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CONTENTS

Chapter 1—American Poultry,
“ 2—The Start,
? 3—Which Variety,
‘“4—The Poultry House,
5—The Food Problem,
6—Hatching,
7—Brooding,
“ 8—Young Stock,
= 9—Maturing the Stock,
“ 10—Diseases,
11—The Markets,
“ -12—The Show Room,
“ 13—Fancy Stock,
14—Poultry Secrets,
“ 15—The Townsend Tests,

Copyright 1912

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Cornell University

Library

The original of this book is in
the Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.

http :/Awww.archive.org/details/cu31924003071333

FOREWORD.

In this little book I shall talk to
you, so far as possible, the same as I
would do if you could drop into my
office from time to time. I assume
that you are a novice, a beginner, in
poultry culture. Therefore if this
book falls into the hands of an old
breeder he will probably cry out that
he finds very little that is new be-
tween its covers. Well, what of it?
Iam not writing for Experience. I
am writing for Inexperience. The
old breeder can shift for himself. The
beginner needs help. And so, if I
save one lone reader from loss—from
discouragement—I shall feel that I
have not labored in vain, and that
captious critics, if they appear, may
all go hang!

Fraternally. yours,
THE AUTHOR.

CHAPTER |

AMERICAN POULTRY

Poultry raising is the biggest business on earth. Government
statistics—incomplete as they are—prove that the poultry industry
of the world surpasses every manufacturing business. Cotton is no
longer king. Beef, pork and mutton are left far in the rear. Wheat
was passed long ago; and even “King Corn” will be found in second
place when the poultry industry is properly tabulated.

And this great industry is a profitable business, giving better
returns for the money invested than any other line of legitimate
trade. It has been proven over and again that the cost of producing
poultry meat is no greater, pound for pound, than that of producing
beef, pork or mutton. At the same time the market reports, month
by month, show that the selling prices are overwhelmingly in favor
of the poultryman. The live weight prices for the best grades of
poultry run on the average from two to three times as much as the
highest prices paid for the best grades of cattle, hogs or sheep; while
in the lower grades the difference is still greater.

In addition to the handsome profits made by growing fowls for
market we find that the egg trade yields still greater results. If
the average yearly cost of producing a dozen eggs is placed at 12%
cents—which would probably be a reasonable estimate—and if under
improved conditions and improved breeding the average pullet lays
10 dozen eggs in a year which can be marketed at prices that will
level up to 25 cents per dozen, the profit in commercial eggs is self
evident. And under circumstances of which any live man may take

6 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

advantage this profit may be largely increased. The demand for
reliable fresh eggs is always ahead of the supply. There are many
consumers who will gladly pay 50 cents per dozen on yearly contract
for dependable eggs. Such customers must be sought; but once found
they will stick, so long as the breeder does his part.

Eggs for hatching pay still better, since one may obtain anything
from fifty cents to fifty dollars per setting for such eggs. The tide
of trade in this line begins flowing in February, reaches its flood in
April and slowly ebbs until the end of June. The eggs for hatching
trade can be made very profitable if one has good birds and a good
business head.

To be a successful poultryman—no matter what line one may
follow—requires good judgment, and a capacity for hard work. You
cannot learn to raise poultry by sitting at ease in your city home,
even though you should “bite” at every “system” swindle or fraudulent
mail order poultry “school.” These “system” hawks and “school” rats
prey upon the ignorant, the lazy and the credulous, who have been
misled by big promises in flaming advertisements.

The successful breeder has learned that the only school that can
be depended on is the school of experience. The man who has gradu-
ated from this school is equipped for success in the poultry business
and will not be misled by advertisements of systems or instructions
by mail on how to make money on poultry for a two cent stamp.

As to location: your best location is where you are. The poultry
business has this advantage—that there is no place in all this broad
land where poultry and eggs will not yield handsomely. North, south,
east and west, from Maine to California, and from the Yukon to the
Gulf the poultryman is king. The cattle breeder is confined to the
west and parts of the south; the pork raiser is largely limited to the

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 7

central states; the sheep herder is equally restricted; but the poultry-
man has the whole nation for a field. Of course one must breed in
certain localities for certain markets. Thus the Boston market
demands brown eggs—the browner the better. The New York market,
with equal lack of reason, demands white shelled eggs. In catering
to the first the so-called Mediterranean breeds would not be as profit-
able as the so-called American or English varieties; while for the
latter “Leghorn” eggs are most in demand. With these exceptions
an egg is an egg, size and quality being the only points that count.
Therefore start at home.

The beginner is often puzzled to know whether it is best to start
with birds, eggs or baby chicks. A very careful analysis of each shows
that each has certain advantages and also certain disadvantages. If
the beginner can invest say $75 for a trio and from $100 to $150 for a
pen, that will be the best way for him to start. He can raise his own
chicks and, by careful line breeding, can in due time establish his
own strain. But under no circumstances should a start be made with
cheap birds. Like begets like and cheap birds beget cheap birds. In
buying a trio or pen, always go to a breeder of established reputation.
The reason is obvious: the man who has been in business for many
years, whose stock has won the blue at the leading shows, must
necessarily know his business. More than that he must necessarily
be a man of honor. The lesser breeder may, and often does, have
excellent stock. And if his birds are of the line royal, the experienced
buyer may find it advantageous to deal with him. But in such cases
the beginner takes a chance which he would not do in buying from
an old time breeder.

If one cannot afford to buy first class adult birds, a very good way
to start is by the purchase of a number of half grown chicks. Birds
of good quality, six weeks of age and upwards, which have passed
beyond the dangers of their baby days, may sometimes be purchased

8 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

at a very reasonable price. Such birds of course have not been culled
and the beginner should have an experienced breeder look them over
when they have reached the age of six months and select those that
are fit to retain. The remainder should be marketed at once.

The most common method is to start with eggs. This is satisfactory
provided certain precautions are taken. The first is to know that the
eggs are from thoroughly matured stock. While some varieties
mature earlier than others, yet as a rule it is unwise to breed from
any bird under one year of age. Pullet eggs are usually smaller,
weaker and less fertile than those laid by hens. Another precaution
is against ordering eggs too early. In the mad rush for early hatched
chicks, the beginner takes a long chance if he purchases eggs laid
before the first of April. The big breeders, it is true, are able to get
fertile eggs sometimes in February and frequently in March. Never-
theless April and May are the best hatching months. And June is
better than February.

When buying eggs for hatching, the greatest danger lies in the
handling they receive en route. Distance is not objectionable. In
sending out eggs for hatching from our test pens we have had excel-
lent returns all the way from Maine to California. Careful packing
has had much to do with this; careful handling, over direct lines of
communication, has had more. One should buy then, whenever possi-
ble, from a breeder who can ship by a single express line so that no
transfer to another company will be necessary. Eggs carry best when
packed in strong baskets and safely cushioned on hay or excelsior;
and the buyer should insist that his eggs should be packed in that
manner.

Generally speaking, the breeder should not be blamed if eggs fail
to hatch. The buyer should know, and admit the fact, that in buying
eggs for hatching he takes a chance. But the chance, however, is

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. * 9

largely in his favor. This is particularly so when buying the higher
priced eggs. Some prominent breeders get as high as four or five
dollars each for eggs from their best pens. And high as this price is
such eggs are really the cheapest in the end; because the chances
are that any bird hatched from such eggs will be immensely valuable.

It is customary to duplicate poor hatches at half price. But the
buyer should learn the difference between an egg that is fertile and
one that is not. Most beginners imagine that eggs which will rot
during incubation are infertile; the fact is quite the contrary, for the
rotten egg is almost invariably one in which the germ has started and
died. This death of the germ is something for which the breeder is
nowise responsible. It may be caused by rough handling, from
alternate heating and chilling, from a faulty incubator, or from a
faulty hen. One should not suppose that because a hen sits steadily
she sits properly. A hen may stick to her job so closely that the
eggs are not sufficiently aired. In such cases, and they are of frequent
occurrence, the life-giving oxygen does not reach the egg in sufficient
quantities and the germ dies. In using incubators faulty thermostats
occasionally allow a wide variation in temperature; this is likely to
prove fatal to the germ especially in the earlier stages. Therefore one
should exercise common sense when making claims for infertility.

The baby chick industry has some commendable features. The
buyer is saved all worry over cranky hens or cranky incubators. He
can count his chickens before they are hatched; and if he could raise
all that he counts, his troubles would be nil. Unfortunately these little
chicks are exposed to many dangers. Packed closely for shipping they
are liable to suffer from chilling, over-heating, and for want of fresh
air. Any of these causes will make them susceptible to disease,
particularly to the deadly white diarrhoea. But if they escape all
this and are properly cared for on their arrival, there is no reason
why they should not do well.

10 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

At certain times of the year, notably at the close of the hatching
season, the beginner may often take advantage of bargain sales. The
females purchased at such sales may not lay many eggs the following
year; but. if mated to a vigorous cockerel, the few eggs they do lay
will be of high value.

The beginner must needs expect discouragements. But he should
remember that it is only in the school of adversity that one wins the
highest honors. Poultry keeping is an honorable, healthful and profit-
able business. Properly managed there is nothing that will yield
better returns for the time and money invested.

CHAPTER II

THE START

Well begun is half done; and this saying holds true nowhere
more than in the poultry business. A bad beginning in poultry
culture usually means a bad ending. The most common fault to be
avoided is that of beginning on to large a scale. Better success with
a trio, than failure with a thousand; and the man who begins with
a thousand birds, or even with a hundred, if a tyro, almost invariably
meets with failure.

The reason why so many fail at the outset is that they begin
with inflated ideas. They read the Munchausen tales told by irrespon-
sible knaves, exploiting some fabulous “strain,” and having no knowl-
edge of the facts in the case, they fall easy victims. They read, and
believe, the stories told by various “system” men describing in rosy
colors how profits running from six dollars upward per hen can be
made by wholly inexperienced people; they pay their hard-earned
money to alleged poultry “schools” for the purpose of learning by
mail, in their city homes, “how to conduct a large poultry plant’;
they figure, unwisely, that if a single hen pays yearly a legitimate
profit of even $1.50, a thousand hens will pay correspondingly. All
these things lead to failure. There is no royal road to success in
poultry culture. The way to learn to raise poultry is to raise poultry,
and by that is meant from small beginnings. Do not start with the
idea of making a fortune immediately. Mr. U. R. Fishel, whose stand-
ing today financially is of the highest, started with a dozen birds. He
“felt his way,” treated his customers right, and grew as his business

12 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

grew. Lester Tompkins, the noted breeder of Rhode Island Reds,
Sam. Noftzger, the originator of the beautiful and useful Partridge
Plymouth Rocks, and in fact almost every noted breeder began growing
poultry along the same lines. The wise tyro, therefore should follow
their example.

One of the most common questions put to an expert is “How much
capital do I need for a start.” The next is “Where should I locate?”
The first is answered by saying: “Whatever amount you can afford,
bearing in mind the stipulation of starting small”; to illustrate: <A
beginner wrote me that he had $75 to invest in birds and asked how
many I could send him for the money. I told him that I would send
him a trio of thorough-bred stock equal to any that he could purchase
anywhere in the country. I then went on to explain that
with this trio he would get started on a sure foundation,
and that another year he could have a good sized flock of first class
birds instead of a large flock of culls, he immediately saw a light.
Had he invested his money at the outset in dollar birds, his “strain”
would have been dollar birds to the end of the chapter. On the other
hand, by starting with three birds of exceptional value, and by careful
culling, in three years’ time he had a flock of birds that placed him
among the money makers.

I am writing this book for the beginner. The novice should be
told the plain, blunt truth. He should have facts, not fancies. Many
arrant humbugs and some downright swindlers have crept into the
poultry business, and the brassy claims made by these harpies have
led many people to invest beyond their means by arousing hopes
impossible to realize. We shall publish facts so that the beginner
may start with his eyes open.

Poultry raising is healthful and profitable. It takes one out of
doors, keeps brain and body busy, and if properly managed gives
better returns, dollar for dollar, than any other business.

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 138

The “back yard” breeder can make a living—and a good living
from his birds. He won’t make thousands of dollars yearly on a few
square feet of land, as one notorious faker claimed to have done,
unless, like that unsavory person, he pitches Truth overboard and,
through misleading advertisements, beguiles the credulous into paying
enormous prices for third-rate stock and eggs.

But there is a multitude of breeders today who are making
._ plenty of money, and making it legitimately, in city and village.
And the secret of this is to breed intensively, from first class stock
of a single variety. Such breeders may not raise many birds, but
“ they can raise good ones and get good prices; and as their expenses
are low their profits will be high.

But town lot breeding is not easy work. To properly care for
two hundred birds under such conditions requires more downright
labor than would the care of a thousand on free range.

Birds in constant confinement must have constant attention.
Green food, animal food, grit, lime, charcoal, dust baths and pure,
fresh water must be supplied. Houses must be kept clean, snug and
dry. Vermin must be held in check. On free range much of this
labor and expense is unnecessary. '

But remember: Fowls on free range never pay as much per head
as they do in confinement. The reason is that free range birds are
often left to hustle for themselves; and while they may be healthy
and vigorous they do not make as quick growth nor lay as many eggs
as restricted birds.

Under absolutely ‘‘natural” conditions no hen would lay except
for reproduction. The native jungle fowl lays fewer eggs in a year
than a well-bred pullet lays in a single month. The “200 egg” hen is

14 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

common in small flocks, even though she is not—and probably never
will be—a commerrial fact.

The town lot breeder can, and usually does, know his. birds indi-
vidually. Thus he can mate properly—as will be described later on—
and from his small flock produce a high percentage of first class birds.
Selecting some popular variety, and breeding only for the fancy, a
good living can be made on a half acre.

The average farm flock is a nightmare—a jumbled mess of mon-
grels. A majority of farmers still think that poultry is something
for the “women folks” to “fuss with” but of no real importance. This
is a great mistake. It is safe to say that there is not a farm of
ordinary size where general crops are grown, that, properly managed,
would not pay far better with poultry than with anything else. The
town breeder must buy everything for his birds. The farmer can
raise everything—or an equivalent. If he has the ability he can breed
both fancy and market poultry, and thus make money at both ends
of the business. There are very few places where poultry and eggs
fail to find a ready market at good prices; and fancy poultry is bred
all the way from Maine to California.

On the farm the birds should not be cooped or penned to keep
them out of the garden. No. Fence in the garden and let the birds
run free. Neither should they be made feathered tramps, roosting
under sheds, in barns or out-buildings. Nor should they be allowed
to loaf about the kitchen door looking for table scraps. Even that
alleged breeder, who pretended to have made $38,600 in one season
from 30 hens, by feeding them on table scraps, did not allow them to
befoul his kitchen steps. His mythical “feeding” was done at a dis-
tance.

The farmer should adopt the extensive or colony system. Therein
lies the secret of success with farm poultry. Colony houses large

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 15

enough for forty or perhaps fifty chicks can be built at trifling cost,
or purchased, ready to put together, for a few dollars. I use the
Buckeye colony houses because they last for years and cost less than
I could build them. While allowing a good out door run they keep
the little chicks warm, dry and comfortable, and when they are large
enough to look out for themselves these buildings make admirable
roosting houses.

With the colony system a large number of chicks may be cared
for without much labor. They may be hopper fed and watered from a
barrel so will need but little attention. The farmer, therefore, can
raise hundreds while the town breeder raises dozens.

Commercial breeding, so called, is merely specializing. Generally
this runs into “egg farms,” with “broilers on the side.” There are
many of these great “farms” in the vicinity of New York, Philadelphia
and Boston; and on the Pacific Coast, in California, there are others
equally great.

These big commercial plants are money makers—sometimes.
When managed on broad lines, by men who are big enough for big
things, they pay well. The secret of success with twenty thousand
hens is the secret of success in any other big enterprise. The ability
to place, organize and conduct such an extensive business is unusual,
demanding, as it does, qualities that only the few possess.

Fancy breeding, as the word suggests, is the breeding of orna-
mental or toy birds. There are enough buyers to make this branch
of the business fairly profitable. Indeed there are bantam breeders
who make a great deal of money every year. And there is a fair
demand at all times for the Polish in all its varieties, together with
the Frizzles, Silkies, Sultans and other “odds and ends.”

The secret of success with these bizarre birds is to breed to the
Standard—and advertise.

CHAPTER III

WHICH VARIETY?

The beginner constantly asks the question: ‘‘Which is the best
breed?” And the oft repeated answer is: “There is no best breed.”
Naturally some breeds are better than others. No matter how
beautiful a variety may be, unless it possesses practical qualities, it
is only a toy of no use save to the dyed-in-the-wool fancier. The
Polish, the Hamburgs, the Silkies, the Sultans, Frizzles, and Bantams
are all of this class. Among them are many odd and beautiful birds
but none of them are suitable for the man who goes in for meat
or eggs. The “meat” breeds, including birds raised for capons, can
be bred successfully only where food products are available at the
lowest market prices. These varieties include such massive birds as
the Cochins, Brahmas and Langshans. They are large of frame,
slow in growth, and require far more food to reach a market age than
do any other breeds; but where food products are cheap they can be
grown successfully and will pay great profits. Where eggs, and
especially white eggs are required, the Leghorn naturally holds first
place. These birds grow rapidly, mature quickly, and if care is
taken to secure a good laying strain, they are, under such conditions,
the best fowls for the white-egg farmer.

The well deserved popularity of the American and English breeds
rests upon their general utility qualities. The Plymouth Rocks,
Rhode Island Reds, and Orpingtons, and to a lesser extent the Wyan-
dottes, are really general purpose fowls. The fact that the Wyan-
dottes, with some notable exceptions, generally lay smaller eggs than
either of the other varieties, and that they run smaller in size, has

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 17

served to lessen their popularity with the practical poultryman. As
broilers, however, the Wyandottes fill every requirement; and when
properly bred they are very satisfactory egg producers. The beginner,
however, will find that the white variety will give the best satisfac-
tion as a layer—owing to the fact that the comparative ease of
breeding to standard requirements has enabled the admirers of this
variety to give more attention to utility points than has been possible
with other Wyandottes.

The Rhode Island Reds, both Single and Rose Comb, are im-
mensely popular, both with the fancier and the market poultryman.
The difficulty of breeding this variety to the Standard gives the
fancier an opportunity to extend himself to the limit. And it has
been a fortunate thing that the Rhode Island Reds have been in the
hands of practical men to such an extent that the standard tinkers
have been unable to ruin this breed. The consequence is that the
Reds have retained their utility qualities along with their popularity
in the show room. They are docile, bear confinement well, lay large,
brown eggs, mature early and are exceedingly popular as market
birds. As layers, they rank high. In the tests for laying they have
been among the leaders. As fancy birds they bring high prices, rank-
ing with the Plymouth Rocks and Orpingtons. The beginner, if he
takes care to buy his stock or eggs from men who are dependable,
will make no mistake in taking up this breed.

The English Orpingtons are strictly first class birds. Massive in
size, stately in style, these birds are among the aristocrats of the
feathered world. Rapid in growth, maturing early, laying good sized,
tinted eggs, and plenty of them, their popularity in England, and their
growing popularity in America, is easily understood. And despite their
handicap in being touted by some of the worst fakers in the business
they still are winning a commanding position because of their intrinsic

18 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

merits. There are three standard varieties—the White, Buff and
Black. There is no difference in the meat or egg value of either
variety; although the lingering American idiocy against dark legs
in chickens—though there is none in turkeys—has prevented the
Blacks from having the vogue of the Whites and Buffs. This absurdity
is rapidly disappearing and therefore the Black variety is growing in
favor daily. It is one of the best of all varieties, especially for the
town fancier.

In starting with Orpingtons, especially the White variety, one
should exercise much caution. The American standard differs
materially from the English. The latter, very properly, puts ij;pe
above all else. An English judge will award first prize to a bird that
may be bad in comb, legs and eyes, provided it is strong in type. An
American judge is too apt to consider these minor points; and as a
result the blue ribbon is too often awarded birds that are Orpingtous
in name only. This fault must be and will be corrected; therefore
the. beginner with Orpingtons should buy his stock or eggs from men
who breed to the English type—like William Cook and Sons, the
originators of all the Orpingtons.

The Plymouth Rock is the American bird par excellence. Large,
lusty, quick growing, early maturing, equally at home in pen or on
range, a great layer of big eggs, unsurpassed as a market bird, this
active breed is typical of American snap and go. There are many
varieties of the Plymouth Rocks, each of which has its ardent
admirers. The old reliable Barred variety is a business bird, wonder-
fully popular with the farmers of America, and equally popular in the
show room. Its only objection in the eyes of the small breeder, is
the fact that double mating is necessary in order to produce males
and females of the same shade of color. The males naturally run
light, the females dark. It is necessary therefore, as a rule, to breed

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 19

from dark birds in order to produce dark males, and from light birds,
especially from a light male, in order to produce females of standard
color. This prevents many small breeders, who lack the necessary
room, from handling this variety; but the market breeder, who cares
nothing for fancy points, finds in the Barred Rock a variety that suits
him from the ground up.

The Buff, Columbian and Penciled varieties are all excellent,
but none of them has achieved the popularity of the others.

The White Rocks, thanks to men like Fishel, Graves and Owen,
backed by their own intrinsic good qualities, have a world-wide popu-
larity. They are phenomenal layers, grow to a large size, and are
among the most popular of all market breeds. As egg producers
their remarkable freedom from broodiness places them among the
leaders. Our official tests showed that four exhibition White Rocks
laid 861 eggs in one year—an average of 215 each. And in three
years’ tests, which included a large number of birds, no ‘“broody”
was ever seen. The White Rocks breed white and stay white. Storm
or sunshine has no effect on their plumage. We have had birds of
this variety reach an age of four years and moult out to a snowy
whiteness. The beginner will make no mistake in taking up the
“White Rocks.

The latest edition of the Rock family and one that is apparently
destined to become the most popular of all, is the new beauty breed,
the Partridge Plymouth Rocks. As is usually the case, when anything
of especial merit is produced, there are several who claim to have
originated this wonderful variety. But careful investigation shows
that the honor clearly belongs to Samuel A. Noftzger, of North Man-
chester, Ind. His strain appears to be the only one containing no
Partridge Wyandotte blood.

20 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

The Partridge Plymouth Rocks possess many qualities held by no
other breed or variety. Our official trap nest records show that they
have outlaid all others thus far tested. A pen of six birds laid the
astounding number of 1,321 eggs in a single year, an average of 220
each. Their eggs are uniformly large and very even in shape and
color. This fact alone makes them particularly valuable to the egg
farmer because of the labor saved in sorting for the market. They
are easily broken up if they become broody, a couple of days confine-
ment usually being sufficient; while if allowed to sit, they make the
best of mothers. Their plumage is remarkably beautiful, a combina-
tion in the male, of lustrous greenish black, bright red and mahogany
brown; in the female the color is a beautiful blending of mahogany,
soft brown and black and both male and female are produced by
single matings. Therefore the amateur and professional will find
that the Partridge Plymouth Rock is not only a bird of beauty but
one of the greatest money makers in poultrydom.

The remaining standard American breeds—Buckeyes, Dominiques
and Javas—are birds of quality. The first has been rather unjustly
called a “mahogany bay” imitation of the Rhode Island Red. As the
Buckeyes differ from the Reds in size, weight and color they should
be judged on their own merits.

The Dominique is a grand old breed and deserves far more
attention than it receives. Lighter in weight and easier to breed to
color than the Barred Rocks; early maturing and exceptionally good
as a layer; free from the incubus of double mating—the beginner
would find this an excellent variety.

The Java, both Black and Mottled, has become thoroughly
Americanized. A large, vigorous breed, sadly neglected. The foolish
prejudice against dark shanks and the “booming” of new breeds is
responsible for this, since the Java is an excellent variety, both for
eggs and market.

.-POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 21

The Dorkings, Minorcas and many other varieties are worth
“taking up” and there is a chance for the right man to make a fortune
with any of them.

Ducks, geese and turkeys occupy separate and distinct fields in
poultry culture. As they differ entirely from the gallinaceous fowls
it would be impossible to handle them in a book of this sort without
extending it far beyond the prescribed limits. Therefore I will pass
the subject for the present, merely saying that under proper condi-
“tions either of the three classes can be made to yield handsome
returns for the money invested.

CHAPTER IV
THE POULTRY HOUSE

One of the secrets of successful poultry culture is that of proper
housing. It is probable that as many failures have resulted from lack
of knowledge along this line as from any other cause, as large sums
of money have been wasted on expensive but improperly built houses.
In trying to make the birds comfortable they have been made uncom-
fortable. Double walls, elaborate ventilators and heating systems have
added to the cost only to the detriment of the birds.

There are but four requirements in a well built poultry house—a
tight roof, a dry floor, freedom from draughts and proper openings
for the air and sunshine. The house should be cool in summer and
warm enough in winter so that the birds will not actually suffer from
the cold. The house need not be costly, but it should be substantial.
If the roof is covered with a good material, if the walls are lined with
fairly heavy weight tarred paper, if the floor is built of solid concrete
to keep out the vermin, and covered with plenty of clean straw for
scratching, and if ventilator windows are supplied, of the style
described in this book, and if the fowls are not overcrowded, there
will be freedom from sickness, and the birds will be happy and con-
_tented. Under such circumstances they will do well and pay well.

The style and size of the house depends wholly upon circum-
stances. First let us consider the house that is used more than any
other.

24 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.
The Town Lot House.

Thousands of “back yard breeders” are housing their birds im-
properly and wondering why their chickens don’t pay. In nearly
every case the houses are unsanitary, and that, alone, is enough to
condemn them.

In many cases the so-called “houses” are either spaces penned
off in dark and drafty barns, or else they are some freak “system”
coops, made of pine sticks and muslin, and sold to the inexperienced,
at outrageous prices.

The barn “house” is bad. The 3 by 6 “system” coop is worse.
In the former the birds lack sunshine—which means a loss of health
and vigor. In the latter—working wholly out of doors—for these
“houses” are merely cheap boxes—the birds are certain to be neglected
in bad weather. In driving storms of snow or rain it would take more
than Spartan fortitude to care for even one of these unhappy pens.

For a few birds on a city or village lot the “No-Yard” house is
probably the best. Careful tests have been made of several varieties
of these houses, and we found that the Buckeye house was very satis-
factory. An abundance of fresh air without drafts, easy to clean—we
found it an excellent building for a dozen birds.

The Sectional Laying House, made by the same company, was
also tested with good results. By changing the windows to the inside
—a very easy job—we turned them into the Tanner Ventilators used
in all our houses. This method of ventilation is absolutely perfect.
The foul air is forced out and pure air is drawn in, while no draft is
apparent in any part of the building. The buildings are thus made
cool in summer and warm in winter. Moreover the houses are abso-
lutely damp proof—a matter of great importance.

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 25

The Secret of Dry Cement Floors.

Cement makes the best flooring. It is better than dirt because it
can be kept clean and is vermin proof. It is better than wood because
it is far cheaper, absorbs no filth and is permanent. But it has had
the objectionable feature of being damp—and dampness is not con-
ducive to good health. Many methods have been tried to overcome
this dampness. All have been faulty in one way or another, at least,
for poultry houses. After various experiments the problem has been
solved. In the Townsend Model House—using a combination of the
Buckeye sectional houses—the foundation walls and floors are made
of cement and are absolutely damp proof. The secret of this con-
struction is very simple, and the cost is trifling. It is accomplished
by mixing six pounds of hydrated lime with each hundred pounds of
cement. And this need not be used in the bottom course. Our method
is to put down about two inches of five parts rough gravel and one
part of Edison cement. Make this very wet, tamp well, and follow at
once with a second course laid from a half-inch to an inch in thickness
—three parts of sand or fine gravel to one of cement with the hydrated
lime as stated; and dampness is unknown. The house rests on walls
six inches thick and carried about a foot below the surface. The
building is not only damp proof but vermin proof as well.

The beginner will hardly undertake the erection of buildings for a
large commercial plant. Such buildings include laying houses, incu-
bator and brooding houses, breeding and colony houses; and their man-
agement is utterly impossible for the tyro. Make no mistake about
this. One of the secrets of successful poultry culture is based upon
the common sense idea of making haste slowly. No sensible man
would try to build a mansion until he had learned to cut a rafter. No
sensible man would try to “manage a large poultry plant,” as one
“teach-you-by-mail” concern promises, until after a long experience
with more or less insane incubators and more than less hysterical
hens.

26 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

Let us next consider a house that is used by tens of thousands,
of which not one per cent. is used properly.

The Farm Poultry House.

Any farmer can make money with his poultry. Every farmer
should do so. And of the several reasons why they do not, the first is
that the birds are improperly housed.

It may be well enough to allow the young stock to roost in the
trees during the late summer months and early fall. But by October
the birds should be provided with proper quarters and taught to
occupy them.

The average farmer neither knows nor cares anything about the
fancy. If he takes any interest in the subject—which he rarely does,
not knowing that poultry might pay better than all his crops com-
bined—but if interested at all, he merely wants birds that will give
him both eggs and meat. Usually his stock is a mess of mongrels.
His hens “steal their nests” and vermin steal the chicks. He matures
a tenth of what he might do. These find shelter as best they can—in
barns, under sheds—anywhere and everywhere, except where they
should be. Hardy? Of course. The few that survive must be hardy.
They are generally light in weight and their egg yield is lighter—the
price paid for such “hardiness.”

The farm poultry house may be built at very little expense. A
south or east side of a barn or other outbuilding makes an excellent
location provided of course that the ground is high and dry. Let the
house have a front slope, place the roosts at the rear, on a level, with
nests at the side. Be sure that the roof is tight and have a door at
the high side with one or more windows in the low front. A building
14 feet deep by 14 feet wide will accommodate about 40 birds; and any

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 27

farmer who can saw a board and drive a nail can erect such a house
at a cost of less than $40. This makes a good house at little cost
wherein the birds may have proper shelter during the long winter.

The Fancier’s House.

The man who breeds for “points,’—who goes in for exhibition
birds—should plan his house accordingly. Breeding stock requires
special handling. One of the secrets in producing good show birds
is to keep the breeding stock in tip top condition at all times; and a
proper house is one of the first essentials.

Breeding pens that are expected to throw fancy stock are usually
of small size—from six to eight females—so that less house room is
needed. As the breeders must be under daily observation, to be sure
that each female “nicks in” with the male; as trap nests are abso-
lutely necessary; as the birds, in short, demand unusual attention
during the breeding period, the “long” or continuous house is best
if one breeds at all extensively. A yard of strong turf, with a shel-
tered, southern exposure, is an absolute necessity if early chicks are
wanted. For the breeder who expects to get even a fair percentage
of March chicks must have his birds on the turf during the winter
whenever a bit of green shows. This is a breeder’s secret and is well
worth remembering.

The Townsend House.

After much study, and many consultations with our Mr. J. S.
Tanner, of the Advisory Board, who is one of the best working archi-
tects in America, I have planned and built the model house described
herewith. This is a new house for some of the tests which I am
conducting in the interests of the National Poultry Association. In
planning it I had several objects in view. Among them were the
following:

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POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 29

Perfect sanitation, to insure good health.

Thorough ventilation, without drafts, in all weather.

An absolutely dry, floor, and one easily cleaned.

A house that should be rat, bat, cat, mouse and mite proof.

Cool in summer and fairly warm in winter. A

A “one man” house where a single helper could do all the work in
a short time. This demanded automatic watering, feeding, ease of
cleaning and rapidity in gathering eggs from scores of trap nests,
making, at the same time, the necessary records.

A convenient, dry and vermin proof feed room.

This was something of a contract, but, it has been successfully
carried out.

The fixtures and appliances used in any poultry house will depend
upon the owner’s taste—and pocketbook. The only vital necessities
are sanitary fountains or other easily cleaned receptacles for water;
boxes for grit, oyster shells, charcoal and beef scraps; fairly low
perches; fairly dark nests, a dust bath, and dropping boards that may
be cleaned easily. Given these, with plenty of scratching litter and
the hen that will not be a hustling, laying, paying bird is fit only for
the market.

Main house, 22x30. Feed room, 12x16. “P” is passage way. “A,”
pens, clear, 6x9. “D,” trap nests. “B,” bins. “W,”’ windows. Doors
as indicated. “F,’ feed troughs for dry mash, etc. “PR,’ Sanitary
Perches.

This house is 22x30 over all, the feed room being 9x16. The
entire building rests on 6 inch concrete walls and the floor is of
concrete, two inches thick with a half inch top. There is a four-foot
alley-way 30 feet long through the main house. Trap nests are con-

30 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

veniently placed, and under the nests is a clear space allowing fowls
that much extra scratching room. Each pen is furnished with a Nor-
wich Automatic Feeder which allows the birds to feed themselves and
at the same time gives plenty of exercise. Each pen has 54 square feet
and as the dropping boards are wide enough for double roosts each
pen will hold from 8 to 12 birds. The partitions are solid matched pine,
extending to the roof. In each pen there is a four light window, each
pane being 12x16. This allows 5 1-3 square feet of glass to each pen.
In the monitor top are swinging windows having three 9x12 panes in
each. These windows swing out and are regulated from the passage
way. The house, therefore is well lighted.

The pen windows are supplied with the Tanner ventilator method,
a simple, yet effective way for admitting fresh air at all seasons with-
out drafts, and for carrying off the foul air. The windows are
arranged as follows: On each side of the opening, fitting closely to
the sash, is nailed a three-cornered board, the length being the same
as the sash, and the broad end, at the top, being from 8 to 12 inches
wide. The sash is placed between these boards, the bottom resting
on the window sill and the top against a stick nailed to the side
boards near the top. A double current of air is thus set in motion, and
the building is always supplied with fresh air. The entire window may
be lifted out if necessary, or closed tight in zero weather, being then
held in place by a cupboard catch. A strong screen on the outside
of the opening keeps out intruders.

The house is. eight feet above the walls at the highest point, and
four feet at the lowest—the wall being nine inches above the floor.

The watering is automatic, the water being conveyed from an
air pressure tank so that the pans are always full of clean water. In
the summer they can be flushed as often as desired. Im the winter
they can be automatically emptied at night to escape any danger from

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 31

freezing. The house is cool in the summer, however, as with the wire-
protected doors and windows wide open, there is a constant circulation
of air. The house is relatively warm in winter because there is no
dead, damp air to chill the birds.

The old fashioned and unsanitary dropping boards are not used
in this house. The night droppings fall into the litter and as this is
changed weekly there is no odor.

‘fhe house was built by taking ten of the sectional houses made
by the Buckeye Incubator Co., of Springfield, Ohio, and putting them
into position facing each’ other—five on a side. The fronts were
held in reserve. The high sides faced at a distance of six feet, the
partitions resting on boards nine inches wide. An additional roof was
built, carrying it up so as to allow for the “Monitor” top. The fronts
were utilized, so there was no waste of lumber. This made a first
class house at far less cost than had we bought the lumber and built
outright. And if one uses but two houses it is equally available.

CHAPTER V

THE FOOD PROBLEM

We may buy the best eggs in the world. We may get from them
chicks that are marvels in health and vigor; but unless they are fed
right, these chicks will never be anything but culls.

We may buy mature birds of the best quality; we may give them
ideal quarters; but unless we feed them right they will not lay well.
nor throw good stock.

The secret of proper feeding has been well kept. The real
breeaers will usually tell you what they feed—in a general way; but
they do not give you the essential facts. The fake breeder, who sells
eges from a fake “‘strain” may tell you of feeding 30 hens on scraps
from his table; and a “system” man may tell of “feed” at a few cents
per bushel. You cannot copy the legitimate breeder for you don’t
know the particulars; and no man of sense will have anything to do
with the other sort. .

The secret of proper feeding cannot be told in a sentence. There
is too much of it.

The beginner may be told what to feed his chicks. Possibly it
will be right; probably it will be wrong. The proper food for the
Mediterraneans won’t do at all for the Asiatics; and something still
different is required for the American and English varieties.

But in the beginning of things, the knowing breeder feeds for
chicks long before the eggs are laid from which those chicks are
hatched!

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 33

Clinch that fact.
Now let us go into details.

It is the first of January. Your birds are properly mated, as
described in Chapter 14. Very well. Now you are ready to feed
your breeding stock—not for record laying, but for record chicks.

You are breeding some Mediterranean variety—Leghorns, Anconas,
anything you please, of the small, nervous, fast growing, quick matur-
ing sort. These birds require no nerve food. On the contrary they
need fattening food—plenty of corn, milk, vegetables. Get your Leg-
horn hens as fat as you can—they won’t take on too much flesh—and
note the increased size and vigor of their chicks. And when the
chicks come, crowd them to the limit. See to it that they have plenty
of granulated bone, chick grit, green stuff, fresh water, sour milk, and
exercise. The latter is a mighty important factor.

Keep the Chicks Busy!

I have grown some immense Leghorns, and the way I did is
this:

After the chicks were “nest ripe’’—that is not earlier than 48 hours
after the hatch is completed—I begin operations. First, they get some
chick grit—just a pinch for each one—with some of the medicated
charcoal prepared by the Des Moines Incubator Co., of Des Moines,
Iowa, and water in a chick fountain. An hour or two later they get
their first supply of the Gritless Chick Food prepared by Park &
Pollard of Boston, Mass. I would say at the outset that I use the
Park & Pollard foods solely because they give better results at less
cost than any others—and I have gone far afield in my search for the
best.

I keep the chicks in Buckeye colony houses either with hens or
Lullaby brooders in lots of from 15 to 30—depending on the season.

34 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

These houses are large, snug, dry and vermin proof; and they make
homes for the chicks until transferred to the laying or breeding

houses.

After the second day the youngsters are given the Gritless
Chick Food in ground alfalfa which is spread thickly on the floor. A
liberal supply of this food is scattered in the alfalfa and they are kept
busy thereby. A chick mash, called “Growing Food” is supplied after
a week or ten days. There is plenty of animal food, so necessary
to chick growth, in this combination.

When the youngsters are about a month old a coarser grain—
the Intermediate Chick Food—is substituted for the gritless, but the
growing food is used until they mature.

The chicks are confined in well shaded runs until they are
weaned, when they go on free range. This prevents any loss from
cats, rats and other vermin.

Scratching for grain gives exercise. But this is not enough.
Odds and ends of food must be thrown into the pen many times daily.
Bits of bread or boiled potatoes, leaves of lettuce or Swiss chard, an
occasional earth worm—it matters little what, so long as it gives them
something to race, chase and scrap over.

In breeding the Asiatics, and, to a certain extent, the Orpingtons,
Rocks and Reds, different preparations are necessary. These larger
breeds, being less active than the Mediterraneans, must be handled
accordingly. No fattening food—no corn meal—no “Johnnie cake.” <A
little corn, oats and oat meal, wheat and bran. These are the staples.
For all purposes the Park & Pollard Screened Scratch Grain answers
best. It contains enough corn to keep up steam during the cold
weather, with a well blended variety of other grains.

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 35

The chicks of these larger varieties should have, in addition to the
food already described, a considerable amount of oat meal which may
be boiled or made into oat cakes. The chicks will relish this for a
change. Bear in mind that your object is to keep them growing, but
growing in the right way. Keep them busy every minute. Never
allow them to “hump up” and mope. A brief set back is enough to
turn a promising chick into a worthless cull. Therefore keep them
growing.

The secret of feeding for eggs is easily mastered. Have your
pullets butter fat when they go into the laying house. Remember
that it is as impossible to get figs from thistles as eggs from a scrawny,
half-starved bird.

In feeding for ‘commercial’ eggs it is necessary to give food that
will induce laying in the late fall and early winter when eggs com-
mand top prices. ‘For this purpose foods rich in animal protein,
blended with the right amount of carbon-—like corn for instance—must
be supplied. The “standard” foods—wheat, oats, corn and barley—
were formerly used, exclusively. Then somebody began feeding a
“wet” mash, made up of bran, middlings and so forth, and mixed
with water. This produced “results” by increasing the egg yield.
It likewise produced, in many cases, disastrous results—causing bowel
trouble—especially when vegetable protein was used—getting birds
“off their feed” and out of condition generally.

A mash food is necessary. A wet mash is unnecessary. In our
laying tests with various breeds we have produced remarkable results
with never an ounce of wet mash.

One method of feeding whereby such records as 1,321 eggs laid
by six Partridge Rocks in one year, 1,215 by six Leghorns, 1,165 by
six Reds, and 863 by four White Rocks—each in one year—was as
follows:

36 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

The pullets were kept growing until matured and up to weight.
And here I want to say most positively that the fellow who adver-
tises that his “strain” lays at 314 months is, if possible, a bigger fool
than knave. The claim, like many others made by reckless people,
proves how ignorance and mendacity go together. The most
precocious Leghorns do not lay at such an age. And any bird that
is forced to lay before it is able to stand the strain is ruined both as
a layer and breeder.

When the pullets were placed in the laying or breeding house
they were fed—as a rule—a small amount of scratch feed—a handful
or two each—in the morning, and a heavier feed in the afternoon.
Meanwhile the Dry Mash and Growing Feed, mixed half and half,
was kept before them all the time until they began laying; then the
Growing Feed was dropped. Now and then—as often as they seemed
to relish it—some steamed alfalfa was given them, with occasional
extras in the vegetable way—cabbages, potatoes, apples, beets, etc.
Pure water in clean vessels, grit, charcoal, shells and some granulated
bone—there you have it.

This method means a great saving of time and money. It means
that when birds are properly housed—not in a ridiculous “system”
coop, whcre all the work is done while exposed to the elements, but
in a real poultry house—that one man may care for dozens or hun-
dreds. It means strong and healthy birds and a big egg yield, with no
condiments nor forcing of any sort.

Don’t waste your money and ruin your birds with any of the
so-called “egg makers,” “patent foods,’ or on any of the “hundred-
eggs-for-a-cent” swindles. Nobody gives something for nothing. And
the knave who advertises real food at a few cents a bushel is no
better than the so-called “breeder” who advertised eggs from a flock
of prize birds at 50 cents per 15.

CHAPTER VI

HATCHING

It looks so easy!

Apparently all that is necessary is to put a hen in a box, along
with some eggs—or load an incubator, light the lamp, and let it go!

Then, when the eggs fail to hatch, how easy it is to blame the
breeder and demand free eggs; and if he won’t supply them—as
there is no reason why he should unless they were unquestionably
infertile—what a pleasant pastime it is to write a letter of accusation
to some editor.

The beginner should undertand one thing clearly: No matter how
far a dishonest breeder may go to get trade, yet the worst of them
do not send out “doctored” eggs, nor rotten eggs, nor infertile eggs.
On rare occasions some notorious humbug may buy up pages of space
and by filling that space with shameless falsehoods may rob beginners
thereby. But the worst of these knaves will send hatchable eggs.

Why is it then that good eggs, bought from reliable breeders, so
often fail to hatch well?

There are several reasons.

One is that the hen often sits too well.
Impossible?

Oh no. Hggs must have plenty of fresh air.
Oxygen is a vital necessity. :
There is a secret worth remembering, 2

38 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

If the hen is set in a close, musty room; if she hugs her nest—
as some of them do—and if, as a result, what little fresh air might
reach the eggs is smothered, so to speak, the hatch will not be good.
And if the eggs are “all rotten” you may be sure that they were
all fertile, but that they had died for want of the necessary oxygen
to sustain life.

The secret of getting good hatches with hens is this:

Set the hen out of doors, on new laid eggs, where plenty of pure,
fresh air can reach her. You may place her on the ground with a
narrow cover at one end, and a dusting place with corn, water,
charcoal and grit, under cover, at the other. This is the ideal way
to set a hen—provided that she is a strong, lusty bird.

Never set a hen on the ground unless she is full of good red
blood—a vigorous, “sassy” creature, ready for a fight at any time.
The “nice, quiet hen,” the lady-like hen, the poor vitality hen, should
never be used; but if you must chance such a one, keep her off
the ground, and don’t expect many chicks, nor good chicks either.

See that the hen doesn’t sit too ‘‘tight.” As the hatch progresses
she should remain off longer and longer. If she knows her business
she will time herself. If she doesn’t, you must extend the time

gradually from five minutes to half an hour—depending upon the
weather.

As a matter of course you will see that she is kept free from
lice while incubating and brooding. If she neglects to dust herself—
as some of them do—then dust her yourself. Give her grain and per-
haps a little green stuff to eat, but no mash food of any sort.

There is another reason why some eggs will not hatch strong
chicks even under the best of hens. Hit or miss mating by ignorant

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 39

breeders who do not undertand the art; weak stock, shown by
narrow breasts, thin legs, dull eyes and pinched heads; cheap eggs
bought from cheap men; stock purchased from unknown breeders
with no knowledge of its blood lines; all these lead to poor hatches.
If you want to succeed, and save money while doing it, buy the
best—the best from an honest man. A half dozen eggs from Lester
Tompkins’ best pen at four dollars per egg would be much cheaper
than a hundred cull eggs at four cents each. And the same truth
applies to all our really great breeders—men of honor and intelligence,
who grew into the business from boyhood.

When it comes to hatching by incubators we face other problems.

We may buy the best incubator made—if there is a “best.” We
may use the best oil and follow directions to the letter. We can
regulate the heat, and supply plenty of moisture. We may fill the
incubator with the very best eggs obtainable. We may start two
machines at the same time and test out so that one may be filled
with fertile eggs. And when the chicks come we may get a hundred
from a hundred eggs or we may not get one. Every chick may
live, or every chick may die.

What causes this wide range?
Many things.

First, and most important:
Lack of oxygen!

Remember that.

LACK OF OXYGEN.

The “heavy” air of the cellar; the burned out air of a small
room; the breathed out air of a living room; in all of these the
eggs are deprived of the life-giving oxygen to a greater or less extent,
and the hatch suffers accordingly.

40 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

Another cause of failure is in buying the worthless so-called
“incubator” eggs—the sort that costs from two to four dollars per
hundred. It is an insult to the machines to fill an incubator with
such trash. Unless you can afford to buy enough good eggs to
fill the machine you better depend on hens. For the best and
freshest eggs should invariably be used in machine hatching.

Hot air and hot water machines are both used Under proper
conditions either will give satisfaction; under improper conditions
neither will do so.

A close, ill ventilated room is the worst place for an incubator. A
well ventilated cellar is the best.

And don’t be timid about cooling the eggs. They need it.

Don’t use a turning tray. Turn by hand. A quarter turn is enough.
But do it three or four times a day.

And finally, bear in mind that the eggs must have fresh air. This
does not mean that a current of air should blow over the eggs; for
that would dry them out and ruin the hatch: but it does mean that
pure fresh air must reach the eggs if they are to hatch and the chicks
are to thrive.

CHAPTER VII

BROODING

Let us suppose that your hen has about finished her work. The
infertile and spoiled eggs have been removed. If any eggs were
broken the nest has been cleaned and the remaining eggs carefully
washed in warm water. The hen has been well fed, watered and
dusted. The incubator eggs have been properly turned, cooled and
ventilated.

Very good.

Most of the eggs came by express and escaped butchery on the way;
if they came from good, virile stock; if the weather conditions were
right—if all the many “ifs” have been favorable, then you will have
a good hatch.

Are your troubles over?

Not exactly.
They have just begun.

Reports of tests made by intelligent men have shown over and
over that seventy-five out of a hundred chicks hatched would be a
high average to reach maturity.

Barring accidents every chick should, in theory, reach adult age.
But accidents will happen and they must be considered. Sickness will
come and it cannot be ignored. Therefore we might as well face the
fact that any man who brings an average of seventy-five chicks out
ot a hundred to maturity has done exceedingly well.

42 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

And what is the result of this well doing?

Breeding and feeding.

These are the two stumbling blocks that trip the beginner.
The latter has been considered; now for the former.

The secret of successful brooding is easier shown than told.

The two methods—natural and artificial—vary widely. Success or
failure does not depend on either. Good management means success
in either case just as surely as poor management means failure.

Let us first consider the natural method.

If one raises only a few chicks a good ‘“‘mother’ hen makes the
best brooder. She will teach, hover and protect them. The dreaded
white diarrhoea wii rarely trouble her little flock. If she “runs”
with them in a roomy pen—as she should do—rats and cats will leave
them alone. And so, barring accidents, she will raise most of her
flock.

But a good hatcher is not always a good brooder. An excitable
hen, that is forever rushing about, will tread many chicks to death;
and a clumsy, awkward hen will crush them.

I never let a lot of valuable chicks out on free range until they are
large enough to care for themselves. I don’t believe in furnishing
chick meat to cats or rats.

The roomy Buckeye colony houses, with large covered runs, allow
plenty of exercise. They give shelter in cold or stormy weather, and
a cool, well ventilated retreat on hot days. When the hen is re-
moved they make ideal homes for the growing youngsters, and they
are vermin proof. Although each house measures six by three feet,
with liberal head room, yet two men may carry one of them with ease.

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 43

In early spring no hen should be given more than a dozen or fifteen
chicks; but as the days grow warmer the number may be increased.
In June thirty-five are none too many.

In warm weather be sure that houses and runs are placed where
they will be shaded from the mid-day sun.

And bear one thing in mind—I would repeat it again and again:
Yarded chicks must have plenty of green food.

What kind?

Oh, any kind! Lawn clippings, clover, dandelion leaves, lettuce.
Anything green that they will eat is good. Twenty-five cents worth
of Swiss chard thinly planted in rows will furnish enough green stuff
for a hundred chicks from May to December; for this plant puts out
new leaves as fast as the older ones are broken off.

Artificial brooding is a necessity in this commercial age. In no
other way could the immense number of chicks be furnished to meet
existing demands.

Artificial brooding is not recommended to the beginner. Better trust
the old hen at first. But if one is bound to try it, in the name of dol-
lars and cents, try it on nothing earlier than May hatched chicks

The secret of successful artificial brooding may be summed up in
one word—warmth.

We must supply steady heat, of the right degree, or trouble will
begin; and once started it goes rapidly from bad to worse. A chick
will live, though not thrive, on poor or insufficient food: but it will
neither thrive nor live without proper heat. Without going into details,
which is unnecessary, I will explain that the chemical changes where-
by food is made to sustain the body demand a high temperature.
If this is lowered. even for a little time. or if too high for a given

44 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED

period, proper digestion ceases and trouble follows. The dreaded
white diarrhoea in little chicks and many functional disorders in
mature fowls may be traced to chilling or overheating.

The beginner will hardly #& to the expense of building a regular
brooder house. And yet, ift# brooder is used in cold weather—no
matter whether it is a heated or “fireless” machine, the room in which
it is placed must be warme ' Don’t depend on the heat from the
brooder lamp;and never, under any circumstances, use an oil stove.
The first is wholly inefficient; the second vitiates the air. A coal
stove, large enough to keep the room comfortable during the night,
should be used—the object being to retain an even temperature at
all times.

In buying a brooder always discount the capacity one-half. Thus, if
is a “guaranteed 200 chick” machine you may safely place 100 in it at
first, afterwards reducing the number to 50.

There are numerous “fireless” brooders on the market. The Buckeye
Fireless, used in colony houses, is excellent for 25 to 50 chicks. And
it is inexpensive.

For occasional use the Lullaby, made by Park & Pollard, of Boston,
has many advantages. It is adjustable, and will take care of any num-
ber from one to a score. For emergencies it is invaluable. And it
is sent, charges paid, for $1.50. In making test hatches, where I
might have only a few chicks of one variety, I have found that this
little brooder answers every requirement.

Take particular care to keep the brooders clean. I use ground
alfalfa for a bedding, stirring it up every morning and renewing it once
or twice a week.

CHAPTER VIII

YOUNG STOCK

At last your chicks are weaned from hen or brooder. They are no
longer in danger of white diarrhoea or any other baby illness. You
no longer need coddle them. They know enough to go in when it
rains; and if caught out in a sudden shower it won’t harm them.
You draw a long breath at the thought that your work is done.

Don’t deceive yourself.

A poultryman’s work is never done!

The secret of success with chicks after they are able to care
for themselves is to keep them growing every winute. Therefore you
should get them out on a good run where there is plenty of green stuff
and plenty of shade.

But be careful that you do not bar out the sunshine. The colony
houses should be so placed that the sun can get at them for an hour
at least every day.

Keep the houses clean. I see to it that every house is thoroughly
sprayed with Zenolium or the Park & Pollard liquid lice killer once
a week during the summer. Give the youngsters a dusting with good
lice powder every week or ten days. It means work, of course, but
it is work that pays.

Clean out the litter on the floor of the colony houses as often
as once in ten days. This duty is too often neglected after the

chicks get on range.

46 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

Don’t be in too big a hurry to have them roost. Better wait until
they are three-quarters grown. Then there will be no danger of
crooked breast bones.

The chicks need lots of fresh air. Therefore hook up both win-
dows and keep them open day and night. The stout wire screens
will bar out vermin. Be sure, however, that the door is closed every
night. One single lapse may cost you twenty-five valuable birds.

Don’t neglect the birds because they are “on range.” See that
their fountains are full of fresh water daily. Remember that. Too
often chicks that run free are left to find water as best they can.

On stormy days provide a liberal amount of scratch grain—I find
that the Intermediate Chick Feed is of especial value—so that the
youngsters may keep busy.

The secret of getting quick money on young stock is to bring
the chicks to broiler size in the shortest time possible. If you can
get your broods out early enough you can sell your January hatched
broilers in March as the trade does not demand birds weighing more
than a pound each. As the season advances the weight increases,
and the price decreases. In May the demand is for birds weighing
from two to three pounds each.

And right here let me sound a note of warning.

Don’t take stock in any miserable “system” faker who advertises
that he can teach you how to raise two pound broilers in eight weeks.
Like those fabulous pullets that lay 26 eggs per month when six
months old; like “feed” at 15 cents per bushel; like making $7,500 a
year on a plot 40 feet square—as the same knave claimed he could do
—all these are palpable falsehoods.

You cannot get commercial broilers weighing two pounds at

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 47

eight weeks. While an occasional extra precocious chick may hit
that weight at the age, it cannot be done with any general flock.

In fact, the beginner, unless most favorably situated, should be
cautious about going into the broiler industry. If all goes well there
is good money in it; but if the chicks get any setbacks—if they are
not kept on the jump—then they will not reach a broiler age at any
profit whatever.

The beginner, if he has the very best stock obtainable to start
with, will be able to make quite a tidy sum from his surplus birds.
Along in December or January he should have them leg-banded and
scored by a competent judge. This will enable him to know which
are the best; and the judge will also price up the stock for him.
Then, if possible, get an experienced breeder of the variety in hand
to mate up such pens as are wanted for the coming season.

The beginner will often be amazed to find that his highest scoring
birds—especially in the males—are passed by in favor of birds of less
value. The experienced breeder may not be able to score the birds
as the judges can do, but he knows how to mate, which the judge does
not know, unless he chances to breed that variety.

Having matched his pens the beginner may now advertise and
sell his surplus stock. And he will be agreeably disappointed to find
that his second birds—even those running under 90, will bring much
better prices than if sold unscored. The reason is that a reputable
judge has given his birds a standing, and thus a value, which they
could not attain otherwise.

If among these birds are any that score especially high, and the
chances are that he will have them if the parent stock is right, the
beginner will do well to insert a modest advertisement in a first class
poultry magazine stating that he has such birds for sale. He should

48 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

name the breed, variety, strain and sex, also the score, and the judge
who rated them, with the price of each. He will have but little
difficulty in disposing of such birds; and while he will not obtain
any such prices as a great breeder gets for stock of the same grade,
yet his expenses, being so much less, will leave him a handsome
profit.

The beginner will do well to continue hatching through the sum-
mer. After May first the demand for eggs drops off and the trade is
practically dead by the first of June. But there is always a demand
for stock. And while the chicks hatched in mid-summer may not
do as well as those turned out in April and May, yet they will pay far
better than it would to sell eggs for market. Pullets of many varieties
hatched as late as September first will be laying in March. And while
their eggs should not be used for breeding they will bring very good
prices for househould use.

The secret of getting young stock up in weight quickly is found
partly in feeding and partly in care.

One should remember that growing chicks tire of the same food
y after day. Give them a variety. Today boil up small potatoes
and see how they will scamper for them. Tomorrow give them
boiled potatoes chopped up and mixed with bran. The next day give
them some Growing Food dampened with sour milk. And so on.
Mixed in thus with their regular food the youngsters will relish these
extras and will thrive amazingly.

In caring for the youngsters one must combat two ends—lice and
overcrowding. The tormer may be kept in check by a never ending
fight. Overcrowding of course results from hatching more chicks
than one can accommodate. What would be roomy quarters for a
hundred week-old chicks will be crowded quarters for a half-dozen
adults. When the chicks are weaned no more than twenty-five should
be kept together. Make this a positive rule, and live up to it.

CHAPTER IX

MATURING THE STOCK

It is a common saying that the early layer is the payer.

Like many another “saying” this is true or not, according to cir-
cumstances.

A pullet that begins laying too early is likely to “soldier” during
the winter—‘“eating her head off” when eggs are highest.

Early hatches are necessary for market birds; but for winter
layers—and winter payers—the pullets should not begin work before
November.

Too early laying is often followed by a late moult—and that means
good-bye to eggs until the following spring.

The secret of producing heavy winter layers is in hatching at the
right time—according to the breed—and in bringing the pullets to the
pink of condition late in the season instead of early.

One of the most absurd claims made by a certain alleged breeder,
was that pullets of his pretended “strain” laid when less than four
months old! Had this been true it would have proven that his birds
were worthless. The Orpingtons—which this person handled—are
large biras; and while this breed is a wonderfully fast g-ower, and
can be forced to lay as early as the Leghorns, yet no legitimate Orping-
ton breeder ever attempts it. He knows better.

No pullet of any variety should lay before she is six months old if
she is to be used thereafter as a breeder.

50 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

Forcing means ruin.

Precocity is abnormal. It is gained only at the expense of the
vital powers.

If you are running an egg farm, and replenish your stock by buying
a new lot of pullets every year, you may slaughter the innocents—
forcing early maturity, forcing heavy laying, and sell the broken
down, played out birds the next summer, just before they begin to
moult. But you cannot breed successfully from such birds.

The light, nervous Mediterranean breeds may be hatched in June
with excellent results. They should begin laying in December, and,
if properly housed and fed, will continue laying through the winter.
Winter layers in the American breeds must be got out earlier. The
first of May is late enough.

Crowd your pullets for size. Get them “on the‘r legs,” large of
frame, big of bone. Give them muscle first, and meat later.

If the youngsters look “leggy” you may be sure that they are
doing well.

The “gawky” pullet usually makes the biggest, healthiest, best
laying hen.

Better retara laying than hurry it, except as noted. Unless running
an “egg farm” I would move the pullets from one pen to another, after
housing them in the fall, so that they would not lay too early.

_ Let the young birds have free range as long as possible. If not
overcrowded they can be kept in colony houses until the middle of
October, and sometimes even later.

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 51

The so-called “utility” pullets—meaning those kept merely for
eggs—should be housed earlier than the choice stock that has been
reserved for future breeding.

The cockerels of course should have been separated from the
pullets as soon as they became annoying. If the cockerels become
quarrelsome—and they are apt to do so—put an oid male among
them. He will act as a peace-maker, preventing any serious fighting.

Be sure that the growing stock has plenty of roosting room.
The ordinary 3 by 6 colony house, if well ventilated, and provided
with two roosts, will accommodate from 12 to 20 pullets, as they
" approach maturity. The great thing is to avoid over-heating at
night. The late summer and early fall days require that especial
attention be given the youngsters.

In these days keep up an unending warfare on lice and mites.
If troubled with insect pests they will not sleep well—which means
a set-back. If overcrowded they become overheated, and will be almost
certain to catch cold on going out in the cool morning air.

To the egg farmer the first year of a hen’s life is the profit making
year. After that she should be marketed. Buy or raise pullets yearly
to take the place of the old birds.

If the beginner has high grade stock he will find some good
breeders and perhaps some strong show birds when his youngsters

mature.

These birds require different handling from that given the layers.

Take the pullets, for instance. The experienced showman knows
that a pullet is at her very best just before she begins laying. Bear
that fact in mind, as it has much to do with your pullet winnings.

52 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

To have your pullets “show ripe’—that is, at their best when
exhibited—they must be hatched at the right time, and matured in the
right way.

Supposing you plan to show in October. If you breed any of the
small, quick maturing Mediterraneans you can get your pullets—and
cockerels, too, for that matter—into show shape if hatched any time
between the middle of March and the middle of April. But the same
birds shown in December should not see daylight before the first of*
May. And the pullets to be shown in January will, if properly matured,
do best if hatched in June.

The American and English breeds must break their shells earlier.

Pullets of the Rock, Red, Wyandotte or Orpington classes should
not be shown by novices in the fall exhibitions. Such birds must be
hatched, as a rule, in February; and there are few beginners who have
proper facilities for keeping winter hatched chicks on the jump.
Better wait until March or April and get out birds for the winter
shows.

Cockerels should have an earlier start than pullets. It takes
longer to get them right in weight and plumage.

And here I want to say something to the beginner that will—if
heeded—enable him to write Success, where otherwise he would spell
Failure:

NEVER FORCE YOUR BIRDS FOR THE FALL SHOWS!
By stuffing your promising show birds; by tempting them with
frequent feedings; by coaxing them with tid-bits—scraps of meat,

sweetened bread, boiled and sugared rice, and so forth, you may put
the weight on late hatched birds, and may win the blus in October.

But note the result:

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 53

Your stuffed and untimely fattened birds will go off their feed
in January. With impaired digestion, with every organ weakened
by the strain of over-feeding, your prize winners will throw you scrub
stock, if indeed they breed at all. More likely the best of them will
be dead by spring. Congestion in one form or another—for roup, bowel
troubles, acute indigestion,—these and other ills, are congestive—will
carry off the flower of your flock.

In maturing your birds there is nothing better than a liberal feed-
ing of the Park & Pollard Scratch Grain in deep litter, with their
Growing Food in hoppers. To the latter you might add their Fattening
Food during the last week before your show birds go out—the ratio
being four quarts of Growing Food to one quart of Fattening Food.
Give them plenty of milk to drink, with grit and charcoal—mixing some
in the mash—and plenty of bulky green food—cabbage, alfalfa, beets,
etc.,—and then let nature do the rest.

CHAPTER X

DISEASES

Prevention is better than cure. Indeed, with a few exceptions,
there are no “cures” for poultry ills.

These things are necessary for health: good stock, proper hous-
ing, feeding, and cleanliness. Given these, and there will be very
little sickness in any plant.

Good stock is the principal thing. Birds that are bright, alert,
with keen appetites; with clear eyes, red combs, smooth plumage,
clean legs; the male that crows, “‘talks”, digs, fights; the female that
scratches, “sings’’ and lays. Such birds are healthy, and will beget
healthy chicks.

Breeding stock should be mature. To be on the safe side,
no bird should be placed in the breeding pen before it is a year old.
While most varieties are laying long before this, there are few that
lay eggs fit for hatching at an earlier age. The two year old hen lays
eggs that are larger, and better in every way for breeding purposes.

There is no danger from judicious inbreeding. Indeed, inbreeding
is absolutely necessary to produce certain results.

BUT BE CAREFUL.

If the breeder is heedless or ignorant; if he uses birds that are,
or have been, afflicted with any disease; if both parents have a
similar fault—in any of these cases inbreeding is dangerous.

Never use a bird for breeding that has been sick. Remember this
rule and live up to it. A slight ailment—a trifling cold or “off” on

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 55

feed—is not a bar. But anything serious should remove the afflicted
bird forever from the breeding pen. It takes courage to do this,
especially if the bird is a high scoring male. But it pays.

It is usually a waste of time and money to “doctor” any bird that
is seriously ill. Better use the axe at once and be done with it.

If from healthy stock, little chicks will be healthy when hatched.
If they fail to remain so the breeder is at fault ninety-nine times out
of a hundred.

There are various causes for disease, among the most common
being the following: Unsuitable location of buildings, lack of sunshine,
dampness, vermin, impure water, lack of grit and charcoal, of green
-food and of fresh air and exercise. And there is no excuse for any of
them. .

The dusty “dusting boxes” are not used in our testing house. If
the birds are dusted with a good lice powder about the first and
seventh of each month there will be no trouble with body lice and no
need of choking the house up with unsanitary dust. The worst lice
are those that infest the roosts and nests. These can be kept in
subjection by using plenty of Zenolium or the Park and Pollard Liquid

Lice Killer.

Be careful about the drinking water, and equally careful about the
vessels that hold it. The latter should be cleaned daily—thoroughly
cleaned—and that, too, in winter as well asin summer. Look after the
floors. If of dirt—which they should not be—you must dig up and
cart off six or eight inches of the filthy surface and replace with new
dirt. This should be done twice a year—say in April and October. If
board floors are used, which are expensive, they should be scraped
clean three or four times a year, disinfected, and coverec with plenty

56 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

of sand. Cement floors should be cleaned twice a year, and covered
with two or three inches of sharp sand and six or eight inches of oat
straw.

Look after the runs. Unless you have the “no yard’ houses—which
are often the best—you should see that the runs never get foul. If
the space is limited let it be spaded frequently—two or three times
per month—from early spring to late fall. Hach time mix in a
liberal quantity of oats. This will start the birds digging, and will
also suply a limited amount of green food. Sunflowers or field corn
might be grown, thus supplying both shade and food. If large enough
the runs could be sedded down in a stout lawn grass or alfalfa—for
green food is a necessity.

All the foregoing is in the way of preserving health.
Don’t dose the birds.

Charcoal—especially the medicated charcoal—will usually keep
the bowels regular. But if the droppings seem too hard, a little linseed
meal, mixed with bran in a moist mash will be effective.

In considering a few particular diseases it is best to say at once
that no very sick bird should be “doctored.” Kill and bury it; bury it
deep; or cremate it.

The most common and fatal disease of small chicks is the deadly
“white diarrhoea.” In almost every case it is really an intestinal
indigestion, resulting from many causes—the most common being
chilling or over-heating.

There is no “sure cure” for this disease. I have carefully tested
many alleged “cures,” but have found nothing reliable. When a chick
cannot digest its food; when it ‘pastes up,” becomes droopy, and

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 57

“peeps” dismally, the best thing is to end its misery; for if, by chance,
it recovers from a bad attack it will always be a stunted, worthless
bird.

But while this disease is generally incurable, yet it is easily pre-
ventable. And the “secret”—so called—of avoiding it is first, to hatch
right; second, to brood right; third, to feed right.

Careful tests show that artificially hatched and brooded chicks
are more liable to attacks than are those hatched by hens. This should
not be the case, and would not be the case if we understood the
business as well as the hen does.

We don’t. We never can.

But if we would equalize matters we should use incubators and
heated brooders early in the season, and employ hens later.

Chilling is fatal. A fireless brooder is all very well in warm
weather; but any man who offers to sell a “system” for keeping chicks
in a heatless brooder, out of doors, in zero weather, is a knave. Have
nothing to do with such a person.

Keep the chicks comfortably warm, don’t overcrowd, feed as
directed, and your early hatched birds will seldom have any bowel
trouble.

While chilling is fatal, over-heating is equally so. Chicks can
safely endure much more heat in late winter or early spring than in
the summer. Therefore “mother” your late hatched chicks with hens
or fireless brooders.

The fine spun theories of salaried people; the “tweedle dum and
tweedle dee” arguments over the source of this disease have no practi-
cal value. You can prevent white diarrhoea. You cannot “cure” it.

58 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

Fowl cholera is a contagious, rapid and deadly disease. Symptoms
are great thirst; loss of appetite; high fever; drowsiness; comb, face,
and wattles seem bloodless; excessive diarrhoea; death.

There is no cure.

The treatment is preventive. Disinfect thoroughly and often.
Promptly remove all infected birds. Give them water to which creolin
has been added—a teaspoonful to an ordinary wooden bucket. For
individual treatment with valuable birds that are under suspicion,
give a small dose—a one-thousandth of a grain tablet of mercury
bichloride every two or three hours. If the disease is established, then
promptly kill and cremate the bird.

Genuine cholera is rare. Therefore note all the symptoms.

Roup is a cold—that means, a congestion. But a cold is not often
roup. When the bird stinks—that’s the proper word, for the roup
“odor” is a stench—when this smell is present with the usual marks
of a bad cold—don’t hesitate.

CHOP OFF ITS HEAD!

All the roup “cures” on earth will not make such a bird fit for
breeding. She is almost certain to transmit the disease, or a tendency
to contract it, even though she herself should apparently be “cured.”

Don’t “fuss” with a roupy bird. If you do you are liable to catch
the distemper—for it is very contagious.

A neglected cold is the usual exciting cause of roup. And a cold
is easily cured if taken in hand at cnce.

As soon as you hear any wheezing or sneezing among your birds
you should begin operations. A dollar cure for dime—or less—may
be had as follows:

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 59

Mix a teaspoonful of pure creolin in a gallon of water. At night
take a hand pump—one that throws a fine mist—and spray about the
roosts so that the birds may inhale the creolin. They will cough and
sneeze. Never mind. Make a thorough job of it. Repeat every night
for a week. Pour a little kerosene oil—enough to make a film—over
their drinking water. Give each sick bird one grain quinine pill at
night. Repeat once or twice. Place enough permanganate of potash
in a cup of water to color it a deep red. Dip the bird’s head in the
solution keeping it there ten or fifteen seconds. Repeat. Give this
treatment twice daily so long as need be. If it is nothing but a “cold”
this treatment will cure. If it grows worse, if the peculiar roup odor
is present, then the hatchet is the only safe and sure “cure.”

The disease called gapes is caused by worms in the windpipe. It
mostly affects chicks from one to four weeks old, and therefore it is
very hard to treat effectively.

If any of your chicks are drooping, sneezing, coughing, going about
with their mouths open, look for gape worms. They are thready
creatures from an eighth to a half inch long and are found clinging to
the chicks windpipe.

The only thing to do is to separate the sick from the well and
remove each to a new location. And the old ground should never
be used again for young chicks. If you have the time, skill and
patience, you may remove the worms by hand. If not, you might
place the afflicted chicks in a box or barrel and let some air-slacked
lime sift over them through a piece of bagging. Use care in this so
that the little fellows will not strangle.

Enough could be written about other ills affecting poultry to fill
a book as large as this. The writing of such a book might help a man
employed by an endowed state college or station to kill time; but it

60 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

would be of little or no practical benefit. To illustrate: I might pre-
pare a long article on tuberculosis, filled with words of “learned
length and thundering sound,” beginning with the “diagnesis” and
ending with the “concomitant” fatality. But as there is no possible
cure for the disease it would avail but little to discuss it.

To sum up: Breed from healthy, well-mated stock. Provide roomy,
dry, well-ventilated houses that are free from drafts. Feed as directed.
Keep the premises clean and the birds free from vermin. If these
rules are followed there will be very little sickness.

And finally: LET THE WELL BIRDS ALONE!

Don’t try to increase their growth or egg production with “tonics,”
“condiments,” “egg food,” or any other atrocities. If you do, you’ll rue

it.

CHAPTER XI

THE MARKETS

The secret of selling eggs and stock at a profit may be told in one
word: :

Advertise!

And the secret of continuing to sell year after year may be told
in one word:

Quality!

Advertising will sell; but unless the quality is there, to back the
advertising, there can be no permanent business.

Knaves have bought space in magazines from fawning publishers,
and by thus sharing their plunder have robbed the public for a time;
put only for a time. Their fraudulent claims and “strains,” backed
by no real quality, have been exploded, and they have disappeared
one after another.

There is a right way to sell, and a wrong way to sell.

The wrong way—in selling market eggs—is the ordinary hit or
miss—usually miss—‘“farmer” method. Eggs gathered and sold at odd
times—stale, fresh or spoiled—never assorted for shape, size or color—
and bartered at the village store at the lowest rate. Stock carried
over long after it has ceased to pay. Young stock sold when prices
are at their lowest.

The right way to sell what is known as “commercial” poultry and
eggs, is to take pains—lots of pains—and do business in a business-

like way.

62 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

Get your hatches off early. Push the young stock hard. Broilers
weighing from a pound and a half to two pounds command high prices
early in the season, while late hatched broilers are often a drug in
the market. Hens should be fattened and sold—if you run an egg farm
—in their second year, before they begin to moult. Roasters, as a
rule, should be confined to the larger breeds, and may be grown
at a profit only where food is cheap.

Egg farming may be very profitable—or it may be a financial
graveyard. The secret of avoiding the latter is to satisfy the public.
If white eggs are wanted, give them white eggs. If they—with equal
foolishness—demand brown eggs, then the eggs must be brown.

But whether white or brown, the eggs must be fresh, clean, and
graded to size-up evenly. And the larger these fresh and clean eggs
are, the better prices they will bring.

Eggs should be neatly packed in cartons holding one dozen each.
These cartons, or boxes, should be labeled, with some catchy name
for your farm, or yards, and sold under a dated guarantee. A typical
label would read like this: .

HIGHLAND FARM,
John Doe, Proprietor,
Roeville, N. Y.

STRICTLY FRESH EGGS.
GUARANTEED.

The eggs in this carton were laid...... 19....

:

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 63

Having got your labels and boxes ready, pack a few dozen and
get busy. If you live within reach of a city of fair size your market is
right there. Make a personal canvas, starting in on the afternoon
that the label is dated. “Hggs laid today” is a big puller. Try it.
You will be amazed to see how quickly you can work up a route and
at advanced prices. Sell for cash only. Make it a positive rule—
No money, no eggs! . Thus you avoid pad debts. The rule may be
hard sometimes, but never mind that. Live up to it. You will be a big
winner in the end.

If you go in for “blooded stock” and sell eggs for hatching, you will
face a different problem.

In the beginning you must have good birds. Your stock or eggs
must come from a noted breeder unless you want to go through long
years of needless toil.

Show your stock; first at the smaller shows. As your skill
increases, branch out. Don’t be afraid to go where the big noise is
made.

Stand on your feet as soon as possible. But don’t imitate that
flagrant faker who advertised that he had “originated a strain” before
he had raised a single chicken.

Advertise. But don’t lie. Don’t say that you have a ten thousand
dollar hen, for there never was such a thing. Don’t say that your flock
“averages 256 eggs per hen,” for no “flock,” nor even a pen, ever did
that. Don’t say that your six months old pullets are “all laying 26
eggs monthly,” for they are not. In brief, don’t try to fool people
with any such silly lies. You are certain to be found out. They ali
are. And then you will wish that you had emulated the Father of our

country.
But don’t hide your light.

64 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

Advertise.

Talk big. Tell what you have done. Make a noise. That is all
in the way of business, and it is legitimate business.

Don’t scatter your shot. Better put a good advertisement in one
prominent magazine than a little card in twenty.

If you have a good “selling face,” have a cut made from your
photograph and use it. But if you look like a poet, or a prize fighter
or a “confidence” man—as the best of us may do—then keep your face
out of print.

Advertise.
But advertise according to the season.

Don’t offer eggs in October, baby chicks in November, nor stock
in April.

Eggs for hatching should be advertised in late winter and early
spring; baby chicks from early to late spring; stock in the summer
and fall.

At the outset you cannot expect to secure the prices that are
paid old breeders. But don’t give your eggs away. Three dollars a
setting is better than thirty cents.

The secret of getting better prices for your stock is this: Have a
competent judge score them and furnish a score card numbered to
correspond with the leg-band on each bird scored. Have this card
made out with ink or an indelible pencil, and signed and dated by
the judge. This gives each bird a standing and a value.

Advertise.

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 65

Let people know that you are offering birds for sale that have
been scored by Judge So-and-so, and that you will furnish the score
card with each bird. Have the judge put a price on each bird as he
scores, and advertise that fact.

All this gives confidence, makes value, and will sell your birds
where nothing else would do it.

And finally—
Keep right on advertising.

Before, and during the busy months, tell what you are doing. In
the dull months tell what you are going to do.

Then do it.

CHAPTER XII
THE SHOW ROOM

Why do the most successful breeders show their birds in competi-
tion? It is troublesome and costly. Why not tell what they have, and
let it go at that?

The reason for exhibiting is that people must not only be “shown,”
but they must know who has the winners.

Moreover, the poultry show is a great inciter of public interest.
We catch the hen fever in the show room.

The “American Standard of Perfection” is the authority, and the
only authority.on show birds recognized in this country. Every
breeder should own a copy of this book as it gives a full description
of every recognized variety. One cannot breed exhibition birds without
a Standard.

The value of the poultry show, both from an educational and busi-
ness viewpoint, is very great.

The beginner learns more by observation than he could in months
of study elsewhere.

Show your birds.

You may not “win the blue” nor a ribbon of any color; but you
will get in line for future winnings.

Begin cautiously.

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 67

Don’t rush your birds off to New York, Boston or any other big
city the first year.

Start in at the fall fairs. Here is where many a fancier is born,
for it is at the fall fairs that thousands of people get their first ideas
of thoroughbred poultry.

Groom your birds carefully. See that they have clean feet and
legs. Some of your best birds may be in moult. Never mind. The
youngsters may not be up in weight. All right. Show them just the
same, for many of your rivals will have the same trouble.

Of course you want to win at the fall shows, and here is a secret
that will aid you:

See that the birds shown in the fall were hatched at the right

time.

Thus the adult birds exhibited, say, in September, should have
been hatched late in the previous year. This will throw their moult
back so that they may be in good feather at that time. The young
stock should be hatched about the first of April, and should be well
up in weight by September. Don’t get birds out for the fall shows
earlier than the middle of March, for you don’t want the pullets to
begin laying before they are shown. This fact is very important. A
pullet is at her best just before maturity. Therefore if she begins
her “egg song,” and you think she is ready to lay, discourage her
from so doing by changing her from one pen to another.

The beginner is, at the outset, puzzled greatly over the question
of choice of breeds. Frequently he is advised to take up with some
one of the rarer varieties. It is urged that by so doing he will have
much less competition and therefore a much greater chance to win
the coveted blue ribbons. If the winning of ribbons was the sole object

68 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

of poultry culture, such advice might be good. If there was any credit
in winning with little or no opposition, such advise might be good.
But as prizes are but incidents, and as a winning where there is no
competition is merely a walk-over, such advice is decidedly bad. To
show without competition is wasted effort. One may learn far more
by losing in competition than by winning without competition.

Don’t go in then for the freaks. You will find that the Plymouth
Rocks, Rhode Island Reds, Orpingtens, Leghorns or Wyandottes will
give you plenty of variety. In fact there are 27 standard varieties of
these five breeds, and about a dozen more that have not been admitted
to the Standard.

For a secondary group we have the Brahmas, Cochins, Dominiques,
Dorkings, Houdans, Langshans and Minorcas. These are all standard
and valuable breeds. But the beginner will find that any of the more
popular varieties from the first group will be in greater demand than
all those in the last.

It is impossible in the scope of a single chapter to give the
multitude of secrets for preparing and showing birds. Each breed,
and indeed each variety, requires particular treatment. All this
will be found in my special book on the subject entitled “Show Room
Secrets.” In this book every Standard breed and variety is taken up
separately and the beginner is told, for the first time, how to breed,
grow to weight, and condition birds to win.

Winning is not, as some believe, a matter of luck. Nor do prizes
go by favor. There have been and there will be some dishonest
showmen and dishonest judges. But the fakers are few and juggling
judges are fewer yet. The standard is high and the showroom demands
that exhibitors and judges shall be men of unblemished reputation.

CHAPTER XIII

FANCY STOCK

No man ever had a well developed attack of “hen fever” without
desiring, sooner or later, to show his birds and win some prizes.

That is a proper ambition.

Moreover, it is an ambition that leads to fortune, if wisely fol-
lowed.

Please keep in mind that last phrase: If wisely followed.
I emphasize it because too many beginners do not follow wisely.

All show birds are expensive—the cost depending upon quality.
The perfect bird would score one hundred points. But no such bird has
ever been seen, and there is no probability that one ever will be seen.
I have scored a multitude of birds; but even in the highest scoring
varieties—solid colored birds—like the White Leghorns or White
Wyandottes, I have never found one that would come within several
points of perfection; while in some of the parti-colored varieties—
which naturally score lower than those of solid color—it is a rare bird
that will go over ninety. Indeed there are some particularly difficult
varieties which seldom reach that score. For this reason one should
bear in mind that what would be a comparatively low standing for
one of the easier breeds would be very high for another. A ninety-six
point white bird may be had, but don’t look for it in a Rhode Island

Red.

70 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

There is nothing in which the beginner is more likely to form a
wrong idea of value than in exhibition birds. I have sold a bird for
$75 and another, from the same hatch for $5.

Why should there be such a wide difference in price? The be-
ginner cannot understand it. He thinks that one is too dear or the
other too cheap.

The answer to this puzzle is that, not considering the breeder’s
reputation or the value of his strain, every bird is judged by its own
individual value.

Beginners are prone to think of birds as of dollars coming from
the mint—that each is as good as the next; or, admitting a difference,
he thinks it should be slight.

It is true that “strain” has value. A bird bred by a man of acknowl-
edged standing is far more likely to show value than if bred by a
novice. Thus I would rather have a ten dollar White Rédck bred by
U. R. Fishel than one apparently worth fifty, of whose antecedants I
knew nothing. The former would throw stock of a known value. The
latter would carry one immediately into the unknown; and the chances
would be that such stock would have market value only—and poor
value at that.

And here is a fact worth remembering. The beginner makes a
mistake—usually a fatal mistake—in buying, at ihe’ outset, birds of
exceptional quality. He does not know how to mate for the best
results nor how to raise the youfigsters that come from the mating.
Consequently he would be courting disaster to buy such a bird.

None of the really great breeders will sell a bird of the highest
quality to an inexperienced man, unless he has a manager who knows

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 71

how to handle such stock. They know—those men of quality—that
otherwise failure would result; and they place reputation above dollars.

The beginner should buy good stock—birds good enough to show
if need be—but not thousand dollar birds, nor hundred dollar birds.
A trio at a hundred dollars, or a pen at a hundred and fifty, properly
mated for best results, is as high as any novice should go. And he may
well begin with cheaper birds than that.

A common mistake—and this is a “secret” known to every ex-
perienced fancier—is that of the amateur who buys a blue ribbon win-
ner—especially a male—and places him at once in a breeding pen.

Don’t do it.

Birds must be shown. Public interest demands it. Show birds
must be used—at the right time—as breeders. But if you possibly can
avoid it do not place the birds you have shown in your breeding pens
for weeks after; months would be better; a whole year would be best.

Why?

Well, here is another “secret”, also well known to, every breeder
of experience: No bird that has been shown is fit to use as a breeder
until he has had a thorough rest and is again in condition for breeding.

Show “condition” and breeding “condition” are not always the
game. Often they are very far apart. A bird, of the variety where
weight counts, which has been stuffed to make that weight, is not fit
for the breeding pen until restored to a normal condition.

The selling of show stock is an art not easily mastered. The
beginner may as well understand at the outset that he cannot get the
prices paid to men of established reputation. He may have as good

72 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

individual birds as Fishel, Tompkins, Cook, Tecktonius, or Kaufmann
and Windheim. But if he charges as much for stock as these well-
known breeders charge, the buyer will, naturally, go to them. The
beginner, therefore, must make his prices low at first, or he will do
no business.

One secret of success—which is a “seéret” only to the more observ-
ing—is that of advertising.

One of the “secrets” of successful advertising is to tell the truth.

Don’t imagine that because some big swindler buys his way into
print, filling page after page with lies about his “strain’—which he
“originated” by the simple process of hiring somebody to buy some
birds for him—don’t imagine, I say, that he is successful. He may
carry on his nefarious business for a time, but, sooner or later, he
pays the penalty. Don’t imagine that the poultry business is all
crooked, and that you, too, must be a crook, because some “system”
knave is advertising, with apparent success, that he has made tens
of thousands of dollars with poultry on a few square feet of land.
There is but one end to all such cheap rascals. Hither they quit sud-
denly or land in the penitentiary.

Lying never pays.
Therefore tell the truth.

At the outset you will find that the “Classified” advertisements
pay the best. These cost a few cents per word, and give better re-
turns for the money invested than can be had in any other way.

From November to May, inclusive, you should advertise eggs for
setting—also stock, if you have any for sale. From June to October,
inclusive, advertise your breeders which you may have for disposal

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 73

and also your young stock. Give prices for single birds, pairs, trios
and pens. Make your prices low. Advertise in a few of the best
poultry magazines. Don’t expect too much at first. You won’t get rich
in a month, nor a year, nor in several years. But if you tell the
truth, if you carry out every promise, if you give your customers a
little the best of it every time, you will surely—though perhaps slowly
—build up a business that will lead to fortune when the “get-rich-
quick” knaves are “broke” or wearing stripes.

Even in your small advertisements be careful what you say.

Don’t brag.

You may have a wonderful pullet with an apparently authentic
trap nest record of 256 eggs in a year. Even if so don’t pretend that
this pullet is a “flock” and advertise that your “flock has an average
of 256 eggs in a year.”

Be modest.

Look through the advertisements of men who have made a worthy
name in poultrydom, and notice how little they boast. Isn’t it better,
then, to copy such men than to follow some ignorant faker who tries
to push himself ahead by stupid bragging and untruthful boasting?

If you are in doubt, then your experience will give the answer.

You will need printed matter. A neat circular giving your win-
nings—if you have made any—or of the birds from which your stock
came; a modest letter-head and envelopes to match; labels for your
egg boxes. These you will need at the outset. The circular and letter-
heads should be of the very best quality—best paper, ink and workman-
ship. As soon as possible have photo-engravings made from good
photographs—for pictures are great pullers. Never use “stock” cuts.
They cheapen you in the eyes of most people.

74 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

Occasionally you will meet with dishonest buyers. They will tell
you that the eggs were broken, that they were infertile, that they
did not hatch.

Never mind.

You may not believe what they say, but give them the benefit of
the doubt. Duplicate their order at half price, or, as I often do, at no
price. Pocket the loss and let it go.

It will pay in the end.

To make money on fancy stock one must be content to make haste
slowly. The trade along this line is wholly a matter of confidence.
One must gain that confidence before it has a financial value; but, when
once established it is an asset of the greatest value. The good-will
of a business like that built up by Fishel or Tompkins or Cook is worth
an immense fortune; for, in each case, it has been built up by years
of painstaking labor, in which truth and square dealing have been the
foundation stones on which their fortunes are built.

CHAPTER XIV

POULTRY SECRETS

A secret is something studiously concealed. Many widely adver-
tised ‘‘secrets” have been sold at high prices, which proved on investi-
gation to be merely well known facts. One of the worst of these fakes
was a little booklet advertising a so-called “original” strain” of birds,
eked out with a few facts stolen bodily from a produce firm’s year
book, which this firm sent out gratis! In this “way” the knave was able
to sell a catalogue of his pretended “strain” at a dollar each. The only
original thing in the whole wretched swindle was the advertising,
which the fellow hired somebody to prepare, and which heedless pub-
lishers accepted—not thinking, possibly, that in taking his money they
were sharing his plunder.

Other alleged “secrets” were those of the various “systems”’—
some good, some bad, mostly bad, because they promised impossibili-
ties. One fellow had a “system” for making more than sixty dollars
yearly from each hen! Another swindler of the same sort advertised
that his “system” would enable “six people to make a good living from
six hens! Aided by his stool pigeons this petty cheat robbed thou-
sands of unsophisticated people before he was finally taken in hand.
The poultry business offered a rich field for these contemptible crooks,
because it took the authorities some time to close down on them. And
in the interim the industry suffered and thousands were plundered,

directly and indirectly.

Many of the secrets discussed in this book are known to various

breeders. Some of them have been disclosed and are secrets no

e

76 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED.

longer. They are published with such additions or improvements as
experience dictates. Others are new discoveries now made public
for the first time.

MATING SECRETS.

The great breeder is one who has learned how to mate his birds
for best results for eggs, meat or exhibition. Percy A. Cook, with his
wonderful Orpingtons; Fishel with his massive, snow-white, non-sitting
Plymouth Rocks; Lester Tompkins and Kaufman and Windheim with
the Rhode Island Reds; Parks, the “bred to lay” Barred Rock man;
Young’s White Leghorns and Tecktonius with his superb Buff Leghorns
are instances of what can be done in scientific mating.

Let us consider the proper mating of certain varieties:

Barred Récks. The secret of mating this grand old variety for
producing big birds and big layers is this: Breed to the female line,
using light colored males, and always from two-year old hens. Select
big, active hens that have large, red combs, and are broad between
the legs; whose feathers, on each side of the comb “stand out” instead
of lying smooth; the singers, eaters, scratchers; the first off the roost
in the morning; the last on at night. Select those that lay best the
second winter, rather than those that have laid themselves out in their
pullet year. In other words, breed from those that are on the up grade
instead of down. Do not use a male that is too heavy, nor one that
bullies the hens. And be sure that his dam was a good layer. When
the breeding season is near give muscle making, strength building
food. You want abounding vitality, rather than quantity, in the eggs :
laid for hatching.

In order that the fertility may be good the male should be a well
developed cockerel or a lusty yearling. Old males are not good
breeders. These rules are general and apply to all breeds and varieties.

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 77
e

By breeding to the female line you will get good pullets both for utility
and exhibition. You may use your very best hens for breeding—the
skill required being in the selection of the male. He should be lighter
than the hens but be careful that he is not a “washed-out” open-barred
bird. The barring should be sharp, regular, with as strong barring
on the flights as is possible to get in a pullet-bred male. He should
be a rangy bird, standing well up on well spread legs, with a four—
or at most a five point comb. Don’t use a “logy” bird, and for that
reason be very careful in selecting one that is over weight, for such
birds are liable to be sluggards. See that he has a good red or bay
eye and be sure that he comes from a good laying strain.

Leghorns. In no breed is vitality so quickly depleted as in the
Single Comb White Leghorns. Bred primarily for eggs, pushed to
the limit, then cast aside after the first year, itis only natural that some
played out stock should get into the breeding pen. When this happens
the result is disastrous. The chicks are weak, “leggy,” with thin,
“crow” heads, long, drooping wings and pinched breasts. Utterly
lacking in stamina, their growth is slow and they fall easy victims to
the dreaded white diarrhoea.

In breeding White Leghorns observe one cast-iron rule: Breed only
from two year old hens, from strong, alert birds that were not forced
to unusual laying in their pullet year.

The foolish craze for extra low tails has caused some breeders to
throw White Minorca blood into their Leghorns, with the resulting
pale legs and flat backs. It is bad practice. Remember, the Standard
calls for a tail only five degrees lower in the Minorca than in the
Leghorn. And a judge who knows his business will penalize a Leghorn
with too low a tail as surely as if it be too high.

Breed from erect, bold, upstanding birds. And get your breeders

as tame as possible.

78 POULTRY: SECRETS REVEALED.

The buff color in all varieties is a difficult proposition. Buff is
a “made” color—a combination of red, white and black. To blend
them into that “rich, golden buff,’ required by the Standard, demands
skill and experience. White is the hardest to combat. There is only
one way, if you do your own mating, and that is to spend a season
in making test hatches. The work is so intricate, so difficult that I
advise the beginner to purchase either tested birds from a reliable
breeder, or else secure eggs from such birds

Rhode Island Reds breed very true to type, and very “untrue to
color. The “secret” of securing good color in these birds varies with
the different breeders. Each has his own. But the following general
rules are necessary in all cases: The Standard calls for red undercolor
throughout in both sexes, But if your birds are sound in hackle, wings
and tail, and if the male and female are reasonably matched in surface
color you need not fear a little smut in the undercolor of the female.
Indeed, it will be an advantage if the male is a clear, bright red, as
it will prevent the chicks from running into buffs.

In mating Reds it is best to use a male that is under exhibition
weight. Otherwise you are likely to get stilty, “gamey” cockerels.

Houdans are not as popular in America as their merits deserve.
They are good layers of large eggs, non-sitters and excellent table
fowls.

In breeding this variety regularity of plumage should be carefully
considered. Too often this is overlooked. The Standard requires that
the surface plumage in each sex should be glossy black, and that about
one feather in five be tipped with white. This proposition should be
carried out regularly. To secure it breed from evenly marked speci-
mens. I have got the best results from males that were somewhat
lighter than ihe females, though this does not follow in all cases. It

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED. 79

would appear, therefore, that each breeder should find out for himself
the best method with his own individual flock and mate accordingly.

SECRETS OF SELECTING LAYERS.

It is a trite but true saying that the hen that lays is the hen that
pays. Among the very best “bred to lay” pullets there will be some
that will never pay for their keep. Such birds should be marketed
along with the culls. But the trouble has been to distinguish the
prospective layers from the loafers. It will be found to be not especi-
ally difficult when the secret is known. And here is the secret:

Three things require especial consideration when selecting future
layers. Observe them in order:

First—General appearance.

Second—Shape.

Third—Conduct.

Appearance. The pullet that will lay well always looks well. Her
comb is bright red, eyes are brilliant, feathers glossy. As noted, the
feathers on each side of the comb stand out like brushes. This has
proven to be a sure indication. The “why and wherefore” has never
been clearly explained, but results have been noted.

Shape. A wide and deep abdomen, a long and broad back, well
spread tail, a full, red comb, bright eyes, broad, full breast, a duck-like
walk—all these indicate the layer.

Conduct. The pullet that will lay well always eats well. She is
scratching from dawn to dusk—the first to get busy in the morning,

80 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED

the last to quit at night. She never loafs time waiting for food; she
gets out and hustles for it. Don’t be afraid of fat. The lean, scrawny
pullet never makes a layer.

Breeders and Winners. In theory, the bird that “wins the blue”
should be the best for the breeding pen; but this does not always
follow. A first prize pen of Barred Rocks, for instance, would make
very sorry breeders. And in several other varieties the “show” male
is usuelly unsuited for breeding. Of course there are exceptions. The
Grand Championship Pens of Lester Tompkins, from which he sold
all the eggs he could spare, at $4 each, were also wonderful breeding
pens.

One point should always be kept in mind. No unknown bird
should ever go into a breeding pen. This means that you should know
the strain from which the bird comes. And a “strain” is not “origi-
nated” by purchasing birds from other breeders, nor in a 3 by 6 coop.

THE SECRET OF FERTILE EGGS.

Nothing annoys a buyer more than to find a lot of infertile eggs
among those purchased. And surely nothing annoys a breeder more
than to find that eggs—possibly from his choicest pen—are running
infertile.

How can this be remedied?
What is the secret of fertile eggs?
I shall tell you.

But before doing so it will be well to tell the beginner once again
the difference between an egg that is fertile and one that is not.

What did you say? “If it rots it is infertile.’ Did you say that?
Yes? Well, you are wrong.

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED 81

LCE NES me Qe Cray, wees. ep

An infertile egg will not rot during the period of incubation.

Therefore, '

If en egg rots while incubating you may be sure that it was fertile.

I have told this fact again and again. I repeat it now that it may
not be forgotten while considering this subject.

Fertile eggs!

Don’t expect them by following any of the alleged “sytems.”
Merely alternating males will not do. Yet this has been sold as a great
“secret.” Breeding old males to pullets or cockerels to hens will not,
of itself, produce the results. No “system” of feeding will do it.

We may as well admit at the outset that the hundred per cent.
fertility seen in. wild fowl is very uncommon among domestic birds.
But to get the highest fertility possible we should follow nature so far
as we can. To that end we should separate the sexes until the breed-
ing season is on. We should use only mature birds for breeding. The
age of maturity varies with the breed and care. The Mediterraneans,
of course, mature earlier than the Asiatics; and well fed birds that
have been kept growing every minute with high grade food, like the
Park and Pollard Chick Grain and Growing Food, will mature quicker
and produce far more fertile eggs than those that have been left to
hustle for Uhemselven= tet poor or improper food and in limited

quantities.

; . Generally no malé should be used for breeding before he is a year
old. And hens are always, better than pullets.
Watch the male.

If he gives attention solely. to one or two of his mates you should
either alternate him with another or remove his favorites. The

former plan is best.

$]S0 | PUaSUMO] BU} Ul WEIS WEYL JOH SANYO OF! OY} B4OUM

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED 83

See that the breeders have plenty of green stuff, and get them out
of doors whenever you can.

Make them exercise. You will get no fertile eggs from drones.

EGGS IN WINTER.

The secret of getting eggs in winter depends upon three things:
The right strain, the right hatching, the right care.

Winter laying is unnatural. Hens must be bred to it. This is not
as difficult as it seems. The Leghorn is not considered the best of
winter layers. Yet a pen of four exhibition Buffs, bred by F. A.
Tecktonius, of Racine, Wis., laid in our test pen as high as 22 eggs in
seven days in February. Since Leghorns can be bred to such winter
laying, the heavier varieties may surely do as well or better.

How is it done? Well, here is the secret: Hatch your birds so
that the pullets may begin laying late in the autumn. As chicks keep
them growing every minute. Stuff them daily. Don’t let them begin
laying too early!

I have made the last rule emphatic. A pullet that begins laying
too early is apt to “soldier” in December and January when eggs are
highest in price.

Keep the pullets busy. Don’t allow any old hens nor males to
hector them. Feed them to the limit with the right kind of food—and
you will get the eggs.

BREEDING EXHIBITION BIRDS.

Like produces like—as a rule; but there are exceptions. One
exception, as noted, is that of the Barred Plymouth Rocks, when shown
in mated pens. Such a pen would not breed winners. You must double

84 POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED

mate these birds using one pen to produce exhibition males and
another to produce exhibition females. And at that you will be lucky
if you get one really high grade show bird out of a hundred chicks.
Indeed, this follows true with most breeds. And that is the reason
why high grade exhibition birds command such big prices.

The secret of getting exhibition birds of any variety is to mate
your birds so that one sex may compliment the other—meaning thereby
that the male must supply any shortcoming in the female, and vice
versa. The subject is too extensive to be treated fully in a single
chapter, It is thoroughly covered in my book ‘“‘Show Room Secrets,”
to which the reader is referred, if interested in this branch of the
poultry industry.

DYING IN THE SHELL.

It is most discouraging to find that a number of well developed
chicks, almost ready to hatch, have ‘died in the shell.” Low vitality
may account for this in some cases; but usually the chicks die for
want of breath—smothered in the shell.

Lack of oxygen!
There you have it.

Far more incubator chicks die from this cause than are lost under
hens.

The secret of prevention is to supply more oxygen.

I have saved many chicks that were ieady to pip by dipping the
eggs in hot water for a moment then removing them quickly so that
the air might work in through the opened pores of the shell. A better
way, especially with incubator eggs, is to use the Oxy-Vitalizer,

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED 85

invented by Dr. Merkley of Buffalo. This is an inexpensive attach-
ment which may be applied to any incubator, and which greatly
increases both the number and vitality of chicks hatched.

EGG EATING.

This is a vicious habit. An egg eating hen will demoralize a
whole flock, for the trick is easily learned.

Various “cures” have been suggested. Paring down the offenders
beak; filling an egg shell with nauseous compound; leaving china eggs
about; any of these methods may prove effective. And they may not.
Prevention is better than cure. Provide nests that are so high in front
that eggs cannot roll out. Place a number of china eggs in the nest.
Use trap nests and have them quite dark. Furnish plenty of oyster
shells, beef scraps, bone and green food. Gather the eggs often, and
feed scratch grain in the litter at short intervals. Keep the hens
busy and they wont have time to learn bad habits.

HOW TO GET MORE PULLETS.

An excess of pullets is desirable, and for unknown ages men have
sought to find a way to obtain them. There have been “ways” without
number. The shape of the egg; the time of the moon; the sizes of the
fowls all were sure to work—until tried.

After a careful series of tests it has been demonstrated to the
satisfaction of many people that mating a reliable cock that will be
two years old late in the following spring, to very large and active
females that are at least one year old, and by allowing from twenty-
five to forty of such females to one such male the offspring will be
pullets by a good majority.

CHAPTER XV

THE TOWNSEND TESTS

For a number of seasons I have been conducting a series of im-
portant tests in the interests of the poultry industry

Unlike all other tests at home or abroad there are no ulterior
motives in these. They are not conducted to advertise a newspaper
nor a college. No admission fee is charged. Breeders who enter
their good birds—and only birds of quality are accepted—such breed-
ers receive, as they deserve, the full benefits of the publicity achieved.
These tests are not confined to laying as are others. They cover a
multitude of interesting and valuable questions—laying, hatching,
vitality, fertility, diseases, feeding, growth, housing, appliances and
so on and on.

These tests are absolutely inpartial. If the birds entered by famous
breeders make big showings—as have those of U. R. Fishel, the late
Robert C. Tuttle, Lester Tompkins, Wm. Cook and Sons, F. A. Teck-
tonius and others of their class—it is their good fortune. If a new
breed, unknown and unheralded, wins first honors as did a pen of
Partridge Plymouth Rocks entered by S. A. Noftzger, well and good.
Known or unknown, big or little; all are free to enter; and there is
no charge for so doing.

These tests are practical. Facts are sought, not fancies; results,

not theories. And the results thus far have been satisfactory in every
way.

Among the facts established are these: That little chicks do not
require feeding five or six times a day. We fed once a day, and the

POULTRY SECRETS REVEALED 87

chicks thrived exceedingly. That dropping boards are needless and
unsanitary. We have done away with them entirely. That if given the
same chance a good, healthy Leghorn will eat as much as a Rock—
with this difference: that the Leghorn wastes surplus food in needless
exercise, while the Rock wastes it in needless fat. That the claims
made of a whole family of six living off the product of half a dozen
hens—of tens of thousands cleared yearly from half an acre—of pullets
laying at three months—or “flocks” averaging “258 eggs yearly per
hen”—of baby chicks thriving out of doors in fireless brooders during
zero weather—that such claims were absolutely false. That there is
no “best” variety, although some are better than others. That laying
is more a matter of breeding and feeding than of breed. That sex
can be influenced to a considerable degree. That chicks die in the
shell chiefly for lack of oxygen; and many more equally valuable and
interesting.

These tests will be continued for an indefinite period, for there
are multitudes of facts yet to be established.

Therefore I shall be pleased to hear from breeders at any time.
If you have a popular variety that you want tested; or an old variety
that has been neglected; or a new variety that is fighting for recogni-
tion—let me hear from you, and I will help you so far as I can, and
without any cost to you. The same offer applies to anything new in
the way of appliances or products.

Meanwhile you are cordially invited to visit me whenever possible.
My testing plant is open for inspection every day. If you are an old
breeder you are surely welcome. If you are a beginner you are doubly
welcome. I thank you one and all, and hope to see as many of you
as possible whenever it is possible for you to come.