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INTRODUCTORY

Many times every year those who have done business with me from year
to year have asked why I did not write a book telling how to make poultry as
profitable as possible. I have always felt that I should wait to do this until 1
had learned more of the secrets of success with poultry, but I find that if I
were to wait until I knew everything that might be learned I would never get
a book on the subject written.

After giving the matter considerable thought I concluded that I might be
able to write a little book telling how to make money out of poultry and how to
avoid the mistakes which wreck the hopes of the beginner so often.

With this in view I present in this little volume in its most condensed form
what T have learned the many years that I have been breeding high-class
poultry. Some of the methods which I give are my own and have never before
been published; other methods are those which I did not originate but which
I have used with benefit.

The object in writing this book has been to set down in the plainest and
most easily understood language every essential fact which might help the
beginner to get the greatest possible profits from his poultry.

I I believe I may say truly that with this book as a guide any one interested
in poultry will be able to conduct the poultry business with success.

I have not attempted to do fine writing but to write so plainly that any
one who can read can understand and I offer this book in the hope that it may
help the beginner over hard places and the expert poultryman in some of the
difficulties he meets with.

I have been a poultry breeder since my boyhood and this book contains
the things I have learned by actual, practical experience in the poultry yard.

FKANK FOY.
Des Moines, Iowa, October, 1910.

35170

Chapter I

THE PROFITS OF POULTRY KEEPING.

When considering a start in a new and unfamiliar business the wise man
counts the cost as well as he is able, seeking the experience of others as a basis
from which to make his estimates.

The poultry-breeder as a rule begins the poultry business because he has
a natural liking for fowls. It is a curious fact that thousands of people who
care very little about other classes of live stock are fond of poultry. They like
to have domestic fowls about them, to watch them grow and develop and to
minister to their needs.

Thousands of people engaged in every line of business look forward to the
time when they can own a plot of ground and raise chickens as a business or
as a side line with their regular occupation.

It is very easy to overdo the matter of estimating the profits from poultry.
If one is planning to keep only a dozen or twenty or even 100 fowls the element
of time need hardly be counted. Many a professional or office man or shop
operative keeps as many as 100 fowls and gives them the best care while attend-
ing ^o some regular, money-earning work of some other kind. It is only when
the nock is to be above 100 in number that time needs to be counted as part
of the cost of keeping the flock.

This raises the question of how many fowls can one man attend to. This
must be answered in various ways as we must consider the climate and the
conveniences around the poultry house. It is generally estimated that one man
can care for 1000 fowls without working too hard, but there are cases, where
one man does much more than this because every convenience for making
the work as light as possible has been installed.

As an example of what one young man can do and is actually doing every
day on a poultry farm there comes to mind a young man in Virginia who has
built up a big poultry business without outside help and every year adds to the
number of his fowls, doing all the work without help.

This young man keeps 1400 hens and gives them good care, marketing the
eggs and poultry himself and does not think he is overworked. He has his
poultry house arranged so he can take the feed to his hens in a truck which
runs on a miniature railway. He feeds entirely by the hopper method and
gives his hens free range.

Here is his account for last year:

Wheat, 900 bushels at $1.10 $ 990

Corn, 800 bushels at 75 cents 600

Oats, 600 bushels at 55 cents 330

Oyster shells, 8000 pounds at $10 per ton 40

Mica grit, 2000 pounds at $14 per ton 40

Beef scap, 6000 pounds at 3 cents per pound 180

Egg cases, 300 30

Coal oil and gasoline . 40

Total expense $2,224

Receipts.

528 cases eggs $4,752

1,100 hens sold 617

1,200 cockerels sold 311

Total receipts $5,680

The eggs are sold at 30 cents per dozen in Washington, D. C. The price
received for the hens and surplus cockerels shows that they were all sold at
market prices, so this account shows very fairly what one young man is doing

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA

GOLDEN WYANDOTTES.

The Golden Wyandottes are an exact counterpart of the White and
Silver Laced, the only difference being in color. They are fine layers the
year rround if properly eared for. The colos- in the Golden Wyandotte is
a golden bay in place of the white lacing in the Silver Laced Wyandottes.
This breed has many friends, and is a good variety for anyone to breed who
wants beautiful fowls. There are very few breeds that will breed as true
to color as the Golden Wyandottes. They make good mothers and good sit-
ters, but are not persistently broody. Chicks are quite hardy and mature
early. Standard weights are as follows: Cock 8^ pounds, cockerel 7%
pounds, hen 6% pounds, pullet 5% pounds.

in the poultry business. For his work with 1,400 hens he receives in a year
a profit of $3,456. This is a salary that must be perfectly satisfactory to him
and shows what may be done by any one who gives his hens proper attention.
The hens in this flock averaged 136 eggs each, which shows that they are
fairly good layers and that the average good hen from a bred-to-lay strain will
bring its owner a profit of more than $2 each.

The next question that comes up is concerning the acreage necessary to keep
a flock of a given size. This is a matter on which there is much disagreement.
I know of poultrymen who keep as high as 250 of the smaller breeds on an
acre and maintain them in good health and vigor. I know of one particular
case where nearly 500 hens are kept in good shape on an acre. The land in
this case is well shaded and lies so water never stands on it. The hens are
given plenty of green feed and pure water and come through the season in
fine shape.

As a rule it is probably best to keep about 200 hens to the acre where
it is necessary to keep them confined, although it is only fair to state that more
than this number may be kept without crowding.

HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

A noted poultryman in an eastern state keeps about 2,000 hens, giving
them free range. They have perfect liberty to wander over 200 acres of land
if they want to, yet he says he rarely finds a hen off the ten acres that surround
the poultry houses. A properly fed hen will not wander very far from home.
She ne-.^ds out of door exercise because both the exercise and the direct sunshine
are good for her, but she will not go very far from nest and perch if she has
all her requirements in the way of feed supplied. This is especially true where
the hopper system of feeding, which is described in another place in this
book, is followed.

It will be noticed that the prices for feed named above is quite above the
figures that would obtain in Iowa or any other western state. No account is
made for green feed because the hens find what they need in the range they
have to roam over, but wheat at $1.10, oats at 55 cents and corn at 75 cents
will seem very high to the poultryman of the mid-west. The price received
for eggs is probably somewhat higher than the average that could be obtained
in the mid-west, but this is balanced by the high cost of feed, so the profits
would be about the same in either place. An income of above $2.50, average,
from 1400 hens shows that the poult-y business is the most profitable that can
be taken up. The account of sales of hens shows that they were worth about
56 cents each. This means that each hen produced more than four times her
own value in a year.

These figures could be duplicated in any state in the Union and I do not
consider them at all out of the way. I give them because they are the figures
of a disinterested party, made up from the items in a cash book and so well
authenticated that they can not be disputed.

I could give numerous instances taken from letters from my customers
to show that where the selling of breeding stock and eggs for hatching is
combined the figures show larger returns per hen than is given in the case
I have given.

If the beginner starts in the business with high-class hens from good,
bred-to-lay strains he will find that the demand for fowls for breeding and
eggs for hatching will take a large part of his surplus stock at prices so much
above the market price that his average profit from each hen will be doubled.
I do not hesitate to say that where the fancy and utility sides are both kept
in view by the poultryman that a profit of $5 for each hen is easily reached,
and that 100 hens kept on a town lot may be made to bring their owner a clear
profit of $500 in a year. As an example of what may be done where the fancy
poultry business is made a specialty I know of a young man in Pennsylvania
who from four town lots sold poultry and eggs to the value of $1200 in one
year. He began by purchasing good stock, bred it with care, began to show
at fairs and poultry shows and win prizes and in the end built up such a reputa-
tion that his income from his little plot of land, 100x125 feet, was larger than
that of many farmers owning 100 acres of land or of many business men with
$10,000 invested in merchandise.

All over the country on little farms, on town lots and out on the larger
farms may be found poultry-keepers who make a good living out of keeping
poultry and do not work themselves into a premature old age before they have
reached middle life. Poultry-keeping is pleasant, profitable and honorable.
Every poultry-keeper should be proud of his business for it is among the most
important of our rural industries and grows to be of greater importance all
the time.

Chapter II

THE ADVANTAGES OF POULTRY-KEEPING.

I think it best to say something about the advantages of the poultry business
because this book will no doubt reach many people who have not yet fully made
up their minds as to the advisability of taking up poultry raising as a business
or as a part of their business.

I want to say most emphatically that I am a thorough believer in the
business of raising and selling poultry for the very good reason that whatever
I have in the way of houses, lands or money has been made by breeding and

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA

HOUDANS.

The Houdan is the leading race of France, and is held in high esteem
as a table fowl. It was introduced into this country in the early '60 's. It
is quick to grow, making broilers at an early age. Pullets lay early, eggs
generally prove very fertile, nearly every egg producing a chick under fav-
orable conditions. Hens three to five years old lay as well as when they
are young. Eggs are large and pure white. They bear confinement well
and are very contented in restricted quarters. Their flesh is of perfect
quality, very fine flavored, and in dressing there is a small percentage of
waste, being only about 1-8 part. They are hardy of constitution, adapt-
ing themselves to all kinds of climates and conditions, small eaters and good
winter layers, if given any kind of care and attention. Cock 7 pounds, cock-
e el 6 pounds-, hen 6 pounds, pullet 5 pounds.

selling poultry. The reader will pardon me for referring to my personal affairs
but I want to say by way of explanation that I began life with as near nothing
but my two- hands and my desire to succeed as any other man in the country.
I had a natural fondness for poultry but I had no opportunity to make any sort
of a start until I earned the money myself. I worked for other poultrymen,
invented an incubator and finally saved enough to make a modest start. From
the beginning I have built up a business of which I am proud and I have the
very best opportunity to know just what advantages are possessed by those who
take up the breeding of poultry for market or for fancy.

In the first' place poultry-keeping is a business which is very flexible. By
this I mean that it will pay a big profit whether a large or a small amount is
invested in it. This makes it adaptable to every condition in life. The man
who starts out to be a merchant must have a considerable sum of money before
he can begin, unless some one will give him credit which is the same thing as
money under certain conditions. The professional man must spend considerable
money and take several years of time before he can begin to make a living.
The farmer must have land for, even if he rents land he must pay the owner
for its use and invest quite a sum in teams, tools and equipment. I do not call
to minr! a single other business besides poultry-keeping in which a man can
start with a small capital and build up within a year or two a business which
will return profit enough to keep a family in comfort and increasing luxury.
A few fowls properly handled may be used for the foundation of a large flock

HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

u

SINGLE COMB WHITE LEGHORNS.

The White Leghorns are adapted to any part of this country, and prof-
itable wherever kept. Like its Brown ancestors the White Leghorn is an
"egg machine" that works constantly and at high speed. The eggs are
pure white, weigh an average of two ounces each, and are produced the year
through, except during the molting period, and even then the White Leg-
horns do not stop laying altogether. The White Leghorn is a non-sitter,
very few of the hens ever offering to sit, and pullets begin to lay at five
months or sooner. The beaks, shanks and skin are a bright yellow, the
comb and wattles bright red and large, and ear lobes are pure white and
the eyes bright reddish bay. . They are good foragers, hardy, alive every
minute, a flock of the Single Comb White Leghorns earns money fo: its
owner every day in the year.

within a very short time, if modern methods are practiced. Say the beginner
buys a single pen of fowls, a male and four females. If he uses an incubator
and keeps the hens from sitting they will produce enough eggs in one season,
during the hatching season, to give the owner at least 100 pullets for future
laying. During the remainder of the year these four hens will pay two prices
for the feed they eat in the eggs that may be sold in the market. In the
meantime the chicks that have been hatched are growing up and when about
twelve weeks of age the cockerels may be sold for fryers for enough money to
pay for all the feed all the chicks have consumed up to that time and enough
more to buy all the feed the pullets will consume up to the time they begin to
pay a profit themselves. If care is taken to buy good stock the surplus cockerels
may often be sold for from two to four times the market price and thus add
to the returns from the experiment. Where good care is given the fowls an
investment of this kind often pays two or three hundred fold the first year.
After 100 laying hens are in the flock progress is easy. The best may be selected
as pullets come on to take their place and the quality of the flock improved all
the time. All this time the flock is paying a profit and the owner is learning
how to make the most of the products of his poultry yard. If he has ambition
he will soon find that his poultry is paying him well enough that he can cut
loose from other forms of employment and become his own master, independent
and on the sure road to building up enough so that he will not need to have
any fears of the future.

The Poultry business is one in which almost any one can engage. The work
is so light that women, children and semi-invalids can do most of it without
overtaxing their strength. It is out of door work where those in delicate health

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA

can breathe the pure air and get soaked in sunshine, which is the best medicine
ever taken by man. The young and the old, the rich and the poor have an equal
chance in the poultry business as no monopolist can secure it to himself nor
can any trust take all the profits. The farmer accepts for his grain what the
elevator trust or the board of trade speculator says he shall get, the breeder
of live stock is hard and fast in the clutches of the big packing house trust,
the man in almost every other line of work or business must bow to some trust
or monopoly, but the poultry business has never been gobbled up by trusts or
monopolies, nor will it ever be. A business in which the smallest breeder can
successfully meet any competitor will always be open to every one and always
be free to any one who desires to engage in it.

The poultry business earns money every week in the year. Once a start
has been made the poultryman is producing something which is in demand in
every place in the Union, no matter how remote from the great markets it may
be and the price never falls below the profit bearing mark. Poultry and eggs
are salable any day in the week anywhere in any country on earth, a statement
which will not apply to any other business except possibly the dairy business,
which iequires large capital to conduct. The poultry-breeder has eggs or poultry
to sell every day in the year and he can sell for spot cash. The man who breeds
live stock must wait six months to three years to get his returns and the farmer
must plow and sow and then after months of waiting harvest and market his
crops while the poultryman has been harvesting his crops of egss and poultry
and getting his money from day to day. Today he buys feed and tomorrow his
hens ppy for it and pay twice the original price so the money is turned over
day after day always at a big profit, which is the surest and fastest way of
making money known to man.

The prices paid for poultry are about the same year after year, except that
for fifteen years prices have regularly been higher at a certain season in the
year than they were before at that season. This regular and consistent increase
in price is the most promising part of the poultry business. It shows that
demand is going ahead of supply and the reason for this is that the stock of
meat-producing animals in this country is growing smaller and smaller every
year. There are thousands fewer cattle and millions fewer hogs in this country
than there were a few years ago and all the time we see a large increase in
population. Instead of keeping up with the growth of our population the number
of meat-producing animals grows actually less all the time. The result is in-
creases prices for all kinds of meats and the people turn to poultry and eggs
to supply the shortage and prices keep climbing higher and higher as the years
go by. There are many other advantages that I might name, such as the
comparative small space required, the light work, and the ease with which the
details of the business are learned, but I must pass on to the actual work of
keeping fowls in a way that will make possible the largest profits.

Chapter III

LOCATING THE POULTRY YARD.

In almost every case the poultry yard must be located wherever there is
room for it rather than in the place best suited for it. This is because keeping
poultry is usually the last thing that is arranged for in building the house
and other outbuildings. Most people buy or build their houses with reference
to the street or road or the surrounding houses, without giving any consider-
ation +o the noultry yard. Where a place is bought with poultry-keeping in
view a selection may be made so as to locate the poultry vard in a suitable
place, but this is not always the case and it may be said that the poultry
plant, be it large or small, must be made to adapt itself to the location,
rather than being located in the most suitable place. Fortnnatelv it is entirely
possible to so arrange a poultry plant that it may successfully be operated, no
matter how it may be located.

The best place is on a southern or southeastern slope, the surface dropping
just enough to give perfect drainage. If the slope is too steep there will be
a tendency for the soil and all litter to gradually wrork to the lowest point
and accumulate there. Even perfectly level land mav be used if it be of a
porous gravel texture or if it can be perfectly drained. I insist on a poultry

HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

WHITE PLYMOUTH ROCKS.

The original White Plymouth Rocks were sports from the Barred
Plymouth Rocks variety, from which they differ only in color of plumage,
which is snow white. Combs and wattles are beautiful red, the legs, beak
and skin are rich yellow. They breed true to color. Their large size,
stately carriage and beautiful color is admired by all. Standard weights
are as follows: Cock 9% pounds, hen 7% pounds, cockerel 8 pounds, pullet
6% pounds.

run where the water does not stand. Chickens do not mind damp feet very
much if they have a dry house to retire to at will, but mud in the poultry
yard is an abomination that soon become a breeding place for disease and
filthy beyond description.

An eastern slope is not bad and a western one may be allowable, but never
locate a poultry house where the front must face the north, except in those
very uncommon places where mountain valleys are so opened that the coldest
winds blow from some other direction. Other things being at all favorable
the house should front to the south, as that gives early and late sunlight
and the full light of the sun at midday, a very important consideration
because every poultry house should be built so the sunshine can reach every
part of it every sunny day. There is no disinfectant as good as unrestricted
sunshine and the poultry house so built that the sun can shine directly on
every part of it every sunny day will never become the harbor for disease-
breeding germs as long as it is kept reasonably clean and the floor can be
kept dry.

In another place in this book I give several plans for poultry houses and
it will be noticed that I believe in big windows. This is because my experi-
ence has been that light, air and unrestricted sunshine go farther in main-
taining the health of fowls than all the medicines in the list.

A direct eastern exposure is very good in some places, especially in the

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA

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ROSE COMB WHITE LEGHORNS.

Rose Comb White Leghorns are identical with the Single Comb variety,
except they have a low rose comb. They begin laying when about four
months old, and if properly attended to will furnish eggs the year round.
No fowl shows greater beauty on a green lawn than the White Leghorns,
owing to their graceful style, fine, large, red combs and white plumage.

dry parts of our arid western states. In these states the air is so dry most of
the time that germ life finds no chance to flourish in the poultry house because
the droppings dry almost as soon as they are deposited, and dampness is the
partner of darkness in producing germ life. In the arid states the middle
of the day in summer time is likely to be very hot, so direct sunshine into
the poultry house would make it quite uncomfortable under the most favorable
circumstances. The sun will shine into such a house until about ten in the
morning and, as the sun shines 300 days in a year in these states, with hardly
a cloud in the sky, and shines much of the time during the remainder of the
year, the house built to front the east will get quite as much sunshine as one
facing directly south would in the midwest or eastern states. It is not advis-
able to front the house to the southwest in any part of the country as this
direction is the one from which many chilling winds blow both east and west.

The poultry yard should be located so as to give a sunny run for the
fowls. I do not insist on a large run for poultry because I do not believe
it is absolutely necessary. Of course if a large run or even an unlimited
range is open to the fowls they will secure a considerable quantity of natural
feed such as green stuff, seeds and insects but I have reason to doubt very
much whether a hen that runs at large does as well or lays as many eggs as
one that is kept yarded and is properly supplied with feed and water. The
hen that runs at large uses up a large part of the feed she consumes in the
energy required to run about all day, whereas the hen that is kept yarded
uses her energy in the production of eggs.

The yard should be dry. I repeat this because I consider it an important

10 HOVv TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

SILVER SPANGLED HAMBURG COCK.

The Hamburg unquestionably enjoys the distinction of being the first
fowl bred for exhibition purposes. Hamburgs in all their varieties are
beautiful. As layers they compare favorably with our best bred Leghorns
and like the Leghorns are classed as non-sitters. As table fowls they are
not much in demand, being rather small and having blue legs. They are
seldom selected by the purchasers at our market stands.

arranged with reference to shade for the fowls. The very best shade is the
one nature provides by growing trees. The shade of a tree is cooler than
any shed or other artificial shade made by man, although with a little pains
it is quite possible to make a very good imitation of nature's shade. The
shade of a tree is made up of the shadows of thousands of leaves among
which the air circulates keeping the temperature down as low as possible
under the condition, while the shade of a roof merely keeps the sunshine
out while the heat comes through almost as freely as it would were the roof
not there. In making an artificial shade this should be kept in mind. . A
double roof with space enough between the two parts of it to allow air
to circulate freely makes a cool shade or a shed with a thick straw roof
will keep the heat out.

Keep the yard clean as well as the house. This matter should be con-
sidered in locating the poultry yard. The droppings from the poultry house,
and th„ rakings from the yard will meed to be disposed of in some manner
that will prevent them from making an offensive appearance and a way to
make this disposition of the litter and droppings should be provided when
the yard is located.

Convenience to the house is another thing to be considered. A poultry
house may be located quite near the dwelling if it is kept neat and clean,
and where the good wife or the children are to take any part in caring for
the fowls their convenience should be consulted. At the best it requires
a good many steps during the year to care for a flock of fowls and any
saving in distance will amount to a good many miles before a year's work
is ended.

Where the land is level and likely to become water-logged during the
early spring months it is a good plan to cover the surface with three or four
inches of moderately fine sand. The surface water will disappear in this sand
and the fowls will have a dry place on which to walk while the more retentive
soil beneath is slowly absorbing the water held by the sand. One poultryman
who lives in a large city and keeps about three hundred fowls on about one-
third of an acre, covers his yard a foot deep with sand and shovels the grain
into it leaving the hens to dig it out. Every fall this coat of sand is removed
and another put on and the owner gets the work done for nothing. A thrifty
German gardener has discovered that the sand from these yards is a very

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA 11

good fertilizer for his gardens and hauls the sand away replacing it with
fresh for the benefit he gets from the fertilizing material in that taken away.
If there is room enough to make yards twice as large as absolutely neces-
sary it is a good plan to make two yards for each flock. In one may be sown
any quick-growing vegetation which the fowls like and when it is large enough
for the purpose the fowls may be turned into this half of the yard and allowed
to eat down the vegetation while a similar crop is grown in the half just
vacated. A still better plan is to sow th e vacant yard with rape or
lettuce and cut the vegetation, feeding it to the fowls. When this is done
a new growth at once springs up andthe plants will renew themselves several
times during the sumer. This plan requires more work but less seeding than
the first one..

While we should always select the best available location for the poultry
house and yards, no one need remain out of the business of keeping poultry
for I have seen very 'successful poultry plants located in places which naturally
did not seem at all favorable. Anyone who desires to keep poultry will be
able to make a success of the business in any location where the yards can
be kept dry the larger part of the time. Poultry is so adaptable that it
will flourish in a locality which at first seems unfavorable if it is given
proper care. There are hundreds of successful poultry plants all over the
country located that they seem in very unsuitable places. Indeed many times
the poultryman who has the grit to begin and succeeds does so simply because
others think it not worth while to begin because of unfavorable conditions.
In these cases the enterprising man finds himself in control of the market
and when others try to follow after him they have merely what he has left.

If the beginner will start with good stock by either buying fowls or
eggs as a beginning, he will soon find that his investment is paying a large
profit and will be able to overcome any little natural obstacles which may
confront him. I insist on good stock because it is the only kind any one should
keep, and this book is written to help those who help themselves by starting
right.

Chapter IV

POULTRY HOUSES AND PLANS.

Having settled on the location of the poultry yard the next thing is to
consider housing the fowls. This is a very important subject and one on
which much advice has been given, but of late years the whole subject of
housing poultry has been very much simplified. Formerly it was though that
in order to get winter eggs the poultryman must make his poultry house as
nearly air tight as possible or even furnish artificial heat for his hens. I
very much doubt if there is a single artificially heated poultry house in this
country today that is owned by a practical and successful poultry-keeper.

It was found that the air tight style of houses was almost invariably
damp in cold weather, the dampness coming from the vapor breathed out by
the fowls and having no way of escape. It is not too much to say that in
former times fowls were fairly steaming on a cold morning when the doors
were opened. Going from this vapor-laden air out into the cold clear air of
winter struck a chill through them and cold, roup, bronchitis and other throat
and lung diseases were much more common than they are today.

It is absolutely necessary that fowls have plenty of pure, fresh air at
night. No flock of hens will lay well during the winter if kept in a badly
ventilated house. This need led to many forms of ventilation, most of which
made matters worse. A system of ventilation which would furnish pure air
without any chance to create draughts through the house was long sought.
Many plans were tried only to fail. The fact that impure air settles to
the bottom of a room was lost sight of. The air which comes from the lungs
of any animal or bird is warm, moist and laden with carbonic acid gas, a
deadly poison. Confine any animal or bird in an air tight room and it will soon
die from the effects of this carbonic acid gas exhaled from its own lungs.
This gas is heavier than atmospheric air, and the carbonic acid gas and air
are of the same temperature the gas sinks to the bottom of the room and if
there i? no means of escape it simply piles up until the room is full and life

12

HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

TOULOUSE GEESE.

The Toulouse geese are a purely English breed. Both male and female
are very massive in proportion. The bill and feet are daTk orange color,
head, neck and back a dark gray, breast light gray, but descending lighter
till beyond the legs to the tail, they are pure white. The combination of
color presents a very attractive appearance.

Both male and female are uniform in color, being alike to a feather.
Adult Gander 20 pounds, goose 18 pounds, young gander 18 pounds, young
goose 15 pounds.

is impossible. However, when the air first comes from the lungs of the fowls
it is warmer and lighter than the air in the room and this carries the deadly
carbonic acid gas toward the roof, where it soon cools and begins to sink
toward the floor very slowly. In its descent it passes the fowls on their
perches and they breathe in some portion of it. This may not be enough
to make any serious disturbance, but it will be enough to so far reduce the
vitality of the hens that they will not lay well.

After many systems of ventilation had been tried and found faulty some
one discovered that cloth be used in the windows of poultry houses instead
of glass. It was found that a house with common muslin in the place of glass
was as warm as one with glass in it and light enough for all pu-poses, while
muslin was cheaper than glass. Soon it was observed that a poultry house
with cloth windows was never as damp as one with glass windows and then
it was observed that the poultry house with cloth windows was entirely free
from the stuffy, foul odors which had long been associated with poultry
houses. Gradually it began to dawn upon poultrymen that cloth windows
provided a perfect system of ventilation as the air would enter between the

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA 13

threads in the cloth in such a manner that it created no draught, but sp-ead
all over the room renewing the air in a short time.

Th's led to careful experiments when it was found that a cloth window
in a poultry house prevented dampness by allowing the vapor of the breath
of the fowls to escape instead of lodging on the walls and ceiling of the
house to turn into frost in cold weather.

Gradually cloth began to take the place of glass in poultry houses and
it was not long before poultrymen were trying how larger windows would
work and being found to work well the size of the openings in front have
been increased until now many poultry houses are open nearly the whole of
the front, muslin being substituted for glass and even the muslin screen is
not used except in quite cold weather. I know of one poultry house built
on the plan of House No. 1, shown in the illustration, which is left open at
least nine-tenths of the year, only a wire netting screen being used to keep
the fowls in and enemies out. The chickens kept in this house have never been
touched with frost and have laid exceedingly well during the winter.

With the use of the muslin window came in the drop curtain, described
further on, and these two improvements have done more for the health of
the fowls of this country than any other two devices ever invented.

In making plans for a poultry house the simpler the plan the better for
both owner and birds. Every inside arrangement should be made so it may
be easily taken out and put out of doors when the house is cleaned. The
nearer each room resembles a big square box the easier to keep clean and
in good condition. The plans should be made so the perches do not touch
the walls at any place. The little red mites which are so troublesome to
the poultry-keeper and cause him so much loss every year, are not really
lice but blood-sucking spiders. They do not breed on the fowls and very
few of them stay on them during the day, seeking cracks and crevices to
hide in during the day. If the perches rest against the walls these little
pasts find hiding places in the crevices in the walls as well as under the
perches and lay their eggs there, multiplying in an amazing way. If a few
of these mites are introduced into a poultry house it will not be long until
there are millions of them, and the tiny speck of blood that each one takes
makes up an aggregate which depletes the vitality of the birds and makes
them easy prey to any germs of disease which may come along. The floor
of the poultry house should always be kept covered with a light coat of
fine dust. This may be common garden soil well dried, road dust or coal
ashes. Slacked lime and wood ashes are sometimes used but they take the
color out of the shanks of the birds and make their plumage rough and
unsightly, because they are alkalies and eat up any oil with which they
come in contact. Lice and mites which drop into fine dust soon die as they
can not move about in such material and the fine particles of dust stop
up their breathing pores and choke them to death. Over the dust on the
floor dTy straw, leaves or other litter should be put to the depth of six
inches. When clover or alfalfa hay are to be had one of these should be
used in the place of other litter during the winter. Laying hens and growing
chickens eat the leaves and smaller stems of good alfalfa or clover hay and
this saves feeding as much grain as otherwise would be needed as well as
taking the place of green feed which they get in the summer months. I do
not know of a better use for either clover or alfalfa hay than to use it
for litter in a poultry house, renewing it at least once a week, and twice
a week is better.

Inside the poultry house there should always be a wide, shallow box
filled with dust in which the hens can wallow. In the dust a little fine sulphur
should be sprinkled as a help to keep away lice and mites. In another box
there should be plenty of grit of some kind and in still other boxes crushed
oyster shells or crushed bone and charcoal. It is now possible to get crushed
charcoa1 at almost any store where poultry feed is sold and this is one of the
best things that can be given hens as it has the power of absorbing gasses
and keeping the stomach clean and sweet. Prepared charcoal with which is
mixed other ingredients good for fowls is now sold by some manufacturers
and this is preferable to the natural product as it is tonic and blood-purifying
as well as being a preventive of disease. Water, of course, should be sup-
plied plentifully. It is best to use a water fountain which keep the water
clean, but an open vessel may be used if it is set on a platform about eight

14

HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

MAMMOTH IMPERIAL PEKIN.

They are the most popular as well as the most profitable duck we have
in this country. They are very large, creamy white, laying from 100 to 150
eggs each season. They are, as a rule, very easy to raise, mature quickly,
and are the leading variety for market; do not require water except for
drinking. Standard weights are as follows: Adult drake, 8 pounds; young
drake, 7 pounds; adult duck, 7 pounds; young duck, 6 pounds.

inches high to prevent the fowls from scratching litter into it. Where there
is more than one room in the poultry house it is a good plan to cut a hole
in the partition between the rooms and set the water vessel in this so two
rooms can drink from the same vessel. This should be on a platform also,
as clean water is as necessary for fowls as for human beings.

The nest boxes should be so arranged that the hens are out of sight when
on the nest. This may be done by setting the nests away from the walls with
the openings on the back side so the hens must go behind the nests to get
into them. It is best to make a row of nest boxes having a hinged lid so the
eggs can be taken from the top.

The perches should always be on a level. It is a mistake to make the
perches so that one is higher than the other as hens always fight for the
highest place and the hens that roost highest in the house always have the
purest air. The best way to make perches is to make a table about thirty
inches high of a length that will bring the ends eighteen inches _ from the
walls and wide enough to support the number of perches needed with a foot
on each side to spare. On this table the perches may be supported by putting
them on a piece of 2x8-inch scantling, set edgewise. A good perch is made
of lx2-inch strips with the top corners rounded so as to fit the toes of the hens
as they sit on them to sleep. These perches should be laid so a wide side,
is up and may be kept in place by being dropped into notches cut in the
support When perches are arranged this way with a dropping board under
them the hens have the use of Jhe whole of the floor and most of the d-oppings
are caught on the board and can be drawn off with a common hoe and caught
in a box or basket to be carried out. The dropping board should always be

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA

15

covered with an inch of dry soil so as to prevent the droppings from sticking
to the boards. Where droppings are kept and stored in a dry place, when
thus mixed with soil, they are worth !p20.00 a ton for fertilizing purposes
and are well worth saving. The dropping board should be cleaned at least
twice a week.

THE HOUSE ITSELF.

Having described the accesories of the poultry house I will now give
plans. As I have said the simpler the plan the better the house. The very
best practical poultry house that can be built may be built of very common
lumber. It is useless' expense to buy first-class lumber for a poultry house,
unless money is no object and the builder wants to make his house ornamental
as well as useful.

I prefer the shingle roof to anything else I have ever used. It does not

A cheap and good poultry house. The shed has an open front
protected by. wire netting. A thick layer of straw is kept on the floor
of the shed. The door of the main house is simply a string wire screen.

cost any more than a roof made of any first-class roofing material and is
better in many ways. In the first place a roof made of any of the roofings
containing coal tar asphaltum makes the house very hot in summer, as the
materia1 of which it is made conducts heat perfectly and the inside of the
house becomes very hot in summer. A shingle roof makes the house cooler
in summer and is just as warm in winter. The sides of the house may be
made of common shiplap lumber and battened. This makes a sightly house
and when lined with a good quality of building paper a very warm one in
winter. The front of the house may be in the open style, as illustrated, or
closed and lighted with glass windows as the builder prefers. I have illus-
trated open front houses because they are becoming very popular with poultry-
men everywhere, but any one who prefers glass windows and a tight house
can modify the plans I give without the least difficulty.

Among all the poultry houses plans there are just three foundation styles.
All poultry houses are modifications of these three styles.

16

HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

If a tight poultry house with glass windows is built instead of one with
large openings screened with muslin instead of glass the inside arrangements
can be the same except as to the drop curtain. This drop curtain is fastened
to the roof so as to drop a few inches in front of the perches. It should
extend entirely across the room so that when it is dropped down it makes
a little sleeping room three sides of which are the sides of the room, the
curtain itself making the fourth side. This curtain should be made of a rather
closely woven burlap such as grain sacks are made from. This curtain pre-
vents the air from moving rapidly around the fowls and retains the heat
of their bodies close to them instead of allowing it to be spread all over the
room. At the same time the burlap is open enough to allow fresh air to enter
the sleeping quarters. With such a curtain the open front house has a frost
proof sleeping place for the fowls even in the coldest weather and at the
same time gives them a full supply of fresh air.

In making the curtain front for an open front house and the drop curtain,
the best houses now have the opening in front covered with common poultry
netting on the outside and inside one or more frames are made to fit the
window opening. If the opening is a large one two screens are made but a
small opening needs but one. These frames are made of light material and the
muslin covering for the window is stretched over them. The frames are then
hinged at the top so they can be swung inward and fastened by a hook close
to the roof. The drop curtain is made in a simlar way. This makes the
screen rigid and close fitting so wind can not blow it out of place.

HOUSE NO. 1.
Plain shed roof; full open front; 8x12 feet. For 25 fowls.

HOUSE NO. 1.

House No. 1, which is illustrated, shows a plain roof. This is the cheapest
form of a poultry house and requires less lumber for a given floor space
than any other style. It may be made quite low at the rear and the lower
it is the less space inside to spread the heat of the bodies of the fowls over
and the easier it is to maintain at a comfortable temperature. The lower the
less lumber it requires also, and the cheaper to build. It should be high enough
at the front to give sufficient head room so the care-taker need not stoop
while doing his work, but four and one-half or five feet is high enough for
the rear. The illustration shows a one one-room house, but rooms may be added
until the house is large enough to accommodate a flock of any size. It is
recommended that where more than one room is needed the partitions be
made tight. For convenience a door is placed in each partition, this being
hung on hinges which allow the door to swing either way, these being spring
hinges so the door will naturally be placed at the front end of the partitions
and the perches for the fowls at the back. One poultry house of this kind
has ten rooms in it, nine being for the fowls and the other a feed room. This
house faces south and has but one outside door at the east end. The illus-
tration shows a small door under the large window in front. This is wide

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA

17

POULTRY HOUSE NO. 2.
A Wire Netting Between Windows.

enough so that in cleaning the house the refuse can be pitched through this
opening. The yards attached to this house all have a gate next the house
and when the house is being cleaned a wheelborrow can be used, one man inside
pitching the refuse out and another loading it on the wheelborrow. If but
one man is doing the work he first cleans the room and later wheels the
refuse away. For most people this style of house is preferable to any other.

HOUSE NO. 2.

House No. 2 is preferred by a good many poultry-keepers because the work
can be done without in any way interfering with the fowls, as it has an
alley-way at the back through which feed is carried. Some poultrymen claim
that hens lay better when the care-taker does not disturb them, while others
claim that the more familiar hens are with the one taking care of them the
better they lay. It is also claimed that a hall or alley-way in a poultry
house simplifies the work of caring for the birds by making it possible to
carry the feed along the alley and place it where the fowls eat it with the
least possible expenditure of labor. This style of a house is considerably more
costly than the shed roof illustrated as No. 1, as the roof must be higher,
the space taken up by the alley is wasted and an extra partition of some kind

30//

A

PERCHES
9 * 10 FT.

/;

PERCHES

9xI0ft.

%

PERCHES

9xI0ft.

NESTS

WINDOW

/-

Poultry House N*2

GROUND PLAN HOUSE NO. 2.

CM

18

HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

HOUSE NO. 3.

is necessary between the alley and the pens or rooms in which the fowls are
kept. House No. 2, as illustrated has glass windows of the usual kind and
between the windows the poultry netting and muslin curtain is used. In
all forms of poultry houses a considerable number are made in this way. It
is claimed that this gives the fowls more light with .the added advantage of
giving them the pure air that comes with the full open front style. The
openings between the windows are fitted with poultry netting and muslin
covered screens the same as they are fitted in House No. 1. The house shown
in this illustration is 12x30 feet, contains three rooms and is used to house
seventy five fowls. The same money used in this house might have been used
to build a shed roof house capable of accommodating 150 hens.

House No. 3 is a very good one but a very costly one to build. As the
illustration shows, it is a combination of two shed roof houses, one enough
higher than the other to allow a row of windows to be let in above the roof
of the lower one. The leanto or lower part of this house has a full open front
as described in House No. 1, and it is a rare cold night when it is necessary
to put down the muslin screen in this house. The hens sleep in the back part
of the house and when the burlap curtain is let down they do not feel the
effect of the cold out of doors. The roof of the leanto is so low that rains
or snows never blow far into the house and this leanto makes an excellent

DOOR TO
LEANTO

SCRATCHING
ROOM

DOOR TO

SLEEPING

ROOM

HOUSE NO. 4.
House with Leanto Muslin Eoof for Intensive Poultry Yard.

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA 19

scratching room as the low roof facing the south allows the sunshine to warm
it while the windows above give free entrance to the sunshine allowing the
whole house to be warmed every sunny day. The only thing that can be said
against this house is that it costs more than the average poultryman feels
able to put into a poultry house.

A plan for keeping a few fowls cheaply and well has been invented by a
friend of mine who did not care to go into the extreme of intensive poultry
culture, but who had time to give his birds good care. He first built a narrow
house 2x6 feet, six feet high and covered it top and sides with a good prepared
roofing. The high side of this house was to the south and in the south
side a window about thirty inches square was cut and this was first covered
with wire netting and then with a heavy muslin. The door was in the east
end and as just as large as the end of the house. The roosts were on the north
side. A small door was cut next the floor so the hens could go out and in at
pleasure. On the south side of this house a leanto four feet square was built.
The south side of this was thirty inches high and the side next the house
first built was five feet high. The sides of this leanto were covered with
prepared roofing and a door was cut in the east and next the larger part of
the house. The leanto was covered with thick muslin, tightly stretched and
fastened to rafters.

With these three styles of houses as models any poultryman can plan a
house to suit his individual tastes, modifying the plans I have given to suit
himself. I have selected these plans as the three which contain all that is
needed in any good poultry house expecting the reader to be able to make
such use of them as best suits him.

These styles admit of much chance for individual ingenuity and are given
not as the only styles worth using but as the best models of the three pre-
vailing styles. Another form of house for the "back yard" poultryman will
be given in the chapter on intensive poultry-keeping, which follows.

Chapter V

INTENSIVE POULTRY CULTURE.

Intensive poultry culture is receiving much attention these last few years,
although it has been talked about for a long time by a few who have tried
it. As long ago as ten years a fancier in New Jersey succeeded in keeping
more than 400 full grown fowls on a little less than one-third of an acre and
made his business successful, keeping his hens in good health and up to the
highest mark in laying.

It would seem almost impossible to keep so many hens on such a small
lot and the writer became so much interested in the stories this man told
that he traveled to the plant on purpose to see it and convince himself that
the fowls were actually there.

The land was almost covered with big fowls and every one seemed to be
hearty and vigorous. The yards were small but they were kept very clean
and all the grain the birds got was spaded into the ground, this being a fine
sand which was hauled into the yards and laid down to the depth of four
or five inches Once a year this sand was taken out and a fresh layer put in.
The flocks were divided into little flocks of about a dozen hens and each
room was kept in perfect condition.

Later an eastern experimenter tried keeping his hens confined year in
and year out in little houses 3x6 feet, putting six hens in each house. These
houses, or rather coops, have a window. in the south side and a wire netting
top over which is a cover of muslin and a roof. The roof, the muslin cover
and the wire screen are all made so they can be lifted easily and all the work
of caring for the hens is done from the outside as the houses are but two
feet high. One-half of each house is floored and the other half has no floor.
In the floored end is the nest box and in the unfloored end the grain is placed
and spaded into the soil so the hens must dig it out.

The writer has visited two plants where this system was being used and
in both of them the birds were, to all appearances, perfectly healthy and
laying as well as could be wished. As these houses occupy but little room

20

HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

i'I BRAHMAS.

:#/

Dark Brahmas originated from the famous Shanghai strain of Light
Brahmas over half a century ago. The plumage is beautiful. The male
having the breast and body of a deep black, and neck and hackle of Silver
white with black stripes extending down the middle of each feather. The
female has a hackle of same color as the male with a body covering of
gray with distinct dark pencilings in lines which conform to the shape
of the feathers. Geo. P. Burnham of Massachusetts is given credit for
producing the first distinct type of dark Brahmas. They differ from the
Light Brahmas only in size and color. Standard weights, cock 11 pounds;
hen 8% pounds, cockerel 9% pounds, pullets 7 pounds.

it is possible to keep a large flock on a small piece of land. One of the plants
visited was owned by a doctor who kept about 200 fowls on a town lot back
of his house and these paid a handsome profit on their cost. The houses are
set in rows two feet apart each way so each house occupies only 5x8 feet of
land. If a whole acre was covered with such houses there would be about
1,000 of them capable of accommodating 6,000 full grown fowls. I do not know
of a plant as large as this but this will show the possibilities of an acre of
land under the most intensive system of poultry culture.

This system requires considerable work as every duty must be performed
regularly and spading the grain into the soil in each coop takes more time
than it would to feed a much larger flock in the ordinary way. For one who
loves poultry and is interested enough to take proper care of them this
system allows a flock of 100 to be kept in a back yard and the work need
not take more time than the average professional man, clerk or shop worker
can find mornings and evenings.

Under this system the originator uses little or no meat feed of any kind.
He feeds wheat, oats and corn and has a trough of dry bran in each house to
which the hens can go at any time.

A plant of this kind returns more money for the space it occupies than any
other form of out of door work, and those who live in towns can keep fowls
enough to supply the family with poultry and eggs and have both to sell

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA

21

COLONY HOUSE, NO. 5.

without going to extra expense for land on which to keep them. The hens
occupy but little space, they are out of danger and kept from bothering garden
or lawn.

The chicks are hatched in incubators and reared in brooders until they
are large enough to sell or go into the regular laying pens. Quite a business
in supplying the market with broilers might be done in a back yard under,, this
system.

The higher part was used as a sleeping room for ten full grown Plymouth
Rocks at first. Later eight more hens were put in it, making eighteen. This
number was later reduced to fourteen as four were culled out.

The hens were put into this house just six feet square for both rooms.
It was built in the fall and after the hens were put into it they were not out
of it until five months later. The winter of 1909-1910, it will be remembered,
was a severe one, yet the hens in this house were not touched by the frost
and they laid all winter. The leanto with its muslin roof was as light as day
and the sun shining squarely down on it made it as warm as summer. This
leanto was protection enough for the muslin window of the sleeping room
to prevent that room from ever getting cold. The sleeping room was cleaned
every other day and fresh litter was put in the leanto at frequent intervals. •

In many places a back yard poultry plant is surrounded by a high and
tight fence or is protected by buildings so as to keep cold winds off. In
such places a simpler form of a house may be used and this same house is
an excellent one to use where the fowls are divided into small flocks. The
illustration shows plainly how the house is built that I do not think it worth
while to give particular directions as to building it. For convenience in refer-
ring to this house I call it a colony house. The nests are built just above
the perches and so arranged that a hinged board drops down before them to
prevent the hens from going into them to sleep. As will be seen from the
illustration, the eggs are taken from the nests from the outside. Where it is
not convenient to gather the eggs several times a day in cold weather it is
better to build the nests inside the house to prevent damage to the eggs in
severe weather.

With poultry plant operated on the intensive plan it is entirely possible
to produce results quite worth while. One poultryman in Pennsylvania began
on one vacant lot and succeeded so well that he rented three more vacant lots
and made money enough off the fowls he kept on them to buy them. He
then planted these lots to peach trees and began to keep more and more fowls
on them until at last he made such a good reputation breeding fine fowls
that he sold $1,200 worth of eggs for hatching and fowls for breeding purposes
in one year. When his peach trees came into bearing he had a supply of this
delicious fruit for his own use and sold a good many in the market. From
this little plant in the outskirts of a town this young man did a business that

HOW TO MAKE POULTEY KEEPING PAY

COLONY HOUSE, NO. 5.
Bear View of Same Showing Trap Nests.

gave him a wide reputation and kept his family in comfort. He only abandoned
the plant when the lots grew so valuable that he could not afford to keep
them for poultry yards any longer. He then sold them and bought a farm and is
now a prosperous poultry farmer. If he had not had a love for fowls and
exercising his ingenuity in providing for them in small quarters he would,
no doubt, have been still working in an office at $12 a week. He owes his
whole good fortune to his love for poultry and to the fact that he was not dis-
couraged about getting into the poultry business because he had only a little
place in which to keep them.

Another young man who worked in a shop in a western town had a liking
for poultry, a liking in which his wife shared. He had just one little lot
25x125 feet, on which his house stood. He had bought this house and lot on the
installment plan and was working hard to make the payments. He had a
space 25x125 feet on which to keep poultry. Along one side on the lot he
built a small poultry house and used one end of his lot for a poultry yard.
He took care of the birds in the best manner he could, learn and saved the
money he made from them to use in paying for his home. The first year he did
so well with twenty-five fowls that he doubled the number and added a room
to his poultry house. From this little start he gradually increased the number
of fowls he kept until he had 400 on one city lot back of his house and every
one of them was healthy and vigorous. He neglected no duty, kept his house
and yaids absolutely clean, fed the birds well and while he was at the shop
his good wife watched thechickens to see that everything went along all right.
From the hens in this back yard he made a clear profit of a little more than
$500 in a year and used this money to pay f o • another lot. He is thinking
now of getting out of the shop altogether and working for himself. He began
in a small way, watched other poultrymen at their work, asked questions and
profited by the experience of others until he has made himself independent,
although he began with only a few dollars and grew up in the business.

Let no one be discouraged if he has a liking for poultry because he has
only a lit+le back yard. If he uses this space intelligently he will be able to
make the profits of that back yard buy him a larger one before very long.

Nearly every successful poultry-keeper in this country started in a small
way and enlarged his business as he found opportunities to do so. Almost
every failure in the poultry business has come by spending a large_ sum to
begin with and overdoing the business because the owner had no experience.

Do not forget that the only way to build up in the poultry business is
to begin with the best stock that you can buy. Get good birds, or buy good
eggs, even if you have only money enough to buy a pair or a breeding pen,
of birds or a few settings of eggs. There is a great and growing demand

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA

23

AMERICAN DOMINIQUES.

One of the oldest breeds known in this country, and supposed to enter
largely in the makeup of the Barred Plymouth Rocks. In color they are a
counterpart of the Plymouth Rocks, but in shape are more of a combination
between the Wyandottes and Leghorns; not quite so sprightly as the
latter, but having many of the rounded curves of the former. They have
a rose comb that is a combination between the Wyandottes and the
Hamburgs. The breed is one of the oldest; is bred only in a limited way,
and but few good specimens are found. Standard weights are as follows:
Cock 8 pounds, cockerel 7 pounds, hen 6 pounds, pullet 5 pounds.

for the best pure-bred poultry, but the demand for "scrub" stock is only from
the food market and the prices received are only those found in the market
quotations. The man who starts with pure-bred fowls will gradually find
others coming to him for fowls or eggs at prices far beyond the market price
and this reputation will spread until a big business may be built up and a
competence earned.

I always like to watch the young fellow who starts out under unfavorable
circumstances tobuild up a poultry business for I know he is on the right
road and will succeed if he follows the best methods and tries to prove his
stock every year.

Chapter VI

SELECTING A BREED.

I think the question most frequently asked me is, what breed is best for
a beginner. This is a question that every one must answer for himself, but
my long experience enables me to give some general advice which may guide
those who are in doubt as to which breed they should select.

±t is perfectly safe to say that there is no distinctively best breed of
fowls. Every recognized breed must have merit or it never would have made
its way far enough to have become recognized as a distinctive breed.

During the last twenty-five years a large number of new breeds have
been introduced and boomed. Some of these have almost passed from memory
and only the older breeders remember the "White Wonders," the "Ermin-
ettes, " the "German Antlers," the "Pea Comb Plymouth Rocks," and a num-
ber of other breeds, while during this time most of the varieties of Wyan-
dottes and Plymouth Rocks have been originated and the ten varieties of
Orpingtons have been introduced.

24

HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

PARTRIDGE PLYMOUTH ROCKS.

One of the newest of the Plymouth Rocks originated from crosses of
Plymouth Rocks and some of the several varieties of fowls having the
color of the Partridge Cochin. General characteristics the same as the
Barred Rocks. Standard weights are as follows: Cock 9% pounds,
cockerel 8 pounds, hen iy2 pounds, pullet 6% pounds.

There are a number of still recognized breeds which have almost dis-
appeared. Among these may be mentioned the Javas, Black and Mottled,
the Redcaps and several of the Hamburg vrieties. The American Standard
of Perfection once gave a place to a variety known as Jersy Blues but these
have entirely disappeared while the "White Javas were swallowed up by the
White Plymouth Rocks. The breeds that were once popular but have now
dropped out disappeared because they were superceded by breeds with greater
merit.

The beginner should decide before starting what he most desires to
accomplish before selecting his breed. If he wants eggs for market he will
find the Leghorns in all varieties good layers. The Leghorns are not first-class
market fowls because they are rather too small for market purposes, although
where one lives where chickens or broilers are in good demand Leg-
horns will prove profitable as market fowls because the young chicks grow to
broiler size as quickly or more quickly than almost any other breed.

Minorcas are good layers of fine, large white eggs. The eggs of the
Minorca fowl will weigh almost 50 per cent more than those of the Leghorn
family and where a private egg trade is to be built up Minorca eggs will
hold the trade against any other breed, except, possibly the Light Brahma
and Langshan, these two breeds laying eggs fully as large as those of the
Minorca fowl. Within three or four years the interest in Minorca has grown
amazingly and there is a good demand for breeding stock, assuring the one
who produces it a ready sale at good prices.

Another good laying breed is the Houdan. This breed is reputed to be
among the best table fowls, on account of its deep breast and thick thighs.

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA

25

BLACK LANGSHANS.

Langshans were originally imported from China and are today one of
the most popular fowls of the Orient. No variety of fowls ever gained
popularity faster since their importation. The Langshans are large, stylish
birds, with ear lobes and combs glowing against their glossy black feathers,
foim a striking contrast. They attain maturity as early as any if the
large breeds, lay large, rich eggs the year around, and are not persistent
sitters. They make an excellent table fowl, for delicacy of flavor, white
flesh and skin especially. They are large in size and well built, and make
good mothers, continuously looking after the young. Chicks when first
hatched are about half white which is no indication of impurity of stock.

Standard weights are as follows: Cock 10 pounds, cockerel 8 pounds,
hen 7 pounds, pullet 6 pounds.

The eggs of the Houdan are large and pure white. Leghorns, Minorcas and
Houdans can not be depended on to sit and their eggs must be hatched by
other breeds of hens or in incubators.

If the beginner is seeking a general purpose breed he has an opportunity
to choose from a number of breeds and many varieties. Among the general
purpose breeds are Plymouth Eocks, Wyandottes, Rhode Island Reds Orpingtons
and Langshans.

The Plymouth Rock is the oldest of the distinctly American breeds and
the most popular of the general purpose families. The .Barred Plymouth
Rock is an old favorite which has never been driven from its position as
the leading American breed. It has a color that makes a beautiful fowl,
yet does not show stains or appear ragged as do the feathers of other breeds.
It has the yellow skin Americans like, good table qualities and is a hardy
bird. It is a fairly good layer, a good sitter but not a persistent one, and is a
dependable fowl altogether. The White Plymouth Rock is a good second to the
Barred variety and may be said to be its equal for all practical purposes. It
is a sport from the original variety and is a very popular variety. The Buff
Plymouth Rock excels as a layer, but is rather more persistent as a sitter than
the Barred or White varieties. It originated in the same part of the country
that produced the Rhode Island Red, and is of similar origin if not identical.
The hens lay well in winter and endure cold excellently. They now breed quite
true to color and are a very desirable kind of fowls.

The other varieties of Plymouth Rocks have not made much headway and
are not yet old enough to have an established reputation. So far they are largely

26

HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

BLACK COCHINS.

Black Cochins are like the other Cochin varieties except in color of
plumage. Every feather is a deep lustrous black, with a green sheen
showing on surface. Standard weights: Cock 11 pounds, cockerel 9
pounds, hen 8y2 pounds, pullet 7 pounds.

in the hands of fanciers and the beginner can afford to wait before investing
largely in them.

The Wyandottes are another American family of birds. Like the Plymouth
Rocks their origin is unknown. The Silver Wyandotte, commonly called the
Silver Laced Wyandotte, is the original variety. It is a pound lighter that the
Plymouth Rock, but is perhaps a little superior as a layer and not quite so per-
sistent as a sitter. This variety is no tas popular as it was a few years ago be-
cause of the difficulty of breeding it true to color.

The White Wyandotte is the most popular member of the Wyandotte family.
Its short, plump body makes it a popular market fowl and its early maturity
brings it into market early when spring chickens are the object sought. It has
become very popular as an egg layer and as a market fowl.

The Buff Wyandotte has no Wyandotte blood in it. It originated about the
same time that the Buff Plymouth Rock was brought out and came from the
same part of the country. The Rose Comb Rhode Island Red is a near relative
of the Buff Wyandotte, both having come from Rhode Island and the writer
remembers when Buff Wyandottes which happened to be too red to pass for buff
birds were used to improve the head of Rose Comb Rhode Island Reds. The
Buff Wyandotte breeds very true to color, is easily kept, endures cold weather
very well and lays a large number of eggs. It is quite persistent as a sitter and
an excellent mother. A flock of well-bred Buff Wyandottes attracts attention
anywhere and the breeder who keeps good ones will find a ready market for his
surplus stock at high prices.

Rhode Island Reds are very popular and they are a good breed. The Single
Combs are more popular than the Rose Combs and seem to breed a little truer
to type and color, but the difference is not great. Rhode Island Reds are rather
hard to breed true to color and type, but they are not at all hard to breed to
big laying records and are probably the best layers in the American class of
fowls. They are deep red in color and good specimens sell at a high price, but

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA 27

they are likely to breed uneven in color so they are as yet a better market fowl
than one for beginners to select for fancy purposes. Yet as poultry and eggs are
the foundation stones on which the poultry business rests this breed is one of
the very best for the beginner to select, as it will bring him sure returns in mar-
ket prices for the product of his poultry yards while he is learning the secrets of
the business. The breed is hardy, the hens are layers and good sitters — rather
too good I sometimes think. They endure neglect better than any other breed
and are rustlers for themselves when they get a chance to forage.

The Orphingtons have been brought out in ten varieties, but only three va-
rieties need take any of our time. The Black Orphington is a magnificent fowl,
beetle green gleams flashing from its black plumage, deep in body, hardy and a
fairly good layer it deserves all the attention it gets. The Buff Orphington is
probably more popular than the Black, but it does not breed quite true to color
and Orphington type, being inclined to come a little long in the legs and some-
what deficient in back shape. However, the Buff Orphington has many friends
and deserves consideration. It has white shanks and a white skin, which is
somewhat against it from the American point of view, but it is a good variety
and is reputed to be a very good winter layer, while as a market fowl it will
no doubt take a high place as soon as enough of the variety is sent to market to
make a showing.

The White Orphington is having run in popular favor just now and it cer-
tainly is a beautiful bird. It is massive in build, strong in body, deep breasted,
hardy and a good layer. This is enough to indicate that it will take a promi-
nent place before many years in the poultry yards of this country.

The Light Brahma was once a very popular variety, and is as good today
as it ever was, but for some reason it has declined in numbers and importance.
It is comparatively rare in the West and not numerous in the East. It matures
slowly, but is very highly esteeme das a table fowl and Light Brahma hens have
made as good records as layers as has ever been made by any other breed. They
are the heaviest breed of fowls we have.

Langshans are among our best fowls. They are pure black, the feathers
throwing off greenish reflections when viewed in the right light. They are dis-
tinctively different in shape from any other variety of fowls and are now bred
almost exactly as they were found in China about thi ty years ago. They lay
very large eggs and are the very best winter layers we have.

The Cochins, Hamburgs, Polish and French fowls, except the Houdans, are
not extensively bred any more except for fancy purposes. In fairness I might
say that those who breed fine specimens of almost any of these breeds are always
able to sell their stock at good figures, but they are not really fowls for be-
ginners.

The above are probably all of the breeds of chickens that we need refer
to in this connection. The list includes enough to enable anyone to select
a breed to suit his particular fancy, and after all, the beginner should be guided
by his likes and dislikes for he will succeed better with a breed that suits his
fancy than with one he takes up just because some one has recommended it to
him.

Getting a Start.

The matter of the variety to be bred having been settled the beginner be-
gins to study about the best way to start. Shall he buy fowls and hatch the
eggs from them or would it be better to buy eggs from some breeder of the
variety he has selected and begin that way. There really is but little choice be-
tween the two ways. If he buys really good stock he can buy a breeding pen of
one male and four females and make a good start. Say he desires to begin by
investing $50. This would buy him a dozen pure bred fowls or a breeding pen
of fine quality. Some good breeders would sell him a fine breeding pen for half
the sum named. Of such a moderate-priced man he could buy a dozen females
and a fine male for his fifty dollars. In such a case he would be ready to hatch
any number of chicks up to 200 or 300 the first season and with $50 a beginner
could have a fine flock of laying hens six months after he began operations and
be ready to begin business. For one who desires to start in this way and with
this sum buying stock is probably the best way.

If one has only a few dollars to invest at first it is probably better to buy

28 HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

eggs. Ten dollars will buy 100 pure-bred eggs from good reliable breeders.
These will not be eggs from the largely advertised flocks of breeders who sell
at very high prices, but they will be from good quality pure-bred birds and from
them a good start can be made. From 100 eggs at least 75 chicks should be
hatched and of these 70 should be raised. If they are equally divided as to
sex, there will be thirty-five pullets and from these he will be able to select a
very fine breding pen from which to hatch the next year.

One of the beauties of the poultry business is that the flock increases rapidly
and the beginner need not wait long before he can raise a flock for himself as
large as he can find room for.

Any good breeder will gladly give the beginner advice as to how to select
his matings so as to improve his flock. As a rule it is best to continue to buy
of the same breeder each year that new stock is needed as this keeps the flock
bred along the original lines. Line-breeding is the only way to build up a re-
liable strain of fowls always are better layers and better show birds than stock
that has been bred in a hit-and-miss way.

VII

HATCHING AND REARING CHICKS.

Some one has said that it is the right of every child to be born well. Just
the same it should be the aim of the poultryman that every chick should be
hatched well. There are just two ways to hatch chicks; in an incubator and
under a hen. I name the incubator first because it is coming to be the best way
all things considered.

The beginner sends for incubator catalogues and finds that one manufacturer
tells him a hot water machine is the only kind to use and another claims that the
hot air system is best. One uses moisture in his machine and the other does not
and every one claims to build the best incubator ever made. The exact truth
is that almost every one of the modern incubators will do good work if direc-
tions are followed. Of course, some hatch better than others.

Personally I prefer the hot water system because I believe it is easiest to
operate successfully. I have had long experience in building incubators and in-
vnted one of the best hot air machines, but in the end I went back to the hot
water system as being the best for the beginner, because the volume of hot water
in the tank prevents sudden changes of temperature in the egg chamber.

Every incubator maker sends directions for using the machine he makes to
every buyer and in the main these directions should be followed, because the
machines have different systems of heating, different systems of ventilation and
differences in the egg-chambers and other parts and the directions are given to
suit these differences in construction.

A few general directions may be given as they apply to all machines.

Any incubator works best in a room where the temperature does not vary
widely during the twenty-four hours of the day.

A room with only northern windows is best as the sun should never shine di-
rectly on an incubator in operation. No regulator can regulate when the sun
adds its heat to that of the lamp.

Remember that the- regulator on an incubator is very sensitive and is only
made to regulate the heat through a few degrees of temperature. If the lamp
is turned too low the regulator cannot add any heat to it or if it is turned too
high no regulator will cut off enough heat to keep the temperature down to the
proper place.

Start the incubator without eggs in it and run it until the regulation is
learned and it can be kept at the proper temperature.

When the eggs are put in the temperature will run down almost at oncee,
because the cold eggs cools the egg-chamber. Do not change the regulator, but
let the eggs warm up to the proper temperature when the regulator will hold it
there.

If the temperature goes down or up do not change the regulator too much.
Change it for higher or lower temperature a little at a time until it holds the
heat at the proper place.

Turn the eggs twice a day and do this deliberately, taking the egg tray out

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA

29

^■■V

BARRED PLYMOUTH ROCKS.

The Barred Plymouth Rocks are of American origin, having originated
from a cross of American Dominques and Black Javas. They stand ac-
knowledged as the best general purpose fowl. They are hardy, grow
rapidly, and make plump, juicy broilers at the age of eight to ten weeks.
As a fanciers' fowl they have reached a popularity never before known.

Standard weights are as follows: Cock 9y2 pounds, cockerel 8 pounds,
hen 7% pounds, pullet 6% pounds.

and shutting the door. Eggs hatch better when cooled every day. They should
be allowed to cool from ten to thirty minutes each day according to the weather.

Do not worry if the temperature should fall to 90 degrees for a few hours,
but be careful to keep it below 105 as that temperature will kill the chicks in a
little while.

Do not keep changing the regulator back and forth more than is absolutely
necessary, and do not open the machine except when you must.

Read the directions of the manufacturer until you know them thoroughly
and follow them closely-

If the machine does not give a good hatch do not call the manufacturer
names. He could not sell enough machines to make it pay him if he did not
sell good ones and nineteen times in twenty a poor hatch is due to the eggs or the
operator and not to the machine.

Use the very best oil. Do not be satisfied with anything but the best, for
without good oil a steady temperature is impossible.

Trim and fill the lamp every evening and watch the temperature for a while
after this, as very often a freshly trimmed lamp gives out much more heat than
one that has been burning a day.

30

HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

BUFF COCHINS.

These are large, massive fowls, profusely feathered, and have a very
fine carriage. They are very good layers, and will, under favorable circum-
stances, compare well with the Leghorn class for winter laying, while for
a market fowl they far exceed them. Like all Asiatics, they are rather
later maturing than Jhose of the American class, but I have taken great
pains and spared no expense to produce Buffs which are of special merit
in early maturing, plumage and size. Tehy are of a rich bull or golden
color. They are heavily feathered and well adapted to cold climates. They
breed true to color and are very docile fowls, can be easily yarded by
low fence of wire netting. Standard weights are as follows: Cock 11
pounds, cockerel 9 pounds, hen 8% pounds, pullet 7 pounds.

Keep the temperature at 102 the first week, 103 the second and the third
week if it runs up to 104, do not worry, for the animal heat of the chicks in the
shell will run the temperature up. In very warm weather it is often necessary
to put the lamp out during the hottest part of the day as the heat of the chicks
will keep the egg-chamber hot enough.

When the eggs begin to pip keep the machine shut. Let them get out of the
shell without help as a chick that must be helped from the shell is not worth
bothering with. Let them gasp and crawl around as much as they will for this
gives them strength.

When a very good hatch is coming off it is sometimes best to take some of
the chicks out, but this should be done as quickly as possible.

Turn the eggs the first time on the morning of the third day after they are
put in the incubator and the last time on the morning of the eighteenth day.

Get good eggs from thrifty and vigorous hens, do your part and the machine
is almost sure to give you a satisfactory hatch.

Hatching With Hens.

iTotwithstanding that there are hundreds of thousands of incubators in use,
a large majority of the chicks hatched are still hatched by hens.

It is a good plan to set several hens at a time and when the chicks are
hatched give each one fifteen chicks and put the hens for which there are no
chicks back into the laying yards. It is a waste of time to have a hen going
around with half a brood of chicks.

Put the sitting hens into a room by themselves and make the nests so the
hens can be shut on them. This will prevent them from changing nests or two

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA

31

ROSE COMB BROWN LEGHORNS.

For a handsome bird and for egg producers, the Leghorn stands at
the head. There is no breed of. fowls that lay so many eggs with so
little feed. Both the Rose and Single Comb Leghorns were originally
imported from Leghorn, a seaport in Italy (hence their name). The Rose
and Single Comb varieties are exactly alike in every respect except the
comb. The Rose Comb Leghorns are of a medium size, have beautiful
g^ay plumage, white ear lobes and yellow legs, are symmetrical in form,
and very attractive and pleasing in appearance, are very hardy and chicks
are easily raised on free range. They are good foragers and pullets lay at
an early age.

of them from getting into one nest and breaking a lot of eggs. , Feed them at
noon each day, shutting them off the nest while they are feeding and shutting
them on again after, they have had their feed. Whole corn is the best feed for
sitting hens. Give them corn, water, grit and a box of dust to wallow in and
leave them off the nest from fifteen to thirty minutes each day.

See that each hen goes back on her own nest and then shut them on until
the next feeding time. In a few days they will learn the routine and be easy
to handle.

The best nest material is first make a shallow nest of garden soil, patting
it down firmly and smoothly into a saucer shape. Over this put a layer of fine
straw. The soil may be quite damp when put into the nest box, as the dampness
is natural to the nest of a hen which is one of the birds that naturally builds
rts nest on the ground.

No hen can hatch healthy chicks from eggs that are not all right. See
that the eggs are from strong and healthy hens, not too fat, nor yet half-
starved

About all the trouble that comes to the young chick can be traced back to
carelessness on the part of the one who takes care of the incubator or the sitting

32 HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

SINGLE COMB RHODE ISLAND REDS.

The Rhode Island Red is becoming more popular every year. This
breed is now bred down until it comes quite true to color, and I do not
know of a prettier color among fowls than that of the well-bred Rhode
Island Reds. This breed may be said to have made itself as it was
made up by mixing several breeds and then selecting the hardiest and
best egg-laying specimens to breed from. The breed having originated
along the stormy shores of the Rhode Island sea coast, it is very hardy
and is among the very best of our winter layers. As a table fowl it
ranks high and as a mother it does its whole duty. There is no difference
in the two varieties. The Single Comb variety has a neat, small comb,
small enough to escape the danger from frost that larger combs are
liable to. Standard weights are as follows: Cock 8% pounds, cockerel
7Y2 pounds, hen 6% pounds, pullet 5 pounds.

hens or to eggs that were produced by hens out of condition. A chick that comes
from the shell plump and covered with long down is able to resist the diseases
of chiekenhood much better than one that is hatched in a dried and shriveled
condition.

Operating a Brooder.

When chicks are hatched in an incubator they must be reared in a brooder
and many poultrymen who use hens to hatch with take the chicks away from
the hens and put them in brooders, because it is less trouble to care for them
and the chicks grow better and faster.

Before using the brooder wash it with some disinfectant. Any coal tar dis-
infectant will do, and any druggist will supply it and give directions for using it.

Wash the brooder all over the inside with the disinfectant and let it dry be-
fore using it.

Get the temperature up to about 90 degrees before putting the chicks in.

Do not feed the chicks until they are two days old. This is nature's way
and no improvement can be made on it.

Feed cracked wheat, steel cut oatmeal or stale bread crumbs at first, giving
fine grit and water from the first feed.

I have found the prepared chick feeds very good. They may seem to be a
little costly, but I know it pays to use them.

Let the temperature run down gradually until at three weeks it is about
65 degrees where it can be held as long as the chicks are in the brooder. As the

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA 33

SINGLE COMB BUFF ORPHINGTONS.

The Single Comb Buff Orpingtons are becoming a very popular breed.
They have been a leading breed in England for a number of years, in
fact, they are as popular there as the Barred Plymouth Bocks are in
America. As a general purpose fowl they are very good. They have a
rich buff plumage. As good as any of the buff varieties. They are also
good layers. Standard weights are as follows: Cock 10 pounds, cockerel
8Y2 pounds, hen 8 pounds, pullet 7 pounds.

chicks grow the brooder will require less heat from the lamp, but the temperature
should be kept quite regular.

Do not feed very young chicks too much at first. Feed them rather sparing-
ly, but often for the first week. They should be fed five times a day, but only
as much as they will eat in an hour. Leave nothing before them that they
can eat except what you give them, as they will pick up and swallow almost
anything until they learn to select their feed.

After the fourth day give the chicks some kind of vegetable feed, such as
boiled potatoes or cabbage cut fine. After things begin to grow in the spring,
lettuce or dandelion leaves, cut fine, make very good feeds for young chicks.
They may be allowed to eat as much as they will of these green things as they
are both feed and medicine for them.

Meat feed is almost absolutely necessary to growing chicks. They can be
raised without it, but they will grow much better with it. The only substitute
for meat is milk and the best way to feed this is to let it sour and make cottage
•cheese of it and feed the chicks. When this is done make the cheese just as it
would be made for the table, except that butter and cream are not necessary
It should be salted as it would be for the table. Where sour milk or buttermilk
are convenient, there is nothing better than cottage cheese for the young birds.
It is a perfect substitute for meat.

Where meat is fed let it be about 10 per cent of the feed that is given them.
It is better to pay 5 cents for a pound of beef scrap than it is to try to raise
chicks without it, if milk is not to be had in its place.

At three weeks the chicks may be fed a little whole wheat and cracked
corn every day, gradually increasing the amount until these are the principal

34 HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

WHITE COCHINS.

White Cochins are more to the fanciers' taste, because of the pure
white plumage, which makes it very attractive, yet very few White
Cochins are bred. They have the same characteristics as the other Cochin
varieties, the only difference being in color of plumage. Standard weights
■are as follows: Cock 11 pounds, cockerel 9 pounds, hen 8y2 pounds, pullet
7 pounds.

grain feeds they get. Put chick grit, crushed charcoal and oyster shells in sep-
arate boxes where they can get all they want of them and beef scrap may be
fed in the same way.

By the time the chicks are four weeks old they will be able to handle whole
wheat, kaffir corn or cracked corn easily, and they should be then fed as much
as they will eat. I do not believe much in soft feeds, except for fattening chicks
or old fowls for market.

Where a lot of pullets are being raised for layers we want them to grow
strong bodies and big bones and whole grain and beef scrap will make these.
Pullets intended for the laying yards should be raised on as large a range as pos-
sible. This gives them the strength that comes from exercise. If they must be
raised in pens make them scratch for all the grain they get and feed them all
the green feed they will eat. Fresh green grass or clover cut into short lengths
will make them healthy and make them grow and the good poultryman will see
that yarded chicks get all they will eat.

Even very young chicks should be kept in little covered runs made of wire
netting where they can get green grass to pick at and these runs should be
moveof to fresh grass every day. This is a little trouble, but it pays a big wage
for the time taken to do it.

Be sure and give water regularly. This is as important as any other part of
the feeding.

Feed Formulas.

Below we give some of the most approved feed formulas. Most of the chick
feeds are made after these formulas and they have been proved good many times.
I know of one man who paid a large sum for one of these formulas and was
satisfied that he got his money's worth. Buyers of this book get it for a frac-
tion of a cent.

Cracked Wheat 25 pounds

Cracked Corn 12 pounds

Millet Seed 10 pounds

Kaffir Corn 25 pounds

Oat Meal 10 pounds

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA

35

LIGHT BRAMAS.

Felch, Gold Coin and Shaw Strains.

The Light Brahmas, by unchallenged right, stand at the lead of all
thoroughbred poultry. During the past thirty years, while all other breeds
have had their "ups and downs" the Light Brahmas have stood their own
ground, and today are as much praised and as highly recommended to the
general breeder as they were thirty years ago. Any breed that can stand
the test of rivalry so long and still continue to satisfy and please the
thousands breeding them must have qualities of a high order. They are
the largest of all our poultry, and furnish more pounds of flesh and eggs
in twelve months than any other breed of fowls on earth. They are well
adapted for all purposes, and are so gentle, handsome and practical one
cannot help but like them.

Standard weights are as follows: Cock 12 pounds, cockerel 10 pounds,
hen 9% pounds, pullet 8 pounds.

Hemp Seed 2 pounds

Sunflower Seed 2 pounds

The sunflower seed and hempseed may be omitted if they are not convenient.
Sometimes 10 per cent of screened beef scrap is added, but I prefer to feed this
separately. A good many manufacturers load their prepared seed feed with grit.
This is cheap and it is very profitable to them to add the grit to the feed as it
sells at about six times as much as could be got for it alone. When one is mak-
ing it the grit may be added but it is better to keep this separate also.

After the chicks are five or six weeks old a coarser and cheaper feed mix-
ture may be given them. One of the best mixtures of this kind is made as
follows:

No. 2, Scratch Feed

Whole or Shriveled Wheat 25 pounds

Coarse Cracked Corn 20 pounds

Millet Seed 10 pounds

Oats 25 pounds

Barley 10 pounds

Kaffir Corn, if convenient 25 pounds

This is improved if cracked peas and buckwheat , each 10 pounds can be
added. Barley and Kaffir corn are about equally valuable and either may be
used as a substitute for the sunflower seen is good in small quantities. It should
never be more than 4 or 5 per cent of the whole quantitl of the mixture.

Where chicks are to be sold as broilers or young roasting fowls they may be
put in fine condition by feeding them on the following mixture:

36

HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

SINGLE COMB BROWN LEGHORNS.

The acknowledged queen of the practical egg laying breeds is the
Single Comb Brown Leghorn, when judged by the standard of the greatest
number of marketable eggs produced at "least cost. Not only are the hens
persistent layers, but they are extremely active foragers and waste no
time in sitting. Like a good milch cow they put on little fat upon their
bones, but all surplus nourishment to egg production. The cost of growing
them is comparatively light, no more, perhaps than one-half that of
Brahma or Cochin.

FORCING MASH.

Corn meal 5 parts

Wheat bran 2 parts

Beef scrap or animal meal 2 parts

Middlings or ' ' red dog ; ' flour 1 part

Mix these and then take of the mixture three parts and one of alfalfa or
clover meal, moisten the whole with milk or hot water and feed. Just enough
milk or water should be added to make a crumbly mash. The proportions are by
weight in the above mixture as in the others.

Where a special forcing mixture is wanted for broiler chicks the following
is very good:

BROILER CAKE.
2 parts bran or shorts.
2 parts corn meal.
2 parts corn meal
1 part wheat middlings
10 per cent beef scrap
5 per cent fine chick grit.

To each pound of this mixture add one of the infertile eggs taken from the
incubator when the eggs are tested with enough skimmed milk to moisten the
whole mixture. Bake well in a greased pan in a slow oven so as to have the
cake cooked entirely through. This cake easily crumbles when well baken and
forces chicks to grow very rapidly.

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA 37

Separating the Sexes.

It is very much better to separate the sexes. Where the flock is kept for
market purposes the cockerels should be sold as soon as they get to good broiler
size, as they usually bring as much then as they will if kept longer and sold in
the fall.

Where the cockerels are to be kept and sold for breeding purposes it is very
much better to sell. Separate them from the pullets as they worry the pullets
as soon as they begin to develop sexually and this keeps the pullets back more
than a little.

The beginner may think that this is too much trouble but if he thinks so he
is mistaken. The pullets are the money makers and they should be given every
chance to mature as early as possible so as to make them early and good layers.

Too much pains cannot be taken with the young stock because the earlier
it is got into condition the more profitable it is.

SILVER LACED WYANDOTTES.

For any purpose for which poultry is kept the Silver Laced Wyandotte
is always ready to make a good showing. It is the pride of American fan-
ciers and a delightful bird to handle and own, and is quiet and tame and
not seeking mischief. As a market fowl it has a record of topping the most
particular market in this country. As a layer it has twice in five years
carried off the prize in the great annual Australian laying competitions,
which are carried on under government supervision. In this country a Sil-
ver Laced Wyandotte hen has made a record of 804 eggs in four consecutive
years, an average of 201 eggs per year, a record never before equalled by
any hen of any breed.

Standard weights are as follows: Cock 8% pounds, cockerel 7% pounds,
hen 6% pounds, pullet 5% pounds.

Chapter VIII

FEEDING FOR EGGS.

Anyone who thinks that he can make money by saving feed when feeding
hens makes a fatal mistake. Hens must be full fed if they are to make good
egg records. Some years ago the cry was set up that the reason hens did not lay
more was because they were kept too fat and many a poultry keeper learned to
his sorrow that this was not true. Kepeated experiments by others, and my own
experience, have taught me that laying hens must be kept fat if they are to do
their best.

Much nonsense has been written about feeding for eggs. The average farm-
er who keeps cows produced on his own farm all the things necessary to feed
hens so that they will lay as much as possible.

It is just as impossible to feed a poor layer so as to make her lay well as
it is tc feed a poor milker enough to make a good cow of her. Some hens will
lay more eggs on scanty feed than others will with all the feed they can eat,
but any hen will lay better when well fed than she will when poorly fed.

The farmer who raises wheat, corn and oats and keeps cows need not worry
about feed for his hens that will make them lay. Wheat is a good egg food in
itself, but it should not be fed altogether. Corn is a very good feed for laying
hens, but it does not contain all the elements to make eggs and a hen must be
fed the elements that go to make up eggs before she can manufacture them and
produce them for her owner. Oats come very nearly being a perfect feed for
hens, but they have so much husk that hens should not be fed oats all the time.
I believe that as good a feed as can be made for laying hens is to feed wheat
about half the time and oats and corn for the other half, giving milk, sweet,
sour or in the form of buttermilk for them to drink. Don't make milk a sub-
stitute for water but if you have it give your hens all they will drink of it.
With these grain feeds the hens need green stuff. On a farm they will get all

38

HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

MAMMOTH BRONZE TURKEYS.

The Mammoth Bronze turkey is the acknowledged king of all turkeys.
They have a brilliant metallic coloring that shines in the sun like the
hues of the rainbow. Males and females are similar but in the female the
color is not quite so brilliant or clearly defined. In the female the edging
of the feathers is generally of a dull white or gray. The Mammoth Bronze
is the hardiest of all turkeys, and the most extensively raised of any
breed. They are good layers, many claiming them to lay over 100 eggs
in a season, however, there are exceptions to all things. Most turkeys
do not lay after July 1st. Adult cock, 36 pounds; cockerel, 25 pounds;
young cock, 33 pounds; hen, 20 pounds; pullet, 16 pounds.

the green stuff they need during the months when green stuff does not grow
this must be supplied to them. Any kind of vegetables will do such as cow
beets — mangels — sugar beets, turnips, potatoes — boiled before being fed — cabbage
and such things which are easy to grow anywhere. If all of these fail the hens
will greedily eat the shatterings from clover or alfalfa hay and these should be
gathered to them.

With a comfortable house and a system of feeding that supplies all these
grains and vegetable and with a supply of grit, oyster shell and charcoal the
farm flock should lay well in winter as they would under a more elaborate sys-
tem of feeding.

However not every one lives on a farm and has these things of home pro-
duction For the benefit of these I give several methods of feeding which have
been tried and found good.

To begin with I may say that very careful experiments have shown that
whole corn is exactly as good for laying hens as cracked corn. The floor of the

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA

39

WHITE ORPINGTONS.

The White Orpingtons are comparatively large fowls, exceeding the
Plymouth Eoeks in Standard weight and are more compact in build. In
manner of feathering they approach somewhat the Cochin type. Their
compact build enables them to carry a great amount of flesh and they
are claimed to be good layers. The White Orpingtons have great merit,
being pure white in the first place and breeding very true to color. They
are among the very best table fowls because they have such a deep, wide
breast, and such thick thighs. The White Orpingtons are perfectly hardy
and while they respond to good care they will do well under average
conditions. They are also very hearty eaters and good foragers. Standard
weights are as follows: Cock 10 pounds, cockerel 8% pounds, hen 8 pounds,
pullet 7 pounds.

poultry house should be kept littered with a six-inch layer of clean, light, dry
straw early in the morning a quart of corn should be thrown into this litter for
each 10 hens. About 10 o'clock another feed of a mixture of two quarts of
wheat and two quarts of oats for each 100 hens should be thrown into the litter.
This is all the regular feeding that is done when hens are kept under the system
I am now describing. At all times a supply of a dry mash is kept in a slatted
trough where the hens can go and eat anytime they want to. The trough is along
one side of the room with slats before it through which the hens can reach the
mixture and yet not waste it. This mixture is made as follows: •

Wheat bran 2 parts by weight

Corn meal 1 part by weight

Middling 1 part by weight

Gluten meal or brewers grains 1 part by weight

Linseed meal 1 part by weight

Beef scrap 1 part by weight

The brewers grains and linseed may be omitted if they are not con-
venient to get and a larger proportion of corn meal and beef scrap used. The
hens do not like this mixture as well as they do the whole grain but they eat it
a few mouthfuls at a time, and it certainly makes them lay.

This is a most convenient way of feeding fowls and several year's experi-
ence has proved it to be a good egg producing feed.

40

HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

BUFF PLYMOUTH ROCKS.

In type and characteristics, except as to color of plumage, they are
the exact copy of the Barred and White Plymouth Rocks. As their name
implies, they are of a rich, buff color. They have quite heavy, nice, well
rounded bodies, and a bright yellow skin. They have clean legs of medium
length. This breed is well adapted to both the fancier and market poultry-
men. Standard weights are as follows: Cock 9^ pounds, hen 7y2 pounds,
cockerel 8 ponuds, pullets 6% pounds.

Do not neglect to keep the hens supplied with grit, oyster shell and char-
coal as well as with plenty of pure water. No hen can lay eggs without water,
for an egg contains a large percentage of water, and it is absolutely necessary
that hens have water at any time they feel the need of it.

For the convenience of the reader I give a few formulas which have been
used with success. It may be said that no one has yet discovered a formula for
feeding that may be said to be the very best of all. There are a good many
mixtures which seem to be about equally good and this makes it easy to fit the
feed to the locality.

I have known a flock of hens which were never fed anything but barley and
wheat to lay exceedingly well. They had a free range in a piece of woodland

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA

41

WHITE WYANDOTTES.

White Wyandottes are the true sports of the Wyandotte family, hav-
ing sported from some of the best yards in America and as a rule from
the darkest matings. They are very popular and a great favorite among
the fanciers. They differ very little from the laced varieties, yet I believe
they are somewhat hardier, as they require less in breeding to retain their
show points. For the novice they are often preferred to the other breeds,
on this account. Standard weights are as follows: Cock 8% pounds,
cockerel 7% pounds, hen 6% pounds, pullet 5% pounds.

and in this they got many insects and the necessary bugs and insects of various
kinds to supply the meat feed they needed.

The farmer's flock which runs over the farm need not be fed meat during the
summer, as they find worms and insects to eat and these are the very best form
of meat feed for fowls.

A good mixture is made as follows:
10 pounds wheat
10 pounds corn
5 pounds oats.

I prefer feeding each grain separate as the hens then eat all of each while,
if they are fed a mixture the strong ones get thekindthey like best and the weak
ones must take what is left. In feeding this mixture I would feed wheat twice,
corn twice and oats once, keeping up this rotation, feeding the grain in the morn-
ing.

In connection with this I would feed dry mash in a slatted trough which
was kept under cover. The dry mash would be where the hens could get it any
time they felt hungry. The following mixture makes a splendid dry mash feed:

Middlings 6 pounds

Corn meal 6 pounds

Bran : 3 pounds

Oil meal 1 pound

42 HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

ENGLISH RED CAPS.

The Red Caps are a hardy race of fowls, which came to American
breeders from Derbyshire, England, where they have been known for many
years as unrivalled layers of richly flavored eggs. The true value of these
fowls as egg producers is very little known in this country. A few years
ago we used to see them at eastern shows and they bid fair to become
well known and appreciated, but of late they have been exhibited but
little. Cock 7% pounds, cockeerl 6 pounds, hen 6 pounds, pullet 5 pounds.

Alfalfa or clover meal 1 pound

Beef scrap 5 per cent

This is what is called a "narrow" ration. That is it is very rich in the
elements that go to make eggs and for feeding laying hens in winter nothing could
be better.

A word about beef scrap, oil meal and alfalfa or clover meal. The poultry-
man who thinks these feeds too high in cost makes a mistake. In these days all
of these can be bought in almost any town and poultry supply houses and most in-
cubator manufacturers keep them on sale. It pays to buy them for they are all
good egg makers, and eggs is what every poultryman wants whether he keeps
hens for market or for breeding purposes.

At the Kansas experiment station hens laid well when fed as follows:

Grain Mixture — Two parts corn, two parts wheat, two parts kaffir corn, one
part millet.

For the dry mash take two parts corn meal, two parts shorts, two parts beef
scrap and one-half part alfalfa meal.

I give below the famous California mixture for feeding for eggs: Two parts
middlings, 2 parts bran, 1 part corn meal, 1 part shorts, 1 part bolted barley, 1
part meat meal and one-half part bone meal. The hens were not fed any whole
grain, the above mixture being fed in hoppers and kept before them all the
time.

With the above directions for mixing feed the poultry keeper in any part of
the country should be able to make a mixture which would do him good.

Remember that laying in hens in these days is the result of long training and
the poultryman who desires large egg-records must select his hens for laying. In
another chapter I tell how to select the best layers. In every case the hen that
comes from a strain of line-bred layers will average better than the one that has
not such careful breeding behind her. Getting the right start means much to the
beginner.

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA

43

PARTRIDGE COCHINS.

Partridge cochins, like the other varieties owes its origin to the
Shanghai fowl, yet possibly has some of the Malay or Black Red Game
in its make up. They are the same as the Buff in shape and size, differing
only in color of plumage. Standard weights are as follows: Cock 11
pounds, cockerel 9 pounds, hen 8% pounds, pullet 7 pounds.

THE

Chapter IX

'SECRETS" OF THE POULTRY BUSINESS.

Two or three books have been widely advertised as making public all the
"secrets" of the poultry business and several promoters have got rich selling
at a high price certain secrets of the business. Most of these so-called secrets
are such as the poultryman should know, but I do not believe in the secret busi-
ness myself. I want every poultryman to know1 all about the business so every
one can succeed, for the more that they succeed the faster the business will grow
and the better for every one concerned.

The so-called "secrets" that I make public in this chapter have been sold
at from one to ten dollars each. Purchasers of this book get them practically
free, as I throw them in for good measure.

Feed for Fifteen Cents a Bushel.

The poultry papers have contained advertisements from several different per-
sons ottering for from one to five dollars to tell how to make feed for 15 cents
a bushel or for 10 cents a bushel or for 8 cents a bushel, each advertiser trying
to make it appear that he had the secret of making something from nothing. As
a matter of fact there is no process by which more nutrition can be put into a
bushel of grain than is in it in its natural state, but there are processes which
have the same effect as partially digesting grains and fowls can eat more, and
thus get more benefit. These prepared grains are also more digestible and a
bushel is worth more as feed after, if it has been prepared, than it was before.
Simply cooking wheat, corn or oats makes them more valuable than it was before,
before being cooked make feed for fifteen cents a bushel, one has only to sprout
a bushel of oats when the swelling of the oats and the growth of the sprouts will
make three bushels of feed from one bushel of oats, but hens will eat three times

44

HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

BLACK MINORCAS.

The Black Minorca is a well-established breed of English fowl, belong-
ing to the Spanish varieties, and wherever bred, are considered a valuable
breed; are hardy, both as fowls and chicks, easily raised, mature early, and
pullets commence laying when very young. They are non-sitters, small
eaters, splendid foragers, and without doubt very profitable. Their plumage
is a pure black with a green or metallic luster. Their legs are nice and
smooth and medium length. Standard weights are as follows: Cock 9
pounds, cockerel 7% pounds, hen 7% pounds, pullet 6% pounds.

as much of it, so the advantage is simply in having a more palatable and more
digestible feed than the natural grain would make.

There are several methods of sprouting oats. I give two or three of them.

Take a box large enough so that a bushel of oats will cover the bottom
four inches deep. Bore several half inch holes in the bottom. Then put the oats
in and wet them well with warm water, stirring them about until the grains are
all wet. Keep the box in a rather warm place, a good cellar in cold weather will
do or keep them back of the stove in the kitchen. One breeder that I know
sprouts his oats in his brooder house. Wet the oats every day with warm water
and in from ten to fifteen days they will be a mass of roots and sprouts, making
a combination of green and grain feed that promotes egg-laying very successfully.
Feed the hens these oats and they will do the rest. The process of sprouting turns
the starch in the oats into a form of sugar which hens like and this is very easily
digested so the hens get the full benefit of the oats.

If one has a cellar a wide shelf may be made long enough to hold several

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA

45

INDIAN RUNNER DUCKS.

Indian Eunner ducks are making more friends all the time. From
the day they were introduced into this country down to the present time,
they have added to their reputation as the best laying fowls of any breed
ever introduced to the poultrymen of any country. They are not as large
as Pekinsor Kouens and are not recommended as a market duck, although
they produce very finely flavored and fine fibered flesh. It is as egg
machines that they are most highly esteemed. It is not uncommon for
an Indian Eunner duck to lay 200 eggs in a year and nearly every one
will lay from 150 to 180. They endure small yards better than any other
water fowl. They are small eaters, healthy, never troubled with insect
enemies, roup, or any of the diseases of other fowls. Standard weights,
drake 4% pounds, duck 4 pounds.

bushels of oats and a larger quantity may be sprouted at one time. Begin at
one end and as fast as a vacant place is made, put in fresh oats, and in this
way a constant supply may be kept on hand. Do not put the oats too deep on the
shelf or in a box as they are likely to rot if this is done. Three or four inches
is about right, but never more than six inches. Always stir and wet with warm
water and a good stirring is enough. One soon learns how much water to use.
It is not necessary to use enough so it will drip through the shelf, after the oats
are well wet.

A very good method for summer is to make a frame on the ground two feet
wide bv eight feet long. This may be made of 1x4 boards. Set the frame on
level ground and put two inches of oats all over the ground. Wet these and then
cover with two inches of soil. If the oats are soaked over night before being
put to sprout, they will come up quicker. When the sprouts show above the

46

HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

BLUE ANDALUSIANS.

One of the oldest of the Standard varieties and classes among the Medit-
erranean varieties, they derive their name from Andalusia, a province in
the southern part of Spain. They are a graceful bird and strikingly hand-
some, somewhat on the Leghorn order of build, but larger, yet smaller
than the Minorcas. The plumage is a slaty blue and bluish black through-
out, with shanks of the same shade. They are good layers, just a fair
table fowl, but a trifle small. Standard weights are as follows: Cock 6
pounds, cockerel 5 pounds, hen 5 pounds, pullet 4 pounds.

ground the oats are ready to feed. Sut them out in blocks with a spade and
throw oats and soil to the chickens. It will be found that a good many insects
have burrowed in the soil as it is damp and warm and these go to the fowls as
well as the sprouted oats.

Preserving Eggs.

It is a very easy matter to preserve eggs for eight months to a year. Usually
eight months is as long as eggs need to be preserved, and if they are kept by the
following method they will keep that long and be as good as new, good judges
having been fooled by thinking preserved eggs were fresh ones.

This secret has been sold for as high as ten dollars: Take a perfectly clean
vessel of some kind, so it is not made of metal. A keg or stone jar makes a good
container, but the keg, if a keg is used, should be perfectly clean and free from
odors or grease. Fill the container half full of a solution made by mixing ten
parts of water with one part of silicate of soda, commonly called water glass,
first having boiled the water and letting it get cool. Into this solution put the
eggs as they are gathered, being careful that every egg is perfectly fresh and that
the shell is not cracked. Put the eggs in the solution as they are gathered. If
they show a tendency to rise to the surface put a board cut to the proper shape
over the solution to hold the eggs beneath the surface. Keep the eggs in the cool-

FRANK TOY, DES MOINES, IOWA

47.

WHITE LANGSHANS.

White Langshans are sports from black variety. They are the exact
counterpart of the Black except that their plumage is pure white, and
their beaks a little lighter in color. Standard weights: Cock 10 pounds,
cockerel 8 pounds, hen 7 pounds, pullet 6 pounds.

est and dryest place you have and do not disturb them any more than is neces-
sary.

This solution cannot be used a second time. Eggs put down in this solution
in May will be found to be perfectly good the next December and they have
been kept until the following spring in perfect condition. When the eggs are to
be used take them out, wipe them dry at once and they cannot be told from
fresh eggs.

How to Fatten Fowls Quickly.

Shut the fowls in a pen where they will not have much room to move about.

Feed them all they will eat of a mixture of one part each of cornmeal, alfalfa

meal and wheat bran. Mix with hot water and allow to cool before feeding-
Here is another: 100 pounds of corn meal, 100 pounds of wheat middling

and 40 pounds of meat meal. Feed this for eight days and after this add 10

per cent of beef tallow.

Here is a fattening mixture for young fowls: One part each of corn meal,

ground oats and wheat middlings. To this add one-half part of linseed meal.
The last two mixtures should be mixed thin enough so they will just drop

off a wooden spoon or paddle.

Give all the corn they will eat once a day and feed the ground mixture

twice a day. These mixtures should fatten fowls or young stock in from

ten to fourteen days. Sell as soon as fully fattened as they lose their appetites

soon after and will not gain weight ofter losing a little.

48 HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

Sfc

SB*

<Q» V

ffgB

CORNISH INDIAN GAMES.

This is one of the most popular varieties. It is a good general purpose
fowl, having the qualities of the market fowl, i. e. compactness, yellow
legs, heavy weight, from which there is but little waste in dressing, and
being a quick grower, they produce a fine broiler in a short time, because
they have short feathers, the nutriment required to put feathers on other
breeds going to flesh, which is more juicy and tender in this breed than
in a young turkey. Their breasts are very full. The Indian Game hens
are good sitters and mothers, and the young chicks are very hardy. In
color, the fowls are quite pretty, the bright brown shafts and glossy green
lacing making a beautiful contrast. Standard weights are as follows:
Cocks 9 pounds, cockerel 7% pounds, hens 6% pounds, pullets 5% pounds.

How to Make Pullets Lay Early.
After the pullets are six weeks old feed them five parts wheat and four
parts of cracked corn in the morning, giving them all they will eat. Keep
in a slatted trough a dry mash made as follows: 45 pounds of corn meal; 10
pounds ground kaffir corn; 10 pounds ground oats; 4 pounds meat meal or
beef scrap; 1 pound grit and granulated bone. Keep this dry mash before
them all the time. Give them a good range to run over and they will be laying
at five months of age.

How to Select Good Layers.

The good laying hen always has a bright red comb and face. She is out
early in the morning and goes to bed later than the poor layers. She is bright
and active and always ready to get into mischief at the first chance because she
is full of life and activity.

A good layer often waddles when she walks something like a duck. This
is because she is wide and deep behind.

A good laying hen is usually a fat one, but she is not soft to the feel of
the hand. Pick up a good layer and she will be found heavy for her appear-
ance and her flesh will be firm and hard.

The hen of medium size for her breed will usually lay more than the very

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA

49

WHITE FACED BLACK SPANISH.

. ,pv^l'*-

The White Faced Black Spanish fowls belong to the Mediterranean
•class. They are a non-setting breed, and are as hardy as the Asiatics.
The Spanish are much larger than Leghorns, being as heavy as Wyandottes.
As layers they are not surpassed by the Leghorns. They lay a large, white
egg, and lots of them. Their plumage is a rich, glossy black throughout.
Their combs and wattles are red, and their white faces and lobes peculiar
to the breed contrast with their black plumage. Chicks grow very fast,
maturing at an early age. Their meat is fine grained, tender and sweet.
Standard weights are as follows: Cock 8 pounds, cockerel 6% pounds, hen
6% pounds, pullet 5% pounds.

heavy or light hen.

They have a saying in the old country that if the cockerel that crows
first is mated to the pullet that lays first the pullets from this mating will be
good layers.

Here is a method of telling good layers which comes from Australia: At
the rear oi the body of a hen just below the vent two bones can be felt. These
are the lower points of the shell bone that arches over the back, corresponding
to the hip formation in human beings. If these bones are close together the
hen is a poor layer and the wider they are apart the better the hen will lay.
If three fingers will lie between the space between these bones the hen is an
excellent layer. This secret has been sold in this country for as much as ten
dollars.

Here is a method of telling a good layer without touching her. It is the
method followed by an English poultryman who made a large fortune in the
poultry business:

On each side of the comb of a hen there will be seen short feathers which
cover the top of the head. If these feathers stand straight up, or are inclined
to turn forward the hen will be a good layer. The more they incline to turn
the points forward the better the hen. If these feathers lie smoothly pointing
backward the hen is not a good layer.

Grundy's Famous 8-Cents-a-Bushel Feed.

This way of making feed cheaply has been exploited by a Mr. Grundy,
but it is not original with him as an eastern poultryman told him to make it

50 HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

years ago. Cut alfalfa or clover hay into quarter-inch lengths. Fill an eight-
gallon tub with this cut hay and in the evening pour over it two gallons of
boiling water stiring it well. Cover the tub with a blanket or piece of carpet
and let stand until morning. In the morning add to the steamed hay one
quart of wheat bran and two quarts each of wheat middlings and corn meal,
mixing the whole thoroughly.

Mr Grundy claims that he has increased the weight of fowls from two to
three pounds in from ten to fifteen days on this very cheap feed.

An Egg Feeding Mixture

Take of any ground-grain commercial poultry feed, 4 measures; gluten feed,
3 measures; wheat bran, 1 measure; alfalfa or clover meal, 1 measure, and meat
meal, 1 measure. Mix thoroughly and keep before the hens in a slatted trough,
all the time. For grain feed give in litter in the morning one quart of yellow
corn for each 25 hens, and at noon one pint of good wheat and one pint of oats
for each 25 hens. Keep water, grit, oyster shells and charcoal where the hens
can get them at any time and feed green feed every day if the hens are kept
yarded. This is for commercial laying hens. It is too stimulating for hens the
eggs of which are to be used for breeding purposes.

Chapter X

REARING TURKEYS.

Turkey raising is very profitable and where one has a large free range for
them they are the best money-makers of all our poultry, but no one should try
to keep turkeys on a small range. They are naturally wild and want to range
far and if they cannot do this they will not do well.

There are several good varieties of turkeys, but the principal ones are the
Bronze and White. These two are the favorites almost everywhere, although the
Bourbon Red turkey is a good variety.

One torn turkey will serve a dozen hens. It takes only one service to fer-
tilize a whole laying of turkey eggs, and some claim that one service will fertilize
all the eggs a hen will lay in a season.

The turkey hen likes to steal away and hide her nest in some secluded spot.
If barrels are laid on their sides in fence corners or under bushes where they are
not easily seen, with some hay in them and some bushes carelessly thrown over
them, the turkey hen will usually select one for her nest. Care must be taken
not to disturb her when on the nest and the eggs must be removed carefully oi
she will desert her nest. A good many put imitation eggs in the nest for each
one they take out. Others leave the eggs in the nest until enough are laid to
put under a common hen, while others leave but one egg in the nest, taking one
out each day.

A good Bronze hen will lay 3 to 5 dozen eggs in a season. She will lay one
clutch or laying, and then want to sit, but is easily broken up by destroying her
nest. She will soon begin laying again and is once more broken up. By the time
she has finished the third laying the weather will have become warm and the
turkey hen may be allowed to sit and hatch her last laying.

It is best to hatch the earlier layings under common hens, as they are more
domestic and more careful mothers than turkey hens.

When the young turkeys are hatched, put them in a brood coop that has a
dry floor and give them a little yard to run in. This may be 4x8 feet in size,
and there should be fresh green grass in it. Move this yard every day to fresh
grass.

Give water from the first and for the first week feed the young turkeys on
curd made by scalding curdled milk or from buttermilk, squeezing this dry and
adding a very little cayenne pepper. If onion tops are to be had, or whole young-
onions, chop these fine and mix with the curd. After the first week gradually
begin feeding a little cracked grain or a cake made by mixing half and half corn
meal and wheat middlings with sour milk and soda and baking in a slow oven.
This cake is made the same as the old-fashioned "johnnycake" and if an egg
is added in mixing it, it will be better.

Keep the young turkeys confined for about three weeks. After this turn

HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY 51

them out with the hen mother after the dew is off, if there is no prospect of rain,
and let them follow their mother and begin to learn to hunt for bugs and worms,
their natural feed.

Gradually they will learn to wander farther, but they must not be allowed
to get wet or they will almost surely die.

As they grow larger the soft feed may be discontinued and cracked wheat
and corn given to them.

Keep them well under control until they begin to shoot the red after which
they will endure without harm any kind of weather and may be allowed to roam
at will. By shooting the red is meant the time when they begin to show the red,
warty growths along the neck (caruculations).

Turkeys should always be fed once a day, at evening, to keep them in the
habit of coming home at night. If this is not done they will get the habit of
sleeping wherever night finds them, wandering farther and farther away until
they live entirely in the fields and become half wild.

Turkeys almost raise themselves after they get started and are the best in-
sect killers we have, they wander over the fields, doing but little damage, al-
though a great many people think they are worse than a cyclone in a grain
field. The truth is that they do not care for grain if they can get grasshoppers
and other insects and eat but little of it until after frost comes and insect food
becomes scarce.

It does not cost any more to raise a pound of turkey than it does a pound of
pork and the price is always from three to four times higher.

In buying turkeys to begin breeding, take great care to get a male which is
not related to the females, for they do not stand in-breeding and many flocks
are now so closely in-bred that they have lost constitutional vigor.

I might write a book about turkey breeding and not give any more real in-
formation than is contained in this chapter. If these directions are followed
success will come to the breeder.

Chapter XI

BREEDING DUCKS.

Ducks are very profitable and a good many people in this country have made
comfortable fortunes by breeding them for market. All the large cities use
thousands of young ducks every season and on Long Island and in the state?
of New York and Massachusetts may be found many large duck farms. •

Ducks are very easy to breed as the young are very hardy and the old one?
never have such diseases as roup or other parasitic diseases.

Lice never trouble ducks and they live and grow rapidly on coarse and
cheap foods.

While several breeds of ducks are recognized in this country it will not be
necessary for me to give particular mention to more than two breeds. For mar-
ket purposes the Pekin Duck is recognized as being the best, while for eggs, the
Indian Runner duck is making fame rapidly.

On the large duck farms incubators are used exclusively in hatching ducks.
Ducks' eggs seem to hatch in an incubator easier than any other kind, and when
a young duck is once out of the shell it may be counted on as likely to grow to
market size without a single mishap.

On farms chicken hens are mostly used to hatch ducks, although ducks are
good sitters and good mothers. The trouble with mother ducks is that they like
to wander off and find water, while a chicken hen will stay around close to
home.

On the large duck farms ducks are fed special mixtures, but the ordinary
farmer's flock will get along nicely on the kind of feed little chicks are given
with this exception, that ducks like wet feed and do best when fed mashes made
of corn meal, wheat middlings and beef scap. A good mixture is one part of
corn meal, two parts of wheat middlings with from one twentieth as to one-
eighth as much meat meal as there is of the other two ingredients of the mash.
These should be mixed into a stiff dough and fed to the ducks. Ducks also thrive
on tender green stuff and it will pay the duck raiser to plant a piece of lettuce
on purpose for the ducks. This is easily grown and young ducks will almost
live on it.

52

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA

MOTTLED JAVAS.

The Mottled Javas are the result of a cross of the Blacks with a large
white hen, so the records say, but they neglect to state the breed to
which the hen belonged, but rather imply that she was not a thoroughbred
at all. The mottled variety is the same general characteristics as the Black
variety, differing only in color, which is a mottled black and white. Stan-
dard weights are as follows: Cock 9% pounds, cockerel 8 pounds, hen 7%
pounds, pullet 6% pounds.

Ducks do not need water except to drink, and this should always be supplied
while they are eating, as they like to eat a few bites and then take a swallow
of water.

Give them a big pan of water and set this on a platform two or three inches
high, so they must get on the platform to get a drink. They will get into the
water if they can, and foul it in a short time, therefore, it is better to have some
sort of a slatted cover for the water vessel so they can get a drink without get-
ting into the water.

Ducks are voracious eaters and should be kept full all the time, as they
grow in proportion to their appetites. A Pekin duck will make five pounds in
ten weeks and is then ready to sell in the market.

Pekin ducks are also profitable as egg layers, although they do not lay quite
as well.

Ducks may be fed whole grain if desired. A good plan is to have a trough
of good size with slats over the top, and throw their grain into water in this
trough. They delight in fishing it out and they get more good from it in this
way.

Indian Eunner ducks are the best laying fowls we have. It is not uncom-
mon for them to lay 200 eggs in a year, and they keep right on laying for two
or three years after- they begin. I have known Indian Eunner ducks to begin
laying at five months old and keep on laying right through the winter. Indian
Eunners are too small for market ducks, but their flesh is considered very good.
They weigh from 3% to 4% pounds at full size. They do not make as much
noise as other ducks. They do not waddle like other ducks, but run swiftly, and
a flock of them holding their heads high and running along in perfect time,

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA 53

wheeling and going in the opposite direction, with the precision of a troop of
soldiers, is worth seeing.

The color of the Indian Runner and Pekin duck eggs are generally whit6,
yet a great many of the very best specimens lay a greenish colored egg. This
does not indicate impure stock.

The Indian Runner is becoming very popular and promises to maintain its
position if it is not spoiled in trying to breed to fancy color points.

The breeding of ducks would no doubt be as profitable in the West as it is
in the East, but no one seems to take the work up. Now that Indian Runner
ducks are becoming recognized as the very best layers among all our fowls, I
look for a great increase in the interest in duck breeding and believe that any
one who makes a start soon will find a demand for all his surplus for breeding
purposes for a long time to come.

Chapter XII

BREEDING GEESE.

The breeding of geese is not followed as a regular business anywhere in this
country It is not even followed as a specialty except in a few very small dis'r
tricts where geese are given special attention for certain demands of the market.

There are two kinds of geese which are kept especially for market purposes
in this country. The Toulouse, a gray breed with white markings, and the Emb-
den, a pure white breed. Both these breeds make very heavy weights and bring
the highest market prices. Toulouse geese fattened by special feeding to become
weighted down with fat frequently sell in eastern markets as high as twenty to
twenty-five cents a pound. These very heavy geese are bought by Hebrew fam-
ilies, who use the fat in the place of lard as their religion forbids them to use
lard as food. Geese are usually hatched by chicken hens, a hen being able to
cover about five eggs. The eggs hatch in thirty days and the goslings must be
carefully wTatched for a few days, as they are rather tender.

They are fed much in the same manner as young turkej's at first, but soon
learn to pick grass and then they begin to need less coddling as they are natural
grazers and when once fairly started they need no other feed but good pasture
until the time to begin feeding them grain and ground feed to fit them for
market.

On many farms geese might be kept with great profit as they could be pas-
tured on wet or marshy fields and turn such places to good use. They need a
plentiful supply of water to drink and if they can have a small pond to swim in
they will thrive better as they will be certain of a plentiful supply of drinking
water.

Those who breed a number of geese usually feed them a little grain during
the whole summer after they are hatched, just to keep them accustomed to a
grain ration and to keep them tame, but they must have good pasture if they
are to make large size and strong frames on which to lay a heavy weight of fat
when they are ready to pen up and feed for market.

At one time the turkey was the distinctive Thanksgiving bird, but lately
the goose is taking the place of the turkey to some extent, and for the Christ-
mas trade the goose is the recognized bird of the season.

No one need be afraid of losing money on geese. They are more profitable
than hogs, and are not subject to diseases of any kind, which cannot be said of
turkeys.

Geese can be raised cheaper than any other kind of poultry and cheaper than
pork or beef. They are always in demand at good prices and the demand is in-
creasing. Our foreign immigrants are teaching Americans that the goose is a
fine table fowl and since wild geese have become scarce the tame goose is coming
more and more into favor.

When geese are ready to be fitted for market they should be put into a small
lot where they can have all the water they will drink. They may be fed on corn,
buckwheat and oats. Often they are fed on corn alone, as this is very fattening
and the geese have large frames and plump muscles when they come off the pas-
ture so the only thing needed is to put on the fat.

In a few sections a special cooked feed is given the geese that are being

54 HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

fattened, this being made into ballls and put down their throats until no more
can be forced down, but this requires special training and a description of the
process would not do any good in this place.

The goose is not to be despised when considering profitable poultry, and
there is room enough in this country for a great many more than are now kept.

Chapter XIII

COMMON DISEASES OF POULTRY.

Blackhead in Turkeys. — This disease is commonly located in the liver. It
often causes the head to turn a dark purple, hence its common name, but this
symptom does not always appear. If turkeys begin to droop and die, one that
has died should be cut open and the liver examined. If ring-like sores are found
on the liver the disease is blackhead. There is no cure for this disease, and
where it appears in a poultry yard, turkeys should be disposed of and none kept
for several years. Chickens and other poultry rarely have blackhead, although
they occasionally do.

White Diarrhoea in Chicks.— This' dreaded disease has been spreading for
several years, and has so far defied treatment. In another place in this book,
(Chapter VII) a system of disinfecting incubators, eggs and brooders, which has
proved useful in warding off the disease, which is caused by germs which attack
the chick at the time it is hatched and increase until they destroy life in from
ten days to four weeks, is given.

Bumble Foot. — This is really a stone bruise caused by jumping from a fence
or other high place onto some hard object. The bottom of the foot is bruised
and swells, pus forming under the sole. The remedy is to watch the swelling until
it is ready to open and then open with a sharp knife, wash with warm soap suds
and bathe with peroxide of hydrogen. Keep on a well littered floor and anoint
with carbolized vaseline until the wound heals.

Chicken Pox or Sorehead. — This is caused by germs and is very contagious.
It may be carried from one yard to another by stray dogs or by being carried on
the boots of visiting poultrymen who have been in yards where the diseease pre-
vails, and it would seem that it is sometimes carried in the air. The treatment
is to thoroughly disinfect the house and yards with cresol. Wash the heads of
the sick fowls with warm soap suds and then bathe with a mixture of peroxide
of hydrogen and water, half and half. After this anoint the head with carbolied
vaseline. It is best to separate the sick from the well fowls and take from among
the well ones every fowl which begins to show signs of the disease.

G-apes. — This disease is caused by worms in the throat. The worms are
hatched in the ground and chicks pick them up when they make their way into
the windpipe and attach themselves to the lining. When they become numer-
.ous enough to obstruct the breathing they cause gapes.

The disease persists year after year when it once appears. If chicks are not
allowed to run out until the grass is dry in the morning or after rains the gape
worms will never trouble them. The worms crawl up on grass blades at night and
during rains and return to cover under ground as soon as the grass becomes dry,
and the chicks do not get them. The worms may be removed by stripping a quill
feather until only a little brush is left at the end, and running it down the wind-
pipe with a twisting motion. This entangles the worms in the feather and they
are drawn out. Shutting the afflicted birds in a small space and sifting slacked
lime over them until they cough often dislodges the worms.

Liver complaint — This disease is becoming more common. It is shown by
the dark color of the comb and frequently by lameness and greenish droppings.
Jn its first stages it may be relieved by giving the fowl a liver pill every other
day for a week. After it becomes chronic, it is incurable.

Limberneck. — In this disease the sick fowl cannot hold its head off the ground.
It is caused by eating decaying animal matter. Dead animals and fowls, even
■dead rats and mice, should always be buried deeply or burned so fowls cannot
get at them to eat them. This disease sometimes can be cured by giving the
sick fowl three or four drops of turpentine in a spoonful of sugar, but more often
the bird dies.

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA 55

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR OPERATING INCUBATORS AND

BROODERS.

Any of the standard makes of incubators will be found to outdo sitting-
hens in every way. The advantage of using incubators instead of hens is that
they never break-up, you can set them at any time you please and a 200-egg
machine will hatch out at one time as many chicks as you could get from fifteen
or more hens.

'lhe makers of incubators have the art of incubation down so fine that
any one running one of the standard makes of today, according to the manufac-
turer s directions, cannot help but get even better results than it would be
possible to get from hens with the same eggs. Be sure to get strongly fertilized
eggs from good>, hardy, vigorous, thorough ored stock.

It might not be out oi place here tor me to give the reader of this book
a few pointers from my experience, which they may profit by. Any well ventilated
room where the temperature can be kept even is the proper place to operate
an incubator. In this respect, there is nothing that can equal a good cellar.
In such a place, a machine with a regulator worth the name can keep the
temperature of the egg chamber just what it should be through the liatch.
Don't expect a machine to hatch chicks from any old thing in the shape of
eggs. Be sure of the vigor of your breeding stock. No machine on earth can
incubate a strong chick from a weak germ. Too much care cannot be taken
in selecting a good grade of highest oil to use in the lamp if you want it to
do its best.

If you are operating a hot water machine, fill the tank full then draw
off about one quart, if you fill with cold water, but if you fill with hot water
you do not need to draw any off. When water is heated it expands. At the
end of every hatch add a pint or a quart of water as the case may require to
compensate for evaporation during hatch.

Set the machine level and run it two or three days before putting in eggs,
or at least until you thoroughly understand it and can keep the temperature
about right for 2-4 hours; place the thermometer about six inches from the
door in the end next to the lamp with bulb of thermometer about one and
a fourth inches from the bottom of tray as that is about the distance eggs
will be when in the machine. It sometimes happens that the heat is higher in
one end of the incubator than the other end, can easily be overcome by
slightly elevating the cold end, raising the cold end one-half inch will make
one or two degrees difference in the temperature. Move the thermometer from
one end to the other when testing for an even distribltion of heat before you
put in the eggs to see that the temperature is right all over the machine then
it will give you no more trouble.

The proper position of the thermometer is lying between two fertile eggs
with the top of the bulb about on a level with the top of the eggs. It does
not differ materially whether the eggs are fertile or not until after the tenth
day of incubation. Every one-fourth inch nearer the tank you get makes a
little more than one degree difference in heat.

Proper Temperature.

The proper temperature for all kinds of eggs is about 102 the first week
and 103 the last two weeks. Any variation of temperature from 90 degrees
to 106 for a short time will not spoil a hatch. I never like to have the heat get
above 103 the first week and the last eight or ten days of incubation if the tem-
perature should run up to 105 occasionally do not be alarmed. But try to keep
the heat as near 102 and 103 as you can. While hatching the temperature
often runs up to 104 and 105, which will do no harm providing the bulb of the
thermometer rests on a live egg, otherwise the temperature of live eggs would
be two or three degrees warmer than the thermometer indicates.

Putting in the Eggs.

Always run your machine two or three days before putting in the eggs or
until you thoroughly understand the regulator and can keep the temperature
about right for twenty-four hours. After you have made one or two hatches
this is not necessary. Then just run long enough until you can adjust the
regulator to 103 degrees. One of the most important points is to get good eggs.

3G HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

The fresher an egg is the better it will hatch. Eggs two weeks old will
hatch fairly well, but not as good as eggs a week old. I do not like to set eggs
over a week or ten days old. We never send out eggs over a week old and
generally speaking, they are not over two days old. Put all of the eggs in
the machine at one time. Eggs cannot be added at different times, as the
animal heat would be different. It is not necessary to put in all the eggs
that the incubator will hold at one time. If you wish to put in only 100
or less in a 200-egg machine you cannot add more eggs until that hatch is
completed. Turn the eggs twice a day, beginning on the morning of the
second day. After your incubator is regulated and ready for the eggs and you
put the eggs in, the thermometer will fall so low you cannot read the temperature.
It will take four to eight hours for the temperature to get back to 102
degrees. Now do not adjust the regulator to get heat up quickly. The eggs
must be warmed up very gradual and if the heat does not get up to 102
degrees in twenty-four hours just adjust the regulator slightly by loosening
the adjusting screw so the cap over the heat flue will drop down over it,
then usually the temperature will raise one or two degrees before „the cap
of the heat flue will again rise.

What is a Good Hatch?
Some people think all eggs will hatch. This is a mistake. Usually about
75 per cent of the fertile eggs will hatch, sometimes many more. Other
times a great many eggs will show fertile the first test but the germs are
so weak from some cause that they will die at all stages of incubation.
About 75 per cent of the fertile, eggs is the average hatch. Sometimes we do
not get so many and other times many more. Now this is the case, no matter
what kind of an incubator you use or whether you set eggs under hens or in
an incubator. As a usual thing from ten to fifteen per cent of the eggs prove
infertile. This varies according to the season of the year and conditions of the
hens that lay the eggs.

Where Shall I Set My Incubator?

No doubt the best location for an incubator is in a good cellar or basement.
The temperature is much more even in a place of this kind and your incu-
bator does not require nearly so much attention, although good work can be
done in most any location, but I would prefer a room on the north side of the
house or where the changes in temperature is not too great. The trouble in
operating incubators in warm weather above ground is the outside heat being
too near the hatching point. The regulator will be of little use where the
as after the first ten days the eggs generate a great deal of heat. Sometimes
there is no danger of eggs over heating in warm weather with the lamp turned
outside temperature is 85 or 90 degrees when the machine is full of live eggs.
as low as it will burn, or without any lamp flame for that matter. In cases of
this kind, the incubator will have to be opened frequently and the eggs aired so
as to keep the heat down. If you are operating your machine in a basement
or cellar you do not have any of this trouble. See that you have fairly good
ventilation. Dampness cuts no figure. The incubator will hatch just as well
if there is a running stream of water under it, if the air is good in the room.

Care of the Lamp.
Fill your lamp once a day. If your incubator is running in a cool place
and takes nearly a full flame it might be well to look after the lamp twice a
day, although this is seldom necessary. Clean your burner every day with a
tooth brush. When putting your lamp back on the bracket be sure the lamp
burner is properly closed so the lamp will not smoke nor the flame flicker. When-
ever the flame flickers, that shows that something is wrong. Never turn on a
full flame and go off and leave your lamp. The burner will become very hot
and draw more oil and in a good many cases the flame will burn too high and
cause it to smoke. After lighting a lamp when it is cool, always bear in
mind that the blaze will burn much higher after it becomes warm. Use the
best kerosene you can get. Do not use poor oil under any circumstances.

Turning and Cooling the Eggs.
After trying three or four dozen devices for turning eggs and all kinds

HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY 57

of patent egg trays, I have coine to the conclusion that the plain wire trays
are the best. It is necessary to take the eggs out of the machine to cool them
and turning should be done at the same time. To turn the eggs remove about
two rows ±rom one end of the trays (after you test out you have room with-
out taking any out) and lay them on something convenient, then take your
hand and roll the rest of the eggs to that end. Now it is not necessary to mark
the eggs to see if they are all turned. That is all bosh. Just roll them around
every time take them out. You cool them twice a day, in fact it does not
harm them to stir them up four or five times a day. Hens are rolling their eggs
around every little while, but they do not pay any particular attention to turn-
ing them over every time, just shifting them in the nest. After turning, change
places of your trays. The one nearest the lamp put in end farthest from the
lamp, also change end for end should there be any difference in the heat
of the egg chamber. This will overcome it to a large extent. No set rules
can be laid down as to the length of time to cool eggs. I usually leave
the thermometer on the eggs with the bulb laying between two eggs. When
the temperature goes down to 85 or 90 degrees 1 put the eggs back in the
machine. If you are operating in a cool place the temperature will go down
very quickly, but take plenty of time to turn your eggs. After turning eggs,
sometimes the heat will rise and the regulator will blow off or, what I mean
by that, the cap will raise from the heat flue before the temperature gets
back to where it was before you turned the eggs. This is caused by the
air in the incubator being warmer than the eggs. Eggs will soon warm
up to the temperature of the air. If they should not in two or three hours,
sometimes it is necessary to loosen the adjusting screw just a trifle and let
the little cap down on the heat flue. This is never necessary unless you
are operating incubators in a cool place. After chickens begin to hatch they
will come toward the light, and fall to the nursery below. Leave them ber*1
until the hatch is over, but if they. should seem too crowded and want to get
out, take a few of the strongest ones out, but not over a dozen or two at a time,
as when you remove chicks from the nursery the temperature of the machine
is lowered, therefore you will have to turn on a trifle more heat. It does no
harm to open the door once and a while when chicks are hatching, but do not
leave it open until the chicks become chilled. Use judgment in cases of
this kind.

What You Should Do in Case of an Accident.

It sometimes happens that the incubator tank wall leak when you have a
hatch in. Sometimes it will leak badly. After it leaks so the water will
drop down it will make too much moisture and should be fixed. Now if your
incubator is filled with eggs and your tank should leak from some unknown
cause, which is very seldom, do not imagine your hatch is ruined. Re-
move the top of the incubator by taking out the screwrs and then remove the
tank from the incubator. If you cannot do the soldering yourself take it to
your nearest tincer. Cover the eggs up with a warm blanket. If operating
the incubator in a very cool place put the eggs in some warm place in the
house and cover with something warm. In my time I have had all kinds of
experience with tanks that would leak and everything else. One incuabtor
in a hundred might start to leaking. I just merely mentioned this so you
wouid know what to do in case of an accident. I have had eggs out of a ma-
chine all day covered up and it did not seem to injure the hatch a particular.
When you fill the tank fill it with hot soft water. At the end of every hatch
you wTill probably want to add a pint of water to take the place of what evap-
orates.

Moisture and Ventilating.

I believe more chickens have died from putting moisture in the incuabtor
than have been helped out of the shell by it, therefore I have settled the mois-
ture question by leaving it out altogether and the results have been better
than when moisture was used. For a number of years we never used but little
moisture at the end of the hatch and that was not necessary. More ventilation
is needed during warm weather than early in the spring.

-After trying all kinds of ventilation schemes for years I have found out
that just a two-inch hole in the top of the incubator with no other ventilation
is the very best ventilation that you can get. Some will tell you that this
is no ventilation at all, but it is just the same and from hundreds of experi-

58 FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA

raents I have settled on this mode of ventilation as being the best. Facts are
what count. Theories amount to nothing. s

In the spring time run the ventilators about one-third open the first week,
the second week one-half open and the third week a little more than one-half
unless the air cells seem to be getting larger on an average than the appear
to be in the illustration. A general average has to be struck.

General Instructions.
If the machine is full of live eggs the last ten days of incubation the heat
will have a tendency to run up, caused by the animal heat in the eggs; at
such times the regulator will have to be adjusted a little every two or three
days on any machine. In addition to cooling the eggs twice a day, I have had
best results by opening the machine, pulling the trays out a little, and letting
eggs cool down three or four degrees. In winter and early spring time they do
not need so much cooling as in warm weather. In hatching eggs artificially we
are imitating nature, and we should study nature's methods very closely;
many a time I have watched old biddy and saw her standing up on the nest
seven or eight days before the hatch was due. At that time the animal heat in
the egg is very strong and the eggs have a tendency to overheat themselves,
especially in warm weather; by natural instinct the hen knows when they need
cooling.

Hints on Ventilation. — It is a fact well known to experienced operators that
the greater the difference in the outside and inside temperature, the more air
will pass through. As the air on the inside of the machine becomes hot, it will
rise, expand, and be forced through the ventilator, while the cold air will rush
in. Naure will not allow a vacuum; when the outside temperature is high, thus
nearer the temperature inside, less artificial heat is needed, therefore the inside
expansion will be decreased, and the rush of air through the ventilator lessened;
' therefore give more ventilation during warm weather than cold.

Testing Eggs.
Eggs should be tested on the tenth two fertile eggs after the tenth day,
day and again on the fifteenth. The as au infertile egg will show two or

.,, , , n i n i three degrees less heat than a live one.

germ will then appear as a small black Q . ° , . ... .

° 1 1 borne incubator manufacturers say to

spot with veins radiating in all direc- test on the fourtk 0r fifth day, but it

tions. On the tenth day addled eggs takes an expert to test then and it does

will look cloudy, detached black spots no harm to let them go until the tenth

floating in the egg without any veins day. On the tenth day the experienced

attached. As stated previously, the operator can tell at a glance whether

thermometer should be placed between they are fertile or not.

Brooder Directions.

Now the place to operate your brooder would be in a small colony house or
any out-building. We would much prefer to operate them there than out of
doors, especially when the chickens are very young. About ten or twelve
hours before you intend to remove the chicks from the incubator, I would start
the lamp on the brooder. Burn a small blaze and be very careful and do not
turn the lamjj too high, for when the burner gets warm it will burn too high
and become dangerous. Do not stop up the space between the door of the
lamp box and floor. This space is left to give the lamp air. It must have
plenty of fresh air or it will smoke. The proper temperature for the brooder is
about 85 or 90 degrees when the chicks are young, but as they grow older
decrease the temperature. When they are too warm they will open their mouths
and pant. If too cold they will huddle up to the lamp. Give them plenty of
ventilation. This can be done most effectively by raising the door slightly
and putting something under it. Dry chaff is an excellent thing to use in the
bottom of the brooder.

Now, in conclusion will say, be careful and do not turn your lamp up too
high, either in the incubator or brooder and always remember when you light
a cold lamp the blaze will burn much higher when it warms up.

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA

59

BROILER RAISING ON A TOWN LOT.

On a town lot of one quarter of an acre there is nothing that could possibly
bring the same returns as a 100-foot brooder house. Such a house would ac-
commodate 1,000 chicks and the one-quarter acre of ground would give an
abundance of ground for the chicks to get fresh air, exercise and a plenty of
green food, such a plant should prove an excellent investment.

The care .of the thousand broilers would not take more than half of a
person 's time, and the returns from the business would net much more than a
comfortable living. Just figure out for yourself the fine returns that are
assured from such an investment as this and if you know of anything that
will prove a better way of investing a little money I would consider it a great
favor if you would let me know of it.

A MODERN POULTRY FARM BUILT ON THE COLONY PLAN.
Egg Farming on the Colony Plan is Most Successful in Mild Climates.

Where the item of labor is concerned or where a person's time for caring
for poultry is limited, the production of eggs as a specialty presents many
attractions. Hens are well capable to look after themselves and can get along
nicely with but little care on the part of their owner. When given free
range they forage for themselves and the only work necessary in caring for
them is to throw out a little feed once or twice a day and clean up the house
once in a while and the birds will keep in good health and shell out eggs in
abundance. Where birds are confined in close quarters it is of the utmost im-
portance to spend much more time in caring for them and keeping their
houses and yards scrupulously clean. A little neglect, that seemed at the
time to be but of small consequence, where the so-called intensive poultry
farming is carried on has often meant the loss of the best of the flock.

Where any one lives in a mild climate, and has lots of room and no
near neighbors, I can recommend the colony plan. Its advantages being a great
saving in feed and care, healthier stock and a much larger number of fertile
eggs from said stock. The idea of keeping hens on the colony plan originated
in Rhode Island and has been copied extensively in California with marked
success ,and there is no reason why it should not be more generally practiced
in every part of our country. In northern states where heavy snow falls are
a regular thing through the winter the plan would be hardly practical the
vear round. Rhode Island is known as a northern state but being on the coast

60 HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

the climate is much more temperate than either western New York or western
Massachusetts. In fact there is something about the air along the coast that
seems to melt the snow about as fast as it tails. But to get back to the
colony plan of keeping hens, to be more explicit, the birds are housed in small
cheaphouses rarely over 100 square feet in the floor space. In a mild climate
no floor would be necessary in these houses. Eoosts, dropping boards, nests,
water cans, grit and shell boxes and all other necessary appliances should be
well kept off the ground so as to give the birds full floor space. It is an
excellent plan to build their houses on two timbers for runners and then it
is possible to move them to a new location at any time. They can be built
similar to illustrations. Twenty to thirty hens can be kept in one of these
houses according to whether they must be confined or not, the larger number
would be all right as long as the climate allowed them to get out of doors
every day in the year. When practiced on an extensive scale these houses are
placed about fifty yards apart all over the farm. Feed and water being dis-
tributed from house to house twice a day from a wagon. In Rhode Island the
colony poultry farmers call these wagons "dough carts," dough being their
name for mash which with them generally constitutes one of the two feeds
given daily. On these Rhode Island colony poultry farms one will often find a
thousand or more hens on the same place in small flocks of not over thirty
to a house. One who has not seen one of these colony poultry farms in
operation, at first thought may think it extremely improbable for hens to
keep to their own houses without being yarded ,but it is a fact that with
very few exceptions the birds will return to their own house at night no matter
how far they may have wandered away during the day. To get them to
know their own house it is only necessary to put a small temporary yard
in front of a house when pullets are housed in the fall. By confining the
birds to this yard for about two weeks they learn the location of their own
house, and when given their liberty they will always return to it. If we
would but take notice we would find this housing instinct in all wild animals;
they each have their own particular place to go when seeking rest.

POULTRY POINTERS.

The natural food of the hen is grain, seeds, insects, bugs and green stuff,
a pretty well balanced ration. If this kind of food is not supplied little
success in egg-production will be obtained. When poultry is confined to small
yards and cannot get nature 's food, it must be supplied in the shape of animal
meal, green cut bone, beef scraps or lean meat. Unless supplied with such
food, the eggs will be small and poorly fertilized, nothing like eggs from good
healthy hens that have free range.

The idea that nature will suply both food and shelter must be banished be-
fore the hen can be made profitable. Houses must be built, food must be
given and water and grit must be supplied.

Men established different enterprises, spend thousands of dollars for stock,
hundreds of dollars for advertising and feel rejoiced if at the end of the first
year they come out even, and if in the second year they make interest on their
investment they are satisfied. Yet let these same men buy land and start a
poultry farm, and if they do not realize an enormous interest at once they
grow tired and give up in despair.

A great many people will not stick long enough to one breed to know best
how to bring out its good qualities. Or they are dividing up among so many
breeds that they do not succeed with any and finally either conclude all they
have are no good or that the whole chicken business is a failure, anyhow.

The pleasures of poultry keeping, the profits of the business, and the health
of the stock, depend more upon the cleanliness of the premises than any
other one thing. The practice of having the roosting-poles over the nests in the
alley, having dropping boards to collect the offal, and infrequent cleanings,
make the owner ashamed to take guests to the poultry houses, and the odor
drives them away if they do go. Looking over ill smelling roosts disgusts the
visitor, and he sees no beauty in the flock.

FRANK FOY, DES MOINES, IOWA 61

This is a good time to start your son or daughter in the poultry business.
Let them care for the flock, market the produce and have the returns for their
own spending. If they cannot get enough out of the flock to pay for their
keep you inquire into the management and suggest the remedy, for poultry
will pay if managed rightly.

One of the advantages in poultry production is that returns come quickly.
With the exception of strawberries, there is practically no line of small fruits
on which you can begin to realize inside of three years; a milch cow does not
approach her full power of production short of three and a half years; apple
trees do not begin to bear freely short of seven or eight years. How is it
with the hen? Three weeks from the setting of the hen you have a batch
of chickens; from four to four and a half months from hatching the cockerels
are ready for the market, and in five to five and a half months the pullets
will begin to lay.

Beginners often get discouraged, in competing with their neighbors for
eggs, because they forget to take into consideration the respective breeds
grown by themselves and their neighbors. Perhaps the neighbor raises the
Leghorn, Black Spanish or other small breed, noted for its egg producing
qualities, while the beginner has purchased a heavier breed, not specially
noted for eggs. These heavier breeds are grown for other qualities as well as
for the number of eggs. In comparing the different breeds you might just as
well compare a draft horse with a trotter, and expect the work horse to travel
as fast as the race horse.

Don't open the incubator to give the hatching chicks air because they seem
to be gasping- for breath. They are simply unaccustomed to breathing the free air
and just after coming out of the shell they are very much like a fish out of
water, and gasp for a little while. This fills their lungs and makes them strong.

On most farms, the receipts from poultry products are clear gain; but there
are plenty of farmers throughout the northwest who can well afford to make
poultry raising more than a mere incident or side issue. And more and more
farmers are coming to realize this, to their profit.

Pullets can stand a little heavier feeding with corn and wheat than old hens
can, but even pullets fatten much more readily than the young roosters do, so
it is well not to feed very much corn to them, probably one-fourth corn, one-
fourth wheat and half oats would make a good ration for layers at the present
prices. Some will probably use mostly wheat, ' but we consider oats the best
grain for egg production and prefer to have the ration at least half oats.

The male bird is half of the flock. A mistake in selecting in this respect
is a mistake that reaches the whole season's output.

A good many people seem to think it requires some mysterious and hard-to-
obtain knowledge to make a success of the poultry business. This is a mistake.
It simply requires the exercise of good common sense and the industry that is
necesary to success in any line of human endeavor.

One of the first things a beginner desires to know is which is the best breed
for him to handle. It would appear to him that this ought to be an easy ques-
tion to answer, and yet it is one that can hardly be answered by even the vet-
eran breeder. It is no nearer a solution now than it was a score of vears ago.
It probably never will be answered satisfactorily to all breeders. It is very
readily seen that the breed that would be best for one person or one locality
would be wholly unsuited for another For this reason the person, the environ-
ments, the climate and the market conditions must be factor-s in determining
which is the best breed

The Mediterranean class has become much more popular than it was a
few years ago People are learning that eggs are a profitable crop to produce.

"Damaged grain is the most expensive food we can give our hens. Green food

62 HOW TO MAKE POULTRY KEEPING PAY

we must have every day in the year, unless the yards are large enough to
be kept in grass during the growing season. Meat must be fed every day
for best results.

If furnishing eggs for table use is your branch of the poultry business,
there is no need of having males in the flock. In fact, it is better to have none.
It saves feed; it saves worry of the hens.

The beginning who has plenty of ambition, determination and pluck will suc-
ceed in the business if he stays by it. He should not go off after strange gods,
nor jump at conclusions, nor engage in giganic schemes, or let himself be led
by "get rich quick" schemes. A good beginning is essential and this need not
necessarily result in a bad ending. A gradual beginning is most often prolific
of good results.

Poultry and Eggs Are Cash.

Anything that brings cash returns every day in the year assists the fa "mer
in passing over the long period from harvest to harvest. A crop of wheat
brings returns at a certain period of the year. The principal source of cash
on many farms in the winter season is the poultry. The basket of eggs that
goes to market always brings cash, and in the year of the owners. Feed them well
in winter, and they will respond to the good treatment. Eggs brought good
prices last winter, and gave more profit in proportion to the cost of materials
entering into their composition than any other animal production on farms.

A hen is not, as some people seem to suppose, a machine that is capable of
manufacturing- something for nothing.

Wheat contains a larger per cent of albumen than any other grain and for
this reason it is one of the best grains to feed for egg production. It should
not be made an exclusive ration, however.

Bowel trouble that carries off many chicks when one or two weeks old may
be often corrected and taking away their drinking water and giving scalded milk
instead.

Did you ever notice that usually there is a well bred and well cared for flock
of j)Oultry on a paying farm. Is there any connection between these two facts?

How Much Profit?
Most of the experienced poultrymen estimate that each hen will afford a
profit of two dollars a year. This may seem small to some, but it means after
the interest on capital, food and other cash expenses are paid. It is really a
large profit, as most of the hens are not valued at more than half that sum
each, and with a flock of fifteen hens it represents the interest of five hundred
dollars at six per cent. When we take into consideration the fact that on most
farms the actual capital invested in poultry is very small, the profit from the
hens is usually quite large.

The egg industry of the United States is still growing. Ten years ago we im-
ported many eggs and exported few. Now the exports exceed the imports,
but there is room for still greater development. There need be no fear of
over-production of poultry and eggs in the near future.

Make little gullies around upper side of coops located on steep slopes, so the
rain will not wash into them. See that these little ditches are kept clean.