ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY JAMES E. RICE MEMORIAL POULTRY LIBRARY DATE DUE GAYLORD PRINTEDINU.S-A, Cornell University Library SF 487.B96 antity form MCT | i 995 mann, bat Cornell University 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://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003155995 CHROMO KHMYLTION, PRICE FO CHw Ts. RAISING ! i «9 Ae ae ¥ IN QUANTITY Gs FOR MARKET, —<»o— HOW TO DO IT. WITH DESIGNS FOR FOWL-HOUSES, COOPS, RUNS, &c, By GEO. P. BURNHAM. AUTHOR OF “DISEASES OF POULTRY,’? “SECKETS £N FOWL BREEDING,’? THE “GAME FOWL, REC. LUuUGnawTsSsTRATED. (Pre co OO MELROSE, MASS. 1877. Copyrighted by G. P. Burniiam, 1877. PART FOUR. CHROMO EDITION. <—NOO RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS IN QUANTITY FOR MARKET. HOW TO DO IT. <> By GEO. P. B é —=0 > — WITH DRAWINGS OF ECONOMICAL FOWL HOUSES, YARDS AND RUNS. MELROSE, MASS. 1877. PREFACE. The numerous letters I have received from all quarters of the coun- try latterly, urging me to prepare a book upon the subject which forms the topic of this present treatise — together with the fact that I have been applied to so frequently for similar information by parties whom I could not find time to reply to, individually, as I wished, are the rea- sons why I publish this little volume on “ RaistInc-FowLs anp Eees IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKETING PuRPOSES.” The pages which follow wil! be found to embrace the paper I wrote a few years since at the request of the U. S. Commissioner of Agricul- ture, at Washington—and which appeared in the official Report of that Department, subsequently. My chief object in putting forth this treatise at the present time is to conveniently and fully answer the scores of letters which coustantly reach me, enquiring, “Does fowl-raising in the ordinary manner pay?” or “Can a man keep 500 or 1000 fowls of the common kinds to advantage, upon a single farm or estate? And if so, will you in- form me how tt 1s done?” These querics I have now answered, in the accompanying book. The main article to which I have made reference above, has been care- fully revised, though in substance it is very little changed; since it was the practical experience of the author ata time when he was experi- menting largely, with a view to learning for himself what could be accomplished in this direction. Innumerable instances could be cited where fowl-keeping on a lesser scale than this has proved profitable. The business may be made to pay in any quantity, if properly and judiciously conducted. But not otherwise. And I have endeavored in concise language and as briefly as I could, in these pages, to show the interested reader how to do it. For some of the illustrations of practical fowl-houses used in this work, I am indebted to the courtesy of H. H. Stoddard, Esq., of the Potttry Wortp, Hartford, where they were originally published. This excellent monthly magazine I commend to all poultrymen who are not already among its patrons. It is universally admitted to be the ablest edited, the best illustrated, and the handsomest printed poultry journal in this or any other country. My readers are now referred to the subject I have chosen for this volume, with the confident assurance that if they will follow the sug- gestions herein made, with due care and judgment, they may raise fowls and eggs for market to any reasonable extent, successfully, and to profit — as I have done. Gro. P. Burnuam. Melrose, March, 1877. PEA-COMB PARTRIDGE COCHINS. {@- My patrons will be supplied with this stock direct from the original breeder’s yards—and I am able to assure all who fancy these fine fowls, that I can furnish them with the very choicest of this variety —or with Ee@es for incubation, in the hatching season, from superior selected birds. The following editorial in Stoddard’s ‘“‘Poutrry WorLD” for March 1877, describes this now established and popular variety, quite accurately. “Tye PEA-CoMBED PARTRIDGE Cocuins, which were originated by C. H. Edmonds, of Melrose, Mass., and which were two years ago admitted by the American Poultry As- sociation to recognition in the new Standard as a distinct breed, have proved a valuable acquisition to the American varieties, and are now coming to be much sought after by amateurs and fanciers. During our attendance at the last exhibition of the Massachusetts Society, at Music Hall, Boston, we examined the fine samples there shown by Mr. Edmonds, and feeling desirous to see this breeder’s flocks at home also, we visited Melrose for this purpose. We can vouch for the fact that no finer lot of Partridge Cochins than these birds, as a whole, ever fell under our notice. They are closely bred to color, even size, ample weight, and general good characteris- tics; and we are happy to state that Mr. Edmonds’s efforts have froved a success. His breeding of the pea-comb on this variety is now fairly and fully established, and quite as many of his chickens, for the last two or three years have shown this. feature, as are ordinarily bred upon the Brahmas of to day. ‘ During the coming season Mr. Edmonds expects still further to improve his stock ; and he is entitled to a full measure of credit for having accomplished what he undertook to carry out, some six years ago, through steady and systematic management, and, first and Tgst, at cost of no little time, labor and money. ‘There is a great advantage in the pea-comb for our Northern states, as compared with the single comb of the other varieties of Cochins. Single combs are very apt to freéze in severe weather, as most of our readers well know.” PREFACE TO CHROMO EDITION. The present edition of “Rarstx¢ Fowis anp Eeas tn quantity for Market,” is enlarged upon the original editions, by the addition of several pages of important illustrated matter at the end of this book. The Chapter thus added upon “ Successful Artificial Incubation,” (see pages 38 and forward) comprises a most interesting account of the colos- sal poultry establishment of W. C. Baker, Esq., at Cresskill-on-the-Hud- son; about the existence of which the author had no idea, when he first wrote this treatise. There is also now presented in the 50 cent edition of this work a beautiful Carowo of Standard Brahmas, from theplate originally exe- cuted for THe Potttry Wortp, Hartford, Conn., which we consider an attractive and valuable addition to the book. The 25 cent edition (without the Chromo, or the additional article above mentioned), will be mailed, as heretofore, to all who prefer that little volume. In its present shape, we consider this treatise on “raising fowls and eggs for market” quite complete —and have no doubt that all who read it will admit that this Pant IV, of our series of hand-books for poultry- men and farmers, at the popular price of 50 cents each, will be quite as acceptable as have proved its predecessors. Gro. P. Burnoam. Melrose, Mass., June, 1877. RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. HOW TO DO IT. Some wiseacre has affirmed that “a bird in the hand is . worth two in the bush.” He is correct in this decision. We venture to paraphrase this ancient adage, and assume that a healthy live chicken in the palm is worth more than two in the shell ! We commence this treatise with some brief ideas upon the best methods of hatching chickens, such as may prove valua- ble to the farmer or poulterer— always contending, as we do, and believing that incubation in the natural way is the preferable mode. That this plan is the very best for our purposes which can be adopted, (at least for the present in this country), we were years ago satisfied. . The setting hen is surer, she hatches a greater percentage of chicks, and will in this climate, give us better, healthier, larger, and stronger young birds than can be produced through any other known process; not excepting.the Egyptian, the Chi- . 6 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS nese, the Assyrian, the English, or the Yankee methods of hatching by oven-heat, steam, alcohol, hot-beds, manure-tanks, or otherwise. Before we come to details in the process of hatching chickens under the natural mother, however, I propose to devote a few pages to artificial incubation, as it has been practiced for cen- turies (and very successfully) in other countries; about which in the United States little is as yet known, and wth which very little has ever yet been accomplished among our people, of a satisfactory character. Various attempts have been made with modern ‘“ incuba- tors ” — operated with fluids for heating. And several patents have been taken out in this country for these inventions, the originators of which have at times been more or less successful with them, in a moderate way. But the conclusion which one of the leading American pa- tentees arrived at, some years after he had faithfully experi- mented with and sold several of his Incubating machines, was candid and truthful. He frankly declared that modern poul- trymen had not educated themselves up to the details of this thing ; and that they did not and could not succeed with this process, because it required such nicety of manipulation and so peculiar a knowledge of scientific points in management, that only the person who contrived the machine was able to do anything with it that would remunerate him for the time spent over it, the original cost, the expense of experimenting, and the first losses of good eggs that were inevitable in the be- ginner’s experience. So he voluntarily stopped the sale of his incubators, not- withstanding the fact that he had himself been able to hatch out (and raise) from sixty to seventy-five per cent. of the chicks from eggs that he personally superintended the incubation of — and this on different occasions. Others, however, could not accomplish this, and it was given up. Such has been the fate generally of the inventions that have thus far been attempted for this business, in England or Amer- IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. 7 ica. In the hands of the originator, who clearly comprehends the intricacies of his machine, ‘and who knows how to manage it, many chickens have been hatched. But our own view of this kind of invention is that they are too complicated, and too ‘* scientific ” in their construction, to be useful or profitable in the hands of the average unskilled poultry-breeder. And while due credit should always be accorded to such en- terprising inventors, the fact must not be overlooked, that, how- ever well they may themselves be able to manage their ma- chines, the every-day fowl-breeder is not competent to the performance of a work which (as they are aware) has cost them years of toil, thought and study to master, and make themselves familiar with, in detail. We recently saw in the correspondence of a traveller who was sojourning in China, an account of a professional “ egg- hatcher ” of that country, which was quite novel. This opera- tor hatched ducks’ eggs in great quantities in baskets, heated artificially from the bottom with hot stones or tiles suited to the purpose; and, in his way, he was very successful. It is said there are numbers of these egg-hatchers to be met with in the interior, near Chinese large cities or commercial ports, and that they do a thriving trade in their vocation, in the early season of the year. In the instance referred to, the writer described this heathen operator as one of the greatest “lions” in Chusan where he saw him. He is an old Chinaman who every Spring hatches thousands of ducks’ eggs by artificial heat. He received me says this traveller, with Chinese politeness and offered me tea and his pipe, two things always ‘at hand in a Chinese house, and perfectly indispensible. I asked permission to examine his hatching-house — to which he immediately led the way. The Chinese cottages, generally, are wretched buildings of mud and stone, with damp earthen floors, scarcely fit for cat- tle to sleep on, and remind one of what Scottish cottages were some years ago, but which now, happily, are among the things that were. The Chinaman’s cottage was no exception to the FOWL HOUSE OF C, L. GATCH, (NEW RICHMOND, 0.,) WITH PARTLY GLAZED ROOF, ‘IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. 9 general rule. Bad-fitting, loose, creaking doors; paper win- dows, dirty and torn, ducks, geese, fowls, dogs and pigs, in the house and at the doors, apparently having equal rights with their masters. The hatching-house was built at the end of the cottaye and was a kind of long shed, with mud walls and thickly thatched with straw. Along the ends and down one side of the build- ings are a number of round straw baskets, well plastered with mud, to prevent them from taking fire. In the bottom of each basket there was a tile placed, or rather the tile forms the bottom of the basket. Upon this the fire acts —a small fire- place being below each basket. Upon the top of each basket there is a straw cover, which fits closely, and which is kept shut while the hatching process is going on. In the centre of the shed are a number of large shelves placed one above the other, upon which the eggs are laid at a certain stage of the process. When the eggs are brought, they are put into the baskets, the fire is lighted below them, and a uniform heat kept up; ranging, as nearly as I could ascertain by some ob- servations which I made with the thermometer, from 95 to 102 degrees. But the Chinamen regulate the heat by their own feelings, and therefore it will, of course, vary considerably. In four or five days after the eggs have been subject to this temperature, they are taken carefully out, one by one, to a door in which a number of holes have been bored, nearly the size of the eggs; they are then held against these holes, and the Chinamen look through them, and are able to tell whether they are good or not. If good, they are taken back and re- placed in their former quarters; if bad, they are of course ex- cluded. In nine or ten days after this—that is, about fourteen days from the commencement, the eggs are taken from the basket, and spread out on the shelves. Here no fire heat is applied, but they are covered over with cotton, and a kind of blanket, under which they remain about fourteen days more — when the young ducks burst their shells, and the shed teems with life. These shelves are large and capable of holding 10 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS many thousands of eggs; and when the hatching takes place, the sight is not a little curious. The natives who rear the young ducks in the surrounding country know exactly the day when they will be ready for re- moval; and in two days after the shell is burst, the whole of the little creatures are sold and conveyed to their new quar- ters, where —with the natural heat of that hot climate, and proper attention to their needs, the ducks are subsequently raised to advantage, and are sold usually when a third or half grown, for the tables of the mandarins or the foreign resident merchants. This may answer in China. But such a method (even if we any of us understood it, which we do not), is quite im- practicable on this side of the water. The incubating processes of English and American inventors, as we have observed, proved failures — in the main— except by way of experiment, in the hands of the originators, themselves. And in spite of the utterly unwarrantable theory of such visionaries as Geo. C. Geyelin and Lewis Wright, who assume that artificial hatching and the rearing of chickens is an absolutely necessary accessory to any large fowl-breeding establishment, we undertake to af- firm that up to this time, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and seventy-seven, there is not existing nor has there ever yet been invented, an eccaleobeon, an incubator, a hatch- ing-house, a hot-bed, or other contrivances of this character, in France, England, or America, that was practically worth one sixpence in the hands of a novice, for wholesale production of chickens from fowls’ eggs. Mr. Geyelin, is unquestionably a gentleman, and a well- meaning man. But his proposition is utterly impracticable, at least in the United States. And his prescribed mode of artiti- cial hatching can never succeed, in either England or America, profitably — since all experiments in this direction have proved failures from their excessive prime cost, and the subsequent disasters that attend the attempts to raise the chickens pro- duced in this manner, in a cold climate. It cannot be done, IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. 11 with us. It never has been done— to any extent. And we doubt if it will be done in either country, at present.* But let us note how the artificial hatching of chickens is manipulated in Egypt, where millions of hens’ eggs are every year used, in their peculiar style of ‘‘oven,” and incubated by common fire heat —as all of us are aware, who have studied chicken-history carefully. A quaint old volume, written over a hundred and thirty years ago by Monsieur de Reaumur, of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Paris, and printed for C. Davis, over-against Gray’s Inn Gate, London, in 1750, is devoted principally to the hatching of domestic poultry by means of artificial heat — ‘either in hot-beds, or by that of common fire.” This is a studied dissertation upon the mode for hundreds of years in vogue among the Bermeans, in Egypt; where millions of chick- ens are annually and successfully raised without mother-hens: But this occurs in Egypt, and the modus operandi through which this colossal result is there attained, has ever been— as it still is — virtually a secret. ; In the early numbers of the third volume of ‘* Wade’s Fanciers’ Journal,” there appear some interesting articles upon. this topic, which we quote from. In the work by Monsieur de R, Father Sicard tells us that ‘‘we ought not to wonder that this peculiar method of hatching chickens should not be known in Europe; since it is unknown even in a great part of Egypt. It is a secret, limited there to a single village, called Berme, located in the Delta, sixty miles from Cairo—and a few ad- joining places.” The inhabitants of Berme teach this secret to their children —but successfully keep it from all strangers. In the proper season, the Bermeans disperse themselves around, * The above was written before the long and interesting account of Mr. Wm. C. Baker’s extraordinary success in hatching chickens by artificial heat at Cresskill, Bergen Co., New Jersey, was made public, within my knowledge. Since the first editions of this book were published, that account appears in the Hartford Pouttry Wort», copiously illustrated ; and by permission of H. H. Stoddard, Esq., (who loans us copies of the drawings) we in- sert this important article in fifteen pages at the end of this edition of our book—to which the special attention of the reacer is here referred. G. P. B. 12 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS each man who understands the process takes charge of one “oven,” for about six months, successively, and through their skilful management from 45,000 to 70,000 eggs are set at a time, in each oven—to be hatched out by means of properly applied and carefully conducted artificial (fire) heat. The Egyptian secret consists of two parts; namely, that of building these hatching-ovens properly, and that of causing the immense number of eggs set in them to be regularly and We LILY APP PALA DIE LOE TEDL! GROUND PLAN OF C. L. GATCH’S POULTRY HOUSE, ON PAGE 8. appropriately heated, night and day, as they would be if set on by the hens. The results attained are similar to those reached by the use of modern incubators, on a far lesser scale. The knowledge which the Bermeans possess (and which they keep so cautiously to themselves,) is that of so warming the eggs continuously, for twenty-one days, as to gradually unfold the chicks within, and finally to hatch them 3; the important point IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. 13 towards success consisting simply (as in the cases of the Amer- ican artificial incubators of Graves, or Halsted,) in keeping up a constant and régular needful degree of heat, and knowing exactly how to manage the ovens to effect this object. A veritable account is given of the enormous number of chickens thus hatched in Egypt, as well as the exact number of ovens in use at that period, by the Bermeans. There were then 386 licensed ovens. ‘This number,” says Father Sicard, * gan never be increased, or diminished, without the fact being known ; since the Aga of Berme —a governing official —is the lawful recipient of a regular tax of eight or ten crowns each for the privilege allowed to run an oven; and this being his rent-roll, all operators are duly licensed and registered. Thus it is known that there are (or were) 886 ovens annually oper- ated in Egypt — say in 1740 to *45. - In each oven they contrive to turn out, in six month’s time, an average of eight broods, or hatchings, one after another. This gives three thousand and eighty-eight broods. The num- ber of eggs set in each oven, at one time, is from 45,000 to 60,000. If three-fourths of the eggs hatch, (and this is said to be about the average product) we find that there are produced in Egypt by this secret artificial process 3,088 broods of say 80,000 live chicks, each; or the amazing number in the aggre- gate of ninety-two millions, six hundred and forty thousand, an- nually! At all events, this was the official record, more than one hundred and twenty-five years ago. Americans naturally exclaim *“‘ where do all these eggs come from just at the right time for setting, thus?” And “ whut do they do with these’millions of chicks, as to raising, and dis~_ posing of them, after hatching?” We will answer these nat- ural questions and quote some farther information upon this curious, but interesting work — which has wondrously increased in proportions, as a business in Egypt, since the middle of the last century. It is doubtful if we in America could possibly follow the Egyptian,’or Bermean lead, in this business of raising poultry 14 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS in such enormous quantities, according to their concealed method. The ‘‘ovens” we allude to are called mamals, in Egypt. Each mamal has its Bermean, anf one man only is entrusted with its management. He is educated from child- hood to the work, but the French author from whom we quote, advances the proposition (very cautiously) that this huge quantity of chickens, which will be looked upon as really pro- digious, might be annually produced in France, or other popu- lous countries, through means approximating in character to those employed by the Egyptians. Then Mons. Reaumur goes on to tell how common bakers’ and pastry-cooks’ ovens may be utilized, to produce similar re- sults. Indeed he details numerous experiments he tried, and succeeded with excellently well, with such ovens — or rather the waste heat of them —in the space over the hot bread and pie ovens of Paris. At the convent of the Society of L’enfant QM WS MM MMMm@nman A MOVABLE CHICKEN-COOP. Jesus, with the nuns at the Convent St. Sulpice, and also un- der the superintendence of the Abbe Menon —in France, the experiments with their baking ovens were practiced upon de Reaumur’s suggestion with a few hundreds of eggs at a hatch- ing, with remarkable success and satisfaction. Prior to the issuing of this book by de Reaumur — away back a hundred and forty years ago—the Duke of Tuscany (so Thevenot asserts) in order to indulge a laudable curiosity ‘for which the ancient house of Medicis was eminent, had sent to him from Egypt one of these educated Bermeans, skilled in the art of hatching chickens,” who hatched some at Florence, -ith as good success as they were got out in Egypt.’ This ex- R. B. WALLACE’S CHICKEN-HOUSE, (WALLINGFORD, CONN.,) WITH LATH-COVERED RUN, OR YARD. 16 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS periment was tried, with like success, in Poland. A French prince attempted it at Chantilly, subsequently, without the Bermean — but failed. And it was concluded that to do this work as they did it — producing such vast quantities of chick- ens at a time —the Egyptian operator must be imported, who knew how to build the “oven” first, and how to manage it and the eggs deposited therein, rightfully — afterwards. We have only approached to this “art” in hatching chick- ens through similar modes, by using the Incubator, which is heated artificially, and from which only a few score, or hun- dreds at most, can be hatched ata time. And even this sys- tem is but indifferently understood in this country as yet. “Where do the eggs come from, in Egypt, to supply these enor- mous hatching-ovens at the right time, of such freshness as to be rendered at once available?” is a question naturally proposed. Through this method of successfully hatching such large quantities of chickens every year by the Bermeans, under a system that has been in vogue there for centuries, it is at once apparent that * hens have been rendered infinitely more com- mon in Egypt than in any other country known. This is of course owing to the facility with which Egyptians are able to multiply them,” says Reaumur. And Father Sicard adds that a thousand eggs are sold there for not above thirty to forty medins — which is equal to but 86 to 40 cents in silver. There is therefore no difficulty in procuring any quantity of eggs, when they are wanted — since every peasant or poultry owner knows when they are needed for the hatching-ovens, and pro- vides his share from day to day through the season on the spot, at Berme, where they are used and promptly paid for on de- livery. The Egyptian mode of raising chickens is to this people a very simple process, and it could perhaps be imitated in this country, to some eXtent, in the hot season, at the extreme south during seven or eight months in the year. “ The first thing, however, to do towards cooking your trout,” says quaint Izaak Walton, “is to catch him.” And intelligent Californians IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. 17 have a proverb among them advising that “‘ you secure your bear, before you offer to sell his skin.” In this view, we add that the first thing to perform in the raising of chickens, in any quaniities, is to successfully hatch A ee TY mall e ee ee aT ae Gast CHICKEN-COOP, WITH SLIDING-TOP IN ROOF. them. The Bermeans do this on an enormous scale. How they do it, is a matter that must be studied attentively, and experimented upon largely, before the American breeder will be able do it as they succeed with it. But—given the chickens COOP WITH LATH COVERED RUN FOR HEN AND CHICKS. in hand — successfully hatched, the mode adopted in Berme to raise them is by no means complicated, since they do this by the millions, there. But they have a vast advantage over us, in the temperature of their warm climate, to begin with. In Europe or America, RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS 18 kee ee ee ae we pa eh ee = =a =——S \ IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. 19 even if it were feasible at any one time to collect several hun- dred thousand eggs suitable for hatching, (which is hardly possible,) and if we were then able to so manipulate them in the incubators, or properly prepared “ovens,” or heating houses, as to get out even five or ten thousand at a time, what could we do—in many of our cold localities — with so many CHEAP SHED-ROOF HOUSE, WITH GLASS OR MESH-WIRE FRONT. chickens, produced on the same day? What must become of the poor little creatures, fresh from their shells, without moth- i__. A GOOD FOWL-HOUSE, WITH FENCED RUNS FRONT AND REAR. 20 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS ers to brood and shelter and keep them from perishing in in- fancy, especially in frigid weather ? “« Artificial mothers are already invented,” replies the maker of incubators. We are aware of this fact. But how far will those machines go toward the desired end, when we speak of what is to be done for tens of thousands of chicks, possible to be produced? ‘ Multiply the number of machines?” Very good. But this would not remedy the objection, in our wet, cold days and nights; while in Egypt it scarcely ever rains, and the climate is constantly sufficiently warm to permit of dispensing with “‘ mothers,” natural or artificial. They do not use them there, at all, and thus ¢hey can raise chickens in quan- tities, as we can not. That chickens can be multiplied among us, artificially, and that to a certain extent they can be reared through means sim- ilar to those long in vogue among Egyptians, there is little question. That hundreds of batches of chickens are nowadays hatched and raised, at least to goodly marketable size in Amer- ica, we are assured is the fact by those who have in the last three or four years used the Yankee “ incubators,” invented by our people in New York, and Boston. We will now turn to the subject of hatching chickens in the ordinary way—as we are compelled to do, for the most part — under hen-mothers. The early Spring-time with us is the appropriate season in which to commence the work of chicken-raising. Adult: fowls become ‘‘ broody,” or, in other words, they then incline to sit upon the second litter of eggs they have laid. And this “hatching fever” or motherly instinct in fowls, first exhibits itself in the month of February, March, or April, annually. We have stated heretofore, and we repeat it just here for the information of those interested, that hens will ordinarily lay about so many eggs ina year, with good fair keep and treatment — but that the egg-product may be greatly increased, within a given period, by the daily use of extra or stimulating feeding. IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. 21 Those who raise fowls and eggs for market purposes only, and who do not give their attention strictly to breeding “ fan- cy” or show fowls, have no use for cocks and hens except to breed and rear them in numbers as rapidly as possible, and to obtain from their fowls the largest quantities of eggs, in the shortest possible period of time. And when the hens have “laid themselves out,” it is time to turn their carcasses over to the butcher, or they quite outlive their usefulness. The “ Imperial Egg Food” made at Hartford, Conn., by Allen and Sherwood, is by far the best stimulant for this in- creased egg-production from common hens, that we are ac- quainted with. We have personally tested this preparation, and with marked results, in past years. Hundreds of the lead- ing poulterers of this country have also tried it practically, and all agree, that this food — properly given to laying fowls, (as the printed directions accompanying each package clearly specifies) will greatly improve the laying quality of hens; while there are certain constituents in the make-up of this feed, that wonderfully aids at the same time in keeping domes- tic poultry in fine condition and good health. We commend the judicious use therefore of this Imperial Egg. Food, because #e know something about it, through ex- perience, and because this is the only sort of “ egg-producing food” we have any knowledge of, individually. If we are to make use of eggs for hatching that are laid by our own stock, we know as a rule about what will be produced from them. If we are just commencing the business, and are in search of a clutch or two of eggs of some single chosen variety that we fancy — we should apply to a reliable breeder of the kind of fowls we prefer, and take care that we get what we are in search of, fresh laid, and true to the breed we seek. This is important, for several good reasons. There is much of ignorance, a great deal of carelessness in breeding, and not a little deceit practiced in certain quarters, by those who do not know how to breed fowls, or who do not care to keep the better class of stock of the nominal varieties they pretend to 22 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS cultivate, honestly and advisedly. The “ humbugs in the hen trade” are not all dead, yet — even in this year of grace 1877. Apply to a good man, and enjoin it upon him to ship you the freshest eggs he has, from fowls that have been properly mated for breeding. Pay him his price —get them at as reasonable a figure as you ought to for the kind it may be —and do not send your order for them until you have procured a hen, or have one at hand ready, to set. The safest way to set a hen, is to place her at first fora few days, say, upon glass or common eggs. When she is firmly attached to the nest, then give her those you have pur- chased, or set aside for breeding from. She will remain steady after the third day, if she isin earnest. And all you need to do is to see that she comes off, daily, or is taken off the nest for food, bathing in the sulphur-dust and ash box, and returns to her duty before the eggs chill, if the weather is cold. In the earliest weeks of spring, I have found nine Cochin or Brahma eggs as many asa hen will then cover to advantage, in the sitting-nest. Eleven or thirteen are used, frequently. But there will rarely be hatched of these over seven or eight chicks, in the coldest months of spring-time. Of the smaller varieties, such as the Leghorns, Plymoftth Rocks, Spanish, Hamburgs, etc., the greater number of eggs may be used.* Make it a point to place the sitting hen upon her nest in the evening, always. She will through this method. be more stead- fast in her brooding. Prepare the nest in a quiet portion of the house, or furnish her with a covered box, or coop, by her- self in an out-of-the-way corner, where she will remain undis- turbed by other hens, and especially by the cocks in your runs. The bottom of the sitting-nest is well made by placing a grass-sod first in the box, with the roots upward. Upon this fresh damp earth lay short sttaw or hay, mingled with tobacco leaves, if you can procure them handily. Sprinkle over all a little fine powder of sulphur — and, the last thing before you put the hen upon the eggs, rub sulphur-dust, or carbolic pow- der through her feathers, thoroughly. By this means you : a and the Houdan, Dorking, or Game Cocks, make a good cross with common owls. IN, QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. 23 drive away, and keep ata distance, the vermin that so fre- quently assails a setting hen. She must have food and water handy, of course. And you should remove her gently from the nest, daily, unless she vol- untarily comes off to feed and roll in the dust-bath every day. But do not fuss with her. She knows her duties best. She will sit twenty-one days. At the expiration of this term, the chicks will give you notice of their approach, by their gentle “peep” at first, and then by thrusting their downy polls out through or under the parent’s sheltering wings. Still, let hen and brood alone for twenty-four hours. They are all right, and they will do nicely yet, for a full day. On the morning following the hatching, remove the mother carefully from the old nest. Clean it afl out, and take the debris away. Give her a little more sulphur, or carbolic pow- der, dusted through her plumage. And then commence to feed the younglings — as we have directed. And just here let us observe that the use of “a little sul- phur powder” is recommended. You can kill every chick that is hatched under your hens, by over-doing even this very simple process. There is no necessity for applying sulphur in undue quantities—remember. ° * Give the hen-mother a dusting with it when she first com- mences to sit, and when she hatches her brood, apply a little of it upon her under-feathers. Not too much — for a surplus will get into the eyes of the chicks and blind them, frequently. They cannot see to eat after this, and die of starvation. Whereas, if the sulphur be judiciously applied to the hen's body, only, (at first) vermin are kept at bay, and sufficient of the dust reaches the down of the tender young chicks for all useful purposes, until they get to be three or four weeks old, and strong in muscle and limb, comparatively. My recent volume upon the various “ Diseases of Domestic Poultry,” treats this subject fully as a speciality, and I must refer the reader of this present treatise to that work for in- formation and advice touching the details of these troubles, 24 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS as I have space in this little book barely to allude to the com mon ailments of fowls. In my previous works, however, I have advised the use of the German Roup Pills as a palliative and general corrective for use in the fowl-yard. This preparation is an old one, and it has been thoroughly tested in Europe and America, until it has come to be an established specific everywhere among American poultry-raisers, appreciated through its intrinsic merits. As a general medicine, for practical use at a mo- ment’s notice upon the approach of diseases among the fowl flocks, these German Pills have no rival in excellence. It has now come to be very generally understood that that troublesome affection known as roup, is one of the very worst enemies we have to”contend with, in poultry raising ; and its presence in the houses or runs is the greatest bar to success in rearing good younglings, or in keeping grown fowls, usefully. These pills are now manufactured very largely and are sold all over the country, to the great satisfaction of those who use them. H. H. Stoddard of Hartford, has recently become pro- prietor of this curative for ailing fowls, and we refer to his advertisement at the close.of this book with pleasure — know- ing, as most.of our readers do,— that he would not recommend it, or have undertaken the sale of this preparation, unless he well knew its value and efficacy. The coop in which the mother hen is confined until her brood is a month to six weeks’ old, may be very simple in its construction (see pages17,19.) It should be without a floor, and of convenient size to be portable. The roof, common pitch, and overhanging the eaves sufficiently to shed the rain — in that portion to which she resorts at night, or for shelter from bad weather. The rest of this cage may be open, slatted with laths (see page 17) set far enough apart on the framing to allow the chicks to pass out and in, at their pleasure. This coop can be taken up and moved about the grass-plat easily, (as see design on p. 14,) and placed upon a fresh spot of the lawn, or run — thus benefitting hen and chickens, largely. “PLYMOUTH ROCK” COCK AND HEN. THE FARMER’S FOWL. The above illustration accurately represents this now favorite variety of poultry, which is not a large breed, comparatively, but which has proved a very useful one to farmers and poul- terers, who have given them a fair steady trial, for two or three years. They are good layers, a very good table fowl, not un- like the old style Dominique (from which they come, through a cross with the Black Java) and have become quite desirable, as a moderate priced and acceptable sort, for ordinary uses. Mr. Felch, in speaking of the: Plymouth Rocks” said pub- licly, not long since, that “there has long been felt the need of a breed of fowls which should fill the middle ground be- tween the small breeds and Asiatics. This place is admirably ‘supplied by the Plymouth Rocks. And anxious that it may re- main so, I would caution the breeder not to breed them to 25 26 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS Asiatic size: for so soon as they shall reach the size of the Brahma they will be equally as long in maturing, and thus lose that merit (poultry for summer and early fall) which they now possess, and which gives them their present strong hold upon poulterer and breeder. In our rural districts many a matron is dependent upon the egg production to secure money to replenish her wardrobe; and we can see, if we are ever to secure a foothold in these districts for thorougbred stocks, they must have merit. Zhe production of eggsis what keeps the machine moving. In fact, itis the fuel that heats the steam that starts the whole. The census of 1870 discloses the facts that the United States produced 336 million dollars worth of hay, 761 million bushels of corn, 288 million dollars worth of wheat, a cotton crop worth 155 million of dollars, a dairy crop of 145 million of dollars, a meat crop, which took into account all the animals slaughtered or sold to be slaughtered, (cattle, sheep and swine) valued at $398,956,376. But greater than either of these agricultural products stands the egg and poultry product of this land. It finds no rival, save in the entire meat and dairy crops combined., Prices based on the market in my own town,” said Mr. F., “show that if each family consume but two dozen eggs per week, and $20 worth of poultry per year, the aggregate would be 405 million of dollars; to which if added the consumption of our restaurants, confection es- tablishments, our thousands of hotels, and the medicinal and chemical demand, we cannot possibly compute the egg and poultry produced in the United States to-day, at less than 500 millions of dollars per annum. This is the largest agricultural interest in the land, be it observed, at this time. The common fowls of the country are now kept of course, in great excess of numbers over any and all of the “fancy” breeds of late introduction among us from abroad. Within the writer’s experience, if common breeds of chickens are hatched in the months of February and early March, the male birds, properly cared for, will by July and August attain to a generous size for the table. And if well fed during this period, they will average a dressed weight of five or six pounds each, or eleven pounds the pair, which, at the ordinary value of poultry in market in the months last named, will afford a very handsome profit upon their cost and keeping. At about the period when the cocks are thus killed off, the pullets of this cross and age will begin to lay almost uniformly, and will continue t> furnish eggs during the entire winter, IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. Q7 coming in for sitters naturally in the months of February and March, when their litters will have been exhausted. As to stock for breeding purposes, a selection is best made from the short-legged Asiatic male birds, to be introduced to the common native female stock. From their chickens, selected birds should be used for future breeding, and the cross thus obtained are best bred back to the Cochin or Brahma male again, reserving from season to season only the short-limbed and well- shaped pullets from the crossing, for subsequent use. In this way the better characteristics of the foreign blood are more uniformly retained. The first feed for chicks, say for a week, is largely the best if given of hard-boiled eggs and bread crumbs. They eat but little for a few days after the hatching, but should be fed four or five times a day. After this, give them cooked soft food, of wheat, fine corn meal, and potatoes boiled, for two weeks. And if from the outset, you scald this food in milk (as most farmers can) the benefit -will be farther increased. From this time forward, crushed corn and boiled vegetables, half and half, with occasional additions of bone-meal and fine meat-scraps will help them, amazingly. Where hundreds of young birds are raised, (instead of dozens, only), this system cannot well be fully carried out. But in any case, the food should at first be cooked for them. This renders it more easily digestible: and for their drink, a tonic of Iron Tincture, or Cayenne pepper in the water, twice a week, is beneficial. Where fowls are kept for profit, and especially when large numbers are present, attention should be directed to saving the feathers taken from them, (if dressed for market,) and also the manure from the houses — no inconsiderable itents of value in each year. : In raising poultry, whether the object be to produce chick- ens for the market, or to obtain a supply of eggs, the first prin- ciple to be observed is absolute cleanliness in and around the houses they occupy. During the brief process of fattening fowls, a range for the birds intended to be slaughtered is not necessary. On the contrary, for two or three weeks devoted to finally fitting fowls for the spit, the more quiet they re- main in their confinement (always supposing them to be kept cleanly and free from vermin) the better. For both laying and breeding fowls a range or walk is a ne- cessity to their comfort, health, and profitableness. Without this convenience, to a greater or less extent— and the more 28 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS liberal the range the better —it is ‘futile to attempt to grow fowls to profit, and to expect them to produce eggs regularly. In the vicinity of all large cities and towns fresh eggs are always in request, at the most remunerative prices. Every tiller of the soil possesses, more or less, facilities for feeding poultry economically, and has also the space upon his land to make them comfortable and thrifty. But some time must be given to looking after them daily, and a degree of care is requi- site to keep them in ‘‘good heart,” and to render them of profit in the end. Our Shorthorns and Alderneys, our Suffolks and Chesters, our Southdowns and Cotswolds, all require care to keep them in fine condition. Why not, proportionately, so with our poultry; which, having reference to the comparative cost and product, pays with certainty so much greater a per- centage of profit, year by year? In France every farmer has his chicken yard, and the amount of poultry and eggs consumed by, and exported from that country, is enormous. Monsieur de Lavergne, for example, estimates that the poultry of Great Britian for the year (1861-’62) is valued, in round numbers, at twenty millions franes, ($4,000,000,) while the total value of the two products — poultry and eggs—in France at the same period reaches rising two hundred millions of frances. Where one or two hundred fowls can as well be profitably kept in a thrifty condition, as a dozen or two can be neglected and starved, it is well that every farmer should look at this item of live stock, and bear in mind that, with ordinary care, (considering the necessary investment of capital and the trouble of its keeping) no live stock will return him anything like 80 generous a percentage as will his too often neglected poultry. As a rule, the poultry-house or houses are better placed, all things considered, with the aspect facing east and south, in our northern and eastern States. During the severe winters ex- perienced in our northern latitude, domestic fowls will neither lay, nor be free from various diseases, if exposed to rough weather or the chilling winds. A cheap and good style of house may be constructed with a partial glass. front and end, facing as indicated in Fig. 1., the sash running from two feet above the sill towards the peak, and upon the side towards the eaves, of any desired dimensions, upon the plan on next page. Such a house has been in use for several years by the writer, and has been found to answer admirably for sitters as for lay- ers, with a slight change in the interior arrangements, from pne season to another. The glazing may be such as serves for IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. 29 the ordinary green-house roofing, that is lapped upon the edges. This affords light and warmth from the sun’s rays, and has been found most economical and comfortable. The wing may TURAN AU Fig 1—A CHEAP AND GOOD POULTRY HOUSE. be of any length. Earth floors beneath the roosting places ara economical and easily cleaned. Half round roosts of large sized spruce poles are the most comfortable, and these should be movable, to set upon cross-stilts, not over two or three feet from the ground floor. If these roosts are once a week, in warm weather, wet with kerosene, the process will serve the double purpose of keeping the roosts free from vermin, and the bodies of the fowls from this same annoyance. Access to a gravelled walk or yard at the rear, in fine weather, is indis- pensable. A grass enclosure, if practicable, upon which fowls can range daily, is a desideratum in summer. In the rear of the above described house, was alloted half an acre for this purpose. In the absence of these two last mentioned almost necessities, fresh gravel and,sand, broken shells, &c., and green food of some kind, as cabbage leaves, ruta-baga tops, turnip leaves, grass, or the like, should frequently be thrown within their reach, which they will devour with avidity. The house and ground-plan here described, (figures 1 and 2) may be used for laying hens during the fall and winter, and for sitters in early spring time. From such a house the chick- ens, when strong enough, may be transferred to the open or *‘summer’”’ coops mentioned hereafter, and shown in figures 8,4, and 5. It must not be forgotten that pure air, and plenty of it, when not freezing cold, is as desirable to fowls as to man. A dust-bath formed of leached wood ashes, is a luxury for 80 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS fowls confined in limited accommodations. The premises de- EXpLANATION.—W, windows; b, ash-boxes; , doors; n, nests; 1, for roosts. (Ground plan.) The remarks thus far submitted have reference, in a general way, to the keeping of poultry upon an ordinary scale. With slight daily care and attention, as above hinted, any farmer can keep his hundred or two of fowls, which may readily be tended and provided for by the boys upon his estate, or even by the women of the household. From two hundred birds thus dis- posed, he may obtain, annually, two thousand three hundred dozen of eggs, and, if inclined, at least fifteen hundred pounds of marketable chickens, before the close of August, in each year. This product will pay him from four hundred and fifty to five hundred dollars in money, and leave him his original stock for the next year. His expenses will be not over two hundred to two hundred and fifty dollars, thus furnishing him with an equal sum of profit upon say two hundred fowls. The calculation here made as to returns in eggs, is set down at an anuual yield of 140 eggs to each hen. This is fully up to the average, under the best care and upon high feed. Some fowls will lay more than this number, but these are exceptions. From 130 to 140 eggs, yearly, is a generous supply, and I have never known any fowls except the Chinese, or the cross already described, that would accomplish more than this. The hen spoken of by some writers that ‘lays every day in the year” is a myth, For fattening fowls, the best corn is the cheapest standard IN QUANTITY, FOR MARKET. 31 food in this country. Boiled rice and potatoes, and shorts or *middlings” of wheat are excellent. Small potatoes and broken or even “damaged” rice, which can usually be ob- tained in any large city, serve an admirable purpose, and will be found economical for every-day feeding. Occasional allow- ances of barley or oats, or both, are highly advantageous to laying fowls. Sunflower seeds, which can be easily grown pro- fusely along the entire range on both sides of all fences, with- out taking up room or causing any trouble save the original planting, are one of the very best alteratives and changes in diet that can be obtained, and fowls will devour these with a gusto, always. In the writers judgment, fowls should never be stinted in food. As much as they will eat without waste, and of the best, is deemed the most economical in the end. Male chickens intended for the market may be kept together advantageously in considerable numbers in the same coops, if brought up together from the outset. No pullets should ever be placed in these cages or yards. As fast as the birds reach the proper size and weight for killing, they should be disposed of. For this particular purpose, cock chickens are the most profitable, as they furnish more meat-at a given age, and are of no account (in numbers) otherwise, after they attain to a size suitable for the table. ‘These male birds should be well fed from the shell. They will generally pay a large profit upon the investment, and may be killed at three to six months old. The plan of a fowl house already given (see Figs. 1 and 2) is such as the writer had in use for some years, in size, propor- tions and appointments. Below is the design of houses adopted by him also for many years, for summer use only, in which large numbers of chickens were annually raised. FIG. 4. ——SUMMER OPEN CHICKEN HOUSES — REAR. 32 RAISING FOWLS AND EGGS YY YY’ YY Ros > XQ RRR i SSO IXSAXOXW RO OKs) i FIG. 3 —RANGE OF SUMMER OPEN CHICKEN HOUSES —FRONT. The arrangement on next page, colonizes the lots of chicks, with the mothers, from March or April to June and forward, and separates each from interference with the others. The land might be subdivided into four lots, but the expense of fencing would be considerable, of course, and has not been found necessary upon the writer’s system of management. In each of the six coops indicated have been kept, from early March or April, twenty-five to thirty chickens, with two or three hens each, the aggregate, upon the half acre in the four houses, aver- aging, during the summer, 600 to 650 chickens, raised for and sold in market from June to August. A portion of the chick- ens, say one-fourth, are allowed to run into the whole lot (which is in grass) during three or four hours daily, when they are driven in, and another fourth part are released for exer- cise. One house is usually devoted to male birds, exclusively. In the fall, a few of the finest of both sexes are selected to add to the next year’s breeding stock, and the balance, seven or eight months old, are sold for consumption, at fifteen to eighteen ACUI, MUCH ATV STUN TSCRTTC US