inhabitants that their crops are sold
for whatever they can get. No wonder that such eggs differ
widely in flavor from what are called country eggs. I have always
been suspicious of eggs in restaurants, but since my investigations,

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 1 57

when I was trying to find a market for my own eggs, I have never
touched an egg in a restaurant.

On the other hand, tlie grocers gave the country people full value
for eggs, because they ex])ected to pay for them in trade, although,
perha[)s, sucli a condition was not always expressed. A country
woman comes to the grocery with a few dozen eggs ; she sells them
for j/ioney, it is true, but she turns right round and buys her tea,
coftee ami sugar at the same place, and the bill for these probably
exceeds the amount she receives for eggs. One who did not buy
as largely as she did in proportion to her sales could hardly be ex-
pected to meet with the same favor.

The marketing of the eggs was therefore a problem that gave me
a good deal of anxiety. 1 finally resolved to work up a local trade,
if possible, and secure regular customers, who would be supplied
with my best eggs, guaranteed to be not over two days old. The
following is the plan which I ultimately adopted, and am now car-
vying out. The first season our methods were of necessity rather
slipshod and imperfect, and it is unnecessary to detail them.

I had a few boxes made, twenty to begin with, each holding
three dozen eggs. As our eggs were quite large, the boxes were
8 inches long, 6 inches wide, and 8 inches deep. They had a nice
lid, and a wire hnndle or bale, which folded down over the box and
out of the way when packed in the spring wagon. On the top of
the lid was a label, a co[)y of which will be found on the following
page, and in each crate we generally placed a few spare labels, loose,
as circulars.

The price was given by writing it in the blank. When the price
was changed a slij) of pa[)er was pasted over the old price, and the
new price written thereon. This was some trouble, it is true, but
I believe it paid in the end.

The following is a copy of the label:

158 . COMMON SENSE

FRESH EGGS

FROM

FERNIEBIELD POULTRY YARDS.

Each egg is stamped with the date o?i which it was gathered, and
is guaranteed to be ?iot over two days old when delivered.

As these eggs have not been fertilized they will ?iot hatch, and will
therefore keep longer than ordinary eggs.

The utmost care has been taken to obtain the very best breeds
of fowls, and to so feed them that the eggs will be of large size and
of the finest flavor.

A tainted egg in our crates is simply an impossibility.
ORDB-IiS SOLICITED.

Eggs suitable for hatching supplied on application. Postal cards
addressed to

J. P. HAia

Ferniebield
promptly attended to.

Prices according to the market rates. This week the t)rice per
dozen is

I also liad a neat little rubber stamp made, with the following
inscription :

Eggs from Ferniebield.

Jan. 5, 18...

The date was cliangeable, and with this stamp a boy could mark
the eggs at the rate of about five per minute, or three and a half
hours to 1,000 eggs.

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 1 59

At first the new system was the subject of a good deal of
laughter and quiet ridicule. This very ridicule and laughter hel[)ed
me, however. I went to a luunber of the best families in town,
and left a crate containing one dozen eggs, with the following note
which I had manifolded on a gelatin pad :

" I take the liberty of leaving with you a few eggs, the quality,
etc., of which you will find fully described on the enclosed circular.
If, after trying these eggs, you are pleased with this method of ab-
solutely insuring your table against the presence of a stale or
tainted egg, I shall be pleased to receive your orders for any quan-
tity, however large or however small. Please preserve the crate,
which will be called for. Our system is to leave the crate with our
customers, exchanging full for empty ones when we get orders.
Trusting that you will pardon this intrusion, I remain, etc."

Now, when we lived in the village we were supplied with eggs
by our milkman, a very honest, careful fellow. Yet Avith all his
care it had sometimes happened that a stale egg would slip into
the lot — obtained, I suppose, from some nest that had been over-
looked. Under our system it was difficult for such nests to exist,
and when we did find eggs in a stolen nest they were broken,
cooked and fed to the chickens*. In this way we could abso-
lutely insure our customers against stale eggs, and every one
knows how a single stale egg will spoil the breakfast of a dozen
people.

The idea took, as I thought it would. When we called for our
crates we found in every one an order, of which the following may
be taken as a sample :

" Having tried your eggs we like your system very much.
Please bring us 3 dozen on Monday. Mrs. J. Robinson."

*We knew that tliey could not hatch, and so it would have been a waste of
grallinaceous lime and' effort to leave them wiUi the hen. But hens that steal
tlieir nests generally brin<? out stronji; clutches. We therefore placed in the
nest a sitting? of good eggs, and we were always rewarded with a lot of fine
strong chicks.

l6o COMMON SENSE

At first these orders seemed a small business, and we were com-
pelled to sell our surplus eggs at the stores, but we had faith tliat
our customers would increase rapidly, and we were not disap-
l)ointed. 'J'he novel mode of putting tliem up, tlie large size
and excellent flavor of the eggs, and the flict that every egg was
guaranteed, all combined to increase our business, especially as the
prices were not higher than those asked by the best grocers. Eggs
could be had much more cheaply than from me, but not fresh
eggs from respectable houses. '\\\t loose circulars were distrib-
uted freely as a novelty ; postal cards began to come in, and visi-
tors soon began to make their ai)pearance at our yards to examine
the poultry of which they had heard so much. My twenty crates
were nowhere, and I at once gave an order for 250. Before"! re-
ceived them I had orders for over three hundred dozen eggs, for
which I had no crates. I therefore bought a lot of cheap but
pretty little baskets, and here again the gelatin pad came to my
rescue, I wrote a short explanation and apology for not sending
a crate, and tied it to the handle of each basket.

I made it a rule never to expose guaranteed eggs in the stores.
I sold eggs to -the storekeepers, but unstamped or with the stamp
washed off. For this reason I used a greyish kind of ink for stamp-
ing the eggs, and it was so prepared that a sponge and a little
warm water obliterated the stami) completely. I never could quite
remove the stain, and these stained eggs soon became known to
buyers and were preferred — partly because they were larger and
partly because they came from the now famous Ferniebield yards.
And although an " egg is an egg," and large eggs and small ones
sell for the same price, yet I found that most housekeepers had a
decided preference for large eggs, and that small ones would re-
main unsold long after the large ones had been bought up.

I sold eggs for hatching purposes too, and as it was known that
I had very superior fowls, I had a good many orders. But this
subject i)laced me in rather a difficult position. Everybody
thought that the eggs from my laying hens would produce pullets as
good as the mothers, and when I advised them not to buy these
eggs, they thought that my reason for so advising was that I did

IN THE POULTRY YARD. l6l

not want to sell — that I wanted to keep the breed to myself.
When, therefore, they found that eggs which were fresh and cer-
tainly from my yards, could be had in the stores, they felt jubilant
over the supposed fact that they had outwitted me. Remember
til at these people had not seen my labels and circulars. I have
since learned that quite a business was done in my eggs for hatch-
ing purposes. Indeed, I had several orders from grocers which I
filled without hesitation, and it always puzzled me to know why
men should take a roundabout way of getting these eggs, when
they could have come to me and got them without any trouble.

But alas ! the eggs never hatched ! And then it became current
report that I applied a certain chemical to the eggs to prevent their
hatching, and there was the proof in the curious stam found on
each egg!! It is often in business as in lovers' walks; people
prefer a crooked and roundabout road to a straight one.

Some of my neighbors, however, took a different course. They
came to me frankly, and said that they would like to get rid of their
present stock of fowls, and get some from me if I would sell them
eggs or fowls. I at once explained to them that my laying fowls —
my best hens for practical purposes, and those that gave the eggs
Avhich I furnished to my customers — were cross-bred birds, and
thnt they could not keep up the breed, as a breed, but that I was
perfectly willing to let them have eggs every year to keep their
yards up. I also explained that these eggs actually cost me double
what my marketable eggs cost ; that I had to raise or buy specially
fine cockerels every year, and keep the breeding pens carefully at-
tended to. That my price for such eggs, eggs giving a first or
second cross, was just double the market price, whatever that
might be.

Some of them saw the reasonableness of the system, and bought
eggs from me quite freely. Some tried to breed again from the
birds thus raised, but it is needless to say that their flocks did not
show the same uniformity and excellence that they did the first
year, and every succeding year they became worse.

My sales of pure-bred fowls were very limited. To carry on a
successfiil business in this branch, requires careful management,

1 62 COMMON SENSE

special plant and considerable advertising. I did not know
enougli about it to warrant me in going into it extensively, and be-
sides that, I did not want to let anything interfere with my main ex-
periment; but as I always had more pure-bred fowls and eggs than
I wanted for my own use, I had no objection to selling the eggs at
fair prices. I charged $2.00 per setting for my choicest eggs, and
as I always purchased a few choice breeding birds and raised a few
first class cockerels every year, this price was not high. I always
had in my yards cockerels that had cost $10; young birds from these
certainly ought to have been worth $2.50, Avhich was my standard
rate. And I readily got it, for Madame Rumour exaggerates
everything, and it was soon bruited abroad that I was such a fool
as to give $50 or even $100 for a cock, and that whatever money
I had would soon be all gone at that rate. When the yards be-
came a success, the word " fool " was left out, and I was called
"an enterprising fellow" and a thorough judge of poultry, who
was determined to have the best, even if it cost a hundred dollars.
In all which the followers of her aforesaid Ladyship were greatly mis-
taken, but, nevertheless, it helped to sell my eggs and birds, so
that I have no special reason to complain, and have no intention
of suing anybody for slander or libel.

As soon as the crate system became fully known, I had orders
for all the eggs I could produce, and none were left for sale in the
groceries. By-and-bye, however, my production began to fall off,
and this was the critical period in the business. It is true that, as
production fell off the price was raised, and so the number used was
sligluly less. A crate which in the height of the season lasted but
three days, now lasted four or five, but, even then, the demand
did not fall off as rapidly as did the supply, for my customers
were of a class that cared but little for a few cents more or less
per dozen for eggs. If they chose eggs they had eggs, whatever
might be the market price. Now, in failing to supply these cus-
tomers, I ran great risk of losing them, for most of them had a
high sense of their own importance, and indeed, I suppose some of
them thought that if their support were withdrawn Ferniebield
would be sold at auction. I therefore prepared a circular explain-

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 163

ing why I could not, at this time, always supply as many eggs as
were wanted, but promising to divide, pro rata, with all my cus-
tomers. I assured them that in quality and freshness there would
be no falling off, and ended by suggesting that, while there could
be no substitute for Ferniebield eggs for table purposes, others might
perhaps be used to good advantage for baking, etc. This plain
statement held all my customers, but I made a firm resolution tliat
if I lived I would have eggs as plentiful in December as in April,
and my progress towards that very desirable consummation has
not been inconsiderable.

To save my customers as much trouble as possible, I procured a
quantity of postal cards with my address printed thereon, and on
the side appropriated to messages was an order in blank, as follows :

Deliver dozen eggs on to

(Name)

(Street aiid No.)

These cards were left with all our customers, so that if at any
time they wanted eggs they could have them, and, as I had a box
in the post office and always called there, eggs could be had every
morning by simply leaving a card at the post office early enough.
I never sent the wagon to town without a few extra crates to
supi)ly this casual demand.

The marketing of the surplus chickens gave but little trouble.
For the prime table chickens, which we sold during the fall and
winter, we found customers enough amongst those who bought
our eggs. From some, we had regular orders to deliver one or
two pairs of dressed chickens every week, on certain days, and it
did not take many such orders to clean out our entire stock.

The old hens, we found it most profitable to sell in open
market. They brought a certain rate per pound, and were pretty
sure sale. We could not sell them to our regular customers as
dressed chickens, and neither would we sell them to those who
came to us wanting laying hens for a poultry yard, and stating

164 COMMON SENSE

exactly what they wanted. But, when sold in market, without any
representations as to character or quality, we had no hesitation
about taking the highest price we could get.

Tlie stock that required the greatest care in selling, was our
very early chickens. They were worth most — weight for weight —
sometimes bringing as high as seventy cents per pound. We found
that there was considerable difference in the quality of these very
early chickens, according to the kind of food given to them and
the manner in which they were kept. We did not force ours as
rapidly as some breeders did; we fed more cracked wheat and
corn — particularly wheat — and less meal. The birds, therefore,
showed firmer flesh, and did not waste as much in the process
of cooking, and the flavor was higher. Our birds soon became
known to the keepers of a few of the first class restaurants in the
city, and we could always dispose of all we had at good prices.
They were altogether the most profitable stock we raised, and after
we got fairly under way and had our houses, coops and yards
fixed up for them, they were not difficult to raise.

We sold a few of them in the village, but not many. Very few
of the villagers — even those who were comparatively well to do —
cared to give 75 cents for a little chicken weighing a pound and a
half.

But, in the city, this price was not thought extravagant. Chick-
ens heavier than a pound and a half did not sell well, per-
haps, because people suspected that they were simply old chickens
of a small breed. We, therefore, tried to bring them to this
weight as rapidly as possible, and as soon as we saAV that they were
large enough, we sold them out. We soon learned to estimate
their weight, by the eye, quite accurately.

We found a great difference in the rapidity with which different
breeds reached this size, and still greater differences in the appear-
ances of the different breeds at this age. The great egg layers —
Leghorns, Hamburghs, etc. — had to be kept too long; Brahmas,
Cochins, etc., looked sprawley and skeleton-like; a cross between
the two matured rapidly and looked " splendid/' as the little girls
say.

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 1 65

b

ermm.

LL during the summer and fall we never saw any parasites
on our chickens, though perhaps this was because we
did not look for them. One day, however, we were
horrified to see a number of lice crawling over the eggs of a hen
that had left her nest for feed. The hen had been set about the
end of January, so that the weather was quite cold and the fowl
did not seem to use the dust bath as freely as during warmer
weather. When we caught the hen and examined her she pre-
sented a sorry sight ; lice all over. What was to be done ?

First of all, we put the hen in a barrel with a little fine straw,
for the present, and placed her in another building. The eggs
were then removed fi-om the nest one by one, wiped, and })ut in a
clean basket. Fortunately we had another hen just ready to sit.
She was carefully examined, no lice were found, and so we placed
the eggs under her. The old nest, box and all, was then taken
away, carried to an open place, dusted with sulphur and set on
fire. When lliat fire died out there were no lice in that nest, and
the slightly charred box was as good as new.

Our attention was next given to the hen. She was carefiilly dusted
with insect powder and returned to the barrel, a fresh setting of eggs
being placed under her. Next day she was again dusted, fed and
placed in a clean barrel with clean straw. She was too weak to
make much resistance to these changes, and settled down on tlie
eggs very peaceably. The barrel in which she was first placed was
carried out doors, the straw dusted with sulphur and set on fire.
We had the most orthodox faith in purification by fire and brim-
stone.*

* A recent writer ex^^resses a douhr in re<;anl to the efBcacy ofsulpliur, but as
he tells us to ^ put two or three pounds of brimstone or sulpluir in an iron pot,
in such a way as not to endan<;er the buildin<; ; apply a match ; shut it [th«

l66 COMMON SENSE

After the third dusting the hen seemed to be quite free from
parasites, but still weak. We knew, liowever, that the powder
would not injure the eggs of the vermin, and so in a few days we
might expect a fresh brood. We therefore kept dusting and feed-
ing plenty of nourishing and easily digested food — oat-meal mush,
meat scraps, milk, etc. The hen throve, and we soon had the up-
fper hand of the vermin. As, however, it would have been asking
too much of her to sit double time, we gave her half a dozen cluck-
ens, and placed her eggs under a fresh hen. We now greased her
with a mixture of lard and sulphur. This did not injure the little
chickens, but might have injured the eggs. She was not troubled
with parasites after that.

This incident taught us a lesson. After that we always exam-
ined our fowls with a special eye to lice. It is true that we rarely
find them, but it is also true that hens are at all times liable to
suffer from them if they get weak and unhealthy. They then ne-
glect to take their dust bath regularly and thoroughly, and although
I am no believer in spontaneous generation, yet I am pretty sure
that lice will make their appearance if the hens fall off in health
and strength.

The hen that gave us so much trouble was a pure Light Brahma
that had been recently bought, and in every case in which lice have
made their appearance in my yards it has been in the case of fowls
brought from other places. And 1 have found them on birds that
I have obtained from dealers of high standing. With these men,

house ?] closely, and let it burn slowly," we conclude that he has never tried it.
Sulphur In large quantities cannot be set on fire by applying a match, as those
who have used it for fumigating or bleaching purposes know very well. The
old bee-keepers used to dip heavy paper or stout shavings in melted sulphur,
and burn these, and this is a very good plan. Or the sulphur may be thrown on
a small heap of shavings or straw, and when the latter is tired the sulphur Avill
burn too. The plan adopted by bleachers is, however, the best and safest. Take
a heavy iron vessel, the shallower the better, and put the sulphur in it. Heat
this over a fire (out of doors, of course) until the sulphur melts and easily takes
fire on the approach of a light. Then place the vessel in the house and let it
burn. Sulphurous acid or the gas from burning sulphur is the most deadly
agent known. Persian insect powder, carbolic acid, and other destroyers of the
lower forms of life, are nowhere at all compared with it. It is the only thing
that is relied upon by the National Board of Health as a perfect destroyer of the
germs of yellow fever, and if properly applied, no living thing -whether it be
bird or beast, insect or disease germ— can possibly escape. But we must use
enough of it, and the sulphur must be burned, not merely vaporized.

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 1 67

however, space is a matter of great moment, and they are apt to
keep their birds confined in close quarters. And if Hce once get a
foothold under such conditions they are apt to spread. Whether
or not it would be possible to absolutely stamp out lice from any
yard I do not know. I have come very near it several times, so
near that the most careful search failed to show a single parasite
on any of the birds; but when cold weather came, and any of the
birds failed to take their regular bath, lice would again appear.

The best remedy that I have found is insect powder, and where
this is not handy, lard and sulphur may be used on laying hens,
whose eggs are not to be hatched, as in this case there can be no
objection to it. It is a general belief, however, that grease will
prevent eggs from hatching. I have not tried it myself, and as
there seems to be some doubt on the subject, I have not cared to
risk it on valuable eggs. Major Cock, in his little book, published
about 1843, tells us that he has "known eggs laid in Hamburg to
be hatched in New Jersey, by covering them with lard and taking
care not to handle them roughly." This is contrary to the general
opinion. But for sitting hens the Persian insect powder answers
admirably.

Mixing sulphur with the soft food given to fowls Is also not only
an excellent preventive of lice, but a capital tonic.

But the great means of preventing vermin is good health and
plenty of dry earth for a dust bath. So long as fowls can roll in
dry ashes or earth, lice cannot multiply.

There is but one kind of parasite on fowls, and this is peculiar
to gallinaceous birds. It cannot thrive on other animals — not even
on ducks or geese, far less on horses, cows or pigs. I have often
heard it said that if j^oultry are kept in a stable the horses will get
lousy. This is very likely to be the case, because any man who
will keep his poultry in his stable is probably so slipshod that his
horses will run down in health and so become lousy. But the lice
from the hens will never remain on horses or cows.

1 68 COMMON SENSE

©nemics.

E lost but few chickens by disease, but the battle
against winged and four-footed enemies was constant.
Large hawks took off some of our best hens — hens that
we thought were perfectly safe, on account of their size and
strength. Cats would come miles to steal our little chickens, and
weasels and skunks killed a few. But the greatest enemy was the
common rat, and he was, also, the most diflPicult to ciicumvent, if
we except certain bipeds who were evidently i)ossessed of all the
cunning and none of the honesty, llial ought to distinguish hu-
manity.

The hawks were not very troublesome, that is to say, they
did not kill many. We shot them without mercy, whenever we
had a chance, but I must confess they did not always give us a
good chance. As for traps on poles and all such contrivances, we
found them perfectly useless, so far as these marauders were con-
cerned, though we sometimes caught birds that we would rather
have seen escape. I, therefore, had them all taken down and de-
pended upon constant vigilance and a good breech-loader. I
chose a breech-loader, because it could stand with the cartridges
ready prepared and tied in a bag to the trigger guard, and thus be
almost as ready as a loaded muzzle-loader, and the latter, when
standing in a barn, is altogether too dangerous. I kept a muzzle-
loader at first, but, on one occasion, a carpenter, who was at work
on the place, picked it up, discharged it through pure meddlesome-
ness and nearly killed a fellow workman. After that, I adopted
the breech-loader. I generally used very heavy shot, so that
we might be able to do execution at long ranges, and I studied
carefully the rules for " loading so as to kill " laid down in a
little work called " Shooting on the Wing," and found them ad-
mirable, so that the hawks and crows began to consider our

IN THE POULTRY VARD. 169

locality rather unhealthy. Occasionally, when a hawk was seen
sailing over the place at a great height, we fired a shot at him from
a rifle, taking good care that the bullet went in a direction where
it would do no damage. We never succeeded in hitting a hawk
in this way, but they did not seem to like the whiz of the bullet,
and speedily took their departure for safer regions.

'J'hey did not seem to like to attack the poultry in the small
breeding coops, probably taking the coops for some kind of
trap. Amongst the large flocks we placed a few game cocks, and
the hawks did not trouble us much after that.

Only on one occasion did the pole traps serve a good purpose.
One morning in the fall we were awakened by a tremendous com-
motion in the yard — dogs barking, ducks quacking, hens cack-
ling, and all the signs of some terrible calamity. On looking out of
the window I saw that one of our pole-traps had caught a large owl
by the feet, and his cries and motions had attracted an immense
number of crows, hawks, etc. Hastily donning a few garments,
I seized my breech-loader and a belt of cartridges, and rushed
down stairs. Getting quietly into the barn, I opened a narrow
side door and commenced firing. At every shot I brought down
a hawk or a crow, and at first the firing di^l not seem to deter
those that were left. Even after I had picked off a hawk from
within a few feet of the owl, tumbling him head over heels to the
ground, aiiotlier would make a swoo[), just as if nothing had hap-
pened. Of course, I took care not to shoot too close to the owl,
and in a short time the ground was strewed with birds. Then
they began to get waiy. The ciows were the first to abandon
the field, and after iheni the hawks went too. As it was, how-
ever. I h.ad a [)iece of rare spoit, and revenged myself on enemies
that, otherwise, I never could have reached.

I have heard it said, by old poultry kee[)ers, that hawks will
not attack jioultry, if there are guinea hens around. I know no-
thing of the accuracy of this statement, but it certainly is " im[)or-
tant if true."

Against most four-footed vermin, including cats, we found that a
good Scotch terrier was the best defence. We had cats of our

lyo COMMON SENSE

own, and they were never injured, neither did they attack the little
chickens, but strange cats generally came to a speedy end at the
hands, or, rather, the teeth, of our dogs. And it was curious to
notice how thoroughly acquainted the dogs and fowls became. If
a strange dog came into the yards, there was a commotion at once,
and all the hens were up in arms, but our own dogs might go
about amongst the flocks, and quite close to a hen and her brood
and never disturb them. Weasels and skunks were not very com-
mon. The latter is said to be a very useful insectivorous animal,
but it is out of place in a poultry yard. It kills chickens, and
should, therefore, be killed. When we had any indication that a
skunk was around (and our noses were a pretty good indication of
such an occurrence) a little vigilance and a charge of snipe shot
generally prevented all damage.

But, for all four-footed creatures, the best preventive is a good
trap. The trap must, of course, take them alive, or it will be liable
to destroy some of the animals belonging to the place, and it must
be large enough to catch a small dog, and sufficiently sensitive to
be sprung by a weasel. I, therefoie, had four large box traps
made, and took great pains with the tables and triggers, making
the latter myself out of fine tempered steel. These traps were dis-
tributed about the place, baited with a little meat. At first we
caught our own dogs and cats, but they soon learned to give the
traps a wide berth; the hens Avere not so easily taught, and would
l)ersist in being caught, when the traps were set during the day.
We, therefore, set them only at night, and in them we caught,
strange dogs, cats, rats, weasels, squirrels and snakes, but never a
skunk.

But although we occasionally caught a rat in this way, these ro-
dents were too cunning to be caught in any numbers in such a con-
trivance. And as poison was out of the question, we found it very
difficult to guard against their depredations. Of course the dogs
did a great deal to protect the chickens, but they could not be
everywhere, and at night the rats would actually take the young
chickens from under the mother's wings. We felt ready to adopt
any remedy, however cruel. In fact, no one can look at the mean,

IN THE POULTRY YARD. I7I

cruel, cunning and ferocious face of a rat and hesitate about de-
stroying liim by any possible means. Tlie loss of an occasional
chicken would always rouse up my ire, and after such occasions I
would vow vengeance against the whole race. A few would be
shot; one or two would be trapped ; but the work was too slow
and uncertain, and we would fall back upon the dogs and cats.
Finally the rats increased to such an extent, and became so bold,
that one night they carried off an entire brood of my most valuable
chickens. I thought, then, that it was lime to do something.

I then built a small house, 8 feet square and 6 feet high, with
just enough roof to shed the rain. It was made of inch stuff, and
had a door but no windows. There \\ as a good floor, covered
with old tui roofing that I got for almost nothing. The tin was
carried about six inches up the sides.

This house was filled with straw, in which was placed some
wheat, corn, etc., and a handful or two of meal was also scattered
over the straw. On every side was a hole 3 inches in diameter,
w^iich entered just above the tin. Four men could easily move
this house to any part of the grounds. The first night we placed
it near the coops in which the young chickens were kept and
awaited results. The rats soon found it out, and, as we could
easily see by their tracks, made it their home. A remorseless war
was then carried on against them in every other part of the prem-
ises. Tobacco smoke was blown into their holes; their breeding
places were disturbed; their runs were filled with broken glass, and
life made as uncomfortable for them as i)ossible in every place ex-
cept " Rat Castle." There they were left in peace and quietness.
At the end of a week, however, we went over the ground again,
and drove tobacco smoke into every hole we could find. This
was done by means of a piece of rubber hose and one of the most
powerful " smokers " used by bee-keepers. With one of these
smokers and a few feet of rubber tubing we could, in a few min-
utes, fill all the space between the floor and the ground, and be-
tween the wall and the lathing of any building, and drive the smoke
out at holes twenty feet away. The effect of this tobacco smoke
was most surprising. We know of no animal that can stand it.

172 COMMON SENSE

The rats and mice left the premises on the double quick, and many
of them fell a prey to the dogs and cats that were on the watch^
keenly enjoying the fun. But no tobacco smoke had ever been
allowed to profane " Rat Castle," and thither they all ran. We
could hear them fighting and squealing inside, and when we got
tlirough with the other buildings we just closed the four little doors
of the house and they were all prisoners. Then we changed our
tactics. Instead of tobacco we used sulphur, and by means of a
simple furnace, made out of an old pot, with a wooden cover, and
using our "smoker" as a bellows, we soon filled the little house
with sulplmrous acid — a most deadly gas. Being determined to
make thorough work of it, we blew in gas at the bottom until it
l)assed out in a steady stream at the top. We then closed every
opening up tightly, and left the house till next morning. When
we opened the house next day we found one hundred and fifty-
seven rats in it — every one dead! ! I thought, then, that this piece
of work paid me for the expense and trouble of the house, etc.
It was nearly a year before another rat was seen about the prem-
ises, and we have never been badly troubled with them since.

The reason for building the hou&e was this : If I had killed the
rats in their holes and runways in tht barns and outhouses, which
I might perhaps have done by meanb of sulphurous acid gas, they
would have putrefied where we could not get at them, and this
would have been insufferable. On the other hand, if we had driven
them out with tobacco, and had not provided a retreat for them
we might have killed a few, but the greater part would have es-
caped only to return after a litde while. The plan that I adopted
obviated both these difficulties.

My reasons for covering the floor and a few inches of the sides
with tin was this : A rat will never gnaw his way out into the
light; but if the floor had been left unprotected they would have
cut their way down, and would have burrowed in the ground and
underneath the floor. When the final act in the tragedy came these
rats might have escaped. As it was, we made a clean sweep, and
destroyed or drove away every one. One hundred and fifty-seven
rats make quite a pile. What could we do with them? Bury

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 1 73

them ? That would be waste. We passed tliem through our meat
chopper and cut tliem up, bones, meat, hair and all Since rats
are the great trichina-carriers, it would have been dangerous to
feed this meat to dogs, cats or pigs, but to fowls it is perfectly-
harmless. But to make sure, we boiled it thorouglily in our large
pot, exposing it in four lots to a boiling temperature for four hours.
At the end of that time every trichina, if there Avere any present,
must have been as dead as the rats themselves, so we just made
the soup into mush with a little corn meal and fed it to the chick-
ens. Tlie rats had eaten our chickens, and now the chickens ate
the rats — a just retribution.

As we have already stated, from that day to this we have never
been troubled with rats, and the " rat-house," as we call it, serves
very well occasionally for an extra coop ; of late, however, Ave have
been told that one or two rats have been seen about the place. If
they get troublesome we will set " Rat Castle " in operation again.

When it is necessary to use i)oison instead of other means, great
care should be exercised in the selection of the kind of poison, and in
the methods of using it. Arsenic, whether in the ordinary form of
"white arsenic," or in the various patent mixtures that are sold, such
as " Rough on Rats," should never be used. The reason is very sim-
ple and obvious : Arsenic, no matter into what combination or form
it may pass, is always poisonous. A rat or a mouse ])oisoned with
arsenic will, if eaten by a cat, dog or chicken, still act as virulendy as
ever, and cause sickness or death. There is another })oison, how-
ever— phosphorus — which loses its poisonous qualities when it be-
comes oxidized, and hence is far safer. Phosphorus is poisonous only
in the i)ure state; when in combination it is generally harmless, and
frequently very wholesome. There is as much phosphorus in a
pound of bones as would poison a whole flock of chickens, but
when fed in the form of bone or phosphate of lime, it is quite the
reverse of hurtful. Indeed, when bones are properly dissolved
they form one of the most pleasant and wholesome drinks for
human beings, as is seen in Horsford's Acid Phosphates, so gener
ally used.

Now, when phosphorus is eaten by an animal it soon becomes

174 COMMON SENSE

oxidized and rendered harmless, but when arsenic is so eaten it
never loses its virulent character.* Phosphorus paste, properly-
prepared for poisoning vermin, is sold by most chemists, and the
recipe for preparing it may be found in any good book of receipts.

* An account of the different poisons, and the proper antidotes for them, when
accidentally swallowed by human beings, or by the lower animals, will be found
in •' What to Do in Case of Accident." The book is issued by the same house
that publishes this volume.

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 1 75

(Earls Cl)ickens anb ^iglj-Priccb (Egg©.

O get in December those eggs tliat are usually laid in
May, is one of the oldest problems in the " Chicken
Business." If we could only get the hens to accom-
modate us in this respect, the making of a fortune would be an
easy thing. But out of every i,ooo eggs that are produced during
the year by an ordmary flock, it will be found that

45 are produced in January.

56 " " " February.

132 " " " March.

176 " " " April.

150 " " " May.

96 " " " June.

87 " " " July.

54 " " " August.

Ss " " " September.

84 " " " October.

26 " " " November.

II " " " December.

Consequently, while eggs bring 50 cents per dozen in Decem-
ber, they fall in price to 18 to 20 cents in May. What can be done
to effect a change in this res[)ect ?

At first sight, it would seem that the advent of cold weather is the
chief cause of the stopi)age in the pro(hiction of eggs, and to test
this, Reaumur kept his hens in artificially warmed houses and tried
in this way to get eggs in winter. But he failed. We might have
expected this when we observe that one of the coldest months,
March, is also one of the most prolific. Others have hoped by
stimulating food to make the hens keep up egg-laying. We have

176 COMMON SENSE

tried it, and met with a small measure of success, but food alone
will not accomplisli a great deal.

Others, again, depend upon the breed. It is well known that
some breeds — Leghorns, Hamburglis, etc. — are known as summer
layers, while the Asiatic fowls — Brahmas, Cochins, etc. — are win-
ter layers. There is a good deal in this, but not enough to turn
the tables.

Others try to get eggs in winter, by raising very early chickens,
and this is the most efficient method of all, provided other con-
ditions are favorable.

The fact is, that it is useless to depend upon any one or two of
these conditions; we must bring them all into play if we would
have eggs in winter. We must have hens of a suitable breed;
they must be properly housed and fed, and they must be of the
proper age. A failure in any one of these conditions will be fatal
to success. These three things are like food, clothing and air
to a human being. No amount of clothing will make up for
want of food, and no amount of food will enable us to do without
air. We must have all three together if we would keep in good
health.

As regards the best breed, I had long ago made up my mind that
a cross between the Hamburgh or Leghorn and some heavy Asiatic
fowl was altogether the most promising in this respect, and in
making up my breeding coops, I had this in view, though not
quite as clearly as I would have done, if at that time I had had
more experience. When I came to fairly face the [)roblem of
producing eggs in December, I mated White Leghorn and
Spangled Hamburgh cocks with good hens having a large propor-
tion of Asiatic blood. Some of the latter were pure Brahma,
others were apparently Cochin crossed with Dominiques, and I
found that I got better results from these crosses than from any
other breed.

Raising chickens in January is troublesome work, and unless the
poultry breeder has good facilities and considerable experience,
the outgo will exceed the income. Of this I was well assured, but
I resolved to try the experiment.

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 1 77

There were plenty of liens wanting to sit. After their summer
crials and autumn laying they had stopped producing eggs, and
wanted to take the next step in hen-life. So we cleaned out the
rooms that we had formerly used for hatching, and })acked into it
AS many nest-boxes as it would hold. We succeeded in placing
12 boxes, containing 48 hens, but as the weather was cold, we
gave each hen only 10 eggs, making 480 in all. This was not
quite enough, so I placed 10 more boxes in different parts of the
stable, and filled them all with hens. With these 40 hens we
expected to have some trouble, but we thought, that, as they did
not have much temptation to run about at this time of the year, we
might be able to control them.

It was during the progress of this experiment that I found out the
mistake I had made in not taking better care of my breeding hens,
so I was obliged to take such eggs as I could get. By making tem-
porary arrangements with greenhouse sash, and by selecting some
of the best laying hens from the general flock, and putting them
with suitable cocks, I managed to secure eggs enough to gradually
till all die nests; but of course the hens were not all set at the
same time, and some of them had been brooding for some time be-
fore they were set. The latter circumstance was unfortunate, as
hens that have brooded for some time before eggs are placed un-
der them are apt to leave their broods too soon. Our success in
managing the sitting hens was, however, very fair. They were at-
tended to every morning; fed and watered, and then shut up until
iiext morning. We had three lots which had to be let out at differ-
ent times; the chickens of the first lot was due the first week in
February; those of the second lot during the second week, and
those of the third lot during the third week. It made no difference
whether the hens of the same lots returned to the same nests or
not, but it was important not to mix the lots. We had very little
trouble, however. It took about two hours to two hours and a
naif every morning to attend to the sitting hens, but all this time
was not occupied. After the hens had been driven into the outer
room, the doors of the latter were locked, and the attendant had a
good half hour to devote to other wojk while the liens took -their

lyS COMMON SENSE

food and drink, and dusted themselves in the dry earth and ashes
provided for them.

Our first httle chicks found themselves in a "cold, cold world"
when they burst their shells. But the old hens kept them warm,
and during the first thirty-six liours they were kept shut up under
their mothers, the only attention that the hens got being the re-
moval of the empty shells. At this time of the year one of the
greatest mistakes that can be made is to get the chicks out of the
nest too soon. They need warmth and rest, rather than food and
exercise, for when they leave the shell they have just had a full feed
of the richest food, and, as any one can see, nature did not intend
that they should run about immediately after leaving the shell.
Partridges and some other birds do this, but chickens never. We
have lost many chickens by meddling with them too soon; never
a one by letting it alone. On the second day, however, we took
the hens off the nest, placed the chicks on the floor, and offered
them cracked wheat and warm milk. The latter they drank quite
greedily, and the wheat they soon learned to pick up. After they
had been fed they were returned to the old nest for the present.

The weather at this time was very cold — occasionally down to
zero — and it was hard work to keep the little things Avarm. We
had 88 hens sitting; these would probably produce 600 chickens,
and I intended to give each hen 10 chickens, so that 60 brooding
cooi)S would be needed. I found that the coops we had used dur-
ing the fall would take up too much room, and, as they would re-
quire a house to cover them, I might as well divide the house itself
up into coops. Having all this in view, I had put up a rough
board shed, 40 feet long and 10 feet wide. It was just high
enough to allow one to pass easily up the middle. The roof was
of matched boards, except where six greenhouse sash were inserted
to admit light. The floor was divided off as follows: A walk 16
inches wide was left through the middle, and the spaces on each
side were divided into 30 compartments each, making 60 in
all. The divisions were simply boards 14 inches high, and the
compartments were covered with wire netting of i-inch mesh.
Four stout stakes were driven into the floor at the end of each di-

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 1 79

viding board and next the middle passage. These stakes held the
dividing boards in place, and the end boards stood between them
and could be easily lifted out; in fact, they formed doors to the
compartments. To keep the house warm I banked it up with
leaves, which were kept in place by brush, and I put in an old
cook stove with a lot of old pipe which ran the entire length of the
building. This kept out frost, even in very cold weather. At
night the sashes were covered w^ith old matting. 1

As soon, therefore, as we had a few clutches out \ve arranged
this brooding house, started the fire, and got it well warmed up.
In this we were aided by a few days of bright sunshine, so that
when, one afternoon, we put ten hens with their chicks, amounting
to lOo in all, in ten of the com[)artments, they seemed to be enjoy-
ing a summer atmosphere. The broods now began to come out
very rapidly, and we soon had one side of the house full.

The care of these chickens involved a good deal of labor. It is
true that it was not labor of a very hard kind, nor did it require a
great deal of intelligence to follow the rules which I laid down.
We had very few sick chickens; indeed, we lost more by accidents
than by sickness. To give an historical account of our method of
management would occupy too much space, but the following will
be enough to guide the intelligent reader.

The great points in rearing early chickens are suitable food and
warmth. 'J'he latter condition involves dryness as a special feature ;
animals that are kept dry can resist a good deal of cold, but if once
the feathers get wet and matted the bird becomes cold and chilled,
and it does not take much to chill the life out of a young chicken.
To keep the chickens dry we found to be one of our most difficult
tasks. If a saucer of milk or water wns placed in the coop for'
them to drink they were sure to get into it, and the hen would
upset it and make the whole comi)artment wet and uncomfortable.
The poultry stores kee[) on hand fountains like large bird fountains,
by which this difficulty may be in a measure avoided, but these
fountains are too exi)ensive, are difficult to clean, and where milk
is used they require too much to fill them. So fijr milk I used
saucers, which I protectee! with a netting of wire; lor water I used

l8o COMMON SENSE

large soup plates, in whicii I placed an inverted bowl filled with
water. Tlie bowl was first filled with water, the plate placed on
the top, and the whole quickly turned over. The water was now
retained in the bowl by atmospheric pressure, and gradually de-
scended as the chickens consumed it. To get sufficient depth of
water in the plates I chii)ped a piece out of the edge of eacli bowl.

When milk was used, and we had not a wire protector for
the saucer, we simply inverted a small bowl and placed it moutli
down in the latter.

The food that we used during cola Aveather, was plain, but
nutritious. For the first day or two, cracked wheat given dry (see
page 14 ), and milk to drink. Then, in the mornings, tliey had a
mixture of bran, corn meal and ground oil-cake. The oil meal
was thoroughly scalded with boiling water, and allowed to stand
some time, when it formed a diickish soup. This was then worked
into a stiff dough with a mixture of equal parts of bran and corn
meal, and fed to the chickens in small lumps. This mixture we
found to be exceedingly nutritious. As the chickens had no access
to gravel, I had a small quantity washed and sifted, and we kept a
little wooden tray full of this material constantly before them.
They seemed to enjoy picking it.

Every day we gave them a very little ment and some finely
chopped cabbage. For both tliey were very greedy. Cracked
wheat we kept before them all the time. We preferred it to corn,
though it cost a little more. On this feed they kept in good
health and grew rapidly.

One of the greatest difiiculties in the care of chickens is the
watching of individuals. It is impossible to give attention to each
single bird ; they are attended to in small flocks, and an individual
of this flock may get quite sick before even a very faithful atten-
dant notices it. Still, by watchfulness, a good. deal was accom-
plished, in this direction, and we kept two or three old and very
motherly hens for the express purpose of taking care of weak and
sickly chickens. About half of those that we transferred to these
hens came through all right. When a chicken is very sick, the
most profitable and merciful course is to kill it at once.

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 15 1

The plans that I have described gave us better results tlian I
had ever liad before with chickens in winter. It is true, that, pre-
viously, I had only raised a few clutches, mere for experiment than
anything else, as it does not pay to fuss with one brood of
chickens in winter. It is just as easy and far more profitable to
attend to a hundred.

Out of 880 eggs, we hatched 637 chickens and of these we
brought 543 to maturity. In April and May they were worth 75
cents to $1.00 per pair, making, at least, $250. The food had
cost very little, but as it had been taken from the general stock,
I am unable to give the exact figures.

We sold the cockerels and the culls of the pullets, and this i)aid
for all labor and expenses, and left a handsome profit. We had
150 very fine pullets left, and they supplied us with many eggs
during the following winter.

The success of this experiment led me to repeat it the same sea-
son. As soon as the hens were all off the nests, we had the hatch-
ing room thoroughly cleaned, fresh dry earth put down, new nests,
etc. Then, calculating the time when our brooding house would
be vacant, which we placed about April 1st, we filled the boxes
again with sitdng hens. If we had had sufficient brooding room,
we could easily have brought out three or four sets of broods from
our hatching house, but as it was, we could only manage two dur-
ing the very cold weather. But this was enough to show the
profitable character of the system, and next season I tore down the
temporary structure that had served us during the first winter, and
put up a cheap but substantial house.

1 82 COMMON SENSE

EetrospectitJe.— IJrofit anb £o0S.

T has been said by high authority, that in Agriculture, he
who buys 5 per cent, too high and sells 5 per cent, too
low, loses his entire profit. If this be true, it shows that
tlie profits in most agricultural pursuits are not as large as some
would have us believe, and indeed, it is the opinion of those who are
best informed on the subject, that the wealth of our farmers does
not come from profits arising after the manner of those from mer-
cantile transactions or contractors' undertakings, but is simply the
wages of labor, close economy having been exercised in disi)osing
of it. And so I found that a good share of the outcome of my
poultry yard was due to me as wages for the labor I had })er-
formed. When, therefore, about the first of the year, I began
to calculate where I stood, I was a litde surprised at the extent of
my investment, and at the very considerable part which was due
to the labor of my own hands, for I had far exceeded Uie propor-
tion of my own time which I had first allotted to the enterprise, and
instead of /la/f time, as I had at first calculated, I found that I had
given to it pretty long hours.

While my beginning had actually been made in June, the first sea-
son had really closed with December, so far as that year's stock was
concerned, so that when early in January I turned my attention to
the hatching of new broods, I felt that I was entering upon an-
other season's work, and was really commencing a new year in
the poultry yard as well as in the calendar. But since it was the
.yearly results that interested me most, and as my experiment
commenced in June, I have regarded the years as beginning in
that mondi.

The first season I regarded more as a sort of apprenticeship,
than as a fair sample of what the business would be, but on ex-
amining the accounts, and allowing a fair value for stock and per-

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 183

manent plant, I felt that I had not lost anything. It is in the
valuation of the stock and plant, however, that the fallacy of
most statements in regard to financial undertakings lies concealed.
If we only have the opportunity to adjust tin's feature, it is easy to
show a good balance sheet, and this may perhaps be one reason
for the prevalent tendency to "water" stocks. If the stock of any
enterprise has doubled in amount, it would seem to the unsophis-
ticated, that the property has actually doubled in value while in
fact it may have depreciated. A very slight addition to the
valuation of each of 3,000 chickens would change the bal-
ance from the loss side to that of profit, and this is easily done
on paper.

In the preceding pages, I have given my plans, methods and
many of the ultimate results. To give a minute detail of all the
ha[)S and mishaps would swell this work into a large volume, and
I will, therefore, merely offer a summary of my progress each sea-
son, and give the balance sheet of the third year, at which time I
had my yards and system fiilly under way.

On the last day of December of my first year, I found that I
had more than half the number of hens that I had set out to keep,
and in addition, I had a great many birds that might be converted
into cash as soon as the spring came. It was not, therefore, a difficult
matter to make the number up to 1,000 first class hens during the
next six months. My earliest hatches of the following season
gave me 150 good pullets; from my second hatch, at the end of
March, I had 213, so that I needed only about 150 more to com-
plete my quota. These were raised in May without any special
effort, so that when the loth of June came again, I had 1,000
good birds, though, of course, one half of them were quite young.
Besides these, I had a large number of cockerels and culls, which
could be disposed of in the fall.

The supi)ly of eggs usually begins to fall off towards the end of
May and the first of June, but my fall-reared pullets were now in
the full tide of egg-laying, and as I was now just commencing my
new system of crate-delivery, this came very opportunely.

Although the supply of fresh-laid eggs undoubtedly diminishes

184 COMMON SENSE

after May, the price does not rise very rapidly. This is probably
owing to the fact that the demand falls off somewhat during
the early summer months, but after a time the price adapts itself
to the supply, and it was to meet this state of things that I de-
pended upon my fall broods.

During the spring, I sold off all the old fowls and all the culls,
reducing my stock very considerably, and making room for the
young pullets. These I endeavored to colonize in lots having
special characteristics — each lot being placed in its own house, so
that a record might be kept of the results derived from it. Thus
in one house and yard we kept pullets which were a cross of
White Leghorn and Light Brahma, and of a certain age, and no
other birds of a different kind and age were admitted to this yard.
This made the numbers in the different houses vary, it is true, but
it enabled us to get the real average results from the different
breeds and crosses, and this was what I wanted.

Early in the second season, I erected enough houses to make
up seventeen, besides the old house and the breeding coops. The
hitter were all brought together and a glass shed erected in
front of them. This shed was divided into as many compart-
ments as there were coops, and the yards radiated in a fan-
sha[)ed form, from the coops as a centre. In this way the coops
and sheds sheltered each other, so that the hens were kept com-
fortable, and many of them kept on laying well on into the winter.
But with all my efforts, I found it imj^ossible to get enough eggs of
the second cross to supply my needs for my very early hatches,
and so I was obliged to use those of the third cross. But by using
a thoroughbred male of a different strain, I succeeded very well.
The amount of eggs to be had from these breeding coops, how-
ever, is merely a question of management, and after the second
season I was not troubled on this score. And since I obtained a
good strain of the Plymouth Rocks, I have had no trouble at all.
The Plymouth Rocks are comparatively a new race, and have not a
great deal of potency. The hens, mated with vigorous White Leg-
horn cocks, give remarkably fine results, and we are always able
to get as many early chickens of this cross as we need.

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 185

Some of the early hatched pullets began to lay in September, and
they were all laying by October, so my supply of eggs kept up
very well into the winter. I placed 125 of these pullets in the old
house, which was kept Avarm by the fire used to heat the large
ketUe. For the purpose of testing the possibility of keeping these
pullets laying during the winter, we gave them the utmost care and
attention, and they repaid us very well. So that by the end of the
second December I had attained the object at which I had amied,
and not only had my 1,000 hens, but had found that they actually
yielded me a profit, as against interest, labor and food. Tlie profit
may have been small, but still it was on the right side of the
ledger, and the extent of it was a mere question of judicious man-
agement.

Thj thi'd January came with brighter prospects, as we had
greater experience, more skill, and better facifities. Our hens of
the fall broods, and even some of the very early hatches of the pre-
ceding January ceased laying and showed a disposition to sit, and
this was also the case with many of our choice breeders. So we
got our hatcliing room and brooding house in order, and prepared
to raise a goodly lot of Httle chicks. In this we succeeded without
difficulty; the hands knew just what to do, and under my super-
vision it v/as thoroughly done. I found it no " half-day's " work,
iiowever, but that full time was demanded. There is no eight-
hour law in the chicken business.

It was this season that I regarded as the test of the soundness of
my plans and of the i)ossibility of actual success. Fortunately for
me real estate had again improved in value, and I found that if my
scheme for ekeing out my income proved a failure I could at least
dispose of the place without loss, and curtail expenses by moving
into a smaller house. During this season, therefore, I kept very
careful and accurate accounts of all expenditures and receipts, and
the following is the balance sheet of this season :

l86 COMMON SENSE

EXPENSES.

Interest on cost of buildings, plant and stock fowls $120,00

Labor Account— 1 woman at $15.00 per month and board. .. 310.00

1 boy at $2.00 per week and board 200.00

Man— half time 250.00

Food— 900 bushels of corn at 56 cts 504.00

800 bushels wheat at 87 cts 696.00

2,000 lbs. oil cake meal 37.50

2,000 lbs. corn meal at $1.25 25.00

2,000 lbs. wheat bran at $1.10 per 100 22.00

3,000 cabbages 126.00

Meat, bones, calves, etc 57.00

Fuel 15.65

$2,363.15

RECEIPTS.

Eggs, 116,197 or 9,683 doz $2,557.48

" Broilers " 383.75

" Fowls "—or old hens 287.25

Cockerels and inferior pullets 473.75

Pure bred cockerels 27.50

Eggs of thoroughbreds 123.50

$3,853.23
Expenses as above 2,363.15

Profit $1,490.08

At the close of the year (June lotli) I had 1,126 hens in the lay-
ing yards ; 439 young pullets, and between 700 and 800 young
chickens. The old hens and the " broilers " had all been sold off,
thus reducing my stock to a minimum, and consequently making
the feed bills of the year appear quite large in proportion to the
actual number of birds on hand. But it must also be borne in
mind tliat the food here charged had reared and fiittened the cock-
erels of the previous fall. The prices of both the wheat and corn
are very considerably less than the market rates, simply because I
happened to procure a considerable quantity of both in a slightly
damaged state, but ]')erfectly good for chickens.

In addition to the food charged in the bill as such, however,
there was a considerable quantity which was really represented in
the labor account. Thus we had about 120 bushels of corn of our
own raising, besides milk, potatoes, turnips, clover, grass, some

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 187

sun-flowers, etc., etc., and the chickens picked up during the year
a great deal of food in the shape of seeds, insects, worms, etc., off
the cultivated land. None of this could be taken into the account,
and yet it was all of importance, but it is very obvious that what-
ever it cost is fully represented in the charges for labor and interest.

It was amusing to notice the eagerness witli which the chickens
followed the plow, especially in grass land newly broken up. Sucli
land would be full of the larvae and pupae of cock-chafers or May-
bugs, and the way the chickens, old and young, feasted on them
was gratifying on two accounts: The chickens were fed and the
insects were destroyed.

The first year we weie on the place the cow had a very beautiful
heifer calf, wliich we raised. This calf was now a cow in full milk,
and consequently our supply from the two cows was considerable,
though none too much. We churned all the milk except the small
quantity used in the house, and fed the buttermilk to the young
chickens. It paid better than selling the fresh milk at market
rates. This was an important item, Ijut is fully covered by the
charges for labor and interest. While the feed bill may appear
heavy, the labor account probably appears light, for in addition to
the hands named in the statement there was my own labor, which
amounted to fully as much as that of any man that I could have
hired, and the house girl gave us a great deal of assistance in pre-
paring food and in other ways. And perhaps I have underesti-
mated the amount of work demanded from the man, though, ns I
would have had to have him anyway, his wages might be fairly left
out altogether so far as my particular object was concerned. But
in a thoroughly organized poultry establishment, run as a special
business, his whole time would have to be charged to the poultry.

The same is i)erhaps true in regard to the horse. Her keep and
expense of shoeing, harness, wagon repairs, etc., would all have to
be charged to the expense account, if poultry were the sole source
of income; but as it was, I obtained nearly $1,500 per year that I
would not otherwise have had, and this so turned the balance in
favor of Ferniebield as a residence, that I have no present intention
of leaving it.

l88 COMMON SENSE

Conclusion.

HAVE now given the reader a history of my methods
faiUa-es and successes, and I have endeavored to answer
])ractically the question : Can a living be made from
poultry alone, the entire dependence being upon eggs and fowls
sold at ordinary market rates ? My experience lells me that it can
be done by any one that has the capital, industry and knowledge
that are needed. The market for eggs and table fowls is always
good; better sometimes than others, but still always remunerative.
Stocks may go up or down; banks may break and business men
may fail; bur old Mother Earth always pays her dividends
promptly. And the amount of business done in eggs and poultry
is so large — over $265,000,000 per annum — that there is no dan-
ger of the business being overdone. Ten thousand new poultry
farms could not perceptibly affect the market.

If reasonable care be-taken, there need be no danger of disease
carrying off our flock:s and ruining our pros[)ects, and we know of
no other accident that can ,greatly imperil our success. But there are
certain points upon whicl>we must insist, or failure will be certain.

In the first'place, the individual must be adapted to the business.
It is no child's play to take proper care of a thousand fowls, and if
that number is doubled or trebled very good executive ability will
be needed. The care of a small flock may prove a profitable and
pleasant pastime for invalids and ladies who have no employment,
but, unfortunately, a small flock will not yield the owner a living,
and a large flock will require not only the care, but the labor of a
strong man, and of one who is not afraid of exposure to storms and
cold. Do wliat you wnll, there will be dmes when sudden storms
will overtake some of your poultry, and if you are too delicate to
take care of them, good-by to profit.

But industry, strength and hardihood are not the only require-
ments. Many a man, who bears amongst his neighbors the repu-
tation of a Job for patience, will fail when he attempts to tackle an
old hen that persists in sitting where she is not wanted. Kindness,

IN THE POULTRY YARD. 189

patience and thoughtfulness are qualities which cannot be dispensed
witli. And, moreover, the successful pouhry keeper must have a
taste for tlie business and a fondness for animals. If his duties are
l)erformed as a mere matter of duty, and not con aniore^ we would
not give much for his chances.

The next requirement is abundant capital. In a book i)ublished
a year or two ago, in which various occupations are described and
recommended as suitable for women, the writer names $300 as the
amount of capital required for a poultry establishment! Three
hundred dollars would no doubt set up a very nice poultry yard
for some one who got hfer living from other sources, but we venture
to say that if any woman, having $300, puts that amount into
poultry, and depends upon them for a living, she will fail. My
experience tells me that $3,000 is nearer what is required, and with
less than this at command success cannot be attained. We assume,
of course, that the person who undertakes the business intends to
make a living out of it, in which case he will have to give his
whole time to it, and consequently will have to get his supi)ort out
of it (or out of his capital) from the start. Less than 1,000 hens
would not give even a modeiate living, and they alone would be
worth $1,000. It is true that hens may be bought in market for
much less, but we si)eak of that we know when we say that 1,000
such hens will not yield a living to their owner. The hens must be
select birds, and are most cheaply and satisfactorily raised by the
poultry keei)er himself

A thousand hens cannot be housed properly for less than $1.00
each. Unless pioi)erly housed the results will be on the wrong
side of the ledger. This, therefore, requires anotht • $1,000.

Food must be bought by the car load, not b '-. bushel, and
cash nmst be paid for everything. Any other sy'ein will so cut
down the profits that the result will be anything but satisfactory.

To do -this needs a 7(:'^/"/C7//^' capital as large as that named by
the writer referred to. Now, if to the requirements we have named
we add the cost of living until the returns come in freely, the rent
of the land and the cost of imi)roving the same, it will be seen that
our demand for $3,000 is not by any means extravagant.

190 COMMON SENSE

I am aware, of course, that with persons who already have some
other business, and merely wish to work gradually into poultry
keeping the case is different. Such a person might begin with 100
fowls, and by investing the profits from these in new houses and
more fowls, lie might soon work up to a business of respectable di-
mensions. And this would certainly be a very judicious course, as
experience would be acquired just as it was needed. But by the
time the poultry yard is yielding a f^iir living, the owner will find
that he has invested in it a sum not far from the amount named,
and 1 am very much mistaken if he would take that amount for
his establishment.

Another error commonly made is in getting the wrong kind of
land, and too litde of it. Although I managed to succeed tolera-
bly well with 1,000 laying hens on about nine available acres, yet
I am satisfied that less than an acre and a half to each hundred
fowls is not good economy. On less than an acre it is difficult to
carry out that proper rotation of crops that is absolutely necessary,
and the fowls, from want of range, do not acquire that vigorous
health which I found so desirable. Less than fifteen acres for one
thousand birds is not desirable. Attempts have been made to keep
poultry in comparatively small coops, but it has never paid, except
in the case of fancy birds, where time and labor were no object.

The land should be all capable of cultivation, and should be as
l)roductive as it is possible to get it. Heavy clay and light sand
are to be equally avoided ; the former because the birds rarely keep
in good health on such soil, and the latter because it is so unpro-
ductive. A good deep gravelly loam is the kind to select. Such
land does not remain wet long after a rain, and it retains manure
and gives good crops. If we allow fifteen acres of such land to
each 1,000 fowls, we can raise on it a very large proportion of all
the food that is needed. It is supposed that five acres are occupied
by coops and yards, and ten acres in cultivation — growing clover,
corn, cabbage, etc. Under our system of high cultivation and
abundant manure the corn ought to yield at least 40 bushels to the
acre, or 400 bushels if the whole were devoted to this crop. This
would be about half the corn required. But since clover and cab'
bage give larger yields than corn, and as a portion of the ground

IN THE POULTRY YARD. I9I

will be in these crops, the proportionate amount of food raised
would be increased.

It is often difficult to find land at a moderate price near the
market, and it will require good judgment to strike the happy mean
between land that is very cheap because it is a long way from mar-
ket, and land that is so near market that it is very valuable. In
the latter case the temptation to confine the fowls to small yards
is very strong, and is sure to result in evil. Land suitable for poul-
try raising ought to be had for $100 per acre. A higher price
than this will load down the enterprise too heavily with interest on
capital. At this figure it should be all under cultivation, and should
not be in any sense run down. Some have recommended wild
land for poultry keeping. By this is meant land that is covered
with brush or rocks, and is so poor that it will not pay to cultivate
it. Such land may be obtained very cheaply in some parts, but
would make a very imprudent investment. We must bear in
mind that the manure from i,ooo fowls is worth a good deal per
annum, and on such poor land it is all lost, whereas if the land be
good the increase in the crops due to this manure will soon pay for
the entire investment.

At the same time, if there should be a piece of such wild land
laying close to the yards, and for sale at a low figure, it would not
be a bad investment, as it would form a grand range for the birds.
It would not yield much, but then the young birds would scratch
in it and find plenty of insects — ^just the thing they want. The
best use to make of such land, would probably be to plant it in
timber. The fowls would keep down the insects. Whether some
kinds of vines or fruit trees, might not be grown on it with profit,
would be a question worth considering.

In previous pages, we have stated that money made from the
sale of pure-bred fowls, must not enter into our calculations.
There can be no objection, however, to the poultry keeper turn-
ing an honest penny in this way. If he would keep his own stock
up, he must rear pure bred birds, and as he will always have
more than he will care to keep, it would be foolish in him not to
get the best prices possible for them. And, if he will confine him-
self to two or at the most three pure varieties, and take great pains

19.2 COMMON SENSE

witli his stock, he may soon acquire a reputation for tliese breeds
that will bring a handsome sum annually into his pocket. But he
must bear in mind that the breeding and selling of fancy fowls,
as they are called, is a somewhat speculative business. Fashion
seems to have more to do with this matter than has real merit,
and the bird which would have brought a large sum yesterday,
and which has cost much to rear, may be unsaleable to-day.

In closing these pages, allow me to say that they have been written
as much with a view to warn people of the difficulties ahead, as
to encourage them to go into poultry keeping. The tendency to
adopt some one of the various minor rural pursuits as a business
is decidedly on the increase, but we see everywhere, that, where one
succeeds, ten fail. That this is due to the character of those who
go into it, and not to the nature of the business itself, is easily seen
from the mere fact, that one succeeds, but we hold that one of the
greatest wrongs and injuries that can be inflicted upon the strug-
gling classes, is to present a dazzliiig picture of success, claiming
that any o?ie may attain it. And yet we see daily paraded in
various journals, the promise that if a person will only get a few
good hens, and take care of them, he may soon build up a busi-
ness that will iead^to fortune. And these promises .nre backed by
such an array of figures and statistics, that there seems to be no
possibility of disputing them. The eager but inexperienced novice
is, therefore, led to invest his time and money in a business of
which he knows nothing, and in which he finds out, when it is
too late, that failure is the rule and success the exception.

Of one thing I am satisfied: Ex[)erience on a small scale,
with a few dozen hens, although undoubtedly valuable, will not
enable any one to undertake poultry-keeping on a large scale at
once. The difficulties as well as the op[)ortunities which arise when
a large number of fowls are kept, are entirely different from those
which present themselves on the small scale. But those who will
bring an ordinary degree of intelligence to the woik, and who
have the qualifications we have already named, may soon acquire
the necessary experience and skill, and they will find that where
there is capital, industry and common sense in the poultry yard,
there is money in poultry-keeping.

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THE PRACTICAL STONE CUTTER
By F. T. HODGSON, 54 pages, 100 illustrations, paper cover.

A collection of every-day examples showing arches, retain-
ing walls, buttresses, skew arches, vaults, domes and semi-
domes, quoins, groins, etc. ; with explanations of the most ap-
proved and economical methods.
HOW TO MIX PAINTS

By C. GODFREY, 64 pages, fully illustrated.
A simple treatise prepared for the wants of the practical
painter, telling him how to mix his paints so as to get the
various tints and shades of reds, blues, yellows, greens, browns,
grays, etc.
THE HARDW^OOD FINISHER

By C. GODFREY, 112 pages, fully illustrated.
This book gives, in the simplest language, rules and direc-
tions for finishing in natural colors, and in antique, mahogany,
cherry, birch, walnut, oak, ash, redwood, sycamore, pine and
all other domestic woods. Finishing, filling, staining, dyeing,
varnishing, and polishing.
THE WORKSHOP COMPANION

By JOHN PHIN, 164 closely printed pages
This book forms a dictionary of practical information for
mechanics, amateurs, housekeepers, farmers— everybody. It is
not a mere collection of newspaper clippings, but a series of
original treatises on various subjects, such as alloys, cements,
inks, steel, signal lights, polishing materials, and tlie art of pol-
ishing wood, metals, etc. ; varnishes, gilding, silvering, bronz-
ing, lacquering, and the working of brass, ivory, iron, steel, etc.

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THE WORKSHOP COMPANION. Part II.

By JOHN PHIN, 128 closely printed pages.
This is an extension of the first part and contains subjects
which have not been discussed in the earlier voUime. These
two volumes form a reliable dictionary of mechanical recipes,
containing a fund of practical information that no mechanic
can aflord to be without.
MECHANICAIi DRAWING

By T. P. PEMBERTON, 112 pages, 67 illustrations. -
A series of practical instruction for machinists and students
by a draftsman of twenty-five years' experience. It is intended
for beginners and self-taught students.

ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF MACHINE DESIGN
By J. G. A. MEYER, 96 pages, 41 illustrations.
A simple and accurate introduction to the designing of
machinery, showing and explaining step by step how to get the
proportions of connecting rods, cotter joints, screw wrenches, etc.
HINTS FOR CABINET-MAKERS

By PRACTICAL MEN, 130 closely printed pages.
This book gives hints and practical information for cabinet-
makers, upholsterers and furniture men generally, together with
a description of all kinds of finishing and full directions therefor;
varnishes, polishes, stains for wood, dyes for wood,gilding, silver-
ing, receipts for the factory, lacquers, metals, marbles, etc. ;
pictures, engravings, etc.
W^ATER CLOSETS

By GLENN BROWN, 156 pages, 252 illustrations.
A historical, mechanical and sanitary treatise.
THE ART AND SCIENCE OF STAIR BUILDING
By L. D. GOULD, 72 pages, 36 illustrations.
Explaining simple and complicated examples in hand
railing.
A CENTURY OF INVENTIONS

By MARQUIS OF WORCESTER, 108 pages.
An exact reprint of this famous book first published in 1663
with notes and a life of the author.

HINTS FOR BEGINNERS WITH THE MICROSCOPE
By JOHN PHIN, 125 pages,48 illustrations.
A simple book for the young microscopist, showing how to
manage the instrument and prepare objects.
THE MARVELS OP POND LIFE

By HENRY J. SLACK, 144 pages, finely illustrated.
A simple book for the young microscopist, telling where to
look and how to identify objects to be found in ponds and
ditches.

DICTIONARY OF PRACTICAL BEE KEEPING
By JOHN PHIN, 80 pages, fully illustrated.
Discusses nearly 500 subjects, with notes and practical hints.
COMMON SENSE IN THE POULTRY YARD
By J. P. HAIG, 192 pages fully illustrated.
A full account, of 1000 hens and what they did with a
complete description of the houses, coops, fences, runs, method
of feeding, breeding, marketing, etc.

INDUSTRIAL BOOK CO.

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eentent

nu Bow Co Use It

'ill i

HOW TO USf IT

f\ practical (T[aT)aa\

FOR THE

...Qe(T)e9t U/orl^(^r...

By WM. A. RADFORD

369 Pages, (6x9 inches)

153 ILLUSTRATIONS

PRICE $1.00

Sent Prepaid on Receipt of Price

A BRAND new book that tells in simple language,
^^ without the use of engineering formula, all about
the history of cement and concrete, development of
the cemtnt industry, explanation of terms, different
kinds of cement, water lor concrete, proportioning
of concrete ingredients, determination of voids,
amount of cement to use, testing of cement, specifi-
cation for cement, the mixing of concrete, by hand
and machinery, depositing of concrete, working in
freezing weather, cracking of cement work, strength
of concrete, water proofing, tools and machinery for
concrete work, foundation work, stucco work, cement
blocks, cement shingles, sidewalks, forms for con-
crete work, cisterns, silos, sewers, drain, tile, fence
posts, reinforced concrete, beams, colums, walls,
floors, roofs, partitions, piles, etc., with may useful
rules, tables and data; together a complete index so
so that any subject on cement construction can be in-
stantly referred to.

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Practical Carpentry

pi l/alijable flew Bool{

By WM. A. RADFORD

Assisted by
Wm. Reuther and Alfred W. Wood&

2 LARGE VOLUMES

600 Pages, (6x9 inclies)

400 ILLUSTRATIONS

Price, $2.00 Per Set

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PRACTIC All CARPENTRY is a brand new book that
is practical from start to finish. Written in simple language
that a carpenter can underctand. No complicated formulas,
but everything explained in simple language.

PRACTICAL. CARPENTRY shows the best and quick-
est methods for laying out roofs, rafters, stairs, floors, hopper
bevels, mitering, coping, splayed work, circular work, in fact it
covers all sorts of carpentry and joinery work, from the laying
of the sill to the interior finish, with complete illustrations
showing aU the details and explanations about how the work
is done for windows, cornices, doors, roofs, porch work, special
chapters showing fatilty and good construction, woodwork joints,
how to file saws, how to figure out a truss, stair buUding sim-
plified, a chapter on modern building construction telling a!l
about the different kinds of framing, together with a thorough
treatise on geometry for the use of the carpenter.

PRACTICAIi CARPENTRY is elaborately illustrated
by over 400 special drawings expressly made for this book, and
these plainly show all the details and are alone worth more
Ihan the price of the book.

Each volume of PRACTICAL. CARPENTRY contains
50 designs of modern low cost houses, showing perspectives
and floor plans.

Either volume can be had separately at one dollar each.

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Cb« Steel square 3JS..'.!

J TaluaW? Itut |nnl5

Wm.

By WM. A. RADFORD

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Reuther and Alfred W. Woods

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GOO Pages. (6x9 inches.)

300 ILLUSTRATIONS

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"Tl-I r STE E L SQU AR E is a brand new book from
cover to cover, just published. The largest and most complete
book on the subject ever published. Written in plain, simple
language that every workman can understand from start to
finish. Information of value that has appeared in former boots
on tne subject appears in this book, but all simplified and
better explained. It is a complete encyclopaedia about the
Steel Square.

THE ST EEL SQUARE is a practical book showing
how the square is used for the laying out of all sorts of rafters,
finding the length of jacks, hips, and valleys; hopper bevels,
calculating, measuring, etc.

This book covers the subject of roof framing from start to
finish, from a simple roof to complicated hips and valleys and
tower work.

THE STEEL SQUARE contains special chapters
showing how the square is used in laying out stair work and
heavy timber framing, showing how the square is used for laylBg
out mortises, tenons, shovdders, braces, etc.

THE STEEL SQUARE is very elaborately iUus-
trated by over 300 special drawings that have been express :l7
made for this book. They will show you plainly how to do he
job without wasting time and money on cutting and trying.

Each volume of The STEEL SQUARE contains 50 desifiis
of modem low cost houses, showing perspectives and floor
plans.

Either volume can be had separately at one dollar each.

INDUSTRIAL BOOK CO.
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Training

^^^

Framin<3

HOUSE fRAMiNG
BARN FRAMING
ROOF FRAMING

Describing 1)ou$e,
Barn $Koof Training

By WM. A. RADFORD

338 Pages (6x9 inches.)

t82 Illustrations
PRICE $1.00

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" FRAMING " is the largest, the most complete and
the most instructive building book ever written. 1 1 deals with
the subject of "Framing "" in its multitude of forms and designs
in a most thorough manner. Nothing is omitted that will help
and guide on the construction of houses, barns, roofs, etc.,
while particular care has been taken to exclude any and every
method of framing that has not been given a thorough and con-
vincing test by experienced builders.

Practical information is the keynote of " FRAMING "

By practical, we mean information that can be successfully
applied to the every day work of the average carpenter, builder
and contractor, as well as the more intricate forms of framing
that come less often but about which it is necessary to be fully
posted. The book presents problems as they have been
worked out by well-known architects and the man on the job.

" FRAMi NG " is illustrated with over 100 pages of
detail drawings, diagrams, detail plates, etc. , iucluding many
pages of full-page plates never before published, reproducing
architects' original drawings, and also details of buildings in all
stages of construction.

" FRAM ING " is the largest book on this subject that
has ever been published. No book attempting to treat this im-
portant part of construction has ever before so successfully
covered the ground. Every phase, part and detail of framing a
house, a roof, a barn or other structure is given and treated fully
and exhaustively, with complete details showing each successive
step to be taken.

*• FRAMING " is practical in that it shows the easiest
and most common-sense way to do the work. It does not con-
fine its descriptions to one person's -ways or views, but shows
many examples of each kind of framing, all of which have
been fully tested by experienced workmen and can be relied
upon to be absolutely correct.

INDUSTRIAL BOOK CO.

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made

Roof framing gtj

A PRACTICAL SYSTEM OF

-V- MODERN METHODS -j-

By Owen B. Maginnis*

164 Pages, (6x8 inches)

100 Illustrations

PRICE, $1,00

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THE carpenter or builder who will study the methods de-
scribed in this book will realize the constructive value of
every piece of timber which enters into a framed roof and
will understand how to lay out every piece of timber used with-
out wasting valuable time and material cutting and trying.

The language used is that of a practical workman— scientific
phrases and confusing terms have been ad voided where possible
—and everything has been made so plain that any one who will
faithfully study this book will understand it from beginning
to end.

Any intelligent mechanic will be able to save at least ten
times the cost of this book in time and material during the first
few weeks that he has it in use.

The following synopsis will give a faint idea of the charac-
ter and scope of this book :

The Principle of the Roof; Laying Out and Framing a Simple
Roof; Hip and Valley Roofs; Roofs of Irregular Plan; Square
Pvramidal Roofs ; Pentagonal Roof; Hexagonal Pyramidal Roofs;
C6uic.ll Roofs; Conical Roofs Intersected by a Pitched Roof;
Octagonal Roofs; Circular Dome; High-Pitched Roof ; Mansard
Roof; Hemispherical Domes; Elliptic Dome; Circular Molded
Roof; Gothic Square Roof of 4 Centre Section; Trussed Roof of
Moderate Span on the Balloon Principle; to Frame a Roof of
Unequal Heights of Pitches and Plates; Hip and Valley Roof
of Unequal Pitch ; To Frame a Roof of Unequal Lengths of
Rnfters; Roof with Pitched Ridges ; Round-House Roof; Fram-
ing Cantilever Ro fs; Roof with an Elliptic Plan and Straight
Ridge; Church Roof Construction; Bow Truss; Studio Roofs;
How to Build a Cir ular Framed Tower with a Molded Roof;
Miscellaneous Details and Suggestions.

INDUSTRIAL BOOK CO.

178 FULTON STREET

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♦ ♦

Artistic Romes

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The Largest ^ook
of T>esigns of Cottages
el^er published

280 Pages (8x11 inches.)

Elalioratelyjllnstrated
Artistically Boniici

PRICE $1.00

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THIS book illustrates the newest and most up-to-
date houses. A large variety of designs are
given so as to meet the taste of the majority of home
builders. There are artistic houses for people of
moderate means and others for the more wealthy,
but in every case the design is niade Wwh reference
to comfort and economy.

PERSPECTIVE VIEWS and FLOOR PLANS of

250 ARTISTIC HOMES

are given, showing the arrangement and dimensions
of all rooms.

Every design shown has been made by the best
architects in the world, who have made a study of
home architecture and that alone. This volume has
received the benefit of the most careful attention. In
a word, the designs are the best that could be secured.

Every design shown has been made with reference
to comfort, convenience and economy in materials.
Every house is planned from the inside and not from
the outside ; that is to say, the convenience of
arrangement has been the first consideration.

INDUSTRIAL BOOK CO.
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Jlrtistic Bungalo\x)$

n Big new Book ^
^ of Jlrtlstfc Designs

218 Pages (8 X 11 inches.)

Elaborately Illustrated
Artistically Bound -

PRICE $1.00

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THE bungalow age is here and anyone conteni-
plating the erection of a country camp or a
permanent residence, will do well to look into this
form of construction, as the bungalow offers advant-
ages not to be found in other forms of houses. To
the average family a bungalow is ideal, as all the
principal rooms are on one floor, thus making the
housewife's work easier.

This is the largest and most complete book of its
kind ever published. It gives

PERSPECTIVE VIEWS and FLOOR PLAN5 of

208 BUNGALOWS

of different styles and varieties suitable for any
climate.

The designs show the bungalows as they will appear
when built, and the floor plans show the arrangement
and sizes of rooms. A large variety of styles are
shown so that almost every taste and purse can be
satisfied. The designs shown range in cost from ^^900
— up to |5,ooo.

INDUSTRIAL BOOK CO.

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Hnd Bow Co BMiia Cbem.

The Best and Largest Book
of Its Kind Ever Published

176 Pages (8 x 11 inches.)

jElaboratel^ 1[llustrate^

Hrttsttcall^ JBount)
PRICE $1,00

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'T^HIS large book contains illustrated details of
* cement construction — standard specifications for
cement — standard specifications for concrete blocks
— general information concerning waterproofing,
coloring, aggregates, mixtures, paving, reinforcing,
foundations, walls, steps, sewer pipes, tile, chimneys,
floors, porches, use of concrete on the farm, etc.,
together with

PERSPECTIVE VIEWS and FLOOR PLANS of

87 CEMENT PLASTER AND
CONCRETE BLOCK HOUSES

All houses illustrated with half-tone cuts, printed
on fine enameled paper.

The illustrations show the houses exactly as they
will look when built and give a very clear idea of their
appearance. All the floor plans are shown, giving
the location and dimensions of all rooms, closets,
porches, etc., with detailed information as to both
interior and exterior.

The houses illustrated range from the small to the
medium large in size, such as will appeal to the aver-
age man or woman who intends to build a home.

INDUSTRIAL BOOK CO.

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StoKS Si flat Buildings

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82 Pages (8 x 11 inrhes.)
ELABORATELY ILLUSTRATED

ARTISTICALLY BOUND

PRICE $1.00

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A BSOLUTELY the first and only book of its kind
■^^ ever published. No more valuable book could
possibly be imagined for the use of any one contem-
plating to build for their own use or as a safe and
profitable investment.

The latest ideas in Two, Four, Six, and Nine
Family Flat Buildings, Stores, Lodge Hall, Bank
Buildings, Double Houses, etc., containing

PERSPECTIVE VIEWS and FLOOR PLANS of

57 STORES AND FLATS

Bank Buildings and Double Houses in different con-
structions ; cement plaster, concrete block, brick,
stone and frame. Every building illustrated was de-
signed by a licensed architect standing at the head
of his profession who has made a study of economy of
construction. Perspective views and floor plans of
each and every design are shown, giving a picture of
the completed building and detail drawings of the
interior arrangement. Included in this collection of
designs are a large number of stores and bank build-
ings suitable for the small town or village as well as
the large city.

INDUSTRIAL BOOK CO.

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MA liow to Build Zhm

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GMItAQES

A^m HOW TO BUiLD THEM

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THE ONLY BOOK OF ITS KIND
JUST PUBLISHED

158 Pages (8 x 11 inches)

Elaborately Illustrated

cAriistically Bound
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EVERY Auto owner is vitally interested in the subject of
where to keep his machine. The most convenient place
is on your own property in a private garage the archi-
tecture of Avhich is in keeping with your house.

This book is the only one of its kind and shows a standard
collection of New, Original and Artistic Designs for Up-to-date
Private and Public Garages adapted to Frame, Brick, Stone
Cement, Stucco, or Concrete Construction together with Esti-
mates of Cost.

55 DESIGNS OF GARAGES 55

are shown by perspective views and floor plans giving
dimensions, etc. Also remarks on GARAGE CONSTRUCTION ex-
plaining the advantages of each form of construction and giving
details about the manner of erection, selection of materials,
hints on supervision, etc., etc.

There is also an extensive chapter on GARAGE EQUIPIVIENT
and ACCESSORIES in which is described the construction and
operation of turn tables; gasoline storage and pumping; oil
cabinets; constructing a repair bench and tool cabinet: lockers;
rules to prevent freezing of water in cylinders, radiators, etc.;
washing apparatus; lighting apparatus ; etc. etc.

It is just the book to give you important points and ideas if
you are about to build a garage. Its information will save you
money.

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Practical Barn Plans

n KA1)F0UD'5 r

r PRicncAL ^

I BARN Pl.\NS

r^OUFBimpTNGS' *!

OUT BUILDINGS, STOCK
SHEDS, POULTRY HOUSES, ETC.

150 Pages (,8x11 inches)

ELABORATELY ►!- •^
4« 4* ILLUSTRATED

ARTISTICALLY ^ 4*
4- 4- 4* 4- BOUND

PRICE, $1.00

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BETTER farm methods require better buildings,
not necessarily expensive ones, but buildings
that are well planned and properly adapted to the
work for which they are intended. This book de-
scribes and illustrates a large number of dairy barns,
general farm barns, horse barns, cattle sheds, poultry
houses, silos, ice houses, granaries, corn cribs, wagon
sheds, tank houses, smoke houses, hog houses, etc.

Not only one plan of each, but many of each are
shown, with all the latest inventions and contrivances
for saving time, money and labor.

ELEVATIONS, PERSPECTIVES and PLANS of

150 PRACTICAL BARN BUILDINGS

are reproduced on a large scale sufficient to guide any
carpenter and builder in the construction of same. It
is a book which should be in every farm home.

Each and every plan in Practical Barn Plans is

accompanied by a lengthy written description, ex-
plaining and giving the details of the drawings, and
so worded and arranged, numbered and indexed,
that it can be readily understood by anyone who
reads it.

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CP^ lacal Bomes ?=S)

SIZE of Book 8 X 11 inches,
bound in English cloth,
cover embossed and print-
ed in two colors. All houses
illustrated with half tone cuts
on the very finest enamel paper.
The illustrations show the
houses exactly as they will
appear when built, and no
liberties have been taken to
make them appear otherwise.
All the floor plans are shown,
giving the size and location of
all rooms, closets, porches, etc..
so that ideas are given as to
both the int' rior and exterior of
these 100 homes.

PRICE $1.00 POSTPAID

Cotnbinea l)ou$e ana Barn Plans

Two massive books bound in one and illustrated with over
twelve hundred Copper Half Tone Plates and Zinc Etch-
ings which Avere drawn especially for this work. It con-
tains over 300 houses, barns and farm buildings, designed and
drawn by the best architects and selected for their popularity
with the Building Classes. The houses illustrated were selected
fortheir excellence, practical designs and economical arrange-
ment. Perspective Views and Floor Plans being shown com-
plete, together with estimates of cost. The farm buildings in
this book are illustrated by large drawings of floors, sides, ends
and frame work, together with perspective views sufficient to
guide the contractor or builder in the construction of any of the
buildings described.

PRICE $1.00 POSTPAID

^ e^ flmerican Romes ^ ^

CONTAINING 100 designs of
low and medium priced
houses, never before illus-
trated, and has met with pheno-
menal success. The designs are
all original, practical and uj)-
to-date, and have been drawn by
licensed architects. It is beauti-
fully bound in English cloth,
embossed in three colors, 256
pages, size 63^ x 8 inches. The
houses illustrated are medium
in price, and such as 80 to 90 per
cent, of the people of the United
States wish to build to-day.

PRICE $1.00 POSTPAID

INDUSTRIAL BOOK CO.
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1